CLASH OF CLANS

            "Someone?" Yang Guifei called and Manyin walked into the room immediately as she halted in front of her.

            "You called me Ma'am?" She said.

            "I'm in pain." She confessed, "I feel the baby, it's nearly time." She mentioned.

            "Ma'am?" Manyin said.

            "Inform the Medical Bureau, tell the others that it's time." She said.

             "Yes Ma'am." Manyin replied and withdrawing from the room Xiaoyang walked in.

             "Ma'am?" She said bowing her head as well.

             "Tell that Imperial physician." She said.

             "Ma'am?" She protested.

             "Leave everything to me." She raised her voice, "I understand better what I am doing and it is obvious whom he shall tell." She muttered.

              "Yes Ma'am." Xiaoyang replied as she immediately withdrew from the room and left the latter lying in her bed still trying to hold on.

             The Imperial physician in his office Xiaoyang walked in.

              "Sir?" She said to him while bowing her head.

              "Has anything happened to Yang Guifei?" He asked.

              "Her Highness is in intense pain Sir." Manyin said, "it seems that she's already going into labour soon." She mentioned that the latter stood up surprised.

              "Labour you said?" He asked.

              "Yes." She replied.

              "I'll be there in a while." He said while she withdrew from the room and himself rather excited he summoned his assistant who rushed in.

              "Sir?" He said as he humbled himself before him.

              "Send word to His Excellency, inform him that the hour is at hand." He said.

               "Yes Sir." He replied as he withdrew from the room immediately.

               "What, the hour has come for Ma'am to deliver?" Bao Langya asked.

              "Yes." Manyin replied.

              "Isn't it too soon?" Bo An asked.

              "I doubt that she'll hold on for long the most that we could expect is at least an hour or two but even then as we are aware Han Touzhou might be acting up as well." Manyin replied.

             "Tell Ma'am not to worry." Bao Langya said, "we had everything prepared in advance." He mentioned.

              "She asked me to let you know that we have only one shot at this." Manyin said.

              "Rest assured, we are well prepared." Bo An assured her.

               "I'll get back to Her Grace." She mentioned as she exited the room.

              Han Touzhou in his study, Lin Xue walked in with the Imperial physician's retainer.

              "Your Excellency." They said to him bowing their heads and the latter paying little attention to their attention allowed himself to lend them his ears but he continued to look through a memorial in his hands while Lin Xue pushed the man ahead.

              "Your Excellency, Yang Guifei's labour pains have been induced it seems that the hour for her to deliver has come." He said and the latter closing the memorial he put it down and struck the table.

              "Go and tell your Master that he should proceed with what he is supposed to do." Han Touzhou demanded.

               "Yes Your Excellency." The man said as he withdrew from the room and Lin Xue getting closer Han Touzhou put his hands on the table in front of him.

              "At last." He mentioned.

              "What is it Your Excellency?" He asked.

              "Are there men in the world that are faithful?" He asked.

              "Why do you ask Your Excellency?" He inquired.

              "I always wondered?" He asked, "what kind of power was it that a woman possessed that could vanquish me, what was so special from the house of Yang that could end our reign, which state was it we had our rebels breeding?" He asked.

             "Alas she will deliver twins, Her Majesty will have both herself and the children killed." Lin Xue said.

              "We'll probably not tell, it's not something yourself or me could understand, he is a father however strong he may be, he loves his children it will make him weak." Han Touzhou mentioned.

              "You mean to say that His Majesty shall spare them?" He asked.

              "She has him wrapped around her finger definitely she'll be in panic and she'd wish to send one of the twins out if the Palace." Han Touzhou replied, "His Majesty can't set his hands on the second twin at that time before us, we must do it first." He said.

              "Yes Your Excellency." Lin Xue replied.

              "This time round, I shall make sure that I burn her to the ground myself." Han Touzhou swore hatefully.

              Cao Zhaoyi with the Princess Yuping in her Chambers Linxiang rushed into the room.

              "Ma'am?" She said as she bowed her head in front of her in panic.

              "What is it?" She inquired as she had the little princess walking up to her nanny as she led away from the room leaving the two of them alone.

             "Yang Guifei." Linxiang replied.

             "What about her?" She asked.

             "She's getting into her labours." Linxiang replied, "hopefully by sundown, she'll be going into delivery." The latter replied.

             "Really?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.

             "Yes Ma'am." Linxiang replied.

             "A son, we can't possibly let them breathe, not in this Palace, not under this roof." She said.

             "Don't worry Ma'am." Linxiang said, "what's the certainty that she'll make it out alive." She asked.

             "Tell me what you did?" Cao Zhaoyi demanded.

              "Don't worry about it Ma'am, as per your orders we have one of the midwives ready." Linxiang replied.

              "Very well." Cao Zhaoyi said as she smiled at herself ghastly.

              Yang Guifei still lying on her bed all of a sudden Xiaoyang returned with Beiyuan.

