The Prosperity of Jingdi Chronicle

On the day of Longevity Day, civil and military officials gave a banquet to Baohe Hall, and ordered women and their relatives to give a banquet to Yongshou Palace.

The inner banquet was presided over by Concubine Zhou.

Below the queen, among the four concubines of Guide Shuxian, the noble concubine has always been the most important. Concubine Shu died early, and the emperor left the concubine position empty without a newcomer. After the empress Xie died of a sudden illness, the emperor handed over all the affairs of the harem It was given to Gui Dexian and the third concubine as assistant.

Concubine Zhou occupies the first name among the three concubines. In addition, she has all sons and daughters. The Zhou family is also an aristocratic family that has been passed down for a hundred years. They have given her a lot of help behind her. There is nothing wrong with it, these years it seems to be the head of the harem, and it is only a small step away from the position that all the women in the harem are looking forward to.

Unfortunately, that small step was like a moat, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't cross it.Moreover, the emperor has been absent from the harem for many years, except for the festive palace banquets during the New Year. On weekdays, at most, he would meet by chance in the empress dowager's palace, and he left without saying a few words. Well, she gave up the idea too.

After all, compared to the position of empress, there is another position that is more worthy of her efforts, and that is - the throne of the empress dowager.

Although her Ying'er is neither a direct wife nor an elder, she wins the emperor's favor. As long as she plans carefully, everything is possible.With such thoughts in mind, Concubine Zhou took Huade and Zhuangxian to take care of the emperor's extremely sparse harem in a stable manner. At least on the surface, everyone called them sisters and sisters, and got along harmoniously.As for the various things behind the scenes, they are similar in all dynasties, so there is no need to elaborate on them one by one.

It is said that during the luncheon that day, the princes were taken to the Palace of Preserving Harmony to celebrate the emperor's birthday, and Concubine Zhou carefully served the Queen Mother for dinner after arranging the trivial matters of the banquet.

The Empress Dowager Wang knew very well about Concubine Zhou's thoughts, but she never showed any displeasure in front of others, nor did she embarrass her face to face, but she sneered when no one was around, and uttered four words softly: " wishful thinking".

At that time, it was the eldest son inheritance system, and the first son and grandson were orthodox.Since the emperor did not depose the Xie family for the sake of royal dignity, then the Xie family is the emperor's official wife, and her son Jing Qi is the direct prince. He is also the de facto eldest son and the legitimate heir to the throne. Even if the emperor canonize the noble concubine Zhou as the new The queen is only a stepwife, and her son cannot pass Jing Qi, unless...

The queen mother suddenly thought of this possibility, her heart tightened, and she decided to find an opportunity to have a good talk with the emperor.Regardless of the shady purpose of the emperor's promotion of the noble concubine Zhou these years, the princes and grandchildren will not allow any mistakes.This is the queen mother's final bottom line, even the emperor will not allow half a step to cross the threshold, if other people have such thoughts, they will even seek death by themselves.

It's not that the Empress Dowager wants to fight against the emperor, but that Jing Qi is both the heir and the elder, and making him the crown prince is the person who can hand over the throne smoothly. If it doesn't end well, you will either be convicted or lose your life. The queen mother hopes that the emperor will be the heir of the emperor in order to protect the emperor's heirs, and don't mess around.

However, what kind of thoughts the emperor has on this matter, it is difficult for the empress dowager to figure out for a while.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the Tian family obviously had their own thoughts in the Yongshou Palace, but they happily led the orders to celebrate the emperor's birthday together. The Palace of Preserving Harmony in the outer court also had a peaceful atmosphere.

The princes came to celebrate the emperor's birthday one by one, and soon, some discerning people found that this birthday banquet was slightly different from previous years.At that time, when the princes came to salute, Hou Weiyan of Yongning was standing at the bottom of the emperor's throne, talking sideways to accompany the emperor, because the emperor did not let him go down, in fact, he received the great gift from the princes together with the emperor.

How could the grand ceremony of the princes be easy to bear? Even if the emperor didn't think of it for a while, as a subject of Yongning Hou, it is reasonable to avoid it automatically at such a time.Therefore, after this scene happened, comments such as favored and arrogant, domineering, ignorant, etc., were pressed on Wei Yan by some people in an instant, even those who cared about Wei Yan, after witnessing all this In the end, while worrying whether such favor would be a blessing or a curse, Wei Yan's hat of ignorance and self-discipline should also be worn on Wei Yan's head.

In fact, Wei Yan has always been a man of etiquette and self-discipline, acquiescing to such a disrespectful thing happened, there is really a last resort.

