Work overtime

Chapter 788

Now Jiang Yuebai only has the emperor as his son.

No, to be exact, he is no longer a son. The two of them had a quarrel and have not reconciled yet.

The emperor came to pay his respects every day, but she never gave him a good look. The emperor was stubborn and refused to give in, so he arranged for the queen and concubines to take care of him.

The queen was cheerful and straightforward, and indeed was not as meticulous and thoughtful as the women of the Central Plains in terms of details. She was born in a noble family, and probably had no experience in taking care of people, which led to various omissions. As a result, Jiang Yuebai's condition had not improved.

The emperor therefore scolded the queen in public and lost his temper. In fact, he was just taking the opportunity to vent his anger with the queen mother. The queen had never been humiliated like this before, and she got angry with the emperor.

The two of them just sat there in a cold and awkward manner.

The emperor has always been pursued and flattered, so naturally he is not happy to try to please the queen.

So he turned to other concubines. Jiang Yuebai's niece Hui Wanyi and Wuliangha's Lan Guipin were both beautiful, gentle and sensible, and soon won his favor.

Jiang Yuebai couldn't help but ask Concubine Hua beside him sadly, "Why did you give birth to so many children?"

Concubine Hua grabbed Jiang Yuebai's hand and said, "Queen Mother, please don't be too sad. A grown-up child is no longer under the control of his mother. This is the same for both royal families and ordinary families."

For example, her brother, Ye Zhuqing, the talented and romantic man back then, the dream lover of many girls in the capital. But for some reason he divorced all the concubines in his family, and then he suddenly came to his senses and said he would work hard in the court and live a good life with his wife.

Jiang Yuebai laughed at himself, "I asked for this."

Concubine Hua Taishu anxiously comforted her, "Don't think like that, Empress Dowager. The Emperor is a wise ruler."

Concubine Hua couldn't help but think of the late emperor. The late emperor was also like this. He didn't recognize his relatives. He was really his biological son. There was nothing wrong with him.

Both mother and son have strong personalities. Neither of them is willing to make peace. They are both waiting for the other to soften. Aren't they drifting further and further apart?
Difficult.

In the twelfth month of the fourteenth year of Taixing, Liang Xiaobao suddenly died of a serious illness. Jiang Yuebai went to visit him, and Liang Xiaobao told her that his only wish in life was to ask Jiang Yuebai to pass on an exquisite eight-treasure hairpin to Qing'er, who was the only love of his life.

Before his death, Liang Xiaobao could not help but say earnestly: "Your Majesty, the late emperor loved you deeply, but there are many things that you did not know."

"I know." Jiang Yuebai nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Liang Xiaobao served two generations of emperors with great loyalty and hard work. Li Chengji buried him in the eunuch cemetery in Shijingshan. Later, his trusted adopted son Shi Xiaoyu succeeded him.

*
In the fifteenth year of Taixing, the imperial examination, which was held every three years, arrived again.

The Eighth Prince of Huan Tai Wanyi, the Ninth Prince of Jiang Yuebai, the Twelfth Prince of Yan Tai Wanyi, and the Thirteenth Prince of Yang Taipin all passed the imperial examinations. The Tenth Prince of An Taifei failed.

The tenth prince of Concubine An married the daughter of the Minister of Works;
Yeontae Wanyi's twelfth prince married the daughter of the Minister of Justice;
The thirteenth prince of Yang Taipin married the granddaughter of the chief minister of the Dali Temple;

The emperor appointed his own brother, the Ninth Prince, as the King of Eastern Liao and the Protector General of Liaodong. He also moved a large number of people from Henan, Shanxi, and Jiangsu to the Northeast. He married the third daughter of Du Heng, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to him. Du Heng's second daughter was once the companion of the eldest princess.

The twelfth prince of Yeon Tae Wan-yi was arranged to serve as deputy commander of the Zhejiang Command Headquarters, responsible for the coastal defense of the southeast coast and fighting against Japanese pirates.