              "Ma'am?" They said to her as they bowed their heads while she held onto a pillow that was close to her and she was sweating profusely.

              "It wasn't this painful with Maha." She mentioned, "did you do what I asked you?" She said gasping for breath at that very moment.

              "Yes." They replied.

              "Where's Manyin?" She asked.

              "Ma'am, she'll be here in a while." Xiaoyang replied.

              "I want nothing amiss." She claimed, "my life as long as yours all depend on this." She reminded them.

              "Rest assured Ma'am." Beiyuan replied.

              The Princess Qi'an seated quietly in her room, the doors were flung open and Lanhui made her way in.

              "Your Highness?" She muttered.

              "What is the time?" She asked.

              "The sun shall set in an hour's time." She replied.

              "How first time has flown!" She remarked.

              "Your Highness, I heard that Yang Guifei is soon setting into labour." She said.

              "Make arrangements." The Princess Qi'an replied.

              "Yes Your Highness." Lanhui replied as she made her way out of the room and left the latter seated alone and lost in her own thoughts.

              "I wish you all the best Ma'am, tonight, you and that child of yours shall perish." She said to herself as she smiled at herself ghastly.

             The sun setting Lin Xue in Han Touzhou's backyard had gathered a small army of private soldiers.

             "Hear this I tell you, His Excellency gives the order that there shall be not a single person allowed to leave the Palace." He said.

             "Yes Sir." They replied as they immediately withdrew from the yard and spread out through the back gate.

             Officer Jiang in his office Xiang Mu appeared before him.

              "Your Excellency." He muttered as he bowed his head.

              "What happened?" He asked.

              "His Excellency has sent an order to you Sir." He replied as he took from his sleeves a small white envelope which he handed over to his master and the latter taking it into his hands, he slowly unsealed it and opened it to read its contents.

              His eyes perusing through for a moment, he folded it.

              "What does it say Milord?" Xiang Mu asked.

              "Dispatch the Imperial State Tribunal guards around the Imperial Palace." Officer Jiang ordered.

              "What is it Milord?" He asked instead.

              "There are criminals that we must catch." He replied.

              "What if His Majesty demands for an account Your Excellency, we can't just dispatch soldiers around the palace be without informing him lest it may seem as though we are intending to rebel." He said.

              "I understand your caution, trust me when I say that it isn't what my heart desires the most but we made a promise to a friend that could jeopardize the stability of the Nation if broken." He said, "don't worry, if it's a question of who shall be answerable then you can leave that to me." He remarked.

             "Yes Your Excellency." Xiang Mu replied as he bowed his head and withdrew from the room at once.

             The guards of the Imperial State Tribunal in the training ground, the Northern gates were flung open and Xiang Mu appearing through while being accompanied by a couple of officers be mounted a small platform and faced them while they immediately fell into order holding their spears tightly in their hands.

              "At attention." He shouted.

              "Yes Sir." He replied.

              "There's an assassin that we are looking for in the capital." He said and at that point the officers that had walked in with him started distributing a couple of posters to the others who took them up and studied the face that had been drawn on it.

               "This man was sighted around the Imperial Palace we are worried for the safety of His Majesty and the Imperial dynasty that we have decided to dispatch the entire fourth unit around the area to beef up the security of His Majesty and intensify the surveillance in the region." He said.

                "Yes Sir." The men said as they stamped the ground with their spears.

                "All soldiers move our." He ordered and immediately, in order, they quickly ran out through the gates while he was watching a part of him worried he was only trying so hard to stand strong in that very place.

               Yang Guifei still waiting for Manyin, the pain had worsened when the latter arrived in.

               "What took you so long?" Xiaoyang scolded as she still dried her mistress' face of the sweat drops.

               "Forgive me Ma'am, all the necessary preparations have been made as per your order and the Imperial physician and his fellows shall be here in a short while, however, the Imperial State Tribunal has also dispatched it's entire fourth unit around the Palace claiming to search for an assassin that was sighted around the palace." She reported.

              "Han Touzhou must have received the News Ma'am." Xiaoyang said.

               "Of Course he has." She said a bit weak.

               "Ma'am, what's wrong?" She asked when the latter became more silent.

               "My water, it has broken." She confessed.

               "Hold on Ma'am, the midwives shall be here." Xiaoyang mentioned to her as she tried comforting her.

               The Princess Qi'an walking into a small crumped up room that was filled with very many crimson and black talismans, it was covered in candles and ribbons along with funny looking statues while what had seemed to be a small altar there was a woman that was seated there.

               "What's this place Your Highness?" Lanhui asked having accompanied her.

              "Don't ask too many questions." She muttered, "Yang Guifei is someone that I am willing to do anything to put to the ground." She said as she sat down in front of the woman.

              "Your Highness is here to seek something that is very hard for us to offer." She mentioned to her.

              "I heard that you were a very curious shaman, I heard that there isn't a maledictum that you can not handle, that there isn't a soul on this soil that is human that you can not curse." She said.

