female concubine

The coffin was transported to Gyeonggi, and the emperor ordered all the officials to come out of Nanxunmen to welcome the coffin of Duke Longde back to the city.

In December, the red lanterns in front of the founding mansion of Longde were replaced with white paper lanterns, and the original Xiao character became a huge memorial character. This specification displays the mourning hall.

Early in the morning, a scarlet-robed official lay on the eaves of the roof of the palace. The official held a purple round-neck robe in his hand, which was worn by Duke Longde before his death. He held the collar in one hand and the waist in the other, and shouted to the north. : "Xiao Huaide's soul is back, Xiao Huaide's soul is back, Xiao Huaide's soul is back."

After shouting three times, the officials threw the purple clothes in their hands from the front eaves, and the people under the eaves took the suitcases to catch the purple clothes, and then walked into the mourning hall from the east steps to cover the purple clothes on the body of Duke Longde.

There was no funeral and the transport was delayed for nearly a month. Because it was winter, the body was still intact when it was transported back to the capital, but the white-haired old man lying in the coffin had a thin face, and the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if he was walking peacefully. generally.

At the first funeral, music was played in the mourning hall to "entertain the corpse". The emperor ordered the two capitals to stop the court and excommunicate all the officials to pay homage.

On the day of the funeral, the imperial court dispatched the guards in front of the palace to order the people in Tokyo City not to light fireworks.

The coffin was carefully carried out from the mourning hall of the Duke's mansion by various generals. The relatives of the Xiao clan wore five clothes, and Duke Longde's eldest son and daughter-in-law wore "Zhanbai". Xiao Xianfu had no children, so Duke Longde only had A grandson of the eldest son, Xiao Yunze, wore a "Qi Shuai" made of coarse linen. The senders all let down their hair and followed around the coffin. The eldest son Xiao Xianrong held his coffin and walked in front of the coffin.

The monks beat cymbals, and the drumsticks guided the coffin at the forefront. The sound of the drums echoed the cries of the mourners.

The coffin team walked slowly eastward from Chaoyang Gate, and the paper money scattered along the way was like snowflakes floating on the river bank.

Exit Chaoyang Gate and continue eastward along the river, and there is an ordinary carriage parked on the opposite bank. The horse pulling the cart is eating the dry grass on the bank with its head down, snorting from time to time.

The cold wind in winter was biting, and she followed the coffin all the way from the time it came out of the church to the time it left the Chaoyang Gate, but she could only follow from afar, but she didn't dare to send off the coffin in mourning like they did.

During a woman's life, there are three principles of obedience: obey the father before marriage, obey the husband when married, and obey the son when the husband dies. Once a woman is married, she leaves her father's clan and joins her husband's clan. The way of "a wife is a husband".

The King of Chu took off his cloak and put it on her body, stood by his side and hugged her tightly, and said distressedly: "It's windy here."

Xiao Youqing immediately rubbed into the trembling and sobbing body in the arms of the King of Chu, and the King of Chu stretched out his hand to comfort her gently, feeling distressed, and couldn't bear to see her like this, "Sister is the grandson of Weng Weng, in fact, she can go to send the spirit, why... .”

Xiao Youqing grabbed her skirt and shook her head tremblingly in her arms.

The King of Chu looked at the man who was so sad but still caring about himself, and choked up and said, "Anyway, everyone in the world already knows King Chu's ambitions, and I'm not afraid of being criticized for this moment, let alone being filial and being a man and a child." If you are filial, you can't..." The speechless person frowned slightly and hugged the person in his arms tightly, and said with trembling lips: "This world is really unfair, follow the father, follow the husband, follow the son, and the woman What else is left in your life except for a word of obedience?"

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In the early spring of the 11th year of Jianping, Zhou Shinan resigned from office and became old. He had three courts and three sons. The emperor had no choice but to grant permission.

"Now that the positions of Prime Minister and Right Prime Minister are both vacant, does Zhou Qing have a suitable candidate in mind?"

"The recommendation form has already been handed over by the old minister. Presumably His Majesty should have read it."

The emperor pulled a sullen face, "The people recommended by Zhou Qing are all staff members of Chu Palace..."

"They are His Majesty's courtiers first and then the servants of the Chu Palace, and the establishment of the palace by the vassal king is useless. The old ministers still say the same thing, choose ministers and talents."

The emperor rubbed the person on the chair, and immediately waved his hand, "Since Zhou Qing insists on retiring, I can't force it, come here."

"His Majesty."

