The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

The imperial court is a huge political machine. Sometimes, it seems to belong to the monarch and civil and military officials, but sometimes, it belongs only to the emperor sitting on the dragon throne.

When the emperor abandons his game of respecting the wise and humble as a monarch and his subjects, and starts to use violence to cheat, the consequences are often not something that any of his subjects can bear.

But although the current emperor has violence in his hands, he is not very willing to use it. For him, the best time to use violence has long passed. Now is the time for him to actively cooperate and abide by certain rules of interaction between superiors and subordinates, participate in the game between monarch and ministers, and regard it as another fun in the supreme life.

At the same time, if Lu Yesheng was an emperor with a normal mind, he should have struck a swift and severe blow to the aristocratic families who had gradually become greedy due to his peace in recent years when he realized that Meng was trying to get involved in the palace and replace the royal heir. He should have also killed Liu Shuyi and her family as the "chicken" to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys when she dared to assassinate him alone, in order to warn all the ministers, demonstrate the rage of the emperor and the true dragon on earth, and make people dare not provoke the dragon's whiskers again.

But he didn't.

He insisted on investigating slowly, trying slowly, and then punishing slowly - following the process at the slowest pace, clarifying the charges within the regulations, and quietly spreading this fear in an extremely slow but also most repressive manner.

This certainly brought the emperor a lot of fun that ordinary people could hardly imagine, but such behavior also sent a signal to the outside world - the emperor was indeed very angry about these two offenses, but he was not so angry that he wanted to end everything together.

Therefore, the nobles represented by Marquis of Yuyang and Duke of Yingguo, who had a high opinion of themselves and were not very fond of thinking, not only did not restrain themselves, but instead developed a subtle mentality of "I am better than you" without actually facing the silent fear laid by the emperor.

Of course, when they say "better than you" here, they don't mean that they are too bold to compete with the emperor, but they are comparing themselves with the Meng family/Shunyi Marquis' Mansion who messed up things. They think that their strategies are more sophisticated than these two. Not only are their strategies sophisticated, but what they have planned is definitely within the tolerance range of the emperor. Even if it is exposed, their family will not suffer such a serious liquidation.

Take a chance, push others to come forward, and watch from behind, occasionally cheering on the sidelines.

What's more crucial is that noble families with titles are naturally more lenient than ordinary people when crimes are discussed, and they are not the main culprits on the surface. The worst result of losing will not be the annihilation of the entire family, at most they will be demoted and dismissed; but if they win, the position of queen can at least guarantee the wealth and prosperity of two generations.

Marquis Yuyang was thinking this, and he only thought that what he was calculating was the position of the Queen in the harem. He had no idea that the "truth" he could see was only the most superficial thing investigated by the Meng family. His action was actually a slap in the emperor's well-maintained face. If he was not careful, he would go from plotting to seize the position of Queen to slapping the emperor, a filial son, in the face.

Then the truth of past events was brought up, and the underwear of the late emperor, who had been dead for many years, that he used to cover his shame was stripped off completely.

That's when it really came.

The emperor, who has been awakened on guard by the incident in which Concubine Ning was "given death" by an unknown person, when he realizes that the impeachment memorials on his case explicitly point to Concubine Ning, implicitly to the Queen, and actually point the finger at himself, will he, after years of silence, take the initiative to withdraw from his favorite game between the monarch and his subjects and awaken the supreme violence in his hands that belongs only to the supreme ruler of the dynasty?

Use yourself to save others.

Xie Wei really thought he would.

I really hope he will do that.

The night before, the Queen had explained in detail to Xie Yuzhen all the aspects involved in this incident, as well as the various secret plots she had deployed using her network of relationships inside and outside the palace. The memorial presented by Minister Cao today, which clearly investigated the methods used by the Emperor back then, was provided by the Queen.

Although the queen herself had no intention of centralizing power, she was in this special position and naturally attracted the support of some court officials. As long as she showed a little goodwill, countless people would rush to do things for her.

The queen carefully selected three trustworthy candidates. One of them cooperated with the old people in the Dongxiang Palace to create the illusion of the Jinghe Stele. The other one hid the whole story and, under the pretext of an insider, handed over the detailed process and some evidence of the emperor's preparation of poisoned wine and framing his political enemies to Minister Cao and others.

Because the impeachment memorial had been kept in the palace for many days, Minister Cao and others became increasingly anxious after they obtained the so-called "truth" and "evidence" which had become more and more credible. As the empress had expected, they hurriedly submitted another impeachment memorial when the Jinghe Stone Stele appeared, and in front of the high-ranking officials of the small court, they pushed the matter to the point where the emperor could no longer ignore it.

But will the emperor do as they wish, conduct a thorough investigation, and then prove that he is a one-in-a-million-year-old filial son who killed his father to seize the throne and used the opportunity to eliminate his brothers?

of course not.

Although the emperor was a shameless man, he still had to save his dignity when it came to such a major event involving the fight for the throne - his own dignity.

So at this point, it's time for the third person to come on stage.

This third person must have nothing to do with the parties openly involved in the case, that is, he must not be of noble birth, an official of the Ministry of Rites, or related to the royal family, nor must he have sisters serving as concubines in the harem, and he must have never had close contacts with the Empress and Concubine Ning.

"Your Majesty, I think that this matter, whether true or false, must be thoroughly investigated." A middle-aged official with a serious look stood up and said, "Where did the rumor come from? Where did Minister Cao get the evidence? Was the stone tablet in the Jing River a gift from heaven or man-made? Each and every one of these matters not only concerns the reputation of the ladies in the Forbidden City, but also the dignity of the court. Since someone is using this to cause trouble, his rebellious intentions are obvious."

"Your Majesty, I beg you to order a thorough investigation of the rumors in the capital and the origin of the Jinghe Stone Stele for the sake of the stability of the court and the dignity of the imperial court. Find out who is stirring up trouble behind this, so as to restore harmony in the inner palace and appease the people."

He did not mention the death of the previous emperor at all, but only said that those who took advantage of the incident to cause trouble had ill intentions. While trying to appease the emperor, he also followed in the footsteps of Minister Cao and pressed the matter to the point where it had to be thoroughly investigated.

When investigating rumors and stone tablets, one cannot avoid investigating the real cause of death of the late emperor.

Yuyang Hou Cao Shilang wanted to investigate the real cause of death of the late emperor, but he did not stand on the side of them. However, court officials who valued etiquette would also want to investigate. Some people who were convicted for the sudden death of the late emperor wanted to get to the bottom of it even more. Of course, the queen, who took advantage of the situation and became one of the behind-the-scenes promoters of today's events, also wanted the truth to come to light.

But the truth is different from the one that Marquis Yuyang and others firmly believe - that Concubine Ning and Empress Consort Ning conspired to poison the late emperor.

What the queen wanted to reveal was the real truth, the most despicable way the late emperor died, and the fig leaf that the emperor used to cover up the death of his biological father as a son.