The function of the Dayi Hall in Luoyang Palace is similar to that of the Lizheng Hall in Daxing Palace. It is a place specially used by the queen to receive the royal wives. Today is the birthday of Yang Guang's youngest daughter, so Empress Xiao held a banquet for the royal wife in Wencheng Hall.
Yang Guang's youngest daughter was named Yang Feihong, who was born in the third year of Renshou and was five years old this year. Yang Jian named her Princess Qinghe. After Yang Guang ascended the throne, he was promoted to Princess Qinghe. The biological mother of the little princess is not Queen Xiao, but Queen Xiao's clan sister, Xiao concubine, whose status is equivalent to that of a concubine.
Marriages from prominent families often imply political alliances. In addition to the daughter of the bride, one or several "nurses" will also be given in marriage. The nuns are not maids, but cousins of the daughter of the bride.
Marrying a wife and having a concubine as a dowry was the norm in ancient times.
This is not a benefit that the woman gives to the man, but when pregnant women give birth in ancient times, the probability of dystocia is extremely high; the woman is afraid that the "daughter" she is marrying will die of illness or dystocia, so she marries a few more to serve as substitutes; in case the "daughter" is married to her "It's really gone, and the "substitute" can take over, so that the relationship that the two parties have finally established can continue to be close.
This concubine Xiao was not a concubine who married with Empress Xiao, but Empress Xiao fell seriously ill when she gave birth to her third son, Yang Ming, in the fifteenth year of the founding of the Emperor. His son Yang Ming died soon after.
After Yang Guang became the crown prince, she found a sister from her mother's family to be Yang Guang's concubine in view of the fact that she could not have children and Yang Guang, who had few offspring, was wary of the Chen sisters and the Wang family. Flowers and leaves are scattered, and the royal heirs are strengthened.
At three o'clock on the 10th day of September, Empress Xiao was wearing a gorgeous queen's uniform, a phoenix crown on her head, and many necklaces hanging from her temples and ears. Her hibiscus-shaped face was as white as snow, with a rosy and graceful figure. The beauty is beyond words. Surrounded by pearls and emeralds, she sat on the bed with a sweet smile.
Sitting below are Cui Junchuo's daughters Cui Shi, Xiao Bi, Chen E, the fourth daughter of Chen Empress, Chen Ting and Wang, the sixth daughter of Chen Empress.
The above six women are also all of Yang Guang's "inheritance".
For this era, not to mention those high-ranking officials who hold great power, there are also many children of aristocratic families with no official positions and no positions, and they also have double-digit wives and concubines; however, Yang Guang, as the lord and supreme king of the world, only has six women. , the quantity can be said to be pitifully small and shabby. What's even more bizarre is that Yang Guang has been the emperor for so long. In addition to canonizing Empress Xiao, the other five women seem to have been forgotten by him. They still don't have a more formal title. The palace officials can only use them as "Mrs."
In addition to the six of them, Princess Leping, Princess Xiangguo, Princess Guangping, Princess Lanling, Princess Nanyang, Crown Princess, and Princess Qi also gathered around Princess Qinghe, teasing the cute little birthday girl in a low voice.
Empress Xiao looked dignified. She accepted the royal decree and asked the female officials to guide her to her seat.
Sitting in front were undoubtedly the princes and princes, the three divisions and three princes, the three provinces and six ministries, the temple supervisors, the general, the general's mother and his wife, in addition to their concubines, second wives, concubines, and legitimate daughters, all sitting in a row and talking. Smile, the atmosphere is pleasant and peaceful.
As this group of gorgeously dressed married women and official daughters-in-law entered the hall one after another, the hall suddenly became a sea of flowers, filled with birds and birds, and the fragrance was very lively.
At this time, Dugu Min led Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying in, followed by two mothers holding their grandchildren and several maids carrying gift boxes; Liu Rumei did not come, not because she was not qualified, but for safety reasons, Dugu Min He let her rest at home.
