Chapter 105 The Truth of That Year
Emperor Zhaode said calmly, "What does Mother Empress want to say?"
"I wish to speak with you alone," the Empress Dowager said, adding promptly, "If Your Majesty still insists on killing them after we have spoken, I will not stand in your way."
Emperor Zhaode glanced at Yan Cang and said calmly, "You may leave now."
Princess Ning'an didn't say anything, but turned around and walked out first.
The imperial guards escorted Wen Shiyu and his siblings out. Wen Shiyu and his sister were so frightened that they collapsed into a limp udder and were dragged out by the imperial guards.
Yan Cang walked out of the hall without saying a word.
Chu Yunjin turned to look at him and whispered, "The truth is about to come out."
Yan Cang was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "It could be a embellished or fabricated version of the truth."
Chu Yunjin: "..."
The Empress Dowager and Emperor Zhaode entered the side hall together.
The imperial eunuchs stood guard outside, forbidding anyone from approaching.
The Empress Dowager walked to the bedside and sat down, her face wooden and stiff, revealing an unspeakable struggle.
She looked down at the emperor's desk where he wrote during his leisure time, and for some reason, she suddenly thought of a scene from his early childhood education, when he was only three years old and clumsily picked up a pen and clumsily wrote.
Time flies like water, and more than forty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
The Empress Dowager looked dazed and said in a quiet voice, "This is a wound that I have hidden in my heart for many years. I can't forget it, but I keep telling myself that it's all in the past and no one can hurt me."
Emperor Zhaode sat to one side, listening quietly.
The Empress Dowager was lost in her memories: "The Emperor should know about my love for Wen Lang. I don't want to go into the details of how we fell in love. I only know that he was the top scholar in the imperial examination that year. He had no power or influence in the capital, but he had a bright future. I, on the other hand, was the legitimate daughter of the Minister's family, the daughter of an important official in the court, a puppet under the emperor's power that I could not resist."
"I entered the palace by imperial decree to become the emperor's concubine. I had already accepted the fact, especially after giving birth to you. I no longer wanted to care about things outside, because the life, death, honor, and disgrace of the family is a responsibility that we women, who have been taught since childhood, can never get rid of in our lives."
Emperor Zhaode listened expressionlessly, a thought vaguely forming in his mind.
The Empress Dowager was lost in her memories, her expression blank and pained: "When Wen Lang first entered the court, his official position was very low, and he was not qualified to attend most palace banquets, so I rarely met him, maybe only once or twice a year."
"But it was these one or two times that gave me the opportunity to have an affair with him."
Emperor Zhaode's expression changed drastically. He abruptly looked up at her, unable to believe his eyes.
"Is Your Majesty shocked, angry, and ashamed?" The Empress Dowager looked at him and chuckled softly, a laugh filled with sorrow. "If I said I was framed by the late Emperor, you certainly wouldn't believe me. What emperor would personally scheme against his own concubine for having an affair with another man? Where would he place the dignity of the royal family? Where would he place the dignity of his own throne? And where would he place you, his son?"
The Empress Dowager scoffed, "But that's exactly what he did."
Emperor Zhaode looked surprised and doubtful, clearly not expecting this.
"Does Your Majesty find this unbelievable?" The Empress Dowager smiled sadly. "But it is the truth. Of course, he did not intend to ruin the reputation of the royal family. He wanted to use my weakness to pressure my father and maternal grandfather."
Emperor Zhaode frowned slightly, seemingly puzzled, but refrained from asking.
The Empress Dowager said, “I was born into the Ministry of Personnel. My father was the third-ranked scholar in the 20th year of Jianwu. He came to the capital from a remote city and settled down there. But he was able to study and enter officialdom because of the support of my maternal grandfather and mother. So after he settled down in the capital, he was a weak official.”
“He had no family background and no confidence to stand up to the late emperor. So when the late emperor asked me to enter the palace, he couldn’t resist. So when the late emperor plotted against me for having an affair, he didn’t even have the ability to find out the truth. Even if he did have the ability to find out, who would dare to question what the emperor said?”
The Empress Dowager took a deep breath and forced back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.
Emperor Zhaode remained silent for a moment, pursed his lips, handed her a handkerchief, and waited quietly for her to calm down.
"My maternal grandfather's family were the wealthiest merchants during the Jianyuan and Jianwu reigns. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were richer than the country. At the beginning of the reign of the late emperor, the national treasury was almost empty. He needed money to ask his ministers to do things, he needed money to implement policies, he needed money to develop people's livelihoods, and he needed money to train the army. But what could he do if there was no money? Silver doesn't fall from the sky."
"The late emperor coveted the wealth of my maternal grandfather's family, but he lacked a legitimate reason. Even as a monarch, he could not allow someone to give away all of his family's property. Therefore, my affair with my maternal uncle became a handle in the late emperor's hands."
Emperor Zhaode's expression changed several times, seemingly finding it absurd, yet also showing some skepticism about the Empress Dowager's words, his eyes dark and unfathomable.
If this is true, then the late emperor's methods were extremely despicable. However, the late emperor is dead, and no one can prove whether what the Empress Dowager said is true or false.
The Empress Dowager seemed to see through his thoughts and said calmly, "Only the late Emperor and I knew about my affair with Wen Lang. All the others who knew about it are dead."
After all, this matter involves the dignity of the royal family, and it cannot be made public.
As long as it doesn't hinder the emperor from achieving his goals, it's fine.
The Empress Dowager leaned against the couch, looking visibly tired and haggard: "After the incident, my father was summoned to the palace by the Emperor and reprimanded for two whole hours. My father was terrified, thinking that he was going to die this time. But the late Emperor asked me to talk to him, and I told my father the truth of the matter directly, so that he could go and tell my maternal grandfather."
"Nobody knows exactly what they said. This matter is a disgrace to the royal family and involves the life and death of nine generations of their family. Nobody dares to publicize it."
"The late emperor would not let anyone know, and of course my father and maternal grandfather would not dare to cry foul."
"Later, as the late emperor had predicted, my maternal grandfather had no choice but to spend money to avoid disaster, and sent a total of 40 million taels of silver in batches."
The Empress Dowager looked at Emperor Zhaode: "Your Majesty, you are the emperor, the ruler of the country. Do you know how much your national treasury earns in a year? Forty million taels, which is more than three years' worth of tax revenue during the reign of the late emperor."
"In addition, my maternal grandfather also took out all the grain stored in the family's granaries to support the imperial army. Every year before sending out the grain, he would write to the emperor and ask the late emperor to send someone to receive it, instead of my maternal grandfather's family. This way, it could show that the emperor cared about the army, and it would also prevent my maternal grandfather from having the opportunity to win people's hearts."
The Empress Dowager sneered: "My maternal grandfather's family has suffered a great loss as a result."
Merchant families need money for business operations at every turn. Giving away such a large sum of silver and so much grain will inevitably lead to a series of fatal problems.
Shops and restaurants in various places closed one after another, the business shrank drastically, and he was exhausted from coping. Now he is a small merchant who has been forgotten by the Yong Dynasty.
The Empress Dowager said indifferently, "Fortunately, the late Emperor felt guilty and never took the lives of my father and maternal grandfather's family. Your Majesty should know that when the royal family discovers such a shameful matter, silencing them is a common tactic of those in power."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com