Ling Ran's next words further confirmed her guess.

“In the past, the world was in chaos and the people were suffering. The late emperor came from a humble background. His parents starved to death one after another, and he also became a beggar. Later, when he had nowhere else to go, he joined the rebel army.

Unexpectedly, the late emperor was destined by Heaven. He fought his way through the south and north and ascended the throne. However, the crown prince died young, and the emperor, a white-haired man, had to bury his black-haired son. Instead of choosing a new crown prince, he appointed the crown prince's son, who became the new emperor, as the imperial grandson.

In July of this year, the late emperor passed away, and the new emperor ascended the throne.

Shui Qing remembered that Fan Jin had told her before that this dynasty was the Ming Dynasty, and the royal family's surname was Zhu. In order to find out if it was a dynasty she was familiar with, she specifically asked which characters and confirmed it several times.

She initially thought it was a fictional dynasty, since there was no Ming Dynasty in Chinese history.

It seems that the novels written by the ancients also avoided mentioning the emperors of dynasties and fabricated dynasty names and royal surnames, but they did not completely break away from them!

The historical events are pretty much the same.

However, if the historical course is similar, then it's a good thing that she knows a little about what happened next.

Good heavens, knowing in advance how things would develop—isn't that a benefit to her?

"The strength of the King of Yan is not only reflected in the large territory, large population, and abundant food supplies, but also in the most important aspect..."

Shui Qing silently added in her mind: Most importantly, he is a skilled and courageous warrior!

Having followed the late emperor in conquering the land, it is no exaggeration to say that half of the empire now occupied by the new emperor was won by Prince Yan!

However, he was never on the list of those to succeed the late emperor.

Ling Ran continued, "The King of Yan is a brilliant military strategist and a genius at leading troops! He conquered half of the world, and the new emperor's path is too smooth."

The late emperor had previously worried that he wouldn't be able to hold the throne securely, so he killed many meritorious generals to pave the way for him. His intention was to prevent these generals from becoming too powerful. Now that the external threats are gone, if the reduction of the power of the princes forces them to rebel, the new emperor will have no generals to command.

Fan Jin was stunned. His mouth gaped open, and he stammered, "Is it acceptable to kill a meritorious official just because you're afraid he won't be able to sit still?"

Ling Ran's lips curled into a smile, his face displaying a coldness beyond his years: "Why not? The imperial road is paved with blood for thousands of miles. Which emperor didn't climb it by stepping on countless bones?"

In the eyes of emperors, everyone who threatens imperial power must die. Whether they rebel or not is not so important; what matters is that they have the ability to rebel.

Fan Jin frowned upon hearing this, clearly disapproving.

However, he also knew that whether he agreed or not was useless; this was the art of rulership, something that a mere scholar like him could neither understand nor contend with.

Shui Qing accepted it very quickly.

When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked; when the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away. This has been the case in every dynasty.

Fan Jin frowned and asked the most important question: "Is this Prince Yan very powerful? If he is so powerful and has conquered a large territory, why didn't the late emperor pass the throne directly to him?"

Wouldn't that eliminate concerns about the new emperor's stability? And with the Prince of Yan able to intimidate the court officials and military generals, wouldn't it avoid killing meritorious officials?

Ling Ran knew that his Uncle Fan felt sorry for those meritorious officials and thought they shouldn't be treated like that.

Since ancient times, generals have been like beauties, and they are not allowed to grow old in the world.

Very few people are willing to give up power. For those generals who conquered the world, relinquishing military power and retiring to seclusion is the true way to retire after achieving success. Unfortunately, such people are few and far between.

“The Prince of Yan was never the one to inherit the throne. It was not only because he was the fourth son with several older brothers, but also because he was not born to the late Empress. The late Emperor believed that the only person who could rule the world was his and the late Empress’s child.”

Another reason was that the late emperor had an inexplicable fondness for the crown prince, so after the crown prince's death, he directly appointed the crown prince's son as the imperial grandson, without selecting another crown prince.

Shui Qing agreed with what Ling Ran said.