A Guide Through the Mud ★ Main plot: The precarious road to the throne of a Crown Princess vs. the utterly convoluted path of a female top scholar's revenge
(Crown Princess's point of view)
1. The Emperor named her Crown Princess on his deathbed, then miraculously recovered and regretted it. He wanted to strip her of the title and focus on raising her rival.
2. To protect herself, she married the son of a powerful warlord and relied on her formidable in-laws to stand against her father, the Emperor. There's no returning the heir to the throne!
3. She is deep and strategic, far surpassing her siblings. Years of oppression have shaped her into a tenacious person, skilled at biding her time, lying low, and waiting for the right moment to strike. Ambitious and powerful, she can use anything as a stepping stone when it comes to power.
4. When it comes to love, she's very simple-minded. The lover she has searched for desperately for four years turns out to be the dream lover her chatterbox younger sister talks about every day. They've been mentioned countless times, but she never knew. She feels like she's swallowed a mouthful of blood, and is always burdened by the guilt of being the third party. They swore never to see each other again, but in the face of true love, all their tough talk falls apart. So much for the promises she made.
(The female top scholar's point of view)
1. A poor little soul whose family was executed and property confiscated. Forced to become a young monk just to survive, she has wandered the world ever since, missing home every day.
2. A renowned courtesan who only meant to tease someone, but ended up falling for her. Revenge begins to seem ever more out of reach.
3. An incompetent undercover agent who barely helped the Crown Princess, but didn't cause her any trouble either. To avoid seeming completely useless, she certainly put in plenty of effort in bed.
4. She's no naive sweetheart, and she's certainly not incompetent. But her rise through the ranks is too fast, and even the Emperor and the villains want to win her over. She says: "It's too cruel for family to kill each other. If I can stay out of it, I will."
5. Once you enter the palace, it's as deep as the sea. I'm a good-for-nothing in the palace. All the skills I built up earlier are useless now. Being an idle, carefree Princess's Commandant is the greatest loyalty I can offer the Empress. How am I supposed to live like this?
6. To be continued...
-----A Few Warnings-----
★ Main characters:
Crown Princess (a bullied pushover early on, then steady, precise, ruthless, resilient, scheming, skilled at striking a fatal blow, sometimes cute and sometimes commanding) vs. female top scholar (with countless identities, switching between them at will. She thrives everywhere: temples, academies, foreign lands, business, officialdom, the harem, and prison.)
★ The frustrating bits: The Crown Princess has an ex-husband, and the female top scholar has an ex. They're even.
★ The unfair bit: The female top scholar also has a wife in name only...
★ The happy ending: They get married!
★ What they often do after marriage: Argue!!
★ Comparing their scheming: Crown Princess: "You can jump around all you like, but it's only because I'm letting you. If I decide you can't jump, and you still manage it, then I'll admit defeat." vs. female top scholar: "Every villain wants to win me over, but my heart has always belonged to my wife."
★ Words to live by: Crown Princess: "You can suppress me once, twice, three times. I don't mind. I'll only strike back once, and that'll be the last time. Is the Dragon Gate really higher than the heavens?" vs. female top scholar: "So what if I've had a hand severed and lost an eye?"
-----A Friendly Heads-Up-----
※ Mid-story promotions: Crown Princess → Empress (Chapters 245-281: seizing power in a palace coup and officially ascending the throne) vs. female top scholar → Princess's Commandant (Chapters 283-286: selecting a consort and the wedding ceremony)
A few tips ★ This story was first published in 2017 and has undergone several rounds of polishing. The most recent revision was on March 12, 2022. The plot has changed considerably from the first version, mainly in the first 128 chapters and Volume Eight. The revisions vary in quality, but all were made to improve the reading experience. Please bear with me.
★ For the extras, see The Emperor's Family.
★ For the next story, see The Cunning Phoenix Takes the Stronghold.
★ Special thanks to reader Fei Hong Ta Xue for writing nearly 40 thoughtful long reviews. My sincerest thanks to every reader who has accompanied this story.
★ First-version blurb:
They say the waters of the Zhuo River are half water and half sand. Only the carp most able to endure the murky waters can survive. Upstream on the Zhuo River is a waterfall called the Dragon Gate. The rushing water roars like tigers and dragons. Every spring, carp from all over gather there and swim upstream. Those that manage to leap over the Dragon Gate will have their tails scorched by heavenly fire sent down by the Thunder God, transforming them into dragons that soar through the nine heavens.
★ Latest preview: The ending will feature an adorable little baby.
This story will enter the VIP section on February 13. There will be three consecutive chapter updates, so feel free to bookmark it.
(The reverse-VIP section runs from Chapter 21 through Chapter 184. Please read those chapters soon.)
Theme: If women want to take charge of their own destinies, perhaps they are destined to swim across a filthy, turbulent river, against the current. No matter how dark the road ahead or how immense the obstacles, never give up hope. Every time you struggle up out of the mud, you move one step closer to the heavens. Is the Dragon Gate really higher than the sky?
Fortunately, I read the recommendation. It's so well written. Come on!
The death of Tu Yunkai in the battle at Langshan inevitably led to changes on the chessboard. However, in the following two volumes, the main line of the story did not enter more intense conspiracy and turmoil. Instead, the real-life disputes were shown to have deeper levels and origins.
Surrounded by the deep courtyard of the palace, people are bound by experience, memory, history, blood, temperament, and furthermore, spiritually and fate-like bounds. Among them, some are chaotic and twisted, some are struggling in pain, and some are stubbornly resisting.
Empress Dowager Yan has a noble position but shallow virtues. Her love and hatred are pathological, chaotic and twisted. Those who love but do not know how to love are doomed to raise stubborn offspring. Those who do evil do not know evil, mourn the loss, hate being taken away, being harmed by the source, and becoming the source of harm.
Later, Jiang Yuxin also had a morbid temperament, and the love and care she received could not nourish her. She had a dark mind and eccentric behavior;
Concubine Pei and King Dun are both greedy and greedy, but they are smart but have great plans;
Concubine Wen and Prince Cheng are involuntarily, one is bound by a vicious conspiracy and struggles, the other cannot resist the temptation of the throne;
The emperor, as a son, as a brother, as a father, as a king, in which way is he successful? If virtue is not matched, there will be disaster.
In the eyes of our readers, imperial power is the highest level of desire. Those who sit on it can do whatever they want and are omnipotent.
Qin Liang said that the imperial power can override anyone and anything, no matter whether you are good or bad, loyal or traitorous, as long as it threatens its status, it will run over you like a wheel. Unless you can show it the power to crush it like Tu Yuanshan, you will live under its haze for the rest of your life.
Tu Yuanshan said that imperial power is like a deer. If Qin loses its deer, the whole world will chase it away.
Li Jingjie's father said that being an emperor is sometimes a very hard job. You can't save the people you want to save, and you can't do what you want to do. But as an emperor, you are lucky. At least you can do what you want to do and save the people you want to save. I don't know how many years of cultivation this blessing is! To be an emperor, in addition to respecting heaven and earth and respecting people's words, one must also learn to be content within one's heart. If the emperor is not satisfied, no one in the world will be satisfied. We must avoid wanton squandering and abuse of people's power in the future.
Li Jingjie is the one who has truly inherited the royal way. For her, imperial power is not the highest level of her desires, but the highest level of her ideals, her transformation into a dragon.
The real dispute over imperial power gradually entered the depths of history as Dai Jing left the imperial mausoleum. Empress Jiang, a figure who transformed into a god, actually came out of the dust of old history. This figure, who is both human and divine, both worldly and born, can be said to come from the memories, compassion and opportunities invested in this rolling world of mortals.
