My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 276: Marrying the Emperor and Becoming the Owner of Hanjiao House

Cheng Buzhi has his own ideas about Zhidu, his former big brother and future deputy colleague.

However, Cheng Buzhi's title of marquis had to be postponed until after Liu Rong's coming-of-age ceremony.

——Eat the emperor’s food and be loyal to him.

The act of conferring a title of nobility, at least in the Han Dynasty today, is still a way for the emperor to consolidate his team and give it a unique political label.

for example;

Emperor Taizu Gao, Liu Bang, was wise and powerful. He established the Han Dynasty and conferred titles on 146 families who were heroes and meritorious service in the founding of the country.

According to the general consensus of that era, these more than one hundred founding heroes and meritorious officials could actually be regarded as Liu Bang's private ministers.

What is the concept of a private minister?
Even if the Han Dynasty was gone, the ancestral temples no longer existed, and the country was overthrown, these people would still follow Liu Bang and become bandits again.

Whether they worked hard to become stronger or just lived in seclusion - in short, the fate of these people was not primarily tied to the Han Dynasty, but was primarily tied to Liu Bang personally.

This is also why later, when Emperor Taizu Liu Bang passed away and Emperor Xiaohui Liu Ying, who was not yet an adult, ascended the throne, he had to accept his mother Lu Zhi taking over the government in order to barely stabilize these founding heroes and powerful generals.

——As the second largest shareholder of Liu Han and his wife’s business, Lu Zhi was also the boss of these founding fathers.

As we all know, the boss lady is also the boss.

Putting aside the relationship between the monarch and his subjects, the founding fathers had to call Empress Dowager Lu "big sister" or "sister-in-law" when they met her.

But when they met Emperor Xiaohui, these founding fathers would most likely act like elders, touch Emperor Xiaohui's head, and reminisce about the past.
Then he sighed: Back then, when your father, Emperor Taizu Gao, and I were fighting for the empire, you were still wearing open-crotch pants...

Therefore, for the emperors of the Han Dynasty, especially the later emperors except the founding emperor Liu Bang, having their own team to check and balance the founding heroes' families left by Taizu Liu Bang is undoubtedly the most important part of the imperial art.

Liu Rong is very lucky.

With a grandfather like Emperor Taizong and a father like Emperor Xiaojing, the power of the meritorious nobles and nobles who were once prominent in the court and even the Empress Dowager Lu had to be wary of, has basically faded out of the power decision-making center of the court after the unremitting suppression of the two emperors Wen and Jing.

By the time of Liu Rong, the Han emperor could even support the Pingyang Marquis family, a family of absolute founding heroes, as his own clan.

——If the Pingyang Marquis family had not been weak to a certain extent, even if Liu Rong had a hundred bubbles in his brain, he would never have been able to support an already powerful family and turn it into a royal family that would surely rise to the top.

This process does not rely on verbal suppression, nor does it rely on false accusations to weaken the group of heroes and meritorious officials.

If you want to check and balance a group, the easiest way is always to build up another group that is equivalent to it.

To put it simply, every generation of Han emperors needed to build their own party through the method of enfeoffment, in order to check and balance the founding fathers and the political groups previously built by previous emperors.

——Empress Dowager Lü created the Lü prince group, hoping to suppress the group of meritorious nobles, but in the end, she was strongly backlashed by the group of meritorious nobles because her methods were too tough;

In the end, not only did the Lü clan's external relatives die, but the balance of the Han Dynasty's unique dual political system of the Empress Dowager in the East Palace and the Emperor in the West Palace slowly tilted towards autocracy.

After Empress Dowager Lü, Emperor Taizong succeeded to the throne from Dai, and by supporting the team he brought from Dai to Chang'an, he tried to counter the original group of founding heroes in the court.

The final result is quite good.

Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, Guan Ying and other representative founding fathers gradually faded out of the court under the Emperor Taizong's brilliant political skills.

Afterwards, Emperor Taizong did not allow the 'Old Generation Wang Qiandi Group' that he had fostered to grow into a new evil dragon.

——General Zhang Wu accepted bribes, and Emperor Taizong "rewarded him with a thousand gold coins to make him feel guilty", which directly cut Zhang Wu's political career in half!

The emperor Taizong personally set up a mourning hall for the deceased relative Bo Zhao, thus preventing him from growing into another Lu Ze.

By the way, Emperor Taizong also used this incident to further weaken the prestige and credibility of the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace in the political structure of the Han regime, and further pushed the Han Dynasty from a dual political system of the Eastern and Western Palaces to move towards absolute monarchy and imperial dictatorship.

By the time of Emperor Xian Xiaojing, there were few people left among the group of founding heroes and meritorious nobles who had once dominated the government and the country.

Even among the second generation marquises of the founding hero families, only the old and frail Marquis of Quzhou Li Ji, who was also a half-generation hero and meritorious marquis, and Marquis of Tiao Zhou Yafu were still active in the court.

