Chapter 156: Daji Enters Chaoge, and then we talk about Xiqi...
Back in Xiqi, the Zhou army, under the command of Jiang Ziya, was ultimately defeated by the newly dispatched mortal general of the Shang Dynasty and was beheaded by Zhenduo, the sixth son of King Wen.
At this time, Grand Tutor Wen Zhong returned to the capital. Chonghouhu, who had been guarding Chaoge since Huang Feihu, took over Jiming Pass at the order of the Grand Tutor, and the two sides fell into a stalemate again.
Chong Hou Hu was Emperor Xin's study companion and a closer confidant than Huang Fei Hu. If their family hadn't had a daughter of the right age, the position of Empress of the Western Palace might not have gone to Huang Fei Hu's sister, Concubine Huang.
Just before Master Wen returned, Emperor Xin's harem had just experienced a huge fight with heavy casualties, and the three highest-ranking concubines were all killed.
However, after venting his frustrations at Nuwa Palace, Emperor Xin returned to Chaoge feeling rather disheartened. He knew his empire was in tatters, and that most of the vassal states were eager for the Shang Dynasty's demise so they could redistribute their interests.
Although there are a few loyal ministers in the court, they can be relied upon like bricklayers to patch up the rotten east and the rotten west, and then patch up the rotten west and the rotten east again. How can the country be repaired?
The reason why our ancestor Wu Ding was able to restore the government was, firstly, because the princes at that time were not as powerful as they are today; secondly, because the capital area at that time was much stronger than it is today.
By the time the throne came to him, many small princes had already been swallowed up by the big princes, and the power of the big princes had become too great to be eliminated.
To make matters worse, the capital had been ruled by several generations of Shang kings, each of whom had a favored son besides the crown prince. It was already unfair that their beloved sons couldn't inherit the throne, but they couldn't be driven to a barren land, could they?
Everyone knows about today's medical conditions. Even a slight headache or fever can easily lead to death. In barren areas, people lack food and clothing, and may also be plagued by dense miasma, making headaches and fevers very common.
In the face of illness and death, nobles and slaves are equal, and no one can resist. How could the successive Shang kings bear to see their beloved sons suffer like that?
Therefore, they chose not to grant their beloved son a fiefdom, but instead allocated a fiefdom from the capital area to ensure that their beloved son would have no worries about food and clothing in the future.
"A fief is not much different from a fiefdom. It doesn't require a large area, so it should be harmless."
——The above is the common idea of every Shang king who granted fiefdoms to his beloved sons.
You carve out a piece, I carve out a piece, and together we make a great dam. Even a large number of ants can destroy a dam, let alone these greedy nobles?
When the throne came to Emperor Xin, he faced an extremely embarrassing situation: if he took back all the fiefs in the capital area, he would lose the support of the entire royal family; if he did not take back those fiefs, he would not have the capital to fight against the princes.
He also tried to find a breakthrough from a third party, such as reusing slaves and gathering their power.
But he did not have enough food and could not provide the slaves with adequate diet, and he also required them to participate in military training, which made the slaves complain.
Nothing works, nothing works, so Emperor Xin is ready to give up. He can live a more relaxed life if he worries less.
He just couldn't believe that he was so unlucky that Cheng Tang Jiye would fail at his hands.
Once a king starts to become corrupt, the first ones to notice it are often not his loyal ministers, but the more cunning treacherous ministers.
There were two senior officials in the court, Fei Zhong and You Hun, whose greatest skill was to divine the king's intentions. Sensing that the king was uninterested, they devised various methods to cheer him up.
But these things in the capital were all played by Emperor Xin since he was a child. What new things could there be? He had no interest in them at all.
Fei Zhong and You Hun saw that this was not acceptable. If they could not make the king happy, wouldn't it be questioning their professional abilities?
Those things are not fresh? Then try something new.
Your Majesty, what do you think of selecting some new beauties to accompany you to the palace? All you need to do is issue an imperial decree ordering each of the great princes to present a hundred beauties, and each of the lesser princes to present thirty, to fill the imperial court and entertain you.
Emperor Xin had just decided not to work so hard anymore and to enjoy life, so he agreed immediately.
However, this decree had just been announced in the court and had not yet been drafted into an imperial edict when it was rejected by a group of ministers.
At this time, Emperor Xin had not yet completely let go of the burden of being a wise ruler. Seeing that so many ministers opposed it, he felt embarrassed to insist and gave up the idea.
Some of the ministers who advised him did not want Emperor Xin to be obsessed with beauty, while others had already colluded with the major princes and did not want the princes with whom they had connections to suffer losses.
Even if the princes had beauties in their fiefdoms, why would they offer them to Emperor Xin, whose prestige was fading? Couldn't they enjoy them themselves? At the very least, they could use them to win over others.
Fei Zhong and You Hun did not dare to speak at all in the court, for fear of being caught and beaten to death by their opponents.
But after the court session, the two men got together and became more and more angry as they discussed the matter. They were determined to let the king know the beauty's beauty.
As for the candidate, it was ready for them - the daughter of Su Hu of Jizhou, a beauty famous far and wide, and it was said that she was engaged to Ji Kao, the eldest son of Ji Chang, the Duke of Xibo.
"The eldest son of Marquis Xibo?" Emperor Xin's brows gleamed, and he sneered, "Draft an imperial decree, ordering Marquis Su of Jizhou to escort the daughter into the palace."
Xibo Hou had long been restless, and he hadn't expected the seemingly honest Su Hu to flirt with him. Even though Emperor Xin knew the marriage was the result of an alliance, he was happy to disgust both of them.
Fei Zhong and You Hun had no idea what Emperor Xin was thinking. They just thought that their proposal was approved by the king. They happily drafted an edict and sent it to Jizhou before the prime minister and deputy prime minister could react.