In my opinion, Lan Miangao's ghost story and Cen Zhuo's performance of Jiaxuan Wen Yue are also amazing.
Telling the death of Cen Zhi through a ghost story, the judgment of reality is both obscure and bold, which is in line with Lan Miangao's temperament. She said this was for Cen Zhu's ten-year appointment. However, as a neighboring country, Lanque has influence over Yu Rui, so the marriage is a waste of time. I guess they are also very concerned about Yu Rui's power structure.
This scar that the dynasty could not touch was revealed in an unexpected way by a foreign princess. Those who came later, such as Jiang Chuan and his wife, and the Fuchai brothers and sisters, were ignorant, but for those involved, the psychological impact was shocking. As a result, the emperor was drunk, the eldest princess was drunk, and Gu Qing was also drunk.
And Jiaxuan's Tianwen Ci is even more well used. The poet's life situation matches the scene at this time very well, but this poem is neither worried about the country nor sad about the present, but a sincere curiosity about nature. Cen Zheng's cries and lamentations are thus blended into the sound of the flute, and also into the poet's romantic detachment. Those involved did not speak, those who did not know smiled, and the children asked questions, which awakened the memory of childhood childhood encounters, so that Li Jingjie held his breath. The emotional atmosphere created by all this foreshadowing is great.
It is said that Cen Zhuo's life experience is really miserable, and she has lived a miserable wandering life since she was a child. However, she is also lucky. She is born with spiritual roots and wisdom, and has the love of her mother, master, senior brother, Yingrou, and master. She enters the world with a Buddha's heart, is free and unrestrained, and does everything she wants, so there are no restrictions that can trap her. Her heart is free and her love is pure. Time and space cannot block her like this, fate cannot restrain her, and hatred cannot. Her realm is an ideal realm that is beyond our reach. Compared with her, we ordinary people have many constraints and limitations.
This novel depicts many characters with real human light and shadow, and human nature is mixed. The presentation of the struggle for imperial power is also realistic, and its style and tone often have the flavor of narrating real people and real events. They are originally as heavy as a thousand pieces, but the author's brushwork is as light as four ounces, hiding the darkness in the bright and brilliant colors of the protagonists. What we see is the Scarlet Carp who never admits defeat, carries his fate on his back, keeps rising up, and accumulates great achievements; the Cen Zheng who has a bodhi heart, transcends fate, lives towards the light, and has the most sincere love; the Black Whale who is as bright as the moon, trapped in a dilemma, in the darkest darkness, but whose light never fades. Because of them, there is the rising sun, bright moon and breeze in this world, and there is a mixture of sorrow and joy.
Due to a secret operation by the Pei family, Tu Yunkai's position as consort was deposed, and the alliance between the East Palace and the Tu family was frustrated. The emperor took advantage of the situation to continue his suppression plan. Li Jingjie, who was hurt by love, spent a lot of time away from the capital because he wanted to keep his reputation secret, to cure the flood, and to find Hua Qing. First, I missed Cen Zhu's first prize, and then I missed the letter she left in her letter of remonstrance, until the Longmen reunion at the beginning of the story. The princess was wandering among the people, and the Pei family tried to use gangsters to rob and kill her, so Gu Ren Tu Gu Shan appeared. Cen Zhuo helped Li Jingjie avoid bandits and find his relatives, and the two finally reunited.
And the emperor was not idle at this time. For the sake of imperial power, he planned to reduce border military expenditures; in order to abolish the reserve, he took a three-pronged approach:
Guan 1: King Fudun of the Ming Dynasty first made a marriage alliance with Lanque to support him, and then treated him with grand courtesy and even exceeded the limit of rewards, openly setting the pace;
Guan 2: Secretly support King Cheng, visit the East Palace at night to test, and arrange for King Cheng to join the Shenwu Army;
Guan 3: Depose Tan Xuanjing and cut off one arm of Donggong.
Parental partiality has always been the cause of Xiao Qiang's troubles. This was true for our ancestors and so was our father's generation. He supported King Dun in a high-profile manner and supported King Cheng in private, but the East Palace worked hard but in vain; King Cheng fell down, and the emperor visited him eagerly. When the East Palace fell ill, the emperor paid a night visit but had no affection. He came for King Cheng. In contrast, it is really desolate and chilling. In fact, the emperor always wanted to establish King Cheng. He supported King Dun in a high-profile manner in order to deal with the East Palace and let King Dun take the lead for King Cheng. Li Jingjie never envied the emperor's high regard for Prince Dun, but he was a little envious of his personal love for Prince Cheng. That was after the fire in the household department.
The emperor's pressing pressure forced Li Jingjie to consider getting closer to the Tu family again. So she petitioned to reinstate Tu Yunkai as consort. When Li Jingjie fell ill, Cen Zhu thought it was because he caught a cold while playing with her, but in fact it was mainly caused by heart disease. Resetting Tu Yunkai was a last resort. Li Jingjie's pain and fear of Cen Zhu leaving her were hidden in her dreams. Sure enough, this hurt Cen Zhu's nerves, and the two quarreled and separated again for a year.
King Dun and the Pei family had inherent ambitions, but when the emperor supported them in a high-profile manner, their desire to compete for the heir apparent became even more intense, and their actions became more urgent and bold. They absolutely do not want to see Dong Gong and the Tu family getting back together. Taking advantage of Tan Xuanjing's dismissal, he bribed the wavering East Palace traitor Liao Shishen, colluded with Gu Rentu to rob Tu Yunkai, and set up an ambush in Langshan in an attempt to wipe out the East Palace in one fell swoop.
As a result of the bandit suppression in Langshan, Tu Yunkai died in Langshan. Although Tu Yunkai is a reckless man, he is very important. Tu Yunkai's death is also a major turning point in the story's love and conspiracy lines. The battle at Langshan was turbulent, and after Langshan, the situation was even more volatile.
[The first variable: Tu Yunkai committed suicide and was captured]
Originally, from the interests of the dynasty, Tu Yunkai could not die easily, no matter the East Palace or the emperor. His safety not only affects the stability of the Eastern Palace alliance, but also affects the relationship between the imperial court and Northern Xinjiang. The Pei family of King Dun did not care about the interests of the dynasty, they only thought about how to seize power and usurp the throne. Therefore, the emperor sent Li Jingjie to suppress the bandits, and sent Cen Zhuojian's army to block both King Dun and the East Palace. Suppressing bandits is the goal, and Tu Yunkai also wants to bring him back safely.
But something unexpected happened. Tu Yunkai acted privately and wanted to make atonement for his crimes. He was no match for Gu Shan. Not only was he captured, but the princess was almost attacked. Fortunately, Jingxi and the others discovered the ambush, and Zhu Tongluo risked his life to deliver the message.
Things became complicated when Tu Yunkai was captured. Is Tu Yunkai's life or the suppression of bandits more important? Which one is more in line with the interests of the dynasty?
Of course, suppressing bandits is important. Tu Yunkai wanted to die on his own. If something happened to him, he would not be able to blame the imperial court. The only one who would suffer would be the Eastern Palace Alliance. But Li Jingjie is the king, and she can distinguish between public interests and private interests. She didn't intend to let Tu Yunkai become the weak link in the entire bandit suppression operation. This also attracted the eldest princess's praise for her.
[Second variable: Cen Zhu becomes a hostage for Gu Qing]
Unexpectedly, another change occurred. Cen Zhu became the hostage of the bandits in order to save Gu Qing. Now it really became Li Jingxie's weakness. Although the cruel and ruthless Gu Shan did not know the relationship between Cen and Li, his abuse of Cen Zhuo when he demonstrated to the foot of the mountain to massacre the prisoners was enough to scare Li Jingjie, not to mention that the enraged Gu Shan was already murderous.
