Story of Yanxi Palace: Red Seal Spring Star

Wei Mei gave birth to a boy, and Ying Luo was very happy as she had fulfilled her wish. She recalled Horqin and her party, and told Fu Heng that Wei Mei would come in handy sooner or later. Now she is not only important to the Fucha family, but also very important to the emperor and queen mother. .Fu Hengdao: So she has to be careful, think about the poisoning of Concubine Rong.

Yingluo snorted and said: The Sixth Palace is the empress's responsibility. Although the emperor didn't say anything about the empress, he was very dissatisfied.If something happens to the imperial concubine and the emperor's heir, she will be the first to be in trouble.Shen Bi said that the queen mother is very concerned about Wei Mei's mother and son, and that everyone in the harem, including the queen, would never dare to act rashly, and there are me and Shen Bi.Fu Heng then told the two things about the fourth elder brother, and showed her the letter that Concubine Rong had given her, and then said that he had replied to the letter, in which he detailed the whole story of Cheng Hao's incident.

After reading and listening, Yingluo smiled and said: Let me tell you, the emperor took the opportunity to beat the queen.And Wang Youdun must have your approval, young master, to bring Cheng Hao's matter to the emperor. Did you also tell Concubine Rong this?

Fu Heng nodded, but with a serious expression, he said: The Cheng family is too miserable.Hu Zhongzao had not been executed yet. His father, son, wife, concubine, daughter, and daughter-in-law had all died before him. Because Hu Zhongzao was involved in the party struggle between Gao E and Zhang Tingyu, at that time everyone The Procuratorate dare not speak, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate has no scruples about Cheng Hao’s matter. You have never seen those censor’s papers, pointing directly at the emperor, admonishing the imperial court to be benevolent, written by Zuo Du Yushi Zhao Hong’en Impeccable, Wu Bai is full of lack, he is also a student of Ertai, because the emperor appreciates him, he was not implicated in the Hu case, he did not write too violently, but the meaning is very obvious.After Horqin came back, when Mr. Jin told me, I felt that I had to report it to the emperor. This was not only the death of Cheng Hao, but also related to the overall situation of the court.Since the emperor made his southern tour, the Han people have gained some confidence in the emperor and the court, so this happened. This is not a trivial matter, and the emperor understands it better than I do.

Feeling sad, Yingluo nodded, and said, "Your Majesty will definitely lose face. If Mr. Wang exposed this matter, he must have thought that he would be punished too."

Fu Hengdao: Starting from the ancestors, the major cases of the Crying Temple, Tonghai, Zuopin, and the Examination Hall have dealt a great blow to the scholars and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.In addition, the "Nanshan Ji" case, the Lu Liuliang case, and the "Ming History" case pushed the literary inquisition of the Qing Dynasty to the extreme.Since the emperor ascended the throne, there have been no major cases of literary prisons. However, due to the improvement of the confidentiality system, officials at all levels have caught wind and shadows, and there have been more cases of literary prisons than in the previous two dynasties. The case and Gao Bin's death, the Han people were still silent about the court, everyone felt insecure and lost confidence. Lord Jintang told me all the arguments he heard during the southern tour.I just want to use Cheng Hao's matter to draw the emperor's attention, but it's not easy for me to come forward.Although Mr. Jin is an octogenarian (mao4die2), he generously agreed to take the lead and never cared about personal gains or losses. I admire this matter, because this matter involves elder brother. Elder brother can be regarded as young and ignorant, but he may be in big trouble as a courtier.

Yingluo said: Well, children are not easy to teach. The emperor gave the fourth elder brother such a good opportunity. The Ministry of Officials is the head of the six ministries, and he communicates with officials from top to bottom, but he doesn't know how to cherish it. The emperor must be disappointed in him.Yongqi should take this as a warning.In the future, we will also teach Longer Aner well.Fu Heng nodded, and said: Concubine Rong and I also said this, and asked her to pay attention to fifth elder brother and An'er, especially An'er.I'm not worried about Fifth Prince's temper.An'er's temperament is like that of an emperor. I don't want the father and son to disagree in the future and affect An'er's future. Of course I didn't say that.

