Chapter 231 Political Insects
Just when Su Ze went to Nanzheng City (the capital of Liangzhou) to visit the seriously ill Fu Shuyan.
Luoyang.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival was not celebrated, but the gentry would admire the moon on this day and share crispy cakes (ancient moon cakes) with the whole family.
After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he officially designated Mid-Autumn Festival as a festival. The palace would hold moon-viewing ceremonies and distribute crispy cakes to all ministers to show the hope for reunion.
The Mid-Autumn Festival really became an influential festival during the Tang Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, when commercial civilization was developed, Mid-Autumn folk activities reached their peak.
Because of the changes that happened in the palace this year, the Mid-Autumn Festival was particularly important. Princess Chenliu put on the clothes of a lady of noble birth early in the morning. Four or five maids including Lu Zhu helped her to dress up. Finally, she put on the golden hairpins.
The polished bronze mirror reflected the swaying golden hairpin on her head. Princess Chenliu thought that the hairpin was given to her by Su Ze, and she felt even more resentful towards that stinky man who was fighting somewhere unknown.
However, since Su Ze went on the expedition, he and Princess Chenliu have been exchanging letters constantly. Princess Chenliu didn't understand why Su Ze could communicate with her so quickly.
When he first went to war, Su Ze would add some cheesy love words, but as the two sides communicated more and more, they talked about politics and military affairs more than personal topics.
There was no way. Both of them were actually political creatures. After a brief passion, they were more interested in military and political affairs.
However, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Princess Chenliu couldn't help feeling a little sad. But this time entering the palace was something that required Princess Chenliu to treat with all her might.
Because this time, it was the first time that Empress Dowager Hu appeared in public since the Xuanguang coup.
Although the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was just a small event, only the royal family members, regent ministers, and important officials above the rank of Purple Guanglu could attend. Even the deputy prime minister of the Menxia Province (Sanqi Changshi) was not eligible to attend.
But the fact that Empress Dowager Hu was able to engage in public activities had extraordinary political significance.
Princess Chenliu really couldn't understand how Yuan Yi and Liu Teng, two "wise" guys, agreed to let Empress Dowager Hu appear in public and let her contact the young emperor.
Do they really have no brains?
So, what level of person was the Prince of Qinghe who was killed by them?
No, how did you insects seize the supreme power?
Princess Chenliu really couldn't understand. Was it really as rumored in the palace, that Empress Dowager Hu cried in front of Yuan Yi's wife and Yuan Yi agreed?
Prince Yuan Yi of Jiangyang was the brother-in-law of Empress Dowager Hu.
The reason why Empress Dowager Hu was able to come to power was due to the drastic changes in the court. In order to win over the court officials, she even married her sister to Yuan Yi.
When Yuan Yi was on the rise in his early years, he also relied on the help of Princess Hu. After the coup, he did not depose Princess Hu.
Princess Chenliu really couldn't understand what was going on in Yuan Yi's brain.
She also discussed this matter in her correspondence with Su Ze, and they both came to the same conclusion that if King Jiangyang Yuan Yi continued to allow Empress Dowager Hu to have contact with the young emperor, he would surely die without a burial place.
In fact, in Princess Chenliu's view, it was already outrageous that Empress Dowager Hu could survive the coup.
The little emperor cannot be touched, this is the source of Yuan Yi’s power to rule, but what is Empress Dowager Hu?
A retired empress dowager can be killed at any opportunity. Why not keep her alive for the New Year?
But thinking about the process of the Xuanhua coup, it seems natural.
Both sides of this coup are amateurs to the extreme.
Compared to what my father did back then, which was to kill the crown prince and abolish the line of King Pengcheng, these guys are really weak.
Princess Chenliu thought of the scenes during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, and she felt sad. Is the destiny of the Wei Dynasty really coming to an end?
Putting these thoughts aside, Princess Chenliu still needs to observe the political situation in the palace today and think about how to gain the greatest benefit from it.
Princess Chenliu entered the palace in a carriage.
It is not allowed to set up stalls on both sides of Tongtuo Street at ordinary times, but during the reign of Emperor Xuanwu, the country was at peace and during festivals, people were allowed to set up mobile stalls on the street to celebrate festivals as long as they did not occupy the road.
When Empress Dowager Hu came to power, the Mid-Autumn Festival was still quite lively, but today it seems that there are only a few stalls on both sides, and the entire main road in Luoyang is very deserted.
In the early days of Emperor Xuanwu's reign, Luoyang entered a period of development.
As long as the capital is moved and there is no chaos, the super city of Luoyang will always prosper.
Therefore, although Emperor Xuanwu also believed in Buddhism, organized large-scale translation of Buddhist scriptures, and built many Buddhist temples, these projects were still within the country's capacity.
What was handed over to Empress Dowager Hu was generally a wealthy country.
But after Empress Dowager Hu came to power, she built many Buddhist temples in Luoyang. The construction of Yongning Temple alone consumed the manpower of 100,000 people in Luoyang and almost used up all the materials stored in the Imperial Household.
