Professional Ethics of a Concubine

The empress was writing something at her desk. When she heard the eunuch's message, she immediately raised her head and said,

"First, hand over the news and things from the Great Zhao. The messenger will take them down first and arrange for them to stay. I will summon you tomorrow."

The eunuch agreed and handed over a few letters first, then turned around and went out to arrange for other eunuchs to carry in all the things sent by Da Zhao.

The empress first opened a thick letter written by Su Ting.

The letter mentioned his several meetings and exchanges with Crown Prince Xie Jin, mentioned sugar and other items, the alliance between the two countries, and the contents of the signed treaty.

It was also said that the Third Prince decided to stay in Da Zhao, and the Crown Prince of Da Zhao wanted him to be the ambassador of the two countries, responsible for exchanges between the two countries.

The following pages describe his experiences in Da Zhao, from the imperial court to the merchants in the market, to the farmers in the countryside, and so on, and also write down many of his insights.

The words reveal the author's worry about the growing power of the Zhao royal family and his envy of the excellence of their children.

In particular, he mentioned many times that the Crown Prince of Zhao was a rare talent among men, with a broad mind and means superior to others (Lord Su was also very good at how to flatter the Empress quietly).

After reading the letter, the corners of the empress's mouth curled up, and her expression was full of surprise and pride.

She hadn't expected that her son had made such rapid progress in the past two years. Every time she got news about him, she would be surprised. No, she would be deeply shocked and proud.

However, besides being shocked and proud, she also felt a deep sense of loss.

How nice it would be if I could witness all this with my own eyes, if I could say something to him in person, if I could pat him on the shoulder with pride.

The empress sighed secretly, put the letter aside, and opened another one, which was from the third prince.

This letter is very much like a letter from home.

The main reason was that the Third Prince said he missed her and the Gulan Kingdom, and he also said he bought her a lot of good things unique to the Great Zhao, hoping she would like them.

Later he said that although he missed her, he decided to stay in Da Zhao and contribute to the country. He also mentioned that his cousin the prince took good care of him, was very generous to him, and liked him very much.

The empress had no objection to the third brother staying in Da Zhao. She was just a little surprised. The third brother had not been so smart before, but this time he chose a good path for himself.

The empress thought that she would send his wife, children and concubines to Da Zhao and let him settle down in Da Zhao. He didn't need to think about coming back to live there for a long time. He could just come back occasionally to stay for a while.

The prosperous place of the future must be Da Zhao.

Go there early to grab a spot.

This is the best arrangement for the Third Prince. Since he has chosen the right path, she will pave the way for him. As for how high and how far he can go in the future, it depends on his own ability.

But, staying in Da Zhao is far better than staying in Gulan Kingdom.

Putting the third prince's letter aside, the empress opened the last letter.

When the empress saw the first sentence "Dear mother", her eyes became hot and her hands even trembled slightly.

This is a letter from her son Ajin!

After thirty years, she finally reunited with her son.

I don't know if he will blame me for giving up on him and ignoring him for so many years?

Alas, even if he had resentment in his heart, given his cunningness, he would not show it.

The empress suppressed her chaotic thoughts, took a deep breath, and then looked at the letter with a different meaning again.

As she watched, the empress couldn't help but want to cry. She closed her eyes and suppressed her excitement before she could continue reading.

Because on the first page of the letter, Xie Jin didn't write anything else except how shocked and unbelievable he was when he found out that the empress was his biological mother.

The letter also wrote how excited and happy he was when he received her wooden box and knew that she had never really given up on him and had always sent someone to look after him.

In addition, Xie Jin repeatedly emphasized in the letter that he was proud to have such a great mother, and therefore he dared not slack off for fear that she would be disappointed in him.

The empress looked at these and was moved. She couldn't help but smile and muttered quietly,

"This kid is so sweet. How come no one has ever said that he is so good at coaxing people?"

This was a major mistake made by those intelligence personnel.

Little did people know that Xie Jin's sweet talk was only directed at a few people, and most people couldn't see it. They could only see his serious and even somewhat cold side, which was that he didn't like to waste time on small talk.

