Chapter 358: Expanding the Inner Palace
The Seventh Prince had pierced through the royal family.
He even caused an Earthquake.
The commotion was comparable to the scene of the great explosion that Jiang Wan had seen in her previous life.
In a sense, the course of history had not changed much.
The major events that were supposed to happen, still happened.
On this day, there was a grand court assembly.
The New Emperor and the new Empress faced the officials together.
Jiang Changtian put on the dragon robe, feeling no discomfort at all.
Perhaps he had not thought of this day when he was rebelling.
He hadn’t thought of it when he entered the capital, either.
But after becoming an Attendant of the Yellow Gate, entering the palace, and seeing The Emperor wearing the dragon robe, he realized that The Emperor was just an ordinary human being with common human weaknesses: fear of death, desire for comfort, fondness for flattery, dislike of criticism, stubbornness, high self-regard, and suspicion… He was just an ordinary person with a good background.
However, the dragon robe and the imperial crown would change a person because the weight of power was too great.
If you cannot wear it, you will be worn by it.
It is like an ordinary person wearing an incredibly expensive formal gown; their walking and eating are controlled by the clothing. They fear getting the clothes dirty or torn, and wherever they go, they focus only on the clothes, while they themselves disappear, becoming mere accessories to the clothing.
Second Young Master Jiang originally had no ambition; he just wanted to keep his family safe and sound.
Perhaps because he was used to being persecuted since childhood, he felt everywhere he went that someone wanted to harm him. He always felt he wasn’t strong enough and that there were too many bad people, until one day, he finally stood at a high position.
Looking at the bustling, crowded crowd below, a thought surfaced in Jiang Changtian’s mind: “There are always treacherous officials who want to harm me!”
But it was fine; Xia Mei was sitting next to him.
Qin Luoxia put on the phoenix robe, her head still feeling a bit dizzy.
She remembered when she was in the village, a group of aunties and older women were chatting, saying that for the Empress in the capital, was her chamber pot made of gold? Surely her hoe was also made of gold? The steamed buns must be made with one catty of flour and two catties of sugar, eaten to one’s heart’s content. Servants would feed her when she ate, so she didn’t need to use her own hands, just open her mouth…
Now she knew the chamber pot wasn’t made of gold, but if one were to really sell it, it could probably fetch a golden price—it was an imperial item. There were no hoes; she had searched the whole room and hadn’t seen one, so she didn’t know if they were gold. The people who cooked in the palace all had ranks and were considered officials. When one wasn’t sick, one still had to eat by oneself; eating with one’s own hands was much better. If one really waited for others to feed them, one was probably beyond saving.
She was nervous to death wearing the phoenix robe.
Fortunately, she could carry enough weapons now; no one dared to search her body.
The imperial palace was the scary place, full of disasters and tribulations.
As a newcomer, she had to be careful.
Qin Luoxia felt like she was constantly adapting.
From the small firewood house in Kaner Village to the courtyard in Jingzhou, then to the large courtyard in the capital, and then again to the large courtyard of the imperial palace.
Anyway, she had been adapting to a new life all along the way.
She took a deep breath and told herself, “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. Just treat it like going hunting in the mountains and view those court officials below as prey; that way, I won’t be afraid.”
Thinking this way, she indeed felt much more relaxed; otherwise, her chest felt tight, as if being squeezed, and her heart was beating uncontrollably fast.
Fortunately, her husband held her hand the whole way.
Her husband’s palms were also a bit sweaty, which meant he was nervous too.
As soon as she thought of her husband being nervous and afraid, Qin Luoxia forced herself not to be nervous or afraid.
Her husband was delicate and frail. He had been pushed to this point; he never wanted to be Emperor. A bunch of people recommended him, and he really became it, but then a bunch of people gossiped behind his back, saying there were still members of the royal clan, so it shouldn’t have been his turn anyway.
Qin Luoxia thought to herself that, logically speaking, that was true. When the sons of a landlord fought over the family property and all died, for a nephew to come and inherit the family business seemed illegitimate. However, special cases required special discussion. If the nephew didn’t come and the property was seized by outsiders, the Chu family would be even worse off. Her husband was soft-hearted and would at least treat the Chu family better.
Besides, the victor is the king, and the loser is the bandit.
If everything were really done by the rules, the fighting wouldn’t have been so fierce.
When it came down to it, it was still because there were no rules.
Therefore, there must be rules within their own household.
Qin Luoxia sat straight up beside her husband.
The officials also had complex emotions.
This scene of The Emperor and Empress sitting together seemed to have not appeared for a long time.
The New Emperor was very handsome, and wearing the dragon robe made him even more dazzling.
The new Empress had a powerful aura; she didn’t look like a peasant woman at all, but rather like a true noblewoman.
It was unclear whether it was this clothing that made them look like this, or if they were like this to begin with.
The palace coup caused by the Seventh Prince had come to an end, and no one had expected that the final winner would be Second Young Master Jiang.
That Jingzhou Official Rank.
And before Second Young Master Jiang had even ascended the throne, he had actually announced that his adopted child, Zi Congheng, was the son of The Former Crown Prince.