Yingluo said: "Young master, what you mean is that the emperor doesn't like fourth elder brother's temper?"Fu Hengdao: Temperament is secondary. From what happened to Cheng Hao, it can be seen that he is really merciless and ungrateful, and he has no heart of compassion. Seventh-rank officials don’t have much money, and they can’t save Cheng’s family from difficulties at all. Such a person is a king. , is by no means a blessing in the world.

Yingluo smiled and said: You finally agree with what I said, Yongqi is better, he, like the young master, is a gentleman.Fu Hengdao: "We have to be more careful about the matter of the fourth elder brother. Concubine Rong's letter said that the emperor said the words of the fifth elder brother in front of Concubine Qing. It can be seen that he never wants someone to take advantage of the fourth elder brother being reprimanded to act as the fourth elder brother." Five princes' articles.Yingluo, listen to me, the emperor hasn't thought about raising an heir yet, if he really wants to, in terms of conditions, the fifth elder brother is actually not as good as the fourth elder brother. The fourth elder brother is older and is the queen's adopted son, but don't worry about this, because the emperor also Did not pay attention to the fourth elder brother.Yingluo nodded, and said: The emperor likes Yongqi, but having an heir is a big deal, and he also wants to protect Yongqi, and he can't let people do Yongqi's articles, I understand.Shen Bi and I will be careful, don't worry.

Fu Hengdao: Now that the fourth elder brother, Hong Zhou and the queen are one, the matter becomes more complicated.Yingluo laughed and said: You also told Shen Bi about this?Fu Heng nodded and said: She is such a smart person, so she naturally knows what to do. I told her to be careful, but we don't have to worry about her.Yingluo laughed and said: Without diamonds, she doesn't do porcelain work. She is our most powerful and secretive pawn. In this world, who else is better than her?The queen mother is very optimistic about her.

Fu Heng only smiled. Now he knows best in his heart that Fatima loves him, and she will do everything for him. In this world, except for Fatima herself, only he knows, this is the biggest secret.And what he wants to do is not only good for everyone in the world, but also good for the emperor. It can solve his heart disease. Concubine Rong is the emperor's person, and she has her heart for the emperor. The emperor has no loss... and she has herself, Concubine Rong will be fine.

Yingluo said again: Sifu Jin's matter seems to be very troublesome. The emperor asked the queen to deal with it. The queen will definitely be very strict with her. She is actually a child.Fu Heng pulled her over and said: Don't worry so much, you will never finish worrying about it.Yingluo looked at him with a smile, and said: Yes, the young master just wants me to worry about Jiang Jiang?Fu Heng smiled and said: You have given birth to a daughter, let alone a son.When Longer found out, she was going to be sad again.Yingluo said "Oh", she really forgot her son just now.So he stood up and said, "I'm going to see Long'er."Talking and going.

At that time in Wang Mansion, before Wang Youdun reported Cheng Hao to the emperor, he also discussed with Shao Fan.Shao Fan once persuaded him, and Wang Youdun told Fu Hengzai that he supported the matter.Shao Fan was slightly relieved, but he still said: The officials are making such a fuss, the Sacred Heart is unpredictable, it is inevitable to vent their anger or settle accounts after autumn.The emperor will not do anything to the young elder brother, and he has to deal with the matter. The only ones to blame are the courtiers. If the master is convicted, it will be very troublesome. The three young masters and the young lady's family will all be implicated. The master really Not afraid?

Wang Youdun said: "Scholars die for their confidants. Master Fu Heng is still like this. I have been a leader of Shilin for many years, and I am also in the military aircraft. If I don't stand up for the Han people, who will stand up for the Han people!"Zhao Hongen is an important official of the imperial court and a veteran, loyal and courageous, not afraid of life and death, the Wang family has no reason to put the Zhao family in danger.The children of the Wang family are naturally obliged.If it turns out that the old man's life can change the court's strict restrictions on Han officials, the old man will die well.

