In the end, Zhou successfully returned to the Marquis' Mansion to take care of her pregnancy and did not have to stay in the palace to cry for the deceased.
In the first confrontation between Pei and Concubine Xiao Shufei, Pei was slightly ahead.
Concubine Xiao Shu felt very upset when she thought about it later.
She knew that since the death of the emperor, things would change in the palace sooner or later, but her heart was still stuck in the past.
This time, she suffered a not insignificant loss at the hands of the Pei family, and only then did she truly realize that the situation in the harem had changed. She no longer had to wait for Prince Ning to ascend the throne and then slowly take action, as she had previously thought.
Every failure makes one wiser. Compared with Pei, Concubine Xiao Shufei always has more advantages.
Since then, Concubine Xiao Shufei began to deliberately win over the palace ladies and cultivate her confidants.
Didn’t Pei want to fight with her?
snort!
Pei doesn't even have anyone she can use in the palace, and Concubine Xiao Shufei wants to see how Pei fights her.
Concubine Xiao Shufei is not in a hurry now.
After Pei moved into the harem, she would slowly deal with her.
Pei didn't know yet that because she stood up for Gu Jiu, Concubine Xiao Shu was hated by her.
Crying for the dead is a chore, especially doing it over and over again all day long.
Fortunately, although time passes slowly, it finally passes day by day.
Prince Ning ascended the throne as scheduled.
The reign title was Wende.
This year is the thirty-eighth year of Kaiyao. Next year will be the first year of Wende.
The Ministry of Rites handed the selected posthumous title to Prince Ning, no, now he was called Emperor Wende.
Emperor Wende selected some items and finally decided to posthumously title Emperor Kaiyao as Wuzong.
"My father has always considered himself a warrior, decisive and decisive in his actions, and has a very martial demeanor, so he was designated as the Martial Emperor."
Upon hearing this, the Minister of Rites' mouth twitched.
How could he not know that Emperor Kaiyao considered himself a military man, and that Emperor Wende was slandering the previous emperor?
"Your Majesty, would you like to reconsider this?" The Minister of Rites reminded him very subtly.
Emperor Wende shook his head. "Don't think twice. Just choose Emperor Wuzong. I believe that my father's spirit in heaven will be very pleased."
Minister of Rites: Your Majesty, are you sure?
Emperor Wende waved his hand and said, "Retreat, I am tired."
When I first ascended the throne, there were so many things to do and they were so complicated.
Emperor Wende first issued an edict to promote several of his trusted civil officials. Several counselors who had been kept in the palace also became officials.
The generals under his command were also assigned important tasks.
After finishing the personnel transfers, it’s the harem’s turn next.
Emperor Wende had not yet issued an edict to enthrone Consort Xiao Shufei as Empress Dowager, nor had he enthrone Consort Pei as Empress.
It was obviously an important matter, but he kept putting it off.
Both Concubine Xiao Shufei and Mrs. Pei felt a little uneasy.
What does it mean that the emperor is dragging his feet and not doing anything?
Pei, in particular, was utterly bewildered. Was Emperor Wende going to bypass her and make another woman the empress?
She felt uneasy and could only seek help from her family.
My eldest brother, Pei Ren, Marquis of Lu, is not here, but fortunately my nephew Pei Meng is still staying in the capital and has been keeping vigil in the palace recently.
During the lunch break, Pei sent someone to invite Pei Meng to a quiet side hall to talk.
"Auntie asked my nephew to come over, but is there something wrong?"
Pei came straight to the point. "I won't beat around the bush. Your Majesty has yet to appoint a queen or deal with the harem, and the late emperor's women are still living in the palace. Why do you think Your Majesty is dragging his feet?"
Pei Meng understood, "Is my aunt worried?"
Pei stamped her feet. "How can I not be anxious? What if His Majesty bypasses me and makes another woman the Queen? What will I do then?"
Pei Meng shook his head. "Don't worry, aunt. His Majesty is just delaying for a while. He won't make another woman the queen before you. Even if His Majesty doesn't consider you, he should still consider his two cousins. Take cousin Liu Zhao, for example. He is talented, virtuous, and handsome. How could His Majesty allow a legitimate son to become a bastard?"
