Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 992
Outside the Taihe Gate, there is a piece of plain.

Cao Yong stood in the queue, his face stiffened by the cold wind.He had been standing for several hours since Maochu (five o'clock in the morning) entered the palace.

After standing here for a long time, and because he didn't sleep well last night and lacked energy, he became a little groggy.Fortunately, although he lost his appetite, he still ate half a plate of rice rolls with millet porridge, so he didn't feel hungry.

He looked at the veterans in front of the queue, whose bodies were like dead leaves in the wind, and thought very unkindly, fearing that after a national funeral, several veterans would have to "face the king".The Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, who was just over 70 years old, passed out on the ground and was carried out.

It was not until Youchu (five o'clock in the afternoon) that the courtesy officer came over and led all the officials along the corridor to Qianqingmen slowly.

According to the rules when the ancestor passed away, civil and military ministers of the second rank and above lined up inside the Qianqing Gate, Han civil officials from the second rank and below lined up outside the Jingyun Gate on the east side of the Qianqing Palace Square, and Han military officials lined up outside the Longzong Gate on the east side of the square. The Manchu and Mongolian officials ordered to stand outside the gate of Qianqing.

According to the records of the Ministry of Officials, by the 60th year of Kangxi, there were more than 550 civilian Beijing officials and more than [-] military Beijing officials.

There are nearly [-] Beijing officials in total, and this does not include the clan and officials waiting for vacancies in Beijing.

It is impossible to let all these people pour into the Qianqing Palace, so only officials above the fifth rank enter, officials below the fifth rank and above the seventh rank pay their respects at the square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Line up outside the palace gate.

If so, there are hundreds of princes and officials gathered inside and outside the Qianqing Gate.

Cao Yong lined up with other civil and military officials in the gate of Qianqing.Before the civil and military officials, they were the princes of the clan.The clan generals below the public lined up outside the Qianqing Gate along with other Manchu and Mongolian officials.

In front of the clan princes, and in front of the Qianqing Palace, His Majesty Dan is the descendant of Emperor Daxing.

Cao Yong squinted his eyes and looked at the prince and grandson of His Majesty Dan, feeling a little strange.

According to the national funeral etiquette at the time of the ancestors, the prince and grandson were in front of His Majesty Dan, the clan princes; the lineup of His Majesty Dan should be the clan's wives above the duke's wife, and the clan's daughters above the county king.

With the identities of Cao Jiashi, Cao Yi, and Chuyu, they all have to enter the palace to express their condolences.

Now, they are nowhere to be seen.

After standing for another half an hour, the sky darkened, and the inside and outside of Qianqing Palace held lamps, and immediately the lights were brightly lit, as bright as day.

At the beginning of Xu (seven o'clock in the evening), the mourning and music sounded, and the Emperor Daxing was buried.

Right in front of the gate of Qianqing Palace, the fourth elder brother cried bitterly and fell to his knees.

The officials and guards inside and outside the Qianqing Palace Square also knelt down, and there was a burst of crying.

After the big burial, the fourth elder brother went in personally and held a few banquets in front of the Zi Palace to lay a memorial service.The princes and officials followed, made great ceremonies and mourned, and so did three.

After all this tossing, it wasn't until Xuzheng (eight o'clock in the evening) that the ceremony was considered complete.

The princes and grandchildren, the royal family princes, the scholars, the ministers, and the guards had to watch the night in the palace, and Cao Yong followed other officials and went out of the palace.

Starting tomorrow, he only needs to cry in the Qianqing Gate during the morning, afternoon and evening sacrifices.

Before he got on his horse, he heard someone talking about the new emperor's orders today.

Because he wanted to mourn for Emperor Daxing, the new emperor mourned deeply, his heart was in a state of confusion, and he could not take care of government affairs, so he appointed the third elder brother, the thirteenth elder brother, Longkodo, and Ma Qi as the ministers of prime minister affairs.Except for the affairs of the new imperial mansion, other government affairs are handed over to these four ministers.

The seventh elder brother and the thirteenth elder brother are all crowned princes, and the emperor's grandson Hongxi is the county king.

The fourteenth elder brother Chiyi returned to Beijing, and the military affairs in the Northwest were taken over by Gong Yanxin and Nian Gengyao, Governor of Sichuan.

Sun Zhaqi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Cha Bina, the governor of Liangjiang, was temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, and Laxi, the first-class guard of the Qianqing Gate, was temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Fanyuan.