Without this variable, Li Jingjie would have easily defeated Gu Shan. Why, because Li Jingjie transferred the general's artillery. As long as Langshan is surrounded and cannons are fired, the bandits' den will be blown up. But now that Cen Zhu has been arrested, Li Jingjie can't do this no matter what. What should she do?
Two cannons defeated Gu Rentu
If you think that Li Jingjie's troops retreated 30 miles because of Cen Zhu's blindly weak request for peace with the bandits, then you would be underestimating the princess. In terms of strategy, no one can compare with Li Jingjie. Li Jingjie knew himself and the enemy, and adopted a strategy of retreat to advance.
When Gu Shan had murderous intentions towards Cen Zhu, she only fired one cannon, but the message she sent to the bandits was clear: I have general cannons, and it will be easy to kill you, but I won't hit you, and there are conditions to negotiate. The first shot was to show his cards, and then negotiate to return the hostages; the second shot was to warn and urge, but Gu Shan was cunning and suspicious. Gu Shan's cunning was also expected, so Li Jingjie retreated another 30 miles.
This group of bandits was originally a mob. They were already frightened when they heard the first sound of the cannon. Their fighting spirit was weakened when they heard the second sound of the cannon. The officers and soldiers took the initiative to retreat, leaving no chance of escape. What kind of hostages are we handing back to die? Run quickly!
This is why Gu Rentu obviously has a lot of advantages. He occupies the strategic location of Langshan Mountain and is powerful. Not only can he rob the Northern Xinjiang Army, but he can also raid Li Jingjie. Now he has a hostage in his hand. How come he suddenly ran away without confronting Li Jingjie head-on or continuing to threaten the hostage? In fact, it was Li Jingjie who used only two cannon shots to shake the group of bandits out of their fighting spirit. After the soldiers retreated 30 miles, the bandits immediately dispersed. As a result, a battle of artillery encirclement and annihilation evolved into large and small battles of encirclement, interception and interception.
[The battle at Langshan was turbulent]
However, it is easy to kill the bandits, but it is still difficult to save the hostages. Because Li Jingjie knew that when the bandits heard the cannon, they would only think about escaping instead of returning the hostages, and the bandits were not stupid. So Li Jingjie went to ask Gu Qing.
What follows is a series of "chaotic" ups and downs:
Chaos 1: Cen Zhu misunderstood Li Jingjie, thinking that she chose the country and gave up on herself. She was injured, desperate, and sick;
Chaos 2: Cen Zhuo was already seriously ill when Gu Qing gave him the drug to induce death;
Chaos 3: Li Jingjie finally found Cen Zhu, but Cen Zhu did not wake up as expected;
Chaos 4: The unknowing eldest princess secretly buried Cen Zhu in the name of Prince Consort Tu, only to find that Prince Consort Tu was still alive;
Chaos 5: Li Jingjie desperately went to dig up the grave and snatched Cen Zhuo back from the hands of death, but Tu Yunkai saw everything;
Chaos 6: Li Jingjie and Tu Yunkai had a showdown, and the furious Tu Yunkai attacked Li Jingjie;
Chaos 7: Li Jingjie took advantage of the situation, and Wu Jingchai, who was unaware, killed Tu Yunkai in anger;
Chaos 8: The eldest princess found out that her son was causing trouble and beat the young marquis angrily. The young Marquis was driven away, but got the chance to save Gu Qing;
Chaos 9: Li Jingxi was caught off guard and discovered that the person he liked and the person his sister loved were actually the same person, and she was actually a woman!
Chaos 10: Cen Zhu and Li Jingxie were in a turmoil. On the way, they encountered Northern Xinjiang soldiers who killed a good man and took credit for his crimes. Cen Zhu, who still misunderstood Li Jingxie, broke into the camp with his corpse to demand an explanation;
Chaos 11: Gu Shan was captured and committed suicide, and the cause of death caused chaos again.
It wasn't until Gu Qing clarified the misunderstanding with Cen Zhu and handed over the evidence of King Dun's conspiracy to Li Jingjie on Gu Shan's behalf that the dust settled.
[After Langshan, the situation changes]
This series of "chaos" is turbulent, with a lot of information, fast pace, and dense turning points, which makes people hold their breath, but the final result is: Cen Zhu is alive and Tu Yunkai is dead. This is an important turning point in the tortuous love line in the story: Li Jingjie chose Cen Zhuo between the country and Cen Zhuo's life. However, Tu Yunkai's death is also an important turning point in the complicated plot line of the story: major changes occurred in the alliance between the East Palace and the Tu family, which led to changes in the situation after Langshan, and the second change in the grand chess game of power struggle.
Words written in front
Readers generally like pure and pure love stories, and I am no exception. But it's also magical that some people don't accept the fact that the protagonist has a relationship or marriage history. But this is not entirely the fault of the readers, because many works write the history of characters like a resume. Either it creates emotional conflicts for the purpose of twisting the story, and the traces of tools are obvious; it is artificially added to increase the sense of reality. It is true, but it mostly causes sadness and regret, and lacks vividness and beauty. Therefore, readers form a perception: history is all black. However, good works like this one can break through the lack of imagination and cognitive bias, telling you that even if there is history, love can still be written as pure and untainted as crystal; it can also tell you that the history of characters is not artificially created, or even added for the sake of truth, but about who the person in the story is, about how Cen Zhuo is Cen Zhuo, and how Li Jingjie is Li Jingjie. A good story doesn't let history tarnish its characters. There are regrets in it, but regrets can always trigger feelings of emotion and beauty. It depends on the author's writing. If there is no sadness, there will be no joy. Romeo loved someone else before he met Juliet. Did it hinder this eternal song?
[Change 1: The marriage of the crown prince and daughter, attracting the wolf and rejecting the tiger]
The moment Li Jingjie, burdened with the fate of his family and country, decided to take the East Palace position, his personal happiness was left behind. This is a very respectable and lovely thing about her. Marriage with the Tu family is the most critical step in her counterattack. One can imagine how fragile her position would be when the emperor began to drift away. Gu Mian and other staff are just supporting him from behind, and those who support him in the court, Tan Xuanjing's faction alone will definitely be unable to support him alone. She had to add more arms, and marriage became an inevitable choice. Marriage with the Tu family is undoubtedly the most effective, but also the most risky choice, because it is tantamount to attracting the wolf and rejecting the tiger.
Obviously, the success of this marriage must be in line with the interests and calculations of the other two chess players. For the Tu family, the bloodline entered the line of royal heirs, and the family power has since reached its peak, and the ambition has been temporarily satisfied. Controlling the crown princess will control the future of the dynasty; for the emperor, since he has never planned to pass the throne to Li Jingjie, he might as well draw a big pie for the Tu family, which can both appease and paralyze the other party.
This marriage makes the interests of the three powerful parties need each other and check each other, and the situation is relatively stable. Immediately afterwards, variables began to appear, the balance of power among the parties changed, and the strategies changed accordingly.
The first variable: the princess meets love
Hua Qing is not Hua Qing, Hua Qing is Cen Zheng. Meeting Cen Zheng destined this love path to be inseparable from Li Jingjie's road to seizing the palace. It is also destined that Peach Blossom Village is just a peach blossom garden, and Kangyang is an old dream.
