In the nineteenth year of the Heqi era, the official histories recorded that the eldest princess of Great Qi returned to court after spending ten years as a hostage.
According to the rumors, the eldest princess was deeply favored by the emperor. She wielded enormous power at court and commanded the army. Wherever she went, officials stepped aside...
Song Jinshu knows that her power comes from her father, the emperor. So if her father tells her to go east, she won't go west. But she might go north.
She dares to talk back to ministers in public, and scheming with her faction to seize power in private.
They say she and her own brother are going to fight in front of the Taiji Gate tonight.
“How many of them are there?” Song Jinshu asks.
“Just ten thousand.”
“How many do we have?”
“A full eight hundred.”
“Wait, you're talking about me? You really have... made life hard for me!” Song Jinshu says with a bitter laugh, dressed in the imperial robes and sitting on the dragon throne.
“Your Majesty's claim to the throne is illegitimate. There has never been a woman who became emperor.”
“You say my claim to the throne is illegitimate?” Song Jinshu orders her trusted general, Shen Huaijin, to throw that minister into the imperial prison.
“How dare you! Back then, my father personally named me crown prince in front of the Taiji Gate. My Shen Qing and the prime minister both saw it. How dare you question me?”
The ministers want to say: But your Shen Qing and the prime minister are accomplices who helped you usurp the throne. How can you trust anything those two say?
The thing Song Jinshu hates most is that, because they lacked soldiers back then, she was sent away as a hostage for ten years in exchange for peace in Great Qi.
So the first thing she does after becoming emperor is take Shen Huaijin with her and embark on a campaign of conquest, marching east and west, pacifying the south and subduing the north. She defeats every neighboring country, and history remembers her as Emperor Wu of Qi.
After fighting all the way to a desolate wilderness where hardly anyone has ever set foot, Song Jinshu rides her warhorse, takes a deep breath, and says to Shen Huaijin, “In the past three hundred years, I'm the only one who's beaten them all up.”
Shen Huaijin replies, “Your Majesty is brave and fearless.”
Song Jinshu takes hold of her horse and says, “Come on, Shen Qing. Now I've become ruler of all under heaven. Come see the nations pay tribute with me, and then let's get married.”
“I obey, Your Majesty.”
Theme: Uphold Heaven's will above, and follow the people's wishes below.
