Empress Ma was a commoner queen chosen by Hu Shanwei in a beauty contest. It was a grand event with thousands of people competing for a single spot. She was chosen among the 27 candidates and won the title of Crown Prince's Consort. In addition to her unique surname and appearance that somewhat resembled Empress Xiaoci, her calm and composed personality, her willingness to not feel inferior despite her humble origins, and her generous words and deeds won the love and respect of Emperor Jianwen.
After serving as the Crown Prince's Consort for three years, people in the royal family and the palace generally praised her for inheriting the legacy of "Empress Xiaoci".
It should be noted that "like Empress Xiaoci" was the most beautiful imagination of Emperor Jianwen for his wife before they got married. Husband and wife are one, and Emperor Jianwen got a caring and thoughtful wife. In order to help his wife of humble origin adapt to palace life more quickly, Emperor Jianwen frankly told his wife why the Crown Princess had been "sick" in the East Palace, and asked his wife to have a clear understanding of this mother-in-law.
Empress Ma was shocked to learn that her mother-in-law had spread rumors that Concubine Hu had an affair with a high-ranking official in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. She had a "chicken complex" for Hu Shanwei. During the selection of concubines in Chuxiu Palace, Hu Shanwei's tough yet gentle style and her conscientious work style were impressive. Later, when Hu Shanwei resigned from the palace, Empress Ma was disappointed for a while, thinking that Concubine Hu might have been burdened by the rumors and became discouraged. After all, the reputation of a palace lady was quite important.
Knowing that her mother-in-law was such a cruel and ruthless person, and that she had been "recuperating" in the Eastern Palace before, but now that she had become the empress dowager and moved into the "Cining Palace", Empress Ma watched as Empress Dowager Lu raised her tail at a speed visible to the naked eye, and could not wait to show off her majesty as the empress dowager.
After all, he had been trapped in the Eastern Palace for too long. It is understandable that he became complacent once he regained his freedom and power.
Empress Ma immediately came up with a countermeasure to deal with her mother-in-law: that is, her mother-in-law's mother-in-law, using seniority to suppress seniority. Concubine Zhang was the "pearl of the sea" in the harem of Emperor Hongwu. Although she was of low rank and young, only in her early twenties, she was of a higher seniority and was her mother-in-law's concubine's mother-in-law.
So when Empress Ma heard last night that her mother-in-law wanted to ask for the title of Duke Cheng'en for the Lu family, she knew that her mother-in-law could no longer hold back and was about to make trouble, so she immediately brought out Concubine Zhang and asked for the title of Concubine Zhang on the grounds of filial piety.
Concubine Zhang survived a disaster because of her three-year-old daughter and lived in fear. She was suddenly given the title of Concubine Tai. Empress Ma also opened the inner treasury and ordered six bureaus and one department to redecorate the remote Ninghe Hall, using only top-quality items.
As the saying goes, the survivors become kings. No matter how mediocre Concubine Zhang was before, after a trip to the underworld, she immediately became clear-headed and knew the reason for her sudden wealth and splendor: both mother and daughter would have to make a living under Empress Ma, and even her daughter's future marriage would be in Empress Ma's hands. Now that she had benefited from Empress Ma, she would be driven by her in the future.
Upon learning that Emperor Gaozu had buried all the concubines and even the palace maids in the six palaces, Empress Dowager Lu was extremely happy. After all, who wants to have a bunch of mothers-in-law under his head
After enduring for half a lifetime, good days are finally coming. When Empress Dowager Lu came out of the East Palace to cry, she cried sincerely. The old emperor was so considerate.
On the day Emperor Gaozu passed away, Empress Dowager Lü sang in her heart: Today is a good day! Everything I wish for will come true, tomorrow will be a good day, and we will catch up with the prosperous times... Let's enjoy peace!
But the good days did not last for a few days, as a young Concubine Zhang appeared in the harem. Empress Dowager Lu was a master of palace fighting, and she knew at a glance that it was the work of her daughter-in-law, who was trying to promote Concubine Zhang to suppress her!
However, the unspoken rules of palace fighting cannot be revealed. There is no point in revealing them. Moreover, Emperor Jianwen conferred the title of Concubine Zhang on Zhang in the name of filial piety. From an ethical point of view, this move was impeccable.
Empress Dowager Lu was unable to blame her son, so she took her anger out on her daughter-in-law, accusing her of instigating the Emperor to betray his father.
