Long Live the Grand Princess

In the first year of Jiande, in the third month, the High Priest of the Southern Border organized a rebellion. Great Zhou sent troops to suppress it at Three Peaks, and a month later, the tribes of the Southern Border submitted.

Peace talks between the two sides dragged on for a month. At last, on the seventh day of the fifth month, the Southern Border's Saintess, Wumu Ke, was ordered to enter the capital.

In name, she was an envoy. In truth, she was a hostage.

In theory, this was the first great victory since Emperor Jiande ascended the throne. The court and the people should have been paying it the utmost attention, singing the emperor's praises and celebrating Great Zhou's flourishing power and enlightened golden age!

Naturally, they should have paid special attention to the Saintess who had come from so far away, too.

Unfortunately, the timing was all wrong.

In the second month of this year, the eldest princess Duanyang was ordered to carry the imperial sword and inspect military affairs on the emperor's behalf.

The moment news of the Southern Border rebellion reached the capital, the princess uncovered rampant embezzlement in the army and officers who treated human lives as worthless.

The rebellion had barely been put down when news spread to the capital that the princess had executed the local prefect of Qinzhou, the county magistrates under him, and the Right Censor responsible for inspecting Qinzhou: thirty-seven officials in all. The whole court was in an uproar.

Now the Saintess was about to enter the capital, but in nearby Fuzhou, she had run straight into the eldest princess's procession.

At that time, news had just reached the capital that the emperor had issued an edict: the eldest princess Duanyang was to be granted the title of Princess Protectress of the State!

Perhaps the fortunes of Great Zhou were at odds with this Southern Border Saintess. Even after reaching Fuzhou, she found no good luck waiting for her.

The final bit of fame she might have gained in the imperial city, the news of the Saintess's arrival, was utterly drowned out by the enormous splash made by the princess's return to the capital.

The officials at the Court of State Ceremonial made a perfunctory show of welcoming her into the Four Directions Hall. They merely told her to wait for the emperor to summon her, then never showed up again.

The eldest princess, on the other hand, was all the rage. She attended one palace banquet and private feast after another, while gifts from the imperial city poured into her residence for three days and nights.

Just as people finally had a moment to wonder what would become of the Saintess, the eldest princess personally paid a visit to the Four Directions Hall.

That visit proved quite something. The little witch was surprisingly skilled at controlling poisonous insects and snakes. The princess was bitten by a snake!

After that, everyone at court who feared offending the princess, feared having a swarm of snakes and bugs sent after them, or feared being implicated in the Qinzhou affair, kept well away.

The emperor had meant to find someone to look after (keep an eye on) the witch's safety in the capital (the safety of the common people), but the next day, the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial was ill; the day after that, an attendant at the Four Directions Hall was poisoned; and the Vice Minister of Rites was too sick to get out of bed...

There was no helping it. Old grudges always come back around, and in the end, the assignment fell to the eldest princess, Li Wan.

Later, when the eldest princess returned to the Four Directions Hall to collect the witch, she looked at the little girl, skinny as a bean sprout, with disdain and parted her thin lips.