               "It depends on the person Your Highness, it depends on the will, it depends on the price that the one who asks for a favour is willing to pay." The shaman replied.

               "I want you to kill for me someone, what Price is there for me to offer?" Princess Qi'an asked.

              "A soul for a soul Ma'am, a life for a life, you wish to rid yourself of an enemy, surely, you must yourself offer the life of a human in exchange, a dear one at that." The shaman mentioned.

              "And what is the guarantee that even if I offered you would fulfill my earnest wish?" She asked.

              "I'll offer you a resolution Ma'am." The shaman said, "as long as it is done then you can consider paying the price, but should you fail, we shall come for your life instead." The shaman said.

              "You can rest assured, I won't go back onto my word." The Princess Qi'an said and the woman nodding her head she smiled at her.

              The Imperial physician having gotten out of the Medical Bureau with a group of nearly eight midwives they charged in the direction of the Yuxiangling Palace.

             As they walked through the Imperial gardens in the nearby bushes, a couple of Eunuchs lying in wait took them by surprise covering their lips and dragging them away unconsciously.

             Emperor Ningzong in his study Eunuch Deng came at him.

             "Your Majesty?" He said while he found the latter still revising a couple of memorials.

             "What is it?" He asked.

             "Yang Guifei is going into labour." He said while bowing his head to him and the latter bowing his head excited and anxious at the same time the Emperor immediately got up from where he was seated and charged through the doors while Beiyuan followed.

             The Imperial physician along with a couple of others were tied up and the palace girls undressed they were piled inside a wagon which was covered in straw and locked inside a dark compartment of the Cold Palace while they were replaced with another group.

             Lan He who was in charge of the Security of the Palace in his office Beiyuan approached him.

             "Your Excellency." He said to him.

             "You are here unannounced and why is that?" He asked.

             "Your Excellency must have heard that the Imperial State Tribunal guards have been dispatched around the Palace because of an assassin in the capital that was spotted around the Imperial precincts." He replied.

            "What about that?" Lan He asked.

            "It's likely that His Majesty will spend the night at Yuxiangling Palace and I was merely of the view that all the Security at least is concentrated there." Beiyuan said.

            "Is His Majesty aware?" Lan He asked.

            "It's merely a suggestion Your Excellency, I am as worried for His Majesty as I am worried for Her Grace, this to them is the most valuable time therefore for purposes of security at least I suggest that the harem be sealed off and secured." He replied.

             "I see." Lan He replied, "I'll make all the necessary arrangements." He said and Beiyuan bowing his head he withdrew from the room at once.

             Lan He picking a piece of paper he drafted an order and with his seal as the Head of the Imperial guard, he called in someone.

            "Your Excellency." They said.

            "Dispatch a force of one thousand Imperial guards and concentrate them around the harem." He said.

           "Your Excellency, that's a fifth of the Imperial guard." He mentioned.

           "I understand." Lan He replied, "His Majesty is likely to spend the whole night in the harem and the Imperial State Tribunal has dispatched their troops around this Palace claiming to have spotted an assassin and rebel close to the Imperial precincts we can't simply allow ourselves to be lax as well." He said.

            "Yes Your Excellency." The man replied as he got out of the room.

            The a thousand Imperial guards were dispatched and making their way through the Palace gates with all their weapons, the surrounded the vast crimson walls of the Forbidden Palace where the harem's palaces were located and standing at attention, they had torches lit next to them.

             Emperor Ningzong arriving outside the Yuxiangling Palace he halted at the doors where Manyin was.

            "Your Majesty." She greeted.

            "How is she?" He asked.

            "She's descending into labour Your Majesty, the Imperial physician and the midwives are late." She replied and hardly had she spoken about them when they made their way through the gates and mounting the stairs that led to the entrance of the building in which Yang Guifei was, they bowed their heads to the Emperor and offered their respects.

            "Your Majesty." They said.

            "What took you so long?" He asked the physician.

           "Forgive me Your Majesty, we were caught up at the bureau on our way here." The physician replied and looking at the midwives that were led by one old woman they moved into the building being led by Manyin.

            Everything was set and the doors were shut while Yang Guifei looking at them they moved closer to her.

            "I am ready." She said.

            Princess Qi'an and the female shaman in the dark room, she cut herself and then with her blood she picked a white talisman on which she wrote the characters of Yang Guifei's name and her date of birth, the Princess watching earnestly, the woman picked up a small voodoo doll on which she attached it and she picked it with a couple of pins while she chanted something under her breath and Lanhui seemed rather frightened

            "Push Ma'am." Xiaoyang and the midwives that were tending to Yang Guifei said to her while she tightly bit the cloth that had been put in her mouth.

             They had already suspended the thick cotton fabric from the ceiling and She had been holding onto it for the last couple of minutes while they were wiping off the sweat around her face, her labour pains had struck and reached their maximum.

             The Head midwife in the vicinity making her deliver at that time while the latter still feeling uneasy had held on long enough for a moment that time started to shift while the sun having set the darkness was over the capital.

