"Husband, what is a scholar?" An Qing looked confused.
Han Du took a sip of tea and explained calmly: "This thing has not appeared yet, or it has not been realized yet."
An Qing did not interrupt and listened quietly to Han Du's words.
"In your opinion, does the emperor have great power?"
"Of course." An Qing nodded without hesitation. She was born into a royal family, so she naturally subconsciously believed that the imperial power was the greatest.
Han Du smiled slightly and did not refute, but continued to ask: "Since the emperor has the greatest power, do you think the emperor can do whatever he wants?"
"This..." An Qing hesitated immediately. According to reasoning, this is indeed the case, but the reality is not like this at all.
Anqing is not so confused that he is so blindly arrogant that he cannot even see reality.
When Han Du saw her expression, he immediately understood that she had noticed the reality.
He chuckled and continued: "Obviously you also understand that even the emperor cannot do whatever he wants, unless he is like Emperor Taizu Gao."
"My husband wants to say that officials can check and balance the emperor?" An Qing also thought of this.
But Han Du didn’t mean this. He shook his head and explained: "Officials are just superficial things. On the surface, officials restrict imperial power through Confucian etiquette. , but we all know that Confucianism is completely subservient to imperial power, so it is obviously not this. What I want to say is the essence of this matter. In essence, what checks and balances imperial power is actually a mainstream cultural thought."
An Qing nodded repeatedly when she heard this. She used to think that Confucian etiquette restricted imperial power. But in fact, when Confucianism was born, it was entirely to serve the imperial power. How could it restrict the imperial power?
There must be something deeper in this.
She couldn't understand this, but her husband obviously understood. An Qing quickly sat upright and looked at Han Du as if he was all ears.
"What is intellectual thought?"
Han Du explained with a gentle smile: "It is a common will formed by countless people investing in a kind of knowledge, recognizing this kind of knowledge. Just like Confucianism, do you think that the current Confucianism is still the same as what Confucius proposed two thousand years ago? Confucianism? The Confucianism at that time and the Confucianism now are completely different things."
"But for thousands of years, countless heroes have devoted themselves to it, and it has developed step by step until now, which has become the consensus of almost everyone."
An Qing felt a sudden realization. He looked at Han Du with a pair of beautiful eyes and said directly: "What your husband said is because of the appearance of the academy, right?"
"Hahaha..." Han Du laughed happily and said, "You are right. Without the emergence of the academy, the world would still be dominated by Confucianism. But after so many years, the academy has continued to develop. , has been able to compete with it."
"As long as one day the academy can completely replace the Imperial College, and mathematics, physics and chemistry can replace Confucianism and completely occupy the mainstream of learning, then do you think the emperor can still treat me as the founder of the academy?"
"When the time comes, even if the emperor wants to do something to me, I'm afraid no one in the world will agree."
"This...is this what you call a scholar?" An Qing's eyes widened, and then he understood why her husband said that a scholar is scary.
Horrible, really terrible!
If this is really possible, then it is not a question of what the emperor wants to do with his husband. I'm afraid that when the time comes when the husband points his finger at the emperor and scolds him, he can only bow his head and accept it obediently. "How can this be done?" An Qing was moved. If this could really be done, then she would no longer have to worry about the future of the Zhenguo Palace.
Han Du glanced at An Qing meaningfully, smiled dryly and said hesitantly: "Although it is difficult to do this, it is not impossible..."
"What can we do?" An Qing asked eagerly.
Han Du looked into An Qing's expectant eyes and softly uttered two words, "Spend money!"
"Spend... spend money?" An Qing couldn't believe her ears.
It's not because she's reluctant to spend money, but because she thinks it's too frivolous to have such a sacred and solemn thing to do with money.
"It will cost a lot of money!" Han Du nodded affirmatively.
"This money came from the Zhenguo Duke's office!" An Qing waved his hand proudly.
Han Du was a little surprised. An Qing had made a decision before he even said how much it would cost?
This amount is not small. Since An Qing didn't ask, Han Du couldn't tell her directly, lest she regret it.
The professional topic said: "So, now you know, right? If Fu Li really marries a prince's daughter according to your ideas, I'm afraid the emperor may not be happy. . Instead, if you marry a woman from a commoner family like you are now, the emperor will clap your hands and approve, do you believe it?"
Although he knew that Han Du was right, An Qing was still a little unwilling. He hesitated and said: "But in this case, it would be a bit aggrieved."
"He chose it himself. What's wrong with him?" Han Du said nonchalantly.
...
Sure enough, Han Fuli came back not long ago. News spread quickly in the capital that he had returned to the Zhenguo Palace with a strange woman.
It didn't take long for people to find out clearly about Huang Jinshu's family background.
"What? You said Han Fuli got married outside the Duke's back?" Zhu Yunye just wanted to listen to the eunuch tell him interesting stories to relieve his boredom in his free time. He didn't expect to hear such exciting content as soon as he came.