The emperor's throne was a little far away from everyone, and Wei Yan was on his side at the time, so everyone didn't know that the emperor was holding his hand and playing with his fingers, and he was still threatening in a low voice: "I gave up a lot last night. If you dare to retreat now, I will pull you to sit next to me and announce the matter on the spot."

In desperation, Wei Yan chose the lesser of two evils, and finally chose to stand still and accept the big gift from the princes. Think about it.

On the other hand, the performance of the princes in the face of this scene is quite mysterious, and the temperament of some princes can be vaguely seen from it.

The second prince Jing Qi, who was the leader, changed his face slightly on the spot. After being glanced coldly by the emperor, he quickly calmed down and saluted without compromise. gloomy.

The third prince Jingying was full of festive atmosphere, and the emperor nodded repeatedly after saying his birthday speech. During the whole process of saluting, his warm eyes never changed, even when it fell on Wei Yan.

The fourth prince Jing Kun saluted honestly, he only had eyes for the emperor, and he didn't even sneak a glance at others from the corner of his eye.

The fifth prince, Jing Dai, was a little curious. After saluting, he looked at Marquis Yongning who was standing next to his father with probing eyes.

As for the sixth prince Jing Ke, the six-year-old child was still a little ignorant, but under the leadership of the servant, according to the set of rules taught, he obediently saluted and celebrated his birthday, then retreated, and quickly shrank back to his seat On the ground, he quietly faded out of everyone's sight.

After the princes retired, the royal family, princes, civil and military officials all wished together. After the ceremony, the birthday banquet was officially opened.

Needless to say, the dishes prepared by the imperial dining room in the palace are gorgeous and exquisite, but in terms of taste, they are a bit unsatisfactory. Even the imperial meals presented to the emperor are of a mediocre level and will never be perfect, otherwise the emperor's appetite will be spoiled. Life is not easy for everyone.This is one of the countless unwritten secret rules in the palace, so many emperors occasionally go to the folks to taste some snacks, and then they start to think about it. The imperial dining room is really to blame.

Jing Li is young and mature, thoughtful, and has heard a little about various customs in the palace. He naturally knows the tricks of the imperial dining room, but he himself is not very concerned about eating. He has his own small kitchen in the bedroom to make good things for him, so he doesn't bother to attack them.

As for the officials, being able to attend the birthday banquet is a kindness and honor, and they dare not care about the taste of the dishes, so the atmosphere of this banquet is always cheerful and enthusiastic.

As for Wei Yan, he finally got the emperor's permission, stepped back, and finally heaved a sigh of relief. Anyway, the emperor still knew how to measure, and he didn't force him to accept the big gift from the officials. Thinking to himself, it's a bit of a taste of bitterness, try not to think about whether today's behavior will anger the one in the future.

It's not that Jing Li doesn't know that what he did today may bring all kinds of troubles to Wei Yan and the Wei family in the future, but he has his own plans in this matter.The performance of his sons just now naturally fell into his eyes, and he also scored them one by one according to their performance in his heart.

Generous, kind, respectful ministers are diligent in government and love the people. Everyone thinks that is the criterion for him to choose the heir to the throne. Even the queen mother believes it. Only he knows that it is not the case at all.

He looked at the people in the audience, meditating on the vast territory of Jingchao in his heart, and smiled slightly. Nanyi has been decided. In his lifetime, Beidi will also be in his pocket. For these thousands of miles of land and inheritance, he must choose Only a suitable heir can be delivered with confidence.

His eyes slowly swept across the sons with different expressions and performances, and he was looking forward to which one would stand out from them and come out on top.

At that time, he didn't know that children are debts, even if he is an emperor, he cannot be exempted.What's more, the family relationship of the Tian family is always warm on the surface but cruel in reality. With just a few snaps of your fingers, you can turn the warmth into life and death for you.

But even if he knew, he wouldn't have any hesitation about his decision.This is the fate that the royal children must face after they are born. There is no escape and no retreat. The winners need to go through the road of blood and fire to reach the highest peak. , and soon there will be no trace.

After the banquet, everyone went to the Palace of Yanxi Palace to accompany the emperor to enjoy the opera, but Wei Yan did not accompany him because of temporary business.

Jing Li, who has always boasted that he is romantic, suave and talented in literature, proficient in all kinds of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, is really a first-class romantic emperor.However, with a high self-esteem, he has a hobby that is not humane.

If ordinary romantic talents love to listen to operas, they should appreciate those literary operas. Only our emperor, who claims to be unparalleled in romantics, has only been interested in those operas about swords and horses clanging and lively fighting since he was a child. I am the most impatient with the drama, and I can barely persevere after listening to the queen mother a few times. If I let him listen to it by himself, he will definitely not seek this guilt.