             Her muscles contracting to expel the baby from the body while she was in intense pain that she tightly held onto the fabric yet again biting her teeth together.

            "It is time " One of the midwives said as she turned to Xiaoyang and Manyin.

            "Ma'am, I am going to ask you to take a deep breath and then push." She said to her mistress who nodded her head in approval and she did as the latter had requested.

             "Push." She said and Yang Guifei complied investing every bit of her might while in Silence the Emperor was waiting outside and Cao Zhaoyi seated in her dark Chambers that were lit with only a single crimson candle she stared it anxiously the Shaman raised the doll up to the sky.

            "When we beseech the gods respond, when we cry unto them, they hear, darkness shall ascend over she that is delivered to their cause, like fire death shall rain upon her from the sky night." The woman said as she started pushing the needles in the doll one by one while Yang Guifei screamed in pain on her side.

            "You are doing it, keep going." Xiaoyang remarked as the other midwives wiped away her sweat yet again and others stabilised the cotton fabric in her mouth.

            Yang Guifei ceased the sheets with all her might and then she pushed again while at that same time it so happened that the Emperor Ningzong waiting outside he was pacing back and forth as he heard Yang Guifei's screams escaping the room.          

             "Don't give up Ma'am, push , I can feel the shoulders." The Head Midwife said and Yang Guifei nodding in approval she persisted while Xiaoyang and Manyin held onto their mistess.

              "Why won't that bitch just die?" Cao Zhaoyi said as she smacked the table in front of her furiously when Linxiang rushed into the room.

             "Please appease your anger Ma'am." She said.

             "Why is still there no news from the Yuxiangling Palace?" She demanded.

             "Forgive us Ma'am." She replied, "there's nothing that has transpired yet as Yang Guifei is still in labour." She added.

              Han Touzhou in his study was impatient while the Princess Qi'an was still with the Shaman who was twisting and turning the needles one by one.

             Yang Guifei pushed with all her might and screaming loudest but trying to contain it, her teeth against each other at last the baby was out from her womb.

           Everyone outside was anxiously waiting and as the latter relaxed, the baby cried out loud that its advent resounded throughout the walls of the Palace it was as though Cao Zhaoyi could already hear it screaming from where she was seated.

           "Ma'am?" Manyin called her and the wind brewing in the shaman's room became a violent storm that engulfed the whole place Yang Guifei's pains only getting uneasy the Head Lady looked down.

            "The other head is there Ma'am." She said and Yang Guifei for a moment silencing all the voices around she closed her eyes and shed tears.

             "Maha." She whispered, "I shall survive today." She mentioned, "I won't die." She thought to herself inwardly when she ceased the sheets and this time holding in the pain and her screams, she took a deep breath and she pushed hard.

             "gods of dwarf, gods of earth, ice rain and fire, descend and take forth from your altar our humble offering." The Shaman pronounced while the storm getting worse in the room and her eyes closed she saw something.

             The Emperor Ningzong waited inside to be called while the Baby was being silenced at the moment the other child coming out the sky above the Palace darkened and thunder roared following the bright lightning that streaked about the sky Han Touzhou in his room saw it himself while Lin Xue was surprised as well by how brilliant it seemed.

              For a moment the sound of the thunder was too much and the Princess Qi'an anxious she turned to the Shaman.

              "What's happening?" She asked.

              "The gods refuse." She replied, "the gods disagree." She mentioned her eyes still closed.

              "What kind of joke is this?" She asked furiously.

             "She is a dragon." The shaman replied, "she is yet the mother of the dragon." She added, "her will is strong and unbreakable, that child that is born must ascend the throne." She muttered and the sky only getting more violent the midwife pulled from Yang Guifei's womb a child bearing on his right hand the similar blood mark that she heard and crying it's noise was eclipsed by that of the thunder roaring outside.

             "It's a boy Ma'am." The Midwife said as she brought the child closer to it's mother and Yang Guifei looking at him she could see Maha before her eyes while Xiaoyang was holding her first child.

              The Shaman opening her eyes the voodoo doll in her hands was immediately ignited by fire and burnt up in the presence of the Princess Qi'an who watched it being consumed she was frightened.

              "Forgive me Maha." She said as she looked at the boy in the midwife's hands and nodding at her she moved behind towards the wall where the others sliding the cupboard open they pushed the wall inside which opened like a door and behind it Bao Langya was waiting.

              "Send him to a good family that is part of the Imperial Clan." She mentioned as she took the child in the fabric bearing the blood mark on his right shoulder and handed it over to him.

              Cao Zhaoyi in her Chambers Linxiang rushed in.

              "Ma'am, Yang Guifei has delivered." She said and hearing this, the latter got up and she walked out of the room while Emperor Ningzong waiting outside the doors were opened and Manyin walked out at that moment.

              "Your Majesty may come in." She mentioned and the Emperor immediately rushing into the room that was nearly dark he caught sight of Yang Guifei who was lying on the bed with so much joy while the midwife holding the child in her hands she brought it and handed it over to the Emperor.

