Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 486 Two Scholars Fight for the Widow (Special thanks to the book friend 2019…2077 for the 2 monthly tickets!
Tang Qi smiled and said:

"Your Majesty, this month at the end of the year, there is a rumor going around in the capital:

The two famous ministers, Zhang Qixian, the Grand Tutor, and Xiang Minzhong, the Minister of Justice, were competing to marry a widow, causing a stir in the city.

When Chai Zongxun heard this, he didn't think it was a big deal and said with a smile:

"Whose widow is this? Why is she so popular that two important officials, Zhang Qixian and Xiang Minzhong, are fighting over her?

Is there any special beauty?"

Tang Qi was startled and thought:

"If she has a peerless beauty but is not accepted into your majesty's harem, doesn't that mean that I and other servants around you are unable to understand your majesty's will?
"The last time Li Hang's wife Zhu made Your Majesty unhappy, how can such a thing happen again?"

Tang Qi hurriedly said:
"Your Majesty, this widow is Chai, the second wife of Henan Governor Xue Weiji. She is indeed very beautiful.

However, compared to the beauties in His Majesty's harem, there is still a big gap.

In my opinion, the reason why Grand Tutor Zhang and Minister Xiang are fighting for Chai is because she is young and beautiful, and mainly because she is very wealthy.

Chai Zongxun nodded and thought of Xue Weiji.

Xue Weizhi's father, Xue Juzheng, was born in 912 and became a Jinshi in the second year of Qingtai in the Later Tang Dynasty (935).

He served in the Later Jin, Later Han and Three Dynasties, and held the positions of Counselor, Langzhong of the Ministry of Punishments, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Co-prime Minister, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Prime Minister, Zuo Pushe, and Grand Scholar of the Zhaowen Academy.

When Chai Zongxun executed Zhao's traitorous gang at the end of the sixth year of Xian De, Xue Juzheng was the Minister of War. Although he did not fully join Zhao's traitorous gang, he secretly had a close relationship with them.

At that time, Chai Zongxun had just assumed power and did not want too much turmoil, so he adopted the strategy of gradually distancing himself from and demoting those who were close to the traitor Zhao. In August of the second year of Kaixi, he transferred Xue Juzheng to be the Grand Secretary of the Zhaowen Academy, a position with high prestige but no real power.

Xue Juzheng knew that he was not trusted by Emperor Chai Zongxun, so he concentrated on studying classics and history.

Xue Juzheng's wife was a "tiger mother" and was very jealous. She could not give birth to a son, but she would never allow Xue Juzheng to have one with his concubines. Therefore, Xue Juzheng had many concubines in his house, but most of them were just for show and could not be used.

Xue Juzheng adopted a son and named him Xue Weizhi.

Xue Weizhi was born in the second year of Xian De (955), with the courtesy name Shikang. He was born in Junyi County, Kaifeng Prefecture, and was the son of Xue Juzheng's relative.

When he was young, he was very brave and had a tall and strong build. He liked chasing and playing Cuju, and he also liked music and drinking.

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"I remember now that Xue Juzheng's wife was jealous. I also heard about this at that time."

Tang Qidao:
"Your Majesty, that is exactly the case. After Xue Juzheng adopted Xue Weiji, he trained him well. In the 26th year of Kaixi (985), when he was 30 years old, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. His career as an official was relatively stable, and he was promoted to the governor of Henan Prefecture.

Ten years ago, Xue Weiji's first wife died of illness, so he married Chai. But Xue Weiji also died in the first half of this year, and Chai became a widow.

Chai became a stepmother as soon as she entered the family, because the previous wife left behind two young children, Xue Anshang and Xue Anmin.

Tang Qi then gave a detailed explanation, and Chai Zongxun listened with great interest.

Chai was only thirty years old, and she did not get along well with her two step-sons. Xue Weiji was also a short-lived man, who died in his prime. Therefore, Chai became a widow at a young age. Because she had no children of her own, she felt very embarrassed and wronged when she stayed in the Xue family.

