Chapter 142 The Yin Kingdom is destroyed, and the Great Zhou Dynasty rises!
In the late spring of the third year of Yuanxing, Emperor Yuanxing and Empress Dowager Xie officially lifted their mourning period. Luo Fu waited a few more days before finally sending a memorial to Empress Dowager Xie in early April.
The mourning period meant that she couldn't entertain guests or socialize, which meant that Luo Fu hadn't seen Empress Dowager Xie for more than two years. As she followed the palace servants inside, Luo Fu looked at the familiar palace walls on both sides and thought about how the last time she entered the palace was to mourn the late emperor. Thinking about how the late emperor had had such a falling out with Empress Dowager Xie before his death, Luo Fu couldn't help but feel a sense of loss and regret.
But when Luo Fu stood before Empress Dowager Xie again, looking at the serene and beautiful woman opposite her, Luo Fu suddenly felt that two years didn't seem like a long time, at least Empress Dowager Xie in her eyes hadn't changed much.
Empress Dowager Xie also carefully examined Luo Fu and said with a smile, "It's clear that Fu'er has been living a very happy life these past two years."
Luo Fu first bowed respectfully, then looked at Empress Dowager Xie expectantly and said, "Everything at home is indeed going smoothly, but I always miss Your Majesty."
Empress Dowager Xie shook her head. Taking advantage of the bright but not too hot morning sun, she invited Luo Fu to stroll in the Imperial Garden, catching up as they walked.
Empress Dowager Xie observed a solitary period of mourning, but she was far from idle. She compiled a collection of poems and a collection of essays, and rewrote an obscure agricultural book in vernacular Chinese that ordinary people could understand. She left it for the court to print and distribute to various parts of the country. People skilled in farming could use the book to increase their harvest, while people in remote mountainous areas like Loujiang, where only agricultural education was available, could use the book to cultivate the land.
Luo Fu said admiringly, "Your Majesty, this is a great deed that benefits the world. With Your Majesty's book, the people of our Great Zhou will surely have plenty of food and clothing in the future."
Empress Dowager Xie: "I was just too idle, and when I came across that book, I thought I would do my bit to help the Emperor govern the country. Alright, stop with the empty talk and tell me about your days outside the palace."
Empress Dowager Xie enjoyed listening to Luo Fu talk, even the mundane family matters that she usually had no interest in, became particularly interesting when spoken by Luo Fu.
Luo Fu had so much to say. From how her father-in-law was initially riding high after Xiao Yu became prime minister, only to have all his private savings confiscated by her mother-in-law, to how Xiao Lin took his second sister-in-law, Li Huaiyun, to take up his post in Jizhou, from her own brother's marriage to the Grand Princess to how Xiao Yu's second and third nephews also got married one after another, and how her eldest nephew, Xiao Chun, had already had a daughter.
“Princess Qi used to tease me that I wasn’t of the same generation as the other ladies, but I never expected that in the blink of an eye, I would become a great-aunt and great-uncle.”
Luo Fu found it truly astonishing. She was only thirty-five years old, Man'er was still a young man, and Tuan'er was a nine-year-old girl. Yet, her seniority had suddenly been elevated by her sister's and brother-in-law's grandchildren.
Empress Dowager Xie: "You're already late. I already had my grandnephew when I was in my twenties."
The former deposed crown prince was twelve years older than the late emperor, and his children and grandchildren were all born early.
When the topic turned to descendants, Luo Fu inquired about Emperor Yuanxing's marriage: "I heard from Xiao Yu that Prime Minister Xu and the old Imperial Uncle have both submitted memorials requesting the Emperor to select an Empress as soon as possible. Has Your Majesty made any arrangements?"
If Emperor Yuanxing were an ordinary man, it wouldn't be too late for him to get married at the age of twenty-two. However, as an emperor who ruled the world, the sooner Emperor Yuanxing had a son and designated a crown prince, the more at ease the ministers of the previous dynasty would be.
The emperor's marriage is both a matter of state and a family matter, and Empress Dowager Xie naturally took it to heart long ago: "I have discussed with the emperor and decided to select candidates from the families of officials and nobles of the seventh rank and above in the capital. The two imperial concubines and I will first select fifty candidates with dignified character, and then let the emperor personally review them."
Empress Dowager Xie and the late Emperor were essentially betrothed. Their marriage went relatively smoothly, but Empress Dowager Xie did not believe that the women she chose were necessarily the most suitable for her son. As for whether her son would take a fancy to several women at once, or whether he would spend a few years in love with the Empress during their honeymoon but then start filling the harem, Empress Dowager Xie would not interfere. Just as she could not and should not interfere with the heart of a prince or an emperor, she would not force her son to be devoted to his Empress.
