During the mourning period, Yao Niang would review memorials for Gao Xuance when Gao Xuance felt busy. Later, she was able to reply appropriately to specific memorials. This sense of accomplishment was something she could not tell anyone else.
She and Gao Xuance used to only comfort each other emotionally, but later on, she was able to understand him politically.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Yao Niang breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the mourning period had passed, she would soon have the ceremony of being crowned empress. She heard that Gao Xuance had already instructed the Ministry of Rites to prepare for it.
It just so happened that Yu and Luo Zhizheng came back specially to attend her coronation ceremony, and she was extremely happy to see her parents again.
"Mother, are we still going to visit the Empress Dowager today?" Tamamo asked.
Yao Niang nodded: "Of course, not only that, your fifth uncle is going to be enfeoffed, and your aunt is here today."
Yes, Princess Zhenyang has also entered the palace. She is now named the eldest princess and the emperor’s only sister. The courtesies she receives are extraordinary.
After all these years, Zhen Yang's personality really hasn't changed at all. When he saw Yao Niang, he smiled and teased: "You came late today. Mother just spoke well of you. I said that you two get along like mother and daughter-in-law, but I, the daughter, have become an outsider."
"Oh, Princess, how come you are making up stories about me too. You are even jealous, but you don't know that it was the Queen Mother who specifically instructed me today to let the kitchen prepare the princess's favorite dishes. That dish requires a lot of effort, and I was afraid that they wouldn't cook it well, so I gave the order again." Yao Niang sat down and fanned herself with a round fan.
Princess Zhenyang quickly admitted her fault: "My dear sister-in-law, it was I who wrongly blamed you."
Everyone burst into laughter.
The noble concubine's son was going to be enfeoffed, and she had to smile along with him, which made her feel bad.
Yao Niang saw it at a glance, so she asked her: "I heard that Uncle Wu and Auntie are ready. We are young and it is difficult for us to guide them. Would you like to go and give us some guidance, Concubine Dowager?"
This is also to allow the noble concubine and the fifth prince to be close for a while, otherwise they will leave the country and become fiefdoms, and they will never see each other again in their lives.
Prince Lian Zhou has been in poor health for a long time. The Emperor only found out recently and sent someone to Wei Hui to treat him.
But even so, Empress Dowager Hong was powerless to do anything. Even Yao Niang's own son would be the same in the future. Except for the crown prince, everyone else would have to go to the country to become a vassal.
After hearing what Yao Niang said, Concubine Gui was very grateful.
Empress Dowager Hong seemed to have just remembered: "Noble Concubine, please go over and take a look. I have a gift here as well. Please take it over for me."
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Queen Mother. Thank you, Your Majesty the Queen Mother." The noble concubine knelt down and kowtowed.
Although she had been favored by the previous emperor, and even the Empress Hong at that time could not speak to her, she could do whatever she wanted. As the Crown Princess, Yao Niang and the others had to be respectful to her, but now there are rules, and being able to see her son requires the grace of the emperor.
This is the palace. No matter how high your status is now, if you have no one to rely on, you still have to live by the wishes of others.
Yao Niang was able to help by saying a word or two, which was already a good thing for the noble concubine.
If you go too far, you will be suspected of colluding with the noble concubine and not distinguishing between relatives and strangers. In the palace, you must know what you can and cannot do, this is the most important thing.
Princess Zhenyang committed this mistake. She could not distinguish between relatives and strangers and did not know where to stand. Therefore, the emperor always had a grudge against her sister. Fortunately, Gao Xuance was still willing to give his sister respect.
Therefore, Yao Niang revealed a little to Princess Zhenyang, and she was afraid that Wanwan would also be given a title.
Princess Zhenyang privately asked Yao Niang again: "Is this news true?"
"How can it not be true? Wanwan is the emperor's niece. Who can compare to her? In my opinion, what you should worry about now is choosing a good husband for Wanwan." Yao Niang said affectionately.
Although he had waited for a long time, he was relieved now that his daughter could be conferred the title of Princess.
Princess Zhenyang left happily. Bai Ying curled her lips and said, "You were the one who told her about this matter. You said so many things for her, but she didn't even say thank you."
"Well, I'm not doing this for her, I'm doing this for the emperor. It's just a title for a princess. If the emperor delays, it would be bad if Princess Xing'an and others interfere. Of course, she is nothing now, but people's words are scary. The emperor is implementing reforms, and there are many obstacles. We must unite now, otherwise, even Zhenyang will be persuaded to come and make requests. I'm afraid the government orders cannot be implemented." Yao Niang sighed.
If you do something thoroughly in this world, it is most likely to become corrupted from the inside and start to fall apart from within.
