Madam Jin sighed deeply and gently shook her head.
“Those people are all adept at flattering the powerful and belittling the weak. Take Prince Ning for example, your niece from the Xu family even gave birth to his son. In order to curry favor with the emperor, they all submitted a petition to make his birth mother the Dowager Princess of Ning.”
The current Prince Ning is not the biological son of the Dowager Princess Ning, but rather born out of wedlock.
One of Empress Zhang's younger sisters, born out of wedlock, married Xu Qiong, the Minister of Rites, whose ancestral home was in Jiangxi, as a concubine.
Isn't it shameful for a young woman in her prime to become a concubine for an old man over sixty?
She was also the Empress's sister.
This is a blatant slap in the face to the Zhang family and Empress Zhang.
But they had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.
Looking at all the civil officials in the court, one-third of them were from Jiangxi.
By winning over Xu Qiong, one could win over the entire Jiangxi school of literati.
This laid a solid foundation for the late emperor to seize power from the Zhou family.
Unfortunately, his attempt to seize power failed, and Xu Qiong retired to his hometown.
The daughter born to this half-sister later married the Prince of Ning, whose fief was in Nanchang, Jiangxi, as a concubine, was given the title of Lady, and even bore the Prince of Ning a son.
However, times have changed. Now, Prince Ning has turned against the emperor and supports him in recognizing his birth mother, leaving the Zhang family completely helpless against him.
Empress Dowager Zhang told Xia Xueyi to go back and rest during her pregnancy, while she and Madam Jin closed the door and whispered amongst themselves for a while.
After returning to Kunning Palace, Xia Xueyi was restless and sent someone to invite her mother, Lady Qingyang, to the palace.
Lady Qingyang also looked worried: "The Wang family and the Zhang family are fighting each other. I hope it doesn't affect you."
"You just need to take good care of yourself during your pregnancy. Once you give birth to the prince, your position as empress will be secure."
Xia Xueyi tightened her grip on her hands at her sides and lowered her head to hide the paleness on her face.
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