Tang Dynasty woman

Chapter 28 Love and Lore
9. The secret hidden in the deep palace
On another Mid-Autumn night, Concubine Yang sat under Taizong's shoulder and played the sheng against a bright moon. Taizong was fascinated by the sound, when he suddenly saw Concubine Yang drop the sheng and wipe her tears with her soft neck.Taizong was surprised when he saw it, and hurried up to embrace Concubine Yang's slender waist, expressing his condolences.Taizong thought that Concubine Yang missed King Qi again after seeing Jing Huairen, but what Concubine Yang missed was her son, the little prince Li Chengzhong, who had fled.

Because Li Chengzhong looks like his mother, he was like a little beauty when he was a child. When Concubine Yang got bored, she held Li Chengzhong in her arms and teased him. Little Chengzhong, who was only two or three months old, knew that he was facing his mother. He smiled slyly.Sometimes crying, as long as his mother blows the jade sheng two or three times, the little prince will stop crying obediently, open his eyes wide, open his mouth wide, and listen in a daze.So now Concubine Yang is playing the jade sheng, and while she is blowing, she suddenly thinks of the child in her arms.

I think back then when this two-foot-long child drifted outside, the seasons of the year were cold and hot, and there were also winds, frosts, rains and snows. The long time of three years, and now there is no news. I don’t know if this little life can be kept in the world. At the thought of this, the sad tears could not be stopped, and Emperor Ren Taizong offered condolences in every possible way, but Concubine Yang did not dare to tell the truth.She really didn't know whether Taizong would kill the grass and root out the roots, search for Li Chengzhong, and be killed like his half-brothers, so that after the king of Qi was killed, Concubine Yang would also be dug up heart and soul.

Concubine Yang didn't know that she had been in the residence of Prime Minister Wei Zheng for two or three years.Although this little prince is only four years old, he learned some etiquette from Wei Zheng's son, and he looks good, which makes Wei Zheng's wife Pei who pity him for being a fatherless orphan love him even more.Now that Emperor Taizong had issued an edict to accept Concubine Yang as Concubine Shu, Prime Minister Wei took the opportunity to write a memorial, saying that the prime minister's wife asked to enter the palace to see the new noble concubine.Emperor Taizong ordered to see him on March [-]rd.

On March [-]rd, Concubine Yang Shu received her in the main room of Yanqing Palace, and Mrs. Pei gave a big gift.Concubine Yang ordered Gong'e to guide Mrs. Wei Prime Minister to sit in the inner courtyard.After Sitting down, Mrs. Pei said: "My son also came to see me, but because I was young and shy, I asked my mother to turn around."

After Gong'e left together, she saw a servant girl walking into the room with a young master in her arms.Concubine Yang was stunned when she saw this servant girl. She immediately recognized that the person holding the young master was Xiaojuan, the maid who protected Li Chengzhong from escaping from Prince Qi's mansion. One piece of clothing is exactly the Dagon clothing of that year, and the child wrapped in the Dagon clothing is white and beautiful, exactly like Concubine Yang herself.Concubine Yang was overjoyed, she hurriedly left her seat, snatched the child into her arms, and said in a low voice: "My darling almost misses your mother to death!" At Concubine Yang's knee, she described the situation after the farewell in detail. Concubine Yang hurriedly thanked Mrs. Pei with a big gift, and Mrs. Pei was so flustered that she couldn't return the gift in a hurry.

Yanqing Palace is very large, with pavilions, towers, pavilions, flowers, plants and trees, repeating rows, and it is still easy to hide a four-year-old child during it. Besides, everyone in the palace is Concubine Yang's confidantes, so Concubine Yang was under Emperor Taizong's office. In front of him, he was still concealed like an iron bucket.

Soon, Concubine Yang also gave birth to a fat little prince named Ming for Taizong.In order to please Concubine Yang, Emperor Taizong named the child who was still breastfeeding Cao Wang.The wet nurse carried him back and forth in the palace, surrounded by the prince's guard of honor.

Unexpectedly, Concubine Yang just gave birth to a son, and she was happy in her heart, but another son, Li Chengzhong, who was hiding in the palace, suddenly died of pimples all over her body. So far, Li Yuanji, the lewd and cruel king of Qi, really has no heir.Concubine Yang's heart ached like a knife, and she cried to death behind her back, and soon fell ill. Taizong personally served the decoction and medicine, showing great care, but Concubine Yang was sick in her heart, how could she be cured.

At this time, Empress Changsun also suddenly became seriously ill. Although Taizong was caring, he did not personally serve the decoction; despite the Taiyuan Hospital's daily pulse diagnosis and treatment, he died in the winter of the year he was 36 years old and was buried in Zhaoling.Although Emperor Taizong doted on Concubine Yang, he and the queen were a couple in distress. Once they broke up, they would naturally feel extremely sad.

