Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 165 Harem Regular Meeting
On the day of the grand court meeting, Taiji Palace was bustling with activity again.

Li Zhi was in the front court receiving homage from all the officials, while Wu Meiniang was in the harem bestowing annual rewards on the concubines.

Compared with last year, the previous dynasty has undergone great changes, among which more than half of the prime ministers have been replaced.

After Cui Dunli's death, Li Zhi did not add a new prime minister, but instead promoted Yu Zhining, the Shangshu Zuo Pushe, to the position of Shizhong.

Although the left and right ministers of the Secretariat held high positions and great power, their actual functions had been replaced by the heads of the six ministries, so it would have no impact even if they were not established.

For example, Li Ji, the Right Prime Minister, never went to the Secretariat to sit in office, and there was no hindrance.

Li Zhi's arrangement was to reduce the number of prime ministers and thus strengthen imperial power.

In the eighth year of Yonghui, there were only six prime ministers left in the Tang Dynasty, namely: Li Ji, Liu Rengui, Yu Zhining, Li Jingxuan, Xin Maojiang, and Yan Liben.

Except for Yu Zhining, all these six people were promoted to prime ministers by Li Zhi himself, and no one would openly oppose him.

Last year, Zhangsun Wuji was in charge and represented all the ministers to pay New Year's greetings to Li Zhi, but this year it was Li Ji who took over.

Over the past year, Li Ji has been silently supporting Li Zhi, and his contributions can truly be said to be great.

Moreover, he is very low-key and only appears when Li Zhi needs him. He is not seen on other days.

Of course Li Zhi had to reward him and let him enjoy the same honor as Changsun Wuji, who was the chief minister second only to the emperor and above everyone else.

Compared with the previous dynasty, there is not much change in the harem.

There are still three concubines, not even a new talented woman or beauty, let alone nine concubines.

The women in the harem all have a tacit understanding. Since the emperor does not take the initiative to expand the harem, no one will make trouble and find someone to share the emperor's favor.

Although Empress Wu was powerful, she would not deliberately target anyone as long as everyone behaved themselves.

After the previous turbulent and bizarre harem experience of Wu's fight against King Xiao, everyone is very satisfied with the current peaceful life.

Except for concubines, the ladies of state did not attend the regular meetings last year, but this year was different. Lady Zhou, Ji Xichi, came to the harem early in the morning and became the only first-rank lady in Lizheng Hall.

Originally, Xu Jin was worried that Ji Xichi was here to cause trouble, but later when he saw her chatting happily with Empress Wu and even trying to fawn on her, he realized that she was here to support the Empress.

In fact, why would she need to stand up for me?
With Empress Wu having three sons in hand, the concubines in the harem had long given up the idea of ​​competing with her for favor and only wanted to live a peaceful and stable life.

The regular meeting was passed in peace.

Everyone was very satisfied because there were more tributes this year, especially from the Western Regions, which were twice as much as usual.

The black ointment was a hot commodity last year, but this year everyone owns ten boxes.

Concubine Zheng played with a white jade Guanyin statue for a while and said with a smile, "There are a lot of things to pray for blessings this year."

Wu Meiniang also held a string of precious tassels in her hand and said with a smile, "These are all sent by the countries of India and Zhu. You should all take more so that you can give birth to a child for His Majesty as soon as possible."

The queen has three sons, so this statement is particularly generous.

The girls were thinking the same thing, so they stopped being polite and chose their favorite prayer ornaments one after another.

Among them, three items are the most precious: ivory pagoda, relic pagoda, and bodhi beads.

The three girls each chose one, and Liu Chong'er was the last to choose because she already had a son.

Ji Qi also brought a few Taoist amulets for praying for children and gave one to each person.

After this batch of tributes was selected, Wu Meiniang clapped her hands, and another team of palace servants came over with plates of bright and dazzling tributes, most of which were musical instruments.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Sister Zheng will be happy this time."

Concubine Zheng smiled and said, "These instruments are beautiful, but they are not suitable for playing. They can only be used as decorations."

It turns out that these musical instruments are either made of gold and silver, or inlaid with pearls and gems. They are bright and beautiful, but not practical.

As the palace maids approached, the women all exclaimed in admiration.

It turned out that two of the instruments were very strange and exquisite, one looked like a phoenix and the other looked like a dragon.

Liu Chong'e walked over to the phoenix instrument and exclaimed, "How could there be such a wonderful instrument in the world!"

This instrument resembles a zither, with a surface decorated with snake skin, fourteen strings, and pegs on the neck with phoenix heads facing outward and crocodile heads on the pegs.

Wu Meiniang asked, "Sister Zheng is a master of musical instruments. Do you know what this is?"