"Send the right minister back to his hometown."

"Yes."

"Your Majesty, the memorandum sent by Zhao Wangfu Chief Shi was delivered by Zhao Wang."

The emperor narrowed his eyes, hesitating whether to look, "How is he these days?"

"People from the investigation department said that it was as usual. Duke Longde cried a lot when he went to mourn the death of King Zhao. After Zhengdan, he accompanied Princess Zhao back to Shanyin Earl's Mansion for a few days. I heard that Uncle Shanyin was seriously ill. , I'm afraid it's..."

The emperor broadened his forehead, picked up a bowl of tea and found it was cold, so he put it down heavily, and the tea in the teacup immediately spilled on the memorial, "What happened in the past few years?"

The report of the border state government submitted by the Privy Council said that the military affairs on the border caused the emperor a headache, "Have I reached the point where no one can use me?"

Zhao Ci knew the reason but didn't dare to speak. It wasn't because no one could use it, but because the emperor suspected that someone didn't dare to use it. He could only gently place the memorabilia in his hand on the table.

The emperor hesitated for a while sullenly, then picked it up and opened it, looked all the way from right to left, bearded and stared, tore the memorial in half and threw it out on the spot, pointing to the northeast corner of the hall and shouting: "He thinks he Who is he, whoever he asks me to establish, will I establish who, what does he take the position of prince, is it a plaything to push back and forth?"

"Your Majesty, rest your anger."

"It's unreasonable to let Zhao Wang roll into the palace to see me."

"Yes."

People from the Ministry of Internal Affairs went to summon King Zhao to enter the palace. The owner of King Zhao's mansion had already changed into a brocade robe and jade belt and was sitting in the middle hall waiting.

Zhao Wang followed the servant who was summoned and walked on the corridor, walking hurriedly. After walking for a while, seeing that he was almost there, he asked, "How did your majesty look when he summoned me?"

"Back to the Three Kings, His Majesty lost his temper when he announced the call."

King Zhao stopped suddenly, then sighed lightly and continued to walk forward. When he reached the entrance of the hall, he slowed down his pace, stretched his sleeves and folded them in front of his chest, and walked in calmly.

The people in the hall had already been scolded by the emperor. The emperor put one hand on the jade belt and turned his back to the door. King Zhao approached with small steps until he could see the flowers carved on the jade belt at the back of the emperor, and then bent his knees. Kneeling on the ground, pressing his left hand to his right hand and arching his hands on the ground in front of his knees, his head followed slowly to the ground, Ji Shou said: "I wish your Majesty all blessings."

The emperor took the memorial that had been torn in two, turned around and walked slowly to King Zhao, and let go of the memorial in his hand—pata! ——The memorandum fell heavily on Zhao Wang's ear, which made him startled, slightly raised his head to look at the crumpled paper, "Your Majesty, minister..."

The emperor looked down and said in a deep voice: "What do you think this court hall is?"

Immediately afterwards, the emperor's speech speed became extremely fast, "Is it a place for you brothers to play, or why do you become the world of the Wei family? Yours wants to make you the crown prince?"

"It's my fault for making your majesty angry, and it's my son's unfilial piety for making my father unhappy. My minister..."

"Who is it?" The emperor's voice was low, full of anger, "Is it Lu Wei, the political adviser?"

"minister..."

"Is it really?"

"Yes, Lu Canzheng said that the establishment of a heir and a son should make preparations early, but I think that the king of Chu is more capable than my son, and he has won the hearts of the people. For the sake of the eternal family, he should be able to establish a virtuous person, so I ask your majesty to establish Chu. The king is the empress dowager, please Your Majesty..."

"Shut up!" the emperor scolded, "Sanlang, you were brought up by me alone, what are you thinking in your heart, I don't know?"

King Zhao straightened up, "Yes, it was the minister who asked about Tong Pingzhang, and Tong Pingzhang refused to talk about it, so I went to ask about the political affairs, but now the situation in the court is all biased towards the king of Chu, what can I do?" Sitting in the East Palace? That day when the King of Chu returned to Beijing and looked at Er coldly in the Kunning Hall, He Er said that he never thought of becoming a prince. Does Daddy know what this means? The King of Chu does not want to be a prince, he always wants It's all king!"

As soon as the words fell, the emperor slapped him hard, Zhao Wang covered his burning face, "Dad, don't you believe me?"

