Chapter 145: During the mourning period, the main hall of the temporary palace collapsed; Emperor Xuanyuan had passed away. ...

On the last day of April, a sudden rainstorm struck in the middle of the night. Just as dawn broke, the morning bell of Shangyong City rang, and the guards of the Yanzhishan Palace were already galloping away on horseback through the rain.

The main hall of the imperial palace collapsed, and Emperor Xuanyuan died.

The palace with its vermilion walls and yellow tiles turned white. White banners were hung inside and outside the palace. Ministers, regardless of rank or title, all wore white robes to court. Incense tables were set up in front of government offices to offer sacrifices. Border and local officials also suspended their pilgrimages.

In times of national mourning, after the court deliberations, the court should adjourn the following day.

Upon hearing the sudden news of the death of the Retired Emperor, Emperor Zhenyuan was overcome with grief, and the entire nation mourned. That day, the officials in court ceased their infighting and lost all interest in discussing state affairs, focusing solely on the funeral rites for the Retired Emperor. The court meeting adjourned before dawn. The imperial edict for the selection of a concubine, previously drafted by the Secretariat scribes, was also postponed for three months due to the national mourning, and could not be announced until early August.

Just then, good news arrived from the west: the rebellion in Xiling had been quelled, and Xie Yuan ordered Yue Dun, the Earl of Chengyang, to take command of the armies in Xiling and not return to the capital for the time being.

When the palace servants came to report the news of the Emperor Emeritus's passing, Xie Wenjun had just read the reports sent back by spies from various places.

After leaving the palace that day, she had people keep an eye on the movements of the soldiers stationed in the northern suburbs, Linxia Prefecture, and Feng Jiakun's garrison east of the Zhudong Tianqian River. Sure enough, there were varying degrees of troop movements.

The main hall of the Yanzhishan Palace collapsed at 3:45 AM last night. At that time, the rain was too heavy, and a huge boulder fell from the mountain, damaging the beams of the hall, and then half of the hall collapsed. By the time the guards left on duty at Yanzhishan were frantically digging through the broken bricks, tiles, and broken wood, they were already gone.

Xie Wenjun asked, "Is the time accurate?"

The palace servant said, "The palace beam was broken by falling rocks at three-quarters past the hour of Chou (1-3 AM). When the guards of Yanzhi Mountain moved the broken tiles and found the body of the retired emperor, it was already past half past the hour of Chou."

On the small table in front of the couch was a cup of tea that had gone cold; the steam had dissipated half an hour ago.

It wasn't until the maiden brought a sandalwood tray, placed the coarse hemp cloth on the small table, and called out, "Your Highness, it is time to enter the palace."

Xie Wenjun responded softly and told someone to change his clothes into the mourning attire.

"Rong Jun".

"Your subordinate is here."

Xie Wenjun said, "Send someone to the Ministry of Rites to inform Lord Guo that all matters concerning the funeral can be determined according to the rites, except for one thing: the late emperor will not be buried in the same mausoleum as the empress dowager."

"yes."

There were many things to do next. After the encoffining and burial, Emperor Xuanyuan's remains would be kept in the Taiji Hall for twenty-seven days. During this time, the Ministry of Rites would take the lead in determining Emperor Xuanyuan's posthumous title and temple name, and choosing an auspicious day for the funeral procession to bury him in the imperial mausoleum and seal the underground palace. However, due to the suddenness of the event, the mausoleum was not yet completed. After the twenty-seven days of keeping the remains in the palace, Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin would be temporarily stored in the funeral palace until a mausoleum was selected or a new mausoleum was completed before the funeral procession. During the funeral, members of the imperial family and ministers were required to enter the palace to keep vigil.

In her memory, the man she should call her father was always far away, or only visible through the high back of his throne. Just like the father-daughter relationship in this life, there was neither deep-seated hatred nor an inseparable bond. They were always separated by a thin layer of paper, and knowing that he was there was better than nothing.

She once leaned against the gate of Yaohua Palace, waiting for him all day long. She also hid in the rockery in the Imperial Garden and caught a glimpse of him from afar. The wind was warm then, making the hem of his dragon robe sway gently.

She longed for it day and night, and every time the imperial carriage stopped in front of Yaohua Palace, her and her mother's days would be a little easier.

He rarely comes.

She stopped hoping at some point.

She had witnessed her father's reign, his power and prestige shaking the world, and she had also personally caused his twilight years as emperor to be imprisoned in a remote palace. Now, recalling the past, that bright yellow figure was nothing more than a blurry shadow, swaying in the wind.

As Xie Wenjun turned around, her sleeve brushed against the brush washer on the table, and a drop of cold water splashed onto the back of her hand, feeling cool. She gazed at the increasingly scorching sun outside the window, her eyes filled with an emptiness where there was no one left to complain about or miss.

It was like a thread that had been held for a long time suddenly snapping.

Even the most distant people leave something behind in your heart after they're gone.

The entire country was draped in white mourning clothes for a hundred days. The Princess's residence was also covered in white, and the lanterns under the eaves were replaced with white linen lampshades in the blink of an eye.

