[Qing wear] Harem promotion expert

In the 19th year of Yongzheng, there were two more empresses in the palace.

In fact, in the 18th year of the New Year, the palace lived cautiously - it was said that the old man was sad in the winter, and it was in the winter of the 18th year of Yongzheng that the Empress Dowager began to suffer from illness. The imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital gather together in the Compassionate Ning Palace every day to give prescriptions, but they can only kowtow to the emperor to plead guilty, and it is useless to plead guilty.

In the twelfth lunar month, when Minmin was with her in front of the couch, the empress dowager sometimes didn't recognize her, she just took her hand and asked her quietly: "How are you doing after you get married?"

Minmin is not yet married, the empress dowager mistakenly identified her, and she is holding hands with her only daughter, Princess Wen Xian, who has grown up and married, but has passed away many years ago.

Several times the queen mother urged 'Wen Xian' to leave quickly, and she just said in a whisper: "Tong Jia is the emperor's natal family, and your emperor Ama has always valued you the most. You have been blessed and don't need to caress, and you are married to their family again. Daughter-in-law, you should be filial to your elders and be more considerate in your husband's family. Er Niang, this is just a minor illness, why did you enter the palace in disregard of the rules?"

When the Queen Mother confessed her mistake for the first time, Aunt Wu Ya wanted to go forward to persuade the Queen Mother that she was her granddaughter, but she was stopped by Min Min, who only followed the Queen Mother's confused words.

The queen mother pushed her away, so she obediently got up and walked out of the warm pavilion, looking at the medicine from the side.

When the queen mother wakes up, she wants to see her granddaughter, and Minmin will go there to accompany her.

Once when the queen mother just woke up, it was a rare time to be clear, she sighed to Aunt Wu Ya: "It's a pity that the Ai family can't see Minmin getting married."

Minmin's tears involuntarily fell on the copper sling that was warmed with medicine, scalding a wisp of white air.

The emperor's grandmother would only sigh like this in secret, and the emperor's grandmother never sighed like this before Huang Ama, and even asked Huang Ama several times: "Aijia knows it himself, the emperor must not think that Aijia can't see Minmin Marriage will be regretful, so I am in a hurry to marry the child. The princess is no better than the prince, and the marriage is the worst thing to avoid haste. You have to choose a man with a good character. And it is better to be at home. You can keep her for two more years It's right."

In the new year of Yongzheng's 19th year, life in the palace was very chaotic.

In the state of the empress dowager, I really don't know if she can survive the year.

The Fourteenth Lord and Fourteenth Fujin have often been in and out of the palace to serve these days.

After the [-]th day of the first lunar month, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Empress Dowager's spirit had obviously changed, she suddenly became clear, she also changed her bad appetite, which she hadn't eaten seriously for more than three months, and she even started to ask for some dishes and snacks.

However, everyone understands that this is not a good sign.

Jiang Heng brought the emperor's medicine to him, and the emperor turned his head away.

She didn't persuade her, she just sat aside silently, ignoring the mountain of palace affairs on the case, just sat with the emperor, looking at the shadows of the trees outside, and sat until midnight.In the end, it was the emperor who spoke first: "Not to mention that the affairs of the harem are all on your shoulders. Sooner or later, you will go to the emperor's empress palace to accompany you, and several concubines have become ill due to bad weather. Pian Hongzhou's second son You are also sick, and Concubine Yu can't help you—everything is hanging on your body, if you don't go to rest, how can you hold on?"

Only then did Jiang Heng ask people to re-boil the medicine and take it again: "All the affairs of the world rest on the emperor."

This time the emperor picked up the medicine bowl and drank it all in one gulp, then said with a wry smile: "I may not be able to fall asleep after drinking the medicine."

On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, the imperial physician came to report that the Empress Dowager might be in trouble.

The emperor rushed from the Yonghe Palace to the Cining Palace in the middle of the night.

Jiang Heng first sent the emperor out, and then sent someone to knock on the door of Zhongcui Palace, waiting for the empress to go with her.Qiu Xue from the Yonghe Palace knocked on the door to see him, and the Zhongcui Palace was soon brightly lit and ready.

The queen's clothes have become more and more clean in recent years. When she went out to see Jiang Heng, she hadn't opened her mouth yet, but tears fell down her cheeks first, and then she only asked briefly: "Is everything in the palace ready?"

