"You may dispense with the formalities, Grand Commander. I was actually waiting for you here."
Yang Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly: "Is it because of His Majesty's matter? Please forgive me for being unable to help with this. It's not appropriate for an outsider like me to interfere in matters of the inner palace."
Empress Dowager Wanchun shook her head and said, "Grand Commander, you have misunderstood me. How could the petty palace intrigues of the women in the harem be of any interest to you, Grand Commander?"
Your ambition lies in the world; the rise and fall of the world is what you should be concerned about, not a small place like the harem.
Moreover, it was I who voluntarily relinquished the Empress Dowager's regency; otherwise, how could she possibly have shaken my position?
However, she is, after all, the emperor's mother, and mother and son are of one heart. Even if I forcibly suppress them, who knows what might happen in the future? It would be better to back down.
The emperor is too young, and that woman has too narrow a perspective.
I have come to see the Grand Commander today only to have one thing to say to you.
That is, no matter what happens in the future, I hope that you, Grand Commander, will continue to help my Great Zhou.
The emperor cannot represent the Great Zhou Dynasty, and neither can Empress Zhang, that woman, represent the Great Zhou Dynasty.
On behalf of the people of my Great Zhou, I thank the Grand Commander.
"I hope that you, Grand Commander, will not allow my Great Zhou to be completely engulfed in war."
With that, Empress Dowager Wanchun bowed to Yang Cheng and left immediately before he could say anything.
Yang Cheng looked at Empress Dowager Wan Chun's retreating figure, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes.
He really underestimated this former empress dowager, now the grand empress dowager.
The infighting in the imperial harem is indeed petty and utterly boring.
Empress Dowager Wan Chun served as empress dowager for decades, and her foundation within the palace was incredibly solid, as was her position outside the palace.
Empress Dowager Zhang was never even an empress; she was just an unfavored concubine before. What kind of foundation could she possibly have?
She was just lucky; she became Empress Dowager because of her son's status.
If it really came down to a fight, she would be no match for Empress Dowager Wanchun.
The problem is that the emperor is Zhou Yuan, the biological son of Empress Dowager Zhang.
Even if Empress Dowager Wanchun defeats Empress Dowager Zhang, what then? She only incurs the emperor's resentment for nothing.
So she simply backed down and stopped caring about all this messy stuff.
However, she still cared about the Great Zhou Dynasty and was afraid that the already crumbling Great Zhou court would be ruined by this mother and son, which is why she came to see Yang Cheng and said these words.
It could even be said that, for the Great Zhou Dynasty, Empress Dowager Wan Chun was far more responsible than Emperors Zhou Heng and Zhou Yuan.
Yang Cheng shook his head slightly and turned to leave the palace.
Recently, he has been preparing to study the information on the Thirty-Six Great Bandits, which is all detailed information given to him by Chu Qiu and Huang Qi.
He anticipated that the thirty-six bandits would definitely attack him next. Although he was not afraid, he still needed to prepare in advance.
And just as Yang Cheng had predicted, when Chu Qiu and Huang Qi returned to the Juyi Hall at Tianwang Mountain in Shanyang County, they found that the entire Juyi Hall was already covered in white mourning clothes.
Upon seeing that Huang Qi and Chu Qiu had returned, Zuo Yuan immediately led the other bandits out quickly.
The news of the complete annihilation of the Thirty-Six Great Bandits who attacked the capital must have spread faster than Chu Qiu and Huang Qi could walk.
Upon hearing this news, Zuo Yuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
He was confident in Kuanglong Xuanyuan's strength; his second brother was powerful and had almost no weaknesses.
Therefore, even if he couldn't defeat Yang Cheng, he could still escape unscathed with his help, and he reaped quite a lot of spoils along the way.
But he never expected that his sixteen brothers, plus nearly 100,000 elite troops, would be wiped out by Yang Cheng!
He had just begun the funeral arrangements for his brothers when he heard that Chu Qiu and Huang Qi had actually returned, which greatly surprised him.
"News from the imperial court says you were all killed by Yang Cheng, weren't you? What's going on now? Are there any other brothers still alive?"
Chu Qiu and Huang Qi were rushing on their way, partly pretending and partly genuine, both looking incredibly disheveled and miserable.
Upon hearing this, Huang Qi squeezed out a few tears and choked out, "Chu Qiu and I almost died at Yang Cheng's hands."
But at the crucial moment, I used the Ghost Mask to possess a dead soldier and impersonate myself and Chu Qiu, thus deceiving Yang Cheng. Then Chu Qiu conjured up the Azure Bird Beast to help me escape, and that's how we managed to save our lives.
"Boss, you must avenge our other brothers!"
Everyone knows Huang Qi and Chu Qiu's abilities; although they aren't very strong, they are quite effective when escaping for their lives.
So for the time being, no one had any doubts, but they were anxiously asking what exactly happened in that battle.
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