The emperor squinted his eyes and straightened up, "I can give you the position of crown prince, but Saburo, you have to remember that everything you have today is given by me, including your mother's Shen family. I can give you everything, but you can also Take it back, the Shen family is all recorded as the Imperial City Secretary, do you know? I just turned a blind eye for your sake, without you, the Shen family is nothing!"

Zhao Wang once again checked his head, "My son knows that Daddy has always cared about his son, and it is because he is unfilial and has failed Daddy's painstaking efforts."

With his hands behind his back, the emperor said earnestly, "Prince, don't let me down like your elder brother."

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In the 11th year of Jianping, just after Shangyuan, the imperial court checked and filled in the gaps and selected officials. Chen Yu, the minister of the Ministry of officials, was the envoy of the Privy Council; Shangshu Xiao Xianrong succeeded his father as the Deputy Marshal of the Hexi Army and Horses and went to the border to lead the army. He also ordered him to pull the army from Yazhou in the west to Xizhou, and appointed Wenchen as the military governor to accompany him. Zhengshi became the deputy prime minister of the Zhengshitang. At the end of January, the ministers submitted a table to ask for the establishment of a crown prince with the country as the most important thing. The emperor issued an imperial edict, and the eldest son of King Zhao was canonized as the crown prince. At the beginning of February, the crown prince canonization ceremony was held in Daqing Hall , changed her name to Wei Kai, received Baoyin, and was worshiped by courtiers and kings. Concubine Zhao was crowned princess, and she was announced at home and abroad, and moved to the East Palace.

Shi, the new crown prince Zhanshi, selected the scholars of the Hanlin Academy as the feast for knowledge of the scriptures. From February to the Dragon Boat Festival and from August to the Winter Solstice every year, he served as an attendant on a single day and gave lectures in turn.

When he came back from Da Nei Shi Shan Wen An, the man in purple clothes and jade belt was standing in the courtyard of the main hall of the East Palace with his sleeves up, and the soft sunset was shining on him from the west eaves towards the courtyard.

"Your Highness is so elegant, you can still bask in the sun leisurely at this dusk."

There is only one foreign minister who can freely enter and leave the East Palace with the crown prince's password, Wei Kai said with a smile: "Mr., I laughed." Then he turned around, "Isn't this palace feeling emotional?"

Han Bang took a step away, there was another military general who came with him, but it happened to be together, the military general stepped forward and said, "Your Highness."

"Uncle?" Zhao Wang looked at Shen Yi'an, then looked around and nodded, "Follow me to the Book Pavilion."

After clearing everyone away, Wei Wei sat on the seat, "If you have anything to say, just talk here, sir, you are not an outsider."

Shen Yi'an nodded and stepped forward, and said in a low voice: "A military report from the Yongxing Army said that the Xia Kingdom was gathering troops to attack the Song Dynasty, and the old minister intercepted it in the northwest. The Privy Council didn't know about it yet."

Wei Kai was shocked and said: "Stop the military situation privately, uncle, you..."

"His Highness is still worried every day since he became the prince. Now that Xiao Xianrong is in control of the army, Chen Yu has become the prime minister again, and Tong Ping Zhangshi was once the teacher of the king of Chu. I thought that if a war broke out, the situation could be reversed."

"Twist?"

"Yazhou was transferred to Xizhou. Your Majesty wanted to guard against the Xia Kingdom and the Zhenfan people. Now that Lord Longde has passed away, if the frontiers were lost, this crime would have caused serious damage to the Xiao family. As long as the King of Chu is gone, there is nothing to fear. , and since His Majesty has made you the heir apparent, I don't think you will be deposed easily."

"But once the matter is revealed, Uncle, you..."

"For Your Highness, I am willing to die."

Wei Kai lowered his head, and immediately raised his head to look at Han Bang, "Mr. has been silent, but do you think it's wrong?"

Han Bang just shook his head lightly, "There is no general in the court now, Xiao Xianrong is not Xiao Huaide, he cannot be trusted by His Majesty for his new and old grudges, and the appointment of an overseer is actually for surveillance. If a war breaks out, I speculate that the commander-in-chief of the palace is likely to lead the army. It's just..." Han Bo raised his head hesitantly, "Is it really good to use the important affairs of the family and the country to stabilize the position of the crown prince?"

This is the first time Han Bo used such a questioning tone, Wei Kai gave up, "This is the country of my Wei family. Xixia was just a separatist force in the past. Even if there is a fight, let him not be afraid in several states. After Gong Ri ascends the throne, not only must he take it back personally, but also let his country be destroyed!"