Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 101 The Great Zhou Dynasty is the world’s number one power

Wang Xifeng said that Yuanchun gave birth on October 29, the fourth year of Chengtai, three days after the pulse of joy was detected.

At this time, Wen Po, the most skilled woman in the palace, was delivering Yuan Chun's baby in the back hall of Yuqing Palace.

Yuan Qingbai stayed in the bright room of the back hall, looking forward to and worried, and feeling strange in his heart.

Yuanchun actually gave birth on October 29th. This was a very special day. It was the birthday of Emperor Chengtai and it was the Wanshou Festival of the Great Zhou Dynasty!
There was a sound of surprise in the Nuan Pavilion, and Yuan Qingbai knew as soon as he heard it that he had given birth successfully.

Sure enough, Xiren hurriedly ran to the bright room and said to Yuan Qingbai with joy: "The third master is very happy. The princess has given birth to a son for the third master!"

Yuan Qingbai was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly walked into Nuan Pavilion to visit Yuan Chun and his newborn son.

"Congratulations to the Third Master. Not only is the Third Master blessed with a son, he is also in good health."

The experienced Wen Po said attentively to Yuan Qingbai.

Yuan Qingbai was even more happy.

His eldest son Yuan Yanxiang's health was not good, and his second son Yuan Yanjie's health was not good either.

"My legitimate son actually has the same birthday as my father."

Yuan Qingbai couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Knowing that this is not a bad thing is a good thing. Emperor Chengtai is very superstitious about birthdays and birthdays.

Yuanchun successfully gave birth to a son, and the news quickly spread in the palace.

……

……

Emperor Chengtai has been on the throne for almost four years, and today is his fourth Wanshou Festival.

He never held any congratulations on his Longevity Festival.

Even so, every Wanshou Festival, he would inevitably have social activities and be extremely busy.

Such is the case today.

However, when he learned that Yuanchun had given birth successfully, he couldn't help but came to Yuqing Palace.

In the past four years, he has come to Yuqing Palace only a handful of times, but today he is so busy that he still comes.

Mainly because this grandson is born in the same age as him!

After arriving at Yuqing Palace, Emperor Chengtai looked at his grandson and smiled at Yuan Qingbai: "It's strange that he was born today."

Although Yuan Qingbai knew that Emperor Chengtai was particularly happy because of Tongchen, he still knelt down to plead guilty: "Father, my son is guilty."

Emperor Chengtai asked knowingly: "Oh? What's your crime?"

Yuan Qingbai said: "I can't bear to hope that this son has the same birthday as his father. It seems to offend his father."

Emperor Chengtai gave a rare smile: "This is even better. From now on, I will have a grandson of the same age as me."

At this moment, Emperor Jing'an, the Supreme Emperor, suddenly came and asked with a smile: "Why is Qing Bai kneeling?"

Emperor Chengtai and Yuan Qingbai hurriedly paid their respects to Emperor Jing'an. Emperor Chengtai smiled and said, "Qingbai is asking me to apologize."

Emperor Jing'an also knew it and asked, "What is his crime?"

Emperor Chengtai smiled and said: "It's just because he got a son of the same age as me today."

Emperor Jing'an laughed loudly: "This is a good thing, it means that my great-grandson will become a great man in the future."

Emperor Chengtai was even more happy when he heard this. This was a compliment to him.

"Let me take a look at this great-grandson who has a weird birthday."

After Emperor Jing'an finished speaking, he took a look. When he learned that Po Wen said that his great-grandson's body and bones looked good, he became even more happy.

Emperor Jing'an smiled at Yuan Qingbai and said, "You are quite good at giving birth to sons. You gave birth to four in less than four years, and all four are sons."

Emperor Chengtai nodded, agreeing with this statement.

Yuan Qingbai naturally became more and more happy when he saw that Emperor Jing'an and Emperor Chengtai cared so much about the legitimate son born today.

When Yuanchun learned about this, he became even more happy.

