CH 2

太祖 (tài zǔ) - Great Ancestor (posthumous title, e.g. for the founder of a dynasty); grandfather

The upper study.

Emperor Jia Ning finished reading through the several days' worth of memorials before raising his eyes to look at Crown Prince Han Ye, who was standing quietly at the bottom.

The crown prince, who has long since become an adult, is transparent and wise, introverted and gentle. As a crown prince, he was undoubtedly the pride of Emperor Jia Ning, but like all emperors of all generations, he had imperial power that he never wanted to be taken away from him when he was on the throne, even if that person was his most talented son.   

Han Ye was not born like Emperor Jia Ning, but no one dared to say a word about him. The only reason was that he looked so much like  Taizu, almost like he was carved out of the same mold, that Emperor Jia Ning would always be unconsciously distracted when he looked at this face that resembled his predecessor's, like at this moment.

"Father?" The Crown Prince Han Ye called out, not too softly but not too heavily, with a respectful expression, as he was extremely familiar with the Emperor's actions.

Emperor Jia Ning returned to his senses and coughed lightly, "Emperor's son, Ren An Le is just a barbarian girl from the border. She is reckless and ignorant. When she enters the capital, you can just leave her to dry out, don't be too concerned and lose the temperament of the crown prince."

Once the news of what he said in the courtroom today spread, Ren Anle would become a thorn in the side of the Eastern Palace and the laughing stock of the entire capital's aristocracy. In the end, After accepting 30,000 naval forces, Emperor Jianing thought it was necessary to persuade him appropriately.

"Father, rest assured that this son will definitely admonish his subordinates." Han Ye frowned and responded.　　

The emperor nodded his head, knowing that his son had always been a man of his word, and suddenly turned his words around and spoke lightly, "Prince, you are not young anymore. Besides, it's not right that the Eastern Palace is always without a master. I ask you, Until now, your mind....It's still not changed?"

The moment he said this, Emperor Jia Ning swept away the kindness and peace he had just shown, and his whole body brought out a vague aura of fury. He looked at the Crown Prince scornfully. His hand lightly clasped on the head of the dragon chair, the dull knocking sound was inadverdent but full of deterrence.       

The corner of Han Ye's eyebrows twitched slightly. This is the emperor who had fought with the previous emperor in the north and south, exterminating the Di family and taking control of Great Jing single-handedly. These years have been comfortable for so long that he has somewhat forgotten what a lordly figure his father had been.　　

"It is unfilial of this son to cause his father to worry." Han Ye raised his eyes and looked solemnly at Emperor Jia Ning, "But this marriage is the last wish of my grandfather, who loved this son the most when he was alive. This son only wish to fulfil his wish, and this son hope that Father will do so."

Han Ye's voice was too insistent, just as it had been for the past ten years, and Emperor Jia Ning's eyes narrowed as he waved his hand and said in a cold voice, "All right, let's discuss this matter later. You go out."

Han Ye answered in the affirmative, saluted and withdrew.

The first son walked out calmly, as if he did not care about the anger of his father. The door to the upper study was gently closed, and Emperor Jia Ning exhaled a cloudy breath, his complexion obscure.   

"Your Majesty, take a sip of the calming tea, which the Fourth Princess picked with her own hands in the imperial garden a few days ago."  

A lightly scented and refreshing plain tea was gently placed on the imperial table as Zhao Fu whispered. He had served Emperor Jia Ning for decades and knew his preferences. He also knew that if that matter was brought up, the harem would suffer the wrath of thunder for half a month, so it was important to find a way to restore Emperor Jia Ning's mood.　　

Sure enough, Emperor Jia Ning's expression eased: "Shaohua is a sensible one." He took a sip of his tea and suddenly said, "Zhao Fu, do you think I did the wrong thing by leaving her behind? The prince now carries the last wish of Taizu, and keeps her alive. The prince is now protecting her, making it really difficult for me to do so."

If you really want to get rid of that person, there is no one in the world who can stop it, but you are just using the excuse of the Crown Prince. But Zhao Fu did not dare to say this out loud, he just lowered his eyes and said in a respectful voice, "Your Majesty, the Emperor's power is immense. The Di Family was only as good as it was back then. How dare a mere mere ant compete with the Imperial Family of Great Jing now?"

