Her Schemes

This story will no longer be updated on Jinjiang.

Writing is just a hobby and doesn't interfere with my real life.

Also: I wish every author who writes female protagonists, romance, or yuri success in their career, whether or not they've signed a contract. And I wish every reader who supports female-led stories a smooth and happy life.

Yang Duan was born for power and fought for power.

In the thirteenth year of Taishi, the Ziwei star shone brightly. People took it as an auspicious sign from heaven, and the reign era was renamed Tianxi. That year, Yang Duan was born. Duan was chosen to mean dignified and refined.

In the ninth year of Yongkang, Yang Duan killed her elder brother to take his post and entered the court as a ninth-rank proofreader.

In the second year of Yonglong, she risked her life to eliminate the enemy, removing a great threat to the emperor. In the third year of Yonglong, she ingratiated herself with the emperor's favorite consort and humiliated her political rival, winning the emperor's favor. Over the following years, she steadily rose through the ranks.

Later, in order to continue her bloodline, she volunteered to go south. There, she would control the floods and punish corrupt officials, eliminate her allies and recruit loyal ministers, and conceal her identity so she could give birth safely.

After spending several years controlling the floods, she returned to the capital with a loyal minister. She then murdered her father and framed the remaining faction. After secretly consulting with the emperor, she ostensibly returned home to observe mourning, but in truth went to investigate the southern powers.

Afterward, the state of Zhao fell into turmoil. Bandits revolted within the country, while the western and northern borders suffered invasions. Unable to recall Yang Duan, the emperor instead offered amnesty to the southwestern bandits and enlisted them to help put down the rebellion.

After the emperor died, Yang and Cui supported the young emperor's ascension, effectively ruling as co-regents.

Later, to quell the rebellion, Yang Duan gradually took control of the military commanderies of four prefectures, spending several years recovering lost territory.

Once she had secured control of both finances and the military, she announced the truth of her sex to the world and gradually reclaimed the remaining source of power.

To bring the war to a definitive end, Yang Duan sought to form marriage alliances with the western and northern territories. But a scandal within the imperial family forced her to take the court in the emperor's stead. When the young emperor plotted to have her assassinated, she discovered his intentions, decisively killed him, and ascended the throne, ushering in the Tian Shou era.

Content warnings:

Plot: Primarily plot-focused. The heroine disguises herself as a man, and her identity is revealed in stages, mainly later in the story. The heroine has a low moral bar and is purely evil. Includes childbirth.

A small ensemble cast. Readers who require female characters to be chaste should proceed with caution.

Romance: Apart from the main characters, some characters feature a small amount of unrequited yuri (not explored at length in the main plot), a little mutual taboo romance (from the early to middle-late parts, not explored at length), and a little mutual incest (later in the story, briefly depicted).

The protagonist's values do not represent the author's values.

Written for love, with three updates a month under normal circumstances. Extra updates for comments.

I won't delete comments, except for a few extreme ones.

Theme: If morality and propriety are cast aside like trash, then I am free to be myself