Yuan Qingbai planned to take the opportunity to arrange for the female relatives of Rongguo Mansion to visit the palace again, and specified that they were still the same group of people who came last time, so that he could see Lin Daiyu and Jin Chai again.

……

……

On this day, when Emperor Chengtai left Yuqing Palace and returned to Baohe Palace, he felt lost.

He thought that it had been almost four years since he ascended the throne, and his son Qingbai had given birth to four sons.

Although he had many concubines, more than twenty, he had only given birth to one son since he ascended the throne, and this son died just after he was born.

As a result, he still only has four sons alive, and one of them, Yuan Qingzhe, was adopted by him to the deposed and dead Prince Yizhi. He also had murderous intentions towards Yuan Qingzhe.

He also knew that the reason for this was not only because he was old, forty-year-old and fifty-year-old, but also because he worked tirelessly day and night and worked hard at night for the sake of state affairs.

Alas, I have such a hard life!
In the presence of this emperor, sometimes I feel that it is better to be a leisurely prince!
Emperor Chengtai originally loved Yuan Qingbai's eldest son Yuan Yanxiang. Ever since Yuanchun gave birth to a grandson of the same age as him, Emperor Chengtai was particularly fond of this grandson, which made You secretly depressed.

After the grandson was one month old, Emperor Chengtai carefully named him Yuan Yanchen.

"Erya" says "Chen, xinye", which means belief, and "chen, sincerity", which means sincerity. In addition, "chen" can also be interpreted as sincerity and loyalty.

……

……

It's now the end of Chengtai's fourth year.

One day at the end of the year, Emperor Jing'an fulfilled his original promise and moved into the Ningshou Palace area on Neiting East Road of the imperial palace together with his concubines.

After four years, the Ningshou Palace area has been renovated.

Emperor Chengtai moved out of the Baohe Hall and no longer used the Baohe Hall as his residence. However, he did not live in the Qianqing Palace either. Instead, he moved into the Yangxin Hall on the west side of the Qianqing Palace and used the Yangxin Hall as his residence.

The reason he gave was for filial piety. Qianqing Palace had been Emperor Jing'an's residence for many years. Emperor Jing'an is still alive today. Although Emperor Jing'an gave Qianqing Palace to him, the emperor, he did not dare to live there.

This reason naturally made Emperor Jing'an happy.

In fact, another reason is that Emperor Chengtai felt that living in Qianqing Palace was uncomfortable, while Yangxin Palace was the most comfortable palace to live in.

At this time, Emperor An also felt that living in Qianqing Palace was not comfortable. Although the nominal palace was Qianqing Palace, his dormitory was located in the small Zhaoren Hall on the east side of Qianqing Palace.

The Yangxin Hall was built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty and has since been renovated. It includes the main hall, the Yangxin Hall, the east and west auxiliary halls, the east and west enclosures, the apse, and the east and west wing rooms of the apse...

The main hall, the Yangxin Hall, is seven rooms wide and three rooms deep. The three rooms in the middle form the Ming Dynasty Room, which houses the emperor's throne. There is a screen behind the throne. There is an aisle behind the screen that leads to the back hall, forming an exquisite Gongzi Hall as a whole.

The courtyard gate, Yangxin Gate, is a glazed gate with three glazed screen walls and a wooden screen wall. There are more than a dozen precious trees planted in the front yard.

Emperor Chengtai moved into the Yangxin Palace, and his concubines, including Concubine Du Guifei, moved into the East Sixth Palace and the West Sixth Palace on both sides of Kunning Palace. Because Emperor Chengtai did not use Qianqing Palace as his dormitory, Queen He did not use Kunning Palace directly behind Qianqing Palace as her dormitory, and lived in the Tishun Hall of the East Erfang in the back hall of Yangxin Hall.

Tishun Hall was just a small wing, but Empress He chose to live here for the convenience of serving Emperor Chengtai. The living environment was worse than that of other concubines, and Emperor Chengtai was pleased with this.