The wives who were reminiscing and laughing in low voices suddenly stopped talking and looked at the girls and children of Prince Wei's palace led by Dugu Min. As a result, Wencheng Hall fell into a strange silence.
Everyone is in the same circle and knows each other; but the most popular one in Beijing these days happens to be Prince Wei's Mansion.
Since Yang Ji returned with great achievements, things have been going on in Prince Wei's palace. First, the emperor and empress personally went to the palace to watch the birth of the child, and then the palace gave birth to two sons in one day. Then, rumors spread among the ladies, saying that the emperor and King Wei actually fought in the palace to compete for the right to name their children, and that King Wei could not beat the emperor. , so the names of the two children were chosen by the emperor. The emperor was happy and canonized Yang Ji's eldest son as the Prince of Sui'an County and the second son as the Duke of Wuwei County on the spot.
The rumor about the fight between the emperor and the king of Wei was a sensation, and the envious women used it as a basis for conversation, which lasted for a long time. From this, stories such as Yang Ji's excessiveness, Yang Ji's ignorance of blessings, the kindness of the emperor, the power of the emperor, etc. were derived.
Not long after, the emperor actually opened the imperial examination system and officially announced that the imperial examination system was the most important method for selecting talents for the imperial court. No matter whether they were children of aristocratic families, children of poor families or ordinary people, they could sign up to participate in the examination. In the future, governors and county magistrates will be responsible for registration matters. Anyone who dares to exclude scholars will be punished for deceiving the emperor.
Although aristocratic families, dignitaries, and local officials still have the power of hereditary, family influence, recommendation, etc., the people they recommend need to serve in official positions and have to take exams; instead of being directly appointed as before.
Due to their poor family background and limited collection of books, ordinary people from poor families naturally do not have as much knowledge as the children from well-established families. Even in exams, most of them are not as good as children from well-known families and nobles. But Yang Guang faced the literati all over the country. It can be said that the imperial examination gave the poor people a sufficient opportunity. If it had been placed before, there would have been no gaps for the poor people.
The emergence of movable type printing and the widespread promotion of cheap paper books have greatly reduced the cost of learning for ordinary people from poor families. However, the tightness and tightness of the door to becoming an official still made ordinary people from poor families less interested in learning. Now that Yang Guang has opened the door to becoming an official, he is bound to arouse people's desire to learn. As time goes by, the advantages of the aristocratic family will naturally gradually fade away.
However, the promulgation of the national imperial examination was neither too early nor too late. It happened to be shortly after the birth of Yang Ji's two sons. In view of the numerous crimes Yang Ji had committed against them, the family members naturally attributed the "contribution" to the establishment of the imperial examination to Yang Ji. On.
In fact, this imperial examination had nothing to do with Yang Ji, but was done by Yang Guang himself. It was also a continuation of Yang Jian's major policies. But they did not dare to scold Yang Jian and Yang Guang, so they launched a vigorous verbal and written attack on Yang Ji, who was "motivated, slanderous" and "criminal."
And Yang Ji, in line with the concept of not burdening yourself with debts and not biting people if there are too many lice, silently claimed this historical achievement that has passed through the ages. In addition, he unexpectedly received Yang Guang's apology and gratitude. After all, Yang Guang chose this moment to promulgate the imperial examination system in order to let Yang Ji take charge of it. However, Yang Ji was not dissatisfied at all, but actually enjoyed it. How could Yang Guang not be grateful for having such a good minister and brother? How can you not believe it?
The common people of the Sui Dynasty, including the ladies circle, had been talking about Yang Ji for a long time because of the sensation of the imperial examination; it was not until Yang Su died that this slowly faded away. But yesterday, Yang Ji argued and clashed with Feng Deyi again at the Duke's Palace of Chu, which made Yu Shiji and Feng Deyi look bad. This made him a topic in the elite circle.
No matter what their temperament or moral character, their talents are unquestionable. Most of them are good wives of their husbands, and they know all about Yang Ji's "evil" behavior.
