Princess Promotion

The four family heads gathered together again. It was funny to say that since Yao Chuguang ascended the throne, the number of times they gathered together was several times more than in the past ten years.

The head of the Liu family took a sip of tea and said with a hint of sarcasm: "Ever since His Majesty conquered the Western Zhou Dynasty, he has been extremely lenient towards those former ministers!"

After conquering the Western Zhou Dynasty, Yao Chuguang immediately issued a series of directives, showing an extremely tolerant attitude towards the officials of the Former Zhou Dynasty.

Officials who are willing to stay will be retained directly, while those who do not want to stay can leave freely.

This approach was undoubtedly intended to appease the people, but from a strategic point of view, it also made the four family heads feel indignant.

The head of the Qing family took over the conversation, his tone full of obvious dissatisfaction: "Who said it wasn't true? Your Majesty is now actually taking a conciliatory approach. We, the old ministers who worked so hard with Your Majesty to govern the country, are nothing more than this in His Majesty's eyes."

They recalled the scene when Yao Chuguang had just ascended the throne. At that time, her attitude towards her old ministers was extremely harsh, and could even be described as a "tyrant."

But now, the old ministers of the Western Zhou Dynasty are treated like a spring breeze. This huge difference in treatment seems unfair to everyone.

Patriarch Liu put down his teacup, his tone tinged with sarcasm: "If you say that the Western Zhou Dynasty is full of honest officials and that there are few corrupt officials, then that's simply a joke. We are all thousand-year-old foxes, why are we pretending to be pure?"

The head of the Qing family sighed, "Throughout the dynasties, which emperor didn't rely on civil officials to run the court? We just don't believe that Emperor Zhou is more capable than Yao Chuguang."

At this time, the head of the Wu family suddenly said, "I heard that Your Majesty showed leniency to the former Zhou Dynasty ministers because of General Fu's face?"

The head of the Liu family spat out a mouthful of tea, splashing all over the head of the Qing family who was sitting opposite him.

The head of the Qing family resisted the urge to jump in and scream, and with a dark face, he picked up a handkerchief and wiped the tea off his face.

The head of the Liu family turned around and raised his hand to cover up his embarrassment and coughed lightly a few times.

Elder Xiao slammed his hand on the table and cursed angrily, "You shallow-sighted fool! If Yao Chuguang is that little girl in the boudoir, whose mind is clouded by such love affairs, then what is the point of us serving as officials? We might as well find a crooked tree and end our lives there."

At first glance, what Patriarch Wu said seemed to be saying that Yao Chuguang was still a woman after all, and could not avoid being bound by love.

In fact, it is just like scolding Xiao Ge Lao and his group of high-ranking officials who boast of stirring up trouble in the court every day and have reached this point through power struggles and conspiracies, but in the end they cannot defeat a love-brained person.

He is still a love-brained person who treats national affairs as a joke.

This is no longer just an insult, but a blatant insult.

The head of the Liu family was also furious: "Think carefully, His Majesty can make such a painful decision even for his closest relatives, let alone a mere man."

If we talk about the past, when Yao Chuguang just took the throne, he began to thoroughly investigate corrupt officials, and the criminal law was unprecedentedly harsh.

At that time, the head of the Liu family would have more or less thought in his mind that if he got rid of Yao Chuguang, he could let the emperor take power again. Then his Liu family would have the credit for saving the emperor.

In this world of broken wealth and power, no one would not be tempted.

But the reality made the head of the Liu family realize that his chances were becoming increasingly slim. Yao Chuguang eliminated a large number of his followers, and the remaining minor officials were almost scared out of their wits and did not dare to make friends with him at all.

He originally thought that these followers were like wheat in a wheat field. After plucking this batch, he would elect a new group of people to be officials and start over.

Unexpectedly, Yao Chuguang had no moral principles and directly pushed for the imperial examination system, requiring everyone to pass the exam based on their own abilities.

This almost overturned all the plans of the head of the Liu family. Of the people originally selected, only one in ten survived. If he tried to recruit new officials, not to mention the price to be paid, it would take an unknown amount of time.

Because human trust cannot be cultivated overnight. He is risking the serious crime of having his property confiscated and his family exterminated. If his true identity is exposed, it will be no different from seeking his own death.

Now the head of the Liu family is basically honest. It’s not that he has no ambition, but it’s just that Yao Chuguang is too powerful.

Look at all the things she has done, any one of them alone would be enough to be remembered forever.

In the battle of Yicheng, Yao Chuguang led a force of generals several times smaller than the number of barbarians to hold out for a month, and finally waited for reinforcements to repel the barbarians.

In the imperial capital of Qi, Yao Chuguang dared to charge into the imperial capital with only 10,000 soldiers and horses, and even made the enemy troops of more than 100,000 run around in circles.

In the last month, he managed to make her biological father the emperor emeritus and ascend the throne himself.

If the head of the Liu family still has some faith that he can find an excuse to send troops to defend the king based on morality and filial piety.

But now Yao Chuguang still took only one month to defeat and conquer the Western Zhou Dynasty.

How could Patriarch Liu handle this? He had no support, no power, and no soldiers.

In this situation, if the head of the Liu family still has any ulterior motives, it would be like offering his life.

Even the previous accusation that Yao Chuguang was unfilial no longer holds water.

The reason is very simple, just like a story told by storytellers on the streets: if your business is passed on to your son, and his son does not see any improvement after running it for several years, but your grandson takes over, the business will immediately flourish.

Would you pass the business on to your grandson, skipping your son?

Although there are still a few corrupt scholars who cling to the old ethics and believe that the dignity of teachers cannot be violated.

But the rise and fall, honor and disgrace of a family are far more important than those false fame and profit.

Patriarch Qing also looked at Patriarch Wu with a look of astonishment: "With your majesty's power today, there is no such thing as a beautiful woman that you can't have? How could you be interested in an old man?"

After the head of the Qing family finished speaking, there was silence on the scene. This really hit their sore spot.

They haven't added anyone to Yao Chuguang's harem yet, mainly because they are reluctant to do so.

Some of the handsome men in the family who were sent to her were all returned by Yao Chuguang as being too stupid, saying that she looked down on men who couldn't even pass the imperial examination.

Then a rule was established that once a man entered the palace as a concubine, he was not allowed to participate in state affairs.

The man who can pass the imperial examination is the successor that the family has cultivated with great effort.

If this successor could enter the palace as a concubine, and if she was favored and gave birth to a son or daughter, it would be a good deal. If not, they would suffer a heavy loss.

Successors are not like crops in the field that can be picked in large quantities.

Those are their only children!

In fact, there is another main reason. The older ones are all married and have no possibility of entering the palace, and the younger ones who enter the palace cannot compete with Yao Chuguang at all.

So much so that they haven't found a suitable candidate yet, although they have several daughters.