              "Congratulations Your Majesty, it's a little Prince." She mentioned while the Emperor smiled as he took it in his hands, he closed his eyes and whispered a prayer to the young Prince momentarily.

              "He will be blessed." He mentioned.

              "Yes Your Majesty." Yang Guifei replied with a smile on her face while the rest of the ladies of the harem gathering outside in the Courtyard, the Emperor made his way on top of the staircase in the presence of Eunuchs.

              "All you subjects of His Majesty, the Dynasty is blessed with the presence of a new member amongst us, worship and honour His Imperial Highness, the Prince Zhao Zeng." He said while everyone present bowed their heads and Cao Zhaoyi halting at the entrance of the Courtyard she couldn't believe her eyes.

              Bao Langya wearing the Imperial Prince that had been handed over to him he met Bo An halfway.

              "Langya?" He said to him.

              "It's now up to us." He replied while he revealed the baby to him.

              The guards of the Imperial State Tribunal and a couple of others in the Imperial guard waiting outside at the moment, Bao Langya charged out of the Palace on a red steed with the baby tied around him which they seemed to recognize immediately.

               "There's the Assassin." Xiang Mu shouted and at once they charged after him as well even those in the Palace were surprised with the noise as the man continued to ride West of the city towards the City gates that seemed abandoned.

               While he approached them like this, archers appeared on top of the battlements and another Capital Police force blocked off his exit as it was a very late hour.

               He halted his horse at once holding onto the baby that was around his chest while Officer Jiang stepped up in front of him.

              "I shall give you only one chance." He mentioned as he halted with the Imperial State Tribunal guards behind him.

               "How may I help you Your Excellency?" He asked.

               "It's already too late at night, automatically Her Grace must be aware, deliver to us what it is that you stole from the Palace or else we shall take you in as a criminal." He replied.

                "I don't understand what Your Excellency is saying." He muttered.

                "Of course you do." Officer Jiang replied.

                "I understand the law of this country Your Excellency much more than you do and I have a seal that allows me to move out of the capital, to slander me is just as big a crime and you can not take me in without any evidence." He said.

               "You have the evidence that we need." Officer Jiang replied and moving closer to him he unsheathed his sword.

               "You don't want to test my limits Your Excellency, even if you are a thousand of five thousand, I can take all of you." He said.

              "You are merely a junior Officer so what could you possibly do to me?" Officer Jiang asked and the latter looking at everyone of them he stepped down from his horse.

              "Here I am." He said and the Officer Jiang curious he raised his hand and Xiang Mu and a couple of others moved closer to check him he untied the fabric around his chest and opening it he poured all his uniforms onto the ground before them.

             The latter seemed shocked he got closer.

             "What more should I show Your Excellency?" He asked.

             "Where is it?" He asked as he ceased him by his collar.

             "Where is what?" Bao Langya inquired from him.

             "Don't fool me." Officer Jiang said.

             "I know not what Your Excellency is talking about." Bao Langya replied, "it seems to me as though Your Excellency has lost it though however I recall that His Majesty's life could be in jeopardy as there is already an assassin you haven't found." He reminded him.

             Officer Jiang letting go of him he was puzzled along with Xiang Mu.

             "The War Minister's residence." He muttered as he turned around and looked at the other troops.

             "Your Excellency won't find anything." Bao Langya said to him as he got closer, "you aren't the only one that has power to make someone appear and disappear without a trace." He said but the latter not hearing a thing he just moved away.

             Han Touzhou still impatiently waiting in his study Lan He walked in.

             "Your Excellency." He said as he bowed his head.

             "What happened to the Imperial physician?" He asked, "did they catch the baby?" He persistently inquired.

             "Forgive me Your Majesty, he vanished with his entire retinue of midwives without a trace, no one saw or heard a thing and His Majesty proclaimed to the world Yang Guifei's son to be the Imperial Prince Zhao Zeng." Lin Xue replied and Han Touzhou infuriated he ceased his forehead.

             "I wish to be alone." He said.

             "I'll have the others keep searching." Lin Xue replied before he got out of the room leaving the other devastated.

              Yang Guifei seated in the Grand Hall of her Palace, the concubines gathered they paid her their respects.

              The sun rising.

              "Congratulations Ma'am." They said as they bowed their heads.

             "At ease, I thank you all for looking after me." Yang Guifei said with a smile on her face.

              "You are blessed Ma'am, a Prince for our Dynasty surely the heavens must be great." Zhong Furen said.

              "I count myself blessed in deed." She replied as she looked at Cao Zhaoyi who was quietly sipping at her cup of tea.

              "How come you are speechless my Zhaoyi?" She asked.

              "I haven't been feeling well this morning." She replied.

              "It reminds me that I had made a couple of arrangements before you came, I shall send over some herbs so don't sulk and look well after yourself." She mentioned.