It is more difficult to deal with a fight among one's own people, and it will also embarrass the emperor.
Yes, Your Majesty, please deal with us, and we will find out the princess’ faults, and see if you can deal with your sister.
Therefore, we must first treat Zhenyang well, and then call Prince Consort Jing over to restrain him.
You have to be upright in order to be looked up to by others.
Bai Ying said: "The Queen is the Queen, she always puts national affairs first and forgets her own interests."
"I don't care what others say. I don't know much about the affairs outside, but I know that the emperor is doing this for the good of the people and the country, so I will share his worries." Yao Niang said with a smile.
In the past, this country was falling apart, and the Donghu were eyeing it covetously. Even now, they frequently invade, but they dare not do as they did before. They only dare to engage in minor conflicts. In addition, there was the Japanese rebellion in the southeast.
War costs money. If the government is so corrupt and money cannot be paid, there will be mutinies and peasants will revolt.
By then, people will suffer and the dynasty will collapse.
People who only care about their own interests and never think about the overall situation will just muddle through and will not even know how they die.
Princess Zhenyang heard what Yao Niang said and went to Queen Mother Hong to report the good news. Queen Mother Hong smiled and said, "That's good. The Queen has had a good relationship with you before, but they are still in mourning, so it's not easy to say goodbye. Now that the Emperor has ascended the throne, he has made Wanwan a princess. This is such a great favor."
"Really? The Queen didn't say it was her who said it." Princess Zhenyang really didn't expect this.
"You are stupid. How could she spread the word that she said it everywhere?" Queen Mother Hong felt that her daughter was becoming more and more ignorant as she grew older.
The women in the palace only speak half of what they say to others. If it was done by the emperor, he would certainly summon Princess Zhenyang to show his favor. But if it was done by the empress, then of course it was the empress who told Zhenyang the news. Otherwise, how could someone in the palace disclose the news so casually?
Princess Zhenyang was stunned for a moment.
She also thought that she could make up for it after entering the palace. After all, what did the Empress have to do with her?
Who would have known that a few days later, Prince Consort Jing was called into the palace. The emperor asked him to restrain his servants and return the hidden land. Prince Consort Jing did not dare to say much and hurried to do it.
The Jing family was the Marquis of Pingnan's mansion. Like many other nobles, they also had a staggering amount of hidden land.
The emperor intended to ask them to retreat 5,000 mu, so he would not make it difficult for them. Otherwise, if there was a commotion, it would be embarrassing, and he would definitely not tolerate his brother-in-law.
This is why Yao Niang took the initiative to ask for a title for Wan Wan, and it was the title of Princess. You should know that Princess Zhenyang had always been close to King Zhou.
When Princess Zhenyang saw Prince Consort Jing coming back from Prince Pingnan's mansion, she couldn't help but ask, "What did my uncle say?"
"Of course my uncle is in a difficult situation. The Jing family doesn't just consist of him, but other members of the clan also rely on these estates to make a living and maintain their former dignity. Blocking someone's money is like killing their parents." Prince Jing hesitated.
Everyone calls for fairness and justice and for showing kindness to the people, but when it comes to themselves, no one is willing to share their wealth with others. Once something is in their mouth, they can't spit it out.
Princess Zhenyang said, "My brother seems to be serious about this. The last time I went to the palace, I heard that even the Empress's family donated more than 700 acres of land that they had given to Luo Shoufu and Luo Erye after they passed the imperial examinations."
You have to know that the Luo family is just a family of scholars, and the only one who has become a high-ranking official is Luo Ge Lao. Moreover, Luo Ge Lao himself has always been known for his integrity, and the more than 700 acres of land he donated were almost all the land of his relatives.
This was very offensive, but Luo Zhizheng forced himself to do it.
Prince Consort Jing said, "More than 700 mu is not much. You know, the Luo family has been officials for generations, and now they are honored as dukes. Not to mention, although Luo Ge Lao has retired, his two sons have both passed the imperial examination and have titles. The family is very wealthy. Even the Queen Mother received gold donated by the Luo family."
These nobles who had served in the military for generations gradually lost their favors after a few generations, and their descendants were not as hardworking and studious as those from scholarly families, so there were many idle dandies among them.
Originally, they relied on the ancestral property to barely make ends meet, but now they have to give away 5,000 acres, which is really hard to accept.
Princess Zhenyang was worried: "What should I do? Maybe I can go to the palace and ask for mercy."
