The Red Mansions

Chapter 1722: Five Imperial Concubines
Princess Jinyang's Mansion, on the attic -

Princess Jinyang was wearing a yellow dress and had a beautiful bun on her head. She leaned against the railing and looked out. Her snow-white face was full of grace and beauty. She asked softly, "He's still in the palace. How is he doing?"

Lian Xue smiled and said, "After accepting the congratulations from the ministers, the cabinet issued an imperial decree, naming the country Xia and changing the era name to Shengding."

Princess Jinyang looked thoughtful and said, "Xia, that's good. Is there any rumor in the palace that a queen has been appointed?"

Although Princess Jinyang had no intention of participating in the fight for the title of queen, she was still somewhat curious.

Lian Xue said softly, "There was no imperial decree issued from the palace, but some meritorious officials and veterans were conferred titles."

Princess Jinyang's beautiful eyes were as bright as water under her emerald eyebrows. She said, "This is quite normal."

At this moment, at this time, the sound of jingling bells was heard outside, and then the rich fragrance like orchid and musk spread out.

Princess Xianning entered the warm room accompanied by Li Chanyue and Song Yan and asked, "Aunt, what are you doing now?"

Princess Jinyang asked, "Xianning, are you here?"

Princess Xianning and Li Chanyue sat down beside them. Her beautiful face was more gentle and peaceful than when she was a girl. She asked, "Aunt, has the master ascended the throne?"

Princess Jinyang said, "Lianxue just said that the country will be named Xia and the era name will be Shengding."

Li Chanyue asked, "Mother, how does Mr. Jia plan to reward the concubines in the harem?"

Princess Jinyang said: "I have just ascended the throne and there are so many things to deal with. I will see what happens when the time comes."

Princess Xianning hummed softly and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Princess Jinyang's beautiful eyes were as soft as water under her emerald eyebrows. She said in a gentle voice, "The princess of the previous dynasty has her own temperament and does not need the reward of the new dynasty."

The so-called princesses of the previous dynasty were of noble and honorable status and did not care about the famous utensils and rewards of the current dynasty.

Song Yan looked intently at the Princess Jinyang, her heart filled with joy.

At this moment, a young and graceful female official came quickly from outside, with a look of joy in her eyes.

"Your Highness the Princess, the palace sent a eunuch to say that the emperor is resting in the palace today and will not come out." The female official said softly with a faint smile on her face.

Princess Jinyang looked at Princess Xianning and said, "He has just ascended the throne and there are many affairs in the palace. He needs to sort out the affairs of the palace thoroughly before returning from the palace. Let's see what he says then."

Because of the incident with Concubine Duanrong, Princess Jinyang was also worried that Jia Heng would neglect Princess Xianning when it came to the issue of conferring the title of Queen, thus further creating a rift in their relationship.

Princess Xianning nodded, her clear eyes flickered, and she sighed softly in her heart.

Li Chanyue said: "Mother, Mr. Xiao Jia is not coming back, is he?"

Princess Jinyang's beautiful eyes sparkled softly under her emerald eyebrows. She said softly, "From now on, you should call me Your Majesty."

Li Chanyue said: "Mother, Mr. Xiao Jia is not that kind of person."

Princess Jinyang raised her eyebrows and said, "I hope so."

It is said that once one sits in that position, people's hearts become cold and indifferent, especially the imperial family.

……

……

At this moment, Jia Heng left Kunning Palace where Queen Song was and walked quickly towards the bedroom where Zhen Qing was.

In the palace where Zhen Qing lived, it was evening, the lights were just coming on, and maids and female officials were walking back and forth under the eaves, holding all kinds of silks in their hands.

You can see vermilion lanterns hanging under the eaves of the corridor. The lanterns sway in the breeze, casting circles of red halos.

The beautiful woman's snow-white face clearly showed a hint of thought.

Zhen Qing was chatting with her daughter Yin Yin, with a bright smile on her plump, fair face.

Yinyin said in a soft and charming voice, "Mother, I heard from the palace that I am actually my godfather's daughter."

Zhen Qing's heart moved slightly, she put the orange in her hand aside and asked, "Yin Yin, what's the matter?"

Yin Yin suddenly raised her cute and adorable face, and asked in a clear voice with a hint of timidity, "Mother, am I your godfather's daughter?"

Zhen Qing: "..."