Seeing Jiang Heng's answer, the queen raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, and nodded deeply to her again: "I've tired you all these years. Leave this matter to me. It can be regarded as living up to the empress dowager for many years." Love."

Sitting in the sedan chair, the queen took out the medicine from her sleeve and swallowed it.

The death of the empress dowager belongs to the national funeral, and the next big event is the Ministry of Etiquette and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but in the harem, leading the internal and external wives to observe the system of sacrifice, internal and external arrangements are the queen's business.

The queen closed her eyes, trying to swallow the bitterness in her mouth.

In recent years, she kept her door closed and ignored her affairs, and sometimes she couldn't get out of illness on New Year's Eve, so that some of the new maids who entered the palace had only seen the concubine but not the queen.

There are some courtiers with crooked hearts in the court, seeing that the queen has no children under her knees, and the mother's family is not very prominent.So he thought about speculating, first bet on the imperial concubine, and took the initiative to write to the emperor to ask the emperor to establish an imperial concubine, even revealing that since the empress is seriously ill, she can't even perform sacrifices to the clan's wife, so it is better to abdicate and let the virtuous.

Afterwards, he was naturally slapped by the emperor, and the Suyi Hou Mansion was also annoyed to death by this kind of thief officer who came out and jumped up and carried their family who wanted to ascend to heaven, and also stomped a few times.

At that time, the queen mother comforted the queen because of this matter, telling her to recover from her illness and not to listen to villainous words.

Not only that, but what made the empress most grateful was: this time when the empress dowager was ill, the emperor chose a child from the clan to adopt to the sixth younger brother Yinzuo in order to comfort the empress dowager.The empress dowager advised the emperor that since she had chosen a child, there must be other suitable ones, and she should adopt one to Honghui.

When Honghui's Duanjun Prince's Mansion had a formal adoptive heir, the queen also saw with her own eyes that this parent died early and only lived with her uncle. Now that she has become the child of her nominal grandson, she feels that her life is over.

So this time, the Empress Dowager has made up her mind to take care of the Empress Dowager's death, regardless of her own body.

It's not that the noble concubine is not considerate in her work, but that she is still the empress and also sits as the lord of the six palaces, so it is most suitable for her to lead the internal and external wives to worship.

Even though there was a fire in the sedan chair, the queen felt a biting chill, and she couldn't help sighing: Speaking of which, her illness is not good enough to survive the winter, and she also suffers from severe headaches when it is cold.

She had been ill for many years and didn't care much, not because she was afraid of something wrong with herself, but because she was afraid that she would not be able to survive the funeral of the empress dowager.

Because Jiang Heng sent the emperor out first, and asked the empress for such a delay, when he arrived at the Palace of Compassion, the concubines who lived a little closer had already arrived first.

He is quietly kneeling in the side hall according to his position.

Concubine Ning Guo also arrived first.

A few years ago, the emperor sealed off the Sixth Palace. Except for the promotion of Mrs. Guo to Concubine Ning, all the other beautiful women who entered the palace in the second year of Yongzheng were also promoted to one level.If there is no next batch of beautiful women entering the palace, and the previous batch is still newcomers, then the beautiful women who entered the palace in the second year of Yongzheng have always been newcomers.

Everyone has already laid down and started to boil the qualifications.

He had already started to take the Ning concubine Guo's family as an example, not the imperial concubine.

When Jiang Heng arrived, he first gave Guo Shi a questioning look, and Guo Shi nodded to her.

Over the years, Mrs. Guo has also helped her a lot.

This winter, everyone knows that the Empress Dowager is in trouble.Jiang Heng came here to pray for the Empress Dowager, and secondly, he also wanted to keep his filial piety in the cold winter. If the warmth is not enough, many frail concubines, especially the children, will be seriously ill.

Therefore, with the grace of the Empress Dowager, the palaces distributed more necessities such as cotton, cotton cloth, and charcoal fire.

It is indispensable that Mrs. Guo helped her cook together.

Jiang Heng looked around the side hall, and saw that the elder brothers and Minmin were not here. He presumably entered the warm pavilion with the emperor and the Fourteenth Master, and listened quietly to the queen mother's last order.

Sure enough, when Jiang Heng passed through the concubines, Fourteen Fujin, who was struggling to hold back tears, raised his head, nodded to her, and gave a look that all the children were inside.

The situation inside and outside the house is the same.

The prince and princess are in front, and the children of Prince Xun's mansion are behind, all kneeling in order.But for the great-grandson generation, the queen mother didn't call anyone in, she just said that there is no need to scare the children.