The eunuch quickly bowed and nodded, lamenting with a heavy tone: "Yes! This matter has been spread all over the capital. The second son of the dignified Zhen Guo Duke has made a private life with someone. This can make the Zhen Guo Duke and His Royal Highness the Princess Where should I put my face? Now the people in the entire capital are watching the joke of the Zhenguo Palace."
Zhu Yunye's eyes were rolling. He didn't care whether the Zhenguo Palace was embarrassed or not. What he cares about is what benefits he can get from this matter.
The eunuch was still chattering: "...Your Majesty, after all, Han Fuli is an official of the imperial court and the son of Princess Anqing. If we continue to allow the people to talk like this, it will probably damage the majesty of the royal family. Please, Your Majesty." Order as soon as possible to ban people from talking about this matter."
Zhu Yunye slowly turned his head, looked at the eunuch, and asked doubtfully: "Is this what you think?"
When the eunuch saw that the emperor looked bad, his heart suddenly tightened, and he knelt on the ground in a panic and begged for mercy: "I have overstepped my bounds. I deserve to die. I am talking nonsense. Please forgive me..."
Zhu Yunye lowered his eyes, looked at the eunuch who kowtowed for a moment, and sighed softly: "I know you are worried about the reputation of the royal family being damaged. After all, Han Fuli is also a relative of the emperor. But in this matter... you don't have to Never mind. Get up."
"Yes, yes, I obey the order." The eunuch stood up tremblingly, holding the fly whisk in his hands and standing aside, not daring to speak again.
And Zhu Yunye did not continue to pursue the eunuch. Now his mind was filled with flashes of inspiration. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was a lot of room for maneuver in this matter.
...
A few days later, the emperor suddenly issued an order.
"The emperor was entrusted with the destiny of heaven, and the edict said:... The Huang family's brocade book, which is knowledgeable and reasonable, and beautiful and wise, is specially granted the title of second-grade imperial concubine, and is bestowed with a pair of jade Ruyi..."
In the eyes of outsiders, this is the emperor's favor to the Zhenguo government.
After all, Han Fuli's private life was a stain no matter what. Especially for people like him who hold official positions, it is a huge taboo.
Don't underestimate this stain. In history, there are many ministers who have been dismissed from office or even had their families destroyed because of these small shortcomings.
Although Han Fuli had the support of the Zhenguo government and his family would not be ruined, the possibility of losing his official position was still very high.
But with the emperor's decree, Huang Jinshu is no longer Han Fuli's flaw. The emperor's second-grade imperial concubine, no matter what her previous status was, she is now the emperor's recognized wife of Han Fuli.
Anyone who dares to make irresponsible remarks is slandering the emperor!
"Dad, how could your Majesty... how could you?????????????????Fan Jinshu as a second-grade imperial edict?" Every pore on Han Fuli's body was showing excitement. , how could he not know the meaning of the second-grade imperial concubine?
Such a high title would only be given to the head wives of officials of second rank or above, and only if the officials had made great contributions. For so many years in Qiongzhou, he could only be regarded as a well-behaved person, but not enough to make great achievements. Han Fuli still knew this in his heart.
At the same time, he also understood the meaning of the title given by the emperor. From then on, Huang Jinshu was his legal wife, and no one could object. This is great news for Han Fuli, who has always been worried about this.
But he is not stupid, fearing that there is some trap in it. Therefore, he began to worry about gains and losses in front of Han Du.
Han Du waved his hand and gave him a reassurance, "What's wrong with the second daughter-in-law of the dignified Duke's mansion being given a second-grade imperial title? Can't you bear it?"
Han Fuli's face suddenly turned red, and he said a little embarrassedly: "I can bear it, but the child has not made any achievements..."
Han Du laughed lightly, waved his hands and said matter-of-factly: "It doesn't matter if you don't have any credit, as long as I do!"
There is nothing wrong with this statement. If it is really calculated according to merit, let alone giving Huang Jinshu a second-grade imperial edict, even if he makes Han Fuli a Duke, the emperor still owes Han Du.
"Pfft..."
As soon as these words came out, Han Fuli couldn't help laughing anymore, "Dad...what happened to you today?"
"It's nothing." Han Du said calmly, and then said: "You should hurry up and tell your wife the good news. I'm afraid she has been waiting for a long time."
"Yes, yes, kid, please leave." Han Fuli suddenly turned around after being reminded by Han Du, turned around and left, heading towards his yard.
After his son left, Han Du picked up the imperial edict with a smile, glanced at it, turned his head and said to An Qing: "Look, what do I say? The emperor is happy to see it come true!"
"Hey..." An Qing sighed slightly in her heart. Although she had long been convinced by Han Du, she still had a small hope that Han Du would guess wrong.
But in the face of this imperial edict, Anqing had to admit that Han Du's prediction was exactly what he expected. The emperor really spared no effort in doing anything that could weaken the influence of the Zhenguo government.
