Chapter 525: The Plan for Offspring, Chang'an Ceremony
During the reign of Lingjue, there were no major events in the world.
In the tenth year of Lingjue, an imperial edict spread to all the counties and kingdoms.
Grand Marshal and General Huo Guang issued an order, ordering all the dukes, princes, county governors, and all high-ranking officials with a salary of two thousand stones and above to present to Chang'an beautiful women who had given birth to baby boys.
The best choice is a beautiful woman who can get pregnant within ten months of marriage. In other words, a woman who can get pregnant very easily.
The decree also stated that, except for high-ranking officials with a salary of two thousand stones, if any common people thought that their daughters or wives were beautiful and could easily give birth to a baby boy, they could report it to the local county magistrate.
Huo Guang clearly stated in his edict that the direct bloodline between Emperor Xiaoxuan and the Empress Dowager was too thin, and after the death of Crown Prince La, Your Majesty was the only one left.
The purpose of this offering is to reproduce the royal family's offspring, so a beautiful woman who has given birth to a baby boy was chosen.
If the beautiful woman who was offered up really was pregnant with a noble child from the royal family, the officials would count it as an achievement, and the father or husband who offered up the woman would be heavily rewarded, and would be treated like an in-law by marriage, enjoying endless wealth and glory, and could also bless their descendants.
The practice of the emperor in Chang'an ordering the counties and kingdoms to present beauties to the emperor has a long history. Emperor Xiaowu, in particular, loved beauties and asked the counties and kingdoms to select beauties to present to the emperor many times.
The Han people did not care much about whether a woman was married or not. As long as the beauty presented to them was really beautiful, it did not matter if she was married twice.
But Huo Guang's direct request for a beautiful woman who had given birth to a child was truly unheard of and unseen.
Although it sounds strange, it even goes against the conventional etiquette.
People all over the world, whether they were scholars or students, or kings and dukes, all praised Huo Guang's action.
Because the greatest disrespect is for an emperor to have no heir!
The Empress Dowager even directly issued an order to add another 3,000 households to Huo Guang's fiefdom. This move showed that she was extremely fond of Huo Guang.
Over the past ten years, what she worried about most was that something unexpected would happen to Liu She, causing her bloodline to be cut off.
Liu She is now sixteen years old. Since he was fifteen, he has gradually had favors with several palace maids under the arrangement of Huo Guang and the Empress Dowager, but none of them gave birth to a prince.
The emperor is growing older and has reached the age to get married. What if the empress also has difficulty giving birth to a prince for the emperor?
Empress Dowager Xu Pingjun was very worried.
Unexpectedly, Huo Guang was even more ruthless than her. He waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, put the marriage on hold for a while. Give birth to a son first to ensure that Your Majesty will not be without an heir. Then we can slowly choose the candidate for the Empress."
After a year of screening, some less beautiful women were eliminated, and nearly a hundred women were carefully selected from various counties and people. Each of them had a suitable figure, with a thousand kinds of charm between their eyebrows and eyes. They were all in their twenties, at the peak of their beauty.
It takes money to cultivate beauties. Naturally, these beauties did not come from farming families. At worst, they came from small landlords and small merchants.
Ten years later, when these people were sent to Chang'an, they were all very charming and amorous, which stunned Liu She.
There used to be many beauties in the palace, but after the twenty years of Emperor Xiaoxuan Liu Xun and the ten years of Emperor Liu She, the young and beautiful ones were long gone.
The few people who had visited him before were all specially invited by Huo Guang and the Empress Dowager. Now that he saw the beautiful women carefully selected from all over the Han Dynasty, it would be strange if he could control himself.
But Huo Guang understood sustainable development very well. He knew very well that sex is a knife that scrapes bones. The emperor's body had not yet developed to its peak. If he indulged in women, it might ruin his body.
So he ordered the palace ladies to record the menstrual periods of these beautiful women, and then arranged a schedule for Liu She to visit them, allowing him to visit one beautiful woman every three days, and he also ordered the imperial physician to replenish Liu She's essence, energy and blood.
In this way, one year is enough to visit all these hundred beautiful women, and these beautiful women can easily become pregnant and give birth smoothly.
As long as everything goes well, several princes will be born safely.
Only when the emperor has an heir can people like Huo Guang and the empress dowager feel at ease, and only then can the sword that has always been hanging over everyone's head be dissipated.
During the entire ten years of Lingjue, Liu She was either learning how to govern the country from the Empress Dowager and Huo Guang, or visiting those beautiful women.
The reason why he wanted to have sex with different people every night was that Huo Guang was worried that Liu She would have a rebellious mentality. After all, there was psychological pressure in having the task of reproducing offspring.
This way, every night is fresh. Even if he feels a little rebellious, he still has to eat a few bites first. This is enough for Huo Guang.
Of course, if Liu She liked someone, Huo Guang wouldn't mind giving her more roles and serving Liu She more often. As long as she could have children, everything would be fine.
It might be a little difficult for Liu She to get a woman pregnant, but with Huo Guang's careful and bold operation, he found him the woman who was most likely to get pregnant in the entire Han Dynasty.
Finally, in the third month, good news came from the palace that a beautiful woman had successfully become pregnant.
At that time, Huo Guang was explaining to Liu She how to handle government affairs in Changle Palace, and the eunuch ran in excitedly and said, "Your Majesty, great joy, great joy!"
