The Calamity of Zhao Xin

[This is an alternate-history setting and has nothing to do with real history. History buffs, please don't read this as real history.]

After lying low for three years, she returned to the public eye. The tides turned overnight, while the fires of war twisted and surged again and again.

Make her empress? She would never agree. Make her a prince's consort? Who do you think you're looking down on?

She would do what no woman in the world had ever done: enter the court and become Great Yuan's most powerful minister.

But who would agree to a woman taking office?

Grand Court Secretary: "Since ancient times, women have never been recommended for office. It goes against proper etiquette and law."

Minister of the Imperial Clan: "Hmph! Women should stay at home, support their husbands, and raise their children. You, acting like a hen crowing at dawn, are a menace!"

Grand Minister of Ceremonies: "If we set this precedent, it could bring the whole realm to ruin and turn the court upside down!"

Lu Zhaoyi smiled faintly. "Don't agree? Then ask the Black Armor Guards, the Shadowmoon Guards, the Alliance of All Under Heaven, and the Snowdrift Tower if they do."

Left Chancellor Yuan Qi trembled beside her and whispered, "I know you have plenty of trusted followers. No need to draw your sword right away, is there?"

The emperor said, "What's the big deal? They're all part of her dowry."

Lu Zhaoyi stared in shock. "I never said I was getting married!"