The second variable: the Crown Princess gets rid of Prince Xiao
In order to save Hua Qing, Li Jingjie accidentally confronts his uncle, Prince Xiao. Who is King Xiao? The empress dowager's extremely pampered prodigal son coveted the throne, and mother and son were entangled several times over this. King Xiao did all the bad things, but even with the support of the Queen Mother, the Emperor could not stop him. Li Jingjie offended Prince Xiao, so he had no choice but to eliminate the evil. Li Jingjie's design to get rid of Prince Xiao aggravated the family disputes in the royal family and aroused deeper hatred from Empress Dowager Yan. However, Prince Xiao's power has been in decline since then, which is in the interests of the dynasty and the emperor's wishes. The emperor is also following the trend and is happy to see the results. However, this also resulted in a shift in the balance of power. When one party's power collapses and Li Jingjie emerges and becomes a powerful figure in the government and the public, the emperor must shoot the leader. So there is a thing called taking my sister on vacation, which is actually a way to reduce power. This also left a foreshadowing for Kang Yang's dream. Because Li Jingjie could not sit still and wait for death, and the only way to save himself at that time was to find ways to strengthen the alliance with the Tu family to influence the situation of the court. As for what the Tu family wants, the Tu family of course wants an heir to consolidate the interests they have obtained. To lure the wolf, they need to give them meat. It is not explicitly stated in the article, but if you understand the link, you can understand the cruel reality that Li Jingji endured. On the one hand, the roots of love have been deeply rooted, and there is an irreplaceable lover who is more and more fond of; on the other hand, there is the realistic condition of not being able to make a choice. Therefore, Li Jingjie always gave but never took. At that time, except for feelings, she really couldn't give anything extra. If I hadn't met love, things would have been much simpler. It is precisely because of meeting love that the lines of love and the line of intrigue have been closely intertwined. It is so troubling and heart-wrenching. This story is really wonderfully written.
The third variable: Tu Yunkai secretly kept a concubine
When one party's power collapsed and the force that came forward was suppressed, new forces secretly emerged, and the Pei family forces headed by King Dun were the most restless. From destroying the East Palace Alliance to using gangsters to carry out assassinations, the methods are all available. They first used a beauty trap on the prince-in-law Tu Yunkai. Tu Yunkai was originally a reckless and violent man, and he also had the arrogance and willfulness brought about by his status as the legitimate son of a wealthy family and his mother's pampering. He was obviously in love with the Crown Princess, but he couldn't get his wife's love, so he easily fell into King Dun's trap. They added fuel to the flames and provoked Tu Yunkai to divorce his wife in anger and lose his position as consort. Later, the Pei family colluded with gangsters and bribed the traitors in the East Palace in an attempt to kill the East Palace. However, Li Jingjie has always been forbearing and scheming, and his methods are both strong and soft. His habit is that the mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole follows behind. Tu Yunkai's weaknesses and Prince Dun's small actions eventually became tools for Li Jingjie to achieve his goals. She used King Dun's beauty trap to achieve a false pregnancy, completing her impossible task of giving birth to a child against the Tu family; she chose the opportunity to expose her affair, which embarrassed the Tu family, and then used King Dun's provocation to show mercy, making the Tu family short of breath in front of the crown princess. The power relationship between the two families has changed since then, and the crown princess has moved from raising wolves to controlling wolves.
Li Jingjie's father can be said to be an emperor who had a very ill-fated life. Natural disasters (turbid river floods), man-made disasters (victims were slaughtered), internal worries (mother and brother coveted), foreign troubles (sitting in the four frontiers) were all spread out, and then there was another abnormality in the body.
Although Cen Zhi's death brought a lot of pain, it can also be said that it also brought about compromises from all parties. The fierce open struggle turned to relaxation and dormancy, and the dynasty entered a period of relative peace. So, as the descendants grow older, the story begins.
[The Emperor's Goals and Opponents]
The emperor had two goals: to unify the four frontiers and to pass the throne to his son.
There are three main opponents: the strongest one is Tu Yuanshan, the most difficult one is his mother and brother, and the most annoying one is the Crown Princess.
Tu Yuanshan is the strongest, and the relationship between the four frontiers is complicated. The emperor does not have the strength to solve it once and for all, and can only find opportunities in mutual checks and balances and stalemates;
The younger brother, Prince Xiao, is the most difficult to deal with. He is originally a playboy who cannot stand up to the wall, but with the support of his biological mother, Queen Mother Yan, he has to work hard enough on the surface;
The biggest thorn in the side of the Crown Princess will be eliminated sooner or later, but given that the Crown Princess is a weak chicken and can be used as a chess piece before supporting her son, Li Jingjie's position is relatively stable at first.
Thoughts of the Four Frontiers
Consolidating their own territory and maintaining family power are probably the four families' most important concerns.
The Zhou family in northwest Xinjiang is relatively loyal. I once cooperated with Northern Xinjiang, but later I reflected on it. The Zhou family has neither ambition nor wild conditions. They want to protect themselves by establishing a closer relationship with the royal family. Mrs. Zhou fell in love with Dai Jing and wanted to marry her.
Cheng Gongjiang in the southwest is the most cunning and only interested in profit. When it was most beneficial to unite with Northern Xinjiang to deal with the imperial court, he colluded with Northern Xinjiang to create an unjust case against Cen Zhao; when it was most beneficial to help the imperial court attack Northern Xinjiang, he immediately added insult to injury and sent troops to help King Cheng attack Tu Yuanshan; when there was an opportunity to take advantage of civil unrest in the dynasty, he stirred up troubled waters to fish.
Tu Yuanshan in Northern Xinjiang is the strongest and most domineering. Although his strength is not strong enough to conquer the Central Plains, he is enough to dominate one side. Its power base can also extend to the court. On the other hand, although the northern soldiers were strong, they committed many evil deeds and were therefore unpopular with the people. But Tu Yuanshan doesn't care about people's support. What he cares about is how to compete with the central government, how to make his hands longer and bigger, and finally cover the sky.
Southern Xinjiang is just a little grasshopper that just wants to be tied to the four Xinjiang and skipping around, so it can be ignored.
[Split in the court]
The elites of the dynasty should be unanimous on the general direction of dealing with the four-frontier issue, but serious divisions have emerged on the issue of reserve positions. Taifu Tan Xuanjing was a staunch supporter of the East Palace, Pan Suiyong, the Minister of Rites, was a tough opponent, and Emperor Li Pinghong was a cunning opponent. There was too much commotion when the emperor appointed the heir apparent, and now it is not easy to overturn "his" decision. But more importantly, in the eyes of the emperor, the princess was a weakling who would be eliminated sooner or later. Before her sons established their careers, her occupying the East Palace position was in line with his immediate interests: firstly, she could reject King Xiao and Queen Mother Yan; secondly, she could make a big deal for Tu Yuanshan.
The Crown Princess is beleaguered on all sides
The great responsibility given to Li Jingjie by heaven will definitely tax his mind and body. The journey from carp to dragon is not easy. Being a Princess Taiping would have been a powerful and majestic one, but she was suddenly pushed by fate to be a player on the chessboard of the game of power. She was besieged on all sides: the assassination of the emperor's brother indicated that there was an invisible tiger hidden in the court; the queen mother hated her because she occupied Xiao Wang Chengsi's opportunity; the emperor's temperament changed drastically and he separated from her; there were a series of little jackal brothers behind him, watching them grow up day by day, ready to make moves; there was still an old wolf sitting at the door of the house, smearing the distant mountains; looking at the country again, there was a mess everywhere. What does the princess have in her hand? In addition to Grand Tutor Tan Xuanjing, who was regarded as the anchor of stability in the court, there were also the relatively loyal and capable old members of the East Palace who had been tempered during the period of the Crown Prince.
