King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 780: When you are far away from the world, you worry about your lord

Inside the palace walls, Keqing was taking a walk with Yinglian, and they did not allow any maid to accompany them.

When she was outside the palace, Keqing was calm inside, which was in stark contrast to the anxiety of others.

But today, when she entered the palace, her peace disappeared, and even her sense of security was affected.

Looking at the tall palace walls on both sides and the deep palace road in front, Keqing actually felt frightened, as if she was about to be swallowed up by the palace.

In comparison, Yinglian seemed calmer because she didn't think as much as Keqing.

Even though she was worried, Keqing still cared about Yinglian and reminded her: "In the future, you should have less contact with Zhen Qin. Although she is not a bad person, she is too stupid and can be easily taken advantage of. Getting too close to her... is not a good thing!"

"I know!" Yinglian replied.

Seeing Yinglian's innocent look, Keqing was really worried, and then said: "Forget it... I will ask the Queen for grace to let you live with me, not next to her!"

"Yes!" Yinglian agreed.

"Sister, I see you look worried, are you worried about... being banned?"

Hearing Yinglian's question, Keqing smiled and asked back, "Are you worried?"

"I haven't thought about it. Any position is fine!" Yinglian replied.

"Me too!"

"Then why did you..."

With a sigh, Keqing replied: "Sister... don't you think that this palace wall is like a prison?"

Yinglian was stunned for a moment, then thought about it carefully, and then replied: "A bit like it!"

"Forget it... I won't say this anymore, lest someone hears it and causes trouble!"

Everyone has different ideas and feels differently about the same thing, which is normal.

Originally, the six east and west palaces were vacated and looked deserted, but after the prince's entourage moved in, the place became more lively.

Since Emperor Taizong moved the capital to Luoyang, such changes have taken place more than ten times within the palace walls.

In a blink of an eye, a few days passed, the deadline for the emperor's wake arrived, and a grand ceremony was held in the palace.

Afterwards, the emperor's coffin was moved out of the Qianqing Palace and placed in the Guande Hall north of the imperial city.

Here, the emperor's body would remain for a few months at the shortest and possibly several years at the longest, depending on when the imperial mausoleum was ready. The Imperial Observatory would then determine the specific burial date.

At this moment, Zhu Jinghong was sitting in the Guande Hall, staring at the coffin of the late emperor in a daze.

His father was moved out of the palace, and except for the written records in the history books, all traces of him gradually disappeared, which made Zhu Jinghong feel uncomfortable.

Although he is a time traveler, he is also a man with a conscience. He has lived in this world for ten years. The old man has taken good care of him, and he really regards him as his father in his heart.

Besides, from a biological point of view, he is someone else's son.

Zhu Jinghong once read a statement that a man’s true maturity begins from the moment his father dies.

Although this statement is a bit biased, it also shows that the death of a father has a huge impact on a person.

If one accepts the country's filth, he is called the ruler of the country; if he accepts the country's misfortune, he is called the king of the world.

Zhu Jinghong is now the emperor and has the supreme status, but he also bears the heaviest responsibility in the world.

No one can share the burden with him, and he will have to carry it for the rest of his life.

After a long while, Zhu Jinghong sighed, "Dad... in a few days, my son will ascend the throne and I will be left alone!"

He used to think this was pretentious, but only when he actually sat in this position could he understand what it meant to be lonely at the top.

Of course, this was just a momentary sigh from Zhu Jinghong. The experiences of these years have made him extremely tough and he will not really be troubled by negative emotions.

This posture in front of the emperor's spirit is to relieve stress, which is normal metabolism.

"His Majesty?"

While Zhu Jinghong was sitting in meditation, the eunuch's voice was heard outside.

"What's the matter?"

Lu Tong knelt outside the hall and reported: "Your Majesty, the cabinet has submitted another imperial edict, please review it!"

The reason why I said "again" is because the imperial edict had been delivered once, and Zhu Jinghong pointed out several shortcomings, and then sent it back for them to revise.