"That's not an ant."  Emperor Jia Ning  drank lowly, a look of satisfaction gradually appearing in his eyes.　　

"This old slave has spoken out of turn, Your Majesty, forgive me." Zhao Fu hurriedly knelt down and apologised, his face showing fear, and only after Emperor Jia Ning waved his hand 'nothing much' did he slowly retreat.

Ant? Master, if you knew that one day the Di Clan would be called a mere ant by a mere eunuch, Would you have ... surrendered the world back then?"    

Emperor Jia Ning looked at the dark green iron sword placed squarely on the desk at the top left of the study, and his low, inexplicable voice faintly emanated from the upper study pavilion. In the clear daylight, a cold chill was created.

It was nearly dusk in the back hall of the Ministry of Rites.

Gong Shangshu has been busy all day long with the detailed arrangements of Anle Village. It was late in the evening that he drafted the rewards given by Emperor Jia Ning at the morning court, and he was about to put pen to paper when a hurried yell rang out from outside the hall. His pen nib paused,  and a tiny glob of ink dripped onto the bright yellow scroll.

"Brother Gong, the weather is good today, and tomorrow is a holiday, so go with me to the Chu Pavillion and have a look around."  A man, wrapped in a somewhat unkempt court dress, came in. In his early thirties, with a mediocre appearance and a pair of eyes that were very lively.

Gong Jizhe is over fifty years old, an old man of two dynasties, with a straightforward and stubborn nature, and very few people are difficult for him to deal with.  

"Nonsense. This Minister is a few dozen years older than you, so you can call him that, but don't come here every time you want to get close! A place like the Chu Pavilion is not to be mentioned freely by an important official of the court!" Gong Jizhe flicked his sleeve and looked at the stains on the decree with a headache, using a pen and ink to bring them over very quickly, blowing his beard and glaring, "Besides, the Ministry of the Treasury has offered a lot of rewards for the surrender of Anle Village. How can you have the leisure to wander around?"　

The visitor was Qian Guangjin, the minister of the Ministry of Treasury, and Gong Jizhe thought for a moment that Qian Guangjin's parents had chosen a good name [1]. As the richest merchant in the Great Jing dynasty, in a mere five years, this money basket has paved a path for himself in the imperial court.   

[1]钱广进( qián guǎng jìn) - Money is in

钱( qián)- money;coin

广 (guǎng)- wide; numerous; to spread

进 ( jìn)- come (or go) into   

For no other reason than the fact that in the first few years of its existence, Great Jing had not been able to accumulate much silver, and that Emperor Jia Ning was a warlike emperor who had to spend most of his treasury on warfare every year, and that in the last few years, when there was a shortage of silver in the war, he almost had to rely on tax increases to support the soldiers on the frontier.　　

But the tax increase was a big deal back then, and before the Emperor had even decreed it, a bunch of old courtiers jumped up and cried and wrote that the people should not be taxed. The new successor of the rich Qian family donated 90% of his family's money to the treasury, saying that it was only with the blessing of his wise lord that he was able to save up his family's money and that the right thing to do was to use it for the people.

The Emperor was so pleased that he recruited Qian Guangjin into the Ministry of the Treasury and gave him a position in the court. He was able to fill the treasury in just five years, and he was also good at business, so he won the emperor's heart and rose through the ranks. Now he is the Minister of the Revenue[2], in charge of money and grain in Jiangnan[3].   

[2]户部(  hù bù )-Ministry of Revenue in imperial China

[3]江南(jiāng nán) - south of Changjiang or Yangtze river; south of the lower reaches of Changjiang; often refers to south Jiangsu, south Anhui and north Zhejiang provinces; a province during Qing times.

Even if Gong Jizhe is a stubborn old-fashioned man, he has to admit that although Qian Guangjin is crude and mercenary, he is a genius at making money and enriching the country.