Xie Wenjun rode in a carriage to Chengtian Gate, then disembarked and walked into the palace.

The officials, dressed in mourning attire, were divided into three rows—civil officials, military officers, and imperial relatives—arranged according to rank and kinship. They knelt in a dense, dark mass across the square in front of the Taiji Hall, weeping in countless ways. Several senior officials at the head of the front row trembled with grief, while the officials and eunuchs below, already well-versed in mourning tunes, bowed their heads, their sobs drawn out and trembling.

Xie Wenjun, dressed in plain white, walked through the kneeling crowd.

As she walked past the front row of civil servants, she noticed someone.

Unlike the others, this man simply knelt down obediently, without even wiping his eyes. When Xie Wenjun walked by, he raised his head to meet Xie Wenjun's gaze without looking away.

Xie Wenjun remembered this person; he was Han Song, a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat who came from the Sifang Academy.

Han Song's eyes were sunken, veiled in a shadow. There was sorrow in his eyes, but no pain, no tears. That trace of sorrow was clearly not because Emperor Xuanyuan had passed away.

According to the established rites, during the period of national mourning, the court would cease all non-essential government affairs. Measures such as dismissing tax officials and abolishing hereditary privileges could easily trigger national unrest if not handled carefully. Therefore, immediately after Emperor Xuanyuan's body was placed in the coffin and sealed, someone suggested that the dismissal of tax officials be temporarily postponed, which put the concerns of aristocratic families who were worried about the abolition of hereditary privileges at ease for the time being.

The Ministry of Rites, following the old system of the ancestors, drafted the funeral rites for Emperor Xuanyuan, arranging for him to be buried with imperial rites, with the national mourning period lasting exactly twenty-seven months. The open and covert resistance in the court had long since extinguished the flame of abolishing hereditary privilege, leaving only a tiny spark. If this action were to be delayed for two years due to the mourning period for Emperor Xuanyuan, even that spark would likely be extinguished.

Xie Wenjun, dressed in coarse hemp mourning clothes, walked quickly to the front of the line of relatives in the Taiji Hall, and turned around to face the coffin containing the body of Emperor Xuanyuan.

Looking at the coffin, she suddenly realized that all the sparse kinship ties of her life, the lingering grievances between him and his mother, and all the things that had torn at her heart, whether they were entanglements or resentments, had finally vanished with the sealing of the coffin.

For a moment, he was lost in thought when a gaze swept across the hall filled with mourning clothes and landed on Xie Wenjun. That gaze was persistent, carrying a ruthless intensity that wouldn't let go.

Xie Wenjun seemed to sense something and turned to look in that direction.

Han Song hurriedly lowered his eyelids. He had only met Xie Wenjun a few times before. Every time he saw her before, no matter whether she was dressed in simple clothes or in fine silk, she always had an imposing aura. Now, dressed in plain linen clothes, she had toned down her aura, but it was still inexplicably glaring, as if she had deliberately stripped away her disguise to reveal a tougher bone underneath.

If there was anyone in the court who couldn't stand seeing someone from a humble background rise to prominence, and who feared most the breaking of the ironclad rule of family connections, it was none other than the eldest princess who personally compiled the "Records of Ten Thousand Officials." The entire court knew that many of the nobles who held lucrative positions due to their ancestral privileges had relied on her connections. How could she possibly accept the idea of ​​abolishing her family's privileged status and cutting off her support?

If Princess Jiangning were to seize the opportunity to obstruct the removal of hereditary privileges, even with the Emperor's backing, he, a powerless and insignificant secretary, might not be able to easily change the situation.

Xie Wenjun withdrew her gaze, lifted her clothes, and knelt down.

She kowtowed first, and the clansmen immediately bowed down and followed suit.

Immediately afterwards, Xun Xian, as the head of the civil officials, led the civil officials lined up on the left side of the Taiji Hall to perform the three kneelings and nine kowtows ceremony.

As Han Song knelt and rose, his gaze fell upon Xun Xian's head.

This Left Prime Minister was notoriously opportunistic and indecisive, but looking across the court and the country, only this Left Prime Minister possessed the power to rival aristocratic families and disregarded lineage. After the kowtow was completed, the last trace of hesitation in his eyes vanished.

As evening approached, the wailing in the Taiji Hall gradually subsided. White banners fluttered in the breeze, and officials withdrew in order of rank, heading to their respective offices. The news of the Emperor Emeritus's passing hung overhead, but the seals of the Six Ministries could not be halted, and memorials from various regions continued to be sent to the Secretariat. The officials had stood guard all day, but the administrative affairs of each office still had to proceed according to regulations and could not be delayed.

Han Song stopped at the entrance of the Secretariat's duty room, straightened his plain hat, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside. The clerk inside was already waiting. Upon seeing him, he lowered his hands and bowed his head, saying, "Sir, yesterday's files have been sorted out."

Han Song responded and reviewed the draft of the imperial edict for bestowing the title of imperial concubine that he had prepared a few days ago.