The thirteenth prince of Concubine Yang was retained in the court and assigned to the Ministry of Rites as a sixth-rank official.

The tenth prince who failed the imperial examination was a brave warrior. Since the Annan region had seen a number of rebellions last year, the emperor arranged for the tenth prince to serve as the deputy governor of the Annan Protectorate, stationed in the Annan region.

The Eighth Prince was the happiest because he inherited his mother's genes and was good at painting and calligraphy. The emperor married him to the versatile granddaughter of Prime Minister Zhou. Because his mother, Princess Huan, had been a Buddhist for generations, he was assigned to the Ministry of Works and was responsible for repairing and building Buddhist temples. He was assigned to coordinate the construction of the Lama Temple of Tibetan Buddhism.

The fifteenth and sixteenth princesses of the Mongolian Concubine Jing and Concubine He were married to the sons of the governors of Zhejiang and Jiangsu respectively, which led to the aristocratic families in Jiangnan also starting to marry with the Mongolians.

The seventeenth princess of Yang Taipin married the legitimate son of Xie Lingjie, the commander of Shaanxi Province.

By now, all the children of the concubines in the harem had married and started families, except for the third prince who went to sea with Han Ziqian.

The imperial examinations for men and the beauty pageant for women were both ways to bring honor to the family.

This year, Li Chengji selected ten people for the imperial selection. Suddenly, the harem was full of people again.

It makes the Ci'an Palace look particularly empty.

Later, the He Taifei from Tartar became weaker and weaker and passed away. There were originally 16 women who stayed to take care of the old age, but now there are only 6 left. Among them, Yu Tai Guipin was the most fortunate and left the palace with her son.

There were actually only five people living there: Concubine Hua, Concubine Huan, Concubine Jing, Concubine An and Concubine Yang.

All five of them can speak three languages, Chinese, Mongolian and Arabic, and have no problem with listening, speaking, reading and writing. Teaching each other to speak is a fun thing to do in boring days. So when chatting, the three languages ​​are mixed together, and everyone talks about whatever comes to mind, and there is no need to worry about people not understanding. If they don’t understand, they can just explain in Chinese. It’s no big deal, anyway, there is plenty of time.

Concubine Hua has always felt that it is not real. She never thought that she has been a sickly woman for many years, but after all the palace fighting, she can actually enter the finals. Especially on the Han side, besides Jiang Yuebai, there are only her and Concubine Hua Wanyi. Thinking about it, she is a little embarrassed.

I was determined to report her affair with Doctor Du to the Emperor. If it weren't for the kindness of the Empress Dowager, who ran to her and gave her a wake-up call, explained everything to her, and told her the three basic principles of being a human being, she would have been killed by her own actions. No, she would have died like her mother, with hatred in her heart, stupid to death.

After spending more time together, I finally understood what the Queen Mother meant when she said that it was impossible for Wanyi to have an affair with Doctor Du. Wanyi is such a perceptive person, it is impossible for her to do such a thing.

But Concubine Hua was too embarrassed to apologize to Concubine Huan Wanyi, so she was always nice to her. She went to watch her paint every day, followed her to make jewelry, and helped her. She learned a lot of amazing jewelry making techniques, and felt very fulfilled and interesting.

The palace lantern and step-shaking ornaments that Concubine Lu held in her hand when she passed away were made by Huan Tai Wanyi herself, who had pulled the gold into filaments as thin as shrimp whiskers, and then accumulated and integrated them layer by layer. The level of sophistication was much more difficult than embroidery. She didn't know how Huan Tai Wanyi had such good eyesight and such dexterous hands.

This year is the Year of the Dragon, which is the zodiac year of the Empress Dowager. Princess Huan spent a year making a set of gold filigree headpieces, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings for the Empress Dowager as a birthday gift. When the Empress Dowager put them on, she looked like a walking Buddha, with a golden body, shining with golden light.

