Empress Ma and Hu Shanwei had a high fever. Imperial Physician Tan, Ru Siyao, and Haitang stayed up all night. Besides them, Jinyiwei Commander Mao Xiang was also busy all night.
The assassin Silkworm Mother is dead.
That night, the prefect of Yingtian was stripped of his official hat, thrown into the imperial prison, and his entire family was placed under house arrest. The Jinyiwei rushed to Jiangning County, where the silkworm mothers were selected, and turned the small workshop where the silkworm mothers were raised upside down, arresting all the employees and questioning them.
Just as the silkworm mother said, she was from Jiangxi Province and came to Jiangning with her husband to avoid the war when she was young. Her husband died of illness, and she resolved not to marry again. She made a living by raising silkworms. With her silkworm raising skills and shrewd mind, she opened a small workshop. Jiangning weaving was famous throughout the country, and the small workshop business was booming. The silkworm mother was a well-known silkworm breeder in the local area.
The Silkworm Mother is strong and has a strong personality. It is said that when she was a young widow, some hooligans came to her house to force her to marry him. The Silkworm Mother took a kitchen knife to protect herself, and a dozen hooligans were unable to gain any advantage over her.
The widow was generous and kind. She gave porridge to the homeless poor in winter. Her porridge was the thickest, and she gave it out throughout the winter. Most of the money she earned was used to subsidize the poor.
Therefore, the Silkworm Mother was quite famous in the local area. In order to obtain a chastity arch for her, the county magistrate even had her name written into the "Jiangning County Chronicles". With the government's backing and her reputation as a virtuous person among the people, the Silkworm Mother opened a workshop and no one dared to bully her anymore.
However, since the first silkworm ceremony in the third year of Hongwu, Yingtian Prefecture had selected silkworm mothers from the eight counties in the suburbs, but she had not signed up to participate, and even rejected the invitation of the county magistrate of Jiangning County. For some reason, this year, the silkworm mother took the initiative to sign up. The county magistrate of Jiangning County was overjoyed and did not consider other candidates, and directly recommended the silkworm mother to Yingtian Prefecture.
The deeds of the silkworm mother were written into the county annals, and there was even a chastity arch to guarantee her. The silkworm mother's resume stood out among the candidates recommended by eight suburban counties. The prefect of Yingtian felt that the silkworm mother was the most suitable candidate, and finally decided to choose her.
I didn’t expect that such a stable person could be an assassin!
The magistrate of Jiangning County and his legal advisor were imprisoned by the Imperial Guards. The workers of the small workshop and even the merchants who usually came to the workshop were invited to "drink tea". Even the beggars who came to the small workshop to drink porridge in the winter were caught and sent to prison.
The imperial prison was as lively as a morning market, with everyone crying for their parents during the torture. The peaceful harem was also in turmoil.
Fan Gongzheng and Jinyiwei commander Mao Xiang "invited" Concubine Ding Da to the Gongzheng Division for a talk.
The concubines in the harem were not qualified to attend Empress Ma's silkworm ceremony. Therefore, Concubine Da Ding did not know what was going on at first.
Concubine Da Ding, the only woman in the harem who married a second time, a legendary figure who was like a "beauty that brings disaster".
At that time, the King of Han Chen Youliang, the King of Wu Zhang Shicheng and another person who proclaimed himself the King of Wu Zhu Yuanzhang divided the south of the Yangtze River into three parts.
Chen Youliang, a fishmonger from Xiantao, Hubei.
Zhang Shicheng, a private salt dealer from Suyang.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a farmer from Fengyang.
Zhu Yuanzhang had the weakest force, but was most capable of challenging the impossible. He first went to war with Chen Youliang. The two were evenly matched. Chen Youliang had a strong army, while Zhu Yuanzhang had many famous generals under his command.
The war lasted for many years. Feng Guoyong, one of Zhu Yuanzhang's famous generals and Mu Chun's maternal grandfather, died in the battle between Chen and Zhu. God was jealous of his talent.
Finally, Chen Youliang's fellow villager from Xiantao, Hubei, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, Hu Mei, secretly communicated with Zhu Yuanzhang, led his troops to surrender, and presented his beautiful daughter Hu to Zhu Yuanzhang to show his sincerity.
Hu Mei betrayed Chen Youliang, and Chen Youliang was attacked from all sides. The battle of Poyang Lake decided the outcome and Chen Youliang was defeated.
