Chapter 20: The Unthinkable Offer
The Night Court Session had concluded, but the tension in the Grand Court Hall remained palpable. The ministers, having agreed to the emergency mobilization, were never formally dismissed. They remained, silent and restless, waiting for the one decree more critical than the war itself: the appointment of the Imperial Regent.
Everyone expected Li Feng to choose from the Imperial sub-branches—the Shaobans—the traditional, safe choice, even though most of them subtly favored the Second Prince Li Ren.
But Li Feng knew better. He needed a Regent who was either neutral or, ideally, someone who would dedicate every ounce of their remaining political energy to destroying Li Ren.
His choice was the unthinkable.
The Summons
The old, trusted eunuch, Gao Ming, bowed and quietly approached the Dowager's position in the hall.
Gao Ming:
"Your Highness the Dowager. His Imperial Majesty requests your presence in the Imperial Office Room."
Empress Dowager Liu Yan stood stiffly, her composure the only thing left intact after her public humiliation. She thought, It is time. The Emperor was going to formalize her exile. Stripping the title, quiet banishment, or perhaps worse.
She walked out of the hall, ignoring the hundreds of eyes on her—some pitying, most relieved she was finally gone.
When she entered the austere Imperial Office, Li Feng was waiting. He was seated, not on the throne, but at a low, practical working desk, a map of the northern border spread out before him.
She bowed, a deep, formal obeisance. Her movements were stiff, not defiant, but exhausted. She was no longer the Iron Lady of Xia; she was a broken, soulless figure awaiting judgment.
Li Feng did not invite her to sit. He let the silence hang heavy.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan:
"Your Majesty. I await your decree."
Li Feng looked up from the map, his gaze sharp and assessing.
Li Feng:
"Dowager, when you ruled, you did so with competence and dedication. Your fall was not due to a lack of skill, but due to misplaced trust."
Her head remained bowed, but her jaw clenched at the word trust.
Li Feng continued, his voice calm, cutting through the political noise and getting straight to the core issue.
Li Feng:
"The Imperial Shaobans are compromised by the Second Prince. I need a Regent who commands respect but also holds a single, unifying motivation: the protection of the throne and the destruction of those who manipulate its symbols."
He folded the corner of the map, his eyes finally meeting hers.
Li Feng:
"In a court of fools, where everyone hates you for past power, I see only the woman who was brutally betrayed by the man who plans to usurp my seat."
He leaned forward, dropping the offer like a bomb.
Li Feng:
"Will you be the Imperial Regent when I am away? Will you govern Xia while I am at the Northern Front?"
The Phoenix Rises
The Empress Dowager did not move. She did not gasp. Her shattered mind simply failed to process the words. She had prepared for exile, for contempt, for the final, humiliating political death. This was not on the list.
Her first reaction was disbelief, manifesting as a cold, intellectual assessment of the trap.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan:
"Your Majesty," she said, her voice flat, "is this an elaborate public humiliation? My influence is reduced to five percent. I cannot rally the court. I cannot govern."
Li Feng smiled, a subtle, cold political smile.
Li Feng:
"You cannot rally the court for yourself. But you can rally the court for retribution. The Second Prince betrayed you with wine and false affection, stealing your reputation and your funds. He left you with nothing but your title and your rage. He thinks you are finished."
Li Feng stood, walking around the desk.
Li Feng:
"I am offering you the entire central government of Xia. The authority to dismantle his network, to audit his assets, and to watch him ride to the Western Front knowing that the woman he betrayed now holds the mandate of Heaven."
He paused, letting the weight of the revenge settle on her.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan's head slowly lifted. The emptiness in her eyes was replaced by a flickering, controlled heat. Not sadness. Not gratitude. Pure, focused vengeance.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan:
"You… you trust me to hate him more than I hate you."
Li Feng shrugged.
Li Feng:
"I trust your anger, Dowager. I trust the debt. While I fight the enemy outside, you will fight the enemy within. The only decree I ask is that you do not touch my Empress."
The Dowager drew a slow, deliberate breath—the first real breath she had taken since the accusations began. The Iron Lady was not resurrected by loyalty, but by a precise, irresistible target.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan:
"If I accept, Your Majesty, the court will tear itself apart."
Li Feng's voice was utterly final.
Li Feng:
"Let them. We are at war. And I will not return to a capital that bows to the Second Prince. Do you accept the Regency?"
Empress Dowager Liu Yan bowed deeply again, but this time, her back was stiffened by renewed purpose.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan:
"I accept, Your Majesty. I will not fail the mandate."
The Decree
Minutes later, the court was silenced by a booming voice. Gao Ming, standing at the center of the hall, unrolled the Imperial Decree.
Gao Ming:
"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Due to the external threat and His Majesty's immediate departure for the Northern Front, Her Highness the Empress Dowager Liu Yan is hereby appointed the Temporary Imperial Regent."
The hall erupted.
The Second Prince's faction was visibly staggered, their shocked murmurs instantly silenced by the sheer audacity of the move. Li Ren's jaw tightened, his face momentarily losing all composure as he realized the woman he had just politically executed was now granted the sword to his throat.
The loyalist faction, led by Lady Hua Rong, celebrated wildly. The Dowager's remaining five percent influence—the aging ministers who had refused to betray her—bowed in heartfelt celebration and vindication.
Among the old ones, the Grand Deputy Chancellor, Lord Zhang, watched Li Feng, who stood above the chaos, calm and unwavering.
Lord Zhang (to himself, nodding):
"So, he gives thanks to the Dowager again. He buys her service, not her love. That boy knows how to fight a war on two fronts."