dilemma
Upon hearing the name "Shangguan," Sima Yao's expression calmed down. She said, "One may be arrogant and unruly, but one must be trustworthy. Since I am willing to enter the Shangguan family cemetery, I will consider myself a member of the Shangguan family from now on. Naturally, I must sincerely abide by the rules and not break my promises. Whether openly or secretly, I will not violate the family rules."
A Qiu's respect deepened, and she asked, "Aunt Yao hasn't told you why you married into the Shangguan family."
Sima Yao scratched his head and said, "I've already mentioned part of the reason. I was of marriageable age at the time, but no one dared to marry me. My parents scolded me severely, so I could only hide out of the house and fool around every day."
Then one day, she met Shangguan Jin.
That day, despite her mother's nagging, she unusually did not dress as a man. Instead, she changed into a spring dress that was as red as peach blossoms and embroidered with gauze and silk, inserted a gold hairpin inlaid with pearls, drew delicate and beautiful eyebrows, applied bright rouge, and rode to the bookstore in the West Market with only one servant to buy a newly published copy of "The Essentials of Mountains and Rivers".
This "Illustrated Map of Mountains and Rivers" was originally nothing special, as it existed in every dynasty for many years. However, the unique feature of this new version is that it was sold by the Di people from the Northern Qiang. It is said that it was personally surveyed by the current national teacher of the Northern Qiang and is a map of the vast territory of rivers and mountains, stretching from Youzhou in the north to Qiongya in the south, from the Canghai Sea in the east to Kunlun in the west.
Previously, the landscape maps seen in Jianzhang were all very small in scope, only covering the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and roughly marking the terrain of prefectures and cities within the Southern Dynasties. If a map could be drawn to the Yellow River area, involving the situation in the Central Plains, it would be considered remarkable, and the number of prints would be very small, because only merchants who frequently traveled to the Central Plains for business would buy them.
As for such a vast landscape map covering such a wide geographical area, no one had ever even imagined it.
First, the mapmaker himself must have traveled thousands of miles across the country, from south to north and from east to west, and must have conducted on-site surveys, seeing the local customs and conditions of each prefecture and county along the way. In the current situation of north-south confrontation and the rise of the Five Barbarian Tribes, being able to pass through the borders of various forces smoothly and overcome all the checkpoints without hindrance requires the support of strength.
Furthermore, this comprehensive depiction of the land's landscape from east to west and from south to north, all within a single atlas, reveals the artist's imaginative and ambitious spirit: clearly, the underlying aspiration is that the entire land of China should belong to one family, and therefore, the geomancy of the nine provinces should be contained within a single book.
Sima Yao had only heard her father's advisors mention the new album that had arrived at the West Market at his banquet yesterday. Everyone dismissed it as a trivial anecdote about the Northern Qiang people, but she took it to heart and immediately decided that she had to get her hands on a copy.
The reason was that, influenced by his father's desire for the throne, Sima Yao also had the ideal of taking the world as his responsibility. He often imagined what he would do if he were the emperor, so he paid close attention to the trends of the world and often provided his elder brother, Emperor Sima Yan, with his insightful opinions.
This is also one of the reasons why Sima Yan once jokingly said, after getting drunk, that it would be better to give the throne to her.
The difference between her and her father is that when it comes to the throne, her father is more concerned with personal power, while she is concerned with the responsibilities of the monarch.
Upon hearing this, A Qiu exclaimed in surprise, "Aunt Yao, did you really ever think about becoming emperor yourself?"
If this question had been posed by Qian Huan, it would have been considered treasonous and punishable by death.
Sima Yao laughed and said, "Why not? Look at the Shangguan family now, Yuqi is the head of the family. If I can become the head of the Sima family, I can also become the ruler of the world. In ancient times, there was also Nuwa as the emperor. If I become the emperor, I will definitely ask the historians to record history from Nuwa. Over time, everyone will no longer find the female lead strange."
A Qiu opened his mouth wide, and after a long while, he said, "It seems that my political imagination is really very poor."
Sima Yao said matter-of-factly, "You have never possessed supreme power, so of course you wouldn't have such wild thoughts. In fact, this wasn't just my idea; my elder brother also participated in this grand plan." She recalled the days when she and her brother were inseparable, sharing everything and boasting without reservation, and a smile appeared on her lips.
A Qiu was even more surprised that even the last emperor, Sima Yan, would agree with this idea.
But upon further reflection, it's not surprising that Sima Yan himself was an unrestrained and willful person, and with the rebellious Sima Yao by nature, it's not surprising that they would come up with anything.
Sima Yao said calmly, "We didn't just imagine it out of thin air. At that time, my elder brother was facing the same problem as my father."
Ah Qiu immediately understood.
Empress Shangguan had been unable to bear children for many years, and even meeting Sima Yan was difficult. As for his other concubines, none of them were able to produce a son.
A Qiu tentatively asked, "The reason why the Prince of Langya has no son is because... your mother secretly controlled and schemed against him. But Empress Shangguan should never have schemed to control the beauties and offspring of the harem, so why did Sima Yan also have no son?"
Sima Yao sighed and said, "These things are either controlled by women or men. I can only guess."
Hearing this, A Qiu felt his face flush red.
Sima Yao didn't take it seriously. Even though there was no one else around, she still followed her cautious habit from back then and whispered in A Qiu's ear, "Although my brother has never told me this, I guess he doesn't want any sons at all."