After this, Empress Dowager Hu built other Buddhist temples and pagodas. The trend of worshipping Buddhism in Luoyang became even more crazy, further consuming the country's wealth.
They even had to mint Buddhist coins and use inferior currency to rob the people of their wealth.
After the Xuanguang Rebellion, King Jiangyang Yuan Yi and the eunuch Liu Teng became even more crazy. The court was in chaos and the environment in Luoyang became even worse.
A few days ago, the upright Li Daoyuan was dismissed from his post as the governor of Henan and demoted to Luoyang by Yuan Yi because he punished several managers of the Jiangyang Palace.
Now the governor of Henan has been replaced by a cronies of Jiangyang King Yuan Yi, and the people of Luoyang are even more unlucky.
Princess Chenliu's carriage entered the palace area. The Southern Courtyard was closed today.
Princess Chenliu saw that many government offices had signs of burning. These were traces left by the coup and have not been repaired to this day.
But after King Jiangyang came to power, he transferred all the craftsmen in charge of the construction to build a new Buddhist temple in Luoyang.
The Jiangyang Palace was expanded several times, occupying almost half of the entire block.
King Yuan Yi of Jiangyang simply did not go to the Ministry of Personnel to work, but instead called the ministers to his own palace to discuss matters. Sometimes he even let the staff in the palace discuss things and then sent people to the palace to find Liu Teng to stamp their approval. Many rulers who were not Yuan Yi's followers were not qualified to participate in the discussion of state affairs. Instead, the staff around Yuan Yi could easily decide major national affairs.
The one whose power was most taken away was naturally the Minister of Personnel Cui Liang, who was once a member of the Qinghe King's faction.
However, since Cui Liang was a member of the Qinghe Cui clan, Jiangyang King Yuan Yi did not settle accounts with him. He just let him stay in the mansion on the pretext of illness and took away his job in the Ministry of Personnel.
Today, the appointment, dismissal, evaluation, and promotion of officials are all in the hands of Jiangyang Wang Yuanyi.
One advantage of King Jiangyang is that when promoting people, he does not care about their background or whether they are from a prominent family. He makes the appointment and removal matters purely market-oriented.
Whenever a position becomes vacant, the highest bidder gets it.
What Princess Chenliu admired the most was that some of the ministers in the Qinghe King's faction, by paying bribes, suddenly became the favorites of Jiangyang King and obtained better official positions than Jiangyang King's former confidants.
After Princess Chenliu passed the Southern Court and her carriage entered the Central Palace, she was about to get off the carriage and ride on a sedan chair.
Princess Chenliu watched the palace maids tidying up the silk hanging on the beams and pillars. A wedding had just taken place in the palace.
Speaking of this, Princess Chenliu found it even more outrageous.
Erzhu Rong, the first chieftain of Xiurong, married his eldest daughter to the young emperor as a concubine.
Although the Erzhu clan had once intermarried with the royal family, Erzhu Rong married a distant relative of the royal family.
What's even more outrageous is that Erzhu Rong's legal wife was the Princess of Beixiang, but this daughter was the eldest daughter of Erzhu Rong and his maid. If she was Erzhu Rong's legitimate daughter, it would be fine, but the daughter of a country chief was directly arranged to enter the palace as a concubine. This was not only a humiliation to the young emperor, but also a humiliation to the entire royal family.
The reason why Erzhu Rong was able to accomplish this was naturally because he bribed King Jiangyang with hundreds of horses.
outrageous.
Official positions can be sold, and the title of imperial concubine can also be sold. Princess Chenliu heard that the position of eunuch in the palace can also be sold, and because the competition is not very fierce, the prices are clearly marked and everyone is fair.
This Da Wei is really a pill.
In addition to facilitating this royal marriage, Jiangyang King Yuan Yi also waved his hand and exempted many of the officials, including Erzhu Rong, from coming to the geese in autumn.
Princess Chenliu knew that the so-called Yanchen System was actually a way to make trouble for the local chiefs.
In the past, when my father was in power, whenever Yanchen came to Yan, they would compete with each other in wealth and buy large quantities of goods from Luoyang.
This is a consumption of their wealth. People like Erzhu Rong occupy a piece of land, do not have to pay taxes and can manage it themselves. If they are not allowed to spend money and enjoy themselves, they will not be able to think about what they want to do.
The geese come in autumn and return in spring, which also weakens their influence in the territory.
This is a patch on the system of chieftains left over from the Northern Wei Dynasty.
However, after receiving bribes, Jiangyang King Yuan Yi simply exempted many Yan officials from the obligation to come to Yan and allowed them to stay in the territory on their own.
Princess Chenliu could only sigh that giving money to Prince Jiangyang really did get the job done.
Continuing forward, the place where the banquet was held this time was the Xuanguang Hall in the Beigong Palace.
