Dr Ghost

again you are speaking from lack of knowledge, Imperial guards were Elite troops but they were few in number and 3000 at max and the city garrison is usually around 40,000 and these are inert troops who have not fought a real battle in their life.
The entire Northern army would be around 200,000 to 400,000 and its a battle-hardened army, who have to regularly fight invaders in the North....again you lack knowledge, in An Shi rebellion his battle hardened 300,000 from just one commandeer defeated 800,000 strong inert armies in the country.
You keep mentioning Genral Wu "Over and Over again", like he has any power. MaM ML was there for 10 years, he personally trained all the people serving there, fought wars with them and did everything with them.
General Wu has power for less than 1 year after ML left and even he is ML best friend....going by Chinese history and cdramaland logic, Northern army will not only serve ML like their ultimate emperor but also his children and they will not stop unless, any men of ML line is alive.
What I have been saying has happened multiple times in history and is very realistic !

at that time, he had a son and good life but when he will be on his death bed or near death...people start to dream about stupid things like legacy and that's when he will force ML.

Lets be real here, he is 30 and lacks acting skills....at his Luo Yan Xi was top of his game.

I am more afraid of the "General daughter story" emperor told the ML, it sound awfully similar to ML mom and her family fate. I really hope that bastard don't pull out, you are my "Son" card and force ML to life imprisonment in the name of taking the throne.
Hua Zi don't make any stupid decision to compensate the shen family by marrying that trash SML.....like dude at this point, just tell them it was trash "Father and grandfather" and emperor will probably believe them.
As for FL, her family also did lot of stupid things but she can't expect him to betray his uncle and also the paramount power in country.....leading to Hua clan execution.
Needless to say, he is not done with FL and seeing ML sad face. He will imprison her in pace to control ML !

Yeah both FL's are carrying the drama and ML's suck ass including ML, he need to up his acting game a lot. FL literally tried to make some sort of chemistry, but he is like a stone.

They are all great drama's and I definitely missed out on LYF cuz of my negative views about her. The crazy thing a lot of well-respected with taste similar to mine were watching and loving it.

He is a tyrant and military usually don't interfere in the imperial family business unless they are specially ordered too by secret imperial decree. You forget an important detail here, armies are not allowed to roam free in the country, usually they are assigned there place and if they make any move without permission, it raises alarm and armies are definitely allowed to make a move on capital.
So if ML is to make a move on capital with army amassed by Emperor to crush the rebellion, nobody will stop him and no general will leave his post to get trailed for betrayal.
Soldiers are loyal to their commander, who trained them, fought alongside them on battlefield, gave them their pay and when they were stuck in enemy territory....lead cavalry charges to save them....to them, commander is everything and he can literally told them. Emperor is being held hostage and they will never question it. As for ML father failed rebellion, he was an idiot and I bet his own commanders betrayed him and leaked the info.....ML is different, he use to lead his army in the North. During his father time, emperor was normal but now he has become extremely cruel, Shen family picked a side and they deserved that......but Hua family was normal and he refused to pick a side and they got "F@cked" anyway.
Hua family was like leader of all ministers/scholars and well respected in entire country, well known for being neutral. So emperor has definitely lost points.
Common people opinion in China during that time, rarely mattered above anything and one crazy general can do anything. Take Three Kingdom era for instance, Cao Cao murdered the pregnant queen in front of all the court and the capital populace cuz he wanted to kill the child, stop Han family line. It was not like, he was any good or people were prosperous. They were suffering EXTREMLY BAD under Cao Cao but they let him do it, in front of everybody in event arranged to do it.
My point is ML has the clout and the power, with his background and Empress Dowager backing "legitimacy" to do it. He just want to avoid being imprisoned to that throne room forever and he knows his G.f likes freedom.

I don't know how much experience you have with Chinese drama's and history in general, first soldiers are not loyal to Emperor throughout the chinese history. They are loyal to their generals and quiet frequently, they followed them to the capital to massacre the royal family.
Secondly people hate Emperor cuz in first episode, we clearly saw the fear mongering and the beating "security Breau" did in the street, without any fear or the rule of the law. Masses only know a cruel king, whose people openly use to subjugate and terrorize them.
Secondly if I remember correctly Emperor is not empress dowager son, ML father was and he has been actively working against her for a long time. Court officials don't know that, ML work in security agency. They only a member of the royal family, who was endorsed by the old emperor and they will side with him to dethrone the cruel bastard, like they did with the Lord Xian.
No crown prince ever in history has direct military power but majority of them, quiet successfully dethroned emperors, do you know why?
cuz they don't care and between the Emperor and the prince, who use to lead the soldiers. They will pick one of their own and its ML.....you forget ML is commander of security Breau and he has files on everybody including "Generals and court ministers", who he can use to threaten anybody important in the empire...including generals and ministers.