It is said that it is an intergenerational relationship, what kind of old lady loves her great-grandson.In fact, in the end, the mother still misses her two biological sons most.

Both the emperor and Prince Xun were kneeling in front of the couch. Aunt Wu Ya was originally offering cushions to the emperor, but was thrown aside by the emperor, and she just knelt and stepped on the hard feet as the emperor.

The Queen Mother is sane.

The emperor's heart sank when he was sober.

Sure enough, the Empress Dowager herself knew very well that she didn't even drink ginseng soup.

She just touched the cheeks of the two sons one by one with nostalgia, and said slowly: "Life is rare since ancient times, and my mother is over 70 years old, so it is considered a blessing and a long life." Then she said to the emperor: "Look You, in the past few months, have gained a lot of gray hair."

The Queen Mother simply tried to sit up straight and said: "It's still a coincidence that the person who combs the hair is not lucky. In those years when the Ai family's gray hair just grew, she would comb her own hair, hiding the gray hair without any leakage, and the maid next to her combed it. It's not as coincidental as Ai's family coming in person." She patted the side of the couch, and said to the emperor: "Speaking of which, Er Niang hasn't braided your hair yet. Turn around."

The Fourteenth Master held back his tears and said: "When I was a child, Er Niang often combed it for me, so today I won't compete with Fourth Brother."

The emperor turned around.

The Empress Dowager asked the Fourteenth Master to hold a half-person-high mirror in his own hands, and asked Min Min to come over, hold the hair oil for her, and slowly comb it for the Emperor.

In fact, the empress dowager's eyesight is getting worse. Just now when the emperor knelt down, she could see better. Now she really puts her hair in her hands, but she can't tell black from black, and she has no strength in her hands, so she combed it slowly. After painstakingly reorganizing it for the emperor, it is not as good as the original.

But everyone in the room said it was really good.

The queen mother also laughed, and gently inserted the rhino horn comb that had been with her for many years in Minmin's hair: "My good boy, this is like when your grandma combed your hair when you were married. Comb to the end... ..."

When Jiang Heng heard crying in the Nuan Pavilion in the side hall, he, like the queen, did not wait for the inner eunuch to come out for a formal transmission, and took the concubines together to send the queen mother to the west.

In the first month of the 19th year of Yongzheng, Empress Dowager Wu Ya died, and the Ministry of Rites posthumously named Empress Xiao Gongren.

"Emperor Niang left after a long life." Although the emperor was in pain, the empress dowager was lingering on the sick bed before, and everyone, including the emperor, had been mentally prepared, and the night when the empress dowager left was so peaceful, it seemed that she was too tired Slowly fell asleep.

The children and grandchildren circled their knees, without any regrets, and died with a smile on their faces.

So there was no need for the ministers to persuade the emperor to mourn, the mage in the Zhongzheng Hall came to persuade him with Buddhist principles, and the emperor himself said to Jiang Heng in private: "If I will be like this in the future, I will be considered complete."

Seeing Jiang Heng staring at him in a daze, he comforted him, "Don't worry, I just said this, so I can't just leave everything and leave now. Besides, I won't let you go."

"I know very well that those few courtiers who asked me to establish an imperial concubine, and even alluded to the abolished empress, An De didn't have good intentions. They were either stupid or bad, and they put you and Hongzhen on the fire. "

Jiang Heng knows in his heart that as Hongshang grows up, there will be more and more undercurrents turning into bright waves.

After the queen mother left, Minmin also whispered to her: "Emiang, when she was sick, Huang Mamu sometimes mistook me for Aunt Wen Xian, and pulled me to talk a lot."

"Huang Mamu said that when Huang Mafa was in his later years, the princes were fighting for the throne, so she couldn't sleep well for a night. She was afraid that at some point, someone from the palace would rush in and say that her son had violated a taboo and was locked up. .”

"But no matter how worried I was at that time, the emperor's grandmother only hoped for one thing, that is, Huang Ama would be the crown prince and ascend the throne." Other people's children and their own children, this choice is still very easy to make.

But when you become a grandmother and all the children below are your grandchildren, this choice is not easy to make.

For the Queen Mother, perhaps it would be more at ease to pass away this time.The emperor is not old yet, so there is no need to see his grandchildren fighting irrevocably for the crown prince.

Besides, the emperor has never conferred titles on the princes.