The former were too old, and the Han army was in a period of transition, so they needed these old generals to shine for a few more years in order to preserve themselves;

The latter was even protected by the crown prince himself, but in the end he still failed to save his political career.

Nowadays, Zhou Yafu is unemployed at home, and is said to be preparing for his own funeral and buying his own burial objects.

Although the previous emperor was in power for only six years, he still built up his own forces - such as Zhou Ren, Marquis of Rufen, Wei Wan, Marquis of Jianling, and even Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi.

By the time Liu Rong came to the throne, it can basically be said that the decision-making center of the Han court was no longer influenced by the group of founding heroes and meritorious officials.

The erosion of time has long turned the founding fathers, who were once numerous brave generals and celebrities, into parasites that suck blood from the regime.

Now, Liu Rong is going to follow the path left by his father and grandfather and start building his own political team and compiling his political wings.

Cheng Bushi was the beginning of Liu Rong's plan to build a private team by conferring titles of nobility.

——By conferring the title of marquis on Cheng Buzhi and his future trusted team, these people will completely become "Emperor Xiaomou (Liu Rong's posthumous title)'s private ministers", and after their death they can be buried together at the foot of Liu Rong's imperial mausoleum!

Therefore, the matter of Cheng Buzhi being granted the title of nobility could only and must be postponed until Liu Rong was crowned.

Because only after being crowned can the emperor of the Han Dynasty have the theoretical right to rule.

As for such an important matter as conferring the title of marquis upon his subordinates, it would be more appropriate to wait until he had full control of the political power before doing so.

Otherwise, if Liu Rong was not yet crowned, but Cheng Buzhi was made a marquis, then some people would inevitably say that Cheng Buzhi was conferred the title of marquis by Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace...

After finishing the work of the Xiongnu envoys, he also divided the land and made Cheng Buzhi a marquis, and determined the political characterization of the battle between the Han and Xiongnu last winter as "a great victory for the Han Dynasty";
Next, of course, was Liu Rong’s crowning ceremony and the wedding celebration.

The ceremony of crowning needs no further elaboration;

——It was nothing more than the custom of the emperor personally opening the fields on the spring ploughing day to encourage the people to cultivate the land, offering sacrifices to the heavens at the altar of the land and grain, and offering sacrifices to the ancestors at the high temple;

Then Empress Dowager Dou, Empress Dowager Li, and the elder Prince of Yan Liu Dingguo performed the ceremony of coming of age for Liu Rong.

Afterwards, Empress Dowager Dou issued an imperial decree: the crown prince had come of age and should rule the country personally.

At the same time, people inside and outside the court petitioned unanimously, asking Liu Rong to establish a concubine as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the country, on the grounds that there was no empress in the harem to preside over the "Ceremony of Raising Silkworms and Encouraging Weaving" when Liu Rong personally opened up the land.

The court petitioned unanimously, and Liu Rong naturally "did not dare to be arrogant". He immediately asked the Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace about this matter: Grandmother, all the court officials have advised me to get married, what should my grandson do?

Then the old empress dowager issued another imperial decree, ordering the court officials to search the whole country for virtuous and gentle people to serve as candidates for the imperial concubine.

After a two-hour-long "large-scale search" in the Chang'an court, which covered the entire Pingyang Marquis Mansion, Cao Shu, the younger sister of the fourth generation Pingyang Marquis Cao Shou and the youngest daughter of the third generation Pingyang Jian Marquis Cao Qi, became the only candidate for queen recognized by the court.

Everyone in and outside the court agreed that in the entire world, there was no woman more virtuous, more kind, and more suitable to be the queen than Cao Shu, the youngest daughter of Pingyang Jianhou.

Therefore, after symbolic discussions and considerations, the court quickly began the ritual procedures for conferring the title of empress. Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace was also happy to have some free time, and had already prepared the edict of conferring the title, waiting only for the court to complete the rituals and then officially issue the edict of conferring the title.

It can be said that the entire wedding celebration of Liu Rong was busy inside and outside the court;
Liu Rong basically doesn't need to intervene, nor can he intervene at all.

While everyone in and outside the court was busy preparing for the emperor's wedding ceremony, Liu Rong in Weiyang Palace took the first step without hesitation and summoned his future first wife: Cao Shu, the daughter of Pingyang Marquis...

"I, Cao Shu, pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"I hope that my emperor will be happy forever."

Then, inside the Xuanshi Hall, Emperor Rong was sitting upright on the imperial couch, leisurely gazing at the graceful figure of a 28-year-old girl at the foot of the imperial steps.

It was roughly decided that Cao Shu would be the queen and enter the imperial palace when Liu Rong first ascended the throne.

It was announced to the outside world that 'the court was searching for girls from good families all over the world', but in reality, it was just a formality.

Therefore, while the court was busy "looking for" a suitable candidate for queen, Cao Shu had already begun to learn court etiquette in preparation for entering the imperial palace in the future.

