Has the Han Dynasty been restored today?

It was said to be a banquet in the palace, and the banquet was indeed of a good standard with a lot of food, but there was no wine, nor were there any musicians or dancers.

Jiang Wei declared that he would observe three years of mourning for the Prime Minister, abstaining from alcohol and meat. Liu Shan, constrained by his status, could not openly state that he was observing mourning for a minister, but he also said that he would not drink alcohol or engage in singing and dancing during the mourning period.

But this was a banquet held in the palace... Liu Shan said that as a military general, not eating meat would be harmful to his health, and he should eat more. He also issued an imperial edict saying that Jiang Wei could observe three years of mourning, but he should eat meat, not drink alcohol, and wear mourning clothes when at home. Jiang Wei agreed under a combination of coaxing and order.

The act of mourning has always been entirely up to one's own will, with a very high upper limit and a very low lower limit.

Have you not heard that emperors observe mourning periods in days, and only need to observe 27 days of mourning? In the same year that Liu Bei died in Baidi City, Liu Shan did not delay his intimate relations with Empress Zhang's maid, and the following year, the eldest son, Liu Xuan, was born.

Mourning was none of Chen Zhi's business.

When Prime Minister Zhuge passed away, Chen Zhi was merely a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel with a salary of 400 shi (a unit of grain), and was not required to observe mourning for the superior of his superior. Even considering the position of Imperial Censor with a salary of 600 shi, the Censorate was not directly under the Prime Minister's control, so it did not apply to him.

There was no rule about not speaking while eating; the purpose of inviting Chen Zhi and Jiang Wei to the banquet was simply to discuss matters.

The conversation went on for so long that the banquet started at the beginning of the 5-7 PM and didn't end until the end of the 7-9 PM.

Jiang Wei had a residence in Chengdu. After leaving the palace, he went directly home and was escorted back by eunuchs arranged by Liu Shan.

After Jiang Wei returned to Han in the sixth year of Jianxing (221 AD), his wife, son, and elderly mother remained in Wei. Perhaps due to the large-scale population movement at the end of the Han dynasty, where all sides sought to demonstrate virtue; or perhaps because of the precedent of Liu Bei not punishing Huang Quan's family after Huang Quan's return to Wei; or perhaps to keep his family in reserve for future communication with Jiang Wei… In any case, Jiang Wei's family was not punished by the Wei government. Consequently, the Jiang clan of Tianshui was also unaffected, and a member of their clan named Jiang Zhao even served under Cao Zhen.

In the seventh year of Jianxing, the Prime Minister personally acted as matchmaker, originally intending to arrange a marriage for Jiang Wei. However, at Jiang Wei's insistence, the arrangement was changed to taking a concubine. He took a concubine's daughter from a family of servants surnamed Liu in Yizhou Prefecture. Later, they had a son, and both stayed in Chengdu. Jiang Wei had not seen them for a long time.

When Chen Zhi left the palace, his cousin Xu You was already waiting for him in a carriage outside the palace gate.

Xu You was nineteen years old at the time, and he held no official position. He also had no elders to restrain him at home, making him the most restless age.

"Brother!" Xu You lifted the carriage curtain and waved to Chen Zhi, who had just left the palace and retrieved his sword. "I've been waiting for you for a long time. Get in the carriage and let's go home together!"

Chen Zhi, on the other hand, was much calmer. He walked over slowly, exchanged a few words with the driver, and then got into the carriage.

As soon as Chen Zhi got into the carriage, Xu You couldn't wait to start asking questions: "Brother, you've made a great contribution this time. Did His Majesty grant you any position just now?"

"I grant your request." Chen Zhi appeared somewhat tired.

"What did you promise?" Xu You pressed.

Chen Zhi leaned back on the cushion, his voice languid and growing softer: "You promised to let me choose my own position, but I still need to think about it. Marriage and such is maybe."

"Let my elder brother choose his own position?" Xu You chuckled a few times. "How about making him the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat?"

Seeing Chen Zhi roll his eyes at him, Xu You persisted and asked, "My brother already told me this afternoon, is the Northern Expedition still going on? Should we attack Liangzhou or Guanzhong? Is His Majesty still going to Hanzhong?"