Everyone was speechless.
Thinking about it, The Emperor had been quite a failure as a person. The Crown Prince and the greatest Rebels, Great Marshal Zi, were actually the same person. How desperate must the Crown Prince have been to want to become a rebel and revolt against his own country?
Some officials were unwilling to give up; whether out of support for legitimacy or a desire for the merit of supporting the new ruler, they repeatedly tried to persuade him.
But the son of The Former Crown Prince, Zi Congheng (Chu Yuan), explicitly refused the throne. If they insisted on him taking it, he said he could abdicate on the day of his accession.
The officials really wanted to ask, “Are you being coerced? If you are being coerced, blink your eyes.”
Perhaps history books of later generations would write it this way.
“Jiang the Second Usurps Power,” “The Winds and Clouds of the Chu State,” “A Few Things About the Chu State Coup,” “On Chu History”…
It didn’t matter.
Open the history book and flip to the day of the accession.
The Emperor and Empress held court together.
All officials gathered.
“Long live, long live, long live The Emperor!”
Eunuch Yan stood on one side, and Eunuch Duan stood on the other.
Eunuch Duan had a serious yet joyful expression. He thought, who could have as good a fate as him? For others, a change of emperor meant a change of officials, but for him, even though The Emperor had changed, he was still on duty here. He hadn’t been replaced and was directly a favorite in front of The New Emperor.
Of course, he couldn’t compare to Grand Attendant Yan, but he couldn’t compare to Grand Attendant Yan before either, so he wasn’t jealous.
New year, new atmosphere.
For the first memorial, an official stepped out, speaking earnestly, requesting that The Emperor fill his inner palace for more children and more blessings. Currently, The Emperor only had one son and two daughters, which was too few.
The New Emperor turned his head to look at the Empress.
Seeing her husband look over, Qin Luoxia habitually returned a smile.
The officials saw that the Empress seemed to have a good temper.
The New Emperor asked kindly, “Is it just you, Official Wu, who thinks I should fill the inner palace? Is there anyone else?”
Seeing The New Emperor reveal an encouraging expression, the officials thought, what man doesn’t love beautiful women? Although the Empress looked pretty good, she seemed a bit overbearing. With many beauties, each with their own charm, surely the more, the better.
Thus, one official after another stepped out.
Members of the royal clan also came out to join in the fun.
Good heavens, it was nearly a third of the court officials.
Most of them were older and had beautiful daughters at home.
Qin Luoxia felt that the phoenix robe on her body was getting a bit hot, and it felt like little ants were crawling on her.
It was her first day holding court, and she had been worried about being uneducated and not understanding what the officials were saying, feeling very nervous. But she hadn’t expected that these gentlemen were no different from the women in their village; instead of discussing proper business, they actually wanted to meddle in her husband taking concubines.
They had just finished fighting to the death, and so many sons had died; hadn’t they learned their lesson yet?
Qin Luoxia’s aura boiled over as she stared at those officials.
For some reason, the people below inexplicably felt their official hats were a bit heavy.
Suddenly, they saw the Empress break off an armrest of the chair with one hand.
On it, a golden dragon was entwined with a golden phoenix.
The officials heard a crisp “crack,” and then they saw the armrest of the chair fall into the Empress’s hand.
The Empress held the armrest, wanting to put it back, while saying, “It hasn’t been sat in for too long; it’s all rotted.”
Then she couldn’t put it back.
Another “crack” was heard, and the armrest broke.
Then, the Empress simply placed the solid wood armrest between her hands and squeezed it until it shattered. A pile of wood fragments fell down, and some dust even drifted into the eyes of the officials in the front rows.
“Hehe, I told you it was rotted; it’s crumbled into powder.”
The group of officials who had stepped out not only felt their heads were heavy, but their backs were also slowly getting wet.
Legend had it that the death of the Seventh Prince’s son was in a very strange state; he was smashed to death by a plate, but his skull was dislocated, which was a bit impossible—it was as if someone had specifically smashed his head into a dislocated state.
And that Fairy Liu, she had a hole in her neck and died.
The way she died was also very peculiar.
At this moment, The New Emperor looked moved, even taking a rag to wipe the corners of his eyes, and said, “Since I was young, I have lacked care and protection. I never thought that today, so many loyal and devoted officials would care about my life’s great matter. My heart is very comforted. However, my life was saved by the Empress, and I promised long ago that unless I die, I will never remarry.”
Everyone watched The New Emperor wiping his eyes and couldn’t help but feel sympathetic; was it that he didn’t want to, or that he didn’t dare to?
The New Emperor continued, “I am truly, very moved. I have decided to bestow upon each of you a beloved concubine. As it happens, there are many palace maids in the palace. Rest assured, I am their maternal family. Such good palace women, bestowing them upon you is you taking advantage of the situation. You must provide ample betrothal gifts. My Empress is virtuous and kind, so let the Empress handle the arrangements with you. You will all have one; do not fight over them. I will definitely make you satisfied. I have known to repay kindness since I was young. Rest assured, everyone who stepped out will have one.”
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