Pei was relieved, but still asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
Pei Meng nodded heavily. "Even if His Majesty doesn't care about brothers Liu Zhao and Liu Yi, he should still give our Pei family some face. If it weren't for our Pei family's help in the palace coup a few years ago, the outcome would be unpredictable."
Pei nodded repeatedly, "You're right. We should look at the Buddha's face instead of the monk's. But why has Your Majesty been dragging his feet on dealing with matters concerning the harem?"
"I don't know about this nephew. Auntie, you might as well ask someone else."
After Pei Meng said goodbye and left, Pei thought about it and decided to send someone to call Gu Jiu over.
"Mother is looking for me?"
Gu Jiu was grateful. Pei had helped her last time, so she had to return the favor.
"Sit down and talk. You must be tired these days."
Gu Jiu said, "I can still hold on. How is mother?"
"I'm old, not like you young people. The palace has been in chaos lately, and there's not even anyone to take charge. If this chaos continues, what will happen?"
Gu Jiu understood the elegant meaning of the music, "Mother is right. The palace is currently lacking someone to take charge. Your daughter-in-law thinks that you should take on the heavy responsibility of managing the harem as soon as possible."
"Do you really think so?"
Gu Jiu nodded repeatedly, very sincerely.
Pei sighed, "I would like to share your majesty's worries, but I am not qualified to do so. I am not qualified to interfere in the affairs of the harem now."
Gu Jiu understood and after some thought, he said, "The late emperor left behind many women, many of whom were childless. According to the rules, those who were childless were to be sent to Ganye Temple.
However, a fire destroyed Ganye Temple years ago, and it has not been repaired yet. For a time, there was no place to accommodate the late emperor's women.
Your Majesty, in order to avoid suspicion, naturally cannot go to the harem. If the affairs of the harem are not properly handled and those women have a place to go, I am afraid that the things that my mother is worried about will not make any progress.
Gu Jiu was implicitly reminding Pei that, weren't you there to share Emperor Wende's worries? So, quickly send the late emperor's woman out of the palace, and the position of empress would naturally be yours.
After the queen is established, she must also be given a concubine.
There are so many women in the backyard of the palace. How can we accommodate them if we don’t make room for them in the harem first?
If there is no room in the harem, how can Emperor Wende go to the harem?
You can't let your women live under the same roof with the women of the previous emperor. You have to avoid suspicion.
After Gu Jiu's suggestion, Pei suddenly understood.
yes!
The queen is enthroned, followed by concubines, and then they all move into the harem to live.
But many palaces in the harem are still inhabited.
Without settling the women of the previous emperor first, Emperor Wende would not be able to settle his own women.
Finally knowing the reason, Pei was happy in her heart, but she still had to keep a serious face, as it was the mourning period now.
"You are right. The affairs of the harem must be dealt with one by one. I will find a way to handle this matter."
"Then my daughter-in-law will take her leave first."
"Go ahead."
Gu Jiu bowed, stood up and left. When she reached the door, she turned back and said, "I heard that the Luo family and the Shen family are quite rich."
The Luo family is the maiden family of Concubine Luo.
The Shen family is Concubine Shen's maiden family.
Gu Jiu mentioned this without any context. Pei thought about it for a while before she suddenly realized what he meant.
It is no easy task to settle the late emperor's women. Instead of taking on all the responsibility alone, it is better for several people to contribute.
After making up her mind, Pei started to get busy.
She called on Concubine Luo, Concubine Shen, and other women of Emperor Wende to contribute money and labor.
First, you have to choose a place that is as big as Ganye Temple and secluded.
Ganye Temple was still in ruins, and even though the Shaofu had money, he was unwilling to spend money to rebuild the temple. This shows that the Shaofu was very stingy.
Finally, they chose a nunnery that had been abandoned for several years. The place was big enough and secluded enough.
Everyone pooled their money and sent people to renovate the nunnery. Then Pei went to see Emperor Wende and share his worries.
Gu Jiu's guess was correct.
The reason why Emperor Wende delayed and did not deal with the affairs of the harem was that he could not find a place to accommodate the women of the previous emperor for a while.
The appearance of Pei solved this problem for Emperor Wende.
Emperor Wende was very happy and laughed heartily.
