The former court and the harem were shocked at the same time.
It's okay in the harem. Except for the Empress Dowager's niece, Concubine Shen, most of the people are from humble backgrounds but are easy to bear. They are lucky enough to be selected by the Empress Dowager to enter the palace. They are very satisfied with the life they have now, wearing gold and silver and having no worries about food and drink.
As for who will be the queen, it has little to do with them. It will not be their turn to be the queen anyway.
But there is also discussion.
The main reason was that the identity of the new queen was too special. She used to be a maid beside the emperor, and later became the lady of the Shen family.
Under normal circumstances, with such an identity, she would never be able to become the queen.
But the emperor was determined to make Jiang Yi the queen, and he had a very good reason. Jiang Yi had an heir, who was the emperor's only heir.
The people in the harem were eager to watch the fun and were speculating whether Jiang Yi was giving birth to a prince or a princess.
What's more, he was planning to send a girl from his own family to be a maid in the future East Palace after Jiang Yi gave birth to a prince. Maybe he would have the same good luck as Jiang Yi. Well, even if he couldn't have the same fate as Jiang Yi and accompany the emperor through the hard times, it would be nice to be the prince's concubine in the future.
Jiang Yi didn't know that before her child was even born, many people had already set their sights on the little prince.
The previous dynasty was not as calm as the harem, and it was almost a mess.
The emperor looked at the courtiers spitting at him and remained calm.
The first to bear the brunt of the criticism was the Grand Tutor. He said righteously, "Your Majesty, Madam Shen San is my wife. How could you do such a thing with my wife and openly make her the queen? By doing this, aren't you openly telling the world that you forcibly took my wife away?"
The emperor corrected him and said, "Grandmaster, I did not force my wife upon you. The Empress and I are in love with each other."
The Grand Tutor was stunned for a moment, then blushed and said, "That won't do! Your Majesty, if you disregard moral principles like this, you will be condemned by the world, bring shame to the royal family, and embarrass your uncle's family. Please, Your Majesty, retract the imperial edict."
The usually gentle emperor was also gentle now. He looked at the tutor gently and said, "But the queen is pregnant with my child. This is my only child. The Shen family has no objection to this matter. Moreover, Shen Jun and the queen divorced not long ago. From now on, the man and the woman are married and have no relationship with each other anymore."
The Grand Tutor said, "Even if that's the case, it won't do. How can the mother of a country be a divorced woman?"
The emperor was a little angry at this point, and it was obvious on his face. "Grand Tutor said no. Does that mean I want to kill my own heir with my own hands? Grand Tutor, you are truly a ruthless person!"
"The Shen family has no objection to this matter, but the Grand Tutor has such a strong objection. What's the matter? Is the Grand Tutor jealous of the Shen family having this opportunity?"
"Could it be that the Grand Tutor insists on forcing me to make his daughter-in-law the empress, only then will he have no objection?"
He looked at the Grand Tutor with a helpless expression, "It's not that I don't give you this face, it's just that your daughter-in-law didn't conceive an heir. I care about my reputation and can't do such a thing."
The Grand Tutor was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood and was then carried out.
The emperor sighed and glanced at the ministers below, "Why, you want it too?"
The ministers fell silent.
They turned to talk about another matter.
"Your Majesty, even if Queen Wang is wrong, she is still the princess of Beili and your first wife. If you do this, what will happen to Beili..."
Putting aside the moral issues, what the minister said is indeed the concern in everyone's heart.
No one wanted to fight, especially when Southern Chen was obviously weaker than Northern Li.
The Emperor said, "So I've thought about it. Although Wang Zhi is an unforgivable criminal and even banishing her to the cold palace is not enough to offset the hatred I feel for her, for the sake of the greater good, I'm going to keep her in the cold palace and directly make her a concubine. I'm willing to make such a concession. What do you think, my dear ministers?"
The ministers were silent.
The emperor added: "I am a grown man, so it doesn't really matter to me. It's mainly because the Empress is wronged."
"The Queen has suffered so much for our Southern Chen. My dear ministers, please remember the Queen's kindness."
The ministers continued to remain silent.
In their eyes, their emperor was a modest and polite gentleman, but they didn't know when he became such a rogue.
Before the old ministers could say anything, the emperor left the court.
Their worries were not without reason. The emperor of Beichen loved his daughter Wang Zhi very much. When he learned that his daughter had suffered such a great injustice in Southern Chen, he immediately wanted to send troops to attack Southern Chen.
When the news reached Southern Chen, everyone persuaded the emperor to withdraw the imperial edict, hoping that things would turn around. After all, it was well known how much Wang Zhi loved the emperor.
The Queen Mother also persuaded the Emperor.
Wang Zhi, who had been demoted to a concubine, was even more confident of victory, and even took the opportunity of paying respects to Jiang Yi to provoke Jiang Yi.
She said to Jiang Yi, "Love between men and women is nothing. No matter how much the emperor likes you, can he abandon his kingdom and disregard everything for you?"
"A woman's family is her greatest support."
"Believe it or not, it won't be long before the Emperor will beg me to return to the throne. At that time, whether I want to kill you or punish you, the Emperor will not disagree for the sake of his country."
"In the eyes of men, the most important thing is the country."
"But I feel really sorry for you. If you kneel down and beg me now, I might let you go in the future."
"Kneel down and beg me, don't you like the emperor? This is for the emperor. If you kneel down and beg me, I may be soft-hearted and let my father release you."
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