Work overtime

Chapter 716

Jiang Yuebai took the initiative to offer to detoxify other concubines, firstly to show his concern, and secondly to express his stance.

Li Beichen stroked Jiang Yuebai's fingers, "Qi Wanyi and Concubine Xie are unstable, and we don't know what will happen. Qi Wanyi's father is now the prime minister, and Concubine Xie's father is the commander of Shaanxi Province, holding military power and guarding the northwest. You know Shaanxi Province, right? It is the largest administrative region in the country. And Concubine An and Concubine Fang are the same, they all have concerns."

He stopped there, believing that Jiang Yuebai could understand the hidden considerations.

If the disease had occurred slowly, there would be a reasonable explanation, but if it had died suddenly in Wutong Pavilion, it might have caused a lot of suspicion and brought unnecessary turmoil.

Jiang Yuebai understood Li Beichen's considerations, "I see. I understand."

She understood that in the former dynasty and the harem, one move would affect the entire body, and no matter which way she went, some people would be sacrificed, and these people might be innocent.

Therefore, every step must be taken into account of the current situation, and the consequences must be considered for everything, leaving some wiggle room. It is not simply a matter of the life of a concubine.

She thought to herself, if we follow this logic, then Jiang Changzai, whose identity has never been revealed, was either of low birth like Wei Cairen, so her death would have little impact, or she was one of the emperor's own people, so her death could be completely covered up.

Li Beichen thought about what would happen if he left suddenly, and couldn't help but say a few more words:

"It has been said since ancient times that a merciful army cannot be commanded. The most difficult thing is to make decisions. If sacrificing a small number of people can stabilize the overall situation and is beneficial to the overall situation, you must be able to be ruthless. If you really can't bear to kill people, just treat this as a strategy management game. They are all paper people. Your goal is to win, sit firmly in your position, and let the country develop in the direction you envision."

"If that's the case, why don't you kill a thousand civilians to save your life. They are all paper people anyway." Jiang Yuebai asked back.

Li Beichen couldn't help laughing, "You clever fellow. You see through everything. Everyone has something they insist on. For me, it means not killing innocent people indiscriminately. There is a fundamental difference between that and having to kill."

Jiang Yuebai took the opportunity to offer to borrow the emperor's birthday to dispel Li Beichen's suspicion, "So you are a good emperor, and I can't do without you. On the fifteenth of next month, let Lord Yuan preside over the birthday ceremony."

The emperor did not seem to treat her as an outsider, but she did not dare to be arrogant and did not treat the emperor as the emperor.

Li Beichen shook his head and looked at Jiang Yuebai with a smile, "It's okay. With you here, this country won't be in chaos. You are the heroine of this novel."

Are you trying to make me willing?

But even if you don't do this, I'm willing to do it.

Jiang Yuebai lowered her eyes, still smiling, "I'm the heroine, you don't have to worry. I might be able to live to eighty-eight like Qianlong. Fifteen years less won't matter. Let's think about what to do next."

Suddenly I felt that the excitement I had felt over the past two days was a little ridiculous.

Li Beichen pinched Jiang Yuebai's nose and said, "You are so sharp-tongued, I can't argue with you. We'll talk about it later."

The reason why he said this was that he wanted to see Jiang Yuebai's true heart.

This is a complex psychology.

He truly loves Jiang Yuebai, madly, but he is also annoyed that the author arranged a system for Jiang Yuebai, but he does not have one. When he heard that he only had two or three months left to live, he appeared calm on the surface, but in fact he was angry and scared inside. He even thought about committing suicide with Jiang Yuebai. Since they cannot sleep together in life, they can be buried together in death.

So as far as he is concerned, he really takes it one step at a time.

Before we knew it, it was the end of August.

Perhaps it was because the weather suddenly turned cold, and she was too tired from managing palace affairs, Qi Wanyi fell ill, caught a cold, and had her menstrual period. This illness was like a mountain falling on her, and she died in just three or four days.

During this period, Concubine Xie helped take care of Bater and helped Qi Wanyi take care of the palace affairs. She took care of the sick without taking off her clothes and soon fell ill.

The two died one after the other, only two days apart.

Qi Wanyi was posthumously named Qi Zhaoyi, and Xie Guiren was posthumously named Xie Pin.

Bater knelt in front of Mother Qi's coffin and cried bitterly, burning paper and chanting sutras for her all night long.

Everyone thought that Bater and Concubine Yi had a mother-son relationship, but no one expected that Concubine Qi had such a deep affection for Bater and was so filial after only taking care of him for two months.

In just one month, Bater lost both his mothers and concubines. No matter how sensible and precocious he was, he was still a child. He became thinner and darker, and his eyes lost their luster.

Li Beichen was very moved by Bater's filial piety and took Bater to live in Wutong Pavilion. Even so, Bater's face was no longer as bright as before, and he became very quiet.

He did whatever the teacher told him to do, and was well behaved and sensible. He often sat alone in a daze, throwing stones into the pond, or writing and drawing at the table.