When Liu She asked, the eunuch said excitedly, "Your Majesty, Madam Cao of Pei County is pregnant."
pregnant!
This news shocked the emperor and his minister so much that their heads were buzzing and they were even speechless for a while.
Huo Guang was the first to react. He was quite excited and bowed to Liu She. He burst into tears and said, "Your Majesty, you have a son. You have a successor.
You have a successor!"
Liu She came back to his senses and helped Huo Guang up. The young emperor's heroic face was also shining with excitement. He sighed seriously: "This is all thanks to the general. If you hadn't found these women for me, I don't know when I would have a child.
Madam Cao of Pei County, I remember her. Her original husband's surname was Cao. He died in a banditry just three years after their marriage. She had a son in Qiao County of Pei County.
I hereby decree that if Madam Cao can give birth to a prince, I will make him the King of Pei, and her son from Qiao County the Marquis of Qiao. Although they have different surnames and are not blood relatives to me, they are brothers of flesh and blood after all, and I will never treat them unfairly. "
The reason why Liu She and Huo Guang were so excited was certainly not just because of an unknown baby's gender. Moreover, even if the baby was born, it might die.
The most important thing is that after Mrs. Cao became pregnant, it proved that Liu She was fertile!
As long as this is confirmed, the nearly one hundred beautiful women in the palace who are easy to conceive will sooner or later give birth to sons for him, eight or ten, or even twenty or thirty. Even if the mortality rate is high, there will always be some who will survive!
As soon as Liu She's imperial edict was announced in the palace, all the women became extremely excited. Is this the wealth and glory that the emperor and the general had talked about before?
The title of Marquis was directly thrown out!
Liu She conferred the title of beauty on Madam Cao, and then he once again worked diligently and step by step to strive for the continuation of the throne.
Huo Guang informed the Empress Dowager and had all pregnant women protected to prevent anyone from causing any trouble.
The Empress Dowager was shocked upon hearing this and increased protection for pregnant women.
The end of the eleventh year of Lingjue.
An imperial decree was issued from Chang'an, requiring all high-ranking officials and nobles in the world, including marquises, princes, and county governors, to come to the capital to celebrate for the eldest son, the second son, the third son, the eldest daughter, and the second daughter of the Han Dynasty.
The Emperor of the Han Dynasty had five children in one year, and more than a dozen beauties were pregnant. The Han Dynasty had a complete successor. This was a cause for celebration for the whole world, and all families should come.
After the emperor issued the imperial edict, the empress dowager also issued an edict, requiring all the families to bring their noble ladies to Chang'an to see the world when they came.
Who doesn’t know the meaning behind this?
The emperor already has enough illegitimate sons, so he doesn't have to worry about the lack of successor to the throne. Now he wants to marry a queen and have a legitimate son!
Although the inheritance law of the Han Dynasty had been in chaos for a long time, Emperor Lingjue was special. If he had a legitimate son, then the legitimate son would definitely inherit the throne.
In fact, the Empress Dowager's favorite was Huo Guang's youngest daughter, who was about the same age as Liu She, but Huo Guang was unwilling.
Because Liu She had difficulty giving birth, his daughter and Liu She were close relatives, cousins.
Luo Qing had warned him that unless there was the consent and blessing of King Su, the Supreme Emperor of Heaven, it would be difficult for close relatives to have children and the children would easily die young.
He didn't want his daughter to marry into the palace and then be unable to give birth to children, and spend the rest of her life in depression.
Especially since his status has almost reached the pinnacle of the officialdom. The next level up is the prime minister and regent, which is a realm only available to King Luo Wen. With nothing to pursue, he is even less willing to use his daughter to exchange for political capital.
This led to the Empress Dowager summoning the noble ladies from all families to come to the capital.
However, although Huo Guang was unwilling to let his daughter marry him, the Huo family was not just him. His elder brother inherited the title of Marquis of Guanjun. Not to mention his daughter, he even had several granddaughters.
Huo Guang naturally would not miss the opportunity to be so close to the Empress Dowager, so he recommended several people to the Empress Dowager. Xu Pingjun was somewhat satisfied, but still wanted to take a look at the noble ladies from other families, especially those from Guandong.
The Kanto region has always been home to many beautiful women.
During the ten years of Lingjue, the families from Guandong came to Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor. Basically, they traveled light, after all, the emperor had not yet taken power. So were they paying homage to the emperor or to Huo Guang?
If the ceremony was too grand, people all over the world would think that they were fawning on Huo Guang. Although many people were indeed fawning on the powerful Huo Guang.
But as for the nobles and officials, those who understand understand it, it is the same as some special professions.
You can do it but you can’t say it!
We must both take the lead and establish ourselves!
This time, the emperor summoned all the princes of the world to the capital in his name, and the grand ceremony that had not been shown for so many years was all prepared at once.
Especially those marquises who were stationed in Guandong, who had stayed there quietly for thirty years since the Jingnan Campaign!
Now he directly assembled his private army and marched towards Chang'an in Guanzhong with a large delegation from the marquisate.
No one knew that Huo Guang wanted to do something big.
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Han Cheng liked beautiful women and married other people’s wives. He had hundreds of beauties in his palace, all of whom were remarried women. This was unheard of in ancient and modern times, but people at that time praised it. This shows how different the customs of the Han Dynasty were. - "Ancient Anecdotes"
(End of this chapter)
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