This edict was a grand decree issued on the day of his accession to the throne. Because of its great significance, its content must be read with extreme caution.

"Bring it to me and see!"

"Yes!"

Afterwards, the manuscripts were delivered to Zhu Jinghong, and he picked them up and read them one by one.

"Only the ancient teachings and the correct path should be followed, and only the established constitution of our ancestors should be upheld..."

After reading this sentence, Zhu Jinghong sneered and said, "This sentence... can't be changed?"

The meaning of this sentence is very clear, which is to declare to the outside world that he will not make trouble and will be a law-abiding and conservative king.

Zhu Jinghong could not accept such an external statement at such an important ceremony as enthronement.

The draft edict had been sent three times. When he sent it back the second time, he directly marked this sentence, but the cabinet changed the substance but did not change the substance.

The Hanlin Academy was specifically responsible for drafting the edict, but the Cabinet must have reviewed it in detail. It would have been fine if the others had turned a deaf ear to it, and even Zhao Yushan did nothing about it, which made Zhu Jinghong very disappointed.

"Have a few people from the cabinet go to Hongde Hall and wait for the call!"

"Yes!"

After giving the order, Zhu Jinghong stood up from the cushion, looked back at the throne of the late emperor again, then turned around and walked out of the hall.

Today, the mourning period is over, and the emperor has taken off his mourning clothes and changed into a green robe that expresses his grief. He also wears this robe when meeting ministers.

The first assistant Zhao Yushan, the second assistant Zheng Zhiqing, and the third assistant Ye Bingwei waited in the Hongde Hall for more than ten minutes before Zhu Jinghong appeared in the hall.

After the ceremony, Zhu Jinghong signaled the three to stand up, and then asked them about some government affairs. The three of them each reported on their respective responsibilities.

After discussing these things, Zhu Jinghong gave the imperial edict submitted by the cabinet to the three men.

When the three of them read it again and had already started to think about it, Zhu Jinghong stood up from behind the imperial desk and asked, "Fan Zhongyan once said, 'If you are in a high position in the government, you will worry about the people; if you are far away in the world, you will worry about your ruler. My dear ministers, you are all well-educated. Do you know what this saying means?"

I don’t know when it started, but Zhu Jinghong likes to start his speeches by quoting famous sayings.

The sentence he used at this moment was very famous, and what Fan Zhongyan wanted to express was very clear, but none of the three university scholars responded immediately.

Having reached their level, their thinking is much broader than that of ordinary people and they consider problems very comprehensively.

At this point they could all be sure that this sentence was related to this draft edict, so the most important thing now was to determine the emperor's attitude towards the edict.

Zhu Jinghong's face showed no joy or anger, but the three of them knew that "unhappiness" meant "anger", so he must be dissatisfied with the content of the edict.

So what are you dissatisfied with?

The three of them had read the first, second and third drafts of such an important enthronement edict, and were very clear about the revision process.

The above process is long to write, but it only takes a moment to turn into thoughts. "Reporting to Your Majesty, what Fan Wencheng meant is that no matter what situation a minister is in, he should always care about his country and share the worries of the monarch, whether he is assisting in confidential matters or governing the local areas..."

The person who spoke was Zheng Zhiqing, and he felt that he should speak.

Fan Zhongyan was demoted for promoting the "Qingli New Deal". Now Zhao Yushan is also promoting the new deal, but various forms of corruption have recently been discovered.

Zheng Zhiqing had reason to suspect that the emperor was dissatisfied with Zhao Yushan and might suspend Zhao Yushan's so-called new policies on the grounds that "the laws established by our ancestors cannot be changed."

Although this guess may not be correct, Zheng Zhiqing can lead in this direction. After a series of long speeches, Zheng Zhiqing concluded: "Ministers should serve the emperor with loyalty. If they use vanity to cover up peace and prosperity, just to leave a name for themselves, their hearts are worthy of death!"

Zheng Zhiqing actually spoke very tactfully, but in the end he had to show his true colors. It seemed that he was pointing the finger at the executive officials below, but in the end it all came down to Zhao Yushan, after all, these people were all appointed by him.