"No, Ayou, can't you talk less?" Chen Zhi said helplessly, "We must launch the Northern Expedition. His Majesty thinks attacking Liangzhou is a good idea, but how and when to attack still needs to be discussed with superiors and subordinates. We also need to consider the actions of the Qiang and Hu tribes, our supplies, and the weather. How can we decide so quickly? We also need to go to Hanzhong, but we need to prepare for several months and can only set off next year."

Xu You pursed his lips: "Is that so? I thought that once His Majesty took personal control of the government, he would be able to decide to attack Liangzhou."

"State affairs are not child's play; they are much more difficult than playing chess," Chen Zhi said with a smile. "I'll take a nap; wake me when we get to the gate."

"Okay, sure." Xu You nodded.

After a moment, Xu You seemed to remember something and raised his hand to shake Chen Zhi: "Wait a minute, brother, what else did you just say? What did His Majesty promise you?"

Chen Zhi closed his eyes and said, "I've agreed to the marriage."

"Oh my!" Xu You nudged Chen Zhi. "How was I supposed to know? Whose daughter is she? When did this happen? Did you arrange it when you went to Hanzhong?"

"Don't cause trouble." Chen Zhi quickly opened his eyes and pushed Xu You's hand away: "When we went to Hanzhong, Fei Yi and Wu Ban saw that I was capable, a confidant of His Majesty, and from a prominent family, so they wanted to arrange a marriage between us. Fei's eldest daughter wanted to be my wife. Wu's illegitimate daughter, the daughter of Wu Ban's illegitimate son, wanted to be my concubine."

Xu You clicked his tongue in amazement: "It's really hard to say whether my brother gained or lost... Aren't these two people perfectly capable? Isn't His Majesty worried that your marriage might cause trouble?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" Chen Zhi laughed. "I'm just an official with a salary of 1600 shi (a unit of grain), and I have no relatives. I'm practically an isolated official. What's wrong with a marriage alliance? Besides, from what His Majesty was saying, he implied that I'm in my early twenties and should be more intimate with women. It seems he himself wants to take another woman into the palace. To be honest, His Majesty is keeping a rather strict eye on Minister Dong..."

Xu You scoffed, "Minister Dong is also ignorant. He even interferes in the emperor's taking women into the palace. He's meddling way too much. Including Empress Zhang, there are only twelve women in the palace. They haven't moved for twelve years. They're almost thirty now. I feel sorry for His Majesty."

Chen Zhi sighed deeply: "Your Majesty is not wrong; it's only human nature. Attendant-in-Ordinary Dong is also not wrong; he is a loyal minister. The emperor taking concubines is not like an ordinary person taking a concubine; it requires a large dowry and costs money! In the first year of Zhangwu, when Your Majesty was still the Crown Prince, the dowry for taking Empress Zhang as your Crown Princess was one thousand catties of gold and three thousand bolts of Shu brocade. Now that you are the emperor, even taking a concubine, let alone an empress, wouldn't you have to give away a lot of gold and silk?"

Xu You also sighed, "In the end, it all comes down to money... Luckily, my family is wealthy, and we can afford to give away several hundred kilograms of gold."

Chen Zhi kicked Xu You in annoyance: "They're the ones who took the initiative to propose marriage to me; they're the ones who should give my family a bigger dowry!"

"Hahahaha!" Xu You laughed loudly, "Brother, what a brilliant move!"

Chen Zhi closed his eyes again: "Alright, don't disturb me, I'm going to sleep for a while. Tomorrow morning, I have to deliver letters to the Fei and Wu families. Now that it's wartime, Fei Yi and Wu Yi can't send letters privately by post, so they asked me to bring them back with them."

"Tomorrow..." Xu You muttered to himself.

Chen Zhi was almost asleep when Xu You woke him up again. Just as Chen Zhi was about to start cursing, Xu You said with a grin, "Brother, they said they wanted you to deliver a message, but as I see it, you yourself are the message!"

"Hahahaha." Xu You laughed nonstop.

Chen Zhi finally fell silent.