Jizhou Marquis Su Hu, however, thought he had hooked up with Xibo Hou, but in fact, he did not take Emperor Xin, who was trapped in the capital, seriously. His eldest daughter was both talented and beautiful, and was the perfect match for the marriage that the family had spent all their efforts on. How could he be willing to give her to Emperor Xin?
He drove the messenger out and raised the banner of rebellion.
He thought that the Duke of Xibo had long harbored rebellious intentions and would respond to him. However, after Ji Chang had calculated three hexagrams, he felt that the time was not right. Not only did he not respond to him, he also became an envoy for Chaoge to persuade him to surrender.
Su Hu's passion suddenly cooled, and he realized that although Chaoge's power was declining with each generation, it still held a righteous position.
He, the Marquis of Jizhou, is just a small Karami. No one will look favorably upon him, and no one will respond to him. They will only treat him as an experience pack.
After he regained consciousness, he thought about what he had done and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He no longer had the arrogance he once had. He went to Emperor Xin with his daughter in a dejected manner to curry his favor.
It was on the way that his daughter was possessed by a nine-tailed fox, but he was completely unaware.
Su Daji was already beautiful, and with the added charm of the nine-tailed fox, she could be said to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
If we say that at first, Emperor Xin wanted Su Daji in order to disgust the Duke of Xibo, but after seeing the nine-tailed fox version, he felt that such a beauty should serve him as the common ruler of the world.
Originally, they just planned to give her a random rank and throw her into the harem, leaving her to fend for herself. However, because of her beauty, they gave her a high position and made her a beauty. In the harem, she was ranked only below Queen Jiang and the ladies Huang and Yang, and was known as Concubine Su.
Concubine Su came with great force, entering the palace as the daughter of a lowly minister, and her initial title was Beauty, just one step away from the position of Madam. And with the King's exclusive favor, wasn't promotion a matter of time?
Queen Jiang, West Palace Huang and Xinqing Palace Yang were all wary of her.
Among them, Concubine Yang was the daughter of a civil official in Chaoge. Her entry into the palace represented the submission of the upright civil officials and she also had a clear understanding of her own position. Therefore, although she was somewhat jealous of Concubine Su, she was not prepared to attack her.
The ones who really didn't want Concubine Su to have an easy life were Queen Jiang and Concubine Huang.
Needless to say, Queen Jiang gave birth to the king's only two sons. Unless there are any accidents, the Shang Dynasty will belong to them and their son in the future.
For many years, Concubine Huang and Concubine Yang had no children, and the other concubines were of low status, so even if they gave birth, it would not be a big deal.
Suddenly, a concubine named Su came. She was young and had been favored by the emperor for many years. If she was lucky, she would easily become pregnant and give birth to a child.
Given the king's enthusiasm, if Concubine Su becomes pregnant, she will definitely be promoted. The madam's son is different from the concubine's son and is a strong competitor to her son.
Her father, the Marquis of Dongbo, was not a very honest person, and Emperor Xin was wary of her and her son. The reason he had never touched them was because he only had these two sons.
Queen Jiang knew very well that if she wanted to preserve her and her son's status, she couldn't allow any high-ranking concubine to have children. Su Daji, the concubine most likely to have a child, naturally became a thorn in her side.
As for Concubine Huang, she was the younger sister of Wucheng King Huang Feihu, with a strong family background and outstanding talents. If Queen Jiang had not been born a few years earlier than her, it would be uncertain who would have been the queen.
Although she also disliked Concubine Su, she also disliked Queen Jiang. She would be happy if either of them were in trouble.
If we were to rank these two annoying people, Queen Jiang would naturally be more annoying.
After all, no matter how favored Su Daji was, she had only been in the palace for a few days.
Concubine Huang and Queen Jiang both entered Emperor Xin's harem when he was the crown prince. They had been interacting with each other for many years, and the conflicts they had accumulated were no match for the newly arrived Concubine Su.
Queen Jiang considered Su Daji her primary conflict because she was wary of her youth and fertility. Concubine Huang, childless to begin with, naturally wanted to eliminate Queen Jiang, the obstacle to her position as empress.
This nine-tailed fox came to Chaoge on the orders of the goddess Nuwa to disrupt the government and cause trouble for Emperor Xin.
Although the reason Emperor Xin wrote a poem in Nuwa Temple that day was because Zhunti secretly cast a spell to confuse his mind, if Emperor Xin did not have great respect for Nuwa, he would not have been able to write such an obscene poem even if he was bewitched.
Since the time of King Cheng Tang, the Shang Dynasty has been unwilling to worship Nuwa, the old god left over from the Xia Dynasty. Nuwa has long been accustomed to it and never forces them to worship her, as long as everyone is willing to give her face.
The Shang king wrote obscene poems on the walls of the Nuwa Temple, which was really too much. Nuwa was not a pushover, so how could she remain indifferent just because he was the king of men?
She first beat Zhunti up, then turned around and called the nine-tailed fox, pheasant spirit and pipa spirit, and asked them to go to Chaoge to make trouble for Emperor Xin.
As for why we are looking for these three?
The reason is simple: whether it's a nine-tailed fox, a nine-headed pheasant, or a nine-stringed pipa, each spirit possesses nine lives. Losing one or two is no big deal if the mission is to be accomplished.
If Nuwa loosened her grip a little, the compensation she gave would far exceed the value of one or two lives.
The nine-tailed fox's goal was clear: to disrupt the government, not to engage in palace intrigue. Therefore, after entering the palace, he kept his distance from the concubines and focused on advancing the government.
However, she didn't want to get involved in palace fighting, and Queen Jiang neither knew nor believed it.
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