The start was so miserable, how could this game be broken? You don't have the qualifications to accept defeat and accept defeat. However, Li Jingjie, a beautiful girl from heaven, is born with a royal pride that refuses to admit defeat. You can see that she is diligent in studying and working, has a regular manner, sits and stands well, has both moral integrity and talent, has perseverance and willpower, is forbearing and thoughtful. The royal upbringing and kingly temperament exuded by Li Jingjie were written down in detail by the author, not just a label that was slapped on casually.
[A big chess game]
The game between powers is not a duel-style game, nor does it care about the gains and losses of one pool or one place, but a check and balance between strengths, and who will have the last laugh in the end.
It is impossible to list how many forces and how many people are involved in this big chess game. Each participant may be a chess piece, and they all work hard to play their own piece of chess. Generally speaking, the three truly powerful chess players are the Emperor, Tu Yuanshan, and Li Jingjie. Tu Yuanshan is really a mountain, his strength is there, no one can ignore him. He has his own plans and tactics, but strategically speaking, he is a bright star for the emperor and the princess. Therefore, this game, in terms of scheming, mainly focused on the emperor's maneuvering and careful planning and Li Jingxie's foresight and determination. The characters, emotions, strategies, and plots in Baihe's articles are written to such an extent that even if she sinks into the deep sea and no one knows about her, I will sink with it and feel honored to write these comments.
It turns out that this is the case, and the things that made me unhappy have been healed in these two chapters. The late-born Dai Whale is destined to be the talisman of the Scarlet Carp.
Once again, I admire the story for being so well written. Some good things I can tell you, some good things need to be digested before I can express them, and some good things are beyond my words.
The author buries the story so deeply, so logically and cleverly that the readers cannot guess the plot and the whole story. I am afraid this is the realm that all you storytellers love to pursue. I admire it. I remember when I first became obsessed with Harry Potter, I was surprised that the plot of the seventh novel, which lasted almost ten years, could be closely connected with the details of the first. I marveled at the structure of the writer's brain.
The author is very charming in his creations and I like it very much. I look forward to reading your works all the time.
In the last few chapters, I felt uncomfortable for several days because of Jingxi. I always feel that she is very, very innocent. Li Jingjie's career struggle and pursuit of happiness cannot benefit her sister, which makes me particularly sad. Mian Gao is fine, but you, Jingjie, can't even take care of your only sister. I won't forgive you.
After reading a lot of articles outside, I still like this one the best. Both the plot setting and the writing are very good.
The author's writing is so good, and the story has twists and turns and is exciting!
Finished spreading flowers! So beautiful! It took me three days to read it. Still unfinished
Fortunately, I read the recommendation. It's so well written. Come on!
The death of Tu Yunkai in the battle at Langshan inevitably led to changes on the chessboard. However, in the following two volumes, the main line of the story did not enter more intense conspiracy and turmoil. Instead, the real-life disputes were shown to have deeper levels and origins. Surrounded by the deep courtyard of the palace, people are bound by experience, memory, history, blood, temperament, and furthermore, spiritually and fate-like bounds. Among them, some are chaotic and twisted, some are struggling in pain, and some are stubbornly resisting. Empress Dowager Yan has a noble position but shallow virtues. Her love and hatred are pathological, chaotic and twisted. Those who love but do not know how to love are doomed to raise stubborn offspring. Those who do evil do not know evil, mourn the loss, hate being taken away, being harmed by the source, and becoming the source of harm. Later, Jiang Yuxin also had a morbid temperament, and the love and care she received could not nourish her. She had a dark mind and eccentric behavior; Concubine Pei and King Dun are both greedy and greedy, but they are smart but have great plans; Concubine Wen and Prince Cheng are involuntarily, one is bound by a vicious conspiracy and struggles, the other cannot resist the temptation of the throne; The emperor, as a son, as a brother, as a father, as a king, in which way is he successful? If virtue is not matched, there will be disaster. In the eyes of our readers, imperial power is the highest level of desire. Those who sit on it can do whatever they want and are omnipotent. Qin Liang said that the imperial power can override anyone and anything, no matter whether you are good or bad, loyal or traitorous, as long as it threatens its status, it will run over you like a wheel. Unless you can show it the power to crush it like Tu Yuanshan, you will live under its haze for the rest of your life. Tu Yuanshan said that imperial power is like a deer. If Qin loses its deer, the whole world will chase it away. Li Jingjie's father said that being an emperor is sometimes a very hard job. You can't save the people you want to save, and you can't do what you want to do. But as an emperor, you are lucky. At least you can do what you want to do and save the people you want to save. I don't know how many years of cultivation this blessing is! To be an emperor, in addition to respecting heaven and earth and respecting people's words, one must also learn to be content within one's heart. If the emperor is not satisfied, no one in the world will be satisfied. We must avoid wanton squandering and abuse of people's power in the future. Li Jingjie is the one who has truly inherited the royal way. For her, imperial power is not the highest level of her desires, but the highest level of her ideals, her transformation into a dragon. The real dispute over imperial power gradually entered the depths of history as Dai Jing left the imperial mausoleum. Empress Jiang, a figure who transformed into a god, actually came out of the dust of old history. This figure, who is both human and divine, both worldly and born, can be said to come from the memories, compassion and opportunities invested in this rolling world of mortals. In my opinion, Lan Miangao's ghost story and Cen Zhuo's performance of Jiaxuan Wen Yue are also amazing. Telling the death of Cen Zhi through a ghost story, the judgment of reality is both obscure and bold, which is in line with Lan Miangao's temperament. She said this was for Cen Zhu's ten-year appointment. However, as a neighboring country, Lanque has influence over Yu Rui, so the marriage is a waste of time. I guess they are also very concerned about Yu Rui's power structure. This scar that the dynasty could not touch was revealed in an unexpected way by a foreign princess. Those who came later, such as Jiang Chuan and his wife, and the Fuchai brothers and sisters, were ignorant, but for those involved, the psychological impact was shocking. As a result, the emperor was drunk, the eldest princess was drunk, and Gu Qing was also drunk. And Jiaxuan's Tianwen Ci is even more well used. The poet's life situation matches the scene at this time very well, but this poem is neither worried about the country nor sad about the present, but a sincere curiosity about nature. Cen Zheng's cries and lamentations are thus blended into the sound of the flute, and also into the poet's romantic detachment. Those involved did not speak, those who did not know smiled, and the children asked questions, which awakened the memory of childhood childhood encounters, so that Li Jingjie held his breath. The emotional atmosphere created by all this foreshadowing is great. It is said that Cen Zhuo's life experience is really miserable, and she has lived a miserable wandering life since she was a child. However, she is also lucky. She is born with spiritual roots and wisdom, and has the love of her mother, master, senior brother, Yingrou, and master. She enters the world with a Buddha's heart, is free and unrestrained, and does everything she wants, so there are no restrictions that can trap her. Her heart is free and her love is pure. Time and space cannot block her like this, fate cannot restrain her, and hatred cannot. Her realm is an ideal realm that is beyond our reach. Compared with her, we ordinary people have many constraints and limitations. This novel depicts many characters with real human light and shadow, and human nature is mixed. The presentation of the struggle for imperial power is also realistic, and its style and tone often have the flavor of narrating real people and real events. They are originally as heavy as a thousand pieces, but the author's brushwork is as light as four ounces, hiding the darkness in the bright and brilliant colors of the protagonists. What we see is the Scarlet Carp who never admits defeat, carries his fate on his back, keeps rising up, and accumulates great achievements; the Cen Zheng who has a bodhi heart, transcends fate, lives towards the light, and has the most sincere love; the Black Whale who is as bright as the moon, trapped in a dilemma, in the darkest darkness, but whose light never fades. Because of them, there is the rising sun, bright moon and breeze in this world, and there is a mixture of sorrow and joy.