Seeing his mother, wife and children arriving at this moment, they all looked at him with different eyes.
Dugu Min is a battle-hardened and fierce person who even gave Yang Jian and Empress Dugu a headache. How could such a small scene make her timid? Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying were excellent women trained by famous families, and with their mother-in-law carrying them in front, they moved forward with calm and steady expressions.
Approaching Queen Xiao's location, Dugu Min, along with his daughter-in-law and servants, saluted Queen Xiao according to the etiquette: "The Yang Dugu family of King Zhao's Yishuang and the palace's imperial concubines, grandchildren, and servants pay their respects to the Queen."
Gao Ling, who was sitting behind his mother-in-law, turned his eyes as full as autumn water and looked at the palace girl led by Dugu Min. His eyes passed directly past Dugu Min and suddenly jumped to the two women wearing gorgeous clothes and wearing drops on their heads. On a young woman with a green crown.
When her father Gao Jiong was the chief steward of Liangzhou, she also went to Zhangye to live for a period of time. When Xiao Ying went there, she had already returned to Daxing, so the two did not know each other. However, Gao Ling became dissatisfied and dissatisfied with Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying, whom she had heard about for a long time but had not seen in person, due to Gao Qiong's various tricks behind her back.
After seeing her beauty clearly, Gao Ling's eyes narrowed slightly, and a stunning color appeared on his bright and pretty face.
If Xiao Ying, dressed in the princess's attire, is a graceful and luxurious peony, then Pei Shuying, who is on the right behind Dugu Min, is a fresh, timeless, white and pretty lily of the valley. At a glance, one feels that there is a sense of indifference between the two. Dan's scholarly aura hit her face, and this timeless demeanor and grace alone were beyond what she could compare to.
"No wonder Aye said that the princess and the concubine can't be compared to me. They are really beautiful, graceful and luxurious. This is especially true for these two people. I really don't know how beautiful Liu Rumei is, who is Yang Ji's favorite and can't bear to leave during the war. "
Liu Rumei is beautiful, but she is not as fair as Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying, and her temperament is even more incomparable. In addition, she is a swordsman, and her complexion is not as fair as the two of them. But when Yu Wen Zhiji was fighting with Yang Ji in the Daxing Budong Building, he actually wanted to snatch away Liu Rumei, who was already a concubine, in front of Yang Ji. People who didn't know the reason took it for granted that Liu Rumei looked so good. She is as beautiful as a celestial being and is rare in the world. If this were not the case, no matter how stupid Yu Wen Zhiji was, he would not grab the imperial scroll.
Moreover, Yang Ji would take her with him wherever he went, which further deepened the misunderstanding. Over time, the powerful circles said that Liu Rumei was a rare beauty in the world and the most favored by Yang Ji.
There are many people who hold this view; Gao Ling is naturally not exempt from vulgarity.
"Aunt, please get up quickly." Empress Xiao looked at Dugu Min at this moment, with a smile as bright as a spring flower, and said softly: "Crown Princess, please help my aunt quickly."
"Yes, Auntie!" Crown Princess Yang Weishi responded, stood up and left her seat, stepped forward to help Dugu Min up, and whispered: "Uncle, please get up." Then she helped Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying up one by one. .
This scene almost made Madam Gaoming in the palace die of soreness: when the empress' concubine Xiao and Princess Leping arrived just now, the empress asked the Crown Princess to help her.
However, when thinking about Yang Ji's status and achievements, he knew that the three mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in front of him are "the mother is valued by the son, and the wife is honored by the husband." If their son has made great achievements, the queen must have asked the princess to support him, right?
However, what is frustrating is that their son is not great, and naturally he does not have such an honor.
Helpless, they had no choice but to suppress their envy and jealousy, and complained about their sons in their hearts:
Look at Dugu Min's son, Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying's husband!
Look at you again?
What a disgrace!
There are many ladies in the palace who like to compare. In order to compete for this "honor", they secretly came up with the idea of strictly controlling their sons and educating them strictly.
