The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"I have always heard that Scholar Jiang is well-read and is best at writing parallel prose and poetry. His works are all profound, ingenious, and full of meaning..." Staring at the emperor's eyes, Xie Yuzhen held the sword tighter, "If Sister Shen can get a piece of your eulogy, I believe she will be happy in the afterlife."

The emperor continued to look at her without expressing his opinion.

Xie Yuzhen figured out something, took a breath and continued, "The Yuyang Marquisate committed such a serious crime, and Your Majesty had no choice but to punish them severely. This should be used as an example to warn the world. The Empress and Concubine Ning had always done charity during their lifetime, building a charity home for the elderly and providing shelter for the lonely and helpless."

"Marquis Yuyang was rebellious and plotted to murder the Empress and concubines. I think it would be better to deal with his relatives and then rebuild the Marquis's mansion into a place to care for the young and respect the elderly. Then order the craftsmen to carve Scholar Jiang's sacrificial text on a stele and place it in front of the hall. For thousands of years to come, people will read it and warn all officials and nobles to learn from it and never make the same mistake again."

"Good." The emperor's faint smile finally faded amid the anxiety of the crowd. At this moment, his face was filled with sadness and tranquility. "Just do as Concubine Zhao said."

He also appointed the Minister of Works and the Minister of Revenue, asking them to hurry up and get the job done.

Xie Yuzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he still held the sword in his hand very firmly and did not dare to relax for a moment.

She was originally standing, and she knelt before the emperor who had raised her status with just a few words: "I am very happy and grateful for the grace of your majesty."

Lowering his head slightly, Xie Yuzhen secretly sighed that the empress and the emperor were worthy of being husband and wife for many years. The empress had predicted at least 70% to 80% of the emperor's reactions after being forced into anger. The slightly inaccurate ones were probably because she, as a normal person, could not empathize with the emperor who had an epileptic brain.

However, how much has the emperor figured out about his plans for the queen?

Xie Yuzhen thought to himself that it didn't matter how much the emperor guessed that the queen had intervened in this matter, as long as he didn't think that the queen and Concubine Ning wanted to fake their deaths and leave the palace. Of course, Xie Yuzhen would definitely not give him the chance to think in this direction.

There are still some tough battles to fight.

Xie Yuzhen encouraged himself in his heart and cheered himself up.

"Since you are so happy and grateful, why don't you put down that sharp weapon and come to my side?" The emperor should only ask for advice from court officials in the government hall. If he went beyond that, he could only listen to the eunuchs' suggestions.

And Xie Yuzhen... was neither the queen mother who could rival the emperor in power and wrestle with him, nor the empress dowager who supported her young son to ascend the throne and ruled the country from behind the curtain.

The emperor asked a little noble concubine how to deal with a marquis. This was the most wanton, absurd and willful act of his on this day.

Moreover, although the rule that "the harem cannot interfere in politics" is not explicitly written in the law, it is secretly engraved in the hearts of most men.

When the emperor expressed his intention to cultivate this "Zhao Guipin" before the sentence and "Zhao Fei" after the sentence, the ministers below were all shocked. The anxious ones subconsciously raised their tablets and advised the emperor to reject his inappropriate behavior.

But the more cautious ones bowed their heads obediently and slightly, expressing their complete obedience to the Supreme Emperor's wishes from body to mind, while also kindly helping their less sensitive colleagues who were preparing to give advice.

But there are still some movements that are too fast and cannot be caught by luck.

"Your Majesty! How can you listen to a woman's words on important state affairs..." An imperial censor who looked not too old rushed out. Before he could say a few words, his colleagues rushed forward and forced him to kneel down.

The emperor raised his eyelids and pointed at the young censor: "The noise in the palace is against the will of the emperor. I will investigate the three generations of his family members for illegal activities together with Wen and Cao."

"Your Majesty is wise." After a brief silence, the officials came to their senses and bowed to show their obedience.

Some clever little fence-sitters, officials who only cared about power and position rather than sex, shouted out their congratulations: "Congratulations, Empress Zhao!"

Whether palace concubines or court officials, they all sold themselves to the emperor's family and were "officials" different from the common people. It was just a matter of who could serve the emperor more comfortably within the scope of their duties. The emperor had to take care of state affairs, and it was a comfort for him when officials helped govern the country well. Concubines served the emperor in the inner palace, gave birth to offspring, and participated in clan affairs and national sacrifices, which also had to be done well in order to make the emperor happy.

In this case, why bother to be like a pedantic old Confucian scholar and worry about whether the "official" who is loved and valued by the emperor is a man or a woman?

You know, when you were still worrying about whether the "official" was a man or a woman, there were already some smart people who had climbed up this new towering tree and were stepping on your head!

More than one official was secretly thinking about how to make friends with the newly appointed Concubine Zhao.

While Xie Yuzhen, who was congratulated in unison, once again personally experienced the unreasonable "violence" in the hands of the emperor, he did not forget to continue to maintain his own personality - what the officials below thought was not important at the moment, the key was that he should be grieving and indignant for the death of the queen, and must not let the emperor notice anything unusual.

So Xie Yuzhen, with a cold face, imitated the emperor's previous appearance and glanced at the ministers below: "The Empress has just passed away, and there are thieves who deliberately slander the Empress's good name. How can we be happy?!"

After she finished speaking, she looked at the emperor who had made room for her on the dragon throne and was waiting for her to sit there, but she did not move.

The emperor asked her to put down her sword and sit beside him. It was indeed a unique expression of his love and respect, but the hidden meaning was that he wanted to tell Xie Yuzhen that if she wanted power and profit, he, the emperor, could give it to her with just a wave of his hand. But at the same time, he also had requirements for Xie Yuzhen.

That is.

She became completely part of the emperor's power and abandoned all her weapons for rebellion and self-defense.

Should she accept the emperor's complete protection, or take advantage of the emperor's support today to formally introduce Xie Yuzhen's power into the court, and then accept the support of certain officials who came after hearing the news?

Xie Yu was really unwilling to put down the sword: "Your Majesty, I am just a weak woman who can't even tie a chicken with my hands. Even if I hold a long sword, who can I hurt?"

"Moreover, what happened today really frightened me to death..." Xie Yuzhen blinked, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Whenever I thought that someone could have done such evil things in the Forbidden Palace without the help of the Imperial Guards, I deeply regretted not being able to kill the villain who caused the trouble for the two ladies. It was all thanks to your majesty's grace that I was able to temporarily put aside the hatred in my heart and not stab the sword into the chest of this damned man!"

She pretended to be pitiful at first, but then turned brutal and vicious.

Your Highness and his ministers have given up any hope for the insane mental state of the "couple" above.

When the emperor clapped his hands and cheered, saying that this was his beloved minister, the ministers were even more numb.

Only Marquis Yuyang, who had seen the disaster of his family being exterminated, finally reacted. He desperately asked the emperor to continue to investigate the death of the late emperor. Knowing that his family was doomed to die, he no longer cared about anything else. He started by scolding the empress and others for being against human ethics, cruel and unvirtuous, and the emperor who intended to protect them was also incompetent.

The scolded emperor only felt sorry that Xie Yuzhen rejected him again, but at the same time he was happy that she was such a unique woman who was worthy of his deep love. He put away his unruly sitting posture and said, "Since you are determined to investigate, then investigate it carefully. What do you think, Lord Ying?"