Empress Changsun is a virtuous woman recorded in the history books. Even though she is a queen, she always dresses plainly, although Taizong doesn't like it very much.When the queen combed her hair and washed her face, she also held a book in her hand and refused to put it away, but when Taizong asked the queen how to deal with the important affairs of the court, she said that the rooster's morning is a taboo of the country.

Concubine Yang saw that Emperor Taizong missed the eldest grandson empress very much, and all kinds of consolation were ineffective, so she pretended to be angry and said with tears: "Now that the empress is passing away, Long Live misses it so much. Afterwards, people can't forget it. Like a concubine whose life is poor and widowed early, so after the death of the master, he can't commit to chastity. Not to mention the glory after death, even if he is alive in the world, he is often looked down upon by others; the concubine wishes His Majesty to give him an early death , so as not to embarrass the old master in this world." These few words made Emperor Taizong not caring about being sad for the virtuous grandson empress, so he hugged Concubine Yang in his arms with pity, and comforted her in every possible way until Concubine Yang returned to anger.

But Taizong wanted to promote Concubine Yang to the main palace in order to win the beauty's favor, but he told Wei Zheng what he meant, but Wei Zheng firmly disagreed, saying that Concubine Yang had a festival of humiliating women, and His Majesty must establish a family law for all generations. Don't let the disobedient women honor the world, and make the world laugh at your majesty as the master of licentiousness.Taizong had no choice but to give up on this idea, because Concubine Yang often mentioned that King Qi had no descendants, so Taizong issued an edict to make Concubine Yang's own son, Cao Wang Li Ming, the heir of Li Yuanji, King of Hailing County, and the king of Hailing County. Posthumously crowned as the nest thorn king.

10. Take my aunt as a concubine

There was a severe drought this year, and there was no rain for ten months. The rice fields around the capital died. Taizong also visited the Temple of Heaven several times to pray for rain, but the rain never came.Li Baiyao, the right minister of Si Tiantai, said that the reason is that the Yin Qi in the palace is stagnant, and there are too many palace ladies, which is enough to cause drought; it is better to release more palace ladies to vent their Yin Qi, and then sweet rain will come.Emperor Taizong issued an edict according to Zou, and those who are over 25 years old will be given preferential funds, and they will be released from the palace to marry freely.All of a sudden, the regular attendant of Xiguan Bureau of the Inner Palace ordered more than 3000 court ladies to be released, so that they could start a free and happy life from now on.

Taizong also considered that there might be an unjust prison, which would violate the harmony of heaven, so he personally tried the prisoners in the Taihe Palace.The Minister of the Ministry of Punishments ordered all the male and female prisoners in the imperial prison to be brought into the palace to wait for Emperor Taizong's review.

On this day, the arsenal moved the big drum outside the gate of the palace. When it was getting light, the servants went up to the drum tower. A thousand drums were played, and the gate of the palace was opened wide. Chi Xia.Taizong was dressed in court clothes, ascended to the throne, and the servants of the Ministry of punishment shot and shouted names. The prisoners went up to kowtow to Tianyan one by one. When there were suspicious signs, Taizong interrogated them in detail. After the trial is over, the trial of the female prisoners will begin.

The first female prisoner, Cui Shi, Tiesuolang's local, was led up to the hall by the inner servant, and crawled under the dragon seat.Taizong opened the case file, and saw that it read "the convict Li Shuren, Yuanji's Cui family". Li Yuan was originally the king of Lujiang, but was deposed as a commoner because of his failed rebellion. The princess Cui family is still imprisoned in the imperial prison.

At that time, Emperor Taizong ordered the prisoner to raise her head. When he saw it, he couldn't help but feel moved. It turned out that Emperor Taizong thought that Cui was his aunt, who was at least half a hundred years old and had been confined in prison for many years, so she must be extremely emaciated.But Cui Shi was actually a beautiful young woman, plump and fair, beautiful and delicate, so she hurriedly issued an order saying that Cui Shi was a convict of the clan and should not be confronted in court, and then ordered to be sent to the harem and guarded by the maid.

At dusk, Taizong sent Cui Shi to ask questions in Xuanhua Palace.How clever Cui is, when she saw Taizong sent her to the imperial court alone, she knew that the emperor had felt pity for her, and after entering the palace, she bathed in incense and made various decorations, which made her affirmed this point even more.At this time, Taizong looked at each other under the lamp, and he was already a bright and beautiful woman with a radiant face and a slight fragrance.