Cao Yong was not surprised that the thirteenth elder brother and Long Kedo were in power; what surprised him was that his father-in-law seventh elder brother was promoted to prince at this time.

But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense.Among the sons of the Daxing Emperor, the few princes who are at the top have already been crowned princes, and the fourth elder brother can't be more kind.

At this time, he has not officially ascended the throne. If only one thirteenth elder brother was added, it would seem a bit nepotism; making the seventh elder brother promoted to a higher level, and brother Jia En, would also help the stability of the clan.

It didn't happen that when the new emperor ascended the throne, he ransacked his house immediately.

Cao Yong breathed a sigh of relief, such a smooth transition is very good.Shengsheng has been standing all day, but now his legs, feet and waist don't seem to be his own. He feels that he can't even sit up straight when riding a horse.

Looking at other officials, they are not much better than him.

In the capital at night, there are white lanterns everywhere, which makes people feel frightened.

Finally back home, when Cao Yong got off his horse, he was a little unsteady.

After entering the gate and seeing Jiang Jian there, he remembered that Jiang Jian's wedding date was set on the [-]th. Because of the national funeral, he was afraid that it would be postponed.Marriage with this music is banned for a hundred days by the government and one month by the people.

Jiang Jian followed Cao Yong as an errand in the household department. Although he was only a scribe, he was not considered a citizen.It seems that the wedding will be postponed to March next year.

"Feilin, I asked someone to send a few sheep to the Zhong family." Cao Yong said casually: "It's better to say something about the rescheduling of the wedding date as soon as possible."

Since the national mourning began, the slaughter of animals was prohibited within 49 days in the capital, and within two days there would be no pork and mutton for sale in the city.

Fortunately, on Cao Yong's side, there were not only the dozen or so deer he brought back from the paddock, but also seven or eight carts of sheep condyles sent by Brother Sixteen later.

Jiang Jian bowed to thank him, and Cao Yong explained a few more words to Cao Yuan, asking him to prepare the seventh elder brother's mansion and the thirteenth elder brother's mansion to prepare congratulatory gifts.

Hearing that Chuyu hadn't returned from the palace, Cao Yong didn't go back to Wutong Garden, but went directly to Lanyuan.

In the upper room of Lanyuan, Tianyou, Hengsheng, and Changsheng were all there, surrounding the Kang table, talking with Mrs. Li.

Cao Yong was relieved to see him.He and Chu Yu are not here, Li's disease has not recovered quickly, and the children are here, so the old lady will not be too sad.

Seeing Cao Yong coming in, everyone got up and saw him except Li Shi.

Whether it's Qi Xue, or going to the study room, it's all stopped today.

Seeing her son coming back, Mrs. Li was full of questions and didn't know where to ask him.

When Cao Yong saw this, he sent a few children down to resettle under the pretext that it was late at night.

Changsheng was young, and by this time, he was already dozing off and full of tears; but Tianyou refused to leave, hesitated, and said: "Father, since the mother has not returned, the son and younger brother will go to the front yard and wait for the mother to come back." Is it okay to resettle?"

Even if the female relatives left the palace later than the foreign ministers, they would not spend a lot of time that night.

Cao Yong reckoned that Chu Yu would be home soon, so he nodded, fulfilling his son's filial piety.

Mrs. Li had to give a few instructions, it was windy outside, so let the children put on some clothes and blow carefully.

Waiting for the younger ones to go out, Cao Yong sat at the kang table and said, "Is there any ready-made food on Mother's side? My son has been standing for a day, but he is very hungry."

Mrs. Li stretched out her arm and touched the back of her son's hand, it was cold, she couldn't help frowning: "Could it be standing outside the palace?" Then she called Xiuhe to prepare food for Cao Yong.

"The palace is full of concubines and wives of the clan. How can foreign ministers enter?" Seeing her concern, Cao Yong said, "My son is fine. The fat minister standing in front of me blocked my son from the wind. Pity those My lord, if the cold wind blows for a day, whether you can get up tomorrow is another matter."

Mrs. Li was a little dazed, and after a while, Fang lowered his head and asked softly, "Your Majesty... how are you going..."

"Yesterday, when I was ugly, I felt that it was not enough. I summoned all the princes and elder brothers to the imperial court, and said the last order, and ordered the fourth elder brother to succeed me. It didn't happen at Xu time... During the funeral, the new emperor ordered the princes and officials to come and pay their respects. The emperor Daxing looked peaceful, I must go to An Ning..." Cao Yong heard the first sentence, and he guessed the latter.