It is no wonder that when Cao Shu, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old, was summoned by Liu Rong today, she was not at all nervous, and her etiquette and rules were completely impeccable.

After paying her respects to Liu Rong, Cao Shu waited silently for a long time. However, she still didn't hear the legendary "no need for formalities". She then became a little nervous and her palms began to sweat.

Seeing the little beauty looking nervous, Liu Rong finally ended his scrutiny of his fiancée and nodded with a smile: "Please take a seat."

"——Thank you, Your Majesty..."

In most feudal times of later generations, let alone the emperor, even the common people could not accept a man secretly meeting his unmarried wife before marriage.

But this is the Han family;
The Han people are tough and men can divorce their wives, and women can also divorce their husbands.

Girls had to get married at the age of 15. If they did not, they would be fined. If they still did not get married at the age of 18, they would be forced to marry a Han man by the government.

There is no infamous "Female Virtue" and no restrictions on women.

Therefore, there was no big reaction inside or outside the court about Liu Rong summoning his fiancée.

Everyone in and outside the court had a general idea: no matter how impatient Liu Rong was, he would not do something stupid like thinking with his lower body at this juncture - when the marriage had been basically settled and all that was waiting for the ritual procedures to be completed.

What's more, you should marry a virtuous wife and take a concubine who is beautiful.

This marriage was not a love story like "The Emperor married the daughter of Marquis Pingyang and she was so beautiful that she was astonishingly beautiful", but a relatively pure political marriage.

Therefore, when Liu Rong summoned Cao Shu, everyone in and outside the court thought that Liu Rong wanted to meet his future queen and queen mother in advance.
At most, it means you have something to ask, something to explain, or just want to "speak the truth first".

Cao Shu was obviously mentally prepared for this.

It was also for this reason that after Liu Rong said the words "give me a seat", Cao Shu acted as if she was obeying the emperor's orders and no one dared to disobey.

Seeing Cao Shu's behavior, Liu Rong nodded with a smile.

He briefly greeted Cao Shu's family - that is, her brother-in-law, Pingyang Hou Cao Shou and others - and then got the topic back on track.

"Have you ever thought about what your life will be like after becoming the queen?"

"Have you ever thought that the harem is as treacherous as the imperial palace, which is as deep as the sea? "

"——Have you ever thought that the Empress of our Han family is not only the first wife of the county magistrate, but also the head of the imperial palace who rules the country?"

"Have you ever thought that from now on, the Pingyang Marquis clan will have many taboos, and all clan members must be careful in what they say and do, and maintain a strict family tradition?"

After asking several questions in succession, Liu Rong slowly picked up the tea bowl and sipped the tea leisurely. He did not rush her, but left Cao Shu enough time to think.

Cao Shu also really needs time to think.

Before entering the palace, her brother Cao Shou naturally did enough homework for Cao Shu, and he gave her countless instructions such as "If His Majesty asks this, you should answer this way."

But when she really got in front of Liu Rong, he asked her questions like a machine gun. Even though Cao Shu had already made up her mind, she couldn't help feeling tongue-tied.

After forcing herself to remain calm for a long time and secretly taking several deep breaths, Cao Shu finally managed to calm herself down.

He recalled Liu Rong's question carefully again, organized his words, and made sure there was nothing wrong with it before answering carefully: "I dare not disobey my parents' orders."

"My father passed away, and my elder brother arranged a marriage for me on my behalf. I shall obey him."

"——Especially since she is married to the emperor and is the owner of a house in Hanjiao;"

"This is a great blessing, and I, a common girl, will not neglect it..."

···
"I have thought about everything your majesty asked."

"——I know that being the queen of the Han family is nothing like being married to an ordinary person."

"As a queen, you have to be the mother of the country, to manage the harem - to raise the princes and princesses, and to manage the eunuchs and maids in the palace, as well as the many concubines and concubines."

"The queen's maternal relatives should be more careful in what they say and do, and examine themselves three times a day, so as not to follow in the footsteps of the Lu family."

"As women, we must not take these things lightly or carelessly;"

"But women, I am not afraid of it..."

Just from Cao Shu's brief speech, it was not difficult for Liu Rong to hear that the Pingyang Marquis's family had been cramming the future queen not only in the past six months.

If she had not been destined to become a queen, but had been married to a nobleman of equal status like an ordinary daughter of a noble, Cao Shu would have deserved to be called a virtuous woman.

Take a virtuous wife.

This is a good wife - at least a potential good wife.

But Liu Rong knew very well in his heart: the queen of the Han Dynasty could not be just a "good wife".

——In the Han Dynasty, the prince is the crown prince;

The queen is the 'crown prince'.

If the Han dynasty's assessment of the crown prince was based on whether "this boy could become a good emperor", then the review of the empress was based on whether "this woman could become a good empress dowager".

Especially under the current dualistic political system unique to the Han Dynasty, whether this review is accurate may even affect the stability of the ancestral temple, the country, and even the rise and fall of the dynasty...

(End of this chapter)