Due to a secret operation by the Pei family, Tu Yunkai's position as consort was deposed, and the alliance between the East Palace and the Tu family was frustrated. The emperor took advantage of the situation to continue his suppression plan. Li Jingjie, who was hurt by love, spent a lot of time away from the capital because he wanted to keep his reputation secret, to cure the flood, and to find Hua Qing. First, I missed Cen Zhu's first prize, and then I missed the letter she left in her letter of remonstrance, until the Longmen reunion at the beginning of the story. The princess was wandering among the people, and the Pei family tried to use gangsters to rob and kill her, so Gu Ren Tu Gu Shan appeared. Cen Zhuo helped Li Jingjie avoid bandits and find his relatives, and the two finally reunited. And the emperor was not idle at this time. For the sake of imperial power, he planned to reduce border military expenditures; in order to abolish the reserve, he took a three-pronged approach: Guan 1: King Fudun of the Ming Dynasty first made a marriage alliance with Lanque to support him, and then treated him with grand courtesy and even exceeded the limit of rewards, openly setting the pace; Guan 2: Secretly support King Cheng, visit the East Palace at night to test, and arrange for King Cheng to join the Shenwu Army; Guan 3: Depose Tan Xuanjing and cut off one arm of Donggong. Parental partiality has always been the cause of Xiao Qiang's troubles. This was true for our ancestors and so was our father's generation. He supported King Dun in a high-profile manner and supported King Cheng in private, but the East Palace worked hard but in vain; King Cheng fell down, and the emperor visited him eagerly. When the East Palace fell ill, the emperor paid a night visit but had no affection. He came for King Cheng. In contrast, it is really desolate and chilling. In fact, the emperor always wanted to establish King Cheng. He supported King Dun in a high-profile manner in order to deal with the East Palace and let King Dun take the lead for King Cheng. Li Jingjie never envied the emperor's high regard for Prince Dun, but he was a little envious of his personal love for Prince Cheng. That was after the fire in the household department. The emperor's pressing pressure forced Li Jingjie to consider getting closer to the Tu family again. So she petitioned to reinstate Tu Yunkai as consort. When Li Jingjie fell ill, Cen Zhu thought it was because he caught a cold while playing with her, but in fact it was mainly caused by heart disease. Resetting Tu Yunkai was a last resort. Li Jingjie's pain and fear of Cen Zhu leaving her were hidden in her dreams. Sure enough, this hurt Cen Zhu's nerves, and the two quarreled and separated again for a year. King Dun and the Pei family had inherent ambitions, but when the emperor supported them in a high-profile manner, their desire to compete for the heir apparent became even more intense, and their actions became more urgent and bold. They absolutely do not want to see Dong Gong and the Tu family getting back together. Taking advantage of Tan Xuanjing's dismissal, he bribed the wavering East Palace traitor Liao Shishen, colluded with Gu Rentu to rob Tu Yunkai, and set up an ambush in Langshan in an attempt to wipe out the East Palace in one fell swoop. As a result of the bandit suppression in Langshan, Tu Yunkai died in Langshan. Although Tu Yunkai is a reckless man, he is very important. Tu Yunkai's death is also a major turning point in the story's love and conspiracy lines. The battle at Langshan was turbulent, and after Langshan, the situation was even more volatile. [The first variable: Tu Yunkai committed suicide and was captured] Originally, from the interests of the dynasty, Tu Yunkai could not die easily, no matter the East Palace or the emperor. His safety not only affects the stability of the Eastern Palace alliance, but also affects the relationship between the imperial court and Northern Xinjiang. The Pei family of King Dun did not care about the interests of the dynasty, they only thought about how to seize power and usurp the throne. Therefore, the emperor sent Li Jingjie to suppress the bandits, and sent Cen Zhuojian's army to block both King Dun and the East Palace. Suppressing bandits is the goal, and Tu Yunkai also wants to bring him back safely. But something unexpected happened. Tu Yunkai acted privately and wanted to make atonement for his crimes. He was no match for Gu Shan. Not only was he captured, but the princess was almost attacked. Fortunately, Jingxi and the others discovered the ambush, and Zhu Tongluo risked his life to deliver the message. Things became complicated when Tu Yunkai was captured. Is Tu Yunkai's life or the suppression of bandits more important? Which one is more in line with the interests of the dynasty? Of course, suppressing bandits is important. Tu Yunkai wanted to die on his own. If something happened to him, he would not be able to blame the imperial court. The only one who would suffer would be the Eastern Palace Alliance. But Li Jingjie is the king, and she can distinguish between public interests and private interests. She didn't intend to let Tu Yunkai become the weak link in the entire bandit suppression operation. This also attracted the eldest princess's praise for her. [Second variable: Cen Zhu becomes a hostage for Gu Qing] Unexpectedly, another change occurred. Cen Zhu became the hostage of the bandits in order to save Gu Qing. Now it really became Li Jingxie's weakness. Although the cruel and ruthless Gu Shan did not know the relationship between Cen and Li, his abuse of Cen Zhuo when he demonstrated to the foot of the mountain to massacre the prisoners was enough to scare Li Jingjie, not to mention that the enraged Gu Shan was already murderous. Without this variable, Li Jingjie would have easily defeated Gu Shan. Why, because Li Jingjie transferred the general's artillery. As long as Langshan is surrounded and cannons are fired, the bandits' den will be blown up. But now that Cen Zhu has been arrested, Li Jingjie can't do this no matter what. What should she do? Two cannons defeated Gu Rentu If you think that Li Jingjie's troops retreated 30 miles because of Cen Zhu's blindly weak request for peace with the bandits, then you would be underestimating the princess. In terms of strategy, no one can compare with Li Jingjie. Li Jingjie knew himself and the enemy, and adopted a strategy of retreat to advance. When Gu Shan had murderous intentions towards Cen Zhu, she only fired one cannon, but the message she sent to the bandits was clear: I have general cannons, and it will be easy to kill you, but I won't hit you, and there are conditions to negotiate. The first shot was to show his cards, and then negotiate to return the hostages; the second shot was to warn and urge, but Gu Shan was cunning and suspicious. Gu Shan's cunning was also expected, so Li Jingjie retreated another 30 miles. This group of bandits was originally a mob. They were already frightened when they heard the first sound of the cannon. Their fighting spirit was weakened when they heard the second sound of the cannon. The officers and soldiers took the initiative to retreat, leaving no chance of escape. What kind of hostages are we handing back to die? Run quickly! This is why Gu Rentu obviously has a lot of advantages. He occupies the strategic location of Langshan Mountain and is powerful. Not only can he rob the Northern Xinjiang Army, but he can also raid Li Jingjie. Now he has a hostage in his hand. How come he suddenly ran away without confronting Li Jingjie head-on or continuing to threaten the hostage? In fact, it was Li Jingjie who used only two cannon shots to shake the group of bandits out of their fighting spirit. After the soldiers retreated 30 miles, the bandits immediately dispersed. As a result, a battle of artillery encirclement and annihilation evolved into large and small battles of encirclement, interception and interception. [The battle at Langshan was turbulent] However, it is easy to kill the bandits, but it is still difficult to save the hostages. Because Li Jingjie knew that when the bandits heard the cannon, they would only think about escaping instead of returning the hostages, and the bandits were not stupid. So Li Jingjie went to ask Gu Qing. What follows is a series of "chaotic" ups and downs: Chaos 1: Cen Zhu misunderstood Li Jingjie, thinking that she chose the country and gave up on herself. She was injured, desperate, and sick; Chaos 2: Cen Zhuo was already seriously ill when Gu Qing gave him the drug to induce death; Chaos 3: Li Jingjie finally found Cen Zhu, but Cen Zhu did not wake up as expected; Chaos 4: The unknowing eldest princess secretly buried Cen Zhu in the name of Prince Consort Tu, only to find that Prince Consort Tu was still alive; Chaos 5: Li Jingjie desperately went to dig up the grave and snatched Cen Zhuo back from the hands of death, but Tu Yunkai saw everything; Chaos 6: Li Jingjie and Tu Yunkai had a showdown, and the furious Tu Yunkai attacked Li Jingjie; Chaos 7: Li Jingjie took advantage of the situation, and