Feelings are something that cannot be forced. The affection between Xiao Yu and Luo Fu was due to Xiao Yu's deep affection for Luo Fu, not something that Xiao Yu and his wife had taught them.
The news that the palace was going to select daughters of officials in the capital for the emperor quickly spread throughout the city.
Neither the Luo family nor the Xiao family had daughters of marriageable age, so the women of both families could just listen to the excitement. However, Emperor Yuanxing's marriage was still related to Luo Fu and her husband, because Xiao Yu was the emperor's tutor. How could a teacher not send congratulatory gifts and money for such an important event as his student's marriage?
"The dowry is easy to arrange. I've already asked the Grand Princess. When the five siblings got married, the old Imperial Uncle gave them all eight hundred taels of silver as a dowry. You can give eight hundred taels as well..."
Xiao Yu: "...I only give two hundred taels to each of my own nephews and nieces when they get married. Even if I dare to treat the Emperor as my own nephew, two hundred taels is enough. Why give so much more?"
Just as his elder sister-in-law once raised the dowry that his parents had to pay for their three brothers' weddings to the level of an old noble family, now that his nephews and nieces are getting married, he, as their uncle, must also give according to the standards of a noble family, otherwise he would be considered stingy, petty, and unworthy of being an uncle.
Seeing that he was reluctant to part with the money, Luo Fu glared at him and said, "Can your own nephew compare to the Emperor? Besides, what is there to be reluctant about? The Emperor gave two hundred taels of silver and a pair of jade ruyi when Dalang got married two years ago. When our Man'er and Tuan'er get married, the Emperor will only give more. Including your 50th and 60th birthdays in the future, how could the Emperor not give you anything?"
Xiao Yu: "I'm only forty-one, don't think that far ahead."
Luo Fu was amused by his disapproving tone: "What, are you afraid people will say you're old too?"
Xiao Yu wasn't afraid of what outsiders would say, but he was afraid that his wife would see him as an old man who was almost fifty or sixty years old.
Therefore, the dignified Prime Minister Xiao pestered his wife twice that night to prove that he was still young and vigorous.
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The palace began its selection process in mid-April, and within a month, Emperor Yuanxing had chosen a girl for himself. She was the daughter of a fourth-rank commander of the capital garrison, who had a pair of dimples that seemed to smile even when she wasn't, and whose beauty became even more captivating when she smiled. She was seventeen years old, and her figure was more rounded than that of the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girls. In the words of Empress Dowager Xie, she was a child who looked very fortunate.
After meeting his prospective niece-in-law, Kang Ping privately said to Luo Fu, "As expected of a student taught by your family's Prime Minister Xiao, the teacher and student even have the same taste in choosing a wife. The moment I saw that girl, I thought of you."
Luo Fu tapped her cheek: "I don't have a pair of such adorable dimples."
Kang Ping: "I'm not saying you look alike, but that your smiles give off a similar vibe."
Luo Fu inexplicably thought of the late Emperor and Empress Dowager Xie. The late Emperor had a noble and dignified appearance, while Empress Dowager Xie was more like the bright moon in the sky, giving people a sense of aloofness and difficulty in getting close to her. Perhaps it was because he had been dealing with such a pair of taciturn parents for many years that Emperor Yuanxing preferred the smiling beauty of his future empress.
In any case, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Emperor Yuanxing married the Empress in a grand ceremony. Empress Dowager Xie breathed a sigh of relief, and Imperial Tutor Xiao Yu, who had been forced by his wife to give out 800 taels of silver as a wedding gift, also breathed a sigh of relief. All the civil and military officials who were hoping that Emperor Yuanxing would give birth to an heir to consolidate the foundation of the country also breathed a sigh of relief and could now focus on their duties without any distractions.
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In October, Xiao Lin, who was far away in Jizhou, sent a letter home to his parents at the Marquis's residence.
Previously, Deng would bring Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun to Luo Fu's place to inquire about the interesting stories written in Xiao Yu's family letters. Now, it's Luo Fu and Yang Yanzhen who come to their mother-in-law's place to read Xiao Lin's family letters. Because they are written to his parents, there is nothing in Xiao Lin's family letters that is inconvenient for his sisters-in-law to see, and Deng is willing to let her daughters-in-law read them themselves.
