Concubine Zhao's maternal family, the Zhao family, was a famous family in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Concubine Zhao's father was the Right Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty. He died two years ago. At that time, all the court officials thought that Concubine Zhao's brother, the Minister of Personnel Zhao Changrong, would definitely take over the position of Right Prime Minister. However, His Majesty valued Duan Chenghong, who came from a poor family and had no foundation. So Duan Chenghong, the future father-in-law of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, took office as the Right Prime Minister. The Zhao family gritted their teeth. But they didn't dare to complain. It was natural for His Majesty to promote the Crown Prince. Who dared to say anything?
Moreover, the Xu family behind the Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince were not to be trifled with. The Great Zhou Dynasty had been established for a hundred years. Naturally, the emperors were all surnamed Zhong, but the successive empresses were all surnamed Xu. This was due to the great military exploits made by the Xu family when assisting Emperor Taizu in building the country. Emperor Taizu, in order to express his gratitude to the Xu family, established the ancestral rule that all empresses of the Great Zhou Dynasty were from the Xu family.
Not only was the Empress' surname Xu, but the Xu family had also produced three imperial tutors and two prime ministers. They were the most powerful nobles in the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, in this generation, the descendants of the Xu family were not as prominent as before, but they also produced many military generals. They looked inconspicuous, but compared to the officials in the capital who had no access to military and political power, this was a real force, and naturally the Zhao family did not dare to provoke them easily.
Therefore, although the Zhao family was still upset about the Right Prime Minister, they could only let it go in the end. But now that the deposed crown prince had fallen and Duan Chenghong had been demoted, Zhao Changrong naturally became a popular candidate for the Right Prime Minister. For a while, the Zhao family was crowded with people. Sure enough, in early May, His Majesty promoted Zhao Changrong to the Right Prime Minister, but then, another imperial decree came out, His Majesty promoted Concubine Shu's father Cui Youan, the third-rank Left Vice-Censor of the Censorate, to the first-rank Minister of Personnel, replacing Zhao Changrong's original position.
"Nowadays, her family background is not low. She is at least of the first rank, not to mention the Ministry of Personnel," Concubine Zhao said coldly, taking off the heavy and complicated pearl hairpins on her bun one by one and throwing them on the small table, and said coldly, "Your Majesty promoted Cui Youan in the previous dynasty, and he did not forget to promote the second prince in the harem. If it continues like this, I'm afraid that the owner of Yanxi Palace will change tomorrow!"
"Mother, this can't go on! Just now in Baohua Temple, you saw that father and the second son are really loving and filial," Zhong Mingzheng clenched his fists anxiously, his eyes seemed to be spitting fire, "I don't care whether Cui Youan gets promoted or not, but if father always values the second son so much, who knows one day father will issue an imperial decree and the second son will move into the East Palace!"
As the anniversary of Empress Zhenxian's death was approaching, His Majesty personally went to Baohua Temple to inspect the preparations for the sacrificial ceremony. Concubine Zhao and her son, as well as Concubine Shu and her son, accompanied them. Facing the tablet of Empress Zhenxian, the Second Prince Zhong Ming'e choked up and recited a "Song to Encourage Filial Piety". His Majesty praised him highly and said casually at the time that it was time to make you two brothers kings. For a moment, the two mother and son present felt very differently.
"Your father promoted Cui Youan to a higher rank in order to give Shufei and her son face," Concubine Zhao took a sip of tea and said in a deep voice, "I think His Majesty is probably blaming our Zhao family for stretching their hands too far."
Zhong Mingzheng was startled, and then whispered: "Are you referring to Ningguta, mother? But didn't we withdraw our people early in the morning? And we are not the only one in Ningguta."
"So what? If His Majesty is suspicious of you and always thinks there's something wrong with you, did you just find out about your father's temper today?" Concubine Zhao said coldly. She sighed and said to Zhong Mingzheng, "Look at how well the Second Prince pleases your father. He knows how to say the right thing to say. But what about you? You're just like a wooden stake. Does your father like wooden stakes?"
Zhong Mingzheng sniffed: "I... I just don't like the way the second brother wags his tail. When he sees the emperor, he fawns like a dog."
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