Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

Shen Wei put down the notebook in her hand and asked Cai Ping to find out the news immediately.

The next day, Cai Ping told Shen Wei the news she had gathered. It turned out that the bureaucrats in Yunzhou had been plundering the people's wealth and embezzling most of the relief grain and cotton and linen distributed by the court.

In addition, miscellaneous taxes and levies also increased.

The people could not get relief food and faced heavy taxes. In anger, they rose up and burned the county government's granary.

"The emperor has sent people to Yunzhou overnight to appease the people, distribute winter food, and severely punish corrupt officials." Cai Ping rolled her eyes and told Shen Wei in a low voice, "Master, it is said that the emperor sent people to surround Duke Lu's mansion and took away five or six men of the Lu family."

The Lu family is the largest family in Yunzhou, owning large tracts of land and commercial ports in Yunzhou.

Without Duke Lu's instructions, officials in various parts of Yunzhou would never dare to openly embezzle the people's winter grain.

Shen Wei took a sip of hot tea: "Greed is like a snake swallowing an elephant."

The Tantai family and the Xie family fell one after another. Any aristocratic family with a little bit of brains realized that the emperor was suppressing the aristocratic families, and they would choose to keep a low profile or surrender voluntarily.

However, Duke Lu was unwilling to give up his interests and continued to squeeze money from the people.

You dug your own grave. You deserve it.

...

Li Yuanjing sent two trusted generals from the Ministry of War to lead 5,000 troops to Yunzhou to pacify and suppress the rebellion. In less than ten days, the smoke of gunpowder in Yunzhou's cold winter dissipated.

The officials involved in the case were put in heavy shackles, locked in prison cars, and taken to Yanjing for trial in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

The people braved the wind and snow, holding stones and throwing them angrily at the prison van, killing at least ten corrupt officials.

The wind and snow in Yunzhou continued, with no sign of stopping.

On this day, Shen Wei was reading a storybook in the warm room when Cai Ping walked in on the snow and exclaimed, "Master, the concubine of Changxin Palace accidentally fell down and is about to give birth."

Shen Wei looked slightly stunned.

She jumped off the couch and said, "Bring me my cloak and go to Changxin Palace to have a look."

The snow started to fall again.

When Shen Wei arrived at Changxin Palace, she smelled a strong smell of blood and heard Lu Xuan's screams in the room.

The fetus in Lu Xuan's belly was not yet full-term, and she suffered a difficult labor and was unable to give birth all night. Fortunately, there was a female doctor in the Women's Medical Department who was good at delivering babies. After some operation by the female doctor, the baby was finally born safely at dawn.

It's a little princess.

Shen Wei went to the cradle and took a look. The child was very thin and small, with a red body. One could almost see the beating internal organs through the thin skin.

The baby was just born and didn't even cry.

The female doctor wiped the sweat from her forehead and told Shen Wei tactfully: "Replying to Concubine Chen, based on my many years of experience in diagnosis and treatment, I'm afraid this child will have a hard time surviving."

Shen Wei looked at the female doctor in front of her. She was about 30 years old and had an ordinary appearance. Shen Wei asked, "What's your name?"

The female doctor replied respectfully, "I am Gao Chunhua. I used to work as a pharmacist at the Jimin Clinic in Yanjing. Thanks to the grace of Your Majesty, I was able to enter the palace to work as a female doctor."

Shen Wei wrote down the person's name and told her, "Doctor Gao, please take good care of the child. It will be great if he can live one more day."

Shen Wei and Lu Xuan are sworn enemies, but the child is innocent after all.

The female doctor received the order and took good care of the child born by Concubine Shu.

Unfortunately, the child was too weak and died in the cold winter less than three days after birth.

Unfortunately, the child died, and Lu Xuan became even weaker. She was bedridden and relied on medicine to stay alive.

She became depressed and her health completely broke down.

Shen Wei went to visit once.

Lu Xuan had lost a lot of weight and was lying at the head of the bed, looking sickly. Her complexion was sallow and her eyes were slightly bulging. She had lost all of her former stunning beauty.

"Why did Concubine Shu fall down in the snow?" Shen Wei called the palace maids from Changxin Palace to ask.