"Thank you, Queen, thank you, Crown Princess!" Dugu Min was polite and thoughtful, but his heart was filled with joy, and a feeling of pride and elation arose spontaneously.
Thinking back to those days, it’s really hard to look back.
When someone showed off her son, she had nothing to say, so she could only catch him and beat him. As he ran, he shouted something like, "Thirty years to the east of Hedong, thirty years to the west of Hexi. Don't bully young people into poverty."
After a lot of hard work, her son finally became successful, but when she was about to show off her son, they instead showed off her daughter-in-law and grandson. She was still speechless and had nothing to say about this.
But now...
Ha ha!
It was the son who had the foresight - "Three years to the east of the river, three years to the west of the river, don't bully the young... the young woman is poor."
In the blink of an eye, Dugu Min never forgets business! When their daughter-in-law died, the three of them presented their own congratulations to the birthday girl in turn, and Xiao Ying also presented Liu Rumei's share.
Yang Weishi, who was waiting next to them, greeted them with a smile and gestured: "Uncle, aunt, please sit here."
Queen Xiao waited until they were seated, looked around the palace full of royal ladies and noble ladies, and was about to say some auspicious words as a prelude. However, at this moment, a chamberlain hurriedly entered the palace and whispered a few words to the female officer waiting at the door.
A female official is a senior palace maid in the inner palace, with a certain rank and salary. Her responsibilities are to manage lower-level palace maids, train new palace maids, and take care of young princesses, princes, etc.
Compared with the previous chaotic situation in the inner palace, Yang Jian set up six ministers, six ministers, and six Dians to take charge of the affairs of the inner palace; Yang Guang further standardized it, making the operating system of the inner palace similar to that of the Shangshu Province, with six ministers and twenty-four ministers. One minister was in charge of four divisions, and each minister had two palace ministers, with an official rank of up to five ranks; each division had two ministers, with an official rank of six ranks, and under them there were female officials such as dianji, dianyan, and female history.
The inner palace system was standardized by Yang Guang. Female officials at all levels performed their duties and kept the inner palace in an orderly manner. It can be said to be the culmination of the ancient female official system.
Queen Xiao sat high and could see far away. She saw everyone looking at the two "inviters" who were whispering to each other, and said displeasedly: "What's wrong?"
The female officer gave the chamberlain a fierce look, stepped forward helplessly, bowed to Empress Xiao, and said with a troubled face: "I'm reporting to the empress, there was a dispute among the ministers in Daye Palace."
Empress Xiao asked puzzledly: "It is the custom in the Shuo Dynasty not to discuss state affairs. Why are we arguing today?"
When Madam Gaoming and the noble daughter who were secretly paying attention heard the words, they also suppressed the smiles on their faces and listened quietly.
The female official said bravely: "Queen, I heard that Cui Libu presented a congratulatory form, and accused King Wei of being militaristic and cruel, and denounced King Wei as a treacherous traitor to the country. Many civil servants took advantage of the situation to impeach King Wei, and asked the saint to remove King Wei from his post and withdraw from the border of Liangzhou. army."
All the ladies and ladies in the palace were surprised.
Someone actually impeached Yang Ji?
"Mr. Lang, has something happened to him?" Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying were both looking at Mrs. Gao's location. Because Yang Ji was afraid that they would be deceived, he told everyone about Gao Jiong's constant entanglement. Even Gao Jiong The deep meaning of the married daughter was not concealed, which made the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law extremely wary and disgusted with the Gao family.
As the father-in-law of the late Yang Yong, Gao Jun was also a staunch opponent of Yang Guang. Now that Yang Guang has succeeded in taking power, no one can guarantee whether he will liquidate Gao Jiong; at this time, Gao Jiong relies on Yang Ji. Isn't this dragging their whole family into a pit of fire? Who can like this kind of person who has evil intentions and plans to "harm others"?