Then Wang Youdun told his wife about this, but he didn't tell his children or other people in Wang's house. After listening to Mrs. Wang, she only said: Master, you just do things according to your heart. The Wang family has not experienced any storms.And Xinmian believes that the emperor will not be unreasonable, he has no reason to touch the master because of this matter, so what about elder brother, elder brother is not doing things properly, how can the emperor not know?

Wang Youdun said: Thank you, madam!Master Fu Heng also said the same thing, if the old man really has something to do, Master Fu Heng will try his best to deal with it, at least you and the children will not be implicated, the emperor will definitely give him face, and the Han officials will definitely plead for me, the emperor will not Will go my own way.In the end, the result was only a fine, and no one was blamed by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief.The Hanchens all believed that because Wang Youdun was in the lead, the emperor was not easy to get involved.

After being reprimanded by the emperor, Ali Gun was afraid, so he turned around and told the queen mother, so the queen mother said that to the emperor.Fu Sen was even more terrified. That day he heard what the emperor wanted, so he didn't dare to say a word.Later, the emperor summoned him again, saying that he was from the Aixinjueluo family, and that the fourth elder brother was also a prince. It was human nature for him to treat the fourth elder brother favorably. He is a veteran minister of the three dynasties, and he looks forward and backward about such a small matter, and shrinks back. Where is the courage of being a general of Jilin back then?People outside looked even worse, that's why the emperor demoted Tali out of Beijing to give him a wake-up call and ask him to strictly control Yongxuan.He was sweating profusely again, thanking the Holy Grace.So on this day, Ali Gun and Fu Sen went to Hongzhou Mansion together.

Hong Zhou said: "Lord Ali Gon, you are a relative of the Empress Dowager and the emperor's in-laws. The emperor will not do anything to you, so you don't have to be afraid."Then he said to Fu Sen, "My lord Fu Sen, the reason why the emperor talks about you is to ask you to discipline the fourth elder brother well, so don't be afraid."The two of them calmed down a bit, and asked Hong Zhou for advice, because the fourth elder brother was punished, and they might also be angry.Hong Zhou said: "The fourth elder brother is young and vigorous, the empress and the king will talk about him well, don't worry, I will take care of everything, don't worry."The two thanked each other very much and talked for a while before leaving.

Fu Sen thought to himself all the way: the fourth elder brother is impulsive and impulsive, and he has no wits. Both Tali and himself have persuaded him about Cheng Hao's affairs, and he should not be so heartless, but he insists on going his own way.It seems that after repenting, the emperor wants him to follow him in the bureaucracy. I don’t know what kind of disaster will happen in the future. Tali is also an old minister, and he was sent to the fourth elder brother by himself, and he was all killed by him... The more I think about it, the more worried .Ali Gun is the father-in-law of the fourth elder brother, so he is naturally not good at saying anything to him.

Wei Mei gave birth to a brother, not only she was extremely happy, but Yi Lu and Li Shi were even more happy.Yilu praised Li's prophecy again.Since returning from the southern tour, the Empress Dowager called him away at every turn to warn the safety of the palace and Ago Gege, he was even more careful, and later he realized that it was because Concubine Rong had been poisoned.Wei Mei is now a popular person in front of the Queen Mother. He dare not slacken the slightest slack in the safety of the Fourteenth Brother. In addition to the regulations, he sent four additional aunts, two more than Qigege.Concubine Wei Meijin's will, she remembered Concubine Rong's prophecy that she would be ranked as the fourth concubine, and she still felt a little unbelievable. Yilu and his wife were even more delighted, and had a table of wine at home to celebrate.