The courtiers privately speculated that the emperor was waiting for the sixth elder brother to reach the age of 15 to confer the title together.It can be seen that the emperor is optimistic about the sixth elder brother, and intends to bridge the gap between the sixth elder brother and his elder brothers due to his young age.

After all, even if the elder brothers above have married and had children, and even participated in the government for several years, as long as they don’t become knights and don’t open the mansion, they still live in the elder brother’s house. Under the eyes of the emperor, they don’t have their own team of courtiers, so they are not real. head of the house.

Jiang Heng looked at his daughter's skinny cheeks, and told her not to worry too much about future affairs: "The hundred days of filial piety for the empress dowager is also a time that you have never lived through since you were born. Don't wear yourself down."

Minmin nodded: "My daughter is always in good health, but she looks like a queen mother... I'm a little worried."

Jiang Heng sighed inwardly, Minmin could see it, how could the noble concubine who had been with the empress all day to prepare for the empress dowager's funeral not see it.

The queen's filial piety this time is completely disregarding her own body, and she doesn't think about what she will do in the future.According to the ancestral family law, the concubines and wives live in mourning, and kneeling on cold straw mats in the winter-everyone suffers the same, but the queen, as an example, not only kneels more standard than others, but also hardly eats. don't drink.

Not to mention that the queen is mostly a patient, even a strong man can't bear it.

Because the late emperor passed away earlier than the empress dowager, Jingling has been sealed, so the tomb of the late emperor can no longer be touched.The emperor followed the example of the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Empress Xiaohui, and ordered the Jingdong Mausoleum to be buried separately for the Empress Dowager.

It wasn't until the empress dowager was buried in the underground palace, after the officiant ceremony was performed, and the funeral was over, that the empress let go of her breath, and immediately went back to Zhongcui palace to recuperate.

Minmin was very worried, and felt that the Queen's mother was sick differently this time.

And she is no longer a child, remembering what the Queen Mother said while hugging her back then, Minmin couldn't help but feel that it was a very good thing for the Queen Mother to have a adoptive son for her elder brother Son, but also took away the spiritual pillar of the Queen Mother.

So she walked towards the queen very frequently.

Even the turtledoves in the queen's palace knew her, and would fly to her arms for snacks.

That turtledove was the one that Minmin picked up from outside the Honghui Cemetery on Huanghua Mountain. It was raised very well in the Queen's Palace, with bright feathers. It flew out to play during the day and came back to eat at regular intervals.

The queen even hung its bird stand in front of the window in the inner room, just to watch the turtledove fly to and fro, and watch it fly to the very high clouds.

Every time Minmin came back, the queen was very happy.

On this day, the queen asked Minmin to draw a picture of the Tailing Mausoleum for her.

One thing every emperor has to do since he ascended the throne is to build his own grave.The emperor was no exception. He ordered the auspicious acupoints of Fengshui in the Western Tomb of the Qing Dynasty and built the Tailing Mausoleum.

After offering sacrifices to the late emperor, the emperor traveled a lot and took the princes and of course his daughter to inspect his Tailing.

So the queen asked Minmin to show her the painting.

Minmin hesitated to write: Has Queen Mother already thought of such an ominous thing?

The queen looked at Minmin, who was unwilling to write, and dismissed the palace people, not even leaving Gongmei saying: "If the emperor ascends the throne a hundred years later, Minmin will do the emperor's mother a favor—the new emperor ascends the throne and moves to Honghui Jin." When the coffin is in the coffin, let him be closer to the empress's mother." This was the first time the empress had explicitly mentioned the position of crown prince to Min Min.

What she said was very straightforward, and it shouldn't even be what a queen said: "I have watched in the palace all these years. Compared with Hongli, the emperor prefers Hongzhang who has taught him with one hand. That's why the queen's mother is like this." Entrust you."

However, the matter of the reserve position is not certain until the moment of the final ascension to the throne. The queen looked at the grown-up princess in front of her, and said, "Actually, you have spent more time with the empress than your elder brother." .”

"You are a child who values ​​feelings, so Queen Mother wants to make it clear to you. If Hongshang ascends the throne in the future, and your siblings are deeply in love, you can speak for Honghui, but if the other elder brother ascends the throne, Minmin Just forget about these words and protect yourself well." Don't think that you are afraid of failing her entrustment, so you insist on doing this thing, you must first protect yourself wisely.

The Queen Mother passed away, and Concubine Xi had already returned from the Yuanmingyuan to the Forbidden City to observe filial piety together.