Concubine Zheng gently stroked the crocodile's head and said, "I heard that the Pyu Kingdom has a musical instrument called the phoenix-head konghou. I wonder if it is this one?" Wu Meiniang clapped her hands and praised, "You are right. You are worthy of being the number one music master in our harem."

Ji Yuchi looked at the dragon-like object and said with a smile, "Please tell us again, my lady, what kind of weapon is this?"

This instrument is like the one made in Kucha, with a neck length of two feet and six inches and a belly width of six inches. It has two dragons facing each other at the head; each has three pegs, and the strings follow the number of pegs, with two pegs at the neck.

Concubine Zheng smiled and said, "The Pyu Kingdom is famous for two musical instruments: the phoenix-head konghou and the dragon-head pipa. This must be the latter."

Wu Mei Niang said, "This is like a thousand-mile horse meeting a good horse trainer. Ladies, Madam Ji, I would like to give these two items to Sister Zheng. Do you agree?"

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Even if you give it to us, we don't know how to play it. Let Sister Zheng play it for His Majesty."

Except for two musical instruments from the Pyu Kingdom, the rest were tributes from the Six Zhao Kingdoms.

The women each selected a few musical instruments and ordered their maids to assemble them.

Everyone quickly divided the tribute and sat down together to chat.

The topics discussed among women often have different focuses. They don’t care which prime ministers have been replaced in the court, nor do they care why countries such as Liuzhao and Tianzhu come to pay homage.

They were concerned about trivial matters, such as which two families were marrying again, and which noblewoman's daughter had reached marriageable age.

Concubine Zheng suddenly asked, "By the way, Your Highness, where is Princess Changshan? Why didn't she come to the regular meeting?"

Wu Meiniang said, "She went to the Xincheng Princess's residence. Her husband is not coming back this year, and the Xincheng Princess is all alone. So the Changshan Princess asked for permission to go to the Princess's residence to accompany her sister."

Concubine Zheng smiled and said, "Speaking of our princess, she is not young anymore. I wonder if she has found someone she likes."

Xu Jin said, "I heard that she has left the palace a few times. I wonder if she has found a good man."

Liu Chong'e asked, "Didn't Your Majesty help her arrange a marriage?"

In her opinion, the princess's marriage should be arranged directly by the emperor.

Wu Meiniang said, "I did mention this to His Majesty, but His Majesty said that Changshan should choose for himself and we should not interfere too much."

When the women heard what the emperor said, they felt it was inappropriate to help him find a good match, so they changed the subject.

Near noon, after the regular meeting, all the women returned home with full loads.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, there was another hunting competition in the Forbidden Garden.

Xue Rengui made a stunning debut in the last hunt, and with Li Ji and Cheng Zhijie also joining the hunt this time, the foreign team no longer expected to defeat the Tang Dynasty.

However, this does not mean that this hunt is without suspense.

The competition within the Tang Dynasty is more intense than in previous years.

Li Ji, Su Dingfang, Cheng Zhijie, and Yuchi Gong.

Although these four people didn't say anything, they were competing with each other in their hearts, wanting to try their best to see if they could surpass Xue Rengui.

In addition, Pei Xingjian, Zhou Zhidu, Xiao Siye, Ren Yaxiang and others also want to compete for the five places within the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, there is Gao Kan, who performed well last time, and Qibi Heli, who is famous for his archery skills.

Li Zhi couldn't make the appointment directly, so he had to hold an internal competition first to select five candidates to represent the Tang Dynasty.

The internal competition was held on the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year at Feilongyuan. The rules were simple: shoot at targets and select people, but the targets were a bit far away, only about one hundred steps.

During the Tang Dynasty, a "bu" did not refer to one step, but one step to the left and one step to the right, which was about 1.5 meters.

The standard for target shooting in the army is sixty steps. Anyone who can hit the target at eighty steps is considered a sharpshooter.

This time we selected the best archer in the Tang Dynasty, so the distance was set at 100 steps, which is about 150 meters, equivalent to the longest distance of an ordinary bow and arrow.

All contestants used specially made hardwood longbows, which had stronger power and longer range than ordinary bows.

Each person shoots ten arrows, and the five people who hit the most targets are selected.

This match was not only about whether one could fight for the Tang Dynasty, but also because Li Zhi said to his attendants before the match: "The five winners of this match can be called my Five Tiger Generals."

This sentence gave everyone a boost of energy. Who wouldn't want to be a general favored by the emperor?
Before the game starts, they start exercising to get into the best condition.

After a fierce competition, five people finally won and represented the Tang Dynasty. They were: Xue Rengui, Su Dingfang, Li Ji, Yuchi Gong and Cheng Zhijie.

(End of this chapter)