What is this kid talking about? No, she knows everything?
Yin Yin twisted her slender fingers and said softly, "Mother, I know everything that's been spread outside."

Zhen Qing pretended to be angry and said, "Those are just nonsense from outsiders. Yinyin, don't believe their nonsense."

Yin Yin blinked her sparkling eyes under her emerald eyebrows and asked, "Mother, whose child am I?"

Zhen Qing said: "Don't ask, you will know it naturally when you grow up."

Yin Yin widened her eyes, which were as bright as black grapes, and said, "Mother, I was right. It is the child of Prince Wei, isn't it?"

Zhen Qing said angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about, kid?"

At this moment, a young and slender female official came in from outside and said, "Madam, the Prince of Wei is here."

When Zhen Qing heard this, her snow-white face was already filled with rosy glow.

Yinyin's rosy face was flushed on both sides, and she said in an inexplicably charming voice, "Prince Wei is here to look for my mother. I'll go to the side hall first."

Zhen Qing: "..."

This child is really a smart kid.

Just as Yin Yin stood up and walked toward the outside, she saw the young man in the python robe had already walked into the room with a smile on his face.

Zhen Qing said: "You are here."

Jia Heng nodded, looked at Yin Yin who was passing by, and said, "I'm talking to Yin Yin."

Zhen Qing said: "Yin Yin was just mentioning you."

Jia Heng asked, "What did Yinyin just say to you?"

Zhen Qing looked a little strange under her beautiful eyebrows. She said, "What else can I say? Ask her about her background."

Jia Heng held up a blue and white porcelain teacup in his hand, and seemed to pause for a moment before asking, "Yinyin, are you suspicious?"

Zhen Qing said: "My daughter is very smart, how could she not be suspicious?"

Jia Heng thought about it, then gently reached out and took Zhen Qing's slender hand, and said softly, "Yin Yin has indeed grown."

Under Zhen Qing's emerald eyebrows, her crystal clear eyes were as soft as water, and she said, "Did you ascend the throne?"

Jia Heng was silent for a moment, then said, "He has abdicated and ascended the throne."

Zhen Qing's beautiful eyes were as bright as water under her emerald eyebrows. She asked, "What are you going to do with Jie'er?"

Jia Heng said: "The royal family and vassal states have not yet been rewarded. After the coronation ceremony in three days, they will be rewarded together with the empress and concubines."

After ascending the throne, the Han Cabinet delivered imperial edicts to local provinces, prefectures and counties.

Zhen Qing nodded and said, "That's fine. By the way, how are you going to confer titles on the concubines in the harem?"

Jia Heng was silent for a moment, then said, "I have been thinking about this recently."

The Five Empresses were ranked according to the order of the wives of the emperor at the time, but there were indeed some controversies, or it could be said that it was just an unformed outline.

At the beginning, Keqing was the legal wife of Prince Wei, while Princess Xianning and Li Chanyue were the heirs of both the Ning and Rong mansions. In terms of status, the three were almost the same.

As for Daiyu and Baochai, Daiyu's father is the chief minister of the cabinet, and it seems that she cannot convince everyone that Baochai has become the queen.

It was difficult to explain to Jinyang that Li Chanyue did not become the queen, and it was indeed a bit hard to justify.

It is worth mentioning that Jinyang is destined not to come to the fore because of Chanyue and Xianning.

However, she was the eldest princess of the previous dynasty, and was of extremely high status. Such a title actually lowered her status.

In other words, Jinyang was the eldest princess of the previous dynasty and had an extraordinary status. There was no need to confer the title of queen on her, which was inappropriate.

Zhen Qing thought about it and asked curiously, "Five Queens? Who are they?"

She could no longer be the queen, otherwise, how would people in the world discuss the new emperor?

In fact, not only Zhen Qing could not be the queen, but Queen Song also could not appear in public again.

Jia Heng said: "Xianning also has Chanyue and the others."

Zhen Qing said softly, "Where are your sisters from the Jia family? And where are Lan'er, Xi'er and the others?"

Jia Heng said: "Each of them will be given titles such as imperial concubine and concubine."

Zhen Qing picked up a grape from the plate beside her, put one in her mouth, and said, "That's not enough."

Having been in the harem for many years, Zhen Qing naturally knew how many positions the concubines had in the harem.

Jia Heng sighed and said, "Even though she is the fifth empress, she still feels that her status and position are not high enough."

