1 The Fall of Fu An (1)

It is said that in the eyes of the young emperor,

there exist two kinds of people in the world;

Those she does not like,

and those that she has not met.

-Biography of the Youngest Emperor of Fu An

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The country was under siege. The common people had either floundered messily out of their wooden homes, tripping over their own two feet to escape the incoming onslaught of soldiers in steel armours or their carcasses had already littered the streets⸺ man, women, the old and the young alike. The soldiers came from several different paths but are moving towards the same direction, to the middle of the city, Fu An's grand palace whilst slaughtering everyone in their paths with steel swords.

Inside the palace the situation was dire, the courtiers who were summoned early morning by the Empress Dowager for an emergency meeting grew frantic with every moment with no solution at hand despite military vessels floundering incessantly every ten minutes baring news of one infiltrated military bases after another. The sky was covered anomalously by dark clouds, yet there were no signs of rain, it is as if the sun is hiding; an indication of a bad omen.

The empress dowager had woken up with a cold start the very morning before the break of dawn, her inner garment clang to her figure with sweat. Feeling all sorts of unease, she had summoned her maids in her haziness only to find her summons unanswered. Instead, it was the palace eunuch who had come up in haste informing her that the chief palace guard had requested an urgent meeting. Alarms rang in her head. "Get the emperor," the dowager chocked.

By the time it took two incense stick to burn, the emperor has yet to be seen but the court was full of worried scholars and generals with knitted brows, some with red cheeks whose chests fueled with anger as they debated back and forth on what the right course of action would be.

"I say we send one of our great generals to take hold of the situation. These bastards from the foreign country dare to plunder our Great Fu An, we should set an example and teach these scoundrels which is the sky and which is the dirt." A scholar said.

"Which general are you talking about? Most of them are already dead! We're screwed. Send our diplomats to negotiate terms." Another spoke.

"You want Fu An to lose face in front of all other small countries? How can we hold our heads up when news spreads that we cower before barbarians? A man must have dignity."

"Arrogance invites ruin, humility receives benefits. What is the point of dignity when we are already six feet under?"

"Which country ever attacks first and negotiates later? If they can be swayed by words in the first place they wouldn't have persisted to come with such aggression."

"How rowdy," a small voice, undoubtedly female and young, echoed through the court hall and like a domino effect the courtiers immediately quietened down into low whispers. Because the hall was so quiet, her footsteps rang clearly in the ears of the courtiers as she made her way to the incline of the throne before she comfortably sits herself on it. The courtiers' eyes gleamed as they saw her, like seeing a wooden boat in the middle of a deserted island and the sea of uniformly dressed scholars parted ways to create a clear path for her.

The child was short, shorter than the shortest person in the room by at least a head, yet her presence was the strongest and her position the highest⸺ Fu An's only female monarch Ru Yi. As soon as her figure landed on the throne which seemed to envelop her meagre size, another military report came in. The soldier who came in came up to the front of the crowd, bent his waist and cupped his hands to give a proper salute.

"Your Majesty. They have arrived at the palace gates." Despite the catastrophe, it was inside and outside the palace walls, the soldier was composed and his words concise.

"So noisy," the young emperor's plain lack of interest was evident in his tone. The scholars started to sweat. Their emperor was anything but unreliable but her temperament was hard to predict; like a bow pulled taut at the end of the string. If they could describe it, it would be like the silent sharpness of a blade unsheathed from its scabbard before striking down on her enemies silently. Her mood is able to change rapidly like the turning of one's hands. On her good days, she would only kill those who offended her eyes, on her bad days she'll kill all the seven generations.

The same applies to how she governs. Despite her young age, no one has ever dared to treat her as a child, not even the empress dowager. No child is ever as dangerous as this one.

The soldier waited several seconds and with no further response from the one on the throne, he had to ask, "Your Majesty, your orders?"

The young emperor looked him in the eye, she stood straight languid with her head tilted to one side, "Open the gates," she said with carelessness as if someone had just asked her what head-dress she would like to wear.

Sharp intakes of breaths could be heard and murmurs grew in volume. Several imploring callings of "Your Majesty" could be heard repeatedly.

The prime minister stepped up with haste. "Your Majesty, if we open the gates now, the barbarians will come in and we'll be done for."

Ru Yi snickered a little as though she found his words funny, the arc of her mouth tilting as she spoke the words that let the people in the room's blood turn blue, "I know. I let them come."

The prime minister's chest undulated, his old body staggering backwards. "By gods!... Why?"

The emperor as if pondering over his question hummed, "hmmm, why indeed?"

"What will become of us?" A frantic scholar shouted.

"Through glory, and through hardships, we will stay with our monarch. Never to betray, only offer our absolute heartfelt loyalty. May heaven be our witness. Is that not what you promised Us?" Ru Yi recited word for word of their oath. It was a verbatim recital of the minister's oath.