Empress Ma was a woman who had fought her way through many hardships and had spent three years in the palace as an intern. She also gave birth to a legitimate son, the Crown Prince. How could she be a pushover? She immediately fought back:
"Empress Dowager, there are differences between relatives and strangers. How could I not know this? When you marry into the royal family, you are the daughter-in-law of the royal family, and your parents' family is your parents' family. In terms of kinship, of course the royal family is closer than your parents' family. Concubine Zhang is Emperor Gaozu's concubine and the biological mother of Princess Baoqing. She is clearly a legitimate relative. How could she be an outsider?"
This sentence made Empress Dowager Lu breathless. Indeed, from an ethical point of view, in terms of closeness, Concubine Zhang is indeed closer to her than Old Master Lu.
How come I have such a daughter-in-law!
Empress Dowager Lu just disliked Empress Ma no matter what. It turned out that the Empress chosen by Hu Shanwei was born to be incompatible with me!
Empress Dowager Lu couldn't swallow this, so her tone softened. She said, "In any case, the Lu family is the emperor's maternal family. Now the father of the maternal family has passed away for twenty-one years. I am just asking for the empty title of Cheng'en Gong for the old man. He didn't enjoy any wealth and honor during his lifetime. Don't you even have this little honor after his death? In addition to being the queen, you are also the granddaughter-in-law of the Lu family. It will be a great honor for you to ask for the title of Cheng'en Gong for the Lu family."
Empress Dowager Lü's father was Lü Ben, who died in the tenth year of Hongwu. Lü Ben had no sons, only a daughter, Lü. However, as her own family was dwindling, Empress Dowager Lü became closer to the members of the Lü family.
The Lu family is a large family. Currently, all members of the family are civil servants, but their ancestor was actually a military general—the famous Southern Song general Lu Wenhuan.
Speaking of Lü Wenhuan, you may find him unfamiliar. However, if you mention the battle in "The Return of the Condor Heroes" where Guo Jing and Huang Rong and Yang Guo, Xiaolongnu and other heroes defended Xiangyang to the death, I guess you may have some impression of him. Yes, Lü Wenhuan was the famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty who defended Xiangyang back then.
In the novel, Lü Wenhuan was mediocre and relied on Guo Jing, Huang Rong and other gangsters to defend Xiangyang for six years. In fact, in real history, Lü Wenhuan led the troops alone and defended Xiangyang without any support until he ran out of ammunition and food. The Mongolian army announced that if he did not surrender, they would massacre the city like they did to their neighbor Fancheng. For the sake of the people of Xiangyang, Lü Wenhuan had no choice but to surrender.
After Lü Wenhuan surrendered, he became a general of the Yuan Dynasty. He turned around and attacked the Southern Song Dynasty and captured the Southern Song capital Lin'an. The Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed and the Yuan Dynasty was founded. Lü Wenhuan was appointed as the right prime minister of Jianghuai Province as a founding general. After resigning, he lived in Nanjing in his old age. As a result, the Lü family settled in Nanjing. His son Lü Shisheng was later appointed as the envoy of Jiangdong. Later, the Lü family completely abandoned military affairs and turned to literature. They changed their status from military generals to civil officials and multiplied in Nanjing. The family members studied and became officials, becoming a family of scholars and a big family in Jiangnan.
When Empress Dowager Lu was a teenager, she was chosen to be a concubine in the Eastern Palace because of her talent in poetry and prose. She was favored by Crown Prince Zhu Biao alone. This was not only because she was observant, gentle and obedient, but also because of the Lu family's rich family tradition.
Except for the branch of Lu Ben, which faced extinction because it had only one woman, Empress Dowager Lu, the other branches of the Lu family flourished. Because of Empress Dowager Lu, the family began its third transformation, from a family of scholars to a family of relatives by marriage.
Empress Ma had long since figured out her mother-in-law's family background. Yes, Lü Ben's line had no heirs, but recently the temptation of Duke Cheng'en had become too great, and several other branches of the Lü family were scrambling to adopt offspring under Lü Ben's name to continue the family line. Although they had no heirs and could not inherit the title of Duke Cheng'en, once Lü Ben was posthumously conferred the title of Duke Cheng'en, it would be easy for his adopted son to be conferred the title of earl, or for the family to appoint him to several official positions or become a student of the Imperial Academy.
As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, the whole family will prosper. Empress Dowager Lu had ulterior motives. She said she wanted to posthumously confer a title on her father, Lu Ben, but in fact she wanted to pull together the Lu family and gather some power in the court.
Empress Ma saw through her mother-in-law's little thoughts. Her mother-in-law had been suppressed in the harem for most of her life and really wanted to have a taste of power. She alone was not enough and she needed support. The Lu family was huge and once the Duke of Cheng'en was conferred the title, this family would be in great trouble.
