The Princess Bride Holds the Emperor's Sword

A reader asked on my new story whether this one would be updated. This story was written in 2022, and many of its plot elements and characters are immature. Most likely, I won't continue it.

A work written three years ago reflects ideas and ways of thinking that have long since changed, and it's difficult to reconnect with the emotions behind it. Emotion is what fuels the desire to express oneself, and sometimes there's nothing to be done about that.

The original reason I wrote this story was that I kept seeing discussions about princesses sent off for political marriages and princesses dying for their countries. I was furious about women being sacrificed, and that intense emotion drove me to write this novel. That's why all the female characters in the story are constantly resisting husbands' authority, fathers' authority, the monarch's authority, and gender warfare. Now I no longer want to give men so much space in the narrative. Rather than spend so much effort creating male villains, I'd rather write more women and describe men less. I don't want to focus on men's lives. That's what I've come to understand after reading many feminist works. The perspective of my new story will focus more on women, describing women themselves in detail, both good and bad.

As for this story's subject matter, since it is about a princess sent away for a political marriage, Wei Zhao had to experience the suffering endured by women sent away for such marriages throughout history. That is an unavoidable fact. Besides, "chastity" should never be used to judge what's between a woman's legs. It's laughable that I was still criticized and readers were warned away when I didn't specifically point that out back then. And so what if she wasn't a "virgin"? The word itself reeks of the male gaze in a patriarchal society. In the old days, it was used to condemn women. Were women really supposed to accept that judgment?

All the women sent away for political marriages were victims. Yet Princess Jincheng, who volunteered to marry, is still praised to this day. People say that a princess is supported by the people, so she should repay them. What about the princes? What about the other male nobles? No matter how incompetent they are, they aren't expected to "repay" anything. Weren't they supported too? A princess's stipend was less than one-tenth of a prince's. Princess Jingle was married off at six and a half, and she and Princess Yifang were killed for a sacrificial ceremony less than a year later. She wasn't even the youngest. There was also a five-year-old princess sent away for marriage, Princess Linhe, Chidilian. What is there to praise in a history built on consuming women and their tears and blood? So many women married off to the steppe were forced to marry their husband's son after he died. Wang Zhaojun is one example. I wish they could have killed those so-called husbands. I made the princess in my story speak out and challenge them on behalf of all the princesses who were silenced: Why? Praising this with grand narratives while concealing the oppression of women is itself vicious.

I gave her the title Pingyang Princess Wei Zhao to commemorate Princess Pingyang Zhao, the leader of the Women's Army. She didn't even leave a name in history, and I wanted my character to overturn the game that puts men first and become emperor.

As for the plot point where she has a son and kills him in order to leave the steppe, it came from watching The Kangxi Dynasty as a child. Kangxi's daughter Lan Qier chose not to return home for the sake of her son and continued living on the steppe. I thought, why should that be? Does giving birth mean a woman has to sacrifice everything for her child? There were so many emperors in ancient times who killed their sons for power, and it was quite common. Why shouldn't women be able to? Women can have ambition too. They can be ruthless in their pursuit of power. She doesn't have to be a good woman by conventional standards.

I created a brother for her so that she could still overcome every obstacle and become the supreme ruler despite having a male heir. This is my tribute to the struggles of all the women who came before us, as well as my hopes for women in our current circumstances. In ancient times, even at the highest levels of society, women were born inferior to men. Even the most useless prince was born with more freedom of choice than a princess. So I wanted to write about someone no one believed in, who nevertheless proved to be the most capable of them all.

However, one unavoidable problem with stories set in ancient times is that the existence of feudal monarchy is itself wrong. That's why I created Song Yi, a character who represents my hopes for civilization: a truly civilized society should grant even the weak the right to survive.

But she herself belongs to the ruling class and upholds the feudal monarchy, even if that isn't her intention. That's why I write her as a sword. The sword itself is not at fault, but from the moment it was forged, it was destined to be used to hurt people.