As Yang Ji's wives, Xiao Ying and Pei Shuying did not object to Yang Ji taking concubines, and even if Gao Ling entered the family, it would shake their and their son's status. The key is that Gao Jiong's intention to use Prince Wei's palace to prevent disaster is too obvious. At this time, Mrs. Gao and her daughter-in-law happened to be sitting diagonally across from them, and the beautiful woman behind her kept looking this way, so they knew that this beautiful girl was Gao Ling without guessing.
They already had a bad impression of Gao Ling, and Gao Ling's behavior was very rude, which made their impression even worse.
The two sisters were preparing to communicate when they suddenly heard that their husband had been impeached by many ministers. Their hearts trembled and they looked at the female official in unison.
At this time, Dugu Min's joy disappeared, and a layer of worry appeared in the corner of his eyebrows. His son has always been "military" since he became an official, but no one has ever used this to impeach him. He has been back in Beijing for so long, and almost everything is ignored. , and no one has ever impeached him. Today, it is very unusual for someone to impeach Shuo Chaoshang for "militancy" when he is not talking about business.
After thinking for a moment, Dugumin suddenly realized something in his heart, and whispered to his daughter-in-law sitting on both sides: "Cui Libu is referring to Cui Zhongfang. He took the lead in provoking trouble, most likely because of the imperial examination!"
"Auntie, is Langjun okay?" Xiao Ying asked worriedly.
"Believe in your husbands." Dugumin's eyes flashed and he added: "You must also believe in the power of the imperial examination!"
Xiao Ying nodded silently. She also knew that the late emperor's move to depose the Ninth Grade Zhongzheng and promote the imperial examination by the sages was actually not just a simple worry about the expansion of the aristocratic family and the neglect of the Sui Dynasty. The essence is that the ninth grade Zhongzheng means that the children of aristocratic families have no worries about food, clothing, officialdom, and promotion. Many children of aristocratic families have also lost their motivation to study.
When the ninth rank of Zhongzheng continued into the Sui Dynasty, the power of the clans was severely weakened, and the ability of talents was even worse than the previous generation. It was difficult for the clans to even support the normal operation of the government, let alone further grow the empire. However, the power of the poor families is constantly growing, and many talented people have emerged. Whether it is for the stability and continuation of the Sui Dynasty or for practical needs, Yang Jian and Yang Guang must consider the poor families as the backbone of the country.
It can be said that the saint's opening of subjects to the whole country is a big move that is inevitable and inevitable! The competitive concepts contained in the imperial examination, such as meritocracy and ability, will also arouse a sense of crisis among the aristocratic families and make them regain their ancestors' ambition to compete for excellence. From this perspective, Xiao Ying feels that the imperial examination is actually a Extend the life of the nobles.
However, the family members have been aloof for too long, and they have the strength and power to prevent the poor men from seizing the throne. How can they give up? How can we support the imperial examination that is detrimental to the present and affects future generations?
The saint obviously would not compromise on issues related to the inheritance of the Sui Dynasty and the imperial examinations that were related to the further growth of the Sui Dynasty; besides, the saint was not King Hui of Qin who had just ascended the throne and lacked prestige, so he naturally did not need to kill the "Shang Dynasty Shangpai" "Yang Ji" determines the "people's heart". As long as the saint does not compromise, the husband who "advocates the national imperial examination" will be fine.
Xiao Ying slowly felt relieved when she thought of this.
"Send someone to the Daye Palace to have a look. If there is any news, send it in time." Empress Xiao knew that the important lady and noble daughter in the palace had been distracted by the dispute in the court, and her mind was no longer here; if she was secretive, , being indifferent is not beautiful, so he simply followed everyone’s wishes and gave instructions to the female officer.
"Yes!" The female officer bowed and quickly ordered several male chamberlains to inquire about the news.
As expected by Empress Xiao, although the ladies and noble ladies in the Wencheng Palace were chatting in low voices as if no one else was around, their minds were somewhat elsewhere and they were all silently paying attention to the development of the situation.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