Zhen Qing looked thoughtful and asked, "Since she is the Empress of Five Palaces, why don't you have Imperial Noble Consorts and Noble Consorts in each palace?"

When Jia Heng heard this, his bright eyes lit up and he said, "That's a good idea."

Under the Empress, there can be one Imperial Noble Consort and four Noble Consorts, which makes five Imperial Noble Consorts.

The title of twenty imperial concubines can accommodate these golden hairpins.

As for other maids who were not of high enough status, they were circulated among concubines and noble ladies.

Zhen Qing frowned, her beautiful eyes sparkling slightly, and said, "Sister Lan is one of the concubines, on par with the two sisters Xue and Lin. How can you accept that you are now inferior to Xue and Lin?"

Jia Heng was stunned for a moment, then looked at Zhen Qing with interest and said, "So you were waiting here."

Adding five noble concubines and five royal concubines can indeed solve the problems related to status. He did not consider it enough before, or it can be said that there are too many women, which is really a headache.

Regardless of other things, Yaruo must be given a title, even if it is for the sake of Yaruo's father and to win over Prince Chahar, Yaruo must be given a relatively high status.

In this case, among the five empresses, there are the Central Palace Empress Qin Keqing, the Eastern Palace Empress Chen Xiao, the West Palace Empress Song Yan (holding the throne on behalf of Empress Song), the Southern Palace Empress Princess Xianning, and the Northern Palace Empress Li Chanyue (considered to be holding the throne on behalf of Jinyang).

Well, the main thing is to treat everyone equally.

Baochai, Daiyu, Yaruo, Zhenlan and Zhenxi were the five imperial concubines.

The Four Springs were the virtuous, virtuous and dignified fourth noble concubines, who were located in the center palace and assisted in managing palace affairs. They were called virtuous, virtuous and dignified, and assisted the center palace Qin Keqing.

There are four other imperial concubines in the other four palaces of the east, south, west and north.

The Eastern Palace: An Yi Ling Jing. Concubine An Lian Xue, Concubine Yi Fu Qiu Fang, Concubine Ling Xia Hou Ying, Concubine Jing will not be given a title for the time being, but can be given to the White Lotus Saint Mother.

Therefore, these are basically the Jinyang team that assists Chen Xiao.

Nangong: Ning Shun Jing Hui. Concubine Ning Li Wen, Concubine Shun Li Qi, Concubine Jing Bao Qin, Concubine Hui Xiu Yan.

West Palace: Lichen Huarong. Li Fei, the second sister You, Chen Fei, Miaoyu, Hua Fei, Xiangyun, Rong Fei, the third sister You.

Beigong: Duankang Zhaoxuan. She is temporarily unavailable for the master, or in other words, she is used as a means of marriage alliance to win over the governors of the country through the selection of concubines.

Well, for a while, the Beigong Palace was still missing, and it was not enough to seal it.

Other maids such as Ping Yuanxi, Qingwen, Zijuan and others were ordinary concubines, while other women were concubines.

Zhen Qing rolled her eyes at Jia Heng, gently brushed away the hand in front of her clothes, and said, "These are easy to deal with. You haven't figured out how to enfeoff these sons yet."

Jia Heng thought for a moment and said, "Chen Luo will be the King of Han, Chen Jie will be the King of Song, and the rest of the sons are still young, so they won't be given any titles for now."

Since he inherited the Han Dynasty, he should treat the royal family of the previous dynasty well in order to win the hearts of the people.

As for his sons, they must also be given various royal titles.

For example, Chen Xiao's son Su Rui, Baochai's son Su Zhuo and others are still young and will not be granted the title of king for the time being.

Zhen Qing nodded and whispered, "That's fine, but am I still in the palace?"

Jia Heng gently put his arm around Zhen Qing's thin shoulders and said, "If you're not in the palace, where else do you want to go?"

Zhen Qing hummed softly and said in a gentle voice: "I want to go back to the original Chu Palace. Every tree and grass there is more familiar to me."

If after the Five Queens, all the women in the palace were his, she would be somewhat out of place in the palace.

Jia Heng nodded and said, "That's good. Jie'er is grown up now, and it's time for him to be appointed as a general."

Zhen Qing leaned her long black hair against Jia Heng's shoulder and said softly, "You should pay more attention to me and my sister when the time comes."

Jia Heng gently put his arm around Zhen Qing's shoulders and said softly, "Just don't worry."