The eunuch who served beside him said that the painting looked like a portrait of Concubine Yi because of her oval face. He also said that Bater often cried secretly at night and would suddenly wake up crying in the middle of the night.

Jiang Yuebai felt sorry for Bater, but didn't know what to do. There are many feelings and people that cannot be replaced.

Li Beichen advised her not to get close to Bater so as not to hurt the child.

A few days later, Concubine An suddenly had severe abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. After investigation, it was found that it was the newly moved Concubine Fang who poisoned her.

The reason was that Concubine An beat Concubine Fang for speaking rudely to her at the morning meeting last month, and made her kneel on the busy palace road. Concubine Fang was resentful, so she took the risk and poisoned the well.

After being discovered, Concubine Fang hanged herself.

Concubine An also died suddenly that night.

Both of them were involved in overseas affairs, which made things a little complicated.

First, the two were buried immediately in Jinshan, the standard destination for concubines.

Fang Guiren was the daughter of the chief of the Keelung Atayal tribe, which was the most widespread ethnic group in Keelung at the time and belonged to the broad category of Gaoshan ethnic groups.

The late emperor had built a large number of defense lines along the southeast coast, but they still could not withstand the harassment of Japanese pirates. Coastal cities in Fujian and Guangdong were plundered by Japanese pirates many times. Among them, Jilong was an important stronghold and fresh water and food supply point for Japanese pirates.

However, due to its special geographical location, Jilong Island was short of food and could not station a large number of troops, so it had to be supplied from the mainland. In addition, many of the pirates were defeated generals in the late Yuan Dynasty, who were very familiar with the terrain and customs of the southeastern coastal areas and had rich combat experience. They assisted the Japanese pirates in their abuses, making the southeastern coast increasingly difficult to defend. Jilong became the most difficult "loophole" to fill.

The late emperor simply abolished the Penghu Inspection Office, withdrew the troops, destroyed the houses and food, and relocated everyone to Fujian.

However, many tribes in Jilong took the initiative to accept the title of the Ming Dynasty, and many tribes sent people to the north to pay tribute, and the Ming Dynasty treated them as chieftains. Fang Guiren was sent to the palace by the tribe leader to express his submission, which was equivalent to a marriage.

Li Beichen ordered the Ministry of Rites to take the lead, with the assistance of the Ministry of War, to draft a document to inform the Atayal leader and Mongolian Khan Huanhuanqier of the whole story. It stated that the emperor forgave the mistakes made by the two of them because they were both concubines, and buried them in the Jinshan Concubine Mausoleum like other ordinary concubines who had not made any mistakes.

At this point, the concubines in the harem found that only Concubine Ning and Concubine Xie were left in high positions. Of the old people who had followed from the mansion, only Xia Liangyuan, the least favored and most violent concubine, was left.

In just half a year, more than a dozen concubines died for various reasons, and only twelve survived.

Many women have become pregnant one after another, and now only Concubine Ning, Concubine Yu, and Concubine Murong are pregnant.

Rumors began to spread in the palace that all this was because Concubine Ning used witchcraft to sacrifice her loved ones in order to make her son the crown prince, which caused so many pregnant concubines to inexplicably miscarry and then unfortunately die.

Memorials began to be submitted one after another, saying that in order to comply with the will of the people and stabilize the country, a crown prince should be appointed as soon as possible.

At this moment, there is only one eldest prince. If you say that the crown prince was appointed early, then the eldest prince is the one to be appointed.

Li Beichen was furious.

He was only 20 years old, and he was just claiming to be sick and needed to rest for a month, so he was considered to be dying. There were three pregnant concubines in the palace, although two of them could not give birth. These officials began to think about the next person.

Are you hoping for his death?
There were also memorials saying that the emperor summoned his ministers every day to discuss state affairs, but Concubine Ning did not take the initiative to avoid them. Instead, she often approved documents on the emperor's behalf, violating the ancestral precept that the harem should not interfere in state affairs. In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Wu family, the mother should be removed and the son should be kept to maintain the orthodoxy of the Li family.

Those who criticized the imperial concubine did not seem to be from any particular "party". They all spoke out of concern for the country and the people and were deeply saddened. There was no lack of loyal old ministers.

Jiang Yuebai flipped through the memorials on the table that implicated her. "I said before that if I did this, the previous dynasty would be furious and would definitely call me a scoundrel who brought disaster to the country. Some people said that I deliberately killed all your concubines so that my son could become the emperor. Next, Concubine Yu and Concubine Murong will not be able to escape, which will further confirm this rumor. This concubine is in trouble now."

Li Beichen put on Jiang Yuebai's coat, looked at her from the side, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I'm here."

As he spoke, he handed a red lacquered wooden box with a phoenix pattern carved on it to Jiang Yuebai, "Inside are the phoenix seal and the imperial edict, you can use them first. After a while, I will welcome you to be the queen."

Jiang Yuebai was slightly stunned, and said calmly, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. After thinking about it, it's not bad to be a concubine like now."