Zhu Yuanzhang won the war at an extremely tragic price. He hated Chen Youliang so much that he even broke his rule of not plundering other people's wives and daughters. He took Chen Youliang's most beautiful and favored concubine, Da, for himself and brought her into the harem.
When Da entered the palace, she was just a little beauty. Hu, the daughter of Hu Mei, had just given birth to the sixth prince, Prince of Chu Zhu Zhen. Because of her beauty, Da gave birth to the seventh prince, Prince of Qi Zhu Bo, and the eighth prince, Prince of Tan Zhu Zi, respectively. She made great contributions to the expansion of the royal family. Emperor Hongwu named Da the Concubine Ding, and Empress Ma arranged her in the Xianfu Palace of the West Six Palaces, the main seat of the palace, with generous treatment.
Da was taciturn and was a famous "wooden beauty" in the harem. She did whatever Empress Ma said and never said a word or took a step more. If she had nothing to do, she would go to Kunning Palace with the concubines from the six palaces in the east and west every morning, bow across the curtain to symbolically pay her respects to Empress Ma, and then return to Xianfu Palace, staying in the palace all day without going out.
When both sons started to learn to study at the age of five, they moved out of the Xianfu Palace and lived in the East Five Buildings of the Qianqing Palace. They went to the Daben Hall to study every day, learned riding and archery in the afternoon, and were occasionally dragged by Emperor Hongwu to the fields to learn how to farm the land. They "did not forget their roots" and received the most orthodox education for the princes of the early Ming Dynasty.
Concubine Dading was also indifferent to her two sons. Unlike other concubines, she did not send people to the East and West Five Institutes every day to inquire about her sons' studies and health.
Even when the mother and son met during festivals, or when the two sons regularly went to Xianfu Palace to pay their respects to their mother, Concubine Da Ding would just give them a few repetitive instructions as a matter of routine:
"Listen to the Queen and the Emperor..."
"Listen to the teachers and archery masters..."
"Get along well with the other princes in the East and West Fifth Institute. You are now the two oldest princes in the East and West Fifth Institute. As the elder brothers, you should give in to your younger brothers in everything, be open-minded, and don't care about temporary gains and losses..."
"I'm fine. I don't cough at all all year round. You don't have to worry about me..."
This wooden beauty, Concubine Da Ding, seems to be a statue of wood, with a very delicate face and figure. She is in her thirties.
She still looked the same as when she was seventeen or eighteen years old and was snatched away by Emperor Hongwu. Time left no trace on her face. She stayed in the deep palace and carefully maintained her body and appearance. Even when Concubine Hu was the favorite in the six palaces, Emperor Hongwu did not forget Concubine Da Ding. According to historical records, Concubine Da Ding served Emperor Hongwu at least once a month.
Logically, Concubine Hu and Concubine Da Ding should be mortal enemies. It was because of Hu Mei's betrayal that Concubine Da Ding fell into the hands of Emperor Hongwu. However, these two people always kept a rational distance. No matter how others instigated them, they could not fight.
When Concubine Hu was in power, Concubine Da Ding was a wooden beauty who never left her house.
When Concubine Hu fell, the monkeys scatter. When her father Hu Mei caused chaos in the palace and exterminated three clans, Concubine Da Ding was still that wooden beauty. She didn't say anything, as if it had nothing to do with her and she didn't have the slightest intention of seeking revenge.
Concubine Da Ding lived a low-key life. If the assassin Canmu had not appeared, Concubine Da Ding’s past would have almost been forgotten.
When the silkworm mother assassinated Empress Ma, she shouted: "Witch! You are destroying the Han Dynasty! You are killing the King of Han! You are taking my mother away! You deserve to be killed!"
The King of Han was Chen Youliang. The Queen Mother was the current Concubine Dading. The Silkworm Mother was a member of the former Han regime. She would fight to the death for revenge if she had the chance. Since she couldn't get close to Emperor Hongwu, assassinating the Queen of the Ming Dynasty was worth the trip.
Mao Xiang ordered people to bring in the body of the silkworm mother and ask Concubine Da Ding to identify it.
Concubine Da Ding was the empress, the emperor's woman. It was inconvenient for Mao Xiang, a grown man, to interrogate her, so Fan Gong was acting as a mouthpiece.