               "Thank you Ma'am." Cao Zhaoyi said as she bowed her heads and Yang Guifei looking at Xiaoyang she turned and faced the doors.

                "Come in." She ordered and at once a couple of Ladies in waiting marched into the room reaching up to each of the concubines in their hands they possessed a bowl of some dark concoction and right close to it was a white piece of silk fabric.

               Halting in front of Cao Zhaoyi her heart skipped a beat.

               "What is this Ma'am?" Zhong Furen asked.

               "It's wonderful white silk." She replied, "I had this special concoction brewed so don't worry, it's a wine I prepared myself and I give to you." She said as she personally had Manyin bring a bowl over to her and while they all watched, she took it into her hands with her baby and drank it.

              When she was done she smiled back at them.

              "What are you waiting for?" She asked when all the others complied and did the same after her.

              Cao Zhaoyi returning to her Chambers she felt uneasy and furious and sitting down she bit her teeth.

               "So this is what it is?" She said.

               "Don't exhaust yourself Ma'am." Linxiang replied.

               "She was openly intimidating me, a bowl of liquor that thick and a white piece of fabric, she was literally offering me a cup of poison or strangulation as another option." She said.

               "She's gotten so high because of that son of hers, I fear as I have heard she distributed gifts to all the members of other Palaces along with the Eunuchs and Ladies in waiting, they are also trying to curry favour with her." Linxiang muttered.

               "She's using that baby and we must get rid of it." She said.

               "How Ma'am?" Linxiang asked.

               "It's normal that not every child can survive infancy." Cao Zhaoyi remarked.

               Bo An with the baby hidden in his luggage which he had tied around his chest he got out through the city gates and climbing up the hill he stood on top and watched the capital from a distance as he embraced the baby.

               He pulled it out and looked at it while it slumbered peacefully.

               "You are one lucky child to keep your life." He said, "hopefully you'll find a wonderful wealthy family to look after you and you'd survive the strife of the Palace." He whispered to it.

               Yang Guifei in her room Xiaoyang walked right in.

               "Ma'am, Han Touzhou is here requesting to have an audience with you." She said.

               "Let him in." She replied happily and after a short while the old man appeared before her.

               "I heard that you wished to see me." She said to him.

               "A son right now, congratulations Ma'am, you are in deed very lucky." Han Touzhou replied and at that moment he sat down in front of her.

              "What can I tell you Your Excellency, this war is for the battle hardened." Yang Guifei replied and looking at Xiaoyang and Manyin they withdrew from the room and they left the two together.

             "What is too confidential that you wish to talk to me alone?" He asked.

             "It's obvious that Your Excellency has something you wish to tell me in Private and I am ready to listen." Yang Guifei replied.

             "An Imperial physician and a couple of midwives vanished within one night without a trace and it seems that I was informed beforehand that they were the ones supposed to work on you however no one seems to even bother questioning?" He said.

             "Your Excellency would know an affair of the Inner Court as far as my personal Chamber I am curious as well." She said.

             "What do you mean to say Ma'am?" He inquired.

             "If you seek them out surely you shall find them." She replied, "YĪNYÁNG SHĒNG ZHÀO LUÒ." She said.

             "Ma'am?" He said.

             "You must have known from that physician that there was a double pulse coming from my womb when he detected my slippery pulse and I also seemed to know much as he kept it a secret because it is my body." She replied.

             "So you are telling me all this?" Han Touzhou asked.

              "You wish to know if I delivered twins, yes, you wish to know if it were a boy or a girl, it was a very strong boy, but Your Excellency you know what it is I want." She mentioned and the latter crouched.

             "You wish to let the Empress back into this Palace as long as I am alive that won't happen and I wish to get as high as I possibly could all I need is one Prince and not an excess." She said to him as she smiled.

             "If you say so Ma'am, then you must be aware that I shall find......." He was still saying when she interfered.

             "Please do Your Excellency, turn the whole capital upside down I don't really mind whatever it is you do, I tell you one thing though and I hope you will not take it to heart, you won't find it even if you wished it's probably somewhere in the sea surely after a few years I trust that you shall quit." She said.

              "Would you really do anything for that power?" Han Touzhou asked.

              "Your Excellency has sacrificed so much equally for that power I didn't really have to care even if my blood flowed through his veins even once because this world is too small to contain the both of us one had to die." Yang Guifei replied.

              "You are truly despicable." Han Touzhou remarked.

             "Politics is for the heartless Your Excellency and I am one of those, this is my resolve and my game and anyone can get done with it but only I can say that it is done." Yang Guifei replied as she smiled at him ghastly.

             Han Touzhou descending the stairs of Yuxiangling Palace Lin Xue walked up to him.

             "What's wrong Your Excellency?" He asked.

             "There's no use searching for the baby." He said.

             "What's wrong Your Excellency?" He asked.

             "I saw it in her eyes." He replied, "she's no longer human." He said.

             "What does Your Excellency mean?" Lin Xue inquired.