"You've been stubborn all your life, but you haven't gotten any money, so you're not as good as the Minister of the Finance." Qian Guangjin, a man who talks like a man and talks like a ghost[4], is usually very smooth, but somehow he likes to raise a bar with the old Minister of Rites, who is stubbornly polite, which is an interesting thing in the court.   

[4]   (jiàn rén shuō rén huà，jiàn guǐ shuō guǐ huà) "talking to people and talking to ghosts" is: to communicate or communicate with the other person in a way (posture, language, tone, etc.) that the other person can recognize and understand. 

The brow of Minister Gong was furrowed into a figure of eight[5] as he finished drafting the imperial edict extremely quickly, closed the scroll and raised his head impatiently, "What do you want. Say it. I don't have time to chatter with you."

[5]Chinese symbol of eight: 八　　

"Hey, Old Shang Shu [6] really has eyes like a candle on fire." Qian Guangjin straightened his court uniform and approached with a cautious look. He was so cautious that Shang Shu Gong looked surprised, but the moment Qian Guang Jin spoke, he froze in his tracks.　

[6]尚书 (shàng shū)- high official; government minister

"Old Minister, the atmosphere after I saw Deputy General Zhao mention the Crown Princess in the courtroom today was really odd. His Highness has not married his first wife yet, is the Crown Princess position really reserved for the Di's orphaned daughter?"

"What's the point of bringing this up?" The veins on the forehead of Minister Gong's head were showing, and he said in a rough voice: "You just have to get the reward ready."    

"Old Minister, you know that most of the ministers in the court are noblemen, and I have joined the court as a merchant, so naturally I'm not like you. Although I have heard about what happened back then, I do not know enough about it, so if I touch the scales of the dragon, I will be committing a serious crime. I would like to ask you to be considerate and give me a warning." Qian Guangjin did not care about the attitude of Minister Gong, and hastened to be respectful, looking a bit sincere.  

The Old Shang Shu knows that he is right, although the world knows what happened back then, but most of the rumors have lost the truth. Qian Guangjin relies on the holy favor to gain a foothold in the court, if this matter offends the emperor, it is indeed a disaster of fish in the pond. He is indeed a talented man. He remember that he introduced a private doctor when Old lady Gong was very ill. The old Shang Shu of Gong is straightforward and hesitates a little, only a quiet voice commanded a sentence.   

"The choice of the crown prince's consort position is a taboo for the royal family, so you must not mention it in front of others in the future, especially the Di orphaned daughter."　　

Shang Shu Gong only said one sentence, Qian Guang Jin nodded repeatedly, but was still a little puzzled.    

"Old Shang Shu, the crown prince is not young. The crown prince consort position can't remain empty?"

"Then it depends on who can hold out longer between His Majesty and the Crown Prince. After all, it was the marriage set by the Taizu, and there will always be a day when the orphaned daughter of the Di Family will enter the Imperial Capital. If not, why do you think all the noble families in the empire wouldn't dare to think about the crown prince's position in the East Palace?" If His Majesty is open-minded, it will only be a couple of years. 

The words were Gong Jizhe's guess, but he did not say them out loud. He waved his sleeve at Qian Guangjin: "Go away, go away, go back to your household department and remember not to mention these words again."

Gong Jizhe was an old man of two dynasties, and his words would not be uncalled for. Seeing that he was starting to drive people away, Qian Guangjin chanted 'thank you for reminding me' and withdrew.

As the hall regained its quietness, Minister Gong took out the decree he had just drafted, and his eyes fell on the bright yellow scroll, slightly distracted.

Ten years ago he had also drafted an imperial decree for the Emperor Jia Ning , only... it was not a heavenly grace, but a thunderous wrath from the emperor.　

The Di family, Jing'an, has disregarded the grace of the previous emperor and acted presumptuously to steal the country's army and act rebellion. He have punished the Di family with death on behalf of Heaven, but in consideration of the fact that the Di's youngest daughter was valued by the previous emperor, He have given her a break and confined her to the Taishan State Temple, where she will never be allowed to enter the capital without the Emperor's decree.

With just a few words and an imperial decree, the family of the great minister who founded the Great Jing has since been torn down.

Perhaps it would not have been right to call the Di family vassals.