Mrs. Huan Wanyi is now a super wealthy woman. She has opened more than 20 Yuanmeng Jewelry chains across the country and is making a lot of money, but she is very approachable and never puts on airs.

Every day, Concubine Hua was asked to organize the meal ordering. She would ask the imperial kitchen to prepare whatever they wanted to eat, and she would be responsible for paying the bill. Several people would get together at a certain time every day, cracking melon seeds and discussing what to eat and drink for lunch and dinner.

They ordered all the food written in the food storybook of Concubine Rui. They all agreed that Concubine Rui was not only a platinum storybook writer, but also a gourmet who was delayed by the harem. The dishes mentioned in the story were really delicious. Many recipes that the imperial chefs didn't know, how did she come up with them?

If Concubine Rui could live to this day, she would definitely have opened a national chain of private restaurants. I just don't know who is richer between her and Mrs. Huan Wanyi.

The four people argued endlessly, two by two. Finally, Princess Huan Wanyi said that Concubine Rui must be richer. Because Concubine Rui has the blessing of the word "Rui", she must be the most powerful.

Today is another day when I miss Concubine Rui, so why not order some braised pork trotters to calm my nerves? Doctor Shen, who is in charge of the affairs of Ci'an Palace, said that this dish is especially good for beauty and skin care.

Doctor Shen is Shen Ximo. Although she is not on the staff of the Imperial Medical Service, she comes from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. She always gently reminds everyone what to do and what not to do, and everyone likes her very much.

Every time a concubine passed away, Doctor Shen would cry. Sometimes people couldn't cry at first, after all, they were at this age, and it was normal for them to die one after another, but they cried loudly under the influence of Doctor Shen.

Doctor Shen took two maternity leave. She gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl. Once, with the approval of the Empress Dowager, she brought them here to play. They were really cute children. The brother and sister always liked to laugh and had a lot of fun playing on the old children's entertainment facilities in Ci'an Palace.

Later, Princess Huan gave the two children two red gold filigree peace locks inlaid with their names, and the exquisiteness of the locks once again shocked the entire Ci'an Palace. After the two children left the palace, they were so beautiful that they even brought back orders. Princess Huan simply designed the pattern and gave it to the Queen Mother, who launched a customized version for the Year of the Dragon.

This idea is amazing, and we have customized models every year since then. Because the design is so amazing, the workmanship is so fine that it looks like carving on rice, and the materials are sufficient, it has become the main product of Yuanmeng Jewelry. Every year in the twelfth lunar month, before the design is released, the orders are already full.

With the support of the Anbei Protectorate, the new tribal Khan Uritu gradually established prestige among his people.

His horseback archery skills shined brightly, giving him strength despite his lack of confidence since childhood. With his confidence built up, he was like a new person, gradually showing extraordinary leadership skills, but he was more reserved and calm than Bater. Such a change was like a piece of silver suddenly being polished and shining, and one had to sigh at the power of the combination of excellent genes.

At the end of this year, the fifth princess who married Wuzhitu gave birth to her second child, the eldest son Baturu. In March last year, she gave birth to a princess named Sarina.

In March of the 15th year of Taixing, Meng Qing's daughter Meng Wanyi gave birth to the fifth princess, Li Zhiheng, and was promoted to Meng Ronghua.

Jiang Yuebai's niece Hui Wanyi became pregnant again because she was very favored. As a result, the Queen deliberately punished her by making her kneel until she had a miscarriage and almost died of infection.

The queen twice murdered the descendants of high-ranking Han concubines. Li Chengji was furious and wanted to depose her.

In the court, many ministers who had originally opposed the establishment of Meng as the queen also stood up and used this incident as an excuse to demand that the queen be deposed.

Zhou Shipeng was the first to speak out: "I have heard that the queen has been immoral and has repeatedly murdered the heirs of the emperor born to Han women. She has ulterior motives and should be executed according to the law. I request that the queen be deposed to correct the mistakes and appease the people of the world!"