             "It must be someone in the sea already being eaten by the fish, and slowly she'll forget him as long as she gets what she wants, no one will know, all her allies and her foes, we'll walk with it to our graves and the others will simply never know of it." Han Touzhou replied.

             " Could she really be as heartless?" Lin Xue asked.

            "It makes her invincible." He replied as he continued his way.

             Yang Guifei seated in her Chambers Manyin walked in before her.

             "Ma'am?" She said.

             "Where's Bo An?" She asked.

             "He has not yet surfaced." She replied and the latter held her chest painfully while she leaned onto the table.

            "Don't worry Ma'am, sooner or later he shall turn up." Manyin mentioned.

             "I can not let this weaken me." She said as she raised her eyes up towards her.

             "I heard that the Empress' health has greatly declined?" She said.

              "Yes Ma'am, we have weakened her at last." Manyin replied.

              "I already have two Imperial sons Zhao Xun and Zhao Zeng, this country doesn't need a Noble Consort what it needs is an Empress." She said.

              "Ma'am?" Manyin showed a hint of protest.

              "The Empress Han has already lived long enough, now it is I, Yang Guifei's turn to reign." She said as she smiled at herself and stood up.

             "Let's go pay Her Highness a visit." She ordered as she charged out of her room.

            The Empress Han quietly seated in her room had lost so much weight while her eyes looked through a letter that had been written to her from her son.

            "Your Highness, it is I." Shaanxi said.

            "Come in." The Empress replied and she made her way into her presence.

            "What is it?" She asked.

            "Your Highness, Yang Guifei........" She hesitated.

            "What about her?" She asked when the arrogant woman flung the doors open and walked in before her.

            "How dare you?" Shaanxi demanded.

            "Your Highness." She greeted instead bowing her head as she sat down in front of the Empress Han.

            "What are you doing here Guifei?" She inquired.

            "What do you think Your Highness?" Yang Guifei said and the Empress looking at Shaanxi, she withdrew from the room.

            "It's been a long while surely you wished to see how miserable I look in this prison you put me." The Empress Han remarked.

             "Isn't it so beautiful Your Highness?" She asked.

             "What would you think in my shoes Ma'am?" She asked.

             "I wouldn't bother." Yang Guifei replied as she slightly leaned her face over, "that place Your Highness, is beneath me." She whispered sitting upright again.

             "Now that you glance upon me it must surely be pleasure that you find, all in all I tell you are lively even in your thoughts, such must be the tragic end of all those that choose to repress you." She said.

              "Pleased Your Highness, Yes, your tragedy to me in deed is a most remarkable spectre, however I trust that had the scene in that Hall be reversed that very day, doubtlessly, our roles would have changed the same today." Yang Guifei remarked.

              "I still wonder how hard you played the game." She said.

              "I knew that you wanted my baby dead, I literally let you kill my own child at least you thought and when you sent that physician in my room to check my pulse, it was my face he saw but on top of me and under the sheets it was Manyin." She replied.

              "How smart of you." The Empress remarked.

              "I have Your Highness to thank, your departure was one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me." She said.

              "And you sought me out to tell me this?" Empress Han inquired.

              "I heard of Your Highness' ill health and felt merely concerned." She replied.

              "You denied me medical assistance from the Imperial physicians there's no need to fake your charity and unnecessary sympathies for this ailing woman." The Empress muttered.

             "And why is it that I would be that gracious especially with Your Highness?" She asked.

             "Must I have been mistaken Ma'am?" She responded with curiosity while in silence Yang Guifei took a small crimson bottle from underneath her sleeves and placing it on the table between the two of them, she slid it into the centre as the Empress watched.

              "What is this Ma'am?" She asked.

              "Poison." The latter replied.

              "You must have lost your mind Guifei." Empress Han remarked.

              "No Your Highness." Yang Guifei firmly stated, "I want you dead." She confidently said and the Empress puzzled she smacked the table in front of her.

              "What?" She asked aloud.

              "You heard me Your Majesty, I want you dead and gone." Yang Guifei replied, "what use is your life when at the end you are another corpse that will rot and cease to exist?" She added firmly.

              "And I suppose you are here to kill me, isn't it?" She asked.

              "I won't do anything Your Highness," Yang Guifei informed her, "you will do as I ask." She stated.

              "Ma'am.....?" The Empress still speaking she cut her off.

              "You have only twenty four hours Your Highness to take your life." She made it clear to her.

              "And if I don't Guifei, what's the very worst that you and your supporters can do to me?" She inquired.

             "It's either you Your Highness or the Crown Prince, remember my dear, my proximity to him beats yours and of course, I see your every action and hear your every word a single attempt to disobedience Your Highness or perhaps trying to act wise shall only push me to haste which is sufficient I trust to make you disdain the obvious aftermath." She responded.

             "What do you hope to achieve by doing this Ma'am?" Empress Han asked.

             "Everything Your Highness, your power and your position, the world and everything in it that is seen and unseen." She replied.