Zhen Qing said softly, "The last time my sister came to the palace, she said that you hadn't visited her and Shuiying for a long time."

Under Jia Heng's sword-like eyebrows, his clear and bright eyes flickered, and he said softly: "She is in Prince Beijing's mansion, how can I go to visit her?"

Zhen Qing asked, "Doesn't Prince Beijing care much about it?"

Jia Heng snorted coldly and said, "He has bad intentions."

Zhen Qing seemed to be choked, and a strange feeling surged in her heart. She said, "Well, you are not the emperor now, so he shouldn't do anything to you."

Jia Heng said: "We still have to pay attention to the impact."

You can't summon the wife of a military minister to the palace to stay overnight. This is absolutely not allowed. That would be truly licentious and immoral.

Zhen Qing nodded, responded softly, turned to look at the young man in the python costume, and said softly: "I miss you."

Jia Heng embraced Zhen Qing's plump and delicate body and walked quickly outside. It was a romantic and charming scene, needless to say.

……

……

In the following days, the cabinet of Daxia drafted an imperial edict and issued it to China and the world, conferring the title of Prince of Ying on Xie Zaiyi, making him one of the four princes of Daxia.

He also conferred titles on Cao Bianjiao, Marquis of Shanhai, as Duke of Cao, Cai Quan as Duke of Cai, and Dong Qian as the first-class Marquis of Zhongyi.

However, the concubines in the harem who had not yet received the imperial edict were not given any titles or rewards.

In other words, Jia Heng would have to wait for the court to decide before issuing the imperial edict.

Early in the morning, a golden dawn could be seen above the eastern sky. It was the day when the Great Xia Emperor Su Heng held his coronation ceremony.

The Ministry of Works had already set up an altar on the outskirts of the city, and built several stories high around it. Flags were planted all around the altar, and the Jinyifu guards were holding embroidered spring swords, with vigilant expressions, guarding all directions.

On this day, the soldiers of the Jinyifu Guard were lined up and waiting. The Jinyifu Guards held embroidered spring swords in their hands. They were wearing bright clothes and armor, with cold and arrogant brows and inexplicably alert expressions.

In view of the fact that Jia Heng was assassinated when his tomb was moved, the Jinyifu guards now began to carefully inspect the trees and weeds around the mountain tomb.

"Boom boom..."

Accompanied by the incessant sound of artillery fire, the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp surrounded the imperial carriage covered with curtains on all sides and marched towards the Taimiao in a mighty procession.

At this moment, all the civil and military officials in the capital lined up on the left and right and stood in a row along the altar.

"The emperor is here." The ministers around were waiting for him. Seeing this, they looked at each other and spoke one after another.

Soon, the young man in the python robe appeared wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and a crown with twelve jade pearls on his head. He was surrounded by soldiers and walked like a dragon and a tiger.

"The auspicious time has arrived, let's offer sacrifices to the heavens!"

The officials, headed by Cabinet Grand Secretary and Minister of Rites Liu Zheng, held a flawless white ivory jade scepter and spoke in a clear voice.

After a short while, Jia Heng came in a mighty procession, surrounded by a large number of eunuchs wearing black and red sleeves.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." All the officials present spoke up.

After a series of tedious ceremonies, the Great Xia Emperor Su Heng offered sacrifices to heaven and became the emperor. He then ordered the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Clan Affairs to build the ancestral temple for the Su family's ancestors.

In the eighth year of Qiande, Emperor Su Heng of the Xia Kingdom set up an altar to worship heaven in the southern suburbs of Shenjing City. In the presence of hundreds of civil and military officials and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, he became the Emperor of Great Xia.

The imperial edict conferred titles of empress on the five palaces and conferred titles of virtuous and dignified on the four daughters of the Jia family. The whole nation was talking about it, and the daughters of the Jia family were almost going to occupy the entire East Palace.

But then I thought that Prince Wei grew up in the Jia Mansion of Ning and Rong Mansions, and it is only natural that he has a special relationship with all the girls in the boudoir of the Jia family.

Among the four imperial concubines, there are several other concubines whose positions are vacant and waiting to be taken.

However, Princess Xianning, a princess of the previous dynasty, was also named the Queen of a Palace. Isn’t Prince Wei afraid that the remnants of the former Han Dynasty would gather around Princess Xianning and plot a rebellion?
Moreover, in the future, all the male offspring of the five empresses will be legitimate, so the struggle for the throne in the future will be a major hidden danger.