Cui Shi was well-behaved, extremely gentle, and knelt down in front of Taizong's knees, so cute that no one could refuse.Taizong asked her how old a concubine she was, and Cui replied in a low voice that she was 26 years old; he asked how long she had been in prison, and she replied that she had been imprisoned for three years.When Taizong further asked about Lujiang King Li Yuan's rebellion, she began to sob, and didn't answer a word. When she was in a hurry, she just said that the poor girl asked the emperor for mercy, and she died early!Jiao Didi's crisp and tender voice, like a sheng reed, accompanied by a sad and sad tone, made Taizong how could he bear to interrogate her again, so he naturally repelled the guards, and personally approached Cui to help him up, and gently comforted him and said that he had been in prison for three years , I really wronged the beauty!

At this time, Cui didn't ask, but she said it herself: "The concubine was originally the wife of the scholar Huang Yuan, who was robbed by the king of Lujiang, and then killed the concubine's ex-husband, and raped the concubine. This incident caused my concubine to be imprisoned innocently for three years, my concubine is suffering a lot!"

When Da Zong heard it, he was really happy, and said: "At first I only thought of the beauty as my aunt, and I hated the shallow relationship between the two of us, but now I know that the beauty is the wife of the Huang family. In this way, you are not my aunt. He's not a nephew either!" As he spoke, he personally wiped Cui's tears with the sleeve of his robe, which made Cui's heart like a mirror, so Emperor Taizong caressed him, and listened to him caressing and whispering softly, "Okay Dear beauty, I will make you Concubine De right now, because you are the Huang family's wife, so it will not interfere with my status as uncle and nephew with the King of Lujiang."

Cui hurriedly knelt down to thank her.This night, the concubine Cui accompanied Taizong and stayed in Xuanhua Palace.On the third day, Emperor Taizong issued an imperial edict, officially enshrining Cui as a concubine of virtue and living in Xuanhua Palace.

The concubine Cui is no better than Concubine Yang, she is dissolute by nature, especially able to confuse the Lord, Taizong was obsessed with her and did not go to the morning court for five days in a row, who made the spring night so short, he had to use the good time in the morning to make up for sleep.Prime Minister Wei, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and other ministers offered advice, but Taizong ignored it. Later, it was Concubine Yang who came into the palace to advise, saying that it is not appropriate for your majesty to abolish the government for private reasons. When he retreated from the court, he went to the Xuanhua Palace, and refused to leave Cui's family for a day and a night.When the ministers of the imperial court had important matters to meet with the Holy Majesty, Emperor Taizong summoned him to Xuanhua Palace.Monarchs and ministers talked about state affairs, and the Cui family also followed the emperor every step of the way.When the ministers saw the concubine Cui, they would inevitably have to pay a courtier's ceremony. Cui's petty vanity was greatly satisfied, so she often rewarded the ministers with treasures. Naturally, some courtiers who were stalking all rushed to show their courtesy to Concubine Cui. Instead, Concubine Yang's palace gradually fell into the cold.

Advising the doctor Wang Gui was loyal and upright, and Taizong also respected him very much. Concubine Yang secretly sent the eunuch to tell Wang Gui that Taizong was so obsessed with Concubine Cui's voice, he was afraid that he would miss the important affairs of the country, and hoped that he could do more to persuade Wang Gui. The Lord wakes up.

Concubine Yang's words were righteous and dignified, without showing any sourness, so that this upright admonishing doctor was moved by her profound sense of righteousness.Wang Gui, who was entrusted by Concubine Yang's loyalty, immediately went to Xuanhua Palace to meet the emperor, and when the monarchs and ministers were discussing military affairs, Concubine Cui was by her side, so Wang Gui deliberately pointed at Concubine Cui and said, "Who is this? "

Taizong said: "It's my newly established concubine, Cui." Wang Gui pretended to be surprised: "I also heard that the newly appointed concubine was originally the old concubine of King Lujiang. In name, it is similar to Long live. It's called aunt and nephew."

Taizong's embarrassment suddenly showed from his eyes and face, and he hurriedly argued: "Concubine Cui was originally the wife of the scholar Huang Yuan, who was taken over by the King of Lujiang. I married a widow of the Huang family, so I can't talk about it." It’s not suspected of any status.” Then, he sighed again to excuse the embarrassment just now, “The king of Lujiang murdered the husband and accepted his wife, such a licentiousness, he invites his own destruction!”

But Wang Gui immediately took over the quarrel, and said righteously: "Your Majesty sees the behavior of the King of Lujiang, is it right? Isn't it?" Taizong was very surprised and said: "It is absolutely not advisable to kill someone and rape his wife. , how can there be any right and wrong at all." Wang Gui said: "Not necessarily, the woman raped by the King of Lujiang is still at His Majesty's side, it seems that His Majesty still thinks that the behavior of the King of Lujiang is right, otherwise, That woman should not be around His Majesty."

(End of this chapter)