In order to leave the Xue family, a place full of troubles, Chai decided to remarry. After careful selection, she chose Zhang Qixian, a 50-year-old imperial tutor. Zhang Qixian had just lost his wife last year and was a single nobleman.

After a matchmaker acted as a matchmaker, Chai and Zhang Qixian fell in love with each other and wanted to find an auspicious day to get married as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, something went wrong at this critical moment. The brothers Xue Anshang and Xue Anmin actually sued their stepmother Chai to the Bianjing government, claiming that Chai wanted to embezzle the Xue family's property and remarry after taking the money and running away.

The Zhou Dynasty followed the Tang system, which allowed women to remarry and bring their own dowries and private money. It is said that after marrying Xue Weiji, Chai saved a total of 100,000 strings of money for herself.

After investigation, Zhang Zhenglun, the prefect of Bian Jing, found that both of Xue Weizhi's sons were fond of gambling. They secretly betrothed their stepmother to Xiang Minzhong, the Minister of Justice, and sold the Xue residence to him for 200,000 taels.

Xiang Minzhong's original wife also passed away this year.

Zhang Zhenglun saw that although Chai was a widow and the Xue family was insignificant, it involved two important officials of the dynasty:

One is Zhang Qixian, who was once the Prime Minister of the Cabinet and is currently the Grand Tutor, and the other is Xiang Minzhong, who is currently the Cabinet Elder and Minister of Justice.

Zhang Zhenglun had only been the prefect of Bianliang for five years and was a third-rank official. How could he dare to judge the "marriage" of two big bosses of the dynasty?
Therefore, Zhang Zhenglun had no choice but to suppress the case and delay the trial.

The news quickly spread throughout the city of Bianjing.

After hearing this, Chai Zongxun pondered for a while and said:

"General Manager Tang, Zhang Zhenglun is not stupid for delaying the trial. He may just want to let the Wude Division know about this matter, and eventually alert me so that I can investigate the matter.

At 15:00 tomorrow, summon Zhang Qixian, Xiang Minzhong, and Chai to the Yangxin Palace for an audience.

The next day, on December 8, the 35th year of Kaixi, the morning court was held.

The emperor and his ministers discussed some important domestic affairs.

Minister of Works Guo Zhi came out and said:
“Your Majesty, the “Expanding Bianjing” project has been under construction for nearly three years since it was approved in February of the 33rd year of Kaixi.

Before this year's New Year's Eve, the government had completed the construction of the new outer city and new houses for the people of Bianliang.

Your Majesty, now that the people of our Great Zhou are all wealthy, almost every family has chosen to pay for the construction cost and expand their houses.

After the New Year holiday, the Ministry of Works will begin demolishing the palaces of princes and ministers in the original inner city and plan the construction of the new imperial palace of our Great Zhou."

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said:

"The Bianjing expansion project is a long-term plan, so both the design and construction must be done with extreme caution!

The design of our Great Zhou Palace must be magnificent and embody the highest architectural art today.

The Ministry of Industry must carefully discuss this with the professors of the Royal Academy of Sciences. If there are any insights from the intelligent people in the society, we should also listen to them and make more design plans and submit them to me. "

After the court was dismissed, Chai Zongxun walked to Baoci Hall to have lunch with Empress Dowager Fu and the two empresses and sixteen concubines.

During the banquet, Chai Zongxun mentioned that Fusang would be conquered soon. All the concubines laughed and said:

"Your Majesty, look around the world and find no rival! You have no choice but to use Fuso to train your army!
I have heard that the people of Fusang are barbaric and uncultured, short in stature, and the country is mostly an island with poor soil. I am afraid that none of your Majesty's princes will be willing to be granted fiefdom in Fusang in the future!"

Empress Dowager Fu nodded and smiled:
"Your Majesty's achievements are unprecedented in history. The territory is so vast now that it would be enough to make three hundred of your grandchildren princes.

The Japanese country is poor and across the sea, so it is indeed difficult to be sealed!"

(End of this chapter)