Empress Ma still looked gentle and docile. She personally held the pot and poured tea for her mother-in-law. "Your Majesty, please be patient. The Emperor did not refuse the title of Duke Cheng'en. It's just that the Emperor has just ascended the throne and has not yet established a firm foothold. There are many important matters in the court that need to be decided. He is busy until midnight every day, and even his sleep talks about political affairs. We should take the long view now. Moreover, when it comes to the Emperor's maternal ancestors, the Kaiping Prince's Chang family should be ranked before the Lu family."
Although the Chang family was exterminated by Emperor Hongwu, only one grandson, Chang Jizu, was secretly hidden in Yunnan by Mu Chun as a rare treasure, in preparation for future political capital, but Chang was still posthumously named Empress Xiaokang. If Lu died in the future, she would also be ranked behind Empress Xiaokang.
Therefore, the most legitimate maternal grandfather's family of Emperor Jianwen was actually the Chang family.
When she heard about the Chang family, Empress Dowager Lu immediately lost her composure. Thinking of the difficult years when she was a concubine, she was too lazy to even pretend and said coldly, "The Chang family is greedy and colluded with Lan Yu to rebel. All the Chang family members are dead, so how can they be given a title? Empress Xiaokang's father, Chang Yuchun, was posthumously named Prince of Kaiping and buried with the rites of a prince. His title is far higher than that of Duke Cheng'en."
Earl, Marquis, Duke, King, the highest rank is King.
Empress Ma said: "There has been no news of Chang Jizu, the grandson of the Chang family who escaped. Now someone in the court has submitted a petition to pardon Chang Jizu and summon him back to the capital to appease those old ministers and show the emperor's kindness."
When Empress Dowager Lu heard this, she angrily said, "These people are just full and have nothing better to do!"
Empress Ma said, "That's right. The evidence is solid that the Chang family is guilty of treason. But the Chang family is the emperor's maternal family after all. If you want to confer the title of Duke Cheng'en on the Lu family, you must pardon Chang Jizu's crime and even give him an official title. The emperor is in a dilemma, so let's put this matter aside for now. When the conditions are ripe, the empress dowager doesn't need to ask. The emperor is filial and will definitely confer the title on the Lu family."
Empress Ma was neither impatient nor impatient, adhering to the principle of "delay", after all, Empress Dowager Lu was already old. To be fair, because Empress Dowager Lu was too good at making trouble, Empress Ma and Emperor Jianwen did not want the Lu family to have too much power in the court, otherwise it would definitely add fuel to the flames and boost Empress Dowager Lu's arrogance.
The gentler and calmer Empress Ma was, the more uncomfortable Empress Dowager Lu felt. After three years of house arrest in the Eastern Palace, she and her son became much more distant. In the past, her son could talk to her about almost anything, but now the person her son trusted most was replaced by his daughter-in-law. Even the Lu family was given an empty title, and her words were not as effective as those of her daughter-in-law!
How could Empress Dowager Lu accept this? She had endured for half her life, paving the way for her son, but in the end, the one who reaped the fruits of victory was a country girl from a humble background.
Indeed, Empress Dowager Lü's ancestor was Lü Wenhuan, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty. After the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Lü family had been high-ranking officials for generations. Empress Dowager Lü's biological father, Lü Ben, eventually became the Minister of Personnel and the Salt Transport History of Liangzhe. Empress Ma's father, Ma Quan, was just a poor scholar, and he became an official of the Ministry of Rites and was in charge of horse breeding because of his daughter. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had very different backgrounds.
Empress Dowager Lu was speechless and had no place to vent her anger. She couldn't vent it on her son who was the emperor, so she turned her spearhead on her daughter-in-law, Empress Ma, and acted like a mother-in-law, saying, "I am very tired today. Could you please rub my shoulders for me?"
Filial piety comes first, no matter who you are, you must bow your head. Even a ruthless person like Muchun, when forced into a corner by his father, can only pick up a knife and cut himself.
What is bound to come will come sooner or later. Empress Ma rubbed Empress Dowager Lu's shoulders and back without saying a word.
While serving Empress Dowager Lu to take a nap, the Empress Dowager asked Empress Ma to fan her. As soon as they took a short break, the Empress Dowager would wake up slowly and look unhappy.
Empress Ma worked hard and was never complaining. She was busy until late at night. Only then did Empress Dowager Lu let her leave the Cining Palace.
As usual, Emperor Jianwen was busy until midnight before returning to the palace. Empress Ma was lying on the Luohan bed with her clothes on. The maid was about to wake her up, but was stopped by Emperor Jianwen, "Let her sleep."
After going to the private room, Emperor Jianwen asked the palace maid what happened to the empress. The palace maid told him in detail how Empress Ma served Empress Dowager Lu in the Cining Palace.