Yes, and it was not known whether Prince Jiangyang did it intentionally or accidentally, but he held this banquet in the Xuanguang Hall where Empress Dowager Hu was imprisoned during the coup.
Empress Dowager Hu, who was under house arrest, naturally had no way to object.
After entering the North Palace, Princess Chenliu put on a professional smile and began to greet and exchange pleasantries with the guests attending the banquet.
But her eyes were always observing.
First of all, the actual host of this banquet, King Jiangyang Yuanyi, has not arrived yet.
The nominal host of the banquet, the young Emperor Yuan Xu, sat on the main seat, and next to him was the Empress Dowager Hu, whom he had not seen for a long time.
Empress Dowager Hu was dressed in gorgeous clothes, but looked much older. She was holding the little emperor's hand and saying something.
Isn't this prevented?
Princess Chenliu continued to observe. Although the Grand Chamberlain Liu Teng was also present, he was carried to the banquet.
Sure enough, old man Liu Teng is almost dying.
Liu Teng's adopted sons and grandsons surrounded the old eunuch, vying with each other to express their "filial piety". Even the eunuchs arranged by Liu Teng to stand behind the emperor came over to compete for favor.
As Su Ze expected, only Yuan Yi and Liu Teng together could control the government.
Now that Liu Teng is seriously ill, the situation in the palace is about to change.
The Queen Mother's attendance at the banquet indicated that the old and sick Liu Teng was no longer able to control the court.
It was even impossible to prevent the empress dowager from meeting the little emperor.
Once Liu Teng dies, I am afraid that King Jiangyang will completely lose control of the inner court.
Princess Chenliu once again glanced at the guests present. General Li Chong, who was still in good health, was sitting together with Cui Guang, a veteran minister of three dynasties who was over 80 years old.
After the coup, Guangyang Prince Yuanshen, who was promoted to Shangshu Ling, was flirting with the princess of Chengyang Prince Yuanhui.
Sure enough, the rumors collected by the female historian were true. Yuan Shen had committed adultery with the princess of Chengyang, Yuan Hui.
But now that Yuan Shen is in power, the victim, Prince Chengyang Yuan Hui, dares not speak out.
Princess Lanling sat in the corner, and Princess Chenliu smiled slightly.
The sister of Prince Qinghe might be the only one among the people present who still misses Prince Qinghe.
Princess Lanling, who was charged with murdering her husband, was able to escape punishment thanks to Prince Qinghe.
After Prince Qinghe died, Princess Lanling's status declined significantly.
Although Jiangyang King Yuanyi accepted her bribe and did not settle accounts with her, she was not good at managing money and could no longer maintain her luxurious life.
Princess Lanling now looks haggard and has aged twenty years in an instant.
At this time Princess Chenliu felt a gaze directed at her again. She looked over and saw that it came from behind the newly named Prince of Changle, Yuan Ziyou.
It turned out to be Su Shun, a eunuch beside Yuan Ziyou, who was placed in the palace by Su Ze (a eunuch who changed his attitude according to the situation).
Su Shun's entry into the palace was arranged by Princess Chenliu, and she had also met this eunuch.
But Su Shun was already old, and there were many factions in the palace, so Princess Chenliu didn't have high expectations for him.
Later, Su Shun was sent to the young emperor, but Princess Chenliu thought that he would not live long. Such eunuchs who were sent to the powerless young emperor were just cannon fodder.
I didn't expect that this guy managed to escape by relying on Yuan Ziyou after the Xuanguang Incident.
What surprised Princess Chenliu even more was that Su Shun had actually become a close eunuch of Yuan Ziyou.
After the young emperor took power, although there was no difference from when the empress dowager was in power, he still forcibly issued several decrees.
One of the decrees was to confer the title of King of Changle on the young emperor's own study companion, Yuan Ziyou.
Yuan Ziyou's father, King Pengcheng Yuan Xie, was involved in a major case in Emperor Xiaowen's later years and was executed, but Yuan Ziyou's family still had their clan identity, so there was no problem in the clan law for Yuan Ziyou to be made a king.
King Jiangyang Yuan Yi had no objection to this decree. After all, the Yuan family had so many kings that they wouldn't make a difference with just one more.
After Yuan Ziyou was crowned king, he often entered the palace, and every time he brought Su Shun with him. Princess Chenliu obtained a lot of information about the young emperor from him.
I don’t know where Su Ze found these subordinates. Not only are they loyal, but each of them has his own abilities.
When the banquet was about to begin, the protagonist of the banquet, King Jiangyang Yuanyi, finally arrived.
The young emperor and Queen Mother Hu stopped talking. Queen Mother Hu looked unhappy, but she forced a smile and stood up to greet Prince Jiangyang.
Princess Chenliu smiled. It was not easy for her, the emperor's sister-in-law, to be so humble.
Looking at the drunk Yuan Yi, Princess Chenliu was thinking about seeking an official position for Su Ze.
(End of this chapter)