Chapter 91 The Empress Dowager Passes Away
The news of what happened here soon reached the Emperor's ears. After hearing it, he was quite helpless. "The Empress is so filial. She came to pay her respects even before she was fully recovered. Sigh."
But why was the Empress Dowager so hostile towards the Empress?
He really couldn't understand it.
To say that the Empress Dowager disliked the Empress would be illogical, since the Empress Dowager was the one she personally chose for him.
Every three days thereafter, the lower-ranking nobles would come to attend to the sick. Fanghua, however, was not allowed to come, as it would be of no use; she was not as good as the maids in front of the Empress Dowager.
Another month passed in the blink of an eye, and the imperial physician issued a notice of serious illness. Kangxi immediately sent someone to inform the Empress Dowager, who was praying outside.
Upon receiving the letter, the Empress Dowager immediately set off to return.
Fortunately, she saw the Empress Dowager one last time.
At the end of April in the tenth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the Empress Dowager passed away in Cining Palace at the age of 59.
Emperor Kangxi was deeply saddened and posthumously honored her with the title "Empress Tianqi Shengwen".
Because the Empress Dowager had stated before her death that she did not wish to be buried with Emperor Taizong, her coffin was temporarily placed in the Qianqing Palace for the concubines, ministers, and noblewomen to enter the palace to mourn.
She cried for seven days straight.
Fanghua, the "patient," cried for three days before fainting. Even during her illness, she would go to the altar every day to burn incense and paper money to express her grief and respect.
During this time, the Emperor fainted several times due to grief over the passing of the Empress Dowager. After repeated persuasion from his ministers, the Emperor was able to alleviate his pain. Remembering the Empress Dowager's last words, he had to pull himself together.
Because she did not wish to be buried with Emperor Taizong, Emperor Kangxi ordered that the coffin of the Empress Dowager be moved to Cining Palace.
No one expected that Emperor Kangxi would pull such a stunt.
If the coffin of the Empress Dowager is placed in Cining Palace, then where does the Empress Dowager live?
However, none of this mattered to Fanghua. Kangxi simply wanted to fulfill his filial duty. Once her son ascended the throne, she would remove this person as soon as possible to prevent him from ruining the country's fortunes.
After all, placing a dead person in the supreme Cining Palace would ruin the feng shui.
The passing of the Empress Dowager was a national mourning period. During this time, all weddings were suspended, and even shops in the capital were closed for half a month to express grief over her passing.
Fanghua felt unlucky; closing the shop for half a month meant she would lose a lot of money.
It's really not worth it.
But now that the old woman is gone, she is naturally happy, finally avenging the grudge that she plotted against her and her son years ago.
Consort Niohuru wept bitterly after the passing of the Empress Dowager, but not for the Empress Dowager, but for her poor child.
As for Su, she lived alone in Cining Palace after the Empress Dowager passed away. Yes, the Empress Dowager had moved out of Cining Palace and went to Shou Kang Palace.
As the Empress Dowager, she couldn't possibly spend her days confined to her coffin.
At the emperor's urging, she moved out of Cining Palace and went to Shou Kang Palace next door.
The fall of a powerful figure naturally evokes sighs, but who could have known that this famous politician would die amidst the machinations of the imperial harem?
People should not be arrogant and conceited.
However, Su should also be dealt with.
One night, Fanghua, dressed in night clothes, came to Cining Palace.
Looking at Su Ma kneeling before the coffin of the Empress Dowager, she couldn't help but sneer from behind her, "You are indeed loyal."
Upon hearing the noise, Su Ma immediately turned around, but when she saw who it was, she was terrified.
"I wonder what brings Your Majesty the Empress here at this hour?" Su Ma deliberately raised her voice, hoping the night watchmen outside would hear her.
How could Fanghua possibly hide her little scheme from her? "Don't even think about your ridiculous plans. Do you think anyone will notice me coming here?"
She walked up to Su Ma with a mocking smile, and found the coffin shrouded in cold air laughable.
She said she didn't want to be buried with Emperor Taizong after her death, but wasn't she just aware that she wasn't someone Emperor Taizong favored?
Emperor Kangxi was ridiculous; he actually placed him in the Cining Palace without considering what kind of place that was, and yet he put a dead person there.
"Your mistress has already gone down, shouldn't you, as her servant, go down and keep her company?" Fanghua picked up the incense and candles on the table, lit them, and then fanned out the flames with her hand. "After all, your mistress has never been well-liked. Aren't you afraid that she will be punished by Emperor Taizong if she goes down?"
After saying this, she placed the incense sticks into the censer and waited quietly for Su Ma's reply.
Su Ma was in tears, after all, she knew very well how much suffering her master had endured in his life.
"Is Her Majesty the Empress here to take my life?" Su Ma was indifferent to life and death, but she had promised the princess to take care of the Empress Dowager, so she could not die now.
"It's not that I want your life, but that you have to go down and accompany your master, isn't that right?" Fanghua replied, seemingly ignoring the question.
"Considering everything your mistress has done in her life, are you really comfortable letting her go down alone to face the entire group of people?"
Fanghua spoke in a flat tone, but her words were deadly.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen, also known as the Grand Empress Dowager, can be considered the founder of a women's dynasty.
In the history of the Qing Dynasty, she was the first empress to truly wield power and dominate the court for a long period of time.
She not only successfully assisted her husband in establishing the Qing Dynasty, but also presided over the government for many years after his death, enabling her son to become a wise ruler. Unfortunately, love ruined her life, and she ultimately did not achieve her wish.
Her achievements not only changed the course of Qing Dynasty history, but also greatly enhanced the political status and influence of women.
The Empress Dowager was undoubtedly a remarkable female ruler who left an indelible mark on the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Even so, she had quite a few bad reputations, the most talked-about of which were her affair with Dorgon.
The truth remains unknown to outsiders, but judging from what her son did to Dorgon after taking power, Fanghua is certain that both mother and son are ungrateful.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have secretly committed this heinous act while she was pregnant.
“Especially Dorgon, do you think he would let your master go?” Fanghua looked at Su Ma with a mocking expression. “I don’t know if your loyalty is real or fake.”
Su Ma was furious. She knew everything about the princess, but it was precisely because she knew that she was so angry about what the empress said.
"What right do you, a junior, have to comment, Your Majesty? Don't forget your status, don't forget who made you Empress!" Su Ma shouted, trying to interrupt the Empress from continuing to expose her princess's shortcomings.
Fanghua would not be affected by her.
She chuckled softly, "When I first entered the palace, I was indeed grateful to the Empress Dowager. As you said, I was indeed fortunate to become Empress because of her grace. But, I think you, as my confidant, know the specifics of it all."
The mockery in her eyes was undisguised. "Seeing that the power of the four regents had overstepped the imperial authority, she thought of dismantling them from within. Unfortunately, she didn't have the ability. In the end, she made a deal with my Hesheli clan by offering the position of empress."
The more Fanghua spoke, the angrier she became. "As she wished, my Hesheli clan helped her dismantle the four regents, but what did she do?" Recalling the events of her previous life, she was so angry she wanted to overturn the coffin. "Did she really think she could get away with this?"
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