The chief eunuch of Jiuzhou Qingyan is Li Yu, Concubine Rong also lives in Jiuzhou Qingyan, and the chief eunuch of Changchun Immortal Pavilion is Sun Fang, who has been used by the Empress Dowager for many years, and these two report directly to Fu Heng.Other palaces have chief eunuchs, and the chief is Yilu.Yuan Chunwang is nominally the manager of Louyue Kaiyun, but because his master is the empress and also the manager of the respect room, except for the matter of the concubine, which is specially designated by the queen mother, and Yilu alone takes care of it, the affairs of other concubines in the palace are in harmony with the garden. In fact, he and Yilu are still in charge of the daily affairs, so Tuoya also called Yuan Chunwang to be the manager.Therefore, both Yi Lu and Yuan Chunwang were fined in the case of Concubine Rong's poisoning last time.

The young eleventh elder brother lives with Concubine Shu, and the twelfth elder brother lives with the queen.Except for the chief eunuch in the second mansion, Yilu was in charge of the affairs of the two adult elder brothers. The sixth elder brother who still lived in the thirteenth house was always under the queen's name, but Yilu was also in charge of specific affairs.First, the fourth elder brother was offended by Cheng Hao, and then Wei Mei gave birth to a concubine Jin. Nala felt uncomfortable, but she didn't show it on her face, and rewarded Wei Mei heavily.At present, she is more worried about Sifu Jin Mingxiu.

Mingxiu is 14 years old this year, with a gentle temperament and a typical lady, which is why the queen mother chose her instead of her sister. After seeing her last year, Nala was quite satisfied.Since their wedding in August this year, I was very happy to see that she and Yongxuan were in harmony again.But he didn't want to make such a big mistake as the maid jumped into the well.On the day the emperor asked Concubine Qing to send her a message, she called Mingxiu to ask.

Mingxiu only said that the two maids, one was Xiangwei who was serving in her room, and the other was her maid Qiao'er. The two had a dispute because of a hairpin that disappeared that day. She asked about the situation. Thinking that Qiaoer hid the hairpin privately and fined her Yueyin, she jumped into the well the next day.Nala was suspicious, but didn't ask any more questions at that time, and didn't report it to the emperor.Then Wei Mei gave birth to a child, so she put the matter aside for the time being, thinking that the emperor was happy recently, and the new year was coming, so it would not be too late to ask Mingxiu after the new year.

The fourth elder brother thought about his mistakes behind closed doors, and Yongqi's courtyard immediately knew about it, because the two families are next to each other.Yongqi asked He Zhu to instruct everyone, from Gege to eunuchs and maids, not to discuss or inquire about this matter.He himself knew it was because of Cheng Hao, but he didn't know the details and the inside story, and he didn't ask.

He Zhu felt that Yongqi was very polite to her, but he never said anything to her, except for what Fujin should do, such as telling everyone.Yongqi is not at home during the day, but mostly stays at Yiboer's place at night, and at Hu Jiajia's place at other times. She feels that this Fujin is just a decoration, and she feels very wronged. Cousin, but also helpless.According to the rules, she often went to the Queen Mother, Concubine Rong and Concubine Qing to greet her, and they all spoke softly to her.But the fifth elder brother neglected her matter, she couldn't tell anyone that they were all members of the royal family, and they were Yong Qi's grandmother and mother concubine.Especially Xilinjueluo's family is now the criminal ministers of the court.

He Zhu was weak at first, but also a careful girl. Because of her bad mood, her health became worse and worse. After the emperor came back from Horqin, Concubine Qing called the imperial doctor to see her, but the imperial doctor couldn't tell what was wrong with her. They only gave her pills to make her healthy and healthy.Yong Qi would come to her room to greet her at night, but naturally she couldn't say anything to Yong Qi, the couple had almost nothing to say, they were just polite and thoughtful.Yiboer and Hu Jiajia were very surprised to see her often sick, but Yin Hezhu never showed jealousy of her, so they didn't know it either.Concubine Qing did not tell the Queen Mother and the Emperor about this, but told Concubine Rong, saying that she felt that she was weak.

When Concubine Rong heard about it, she asked Yong Qi again, and Yong Qi also said that she was weak and was taking medicine at home, so she didn't care about it, and only cared about her when He Zhu greeted her. She took good care of her illness, and He Zhu agreed one by one, but she didn't see that He Zhu had something on her mind, let alone tell the emperor, because the emperor was worrying about the fourth prince.