When I designed her character, the phrase "girls should be soft and smell nice" was popular, and I found it repulsive. So I created a character who was its complete opposite: she has a strong body, a rough voice, dark skin, and a tall, imposing build that makes her look fierce. I don't think those qualities belong exclusively to men, or that they are bad in women. The famous general Qin Liangyu was like that.

I have deep respect for every female character I write. Even when they live in an utterly hostile world and come from very different backgrounds, even if some are still naive, they all actively resist injustice. Some simply never had the chance to choose or grow.

Many of my ideas about writing stories have changed too.

For example, in a fictional setting, there's no need to dwell too much on intense suffering. Even in realistic fiction, the spotlight should be on the female characters' moments of triumph, not on their suffering.

I used to think that not looking at suffering meant being afraid to face reality, that it was a kind of cowardice. But as I've gotten older, I've increasingly felt that suffering is caused by bullies, and they are its source. Dwelling too much on suffering also deepens it and becomes a way of perpetuating bullying.

The right thing is to put the spotlight squarely on women themselves.

When reading other people's works, I've also found that certain scenes or images make me uncomfortable. The bullies' attitudes and the victims' struggles can be upsetting to watch.

A reader brought this up while I was revising the whole story, and I thought they made a good point. So I stopped writing it.

I won't lock this story, but I won't write another historical girls' love story. The pain and anger I feel while writing this kind of story are magnified many times over.

Perhaps I'll continue it when I truly know how to handle this subject. If I do, I won't charge for it.

I'm sorry.

-

[Ambitious, mentally ill princess X righteous, martyr-like general (They switch roles in bed. The princess really is sent away for a political marriage and experiences the same things as the historical princesses who were sent away. Her madness is literal: her mental state is truly precarious, and she has episodes.)]

*

Princess Pingyang Wei Zhao killed her two husbands, slew her only son, and drenched the royal tent of Xiyuan in blood.

After ten years in a political marriage, she returned home in a single day.

In later generations, everyone knew of her merciless brutality.

But at the time, no one paid any attention to Princess Pingyang when she first returned to the capital.

No one expected the princess to raise a private army, reform the official system, introduce new laws, forge weapons, and eliminate the great clans, all in a determined attempt to trample the supreme imperial authority underfoot.

Perhaps the female general who joined hands with her, Song Yi, glimpsed an ambition without precedent. But this blade of the emperor, famous for her righteousness, did not strike her down.

*

For generations, the Song family had guarded the borders for the emperor. Song Yi should have been a loyal hound at the side of the Emperor of Yan.

Dying in battle was the fate that seemed destined for every member of the Song family.

Ten years ago, the border war ended in a crushing defeat.

Emperor Jingyuan secured peace on the frontier by sending a princess away in marriage, and the people all acknowledged their debt to her.

Everyone in Yan had been protected by the Song family, but back then, Song Yi was merely one among tens of thousands of border residents who owed their lives to the princess.

*

Wei Zhao carried a heart full of hidden hatred.

Song Yi was like a lake, still and silent.

It reflected her as she was, and the sacrifices of the past.

It saw her hidden baseness, foolishness, sorrow, twisted ambition, and resentment.

At first, the shame of being seen through made her furious, but the lake's surface did not stir.

She stirred up the world, and even stagnant water should ripple, yet Song Yi remained silent.

Until Wei Zhao ventured into the depths of the lake herself, and the hidden currents surged around her. In those dark eyes, she saw a pain that was both suppressed and yearning.

"Do you want to kill me?"

"I surrendered to you long ago."

*The first story is complete.

*The second story is complete.

*The third story is complete.

*The fourth story is complete.

*The fifth story is complete.

*Although the blurb makes the heroine seem invincible, this is not a power fantasy in the traditional sense.

*Some scenes are told from perspectives other than the protagonists'.

Theme: Grow toward the light in adversity, and fight to protect your country and people.