After repeatedly checking and confirming that there were no errors, he handed the draft to the clerk in charge of copying and archiving it, preparing to present it to the emperor for review and then archive it. Afterwards, he walked along the corridor towards the outside of the Secretariat. Instead of going to his own residence, he ordered someone to prepare a carriage and headed west to the Xun residence.

The Taiji Hall required people to guard the coffin, and the Ministry of Rites divided the twenty-seven days of mourning into segments and arranged the shifts accordingly. Imperial relatives were placed at the front; civil officials followed closely behind. Each of the Three Departments, Six Ministries, and Nine Courts had its own established procedures, and prime ministers and high-ranking officials were to perform the full mourning rites. Prime Ministers Xun Xian and Cheng Lingdian each occupied three full nights alone, while the vice ministers and senior officials below them took turns according to their respective departments. Most of the military officers were stationed on the borders, so their names were fewer, and the military officers from Yongdu occupied several early morning shifts at dawn.

Tonight, the Eldest Princess will remain at the Taiji Palace. Tomorrow, Xun Xian will be entering the palace, so it's better to do it sooner rather than later. He will go to pay his respects to this "old master" tonight.

Just as Han Song's carriage left the Zhongshu Yamen (Secretariat), a figure appeared at the corner of the Zhongshu Dutang (Secretariat Capital Hall).

The entire palace was dressed in plain linen robes, and Jiang Andong was no exception, wearing a linen robe as well. He avoided people and walked to the door of the duty room where Han Song had just left. He did not enter the room, but only waved to the clerk who was tidying up documents.

Upon seeing him, the clerk hurriedly came out and bowed, saying, "Commander."

Jiang Andong, with a solemn expression, whispered a few words to the clerk.

The clerk's face turned pale instantly.

Then he bowed respectfully to Jiang Andong and said, "I understand."

Chen Luan hurriedly walked out only after the palace gates closed. After leaving the Taiji Hall, he was about to exit the palace through the Xihua Gate when a person chased after him. "My lord, please wait." It was a junior official from the Ministry of Rites.

The official from the Ministry of Rites bowed and presented a book of officials' duties for keeping vigil with both hands. A line was drawn on the corner of the book, inside which were those who had to be present in person to be "on duty", and outside the line were those who could be entrusted to others to "accompany".

He said, “My lord, according to the rites, all military officers who are related to the emperor must also take turns to observe the mourning for the late emperor. Grand Princess Guijun is the old marquis’s birth mother and the late emperor’s aunt. Therefore, in the line of the old Marquis Xuanping, both the marquis and the general are within the rites. The general is stationed on the border and has not yet returned. According to the seniority, he has also taken a short shift in the morning and evening according to the rites. If he cannot return in time, we will have to trouble the marquis to take his shift.”

As a high-ranking official of the Court of Judicial Review, Chen Luan was required to stay in the palace for two full nights. In addition, he was also required to accompany Chen Liangyu, so he had to stay in the palace for three days and two nights. After finishing his shift, he did not need to leave the palace to return to the Marquis's residence. There were rooms in the palace for officials who were guarding the coffin to rest temporarily. He should go back to the residence tonight to prepare a few more changes of clothes.

The carriage came to a stop in front of the Xuanping Marquis's residence. Chen Luan went straight into the residence. Just then, the side gate of the Xun residence opened, and Han Song walked out quickly with his head down, bowing to those inside.

The gates of the Marquis of Xuanping's residence and the Xun residence were diagonally opposite each other. When Han Song walked out of the Xun residence, Chen Luan had already stepped into his own home. Neither of them saw the other, and they passed each other between the diagonally opposite gates.

The gate of the Xun residence closed slightly, and Han Song walked towards the street corner. His carriage was parked on the open ground at the corner. As he boarded the carriage, a neatly folded piece of paper, with ink stains showing through, slid out from the sleeve of his hemp robe as if it had been accidentally blown away by the wind.

As soon as the carriage drove away, a person darted out from across the street corner, quickly picked up the paper that had been folded twice, stretched it out, roughly scanned the writing, stuffed it into his pocket, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After that, Han Song frequently visited Xun's residence, staying for at least an hour and sometimes half a day. Soon, rumors spread throughout the taverns and teahouses of Yongdu that Prime Minister Xun was investigating the appointments of sons of nobles and officials. Rumors of Xun Xian taking the lead in abolishing hereditary privilege and implementing new policies spread throughout the court.

After the first few days of the busy funeral rites for Emperor Xuanyuan were over and the ceremonies were finalized, Xie Yuan finally had some free time to review the scattered memorials. The edict for bestowing the title of imperial concubine, drafted by Han Song, had been placed on the top shelf by someone. Xie Yuan reached out and took it, then flew into a rage, stripping Han Song of his title as a drafter in the Imperial Secretariat and imprisoning him in the imperial jail to await further judgment.

Upon receiving the decree, Jiang Andong led a few Imperial Guard soldiers toward the Central Secretariat.

Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!