Xiao Lin and Li Huaiyun arrived in Jizhou last January. They wrote letters home every two months, mostly reporting good news and not bad. But this time, Xiao Lin complained that winter in Jizhou was particularly cold. In early October, a heavy snow fell, and some houses in the suburbs were destroyed by the snow.
Luo Fu knew about this because the governor of Jizhou's report on the disaster was sent by express courier, which arrived in the capital several days earlier than Xiao Lin's letter. Emperor Yuanxing was extremely concerned about the livelihood of the disaster-stricken people in northern Jizhou and had already dispatched officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to provide disaster relief.
A few days later, Li Chong, the general of Jizhou, sent another urgent battle report, saying that Liaozhou was also suffering from snow disaster. Because the Yin Emperor had frequently conscripted young men and women to build the Great Wall in the past two years, the people of Liaozhou had poor harvests. When the snow disaster struck, a large number of people from western Liaozhou came to Jizhou with their families. Even the Yin soldiers guarding the western Liao Great Wall sent people to deliver a letter of surrender.
Li Chong believed this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as the imperial court was willing to transport grain and cotton clothing to relieve the people of Liaozhou, Li Chong would lead 10,000 cavalrymen into Liaozhou to read out the emperor's decree for disaster relief. The people and soldiers of Liaozhou, who had suffered under the Yin emperor's labor, would surely support the emperor of the Great Zhou, causing the Yin state to collapse without a fight.
Where did the soldiers of Yin come from? Naturally, they were selected from the able-bodied men of Liaozhou. These soldiers were willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the country and resist the Great Zhou. However, the Yin emperor they served had been treating their families and friends like livestock for years. Moreover, the construction of the Great Wall had depleted the national treasury, leaving them unable to save them from the bitter cold when the wind and snow came. On one side was the Great Zhou emperor who was willing to protect them as his subjects, and on the other side was the muddle-headed and tyrannical former ruler of Yin. Whether for their families or for themselves, the tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers of Yin would make the wisest choice.
Emperor Yuanxing sent Xiao Lin as an envoy to the Yin Kingdom. For the past three years, he has pretended to be afraid of the Yin Kingdom’s gradually improving Great Wall and has not sent troops. He was waiting for the Yin Emperor to bring about his own destruction. This snow disaster is not only a calamity for the people of Liaozhou, but also the best opportunity for the Great Zhou to unify the ten prefectures!
Emperor Yuanxing decisively agreed to Li Chong's request to send troops and ordered Jinzhou and Qingzhou to simultaneously transport grain and clothing to Jizhou, and then transport them to Liaozhou along the route taken by Li Chong's cavalry. Even if the capital of Yin State had not yet been captured, and even if Li Chong's plan failed and he could not take the capital of Yin State, Emperor Yuanxing would first protect the people of Liaozhou who were suffering from disaster.
In the eyes of the people of Liaozhou, the late emperor of Zhou was already merciful enough to forgive the old woman from Yicheng who tried to assassinate him and the people who blocked his way. Now, the new emperor of Zhou was sending them grain and distributing warm clothes. The kindness of providing timely help was like that of parents who gave them a second life. So, wherever Li Chong's cavalry and the Zhou grain and clothing convoy passed, the soldiers and civilians of Liaozhou, and even a group of civil officials, took the initiative to surrender and were willing to become citizens of Zhou.
When Emperor Yin, who lived in the Shencheng Imperial Palace, received the news, it was too late to save the emperor. The imperial guards in the city, who had also received the news, rushed into the palace and personally killed the monarch they had once served.
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On the 25th day of the first month of the fourth year of Yuanxing, the Yin Emperor fled to the capital and was betrayed by the imperial guards of the current dynasty. In the following half month, officials and people from all over Liaozhou surrendered to the Great Zhou. From then on, the Yin Kingdom was completely destroyed. The Great Zhou Dynasty lasted for three generations and finally unified the ten provinces in the north and south during the reign of Emperor Yuanxing, ending the more than three hundred years of internal strife and conflict in the Han Dynasty.
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Author's note: There will be a single update today, and the final chapter of the main story should be tomorrow night!
There will probably be a few epilogue chapters, such as the conquest of the Dian Kingdom, the banter between teacher and student, the couple arranging their children's marriages, Xiao Yu's retirement and growing old together with Fu'er, etc. I'm also worried that everyone might not want to read about the daily life of an elderly couple, so you can chat about it in the comments. If you're not interested in the epilogue, I won't write it.
100 small red envelopes, see you tomorrow night!
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