On the second page, Xie Jin mainly wrote about his aspirations and his several future plans.

They are the five-year plan, the ten-year plan, the fifteen-year plan and the twenty-year plan.

The five-year plan was mainly a plan to destroy Chu. Xie Jin did not go into detail in the letter, only saying that he had already begun planning, to work together inside and outside to destroy the Chu government from within, to trigger civil strife within Chu, and at the same time to use weapons and war to push forward.

The ten-year plan is to use marriage alliances, support the seventh prince, and wage economic warfare, cultural invasion, institutional intervention and other means to achieve a peaceful evolution of Dayan, and finally send troops to capture Dayan in one fell swoop.

As for Gulan Kingdom and other small countries in the Western Regions, since Gulan Kingdom was ruled by his mother, he was not in a hurry to move towards the Western Regions.

Xie Jin suggested that his mother should first unify the small countries in the Western Regions. In the next three or four years, they should first develop Gulan's agriculture and commercial economy, earn money, and strengthen the army.

The Great Zhao can support and provide the resources needed by the Gulan Kingdom.

Xie Jin also hoped that his mother could unify the Western Regions and become an empress whose name would go down in history.

Xie Jin's fifteen-year and twenty-year plans were aimed at the sea area, the Dongyi Kingdom, and the barbarians on the northern grasslands, and were a longer-term vision.

Just as Xie Jin said to the former crown prince Xie Wenyuan, as long as the two brothers can still struggle, they should not stop but keep on struggling so that the world will be unified and peaceful because of them and the people can live and work in peace and contentment.

After reading her son's plans, the empress felt inspired, her blood boiled, and her heart was filled with heroic spirit, and she wanted to do something big.

"Good job!" The empress couldn't help but admire and was proud of her son's lofty ambitions.

She read the page over and over again, her whole body was extremely excited, with many thoughts in her mind, making her unable to wait to read the content below, so she focused her eyes, wrote quickly, and exuded an unstoppable momentum.

During this time, a eunuch came in and wanted to announce that the Fifth Prince was outside seeking an audience, but seeing how the Empress was so absorbed in her own thoughts and withdrew without anger, he did not dare to disturb her and left silently.

The fifth prince, who was waiting outside, saw the eunuch come out and thought that the empress wanted to summon him, so he went in without asking any questions.

"Your Highness, the Emperor is busy. Please wait a moment." The eunuch hurriedly stopped the fifth prince and said in a low voice.

"What are you busy with, mother? Isn't there anyone discussing matters in here? I also have important matters to report." The fifth prince frowned and said with a little dissatisfaction.

"Your Majesty is concentrating on writing and should not be disturbed." The eunuch whispered again.

When the Fifth Prince heard that he was just writing something, he went in directly regardless of the eunuch's dissuasion.

Usually, his mother allowed him to participate in state affairs and he was asked to review some memorials.

The fifth prince felt that his mother was training him to be the crown prince, even though he was her biological son.

As for the crown prince, he had been imprisoned for many years and had long been useless, so he was no match for anyone.

In the fight for the throne, the two opponents who can be called rivals are the second prince and the third prince.

However, the fifth prince felt that he had a 70% advantage simply because of his background.

So, when the Fifth Prince saw that his mother was writing so attentively, he originally wanted to pay his respects. But then another thought occurred to him and instead of paying his respects, he went forward to see what his mother was so focused on writing.

The fifth prince tiptoed over and just as he stretched out his head, he vaguely saw the words "Da Zhao". The empress stopped writing, turned her head to look at him, frowned and said unhappily,

"Why not pass it on?"

"Please forgive me, mother. I have something important to report, so I came in without permission."

The fifth prince felt his mother's anger and his heart trembled. He quickly took a few steps back and knelt down to admit his mistake.

The empress stared at him for a moment, but did not pursue the matter further. She just asked,

"What do you want to report?"

The fifth prince told the story of a fight between two sons of powerful officials. Both were seriously injured. Both sides hated each other and threatened to file a complaint with the emperor.

Upon hearing this, the empress frowned again, "You came here just for such a trivial matter?"