Su Peisheng was still writing down what Yinzhen had told him when a little eunuch rushed in in a panic. It turned out that after returning home, Wuya had bitten her tongue and committed suicide.
Upon hearing this news, Yinzhen sighed.
Uya is an extreme person with a vicious mind. She will retaliate against others for the slightest slight. Her character is really bad.
After a moment's thought, he finally spoke: "Wuya Shi is stripped of her title and reduced to a commoner. She shall be buried according to custom. Her affairs need not be recorded; let them all be erased!"
These words sealed the fate of the Uya clan.
She was not an imperial concubine, but a commoner. There was no need to record her, and no one knew who she was or what she had experienced.
Many years later, people of later generations may have heard of her, but most will not know who she is.
This incident further worsened Yinzhen's health. He could have lived for another year or two, but now...
In the harem, Consort Wuya was missing, and her disappearance was shrouded in mystery. Everyone speculated that she had probably done something serious and had been punished by the Emperor... But because it was a secret, they could only think about it and dared not speak it out.
However, the imperial decree to bestow titles upon the imperial harem was still issued. Apart from the Empress and Yun, there was nothing more to be granted or promoted.
Consort Qi was promoted to Noble Consort Qi, Consort Xi was promoted to Consort Xi, Consort Yu was promoted to Consort Yu, Consort Nian was promoted to Consort Nian, Noble Lady Ning was promoted to Consort Ning, and the rest of them were promoted.
He also issued an imperial edict to promote the princes' titles: Prince An was promoted to Prince An, the sixth prince to Prince Rui, the seventh prince to Prince Jing, the eighth prince to Prince Bei, and the ninth prince to Prince Bei.
Subsequently, Yinzhen began to purge the Eighth Prince's faction. While he was still alive, he wanted to deal with the members of the Eighth Prince's faction, otherwise they would become an obstacle when Hongyao ascended the throne. Moreover, as a nephew, it was not appropriate for him to take action against his uncles.
The next day, Yinzhen forced himself to go to court and denounced Yinsi, saying that he had "acted recklessly and violated the law. Although I wish to be lenient and forgiving, the national constitution is in place, and there is nothing I can do. I will work with the ministers to punish him."
Later, an order was issued to strip Yunsi of his imperial lineage and imprison him, and to rename him "Aqina". Yuntang was stripped of his imperial lineage and imprisoned, and to rename him "Seshehei".
The tenth prince, Yun, was only placed under house arrest because his mother was Consort Wenxi, who came from a high social class, and because he had no need to be too involved in the matter.
After clearing away all obstacles to his son's ascension to the throne, Yinzhen finally couldn't hold on any longer.
On the eighth day of the eleventh month of the eighth year of the Yongzheng reign, the Yongzheng Emperor passed away in the Hall of Mental Cultivation at the age of forty-five.
Because the emperor had already established a crown prince, and Yinzhen had been seriously ill and bedridden for a long time before his death, the court officials had anticipated this, so there was no chaos when the emperor passed away.
According to custom, the funeral of the deceased emperor was held in an orderly manner in the imperial court and the harem, and the new emperor was then honored to ascend the throne.
After Hongyao ascended the throne, he bestowed the title of Empress Dowager on his stepmother, the late Empress Ulanara, with the honorific title of Renshou, and on his birth mother, Songjia, with the honorific title of Holy Mother Empress Dowager, with the honorific title of Cishou.
Since Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang passed away, Cining Palace has become a place for holding ceremonies. Therefore, Ulanara lived in Shou Kang Palace, Yunyi lived in Ning Shou Palace, and the other concubines and consorts who had sons lived with their sons outside the palace, while those who did not have sons lived with the two empress dowagers.
Lady Nian had two sons and one daughter, both of whom died young. She now had one son, who was the tenth prince, but he was also weak and frail. Therefore, Yinzhen did not name him according to the generational naming convention, but instead named him Fu Hui.
The Tenth Prince was born in the sixth year of Yinzhen's reign and is only two years old now. Therefore, Lady Nian can only live in the palace until the child grows up and leaves the palace to establish his own residence, at which point she can live with him outside the palace.
Later, Hongyao bestowed titles upon his wives and concubines: his primary consort, Lady Guarjia, became Empress; his secondary consort, Lady Suochuoluo, became Consort Duan; Lady Li became Consort Shu; Lady Nalan became Consort Wen; and the rest were granted titles according to their seniority.
He also bestowed the title of Princess Gulun upon his younger sister Hutuli, and the titles of Prince Qin upon Hongxuan and Hongjing, Prince Jun upon Hongye, Prince Jun upon Hongshi, and Beile upon his eighth and ninth younger brothers.
...
Having received the greetings from the court ladies, princesses, and consorts, Yunyi's status as Empress Dowager Cishou was now fully established.
With everything settled, she had completed her mission. Hutuli and Erlinzhu had both grown up safely and found their ideal husbands, living happily ever after.
Hutuli loved poetry and books. The Xilin Gioro family was a rare family of scholars among the Manchus, with a pure and upright family tradition. The fact that the prince consort was able to pass the imperial examination also shows how knowledgeable he was.
The young couple have been loving and affectionate all these years of marriage, never arguing or quarreling. Yunyi always sees her daughter looking happy and sweet whenever she sees her.
Needless to say, Erlinzhu was a free spirit. After going to Mongolia, she was nothing like the Qing princesses. Instead, she was like a fish in the sea, quite content.
The prince consort was naive and easily manipulated by Erlinzhu, doing whatever she said. But they were both willing to give and take, so it was quite alright.
Now that Hongyao has become emperor, he certainly won't mistreat his half-sisters.
All of this was because Yinzhen had passed away. They were the new emperor's sisters and had a mother who was the empress dowager.
If it were before, when they were the emperor's daughters and their mother was just a concubine with little say, life wouldn't have been so pleasant.
"So, that's why you didn't care when you found out Yinzhen was poisoned?"
At this moment, Xiaoqi spoke up and asked the question that it had been holding back for a long time.
"Yes!" Yunyi sighed, her feelings were actually quite complicated.
They've known each other for so many years, how could there be no feelings between them?
She did nothing at the time, but she had thought about it for a long time before making the decision.
After all, if Yinzhen really lived to be fifty-eight, Hongyao would be over forty years old.
Putting aside the fact that he's so old to be able to register, it wouldn't be good if something unexpected happened during those many years.
But she couldn't bring herself to ask Yunyi to do anything. So it was fine for her now. She did nothing, knew nothing, and let everything take its natural course.
However, this incident also made her heart grow even colder.
Eight years had passed since Yinzhen's reign began. In the new year, Hongyao changed the era name to Zhaoning, which became the first year of Zhaoning.
After ascending the throne, Hongyao worked diligently to govern the country. Following his mother's teachings, he did not become complacent but actively sought out external ideas and applied them to the governance of the country.
It was also because of this open and enlightened mindset that the Qing Dynasty was well-informed about the outside world and did not fall behind in its own development.
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