The palace maid answered truthfully: "When Concubine Shu learned about the incident in Yunzhou, she was shocked and frightened. She wanted to go to the emperor to plead for the Lu family, but she stepped on the snow and accidentally fell."

Shen Wei understood.

During the Yunzhou Rebellion, Li Yuanjing was furious and took the opportunity to resign from top to bottom in Yunzhou, replacing the officials who had passed the imperial examinations in the spring. As for the Duke Lu's mansion, it was severely reprimanded, and many male members of the Lu family were imprisoned.

Lu Xuan probably knew that the Lu family was going to go bankrupt, so she became distracted and fell, causing her child to die prematurely.

...

This winter was exceptionally cold, and Changxin Palace was shrouded in frost and snow all day long.

Lu Xuan leaned against the head of the bed, looking at the snowflakes falling outside the window, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The room was burning with plum blossom charcoal, warm as spring. Shen Wei did not withhold the winter charcoal fire from any palace, and Changxin Palace was no exception.

"Master, please drink some medicine." The maid Xiaoqi held the medicine bowl with a distressed look on her face.

Lu Xuan asked blankly: "Has the emperor been here?"

Xiaoqi lowered his head: "The emperor is busy with state affairs. When the emperor is free, he will definitely come to visit the master."

Lu Xuan closed her eyes. She had shed so many tears in recent days that her eyelids hurt so much that she could hardly open them.

The emperor did not come when she gave birth prematurely; the emperor did not come when her child died; now that she is dying of illness, the emperor probably won't even look at her.

The Yunzhou incident gave the emperor an opportunity to regulate Yunzhou and the Lu family.

Her heart was filled with intense pain.

Lu Xuan was very sad and unwilling to accept it: "Father is confused. The Tantai family and the Xie family are precedents, but he still doesn't repent."

She hated that she was not a man.

If she were a man, she would be able to take over the power of Duke Lu's Mansion, protect the Lu family from wind and rain, and would never do such stupid things as squeezing the people's money.

But she was a girl, and despite her talent, she could not take the imperial examination. She was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting only to please men, and could only use her beauty and body to exchange for the emperor's favor.

It is really sad and pitiful that she has to rely on the mercy of men for her entire life.

"Xiaoqi, being a woman is so hard..." Lu Xuan sighed, despair slowly lingering in her heart.

Xiaoqi's eyes turned red. "Master, please drink the medicine first. The imperial physician said that your health is seriously damaged. If you don't take the medicine to heal your injuries, I'm afraid you won't live long."

Suddenly, a soft voice sounded, and Lu Xuan's two-year-old son ran into the room. Li Chengjue tilted his little head and said, "Mother, mother, take some medicine."

Lu Xuan's tears rolled down again, silently.

She touched her son's little face and said, "Okay, mother, take the medicine."

Lu Xuan knew that she could not save the Lu family at all. She only had a young son left.

...

...

The Yunzhou riot was quelled, and Yunzhou officials were killed or demoted. Duke Lu realized that something was wrong, and at the suggestion of his staff, he went to Beijing overnight to meet Li Yuanjing and kowtow to admit his mistakes.

There is a price to pay for making mistakes.

Duke Lu suppressed his heartache and donated tens of thousands of acres of fertile land and several important ports and passes to the court, and also paid double the taxes for three years.

The act of cutting off one's own thigh flesh earned the emperor's temporary forgiveness.

Duke Lu came out of the palace sweating profusely, almost fainting. He took a carriage back to Yunzhou, almost gnashing his teeth with anger along the way. He carefully calculated that in order to save the Lu family, he had paid 600,000 taels of silver to the national treasury!

Duke Lu's eyes were red. Thinking of Li Yuanjing's condescending attitude, he said angrily, "You young brat, just when you have grown your wings, you actually swung your knife at your own family."

He was very dissatisfied with Li Yuanjing.

However, Li Yuanjing held military and financial power, and his position was stable. It was difficult for Duke Lu to pull him off the throne.

Lu Yun was also sitting in the carriage. She looked at her father with an angry face and knew that her chance had come.

Lu Yun said gently: "Father, my sister just lost her child and is in poor health. I want to go to the palace to take care of her."