"Zi Tong is truly my good wife."
When Pei heard Emperor Wende call her Zi Tong, she trembled with joy.
Zitong was the emperor's nickname for the empress. Doesn't this prove that Emperor Wende's preferred empress was her?
"It is my duty to share your majesty's worries."
"Ha ha……"
…
Now that a place was available, Emperor Wende issued an edict to choose a date for the previous emperor's barren women to move to Gratitude Temple.
Emperor Wende changed the name of the nunnery to Gratitude Temple with a stroke of his pen and placed it under the management of the Shaofu.
As for the Gratitude Temple, which had not been repaired yet, Emperor Wende did not care about it and handed the task of repairing the temple to the Shaofu.
Shaofu's Household Order: MMP, I'm already very busy, and now I have to add so many errands to the Shaofu.
All the women of the previous emperor were driven out of the harem.
Emperor Wende should also make plans for his harem.
He issued several decrees in succession, first honoring Concubine Xiao Shufei as the Empress Dowager, and then enthroning Concubine Pei as the Queen.
Concubine Luo was named Defei, and Concubine Shen was named Xianfei.
He also selected two women from the backyard that he particularly liked and made them concubines.
Other women were given the title of Nine Concubines. Below the Nine Concubines, there was no limit on the number of concubines. Anyway, as long as they were beautiful, they were all given the title.
Although Emperor Wende's women were not as exaggerated as the three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines, there were still twenty or thirty of them.
Emperor Wende simply drove out all the other women who were not canonized from the palace.
When he was a prince, he sometimes didn't care much about a woman's appearance and status. But now that he is an emperor, he has to be particular.
The women who were driven out cried and wailed in the palace and refused to leave.
I finally got a golden thigh, how can I give it up easily?
Even if I can't be the emperor's woman, I can at least be his maid.
The palace steward has been promoted to Shaofu Tongcheng, but he has not yet taken office and is still busy dealing with the women in the palace's backyard.
There are so many women, none of them are willing to leave the palace and insist on clinging to Emperor Wende's golden thigh. He must be tired too, okay?
He couldn't directly attack those women, after all, they had all been slept with by Emperor Wende. Who knew if these women would turn the tables one day?
The former Prince's Household Commander, now the Minister of the Imperial Household, was forced to go to the palace to ask for an audience with Emperor Wende.
Your Majesty, what are you going to do with your women? Wouldn't it be too cruel to just kick them out?
Emperor Wende glared at him, "If you can't even handle such a simple thing, what use are you?"
Lord Shi, the Minister of the Imperial Household, felt aggrieved. "They are, after all, His Majesty's women."
Emperor Wende snorted twice. "My women are all in the harem. Those women in the palace are ordinary in appearance and talent, and are really a hindrance to my body and mind. Let's drive them all away, give each of them a settlement allowance, and ask them to return to their parents' homes and marry on their own. Otherwise, they will all go to Gratitude Temple to worship the Buddha for the rest of their lives."
The Minister of the Imperial Household, Bronze Secretary Shi Da Ren, received the order, but then immediately thought of an important matter. "Should the resettlement fee come from the Imperial Household or the Prince's Palace? Should the Prince's Palace's assets be incorporated into the Imperial Household?"
Emperor Wende thought for a moment and said, "Don't rush to merge the properties of the Prince's Palace into the Ministry of Finance. I have my own arrangements. The settlement expenses of those women will come from the Ministry of Finance."
The Shaofu is so rich, it's time to use it.
Shaofu's Household Order: MMP, Shaofu has no money, no money, no money. I have to say this three times because it is important.
After receiving the oral order from Emperor Wende, Lord Shi, the Minister of the Imperial Household, stopped showing mercy and used tough measures to drive out all the women who stayed in the backyard of the palace, giving each of them a sum of money to settle down.
The day they were driven away was the day of the late emperor's funeral.
The women were weeping and wailing, very sad, which seemed to be in keeping with the day of the funeral.
The entire capital was filled with a sad atmosphere.
From Emperor Wende onwards, all his descendants, civil and military officials had to go to the imperial mausoleum.
Emperor Wende had to guard the imperial mausoleum in Beimang Mountain for three days before returning to the capital.