After listening to Zheng Zhiqing's explanation, Zhu Jinghong actually felt that there was some truth in it. He understood what this guy's purpose was.

Yes, Zhao Yushan did employ the wrong people in some places, but overall his merits outweigh his faults, so Zhu Jinghong will not touch him for the time being.

Then, he looked at Ye Bingwei and asked, "Ye Qing, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, I think what Fan Wencheng said is to warn future generations to remember the duty of a minister. When you are in power and successful, you should be loyal to your emperor and father. When you are unlucky and unemployed, you should also worry about your emperor and father..."

Unlike Zheng Zhiqing, Ye Bingwei's discussion focuses on "loyalty", which is actually the attitude he wants to express.

He has the least experience in the cabinet, and it can even be said that he was promoted just to make up the numbers, simply because his qualifications are far inferior to those of the first two.

Therefore, Ye Bingwei had to show his loyalty in order to secure his position as cabinet minister.

So at this moment, it doesn’t matter what Fan Zhongyan’s original intention was, and it doesn’t matter what Zhu Jinghong wants to ask either. What’s more important is that they want to achieve their goal.

"Mr. Zhao, you are the prime minister of this dynasty, why don't you say anything?" Zhu Jinghong asked.

Zhao Yushan could find seven or eight angles to explain Fan Zhongyan's words, but his situation was different from that of Zheng Ye. He was the prime minister and could not make mistakes.

To be honest, Zhao Yushan also wondered whether the emperor wanted to replace him.

He has been the Prime Minister for seven or eight years, which is considered a long time. Now even the emperor has changed, and it seems that his position as Prime Minister should also be adjusted. After all, a new emperor appoints new ministers.

But his work was not finished yet, and Zhao Yushan really did not want to retire, so he was unwilling and unable to admit his mistakes in this direction.

If he said it, he might make a mistake, and there was a high possibility that he would eat the wrong thing, so Zhao Yushan simply didn't say anything.

"Fan Wencheng's writings have been interpreted differently by different generations. I am a humble and dull official... I dare not make any rash judgments on the emperor's will. I hope Your Majesty will enlighten me!"

"Mr. Zhao is too modest, but you are right. Fan Zhongyan's words and his policies have been judged by different dynasties. It is difficult to say whether they are right or wrong!"

When Zhu Jinghong said this in a calm tone, Zheng Zhiqing knew that his idea had failed.

But he had no time to feel disappointed and listened carefully to Zhu Jinghong's words. After all, he might continue to ask questions.

Walking to the center of the hall, Zhu Jinghong said slowly: "I read the draft edict handed over by the cabinet today. The words 'Only the ancient teachings and the correct path should be followed, and only the established constitutions of our ancestors should be upheld' reminded me of this sentence by Fan Zhongyan!"

"This sentence is an exhortation to the emperor, but my succession edict is to announce to all the subjects of the world how I will govern this huge country from now on. Do I really need to add this exhortation to the imperial edict?"

"When you are in a high position in government, you should worry about the people. Fan Zhongyan wants to tell future generations that when you are an official, you should think about how to govern the people, which is the greatest loyalty to the emperor!"

"If you want to advise your king and father, then you should go to a faraway place in the martial arts world!"

Such perverse logic, coming from the emperor's mouth, was profound in its meaning, and the three cabinet ministers all looked as if they were being taught a lesson.

Honestly speaking, it is undoubtedly a kind of torture for these people who are well-read in poetry and books, well-versed in classics, and determined to serve as kings like Yao and Shun, to agree with these messy theories.

Now that the riddle given by Zhu Jinghong has been solved, his purpose has become clear.

Only the ancient teachings and the correct path should be followed, and only the established constitution of our ancestors should be upheld... The emperor did not want to make such a statement, so it was clear what to do next.

The problem now is that this draft edict has been revised twice. Zhu Jinghong even marked it the second time, but in the end he still submitted similar sentences. Now that he is holding the cabinet accountable, he must give an explanation.

There is no doubt that Zhao Yushan, as the prime minister, has to take the blame.