Old Minister Gong closed his cloudy eyes and sighed heavily.　

Forty years ago, when the Central Plains was in turmoil, and the world was divided between various families, the Di family in the south and the Han family in the north were the most powerful. Although the head of the Di family, Di Shengtian, is a woman, she has taken in the world's most knowledgeable people, and in ten years she has become the dominant family in the south, while the head of the Han family, Han Zi'an, also took the land of Guangqiu in the north into the hands of the Han family in the same year. In the same year, Han Zi'an, the head of the Han family, also brought the northern land of Guang Qiu into the hands of the Han family. Just when the people of the world thought that the two families would have a fierce battle, the heads of the two families simultaneously announced that they had known each other for a long time and were willing to unite the north and the south without any war, and the world celebrated this news.   

In half a year's time, Di Shengtian retired in seclusion, handing over the rule of the south and the military power to Han Zi'an, the head of the Han family.

A year later, Han Zi'an founded the Dajing dynasty. In recognition of the righteousness of the Di's family head who had ceded the world to him, he made her nephew, Di Yongning, the Marquis of Jing'an[7]. In charge of 100,000 troops in southern Jin, and made a decree that the Marquis of Jing'an would share the right of succession to the throne with the prince of the dynasty.

[7]Jing'an Hou -

靖安( jìng ān ) -Jing'an county in Yichun, Jiangxi 

侯 (  hóu) - surname Hou; marquis, second of the five orders of ancient Chinese nobility 五等爵位 ; nobleman or high official    

The world was shaken by this decree, and the noble glory of the Di clan was beyond  the honour and glory of the royal family, and was revered as the pillar of the Great Kingdom of Jing.

A few years later, the Marquis of Jing'an was blessed with a daughter, whom he regarded as a jewel in the palm of his hand. The Taizu was delighted to hear of her and gave her the name Ziyuan to the Di family and promised a marriage between the Zhong Wang[8]' son and the youngest daughter of the Di family.

[8]王(wáng ) -king or monarch; best or strongest of its type; grand; great    

Han Zhongyuan, the then Zhong wang, is the current Emperor  Jia Ning.

In the following years, the Marquis of Jing'an repeatedly submitted a petition to resign the right to succeed the throne, but Taizu never acceded to his request. In the fourth year of Chongzhao, due to a recurrence of an old illness from his earlier military career, Taizu died in the Hall of Zhaoren, leaving behind a decree to make Zhong wang as Emperor and his son Han Ye as Crown Prince. The last sentence of the decree was that the youngest daughter of the Di family, who had been entrusted with the responsibility of the heaven, was to be crowned the crown prince's consort.

At the time of Taizu's death, Prince Han Ye was six years old, while Di Ziyuan was only two years old.　　

How to inherit from the heavens that It was only the greatest honour left to the Di family by the Taizu.

The Di family held 100,000 soldiers and horses in the South of Jin, and their good deed of willingly giving up the throne was respected by the world. During the first two years of instability after the death of the Taizu, the Marquiz of Jing'an gave his full support to the Emperor Jia Ning, which helped Great Jing to survive through the treacherous dynastic turmoil.

As a sign of the imperial family's goodwill towards the Di family, the Emperor even decreed that the youngest daughter of the Di family, Di Ziyuan, would be welcomed into the capital as a princess to recuperate and be treated as an honoured guest of the royal family.

At that time, the people of the world thought that when the Prince grew up and the two families of Han and Di, the most honourable people of Dajing, formed a friendship, they would be able to continue the good story of the first time when Taizu and Di Shengtian had made peace with the world.

It is a pity that in the sixth years of Jianing, the Marquis of Jing'an privately transferred 80,000 troops from Jinnan without permission, and drove straight to the northern border, and wanted to collude with the Eastern State Kingdom to start war. When the news came, the whole country was shocked. Emperor Jianing quickly revised the state book to quickly reconciled with the Wang of Northern Qin and sent a large army to the border. At the same time, Left Minister Jiang Yu headed to the south of Jin with the imperial decree of granting sin.