Ah Qiu was shocked and exclaimed, "How could this be?"
The continuation of the imperial line has always been a top priority for the imperial family, something the emperor was extremely concerned about. How could Emperor Wu of Han, Sima Yan, not want a son? Even in an ordinary family, this would be considered one of the three unfilial acts, with the greatest being the lack of offspring.
Sima Yao said listlessly, "First of all, if his eldest son is not born to the Shangguan family, the Shangguan family will certainly not agree to it; and if the Shangguan family does not agree, this child will not become the future emperor, so having him is pointless and will only cause trouble and disaster."
A Qiu already understood most of it, and continued, "Furthermore, if Empress Shangguan refuses to give birth, there's nothing anyone can do about it."
Sima Yao and she locked eyes, and at the same time, they both gave a knowing, bitter smile.
After a moment, Sima Yao said, "What I said above are all objective factors; he cannot have an eldest son born to him by anyone other than Empress Shangguan, but Empress Shangguan is unwilling to have one, thus creating this dilemma. But I suspect that there are also subjective factors at play for the Emperor."
A-Qiu asked, "What is that?"
Sima Yao said calmly, "Judging from his tone, he doesn't seem to want a child to sit in his position and live the same life as him, having to be subject to the opinions and judgments of everyone."
Upon hearing this, A-Qiu was speechless.
She had previously thought that Sima Yao was pretending to be drunk while still fully conscious, but now it seemed that Sima Yan was doing the same thing.
Sima Yao continued, "If Empress Shangguan is willing to cooperate with him to produce a child, with the backing of the Shangguan family and Empress Shangguan's full cooperation, he will have some confidence in the child's future. But if it's someone else, then forget it."
She looked at A Qiu and smiled, "These are my imperial brother's exact words, a huge secret, and I'm telling you all about it today."
When A-Qiu first heard the phrase "cooperate to produce a child," she found it both laughable and absurd, almost bursting into laughter. But upon hearing the last sentence, she couldn't laugh anymore.
Sima Yan was pessimistic about his own future and that of the dynasty.
Sima Yao said softly, "Our question and answer took place under this premise. Once, my elder brother was drunk and suddenly asked me if he could find a way to pass the throne to his daughter if he had no sons in the future."
For some reason, a sudden thought flashed through A Qiu's mind: what the great shaman had once told her.
Zhao Lingying repeatedly mentioned that child she could never forget.
It was a girl.
Sima Yan once asked a high shaman to divine whether the girl was his child.
A-Qiu couldn't help but ask softly, "When he asked Aunt Yao that question, was he happy or unhappy?"
Even she herself didn't know why she asked that question.
Was Sima Yan's mood when he mentioned this child important to her?
Sima Yao, however, did not notice the unusual expression on her face. He simply recalled, "It's hard to say. He drank more than usual that day, completely drunk. As I see it, he must have encountered some trouble to drink like that. Usually, at times like this, Consort Zhang and Consort Wang would be by his side, but that day he sent them all away, leaving only me to drink with him until late at night. How do I know they were sent away? Because eunuchs kept reporting that certain consorts were requesting an audience with His Majesty, but were all blocked outside the palace by the Grand Palace Eunuch."
She did not relay Sima Yan's original words. Sima Yan's original words were: "Tell them to get out! Don't bother me!"
A-Qiu asked again, "Why did he drive them away?"
She wasn't one to pry, but she had a vague feeling that something here was very important to her.
Sima Yao looked thoughtful and said, "Actually, I don't know either. In the past, even if I was at the palace banquet, most of these beauties were also there, so it didn't matter. Everyone would eat, drink, and talk nonsense with my brother, and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it... Oh, I remember now."
A-Qiu immediately showed a concerned expression.
Sima Yao muttered to herself, "I also asked my brother why he didn't want them to come in today. After all, it's rare for my brother to get so angry."
She paused for a moment, then said, "His reply was: 'They only talk badly about her.'"
A-Qiu felt as if a bucket of water had been poured over his head, freezing his entire body, yet he remained perfectly lucid.
The "she" that Sima Yan mentioned should be Empress Shangguan.
Those beauties would try their best to persuade him that the child was not his.
Sima Yao's voice seemed both near and far, echoing in her ear: "It's hard to say what his emotions are. To me, it seems like he's suppressing joy, but he's not quite sure, so he's uneasy and prone to outbursts of anger. Anyway, my brother was often moody in his later years due to his drinking, so I didn't dare to ask too much and just chatted with him. He talked and talked, and then he brought up my family's affairs, mentioning my father's lack of an heir."
She recalled, "He was very fierce when he dismissed the beauty, but he was gentle and kind to me. He first asked me if my father had treated me well when he was in these situations, and then asked if I wanted a younger brother, since my father had no heir, which meant that the lineage of the Prince of Langya would end. He suggested that I could adopt a son. Of course, I refused."
Sima Yao said fiercely, "Regardless of whether my mother's way of raising me was right or wrong, she has always stood on my side and resolutely defended my interests. Mother and daughter are of one mind, and she will not hesitate to slap her face if she agrees to establish an heir. I immediately stated that unless the heir is born from my mother's womb, I will never agree."
A Qiu asked curiously, "How did Emperor Wu answer?"
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