Yeah, my idea of having the imperial physician declare that the emperor is impotent and thus must adopt an heir is not gonna work bc then the obvious solution is not "adopt someone outside the bloodline" but "have the princess birth an heir"... which doesn't work bc said princess is also facing the same issue with having kids as the emperor, and it sure ain't impotence.You do need to figure out a solution to the whole babies issue at some point. Concubines isn't it because you can't impregnate them, but the same is true of your wife.
Furthermore, the most obvious adoptive hedr for you (General Tantai Lan) shares her issue with producing an heir. Adopting her as an heir merely kicks the can down the road. It doesn't solve the problem.
She needs to adopt regardless to keep the dynasty standing and ruling, preferably someone straight too but I don't think the story will touch that and will just push it to the side and forget about itYeah, my idea of having the imperial physician declare that the emperor is impotent and thus must adopt an heir is not gonna work bc then the obvious solution is not "adopt someone outside the bloodline" but "have the princess birth an heir"... which doesn't work bc said princess is also facing the same issue with having kids as the emperor, and it sure ain't impotence.
Adoption isn't the only solution. There's also the solution of getting the empress a secret male concubine to knock her up then telling everyone that the emperor did that.She needs to adopt regardless to keep the dynasty standing and ruling, preferably someone straight too but I don't think the story will touch that and will just push it to the side and forget about it
Yeah we know that ain't going to happen, too many readers would lose their mindAdoption isn't the only solution. There's also the solution of getting the empress a secret male concubine to knock her up then telling everyone that the emperor did that.
Tho maybe the best solution is secretly adopting an infant orphan after a faked pregnancy for the empress.