Other concubines, including Concubine Du, were eager to live in Tishun Hall, because Tishun Hall was located in Yangxin Hall and lived with Emperor Chengtai.

Queen He is also scheming!
Because Queen He does not live in Kunning Palace, her title as the "Middle Palace Empress" is somewhat undeserved. "Middle Palace" generally refers to Kunning Palace.

Emperor Chengtai took Queen He to live in the Yangxin Palace, and his concubines lived in the East Sixth Palace and the West Sixth Palace. In addition, Emperor Jing'an had given him almost all other powers except the general power, which obviously made him more I feel like an emperor.

……

……

One day in February of the fifth year of Chengtai, at an imperial meeting, Emperor Chengtai decided to abolish the Nanyang maritime ban!

Two years ago, due to petitions from many people, Emperor Chengtai held an imperial meeting to discuss the Nanyang maritime ban policy. At that time, he firmly disagreed with lifting the Nanyang maritime ban.

During the two years, many people have repeatedly complained about this matter.

On this day, Emperor Chengtai decided to abolish the Nanyang maritime ban and reopen the four customs of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Because the livelihood of the people in Fujian and Guangdong is very difficult, if the Nanyang maritime ban continues, it may cause unrest.

However, although Emperor Chengtai agreed to the opening of the Nanyang Sea this time, he restricted those who went overseas to trade to return to the country within three years. If they did not return within three years and were willing to move abroad, they were not allowed to return to the mainland without mercy.

As early as two years ago, Yuan Qingbai felt that the Nanyang maritime ban should be abolished.

In this era, Western countries are conducting global trade at a high speed.

Since Emperor Jing'an created the prosperous age of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the comprehensive national strength of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been ranked first in the world for more than 20 years!

In today's world, the top five powers are the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Britain, Tsarist Russia, and the Ottoman Empire.

As the most powerful country in the world today, if Zhou Dynasty still closes the country and imposes a maritime ban, it will be a laggard in the international trend.

Although the opening of Nanyang to the sea will cause problems, in Yuan Qingbai's view, it is definitely better than seclusion.

……

……

There is a leap month in the fifth year of Chengtai. Therefore, the liberal arts examination, which used to be held in February, with results announced in March, and results announced in early April, will be held in March, April, and results announced in early May this year.

Jia Zhu, who won the imperial examination last year, took the examination in March this year. Because Yuan Qingbai paid close attention to it, he learned the result immediately. Jia Zhu passed the examination and passed the Gongshi examination.

In early May of the following year, Jia Zhu took part in the palace examination in the Taihe Hall of the Imperial Palace and won the top three imperial examinations.

When Emperor Chengtai saw Jia Zhu's name among the top three Jinshi, he specifically called Yuan Qingbai to him and said, "Your brother-in-law Jia Zhu has won the top three Jinshi."

Yuan Qingbai smiled and said: "My brother-in-law, Erchen, has always been a diligent student. It is not surprising that he won the Jinshi."

Emperor Chengtai nodded, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "The Jia family still has potential!"

When the Great Zhou Dynasty was founded, the Jia Mansion produced two founding princes. Later, the Jia Mansion was transferred from Wu to Wen, and a Jinshi like Jia Jing was born. Now there is a Jinshi, Jia Zhu, who is only twenty-two years old this year.

This shows that the Jia family's path from Wu to Wen was actually successful.

Of course, it was because Yuan Qingbai allowed Jia Zhu to survive.

After Emperor Chengtai ascended the throne, he strictly regulated the selection of officials for civil examinations.

The top three in the civil examination will be directly awarded official positions in the Hanlin Academy.

Those who were ranked second, third or third grade could become shujishi only if they passed the imperial examination. Those who failed the imperial examination were candidates for official positions such as chief minister and county magistrate.

Shujishi will undergo an assessment three years later, which is called "dispersing the hall". Those with outstanding abilities will be awarded to the Hanlin Academy for review and officially become Hanlin, which is called "liuguan". Other Shujishi will be transferred.