"I'm afraid the emperor will not agree to this matter. The emperor is so determined that no one can sway him. The victory in the suppression of Japanese pirates in Fujian has greatly increased the emperor's prestige. Because of this, he even held a mirage. Many people opposed it, and even the royal family and vassal signed a letter to the emperor. People also secretly satirized him for being like Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, who was fond of ostentation and warmongering. They also said that he was like Wang Mang, who seemed to be a saint but was actually overly fickle. But the emperor just wouldn't listen. Qian Gang made decisions on his own, and the cabinet became a decoration and had to listen to him. Princess, I know you are the emperor's only sister, but no one can sway you." Prince Consort Jing sighed, feeling that a disaster was about to come.
Princess Zhenyang stood up and said, "In fact, it's not impossible to negotiate. We are willing to donate acres of land. How much of the hidden land do you think they are willing to donate?"
Prince Consort Jing shook his head: "The Emperor told me personally today that he wants five thousand acres."
"Why is my royal brother so unkind? How come the Luo family only needs less than a thousand acres, but our Jing family wants five thousand acres? Isn't this too much?" Princess Zhenyang was a little angry.
Since ancient times, people have been worried about inequality rather than scarcity. She wants to go to the palace to discuss this.
Prince Consort Jing was afraid of making a big fuss, so he immediately said, "The Emperor just summoned me, and the princess rushed into the palace. I'm afraid the Emperor will suspect that I instigated it on purpose."
In fact, the son-in-law Jing Sili is still loyal to the emperor, and everyone else is willing to cooperate, but he is only the nephew of Pingnan Marquis. If he really asks his uncle to hand over so much land, the clan members will probably hate him to death, and he will have no face to stay in the clan.
Princess Zhenyang asked anxiously, "What should we do? What if someone gets killed?"
Prince Consort Jing said, "For now, we can only ask someone who can speak to me to take care of things for us. Princess, look, who in the palace can speak to the emperor?"
"If we talk about the person who has the most say in front of the emperor, it is Yao Niang. Yes, the Empress was my study partner back then, and I treated her well. In fact, she was liked by my third brother because of her being my study partner, and was able to meet my third brother." Princess Zhenyang thought of this and immediately prepared to enter the palace.
There were a few side dishes on the table, including mullet eggs stewed in chicken soup and mushrooms, preserved water chestnuts, lotus seed tofu, and roasted chicken with chestnuts. It was simple, but Gao Xuance enjoyed it very much.
Because these dishes were all made by Yao Niang in the small kitchen, Gao Xuance ate almost all the food.
"Your Majesty, is it so delicious?" Yao Niang looked at him with a smile.
Gao Xuance nodded: "It's just so delicious. I'm used to eating all kinds of delicacies from land and sea, but none of them suit my taste as best as yours."
Yao Niang shook her head in disbelief: "You are just coaxing me."
Although I can cook, I can't be compared with Chef Yu. This is just my husband's boasting.
Gao Xuance smiled, "I'm not exalting you, I'm telling the truth. Yes, Wanwan has been given the title of Princess, you can rest assured, you are just too good. The princess' daughter is from the royal family, it's enough for her to be given the title of Princess, why does it have to be Princess?"
"So what if she is given the title of a princess? The princess is your biological sister." Yao Niang said.
"Since I became the emperor, I have no intention of being like my father. All my life, for the sake of fame, I always made the ministers in the world work like paperhangers. But this is only a temporary solution and does not address the root cause. I will do this even if people in the world oppose me. You don't have to do this." Gao Xuance comforted Yao Niang.
Yao Niang said: "That won't work. You do have a strong execution power, but unfortunately, in addition to being decisive, you also need to -"
"No need to say more, I have made up my mind." Gao Xuance interrupted Yao Niang for the first time.
Yao Niang was not bothered: "Okay."
Bai Ying came in and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Zhenyang wants to invite you to Shoukang Palace to talk."
Gao Xuance knew it was about Xiang as soon as he heard it, and he smiled and said, "It's true that favors are everywhere. Look at the favors you have done, she doesn't understand, and she thinks you are easy to talk to. The Pingnan Marquis's Mansion has more than 35,000 acres of land, and they have concealed nearly 20,000 acres. I only asked them to give up 5,000 acres, but they refused. These fields were annexed from the common people everywhere, forcing others to break up their families. I have already shown special mercy, but he still doesn't repent, and dares to instigate the princess to come to the palace to complain about Xiang. He really doesn't know how to live or die."
Yao Niang said, "Let me handle this matter."
"I'll teach you another lesson. You can't have it all. I don't care about my reputation, so you shouldn't care about it either. If I really offend everyone in the world, when the time comes to take the throne, I can be more gentle than me. Then, the people of the world will be satisfied. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Why does Your Majesty say that?"
"I'm not testing you. You and I have long been inseparable. Just remember what I said today."