Today's Concubine Xi looks very restrained and submissive, just like Concubine Qi, it seems that she no longer dares to take another step.

But the queen knew that if Concubine Xi became the queen mother, this would not be the case.

If this is the case, the queen would rather Minmin protect herself first, and not give others the blame for doing anything.

After the empress dowager's ambiguous words, this is the second time, and it is the second time that Minmin has realized more deeply that the battle for the reserve position is imminent.

Because my brother has grown up.

If it hadn't been for the death of the empress dowager, Hongshang would have chosen Fujin in the draft for the 20th year of Yongzheng next year.Even if they don't refer to marriage, it doesn't affect the clan's family will still write a letter asking the emperor to ennoble him as usual.

With the empress dowager's passing of seventy years, the lingering illness is getting worse so that everyone in the palace is mentally prepared to be different.The queen's illness has been repeated for many years, and even if she had to stay in bed to recuperate once it flares up, but it has been like this all these years, and the palaces thought that she would recover after a short rest like before.

However, Minmin, who often visited the queen, didn't think so. Minmin conveyed this uneasiness to the emperor. The emperor always attached great importance to his daughter's words, so he visited the queen more often.

Seeing that after the Empress Dowager's funeral, the Empress's illness is different this time, I'm afraid...

For many years, the relationship between the emperor and empress was not so much a husband and wife, but a standard emperor and empress, and they were suitable people for these two positions.

In the past, the emperor came to Zhongcui Palace to greet and care about the health of the empress. When talking about official matters such as palace affairs and sacrifices, he didn't have much to say in private.However, this year, when the emperor came to Zhongcui Palace, he had kicked out the palace members several times, and had private talks with the empress a few times.

The emperor's frequent visits to the queen fell into Hongli's eyes, but he felt uneasy.

During the years when the queen was ill, only the fourth princess was willing to see more.

These princes are all naked so far, and have not been knighted.And the sixth younger brother will enter the court next year.If the fourth princess coaxed the queen's mother to say something nice to the sixth brother, and the emperor was biased, would the title given to the younger brother be better than them?

The only thing Hongli is lucky about is the state-owned funeral. Next year, Hongli will not be accused of marriage, and will not have any more help from his wife and family.

In the early autumn of the 19th year of Yongzheng, the queen passed away.

The posthumous posthumous title of the Ministry of Rites is filial piety to the queen.

The mourning and solemnity of the empress dowager's funeral in the palace has not yet dissipated, and then it will be laid out again.

This time it was the imperial concubine who presided over the funeral.

The emperor didn't let Concubine Qi, Concubine Xi and Concubine Yu, who are all in the palace now, assist the queen's funeral, but instead ordered the four princesses to assist.

The third concubine is responsible for looking after the concubines and grandchildren in the palace, and cannot intervene in the funeral ceremony.

Jiang Heng should do his best.

After the queen's funeral, the emperor came to Yonghe Palace: "The queen left a souvenir before she was alive, and all her belongings are left to Minmin."

When the queen or concubine passed away, all the furnishings in the original palace had to be returned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.However, women's personal belongings such as headgear and jewelry will naturally not be confiscated, and they can be left to their children or close people according to their wishes.

The emperor didn't let the Ministry of Internal Affairs clean up the Zhongcui Palace, but just kept it as it was.

Gongmei Xueya and others are the queen's close friends, all of whom are close to fifty years old and have spent most of their lives in the palace. After the queen passed away, they all pleaded with the noble concubine and wanted to stay in Zhongcui Palace, and did not want to go outside the palace again. day.

Jiang Heng agreed, and still allocated Buddha incense, candles and other things to Zhongcui Palace on a monthly basis.

Minmin also often went to Zhongcui Palace, or sent a newly opened vase of flowers in the courtyard, or changed the curtains and mattresses according to the seasons, or took dusters and fine cloths to dust off the dust accumulated on the empress's desk. Go—the empress had strict rules when she was alive, she was the only one who cleaned up the book case, and did not let the palace servants tidy up the paper she had written on, so Gong Mei and others have not touched the empress empress' book case until now.

The 19th year of Yongzheng passed in such a white and solemn state.

The 20th year of Yongzheng was originally the year for the draft. Due to the successive deaths of the empress dowager, the emperor had already decided to stop the draft.

Although the draft was suspended, the courtiers paid no less attention to the palace—this year, the sixth elder brother Hongshang turned 15 years old.