What is puzzling is that Jing’an Hou did not plead guilty, and even in front of the emperor’s ancestral hall, he squatted himself in front of the people in the city and Left Minister to prove his innocence.  To be honest, even if the Jinnan army burst into the north, the people of the whole country did not believe that Jing'an Hou had a heart of disobedience. With the tragic death of the Marquis of Jing'an, the dynasty is in more turmoil than ever before, and the prince have all seen the opportunity to move.

At this moment, Jiang Yu, the Minister of the Left, finds a letter in the Marquis of Jing'an's residence that shows that the Marquis of Jing'an and the King of Eastern  are plotting a rebellion, and after announcing this to the whole city, he kills 30 members of the Di clan and hundreds of their offspring. In the night, blood flowed in the city, and when the people were in fear, Ji Chuan, the defender of Di North City, led the 20,000 troops left behind to surrender to Emperor Jia Ning and helped the Minister of the Left to quickly take control of the city.

It was too late for the news of the city of Di North to reach the world. The extinction of the Di clan was a foregone conclusion. Not to mention that, on the same day, the 80,000-strong army of the Di family that had travelled to the north met the North Qin iron cavalry and were pitted and killed at the bottom of Qing Nan Mountain, at which point the entire dynasty fell silent.

The destruction of the 80,000-strong army meant that...from then on, the only person who was most honoured and noble in the Dajing dynasty is the royal family.

The history books are full of merits and demerits, and the victor is always the king and the defeated is the knave[9], and anyone who dares to offend the emperor's anger will have his whole family plagued.

[9]胜者为王，败者为寇 拼音 (shèngzhěwéiwángbàizhěwéikòu) -It is a Chinese proverbs handed down from ancient China to the present day. It used to mean that in a struggle for power, the victor was the legitimate one and was called the emperor and king; the loser was the illegitimate one and was called a thief and a bandit. It means that the victor has power in his hands and no one dares to blame him, while the loser has a hard time defending himself.  

For several years afterwards, all the courtiers who had been friends with the Di family were exiled or killed. The Emperor was so iron-blooded that no one from the court to the people dared to mention the Di family, which had made the world a prominent part of Dajing.　

The people of the world are also certain of one thing. The former head of the Di clan, Di Shengtian, who had taken over the north and was as prominent as the Taizu, had long since died. Otherwise, given her temperament, she would never have watched the Di clan die out.

The Imperial Family's orphaned daughter, Di Ziyuan, the crown prince's consort who had been announced to the world, had since then become a taboo to the entire Imperial Family of Great Jing. She was imprisoned in the Taishan State Temple, and nothing remained of the entire Di family except a false position of Crown Princess that had not yet been removed.　　

In this way, a decade passed.

The old monk Gong opened his eyes and felt the holy decree in his palm vaguely sizzling.    

Ziyuan, both characters meaning Empress of the Yuan.

On the promise of heaven, Steed heavy duty.

Only a very few old ministers have vaguely guessed what was really left in this decree back then. Taizu did not choose the Crown Prince Consort  by the Crown Prince's choice, but...chose the next emperor only because of the youngest daughter of the Di family.

That means that as long as Di Ziyuan is still alive. She is the only rightful head of the Central Palace for the next emperor of Dajing.

How much did Taizu think of the Di family's daughter that he gave her this name and left her with a legacy so solemn that it was no less important than that of the emperor, so much so that the entire Dajing dynasty kept silent about the absurdity of the crown prince consort's position in the Eastern Palace remaining vacant for more than ten years after the death of Taizu and the fall of the Di family.

Forget it. The Di family has already declined, so it is futile to lament any more. The Di Ziyuan is now less important to his majesty than a female bandit from Anle Village.　　

After taking a look at the sky, Minister Gong put the decree into a box and hurried into the Imperial City to present it to Emperor Jia Ning.

T/N: The character '帝' (dì) from Dì Ziyuan is the same character from the word emperor. So, it's quite perplexing since the meaning of the words keeps on changing. For example, from 'Di family' to  'Emperor's family',  From 'Di's daughter' to   'Emperor's daughter', 'Di clan' to 'emperor's clan' and many more.

So, if you ever discover something isn't quite right, let me know. 

And Minister Gong has made quite a revelation.