Ye Xiang also sneered, "The Queen is the mother of a country, but she is so narrow-minded and immoral. This is a sign of endangering our Ming Dynasty and chaos! I request to depose the Queen."

Li Chengji's uncle, Li Keqin, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also stepped out solemnly, "Uncle, plotting to murder the heir to the throne is a grave crime that will exterminate all nine generations of the family. We must not tolerate this traitor. The queen's virtue is no longer worthy of being the queen."

Another court official stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, in order to win over the Tatars, is he willing to put the Ming dynasty in danger and chill the hearts of our ancestors?"

The Queen's father, the former chief of the Choros tribe, stepped out immediately and said, "This is a matter of the harem, and the Emperor will make the decision. You are foreign officials, why do you want to convict her in advance and force the Emperor to depose the Queen?"

However, relatives of Prime Minister Zhou, Prime Minister Ye, and Hacken Lee were not concubines in the harem, so what they said could only be public rather than private. The difference is immediately apparent in this comparison.

As soon as this statement was made, several ministers seconded it. Although there was a insistence on justice, it is hard not to say that it was the irreconcilable gap and opposition between the Mongols and the Han people.

Jiang Yuebai had not expected that the first time a Mongolian woman was made queen would come to such a conclusion. There was a Himalaya Mountain between the ideal and the reality.

Whether to abolish or not is a big deal.

Jiang Yuebai was feeling upset, so he went to the Taimiao, hoping that he could find the answer by meeting Jiuru.

She looked at the shrines and tablets, which not only enshrined the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, but also the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty.

Should he compromise and endure to win the support of the Choros tribe, or should he cut the Gordian knot by killing all nine clans and replace them with a Han queen to win the support of the Han civil and military officials?

When she finally reached Li Beichen's tablet, she stood still, stared at the name on the tablet, and murmured, "Jiuru, if it were you, how would you decide? Would your spirit in the Nine Heavens blame me for making a Mongolian woman my queen and confusing my bloodline? Was it right or wrong for me to do this?"

She sat on the futon holding the tablet, thinking quietly. By the evening, she finally made a decision.

Since we have decided to completely recover the vast Mongolian region and keep the border free from war, the best way is to be in me and you in me. Then move forward courageously.

The right and wrong, merits and demerits of this will be judged by future generations!

In the evening, she called Li Chengji to come over for dinner. After dinner, she asked, "Now that things have come to this, the evidence is solid. How does the emperor plan to deal with the queen? Murdering the royal heir is a serious crime that will implicate the entire nine clans. If you want to kill them, you have to kill the entire Choros tribe. If you don't kill them, it will be a disregard for the laws of the Ming Dynasty and chill the hearts of the Han people. You must make a proper arrangement, otherwise there will be more headaches than this."

Li Chengji didn't expect things to turn out like this. Why did the queen, who was so open-minded and cheerful at the beginning, become so narrow-minded and jealous now?
He rubbed his brow helplessly, "Mother, what do you think we should do?"

Jiang Yuebai said calmly, "Kill the mother and keep the son. Order the Queen's family to be executed. Then choose the daughter of a new clan leader to enter the palace. This matter cannot be delayed."

After a pause, he continued, "In addition, we will also take one woman each from the Khoshut, Torghut, and Huite tribes as a check on the Choros tribe."

Li Chengji couldn't help but ask, "Since you ordered the queen to be executed, why did you take her cousin as your concubine?"

"The Choros tribe is the largest of the four tribes. Its geographical location determines that if we kill all nine of its clans, it is very likely to turn to support the Torghut tribe, which has always been unyielding. On the contrary, we can use it for our own benefit. This is a golden opportunity to win over the new tribe leader and thus contain the Torghut tribe."

On the second day, Li Chengji announced the dethronement of the empress, and all of her family, including her father who served in the court, were executed. Qiqige, the daughter of the new leader of the Choros tribe, was taken into the palace and named Lironghua. The women of the Khoshut, Torghut, and Huite tribes were named Hepin, Ningpin, and Anpin respectively.