The body of the Silkworm Mother was stored in ice taken out of the ice cellar. It had not yet rotted. The hedgehog-like arrows were all blocked. When the arrows attacked, people instinctively protected their heads, so the Silkworm Mother's face had not been disfigured.
Just as Fan Gong was ordering people to open the coffin lid, a gust of cold air blew in. When Concubine Da Ding saw the corpse frozen in the ice, she subconsciously turned her face away, not daring to look.
Concubine Da Ding's hands were shaking. "Fan Gongzheng, Master Mao, you should all know my origins. I was originally a skinny horse from Yangzhou. Because I was younger than others, I was born in a poor family.
I was raised as a cash cow by a brothel since I was young. I played musical instruments, played chess, and painted. All I learned was not to please myself, but to please men and be their best plaything. Later, I was bought with a large sum of money and presented to the then Han King Chen Youliang as a favorite concubine. This assassin said that I was the mother of the country, which was really a joke. The Han King's wife at that time was Yang. I was just a concubine. What qualifications did I have to be called the mother of the country? "
Concubine Da Ding was even more wronged than Dou E. "Later... after entering the palace, except for moving from the Wu Wang Mansion to the Xianfu Palace, I never stepped out of the harem, cut off contact with the outside world, served the emperor wholeheartedly, and expanded the royal family. I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and the sun and the moon can testify to this."
Concubine Da Ding kept a low profile for half her life, and was careful in her words and deeds, but she never expected that disaster would come from the sky. She knew that her second marriage would definitely be criticized, so she had been forbearing, and even cruelly gave up her motherly love for her two sons. She hoped that when people mentioned the Prince of Qi and the Prince of Tan, they would try not to associate her as their biological mother, but just the princes of the Ming Dynasty.
Besides, what else could she do as a skinny horse from Yangzhou who had been raised as a man's pet? When she was sent to Zhu Yuanzhang's tent as a trophy, she knew what would happen, and she could do nothing but accept it. Some people scolded her for being fickle, so why didn't she commit suicide to preserve her chastity for Chen Youliang like the Han Wangfei Yang.
She is a skinny girl from Yangzhou, a prostitute, how can she keep her virginity? She thinks that being alive is the most important thing.
Fan Gongzheng held her hand, "Don't be afraid, the assassin is dead. The emperor and the empress don't blame you either. Concubine Ding, take a closer look and see if you recognize her. The empress has just recovered from a serious illness and was assassinated. If you can recognize her and follow the clues to find the culprit, it will be a great achievement."
With the consolation from Fan Gong, Concubine Da Ding finally mustered up her courage. She looked at the silkworm lying in the ice, carefully identified it for a long time, and said, "She is very similar to Wutong, the personal maid of Han Wangfei Yang. However, almost twenty years have passed, and she has aged. I am not sure. Lord Mao can go find someone from the former Han Wangfu to identify her."
Zhu Yuanzhang killed Chen Youliang, but in order to recruit the old members of the Han Wang regime, he spared the lives of Chen Youliang's father Chen Pucai and Chen Youliang's youngest son Chen Li, and also conferred the title of Guide Marquis on Chen Li.
Zhu Yuanzhang expressed tolerance on the one hand, while allowing the Han Dynasty's regime to revive - in the fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang packed up Chen Li, the Marquis of Guide, and sent him to the Goryeo Kingdom thousands of miles away!
Now Chen Pucai is old and his eyesight is blurry. Chen Li is far away in Goryeo, and the two living witnesses are "helpless". Should Chen Li be recalled from Goryeo to Ming
Fan Gongzheng said, "I vaguely remember that there are several old maids in the palace who were former servants of the Han Wang Mansion. The list of palace maids is in the hands of the Shanggong Bureau Sibo. We can check it out and ask the former palace maids to identify them."
Fortunately, this was the Prince of Han's Palace, and there were still a few people alive. If it was Zhang Shicheng's Prince of Wu's Palace in Suzhou, Chang Yuchun would have massacred the whole city and burned it down.
Mao Xiang went to the Shanggong Bureau's Si Bo to look up the list. This matter had nothing to do with Concubine Da Ding, but Empress Ma had been assassinated and her life or death was uncertain. Concubine Da Ding took off her hairpin and knelt outside the Kunning Palace to await punishment, waiting for the result for a long time.