This hobby is not a shortcoming in detail, but compared with the real elegant people, it is a little bit out of place.But on this point, he and Wei Yan had a rare and very tacit understanding, and Wei Yan always didn't know the way to go to the theater, and only watched the excitement.

The officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs always try to figure out the sacred meaning. The two teams invited this time are good at martial arts, especially the master martial artist Yan Yucheng of the Yunxi troupe. Wusheng's reputation, handsome appearance, and extraordinary skills have won the hearts of many wives and ladies in the halls of the princes and eunuchs. This time, at the emperor's birthday banquet, three scenes were arranged unprecedentedly .

Yan Yucheng's first play that day was his famous work "Partridge Sky". The full name of "Partridge Sky" is "Hu Liang Biography. Partridge Sky". "Hu Liang Biography" is a play about the epic hero Hu Liang in folklore, and "Partridge Sky" is the most important one.It is said that there were nine wars between Hu Liang and the wild people, and finally the wild people were driven out of this land, so that people can thrive here.

Later, in order to commemorate Hu Liang, people compiled these nine wars into a play, and "Partridge Sky" is one of them.Because there are a lot of fighting scenes in this drama, it is the best test of martial arts skills. Many martial arts students became famous because of this drama. , there is no future.

Yan Yucheng made eighteen somersaults when he first appeared on the stage, and then he calmly made his appearance, with a steady breath and a chic posture, which immediately won the applause of all the halls, and even Jing Li nodded repeatedly.

Watching the whole scene, Yan Yucheng was young, and his performance lived up to his reputation, and he definitely deserved the reputation of being the number one martial artist in the capital. The flower gun was dazzling, and he won praises from time to time.

As the saying goes, experts watch the doorway, and laymen watch the excitement.Jing Li was not interested in the singing and lyrics, so he just watched the excitement, and Wei Yan was not by his side, so he was a little bored, just staring at the stage, a little distracted.

Yan Yucheng probably practiced kung fu since childhood, his body is soft, and his legs can easily kick to the top of his head.

Jing Li stared at his legs, but thought that his family Wei Yan's body flexibility was different from ordinary people because of his martial arts practice all the year round. If he pressed his legs to this angle, it would not be a problem, so he went to He wondered if he should change his posture and play some new tricks at night, and thought that Wei Yan had always resisted him making all kinds of tricks on the couch. Wei Yan would not be happy to change his position occasionally, so he began to think again, what should he do to make Wei Yan Submit obediently and cooperate automatically.

All kinds of beautiful and charming thoughts were spinning in his mind, imagining that at night, he would toss Wei Yan this way and that. Although there was nothing wrong with the expression on his face, the action of staring at people in a daze remained unchanged.

Beside Jing Li, there are loyal and treacherous ministers, as well as jesters who accompany him to fight cocks and run dogs, eat, drink and have fun. Staring at the stage, thinking of the emperor's special hobbies, and Yan Yucheng's handsome appearance and graceful demeanor, compared with Yongninghou, he is like a heaven and earth, so he moved some thoughts.

Although Jing Li has raised some jesters, but he is not a fatuous king himself, and he has all kinds of weird problems, so he is very difficult to serve. These jesters who rely on pleasing the emperor for a living live a good life It is also quite difficult.

Generally speaking, if this road is difficult and dangerous, you can find another way. If you want to please the emperor, you can work hard to please the emperor's beloved, and you can get twice the result with half the effort.Although Yongninghou has a good temper, but he came from a family and has been raised by the emperor with the power of the whole country for these years. I have never seen anything good. It is not easy for him to say hello, and it is impossible for people to please him. start.

In addition, he is in charge of the guard battalion and is responsible for the emperor's safety. If he has a close relationship with him, he may offend the emperor's taboo if he is a little careless. Therefore, there are not many people who dare to show their chariots and horses to curry favor with Marquis Yongning. .

But if the emperor's beloved was replaced by an actor from a poor background, everyone would have a lot more opportunities.

These people don't have any real material in their stomachs, relying on the shade of their ancestors to enter the officialdom, and then relying on trying to figure out the holy will to please the emperor all the way up, but pleasing the emperor is actually the most dangerous thing in the world.Companion king is like companion tiger, there have always been precedents of flattering horses.

They used to be afraid that if they were a little careless, they would violate the taboo and offend the emperor, and they didn't dare to act recklessly with the Marquis of Yongning. Now, seeing such a good opportunity, how could they let it go easily.After a few moves, within a few days, that Yan Yu achievement was sent to the palace.