The First Phoenix

The pie for the retired emperor was very big, and Emperor Wenxuan and his wife definitely couldn’t finish it in one bite.

But as long as there was bread, life could go on. At least she wouldn't have to drown herself in the spit of "not giving birth to a prince".

Wei Pingting saw from the cake that the emperor had no complaints about her giving birth to four princesses, so she felt relieved and stopped making a fuss.

She was not the kind of woman who cried and acted pretentiously.

Moreover, Emperor Wenxuan had been truly good to her over the years. For ten years, he had remained the same, gentle, considerate, and loyal. He was definitely a rare and wonderful husband.

What's more, this is an emperor.

He has always been her pig-headed fool, and she has always been his little Pingting.

When he was young, he was a raging fire that was known to everyone; now he is a lamp in the palm of his hand, warming only her on a cold night.

Wei Pingting grabbed Emperor Wenxuan's sleeve and followed him back to the palace obediently.

She decided that she had to do something to get the court officials to stop interfering in her family affairs.

From then on, the court officials and nobles who had openly submitted memorials to "persuade" the empress to take a virtuous concubine in the name of "succession to the ancestral temple" and secretly spread rumors to ridicule her for "monopolizing the emperor's favor and ruining the country's destiny" suddenly felt that an invisible sword was hanging over their heads.

Wei Pingting did not resort to military action or issue an imperial decree, but instead set off a huge wave in the name of "rectifying family traditions and upholding women's virtues."

The son of Imperial Censor Cheng Hong rode his horse and trampled a vegetable vendor to death in the street, and the case was hastily settled with only ten taels of silver as compensation.

The case was uncovered by the Queen, who ordered the three courts to jointly try and impose a heavy sentence.

Shen Xian, an official in the Ministry of Personnel, favored his concubine, killed his first wife, and seized her dowry and property. Not only did he suppress his legitimate son, he also gave his concubine's son a leisurely and idle position in the Guanglu Temple.

The hundred acres of fertile land and several shops that the original wife brought as a dowry all fell into the name of the concubine Liu.

Suppressing the legitimate son and promoting the illegitimate son, turning moral principles upside down!

The Queen wrote with a flourish, "Investigate! We must set things right.

In the mansion of Qinlinbo, the prince abused the maids and took pleasure in humiliating women.

The Empress did not touch the Crown Prince, but instead issued an imperial decree to have the maidservant brought into the good household and released from bondage. She also ordered the Lady of Qinlinbo to enter the palace every day and copy the "Instructions for Women" for the Empress for a hundred days.

The old lady was so ashamed and angry that she broke the prince's leg when she returned home.

For a time, the houses of the high-ranking families in Beijing were in chaos.

The Queen of Beiyi holds a red pen and judges yin and yang.

She demolished people's ancestral halls, took away people's imperial decrees, cut off people's financial resources, and even tore off the most filthy and respectable things from those seemingly righteous gentlemen and spread them out to dry in the scorching sun.

No cuts were made without blood, but they cut into the heart.

Those who once spitted and called her "jealous" now only dared to swallow their anger in the middle of the night.

With this operation, the Northern Wing court would be quiet for a while. The officials were now most afraid that the Empress would suddenly enter the court and say, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

All officials are busy taking care of themselves.

At the same time, the northern wing and Western Liang began to jointly formulate a common currency and unify the writing system.

Merchants can use it to travel between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait without the trouble of exchanging currency.

The great scholars of the Hanlin Academies of the two countries spent three years and wore out hundreds of wolf-hair brushes, and finally brought together the complex and diverse character shapes in a book called "Yiliang Zhengyun".

When a boy starts to learn, no matter whether he is born in Beiyi or Xiliang, he will recite aloud with the same square voice.

A few years later, intermarriage between the two countries was not limited to ordinary people, but also included officials and nobles.

The imperial court was delighted to see this happen, and even bestowed a golden plaque with the words "Match Made in Heaven" to be hung above the gates of the mansions of these noble marriages.

Those scholars who exchanged poems, the zither players who worked together on music scores, the craftsmen who carved cliff carvings together... it was just that through years of interactions, "you" and "us" were transformed into an indistinguishable "we".

Later, the Western Liang emperor changed, and Emperor Ren Cen Ce ascended the throne. His first decree after taking control of the Liang Seal was to weld the iron rule of "wing and beam as one" into the backbone of national policy.