The author has something to say:

Those who are interested in the major historical cases mentioned by Fu Heng in this section can search by themselves.

[Zuodu Yushi] The origin of the admonition officer system in our country is very long, and it is what we often call the officer.In the Shang Tang period, there had already been a special "official officer". There is a record in "Lu's Spring and Autumn": "Yao has the drum of wanting to remonstrate, Shun has the tree of slander, Tang has the man who overcame his mistakes, and King Wu has the vigilance of caution. , Wu Ye, but there is a way to cover up, Xi Yao knows it?" The so-called "siguo" means to be responsible for picketing mistakes. From the context of this sentence, the main target of picketing is the monarch, not the officials.The wise monarchs in ancient times knew that it is impossible for all people to avoid making mistakes completely, even the king of a country is no exception, so they need someone to remind and persuade them of their mistakes. "Scholar who overcame the past" is the embryonic form of ancient admonishment officials. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, a formal admonishment official system has gradually formed, with special institutions and official positions set up.

From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Yushitai was the main central supervisory institution.By the time of the Qing Dynasty, the system of admonishing officials had been well developed.The Metropolitan Procuratorate appeared for the first time as the supervisory agency of the Ming Dynasty, and the Zuodu Yushi and Youdu Yushi also came into being.After Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, with the strengthening of supervisory power, it was basically all attributed to the official Zuodu Yushi in the end.In the Qing Dynasty, the Zuodu Yushi was still the head of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and he was the highest supervisor, and the Zuodu Yushi was the assistant director of the Zuodu Yushi.In the early Qing Dynasty, there were one man and one Han Dynasty censor in Zuodu, the first rank was full and the second rank was Han.Until the Yongzheng period, it was designated as Congyipin.In the Qing Dynasty, Youdu Yushi and Youdu Yushi were only part-time jobs, so the number was not fixed.

Since admonishing officials is an errand that offends others, in order to maximize the supervisory role of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Qing court also took the following measures to ensure that the officials of science and Taoism fully performed their duties.The first is the speaker's right to innocence.The reason why admonishers exist is that people cannot completely avoid making mistakes, and admonishers are also human beings who sometimes say wrong things. If they are punished for saying wrong things, the result will inevitably be bad money driving out good money.The real outspoken and daring speakers are eliminated, leaving a group of sycophants who are sycophants, so the supervisory agency will lose its meaning of existence.

The second is the right to gossip. "Drafts of Qing History Zhiguan Zhi" records: "(Qing) At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate was established. Tiancong ten years,...the left capital censor, the left deputy capital censor, and the supervisory censor made rumors. Give the matter the same." The so-called "hearsay and rumors" is to allow the admonisher to make corrections based on hearsay without conclusive evidence.No matter what gossip, street rumors, gossip, if the admonisher himself thinks it is necessary to play Datianting, he can speak boldly. Even if the rumor turns out to be false, the admonisher should not be punished for it.

This system greatly expanded the supervisory capabilities of the officials.Although in the actual implementation process, there are some cases where some officials abuse the power of gossip to attack political opponents for personal gain, but without this system guarantee, the way of speaking will be blocked, and many dark sides of the officialdom will also lose their exposure. Opportunities under the sun.In addition, the most important thing for officials in ancient times to be promoted was to be appreciated by the emperor.For those officials with relatively low ranks in Beijing, they are basically not qualified to meet the emperor, so going to the memorial is a good opportunity to show their talents to the emperor.This also encouraged admonishing officials to write more memorials and expose problems in the officialdom to the court.

[Zhao Hongen and Wu Bai were the censors of Zuodu in the 22nd year of Qianlong.In the 21st year of Qianlong's reign, Zhao Hongen was transferred to Zuodu Yushi by Minister of Industry.Set Wu Bai as a disciple of Ertai to create a novel. 】