As the kingdom fell, Emperor Mingjing died. His ministers sought a scapegoat and joined forces to enthrone Princess Zhao Pan as an absurd female emperor, Emperor Aiai. Her sister-in-law, Empress Xie Bi, wife of Emperor Jing, was one of the people behind it.
Three years later, the former Ming dynasty fell. The Zhao and Xie families were both handed over to the Chanyu of the Western Hu. An emperor and an empress had to bow before their barbarian captor. The Chanyu asked Emperor Ai, "Would you rather be an emperor or a concubine? Which is more sorrowful, and which more joyful?" Zhao replied, "Being the mother of all under heaven is no better than being the Chanyu's concubine." The Chanyu was delighted. In the Central Plains, people composed this song to mock her.
Four years later, the Ming dynasty was restored as the Later Ming. Empress Xie installed the new ruler and was honored as Empress Dowager. She was a legendary woman who had been empress in three successive dynasties: Empress of Emperor Jing of the Ming, Great Yandu of the Western Hu, and, after her death, posthumously honored as Empress of Emperor Aiai of the Ming. But what role did Emperor Ai, the woman thrust into the eye of the storm, actually play in the restoration? We cannot know for certain. We only know that on the eve of the Later Ming's restoration, the Chanyu of the Western Hu killed her with extreme cruelty in his tent. The Great Yandu of the time, Xie Bi, stood by and did not help.
Some call her a foolish ruler. Some say she was instrumental in restoring the dynasty. Others say she was a woman with no control over her fate in an age of war. Who was she, really? Perhaps only she herself knew for sure, along with the wife whose posthumous title was so absurd: her brother's first wife, her empress after death, Xie Bi, courtesy name Liancheng.
Warnings:
This story has many potential triggers!!!
A doomed nation's empress who takes the throne in a crisis x the late emperor's devoted empress. Zhao Pan x Xie Bi. Xie Bi's sexuality is ambiguous.
The story is set against the fall of a nation. Some events cannot be avoided, and neither woman is sexually inexperienced.
If any of this bothers you, please leave right away and keep enjoying yourself. Having fun is what matters most.
Other factors are not listed due to plot reasons.
Theme: Save the nation from ruin.
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Tales of the Late Emperor