Hui Wanyi was also promoted directly to Huifei as compensation.

The matter was basically settled. Although the court officials had great controversy over the inclusion of the queen's cousin into the harem, many believed that the Choros tribe should be completely exterminated instead of continuing the marriage.

At the end of the year, the empress's cousin Li Ronghua and Hepin of the Khoshut tribe became pregnant. Li Ronghua was promoted to Li Fei, and Hepin was promoted to He Guipin.

In the spring of the sixteenth year of Taixing, when the third brother arrived in Hainan, he sent back an urgent report to tell him the latest news.

Jiang Yuebai was overjoyed when he heard this. As long as he came back safely.

Who would have thought that when the third brother came back, he had a dark complexion, was missing his left arm, became a disabled person, and had a haggard face, completely different from the lively and rebellious boy he used to be.

Jiang Yuebai looked at his son in shock, speechless, "Son, what happened to you? Where is Master Han?"

The third brother sadly told his mother and his brother the emperor about their experiences at sea.

Following the map, they passed through the Strait of Malacca, passed through the Suez Canal to reach the Mediterranean Sea, and visited coastal countries along the way.

On the way back, he encountered two groups of pirates. In August of the lunar calendar last year, Master Han died to protect him. Because the battle took place at sea, it was very far away from the land. And the weather was hot at that time, so Master Han could only helplessly sleep in the blue ocean.

The third prince took out an exquisite box, inside which was a beautiful jewel bracelet.

"Mother, do you know if Master Han has a beloved woman? This is the bracelet I found in Master Han's room."

Jiang Yuebai stared blankly at the glittering bracelet. A huge sadness came over her, swallowing her up and almost making her faint.

She calmed herself down, thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's for his mother or sister."

The emperor said at this time, "Master Han's mother died a long time ago. It should be given to his sister, Princess Chengping."

The third brother who was kneeling on the ground was silent for a moment, then raised his eyes and looked at his brother the emperor, "I have vowed to marry a woman from the Han family. Please grant my wish, brother."

Tears welled up in the third brother's eyes, which turned around and rolled down.

"Okay. I agree. I'll arrange for someone to go and ask."

Afterwards, the emperor announced in the court that Han Ziqian, the junior tutor of the Hanlin Academy, died in August of the 15th year of Taixing at the age of 52.

During his lifetime, he served as the late emperor's tutor, and was also enshrined in the name of the Empress Dowager to serve the late emperor. Later, he led a team to the Western Ocean many times, inspected Western countries on behalf of the court, promoted the country's prestige, led envoys from various countries to pay homage, opened up overseas trade routes, and unfortunately died while saving the King of Qin. He made great contributions and was posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Wei and the posthumous name "Wenzheng".

Since the Song Dynasty, when Fan Zhongyan was in power, "Wenzheng" was considered the highest honor for civil officials, and they were highly praised for "worrying about the world before worrying about themselves, and rejoicing after the world rejoices about themselves." As the emperor's teacher, Han Ziqian was awarded the posthumous title of "Wenzheng" as a final judgment after his death, which shows that his achievements were recognized.

The Duke of Wei was inherited by his elder brother Han Zicheng's eldest son Han Zhizhang as Marquis of Wei. It was announced that the Third Prince would marry Han Suxin, the second daughter of Marquis of Wei.

There are only a handful of people in history who were able to be granted a title of nobility despite being a eunuch. For example, Cai Lun, who invented papermaking, was granted the title of Longting Hou. This shows how highly Li Chengji thought of him.

The news of Han Ziqian's death shocked Jiang Yuebai and made her extremely sad, but she couldn't cry. She just felt her heart was blocked and she felt very disappointed.

The bracelet was given to Han Ziqian's sister as a relic, leaving her with a memory. Although Jiang Yuebai had a hunch that the bracelet was for her.