Wu Jingchai, who was unaware, killed Tu Yunkai in anger; Chaos 8: The eldest princess found out that her son was causing trouble and beat the young marquis angrily. The young Marquis was driven away, but got the chance to save Gu Qing; Chaos 9: Li Jingxi was caught off guard and discovered that the person he liked and the person his sister loved were actually the same person, and she was actually a woman! Chaos 10: Cen Zhu and Li Jingxie were in a turmoil. On the way, they encountered Northern Xinjiang soldiers who killed a good man and took credit for his crimes. Cen Zhu, who still misunderstood Li Jingxie, broke into the camp with his corpse to demand an explanation; Chaos 11: Gu Shan was captured and committed suicide, and the cause of death caused chaos again. It wasn't until Gu Qing clarified the misunderstanding with Cen Zhu and handed over the evidence of King Dun's conspiracy to Li Jingjie on Gu Shan's behalf that the dust settled. [After Langshan, the situation changes] This series of "chaos" is turbulent, with a lot of information, fast pace, and dense turning points, which makes people hold their breath, but the final result is: Cen Zhu is alive and Tu Yunkai is dead. This is an important turning point in the tortuous love line in the story: Li Jingjie chose Cen Zhuo between the country and Cen Zhuo's life. However, Tu Yunkai's death is also an important turning point in the complicated plot line of the story: major changes occurred in the alliance between the East Palace and the Tu family, which led to changes in the situation after Langshan, and the second change in the grand chess game of power struggle.
Words written in front Readers generally like pure and pure love stories, and I am no exception. But it's also magical that some people don't accept the fact that the protagonist has a relationship or marriage history. But this is not entirely the fault of the readers, because many works write the history of characters like a resume. Either it creates emotional conflicts for the purpose of twisting the story, and the traces of tools are obvious; it is artificially added to increase the sense of reality. It is true, but it mostly causes sadness and regret, and lacks vividness and beauty. Therefore, readers form a perception: history is all black. However, good works like this one can break through the lack of imagination and cognitive bias, telling you that even if there is history, love can still be written as pure and untainted as crystal; it can also tell you that the history of characters is not artificially created, or even added for the sake of truth, but about who the person in the story is, about how Cen Zhuo is Cen Zhuo, and how Li Jingjie is Li Jingjie. A good story doesn't let history tarnish its characters. There are regrets in it, but regrets can always trigger feelings of emotion and beauty. It depends on the author's writing. If there is no sadness, there will be no joy. Romeo loved someone else before he met Juliet. Did it hinder this eternal song? [Change 1: The marriage of the crown prince and daughter, attracting the wolf and rejecting the tiger] The moment Li Jingjie, burdened with the fate of his family and country, decided to take the East Palace position, his personal happiness was left behind. This is a very respectable and lovely thing about her. Marriage with the Tu family is the most critical step in her counterattack. One can imagine how fragile her position would be when the emperor began to drift away. Gu Mian and other staff are just supporting him from behind, and those who support him in the court, Tan Xuanjing's faction alone will definitely be unable to support him alone. She had to add more arms, and marriage became an inevitable choice. Marriage with the Tu family is undoubtedly the most effective, but also the most risky choice, because it is tantamount to attracting the wolf and rejecting the tiger. Obviously, the success of this marriage must be in line with the interests and calculations of the other two chess players. For the Tu family, the bloodline entered the line of royal heirs, and the family power has since reached its peak, and the ambition has been temporarily satisfied. Controlling the crown princess will control the future of the dynasty; for the emperor, since he has never planned to pass the throne to Li Jingjie, he might as well draw a big pie for the Tu family, which can both appease and paralyze the other party. This marriage makes the interests of the three powerful parties need each other and check each other, and the situation is relatively stable. Immediately afterwards, variables began to appear, the balance of power among the parties changed, and the strategies changed accordingly. The first variable: the princess meets love Hua Qing is not Hua Qing, Hua Qing is Cen Zheng. Meeting Cen Zheng destined this love path to be inseparable from Li Jingjie's road to seizing the palace. It is also destined that Peach Blossom Village is just a peach blossom garden, and Kangyang is an old dream. The second variable: the Crown Princess gets rid of Prince Xiao In order to save Hua Qing, Li Jingjie accidentally confronts his uncle, Prince Xiao. Who is King Xiao? The empress dowager's extremely pampered prodigal son coveted the throne, and mother and son were entangled several times over this. King Xiao did all the bad things, but even with the support of the Queen Mother, the Emperor could not stop him. Li Jingjie offended Prince Xiao, so he had no choice but to eliminate the evil. Li Jingjie's design to get rid of Prince Xiao aggravated the family disputes in the royal family and aroused deeper hatred from Empress Dowager Yan. However, Prince Xiao's power has been in decline since then, which is in the interests of the dynasty and the emperor's wishes. The emperor is also following the trend and is happy to see the results. However, this also resulted in a shift in the balance of power. When one party's power collapses and Li Jingjie emerges and becomes a powerful figure in the government and the public, the emperor must shoot the leader. So there is a thing called taking my sister on vacation, which is actually a way to reduce power. This also left a foreshadowing for Kang Yang's dream. Because Li Jingjie could not sit still and wait for death, and the only way to save himself at that time was to find ways to strengthen the alliance with the Tu family to influence the situation of the court. As for what the Tu family wants, the Tu family of course wants an heir to consolidate the interests they have obtained. To lure the wolf, they need to give them meat. It is not explicitly stated in the article, but if you understand the link, you can understand the cruel reality that Li Jingji endured. On the one hand, the roots of love have been deeply rooted, and there is an irreplaceable lover who is more and more fond of; on the other hand, there is the realistic condition of not being able to make a choice. Therefore, Li Jingjie always gave but never took. At that time, except for feelings, she really couldn't give anything extra. If I hadn't met love, things would have been much simpler. It is precisely because of meeting love that the lines of love and the line of intrigue have been closely intertwined. It is so troubling and heart-wrenching. This story is really wonderfully written. The third variable: Tu Yunkai secretly kept a concubine When one party's power collapsed and the force that came forward was suppressed, new forces secretly emerged, and the Pei family forces headed by King Dun were the most restless. From destroying the East Palace Alliance to using gangsters to carry out assassinations, the methods are all available. They first used a beauty trap on the prince-in-law Tu Yunkai. Tu Yunkai was originally a reckless and violent man, and he also had the arrogance and willfulness brought about by his status as the legitimate son of a wealthy family and his mother's pampering. He was obviously in love with the Crown Princess, but he couldn't get his wife's love, so he easily fell into King Dun's trap. They added fuel to the flames and provoked Tu Yunkai to divorce his wife in anger and lose his position as consort. Later, the Pei family colluded with gangsters and bribed the traitors in the East Palace in an attempt to kill the East Palace. However, Li Jingjie has always been forbearing and scheming, and his methods are both strong and soft. His habit is that the mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole follows behind. Tu Yunkai's weaknesses and Prince Dun's small actions eventually became tools for Li Jingjie to achieve his goals. She used King Dun's beauty trap to achieve a false pregnancy, completing her impossible task of giving birth to a child against the Tu family; she chose the opportunity to expose her affair, which embarrassed the Tu family, and then used King Dun's provocation to show mercy, making the Tu family short of breath in front of the crown princess. The power relationship between the two families has changed since then, and the crown princess has moved from raising wolves to controlling wolves.