Emperor Jianwen knew his mother very well. He knew that his mother was angry with the Empress because she could not accept the favor of the Lu family. He felt sorry for his wife. He carried his wife who was tired all day to the bed to rest. Empress Ma was moved and woke up. Emperor Jianwen looked ashamed and said, "I have wronged Zi Tong for what happened today."
Empress Ma took off her outer garment and her hairpins and rings, and said, "Your Majesty is busy all day, and it is only natural for me to go to the Cining Palace to fulfill my filial duty. I feel wronged there."
The more Empress Ma acted like this, the more guilty Emperor Jianwen felt. He tried harder in bed at night to comfort his wife. The next day, Empress Ma brought the only two concubines in the palace to the Cining Palace to pay their respects to Empress Dowager Lu. Empress Dowager Lu saw that Empress Ma was mentally exhausted, but her face was full of joy and her eyes were full of affection. Empress Dowager Lu was once the favorite in the Eastern Palace and was favored by Emperor Xiaokang. How could she not understand what happened last night
Although Empress Ma was extremely charming and romantic, the two concubines stood behind her like wooden figures and had not touched Emperor Jianwen for half a year. It was like they were dying of thirst or thirst.
This vixen!
Empress Dowager Lu disliked Empress Ma anyway, and said, "Now there is only one child in the harem, the prince. The queen should always persuade the emperor to treat him equally."
Empress Dowager Lu was a typical double standard. When she was the only favorite in the Crown Prince, she never advised Emperor Xiaokang to sleep with other women. Now that she has become a mother-in-law, she is immediately different.
No matter what Empress Dowager Lu said, Empress Ma always looked submissive and responded with perfunctory "Yes, yes, yes" and "Okay, okay, okay". Anyway, Emperor Jianwen had said that he would not touch these two concubines before he gave birth to a second legitimate son to avoid trouble in the future.
Empress Dowager Lu did not dare to torture Empress Ma for days, lest she displease her son, so she said, "You are the head of the harem, and you have many things to do. Go and get busy. Concubine Shu and Concubine Xian will stay and accompany me to the garden for a walk."
"Yes." Empress Ma repeatedly instructed the concubines, "You two should serve the Queen Mother well."
Empress Ma knew what Empress Dowager Lu was going to do. She was just trying to use Concubine Shu and Concubine Xian to contain her as the Empress and create an opportunity to push the two of them to the Emperor's throne.
Dragon bed.
Empress Ma felt a little disgusted. Empress Dowager Lu's behavior was still like that of a favorite concubine in the Eastern Palace. She had none of the demeanor of a queen mother.
When Empress Ma returned to Kunning Palace, all the female officials from the six bureaus and one department were present, except for the leader, Lady Fan.
Shen Qionglian, the Shangyi of the Shangyi Bureau, handed over a letter with both hands and said, "Your Majesty, Concubine Fan has been ill for a long time. She forced herself to write a letter of resignation last night, asking to resign from her position as Shangyi and be allowed to leave the palace to recuperate."
Empress Ma opened the letter, which was written by Concubine Fan, saying that she had been ill for two months and was old and frail. She was afraid that she didn't have much time left and could not serve the harem. She asked the Empress to find another capable person to be Concubine Fan. She wanted to leave the palace to recuperate. The weather was hot now and she wanted to avoid spreading the disease in the palace.
Alas, it was really adding insult to injury. Empress Dowager Lu was making trouble and the capable Shang Gong fell ill again. Empress Dowager Lu would definitely make another move next. With the support of the Empress Dowager, the two concubines might become restless. What should they do
Empress Ma was very melancholy. She was wondering who could replace Shang Gong Fan to share her worries and suppress the concubines in the harem. But after thinking about it, she felt that no one was suitable and not as capable as Shang Gong Fan.
Suddenly, Queen Ma had an idea and thought of a person. As long as she invited this person back, there would be no need to worry about unrest in the harem.
At the same time, thousands of miles away in Yunnan, the sun was scorching hot. Hu Shan was sitting under an ancient locust tree drinking tea and reading a book, while a father and a daughter, one big and one small, were swimming in a pond.
Arei is five months old. She is strong and plump all over. She is a natural swimmer. She stretches her limbs underwater and swims very fast. She looks white, plump and round, and has a shaved head because of the hot weather. She is like a ball lightning in the water. Mu Chun is by her side to protect her. He is even more filial than a filial son.
Hu Shanwei sneezed three times in a row and muttered, "It's strange. Who is thinking about me? I keep sneezing today."
The author has something to say: Zitong is the emperor's nickname for the empress, not her name. Emperor Hongwu called Empress Xiaoci Zitong, and Emperor Jianwen called Empress Ma Zitong.
Good night everyone, I will send 100 red envelopes tonight.