…
Sitting in the carriage, Yao Niang suddenly felt that people who do practical things in this world are not popular with both sides. Their relatives do not understand them. They just want you to be partial to them. They do not distinguish between public and private. As long as you are good to them, it's fine. Ordinary people may not understand them either.
But even here, it is not easy for people to persist and do it.
This is also the reason why she admires Gao Xuance.
In his previous life, he gave up the fight for the throne for the sake of his closest relatives and for the sake of the turmoil in the world. In this life, he also devoted himself to the world.
When the imperial sedan arrived at Kunning Palace, Princess Zhenyang was seen as soon as she entered the palace. Zhenyang immediately bowed and said, "Greetings to the Queen."
"Princess, there is no need to be so polite. What do you want to talk to me about? Just now, I was serving the emperor a meal in Funing Palace. I am a little late. Please don't mind me, Princess." Yao Niang sat down and looked at her.
Princess Zhenyang was not really shy and quickly waved her hands: "Nothing, nothing, it's a big deal for you to serve my brother. Oh, I came here this time to ask you for something, you must help me, no matter what you need in the future, I will let you do it."
Yao Niang smiled and said, "How dare I send the princess to do something? Since you have something to say, you might as well get straight to the point."
"It's like this. Do you know about the land survey now?" she asked tentatively.
Yao Niang nodded: "Of course I know. Except for the sacrificial land, all other lands in our clan's name have been returned. This is good. The tillers have their land, and the rich cannot arbitrarily annex it. The national treasury also has income. What's wrong with this?"
Princess Zhenyang continued, "If my family had returned only 700 mu, or even 1,000 mu, like yours, it would have been fine. But the emperor said he wanted to return 5,000 mu. Your Majesty, although I am a princess, Marquis Pingnan is my uncle, who has been loyal to the country all his life. The entire Jing family depends on those 5,000 mu for food. I would like to ask the emperor to give less, so that -"
She had thought it through. If Yao Niang could help, the pressure on the Jing family would be less, the palace would be satisfied, and the emperor would also be able to get these fields. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?
Unexpectedly, Yao Niang interrupted her soon: "Princess, if it was anything else, I would agree. But how can I agree to this? Pingnan Marquis's Mansion has a total of 35,000 acres of land, only 10,000 acres are what they should have, the remaining 15,000 acres are acquired through enclosure and annexation, and 10,000 acres are hidden land. The emperor still took your face into consideration and only asked them to pay 5,000 acres. How could you know this? You think a lot. Princess, don't you know that Hejian Prefecture is now in a disaster, and the people can't pay the disaster relief funds. Even in the wealthy Suzhou and Hangzhou, the people can hardly find a piece of land."
"Although the princess is a wife of the Jing family, she is also a daughter of the royal family. Since I was a child with you, I know that you are a righteous person. You are willing to show kindness to ordinary people, let alone the millions of ordinary people. Princess, I asked you for help at that time. Thank you on behalf of the people of the world."
…
Prince Consort Jing was sitting with his uncle. He said, "I have asked the princess to go to the palace and ask if she can pay a thousand acres. If your uncle doesn't have any, I will pay mine. I can't make things difficult for the emperor."
"Why do we ask you to pay for it? We at the Pingnan Marquis' Mansion can afford one thousand acres. But can the princess succeed?" asked the Pingnan Marquis.
Prince Consort Jing smiled and said, "She has a close relationship with the Empress. The Empress was once her study partner. It should be successful. The Emperor only listens to the Empress."
As the two waited, they saw Princess Zhenyang hurried back. Prince Consort Jing and Marquis Pingnan looked at Princess Zhenyang expectantly. Unexpectedly, the princess said, "Uncle, since you have more than 35,000 mu of land and have hidden 10,000 mu, the emperor is very generous in asking you to hand over 5,000 mu. The people in Hejian Prefecture are short of food and clothing. If you can donate these for the country, the emperor will be grateful to you. Otherwise, do you want to see the disaster victims really starving? How can you feel at ease?"
Prince Consort Jing wondered where Princess Zhenyang had heard this from, and looking at Marquis Pingnan who looked like he was about to vomit blood, he wondered how Princess Zhenyang could have changed so quickly.
Pingnan Hou also found it strange. He did not tell the truth to his nephew. At the same time, he felt that Prince Consort Jing had a great influence on the princess. The princess almost always obeyed Prince Consort's words. Why didn't she listen to her nephew now?
Little did she know that Princess Zhenyang only thought that she was acting on behalf of Heaven and was sacrificing her own family for the sake of justice, and that countless people in Hejian Prefecture would be grateful to her. Just like what Yao Niang said, she might even go down in history!