Li Jingjie's father can be said to be an emperor who had a very ill-fated life. Natural disasters (turbid river floods), man-made disasters (victims were slaughtered), internal worries (mother and brother coveted), foreign troubles (sitting in the four frontiers) were all spread out, and then there was another abnormality in the body. Although Cen Zhi's death brought a lot of pain, it can also be said that it also brought about compromises from all parties. The fierce open struggle turned to relaxation and dormancy, and the dynasty entered a period of relative peace. So, as the descendants grow older, the story begins. [The Emperor's Goals and Opponents] The emperor had two goals: to unify the four frontiers and to pass the throne to his son. There are three main opponents: the strongest one is Tu Yuanshan, the most difficult one is his mother and brother, and the most annoying one is the Crown Princess. Tu Yuanshan is the strongest, and the relationship between the four frontiers is complicated. The emperor does not have the strength to solve it once and for all, and can only find opportunities in mutual checks and balances and stalemates; The younger brother, Prince Xiao, is the most difficult to deal with. He is originally a playboy who cannot stand up to the wall, but with the support of his biological mother, Queen Mother Yan, he has to work hard enough on the surface; The biggest thorn in the side of the Crown Princess will be eliminated sooner or later, but given that the Crown Princess is a weak chicken and can be used as a chess piece before supporting her son, Li Jingjie's position is relatively stable at first. Thoughts of the Four Frontiers Consolidating their own territory and maintaining family power are probably the four families' most important concerns. The Zhou family in northwest Xinjiang is relatively loyal. I once cooperated with Northern Xinjiang, but later I reflected on it. The Zhou family has neither ambition nor wild conditions. They want to protect themselves by establishing a closer relationship with the royal family. Mrs. Zhou fell in love with Dai Jing and wanted to marry her. Cheng Gongjiang in the southwest is the most cunning and only interested in profit. When it was most beneficial to unite with Northern Xinjiang to deal with the imperial court, he colluded with Northern Xinjiang to create an unjust case against Cen Zhao; when it was most beneficial to help the imperial court attack Northern Xinjiang, he immediately added insult to injury and sent troops to help King Cheng attack Tu Yuanshan; when there was an opportunity to take advantage of civil unrest in the dynasty, he stirred up troubled waters to fish. Tu Yuanshan in Northern Xinjiang is the strongest and most domineering. Although his strength is not strong enough to conquer the Central Plains, he is enough to dominate one side. Its power base can also extend to the court. On the other hand, although the northern soldiers were strong, they committed many evil deeds and were therefore unpopular with the people. But Tu Yuanshan doesn't care about people's support. What he cares about is how to compete with the central government, how to make his hands longer and bigger, and finally cover the sky. Southern Xinjiang is just a little grasshopper that just wants to be tied to the four Xinjiang and skipping around, so it can be ignored. [Split in the court] The elites of the dynasty should be unanimous on the general direction of dealing with the four-frontier issue, but serious divisions have emerged on the issue of reserve positions. Taifu Tan Xuanjing was a staunch supporter of the East Palace, Pan Suiyong, the Minister of Rites, was a tough opponent, and Emperor Li Pinghong was a cunning opponent. There was too much commotion when the emperor appointed the heir apparent, and now it is not easy to overturn "his" decision. But more importantly, in the eyes of the emperor, the princess was a weakling who would be eliminated sooner or later. Before her sons established their careers, her occupying the East Palace position was in line with his immediate interests: firstly, she could reject King Xiao and Queen Mother Yan; secondly, she could make a big deal for Tu Yuanshan. The Crown Princess is beleaguered on all sides The great responsibility given to Li Jingjie by heaven will definitely tax his mind and body. The journey from carp to dragon is not easy. Being a Princess Taiping would have been a powerful and majestic one, but she was suddenly pushed by fate to be a player on the chessboard of the game of power. She was besieged on all sides: the assassination of the emperor's brother indicated that there was an invisible tiger hidden in the court; the queen mother hated her because she occupied Xiao Wang Chengsi's opportunity; the emperor's temperament changed drastically and he separated from her; there were a series of little jackal brothers behind him, watching them grow up day by day, ready to make moves; there was still an old wolf sitting at the door of the house, smearing the distant mountains; looking at the country again, there was a mess everywhere. What does the princess have in her hand? In addition to Grand Tutor Tan Xuanjing, who was regarded as the anchor of stability in the court, there were also the relatively loyal and capable old members of the East Palace who had been tempered during the period of the Crown Prince. The start was so miserable, how could this game be broken? You don't have the qualifications to accept defeat and accept defeat. However, Li Jingjie, a beautiful girl from heaven, is born with a royal pride that refuses to admit defeat. You can see that she is diligent in studying and working, has a regular manner, sits and stands well, has both moral integrity and talent, has perseverance and willpower, is forbearing and thoughtful. The royal upbringing and kingly temperament exuded by Li Jingjie were written down in detail by the author, not just a label that was slapped on casually. [A big chess game] The game between powers is not a duel-style game, nor does it care about the gains and losses of one pool or one place, but a check and balance between strengths, and who will have the last laugh in the end. It is impossible to list how many forces and how many people are involved in this big chess game. Each participant may be a chess piece, and they all work hard to play their own piece of chess. Generally speaking, the three truly powerful chess players are the Emperor, Tu Yuanshan, and Li Jingjie. Tu Yuanshan is really a mountain, his strength is there, no one can ignore him. He has his own plans and tactics, but strategically speaking, he is a bright star for the emperor and the princess. Therefore, this game, in terms of scheming, mainly focused on the emperor's maneuvering and careful planning and Li Jingxie's foresight and determination. The characters, emotions, strategies, and plots in Baihe's articles are written to such an extent that even if she sinks into the deep sea and no one knows about her, I will sink with it and feel honored to write these comments.
It turns out that this is the case, and the things that made me unhappy have been healed in these two chapters. The late-born Dai Whale is destined to be the talisman of the Scarlet Carp. Once again, I admire the story for being so well written. Some good things I can tell you, some good things need to be digested before I can express them, and some good things are beyond my words. The author buries the story so deeply, so logically and cleverly that the readers cannot guess the plot and the whole story. I am afraid this is the realm that all you storytellers love to pursue. I admire it. I remember when I first became obsessed with Harry Potter, I was surprised that the plot of the seventh novel, which lasted almost ten years, could be closely connected with the details of the first. I marveled at the structure of the writer's brain.
The author is very charming in his creations and I like it very much. I look forward to reading your works all the time. In the last few chapters, I felt uncomfortable for several days because of Jingxi. I always feel that she is very, very innocent. Li Jingjie's career struggle and pursuit of happiness cannot benefit her sister, which makes me particularly sad. Mian Gao is fine, but you, Jingjie, can't even take care of your only sister. I won't forgive you.
After reading a lot of articles outside, I still like this one the best. Both the plot setting and the writing are very good.
The author's writing is so good, and the story has twists and turns and is exciting!
Finished spreading flowers! So beautiful! It took me three days to read it. Still unfinished