"The people in the Hanlin Academy are well-read, but they have read too much. I am not satisfied with the imperial edict they drafted. It is better for you three to write it yourself!"

Zhu Jinghong's words put the responsibility on the Hanlin Academy, and the three grand secretaries were not at fault. However, the three of them still pleaded guilty afterwards.

After that, Zhu Jinghong didn't say much and let the three people leave. They only had half an hour to draft an edict that would satisfy Zhu Jinghong.

Soon half an hour passed and the imperial edict was delivered to Zhu Jinghong. After reading it, he smiled and said frankly that these three old guys were really capable.

The coronation ceremony will be held on the first day of September. There are still seven days in between, and intensive preparations are being made inside and outside the palace.

Walking out of Hongde Hall, wherever Zhu Jinghong looked, he saw people busy coming and going.

As the emperor's body is moved, all mourning clothes in the palace will be removed, and everything in the Qianqing Palace will be restored. After Zhu Jinghong officially ascends the throne, he will move in.

Zhu Jinghong ordered someone to move a chair and sat on the imperial road in front of the Qianqing Palace, watching the palace servants busying around, restoring the plain white Qianqing Palace into its golden and magnificent state.

"Your Majesty, the Queen is here!"

Yu Hai's voice was heard beside Zhu Jinghong. This guy has officially become the chief steward of the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Jinghong did not treat Gu Cheng, who originally held this position, unfairly and arranged for him to serve as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

The personnel adjustments for the various eunuchs in the inner court have now been basically completed, and all the eunuchs of the former Prince Xiang's Mansion, both big and small, have now been assigned positions.

Among the dozen or so eunuchs, Zhu Jinghong did not let them directly serve as the "top leader", but instead appointed them as deputy positions in various prisons and departments. If nothing unexpected happens, these people will be promoted to the top positions in a few years.

Even Deng An and Zhang Ping'an served as deputy positions in the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Stables respectively, and did not enter the Imperial Household Department directly.

Among all the eunuchs in Prince Xiang's Mansion, only Yu Hai was an exception. This guy was directly appointed as the chief steward of the Qianqing Palace.

Although this position is not included in the Silijian, it is at the same level as the Bingbi eunuch. Because it is closer to the emperor, its status is transcendent among the eunuchs.

"Your Majesty, why are you sitting here?" Baochai, dressed in plain clothes, without any makeup or hairpins, came to Zhu Jinghong's side.

"Sit here and watch!" Zhu Jinghong replied.

Following Zhu Jinghong's gaze, Baochai also looked towards the Qianqing Palace, and then she also saw the difference.
She could probably guess her husband's mood at the moment, so she said, "Your Majesty, please accept my condolences. The spirit of the late emperor in heaven would not want to see you so sad!"

Zhu Jinghong forced a smile as a response to Baochai, and then he looked at Yu Hai and said with a little dissatisfaction: "Why don't you move a chair for the queen?"

"Yes!"

Yu Hai responded and winked behind him. Soon a chair was brought over and placed next to Zhu Jinghong.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the seat!" Baochai said with a smile.

After sitting down, the two did not say much. They just looked ahead quietly, watching the busy palace servants in front of them.

It is late autumn now, and the setting sun shining on our bodies makes us feel very warm.

But with his wife by his side, who shares his joys and sorrows and loves him, Zhu Jinghong feels a deeper emotion, which can be described as "warmth" if one has to sum it up.

The Qianqing Palace, where the emperor lived, was located above all the people, making Zhu Jinghong feel lonely and isolated.

But now, Zhu Jinghong feels warm here, and he has a deeper understanding of the relationship between his parents.

Now that he has become emperor, he realizes that the late emperor not only loved, was grateful to, and respected the late queen, but also relied on her.

It is an emotional dependence, a dependence on maintaining humanity, otherwise you will really become a lonely person!
After sitting quietly for a while, Zhu Jinghong looked at his wife with a smile and said, "Baochai, I'm afraid it's been a long time since you and I have sat together like this!"

(End of this chapter)