              "What wrong have I ever done you, what is it that made you hate me so much?" She asked.

              "Do you really not know Your Highness?" Yang Guifei inquired and the young woman responded with silence immediately that she turned her head and looked to the side.

              "Maha I tell you Your Highness was my one and only son, he was the only precious thing that I still had left in the world yet Your Highness more daring sent those men to butcher him I can't help but wonder what that guiltless little child ever did to you." She confessed.

              "You knew after all." The Empress Han muttered in disappointment.

              "You wouldn't hide it for good Your Highness, the stones and trees along with the wind all whispered your name and I heard it but sadly, it was not my son's first word, not his final breath." Yang Guifei mentioned.

              "And this therefore to you Ma'am is my absolution?" She asked.

              "Because you are the Empress, because if perhaps you had taken my life not once would I have resented you perhaps I trusted, wealthier people might have raised and loved him enough to give him a good life." Yang Guifei replied.

              "But in the end such is motherhood, for my son I would butcher all the men in the world, a rewind in time wouldn't be too late but still it wouldn't be a chance I'd use to change anything." The Empress Han muttered.

             "And before me you bow Your Highness, it is because I lived through all that my heart tirelessly thirsted for nothing more than your destruction, it evolved into my greatest desire, my sole purpose and only ambition in existence." She said.

             "In the end it is a game I started." The Empress confessed.

             "Therefore it must be Your Highness to conclude it as my conflict isn't with the Crown Prince but with you, don't heed my advice I pray as I promise you like me shall feel the pain of losing a child." Yang Guifei stated.

             "If I do it, you won't harm the Crown Prince." The Empress Han broke.

             "That depends on you Your Highness, his fate will be sealed not by me but your individual resolve." She said as she stood up in front of her and bowed her head to her.

             "I told you Your Highness, even if you gathered the voices of all the men in the world, their plea would never eclipse my whisper." She reminded her as she turned around and she walked out of the room and left the troubled Empress alone.

              Yang Guifei stepping outside the small ugly building she closed her eyes and taking a deep breath she sighed as she turned back and looked behind.

              The Empress Han still looking at the bottle on her table the words that Yang Guifei had mentioned to her lingered in her ears.

             "Shaanxi?" She called while the latter walked in.

             "Yes Your Highness?" She replied as she walked in.

             "How much food have we left?" She asked.

             "It can only take us through the night." She said.

             "Prepare me some Mengding tea." Empress Han said.

             "Yes Your Highness." Shaanxi replied as she withdrew from the room.

             The Crown Prince Zhao Jun uneasy in his room one of his ladies in waiting walked in with an envelope. 

             "Your Highness." She said bowing her head to him while he reached out and grabbed it from her and opening it she looked through its contents.

             For a moment his eyes became teary and his heart ached bitterly while he folded it when Liu Zhan managed to walk in.

            "What's the problem Your Highness?" She asked.

             "I need to speak to Yang Guifei." He said, "My mother isn't doing well and she's refused to send Imperial physicians out of the Palace that I need to speak to her." She mentioned.

             "She isn't in the Palace." Liu Zhan said, "she went to the temple." She informed him.

            "I can wait." The Prince persisted and immediately the latter rather worried didn't bother to stop him as he got up from where he was seated and he walked out of the room while the Crown Princess Cao Xuan in the gardens she noticed him exiting his hall.

             "What do you think His Highness is going to do?" Her lady in waiting inquired.

             "I don't know." The Crown Princess replied.

              Yang Guifei walking towards her residence she caught sight of the Crown Prince when she halted in his footsteps.

               "Where is he going Ma'am?" Xiaoyang inquired.

              "Where else?" She asked.

              "What do we do Ma'am, you can't avoid him for good." Manyin said.

              "I won't." She replied as she charged after him and the Prince making his way into her Courtyard he mounted the stairs that led to her Palace but was cut off by a couple of Ladies in waiting.

              "How may we be of help Your Highness?" They asked.

              "I am requesting an audience with Her Grace." Crown Prince Zhao Jun replied.

              "She's not around Your Excellency." The women replied when all of a sudden appearing through the gates the young woman made her way in.

               "What are you doing here Your Highness?" She asked as she bowed her head to him while he did the same.

               "There's something that I wish to talk to you about Ma'am." He replied while she smiled at him and leading the way into her room she moved to her table and sat down while the Crown Prince remained standing in front of her.

              "Won't you have a seat?" She asked.

              "No Ma'am." He replied.

             "Your Highness is here to see me you said?" She asked.

             "Yes Ma'am." He replied.

             "What is it?" She asked.

             "First send the others away." He muttered and Yang Guifei looking at Manyin and Xiaoyang they withdrew from the room at once.

             "I have sent them away as you wished Your Highness." She said, "what is it that you wish to say to me in Private?" She asked

             "Please save my mother." Crown Prince Zhao Jun said.

             "What?" Yang Guifei asked.

             "Please save my mother I beg you." The Crown Prince replied again in bitter tears.