Although the fourth elder brother asked the princes and officials to approach, there were a large number of people. The only ones who could visit the coffin in front of him were the princes of the clan besides the prince.

I don't know if the fourth elder brother called everyone to come forward to show his innocence, to show that Emperor Daxing is indeed at the end of his life.

Cao Yong only knew that without the arrangement of the fourth elder brother, the civil and military officials who lined up for a whole day would not know such details about the movement before Kangxi's death.

He talked too much, but he was worried about Mrs. Li
After hearing this, Mrs. Li let out a long breath. Seeing her son looking at her worriedly, she said with red eyes: "Don't worry, Yonger. Although I feel sad for the emperor's death, I don't feel the pain of bereavement. Look at it differently, there are all kinds of things that have been said in these years... But the emperor has never recognized me, and I will not brazenly consider myself an emperor's daughter... In my heart, the emperor is the emperor, the person who has been loyal to the three generations of the Cao family ..."

Cao Yong looked at his mother and comforted him: "If there is a loss, there must be a gain. Although my mother is not in a noble position, she is a little more comfortable than others."

However, Mrs. Li shook her head in disapproval, and said: "A wife is more expensive than her husband, and a mother is more valuable than her son. Noble people in the same clan can't be compared. Compared with people outside, I am already very satisfied, so how come I am not honorable? After that, I will wait for my children and grandchildren to shine."

The earl of the Cao family is already high enough.

Today is not like at the beginning of the founding of the country, there is no military merit, and if you want to be named the Duke, you can only tweet from your relatives.There are no more than ten households in the capital city who are named dukes, and Cao Yong, the Earl, can be considered a success.

"I'm afraid my son won't have the chance to transfer to a military position. When Hang Seng grows up and earns military merits, he can earn his mother's imperial concubine and come back." Cao Yong said.

Speaking of her children and grandchildren, Li Shi, who was originally a little sad, also smiled a little: "They are all good children. Although Tianhui didn't come back, she sent someone back to the house to say hello..."

The mother and son were talking when Chu Yu came back.

At this moment, Xiuhe had already ordered people to prepare the dinner table, and came to ask where Mrs. Li was.

Seeing that her son and daughter-in-law were looking pale, Mrs. Li said: "It's been a whole day, and you are all tired. Go back to your own room, and the dinner table is also set there."

Cao Yong agreed with Chu Yu and went back to Wutong Garden together.

After grooming, the husband and wife were too hungry to talk, so they packed up their empty stomachs after a day.Although I shouldn't use it too much at night, I don't care about it now.Not only Cao Yong ate too much, even Chu Yu drank two more bowls of porridge.

When they had just finished eating, Mrs. Li sent someone to bring ginger soup.

Cao Yong blew for a day, and now his body was a little hot, and he drank two bowls of ginger soup while it was hot and sweated.

After the maids took down the dining table and the husband and wife went to the kang to settle down, Chu Yu talked about what happened that day.

It turned out that she had originally followed the imperial family's wife in front of the Qianqing Palace, but later, with the grace of the new emperor, she allowed them to enter the Qianqing Palace and follow the order of the inner wife.

"Concubine Yi is probably going to be in trouble!" Chu Yu said with a feeling of distress, "When Emperor Mafa's body arrived at the Qianqing Palace in the first afternoon, the concubine knelt down to worship, and Concubine Yi stood in front of the queen mother. Uncle Huang just came in, although He didn't get angry on the spot, that look is scary."

"Huh?" Cao Yong listened, a little curious.

In later generations of TV dramas, there seemed to be such a plot, Cao Yong thought it was fabricated.Concubine Yi was able to flourish in the harem for decades and become the head of the four concubines, so she wouldn't be so ignorant that she would overwhelm the new queen dowager under the watchful eyes of the public. She never expected it to be true.

"To be honest, I can't blame Concubine Yi entirely. Since Concubine De has become the empress dowager, the servants are fawning on her and asked her to be the first one, but she still vacates the first place. The concubine was originally the first in the east. The empress is like this, so she didn't dare to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, so she insisted on vacating two of them. Empress Yifei came late, maybe she didn't notice, so she still stood in the first place..." Chu Yu said.

Listening to the twists and turns in the inner palace, Cao Yong remembered one thing, that is, the concubine De and the fourth elder brother's mother and son were at odds and refused to accept the title of Queen Mother.

Concubine Yi is on a business trip at this time, she is afraid that she will become cannon fodder for the fourth elder brother's mother and son against each other...

(End of this chapter)