An Lingrong's Rebirth: The Lock of Qingqiu

The atmosphere at the ceremony was solemn and warm. The court musicians played cheerful music, and the palace maids, wearing colorful clothes and holding colorful flags, danced in front of the palace. An Lingrong, wearing a gorgeous dress and a phoenix crown, accepted the congratulations and praises from everyone with a smile on her face.

Of course, such glory and honor would naturally attract the jealousy and envy of other concubines in the harem, and there would always be people who were dissatisfied. Even Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang lowered their heads and whispered to each other, while Xiangpin and Lipin watched coldly, and without exception, they were dissatisfied with An Lingrong's promotion.

When Concubine Duan was promoted to Queen, the concubines in the harem did not have much objection. However, when An Lingrong was promoted to Imperial Noble Concubine, many people in the palace were dissatisfied.

Especially the Empress Dowager. She had looked down on An Lingrong since she entered the palace. An Lingrong was of humble origin and had no prominent family background. In the eyes of the Empress Dowager, she had always been an insignificant concubine.

Even though the Emperor doted on An Lingrong, the Empress Dowager did not take it to heart. She thought that An Lingrong was just a casual person and the Emperor would forget about her soon. However, it was not until An Lingrong was promoted to the position of Imperial Noble Consort by the Emperor that the Empress Dowager woke up from her dream, but it was too late.

So, after the enthronement ceremony, the Queen Mother summoned the Emperor to her bedroom. She looked serious and said in a reproachful tone: "Your Majesty, your favor to Concubine Li is too much, isn't it? She is of humble origin and ordinary appearance. There are many concubines in the palace who are better than her. How can Your Majesty hand over such an important task to her? Is Your Majesty really sincere?"

The emperor smiled slightly and explained for An Lingrong: "Mother, I know Rong'er is not from a high family, but she is smart, kind-hearted, and sincere to me. I believe that she is qualified to be the Imperial Noble Consort Li."

After hearing what the emperor said, the queen mother was still dissatisfied, but she couldn't say anything more. She sighed and said, "Since this is the case, it depends on whether she can convince everyone. Since it is the emperor's decision, I can't say anything more. However, the rules in the harem are strict, and the emperor has been promoting her out of turn, which is really unreasonable."

The emperor nodded in agreement, indicating that he had already examined An Lingrong's words and deeds, and that she could be trusted with this position, and that the emperor also needed her to be by his side to help him solve his problems.

The empress dowager saw that the situation was hopeless. The original queen, Yixiu, was her niece, and after she was replaced by Concubine Duan, her power was completely weakened. The emperor also cracked down severely on Longkodo, which undoubtedly made the situation worse for the empress dowager who had already lost power.

The Empress Dowager was always restless and upset, and would take her anger out on the servants in Shoukang Palace from time to time. Even when Shen Meizhuang went to Shoukang Palace as usual to accompany the Empress Dowager to copy scriptures to pray for the Qing Dynasty, she was driven out by the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager said that she was physically and mentally exhausted and needed more rest.

According to Shen Meizhuang, the empress dowager often muttered to herself with extremely complicated emotions. She complained that the emperor was not a competent emperor and that he would support whoever he liked to ascend to the throne. In the eyes of the emperor, there was no fairness or justice.

The Queen Mother said that she regretted her original decision. Perhaps there was someone more suitable to be the emperor than the emperor, someone who was more outstanding than the emperor and more in line with her wishes to inherit the throne.

The most remarkable thing about the late emperor’s life was not how he governed the country and his family, or how great his contributions were, but that he had many sons.

It was precisely because the previous emperor had too many sons. Not only did he have many sons, but each of these sons was trained to be very outstanding, so they all wanted to ascend to the throne and become the crown prince or the emperor. Later, the famous "Nine Sons Fighting for the Throne" incident occurred.

But in the end, the throne fell into the hands of the Fourth Master, who is the current emperor - Emperor Yongzheng.

After the emperor ascended the throne, he was ruthless to his brothers. He targeted the Eighth Prince and assigned him a job in charge of the Ministry of Works and the Court of Internal Affairs. Not long after, he was arrested and sent to the Ministry of Clan Affairs and locked up. A year later, the Eighth Prince died in prison.

The same treatment was applied to the Ninth Master. First, they gave him an empty official title, and then they started looking for trouble with him. They sent him to the clan house, and the Eighth and Ninth Masters both died when they were only in their forties.

As for the eldest prince Yinzhi and the crown prince Yinreng, because they were too outstanding, the emperor was afraid of them and simply imprisoned them to death.

These two people had no grudges against the emperor. They were just put in solitary confinement when the previous emperor was alive. The emperor did not want to cause trouble, so after he came to power, he continued to keep all the people imprisoned by the previous emperor. It was none of his business if they died in solitary confinement anyway. One was 63 years old and the other was 51 years old. Both of them died.

The Third Master was a scholar who did not like to fight for the throne, and the Emperor did not take him seriously. After the Emperor came to power, he sent the Third Master to guard the tomb of the previous emperor. Later, he was placed under house arrest in his own home by the Emperor until his death at the age of 55.

Next, let’s talk about the Fourteenth Master, who is the favorite of the Tenth Master and the Queen Mother.

The Fourteenth Master is the Emperor's biological brother from the same father and mother, but he actually supports the Eighth Master to be the Emperor and rejects his own brother from being the Emperor. This is simply outrageous!

If anyone is to be blamed, it can only be the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager has been partial to the Fourteenth Master since he was a child, and has neglected her own son, the Fourth Master - the Emperor. This resulted in the Fourteenth Master and the Fourth Master, the two brothers, being unable to unite, and caused the Fourteenth Master to turn away and towards the Eighth Master.

The emperor was very angry, but for the empress dowager's sake, he did not kill the Fourteenth Master. He just locked him up and treated him better than others, with no worries about food and clothing.

The Queen Mother had originally thought that the Fourteenth Master would be the Emperor. Since the current Emperor was disobedient, believe it or not, I could replace you with someone else as the Emperor. Besides, isn't this person her own son? Even if someone else became the Emperor, she would still be the Queen Mother who was worshipped by everyone and was high and mighty!

People are most afraid of having evil thoughts. Once this thought took root in her heart, it began to grow like crazy and could not be suppressed. The empress dowager could no longer sit still.

If you have an idea, you will take action. The Queen Mother even took people to secretly visit the imprisoned Fourteenth Master, and they sighed and reminisced about the past.

An Lingrong learned the Queen Mother's idea faster than the Emperor. With the support of Concubine Duan, An Lingrong had spies all over the palace, so she always got the first-hand and latest news.

The Queen Mother wants to change people. This is a big deal and cannot be taken lightly! However, due to the Emperor's hot temper, An Lingrong dared not tell him a word.

What to do?

An Lingrong then gathered people together for a secret meeting and made use of all the people who could be used. An Bihuai, Zhen Huan, Shen Meizhuang, Xiangpin, Lipin, Xia Ruchun, Qin Sanyue, Qin Lihua, Qin Xiaofeng, Prince Qinghe and others gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

The Queen Mother's goal is very clear:

Seizing power, whether it was for the Fourteenth Prince or for herself, as long as the person she pushed to the throne was willing to obey her orders, she would have succeeded in seizing power. She still wanted to rule the country from behind the scenes, and her ambition was not small.