After Becoming the Fallen Queen of a Doomed Kingdom

Tao Qianqian transmigrated into a political intrigue novel and became the doomed female tyrant in the story. A dethroned empress, the kind who was about to get slaughtered by rebel forces. A powerful minister held the court in his grasp, the Empress Dowager was running amok, a vassal prince in the south was making trouble, and the Tartars in the north were eyeing the realm hungrily. Qianqian was trapped on the throne with nowhere to run. A proper dead end. So she got mad. When the Southern Zhao heir, sent by the Empress Dowager to seduce her and steal her throne, came calling, Qianqian played along. Using the realm as bait, she turned the tables and swindled him out of a five-million-tael gold betrothal gift. The Southern Zhao heir was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the empress, who had been completely under her spell, to turn cold and deny everything, take the betrothal gift, and then tell him to get lost. The Empress Dowager cried. Half of that five million taels of gold had been her contribution. Now she didn't have enough money to rebel! The Minister of Works was embezzling funds and persecuting loyal officials. Even with evidence of his crimes, the Empress Dowager's faction had brushed it aside. Those charges weren't serious enough? Fine, she'd find him a big one! So, during a stormy night, Qianqian sent people to blow up her father's imperial tomb, then made it look as though lightning had struck it. The bricks exposed by the explosion were shoddy, inferior materials. The mausoleum had been built with corners cut, and now lightning had blown it apart. Even the Empress Dowager couldn't save the Minister of Works from the crime of sacrilege, and he could only accept his punishment. She recruited worthy ministers, purged corrupt officials, subdued the vassal princes, defeated the Tartars, and overcame trial after trial. Qianqian built up the nation and ushered in a golden age. Who says a woman can't be emperor? She did everything the male leads had done, and even the things they hadn't. * Song Lingyu was born into a distinguished family. Hailed as a child prodigy from a young age, he was a once-in-a-generation talent who went on to top the imperial examinations. He could have become the youngest assistant grand secretary in the cabinet, but the empress took an interest in him because of his striking looks, repeatedly harassing and teasing him until he finally resigned in anger. The empress still wouldn't leave him alone. She confined him to the capital and came by every so often to humiliate him. Song Lingyu suffered terribly. Ashamed and despairing, his once-devoted heart gradually grew cold. Then one day, the empress changed. She came to visit with lavish gifts and apologized. Her manner was humble and respectful. She spoke expertly about affairs of state and grew sorrowful at the plight of the people, lamenting their hardships. Song Lingyu: "...?!" * Although Song Lingyu decided to serve the empress, what she had done to him in the past had left him traumatized, so he took great care to avoid any suspicion. Whenever they spoke in private, there had to be a third person present. If that wasn't possible, they had to keep at least three meters apart. But gradually, he realized the empress seemed even more careful about keeping her distance than he was. At first, he was rather relieved. But as time went on, for some reason, it began to bother him. Why did she chat and laugh freely with the general, but barely say a word to him? Why could she share a table with the guards, yet leave the moment she saw him? Qianqian was completely innocent: "I simply have the utmost respect for Minister Song." His feelings grew like weeds, wild and unchecked. When he bowed and pledged his loyalty, he had no idea he would soon fall ill with longing and go mad with jealousy. A money-loving empress and businesswoman who gets a headache whenever she reads * A diligent, once-in-a-generation talent who wishes his emperor would read more One-on-one romance, happy ending Coming soon ++++ Why Is Her Majesty So Unambitious? Shu Yuechu and the heroine were both concubines of the tyrant Shen Yu, but they had very different fates. She was an assassin sent to Shen Yu by a marquis, and in the novel she was a doomed extra, executed by being torn apart by five horses after her poisoning plot was discovered. Yu Chu transmigrated into Yuechu's body and jolted in fright, hastily tossing away the poison pill in her hand. That was close! Because Chu Chu hadn't poisoned anyone, she inadvertently disrupted the scene where the male and female leads met. The System issued a mission: if she wanted to go home, she had to make the leads fall in love with each other. In a side hall, Chu Chu tried to sell the heroine on the idea: "Our emperor is devastatingly handsome, brilliant in both civil and martial affairs, wise and brave, nine feet tall, and has eight-pack abs. Want to give him a try?" The heroine said coolly, "He's a tyrant." Chu Chu: "Hey, he's only brutal to his enemies. Haven't you noticed that even foreign invaders are afraid to attack us?" The secret guard investigating Chu Chu put the roof tile back, flew to the tyrant's side, and repeated every bit of her enthusiastic praise without missing a word. In the empty, silent hall, Shen Yu's fingers paused as he toyed with a dagger. He didn't speak for a long time. "Go investigate some more." "Your Majesty, Her Highness praised your long legs today!" "Your Majesty, Her Highness said you looked incredibly cool shooting a bow and arrow!" "Your Majesty, Her Highness said you even look good when you're furious!" Shen Yu: "..." * As long as the male and female leads got together, Chu Chu could go home. So at Shen Yu's birthday banquet, while the other consorts were carefully preparing performances, Chu Chu was busy preparing one for the heroine. When Shen Yu was in danger, Chu Chu was afraid he'd die and leave her stranded, so she stepped in to help, then turned around and gave the credit to the heroine. While the other consorts schemed against each other for the tyrant's attention, hoping he would favor them one day, Chu Chu shut herself in and drew fan art of him and the heroine, wondering why they still weren't together. Her personal maid complained through her tears, "Your Highness, why are you so unambitious?!" Chu Chu: What does that have to do with me? I just want to go home. Even so, the plot kept going further off course. Shen Yu protected her at every turn. Even after learning she was an assassin, he couldn't bring himself to say a harsh word to her. He even wanted to make her empress and dismiss his entire harem for her sake. Chu Chu: "?!" At last, on a rainy night, the tyrant could no longer hold back. He pinned Chu Chu in a corner, burying his face against her neck. "Don't push me toward someone else..." A goofy little slacker * a brooding, vicious tyrant Theme: Never bow to fate