It is said that King Wen of Zhou had 100 sons, so the Zhou royal family was thriving. Guo Ziyi had 8 sons and 8 sons-in-law, so the Guo family had many descendants and a large population. As for the current emperor, he has 7 or 8 concubines, but only 4 sons and 5 daughters. Zhu Jing's first wife had passed away, and his second wife, Jiu Niang, only had 2 sons and 1 daughter. Considering their status, it can be said that their offspring were actually a bit thin.
So, when the emperor said this, there was a buzz of discussion in the Wenhua Hall.
But even if most people agree with what the emperor said - put yourself in the shoes of the emperor and the Duke of Zhao and think about it. If Zhang Shou is really the son of either of them, then they will definitely recognize him for the sake of their offspring. But... what if the three people were mixed up when they were born, so the three parties can't tell them apart
And the words that the emperor said next made everyone in the Wenhua Hall seem to stop breathing.
"What happened back then was my fault. I thought the world was peaceful, so I wandered around in my white dragon fish costume all day. That day, I even asked my cousin, Duke of Zhao Zhu Jing, to bring Concubine Yu, who was pregnant at the time, and Lady Zhao to the temple to pray for blessings. That's when King Ye, who was always looking for loopholes, took advantage of the opportunity. I think many of you know what happened later."
"But there are some things you don't know. When the situation was most critical, it was Concubine Yu and Madam Zhao who gave all the guards to me and Zhu Jing, and asked us to climb over the wall and leave first, leaving the two pregnant women to escape on their own. On the way to escape from behind the temple, they saw Widow Zhang who had snatched the knife and killed someone to escape, so the three of them teamed up and worked together to fight their way out and escape..."
The emperor had never seen how the three women escaped, but he was an eyewitness of the Ye Wang Rebellion, and most of his ministers knew that he himself had also narrowly escaped death. However, the emperor was very secretive about such an ignominious matter, and when he mentioned it today, everyone was naturally horrified. Some people even secretly glanced at the empress dowager, but they didn't expect that the empress dowager just sighed and didn't stop them at all.
When the emperor talked about how Concubine Yu and Lady Zhao Jiuniang fled to Zhang's house, and because they overexerted themselves, they were about to give birth. Widow Zhang went to the next door to ask for a midwife with her big belly, but the midwife was drunk from drinking too much. Even those moral gentlemen who usually claimed to be righteous and not to look at or listen to anything indecent, all pricked up their ears and listened to every word.
It was not until the emperor mentioned that Concubine Yu and Lady Zhao had almost given birth to daughters one after another, and that Widow Zhang suddenly felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. At this moment, everyone had an idea in their mind - the main point of the play is coming!
Sure enough, the next moment, the emperor said calmly, "When Widow Zhang was about to give birth, the midwife was so drunk that she could hardly deliver the baby. Moreover, she had a difficult labor. Concubine Yu and Madam Zhao, who had just struggled to give birth, were unable to help. The only thing they could do was to give her a pair of boiled scissors. Although she fought hard to give birth to the child, she lost too much blood and had no choice but to entrust her son to the care of others before she died."
"As for Concubine Yu and Lady Zhao, they naturally felt ashamed and heartbroken when they came to their senses. But when they came to their senses and looked at their own children, the midwife was already drunk to death, and the two girls were mixed up, and they couldn't tell who was who."