Liang Hongyu

[Please add my new story, Reborn as the Wicked Phoenix to Claim the Realm, to your favorites. Its blurb is below.]

Courtesan General & Famous Anti-Jin Commander & Fugitive Emperor

Before she turned eighteen, Liang Hongyu was a noblewoman of the capital, born into a family of military commanders.

Then calamity struck. Liang Hongyu's family was framed by the treacherous eunuch Tong Guan, who held power over the court. Her whole family was massacred, and all the women were reduced to the status of bondmaids.

Overnight, Liang Hongyu fell from a noblewoman of the capital to a government courtesan in Jingkou.

One day, after putting down Fang La's rebellion, Tong Guan stationed his troops in Jingkou. The government courtesans were summoned one after another.

Liang Hongyu appeared in red, her face as lovely as a peach blossom. Her natural sensuality was tempered by a touch of heroism. She danced with a longsword, displayed her literary talents, and dazzled everyone. Yet her eyes settled only on Han Shizhong, who sat drinking alone in a corner. He wore silver-black armor, his sword-shaped brows framing eyes as brilliant as cold stars. A fearsome air of command radiated from him.

"You captured Fang La, General, but Tong Guan took the credit. Why not join forces with me and get rid of him?"

When the Jin forces invaded south again, Tong Guan and Emperor Zhao Ji fled by ship to Jingkou. They heard the faint sound of a zither coming from a boat on the river. Liang Hongyu laid a trap and poisoned them. In the cabin, blood soon flowed everywhere, and Tong Guan fell into a pool of it.

That day, Zhao Gou was trapped in Xianning Temple during the Miao and Liu mutiny. A group of soldiers burst into the hall, led by a woman in red. She only had to stand there to be so dazzling that no one could look away.

She reached out to him, her red lips parting. "Your Majesty, come with me." Zhao Gou seemed bewitched.

For this service, Liang Hongyu became the first female general of the Great Song. Zhao Gou then forcibly kept her in the palace.

As she left the palace, Liang Hongyu swore to Zhao Gou, "I will never marry another man in this life. If I break this oath, may I die a terrible death at the hands of the Jin soldiers."

"If the ruler is so uneasy about Liang Hongyu and Han Shizhong, why not send her somewhere far from him to take command?"

"Since she likes Han Shizhong, I want her to taste the pain I once suffered: being so close to the one she loves, yet unable to have him."

[Blurb for Reborn as the Wicked Phoenix to Claim the Realm]

Lü Zhi: Not long after I was bitten by a vicious dog, I died. But my soul still wandered around Weiyang Palace for several days. I watched the heads of my nephews, nieces, and relatives roll across the ground, and saw the glory of the Lü clan vanish in an instant.

When I awoke, I had been reborn in my childhood bedroom, before my wedding.

This time, I ran away from my wedding!

Everyone calls me the most poisonous woman in history, but how many know how much I suffered?

In my previous life, when Liu Bang had nothing, I washed rice and clothes for him.

When he became a bandit, I was imprisoned and abused.

When he was made king of Han in Hanzhong, I was held hostage in the Chu camp. When Xiang Yu used me to threaten him, he said, "She's just a wife from my days of poverty. Kill her if you want."

While we were fleeing, he even kicked our son and daughter out of the carriage three times just to save himself.

After he became emperor, he doted on Lady Qi and repeatedly tried to depose the empress and make someone else crown prince.

In this life, I will marry Xiang Yu, help him ascend the throne, and make Liu Bang crawl at my feet.

Having been reborn, I want both this vast realm and the love of my family!

Yu Ji: Three months ago, I took my own life at Gaixia. Now, by some miracle, I have been reborn and am standing here. The first thing reflected in my eyes is the hand that once wielded the Overlord's halberd for me, now holding Lü Zhi's. For a moment, I wonder if this is only a dream.

"My lord." My voice trembles, sending a faint ripple through the air.

Xiang Yu straightens up. His eyes, once able to sweep away thousands of troops, look at her with a gentleness I have never seen before. "Yu Ji has only just joined the camp and isn't used to things yet. Please look after her."

My gaze passes over him and falls on Lü Zhi. She wears a red fitted outfit, her black hair flowing like clouds. A faint pink scar is just visible on her neck, more striking than peach blossoms in spring.

I risked my life for him and gave my blood to create the eternal legend of Farewell My Concubine.

He once treasured me like a precious jewel, but now he gives her that same devotion without hesitation. When he looks at her, the whole world becomes a backdrop.

Had he ever looked at me like that? When he looked at me, it was always with approval and reliance, with the admiration and trust one has for a partner, and the warmth a husband should show his wife.

Jealousy? No, that would be too shallow. Is it hatred? Not entirely.

It is something deeper, something more searing: the absurdity of watching a fortress I had spent years building, seemingly impregnable, easily breached by a ghost who should have been dead.

"You must have suffered, little sister." Her voice was as gentle as a warm spring breeze. "Now that you're here, make yourself at home."

She smiled, and every word pierced my heart like a needle. I had once been the brush with which he painted the realm. Now I was the most unnecessary stroke in that painting.

Word of the two imperial stars spread quickly. As Lü Zhi left, a smile touched her lips. Even if Xiang Yu did not believe in supernatural forces, once a seed of doubt had been planted, it would take root and grow wildly. In this life, Xiang Yu would never again be deceived by Liu Bang, call him brother, and let him go out of misplaced compassion.

She had completely upended the game of the world.

"Father, that Liu Bang..." The young general's eyes burned with dark fire.

Fan Zeng turned his gaze toward the pitch-black world beyond the tent. "Kill him at once to eliminate future trouble."

Theme: Using Liang Hongyu's life to portray the history from the late Northern Song to the Southern Song