As the younger generation, Gu Jiu and his friends were naturally not spared.
Three days of guarding, plus the time for going back and forth, all seven days are up.
The emperor observes mourning for 27 days instead of 27 months.
Members of the royal family and all civil and military officials must observe mourning for a full 100 days.
The people only need one month.
After the funeral, Emperor Wende began to attend court to handle government affairs.
The first decree issued at the grand court meeting was to reprimand several brothers who behaved disrespectfully during the funeral ceremony.
The civil and military ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.
No one expected that Emperor Wende would be the first to attack his own brothers.
Is this killing the chicken to scare the monkey?
Or maybe the real purpose is not to drink.
Several members of the royal family who were reprimanded all had expressions of despair on their faces.
When they were princes, they were treated like animals by their father.
Now, after all his hard work, he was finally crowned a king, but was once again punished by his brother, who was the emperor.
Before he could even get comfortable with his princely title, he was demoted to a duke.
Well, the Prince’s Mansion, which had not yet been renovated, was directly converted into a County Prince’s Mansion.
Some people even maliciously speculated that Emperor Wende did not take action against his brothers because the Ministry of Revenue had no money.
After all, a county prince is much cheaper than a prince, with the annual salary being one-third less. The Ministry of Revenue's allocation to the county prince's mansion is also 100,000 taels less than that of the prince's mansion.
Tsk tsk!
He is really obsessed with money.
It's not a big deal to take advantage of your own family members when you have no money.
If you really have the ability, ask Gu Jiu to make money for the Ministry of Revenue.
Gu Jiu: Did I provoke you or offend you, that you want to harm me like this?
She had nothing better to do than make money for the Ministry of Revenue.
Even if she makes money, she won't be given the position of Minister of Revenue, so why should she be asked to work hard?
A bunch of incompetent bastards.
The most embarrassing thing now is that the brothers have just transformed from princes of the royal palace into princes.
Emperor Wende's women all moved from the backyard of the palace to the harem, and those who were queens became queens, and those who were concubines became concubines.
Even her sisters were taken to live in the harem and given titles, ranging from county princess to princess of the imperial court, but not princess.
But these princes were left in the palace and lived the same life as before.
However, in the past, the father and mother were the ones in charge of the palace.
Now, they were in charge of their own household, and all expenses were still paid from the royal family's treasury.
This can't go on.
The prince is not a prince, and the prince is not a prince.
It is very frustrating that he bears the title of prince but does not enjoy the treatment that a prince should have.
Several brothers gathered in the East Courtyard to discuss with Liu Zhao.
This time, they worked together.
"Brother, tell me, what should we do? Although our father said that we are not allowed to live in the palace, we can't live in the palace forever."
"That's right. If we don't live in the palace, we should be given a mansion and live in the prince's mansion. Living in the prince's mansion is nothing."
"Those civil and military officials seemed to have collectively gone blind. They completely ignored us. This is truly outrageous."
"Brother, say something!"
Liu Zhao said nonchalantly, "You are not satisfied with your current situation, but have you ever thought about why our father has left us alone?"
"Why? It can't be to test our character."
Liu Zhao shook his head, "Because the Ministry of Revenue has no money. You all want to open a government office, but it would cost at least three or four hundred thousand taels. The six of us brothers, combined, would cost two million taels, and that's just for the government office. It doesn't include the annual salary.
Considering that the Ministry of Revenue is so poor that even rats can escape from its warehouse, can we expect it to give us two million taels of silver to settle us?
The reason why those civil and military officials turned a blind eye to our situation is because the Ministry of Revenue has no money.
Anyone who dares to speak up for us will offend the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue controls the treasury and has its own way of dealing with them."
When everyone heard this, they suddenly understood.
"Are we going to live in the palace forever?"
"You can live in the palace if you want. I'm fine living in the palace anyway. It's comfortable and there's no one to control me."
The brothers all frowned.
Liu Yi said, "Living in a prince's palace is indeed comfortable, but it doesn't suit one's status."
The other brothers nodded.
Liu Zhao scoffed. "Does living in the palace mean we're no longer princes? A person's status never changes depending on where they live. A prince is still a prince even if he lives in the slums south of the city."
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