Depending on Jia Zhu's strength, he may not be able to win the title of Shujishi, and even if he does, he may not be able to become a member of the Imperial Academy.

However, Emperor Chengtai decided to take care of Jia Zhu and let him be a concubine first. As long as he did well, he would be promoted to Hanlin in three years.

After all, Jia Zhu was Yuan Qingbai's brother-in-law, and Emperor Chengtai was satisfied with Yuan Chun, a virtuous, filial and talented daughter-in-law, and already fell in love with Yuan Chun's grandson Yuan Yanchen.

Emperor Chengtai thought that by taking care of Jia Zhu, when Qingbai ascended the throne, Jia Zhu could assist Qingbai.

As for my relatives making things big...

Haha, according to today's Great Zhou system, it is not easy for a relative to endanger the imperial power.

……

……

Rong Guofu has indeed become bigger and stronger.

Yuanchun was equivalent to a princess, and she successfully gave birth to Prince Qingbai's legitimate son Yuan Yanchen. Yuan Yanchen was particularly loved by Emperor Chengtai because he and Emperor Chengtai were born in the same year.

Therefore, Emperor Chengtai once again promoted Jia Zheng from the fifth rank of the Ministry of Works Yuanwai Lang to the fifth rank of the Ministry of Works Doctor.

On this day, Jia Zhu won the top three Jinshi again. When the news came back to Rongguo Mansion, Jia's mother, Mrs. Wang, and Li Wan couldn't help being happy. The Rongguo Mansion was full of joy and laughter.

Mrs. Wang had two sons, Jia Zhu and Jia Baoyu. She originally preferred Jia Zhu among the two sons.

Because Jia Zhu is very accomplished, in comparison, Jia Baoyu seems to be incompetent. He is an idle young man who has no ambition as a man and likes to hang out in the closet.

Now that Jia Zhu has won the Jinshi, Mrs. Wang prefers Jia Zhu and feels that Jia Baoyu is increasingly inferior to Jia Zhu.

Although Jia's mother has always loved Jia Zhu, she dotes on Jia Baoyu. In her heart, Jia Zhu's weight is inferior to Jia Baoyu.

Now that Jia Zhu has become a Jinshi, Jia Zhu's weight in Jia Mu's heart is comparable to that of Jia Baoyu.

Jia's mother is not old enough to know the importance of a grandson like Jia Zhu to Rongguo Mansion.

She even knew that once Yuan Qingbai ascended the throne and Yuan Chun became queen in the future, Jia Zhu would most likely be reused. In this way, these brothers and sisters would make the Jia family as glorious as the original two-kingdom family.

"Unless Baoyu can be as successful as his elder brother in the future, the mainstay of our Rongguo Mansion in the future will be Brother Zhu!"

Jia Mu even had such an idea in her mind.

Rongguo Mansion is getting bigger and stronger. In comparison, Ningguo Mansion next door looks very poor.

Jia Zhen is a wealthy and honorable person, extravagant and lustful, idle and shameless.

His son Jia Rong is also useless.

Recently, Jia Zhen made a marriage arrangement for her son Jia Rong. The girl's family was not very good, and it was a family of small officials. Such a girl, whose status was not worthy of Jia Rong, was chosen by Jia Zhen.

The main reason is that the girl is as beautiful as a fairy, and Jia Zhen has fallen in love with her, and plans to live in ashes until Jia Rong marries her.

This means that even though Qin Keqing has followed Yuan Qingbai early and is no longer married to Jia Rong as in the original work, the absurd incident of Jia Zhen crawling into ashes in the Ningguo Mansion will still be staged as in the original work.

　From 1700 to 1750, the first half of the th century, the comprehensive national power of the Qing Dynasty was ranked first in the world, and Kangxi and Yongzheng were indeed powerful.

　　This is very beneficial to Qingbai...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)