Because Cen Ce himself was a true half-Beiyi man. To this day, Beiyi people still talk about him with relish, "The Emperor of Liang is our Beiyi's Young Marquis of Weibei!"

It took decades for the two countries to go from the daily lives of their people to the perfect integration of economy and military.

This road is by no means a gentle and carefree one, but a dangerous one with blood on the tip of a knife and numerous hidden reefs.

The obstacles I encountered during this period were more than just a little bit,

Those were the old men of Xiliang holding cracked jade tablets, kneeling and crying in the Taimiao every night, cursing "ungratefulness", and even hitting their heads against the pillars, with blood splattering on the steps.

In the military headquarters of the nobles in the north wing, a general threw a cup and shouted angrily, "You are mixing my blood and weakening my sword!" Some people even secretly colluded with the enemy country, trying to bring in foreign invaders to disrupt this absurd fusion.

Rumors are spreading like poison ivy in the streets.

The coal smoke from the north wing polluted the feng shui of Xiliang!

The rice seeds from Xiliang will drain the soil fertility of the northern wing!

Merchants from both sides even fought over a wharf on the river boundary, resulting in numerous casualties and half of the river being dyed red.

The most dangerous move was the "Dingzhou Military Remonstration" and the "Fengzhou Military Remonstration".

Qian Mang, the general of Dingzhou in the northern wing, brazenly detained a passing Western Liang merchant caravan and even deployed troops along the river, threatening to "defend our northern wing."

He Wansheng, the general of Fengzhou in Xiliang, declared himself king in order to protect "the last pure land in Xiliang".

For a moment, the situation was tense and war was about to break out.

It was Tang Xinghe who led 800 death warriors to cross the river at night, with their swords pointed directly at Qian Mang's central military camp in Dingzhou.

It was Empress Huo Yingzi of Xiliang who abandoned her phoenix chariot, donned silver armor, and personally led the black cavalry to Fengzhou to quell the rebellion.

The two countries are strong and the world is paying attention.

When they were divided and governed separately, they were like dragons soaring and tigers roaring, shaking the world; after they were reunited as one, they became Kunpeng striking the water, swallowing the world with their dominance.

All rivers flow into the sea, the force is unstoppable!

The bright moon shines on both sides of the river, and the vast rivers and mountains share this heart!

In this year, a martial arts training ground named "Zhenyuetai" was completed in Bicheng, downstream of the Huaixing River.

It means "to stabilize the four seas and the mountains are immovable", and it also implies that "the wings and beams are combined and as heavy as a mountain".

Their might was unrivalled in the world. The hundreds of miles of training plains could accommodate a hundred thousand armored troops charging into battle, the sound of their horses' hooves echoing for dozens of miles.

On the day of completion, 100,000 craftsmen dropped their axes and knelt on the ground, shedding tears on the earth.

Emperor Ren of Western Liang, Cen Ce, took up a red brush and wrote the three characters "Zhen Yue Tai" on the Tongtian Stele.

Emperor Wenxuan of Beiyi splashed ink and wrote "Mountains and rivers are cast together" on the back.

The two emperors stood side by side, raising their glasses of liquor together.

One hundred thousand soldiers slammed their swords and spears into the ground, shouting "The wings and beams will be forever solid."

From then on, all the military forces in the world gathered on this platform.

A martial arts arena is half of the history of integration.

Beiyi Emperor Xiao Yunde and Empress Dowager Tang Chujun came in person, tears streaming down their faces, "I can't believe I can still see such a day!"

Xiliang Emperor Cen Yuan and Empress Dowager Shi Anxia came in person, and he was much calmer. "Father and mother are still young. Take care of yourselves. There are still many good days ahead."

In the 36th year of Chengping, Emperor Ren of Western Liang, Cen Ce, accepted the mandate of heaven, annexed the northern wing, and began to build the Wing Liang.

After decades of integration, the transition between the two countries has been as smooth as sailing on still waters.

At court, the three provinces and seven ministries each performed their duties; within the prefectures and counties, the tax books remained unchanged. It was as if only the plaques had been changed, without causing any ripples.

The historical record reads: Peace and return to the country.

From then on, the mountains and rivers had no boundaries and the world was unified.