Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 258 Choosing the Queen
Jiankang, Taicheng.

Empress Dowager Chu sat lazily in the palace, flipping through a roster in her hand. On it were all noble girls of the same age as the young emperor Sima Dan.

The description of them in the roster is not detailed. Of course, when the emperor establishes a queen or selects a concubine, the main consideration is family background.

The young emperor Sima Dan is now thirteen years old, and he will be able to take charge of the throne next year at the earliest. As a mother, Queen Mother Chu must of course choose a queen for him as soon as possible.

In fact, the most suitable queen in Empress Dowager Chu's mind should be from the Huan family. Whether it is the daughter of Huan Wen or the daughter of Huan Xi, it is a marriage that can bring them closer to the father and son of the Huan family.

It's just that Huan Wen's daughters have been married one after another, and Huan Xi's eldest concubine Luo Niang is too young.

Although Huan Xi and Sima Dan were cousins, seniority was never an issue when it came to marriage, so Huan Ji married his cousin Sima Daofu.

But at Luo Niang's age, she didn't know that she would have to wait until the Year of the Monkey to get married.

It is impossible for Queen Mother Chu to really leave the position of queen vacant and waiting for her.

In the end, she could only settle for the next best thing and look for girls of the right age among the Jiangdong nobles.

Now the person with the highest official position in the He family is just a small lieutenant joining the army.

Since the young emperor has not yet taken charge personally, the Queen Mother Chu is still the one who calls the court, and her title is still equivalent to the emperor.

When He Chong was alive, the He family in Lujiang was naturally powerful, but He Chong has been dead for so many years. As the saying goes, Taoists take tea to cool down, which is an eternal principle.

Hefa Ni stood up after hearing the words and saw Empress Dowager Chu greeting her:
"Come here, let me take a look."

"Go to He Mansion and bring her here."

What kind of help can such a wife family bring to the little emperor.

"Fani pays homage to His Majesty."

He Fa Ni came from the He family in Lujiang, and was the niece of the late Sikong He Chong. He Chong had no heirs, so He Fa Ni's brother He Fang was his heir.

Empress Dowager Chu waited in the palace for a long time and finally met her future daughter-in-law.

Empress Dowager Chu looked through the roster page by page, and finally pointed to a name and said to the female official serving beside her:

In this case, it would be better to hire He Chong's niece for the little emperor, which would be considered as repaying the kindness of He Chong for speaking out righteously.

But judging from the current situation, becoming the emperor is really unpredictable.

She was a twelve-year-old girl, fresh and natural, with dignified manners.

He Chong was also kind to the Empress Dowager Chu and the young emperor's mother and son.

The female officer stretched her neck and looked, and saw that the Empress Dowager Chu was pointing to the three characters "He Fa Ni".

"Get up quickly."

But Empress Dowager Chu took a fancy to this point. After all, even if the young emperor married a daughter of a high-ranking family like Langya Wang, or made a daughter of a prince like Xun Xian or Xie Shang his queen, it would be difficult to change the Jin Dynasty. The comparison of strength between Shi and Huan.

When the late emperor passed away, if he had not insisted on opposing it, Sima Yu, the king of Kuaiji, would have sat on the throne of the emperor with the support of the Yu family.

Don't expect a noble family to put all their bets on a so-called queen.

Huan Xi took Xie Daoyun as his head wife, but Xie Shang was still loyal to the Jin family.

Queen Mother Chu looked at her carefully, nodding slightly from time to time, obviously quite satisfied with He FaNi.

The Queen Mother wanted to choose a wife for the Emperor. This matter was not a secret in Jiankang City. Previously, female officials came to greet her, so how could Ni's mother and brother be in mourning?

In peacetime, the birth of a queen in the family is naturally a happy event worthy of comforting the ancestors. However, seeing that the Huan family is so powerful and the Jin family cannot last long, who wants to have too many things with the orphans and widows of the Sima family? connection.

Of course, they had no room to refuse, otherwise He FaNi would not have been sent to the Queen Mother Chu's palace. He FaNi stood up obediently and came to the side of Queen Mother Chu. She let the other party pull her and looked left and right. The smile on Queen Mother Chu's face never stopped.

It can be seen that after meeting each other in person, He FaNi has already made up his mind about this marriage.

Of course, the wedding was destined to take a year or two, and it had to wait until the little emperor turned fifteen.

The late emperor had only one heir, so how could the Empress Dowager Chu allow the young emperor to be emptied of his body by a woman prematurely?

Sima Tan was temporarily summoned to the dormitory by Empress Dowager Chu. Empress Dowager Chu did not say it clearly, but after introducing the two of them and telling them to keep in touch with each other, the smart Sima Tan already understood his mother's intention.

Marriage matters, parents' orders, matchmaker's words, even if you are the emperor, as long as the queen mother is still there, the choice of the queen cannot be based on his own preferences.

After the Empress Dowager Chu let the two meet, she ordered He FaNi to be sent back to He Mansion and asked the young emperor:

"Your Majesty, are you satisfied with the queen I have found for you?"

Although Empress Dowager Chu claims to be old, she is actually only thirty-two years old. She has been pampered for many years, and her skin is still as smooth as when she first met Huan Xi.

He FaNi looks cute and loyal, so Sima Dan is naturally satisfied:

"Everything depends on the mother."

Queen Mother Chu said happily:

"In this way, the candidate for queen is determined to be her."

Sima Tan nodded and brought up other topics:

"Mother, now Yao Xiang died in the battle in Hebei, and my sons and ministers are worried that Yao Chang will be unable to support himself in Xu and Yanzhou."

Queen Mother Chu frowned and asked:
"What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Sima Dan said:
"It is better to use Xun Lingze (Xun Xian) to lead the troops northward and assist him to resist the Yan Kingdom."

After hearing this, Queen Mother Chu shook her head and said:

"King Kuaiji will handle state affairs, and he will make decisions for you. Your Majesty, you don't have to worry about it anymore. All you have to do is calm down and learn how to govern the country. When you take charge next year, if you have any ideas, let me know. It’s not too late to take action.”

Sima Tan was obviously unwilling to give up easily, and he had a dispute with his mother over this. However, how could the emperor, who had not yet taken charge of the throne, be able to defeat the queen mother?

"My son is afraid that before he can take office, he and his mother will be moved to Luoyang by them!"

Sima Dan left these words and left angrily.

Huan Wen stationed a large number of troops in Luoyang and worked vigorously. Everyone knew what his intentions were. Even the young emperor in Jiangdong knew what he was planning in his heart.

Of course Sima Dan didn't want to be a caged bird with his mother.

Queen Mother Chu watched him leave angrily, feeling helpless and sighed secretly:

'Why don't I know the ambition of the Huan family, but the building is about to collapse, and it is beyond human power to reverse it. My dear, wouldn't it be nice to live a peaceful life? '

Remember, Huan Xi had promised her back then that even if the country changed hands, he would still protect their mother and son's prosperity.

This is also an important reason why Queen Mother Chu has always been unwilling to break up with the Huan family.

Sima Dan left the Empress Dowager's palace and went straight to the Chancellor's Desk, hoping to persuade King Sima Yu of Kuaiji.

But with the example of Yin Hao in front of him, how could Sima Yu dare to send troops to help Yao Chang? Isn't he afraid that he would imitate his brother and stage an ambush on friendly forces?

(End of this chapter)