Lastly, I never said ML is going to rebel now....according to the old synopsis, there is going to be war and ML will be send there with army to deal with it. When he will return, the army will be with him under his direct command and he can quiet easily make a move on capital before anybody realise, what's going on in the capital.
ML as commander is the eyes and ears of the Emperor, he will see what he wants him to see and he can use it to do anything like making false claims and getting loyal general demoted to be replaced by his men.

I am just happy for Yang Zi and the decisions she had made for her career and life, the first thing I saw of her was the "Oath of Love" and found that, she has the capability and range but acts like a child, like majority of cdrama actress and it looks even worse for her cuz she kind of looks like a mature woman (I am not dissing, just an observation).
Then I found "Go Go squid" and hated it for same reason and dropped it immediately, and for the longest time I was biased against her, and refused to watch anything of her.....Fast forward to 2024, I had nothing to watch, picked up Lover endures and liked what I saw.
I am happy instead of doing to these idol dramas and childish roles, she decided to use her acting range and portray complex characters, that makes her stand out from rest of the crowd. I know she has advantages in her looks department cuz she has "girl next door" looks and it gives her ability to morph into variety of characters and make them believable. (again I like her physical appearance a lot)
Ex (and its only a example), other actress like Dilruba/Dilraba for instance suffer from their looks cuz she can't pull that off.....it looks ludicrous, that woman like her would be single at 30 and multitude of men around her won't be making moves.

Emperor sheltered his other sons from the outside world and caged them in the royal palace but unfortunately for him ML has been outside and use to lead/friends the army in the North. So, if it come to push ML decided to take drastic steps, he is done for.
Nobody will stand up for him cuz his own court hates him, ML has military experience, Empress Dowager will stand with ML.....if makes a move on court, his ministers and Empress Dowager will back him. Which is very important cuz he will obtain legitimacy and that's is very important for long stable rule....but I reckon ML will only rule as Regent, until the sixth prince comes of the age.

Judging by the reviews, she did some "F up" shit in next two episodes, which made FL suffer critical loses in hotel.
God help us and knock her out for reminder of episodes !

They atleast save their children from harms away, that wile piece of shit is forcing their son to apologize to people. Who use to bully her !

What a terrible piece of shit mother?
They beat your son and now you are doing this, FL should interfere, kick them out and make them pay for the hotel stay. If that trash uncle tries to become physical again, ML should beat the shit out of him.
She don't care about FL, she is just a demon spawn there to ruin their life for good, more akin to a parasite leech which has attached herself with her and snake which eats his own tail to survive. FL brought it upon herself by coming home and forgiving that trash mother.

Do they sound similar in Mandarin?
as a native Chinese speaker, I concede you are most probably right about this, but its highly unlikely ML maternal family would be alive but they could add in details about "old rebellion".
I suspect current Emperor killed the old emperor for throne cuz he was going to appoint ML father/Empress Dowager son as crown prince, knowing this ML father rebelled with the support of his mother but lost the war.
The upcoming war and the amount of military power/prestige ML gains won by winning the war will decide the villain.

No its "normal Sugar mommy/Noona" romance !

That's the effect, directors were looking for !
He is so good even audience don't detect and see him (I am joking) but in original synopsis, there was the mention of war and ML leaving for it and proposing to FL before that.
4) I think I remember ML and Emperor mentioning, Zhou is a whole ass nation on the northern border. ML went to the northern city (in which FL family are exiled) and his friend is the border garrison general, defending the country from invaders (by I could be wrong).
So if 4) was ML maternal family, it was very very stupid of the Emperor to send the Imperial family relative to the northern border near his family members, who will invade and install him on the throne.

It gota be 3) cuz he has ministers in court !

He is supposed to act like a dog, so I believe it !

1) He is said to be mentally unstable or something like this but 3) was present in the first episode and we were told, these two princes are fighting for the throne and court is divided between them.
3) have half of the minister on his side and he could be cahoots with 4). Zhou will create distraction on the border, forcing emperor to send ML to the north to stabilize the situation and fight the war and this will give 3) the opportunity to rebel.

1) remembers that old Emperor use to favour ML and wants to put him on the throne. Emperor killed his three brothers for the throne (according to the ML), so 6) could be FL secret parental family cuz its possible Empress Dowager asked her Hua grandmother friend to adopt the daughter to save her from Emperor wrath.

Too reiterate, its probably 3) cuz even in todays episode, emperor was told prince hui or something was waiting outside (in scene when emperor was hallucinating her Lord xing kill him again). We only have evidence for 3) from first and today's episode and his mother (concubine) was also involved.

He did to tried to rebel and was actively trying to get paramount intelligence officer of country killed, so I wouldn't call him innocent cuz he had to just wait out Emperor death.

I hope Mr Bai gets to explain himself before ML and security bureau gets to him, poor Fudong nothing goes her way, now even her fiancé may get abducted and beaten on his proposal day.