When Concubine Dading's two sons, Prince Qi and Prince Tan, heard about this, they hurried to Emperor Hongwu's Qianqing Palace to plead for their mother.
The two princes came to nothing - Emperor Hongwu could not wait for the imperial physician to report on the patient's condition every hour, so he went to the temporary palace to accompany Empress Ma who had a high fever, and handed over all official duties to the Spring Officials and several young Hanlin scholars from the Hanlin Academy.
Cao Shanggong, Cui Shangyi and Song Shanggong, together with all the palace maids who participated in the silkworm ceremony, knelt outside the house to apologize.
At that time, Cao Shanggong was the person closest to Empress Ma, but he failed to protect the empress; Cui Shangyi presided over the entire silkworm ceremony and was unaware of the danger; Song Shanggong was in charge of needlework, and had the most contact with the mother silkworm, whether picking mulberry leaves or feeding silkworms, and did not notice that the mother silkworm had hidden a knife under the mulberry leaves.
Although the silkworm mother was selected by Jiangning County and Yingtian Prefecture, the three female officials with the surname Shang were also guilty of negligence. Now that Empress Ma is in a coma, the future of the three female officials with the surname Shang is uncertain. However, they are not optimistic about the future. At the very least, they will lose their jobs and be expelled from the palace, or at worst, they will be beaten to death on the spot.
Song Shanggong shed tears silently, Cui Shangyi lowered her head and said nothing. Cao Shanggong said, "The emperor will hold us accountable later. None of us three can escape. We should take responsibility for our own sins. Don't think about pushing the responsibility onto others. The emperor hates people who shirk responsibility the most. I'm afraid they will be punished more severely."
Lady Cho was hinting to Choi Sang-yi to take responsibility and not put the blame on Hu Shanwei.
Cui Shangyi was very smart, how could she not know what Cao Shanggong meant? But no matter how Cao Shanggong tried to probe, Cui Shangyi remained silent and could not figure out what she meant.
Song Shanggong collapsed first. She wiped her tears and said, "I was wrong. When the palace released people on New Year's Day last year, I should have asked to leave the palace and returned to my hometown to retire. Then I wouldn't have suffered these misfortunes. But I was greedy for power and wealth in the palace and refused to leave the palace. I thought I could be a Shanggong for another four or five years, and then retire in the future after ten years. Wouldn't it be more glorious? I never thought that greed would harm me. If I can survive today, I will definitely ask to leave the palace and give up the throne. Whoever wants to be the Shanggong can take the throne. Anyway, I don't want to do it anymore."
Concubine Cao snorted coldly, "Look at your useless appearance, it's not certain whether you will live or die."
As he was about to die, Song Shanggong no longer swallowed his anger and gave in to Cao Shanggong. "You are young, you are powerful, you are alone, you are ambitious and fearless. We are different. I have a family, my parents are old, and there are five generations living together. I naturally have to take care of them. I can't be as reckless as you. I want to live, is it wrong? Who doesn't become an official to seek wealth and honor? Is it to seek death? Cui Shangyi, at this time, you should say something! We will be held accountable later, what should we do?"
Cao Shang Gong also looked at Cui Shang Yi with a warning in her eyes, "Don't forget the promise you made to me when you seconded Hu Shan Wei. You said that Hu Shan Wei would work for the Shang Yi Bureau, and the Shang Yi Bureau was her backer and supporter. Now is the time to test whether you, as a supporter, can hold on."
Cui Shangyi finally spoke, "Hasn't Lady Cao always hated Hu Shanwei? She wanted to kick her out time and time again, so why is she speaking up for her now?"
The author has something to say: It’s early today, right? Hahahaha.
Thanks to all the little angels who offered to help Zhou take care of the baby. As the saying goes, don't let the trouble get to outsiders. Zhou has enrolled the baby who has been on standby for a long time in English and modeling classes. He will have a fulfilling winter vacation. I don't ask him to learn anything, but to let him discharge. It's just very expensive. I found that the baby is the biggest luxury. You should be cautious when you have a baby.
I will give out 100 red envelopes tonight, and there will be a question with a difficulty level of dozens of stars:
The historical figure Chen Youliang has appeared in many novels. The most famous one is Jin Yong's "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber". Now the question is, Chen Youliang is a member of the Beggars' Sect in the book, what is his position in the Beggars' Sect
a. Gang leader b. Nine-bag elder c. Eight-bag elder d. Seven-bag elder