Chapter 7 - Treacherous living in the Imperial Harem (1/2)
Hearing this, Noble Consort Shu froze for a moment, but Yun Qingman immediately agreed, “Yes, sister. You said yesterday that Fenghuang is different from other concubines, because the Empress Dowager personally issued the imperial decree to cordially invite her to join the Imperial Harem. So, Consort Yue must dare not hurt her. But the current situation is: Consort Yue is narrow-minded, and Fenghuang is unfortunately involved in the fight between the two groups. One is Queen Mother Ji and the Empress, the other is Queen Mother Yuan and her niece Consort Yue. What will Fenghuang’s future be if she can’t leave Hu Zhu Palace?”
“… Let’s go back to Tong Xia Palace first.” Noble Consort Shu glared at Yun Qingman reluctantly. She then took a deep breath and berated her in a low voice, “Consort Yue is the hostess of Hu Zhu Palace. It’s okay for me, a Noble Consort, to privately judge her, but not for you, a Mei Ren to do the same thing. I have told you the Imperial Harem is not our home. Remember to be careful about your words and deeds all the time!”
Yun Qingman held her sister’s arm and coquettishly said, “I know, I know. I can say this because my dear sister is here. You won’t let us be bullied, right?”
Yun Qingman hinted Yun Fenghuang to hold her sister’s another arm while speaking. But Yun Fenghuang just smiled obediently without any action. Even though Yun Qingman and Noble Consort Shu had different mothers, they had the same father. Yun Qingman could take it for granted to act coquettishly to her sister, but Yun Fenghuang could not. The three of them knew clearly how she, the so-called sister, became a member of Yun’s Family. So, why bothered to act like close sisters?
After a while, their sedan stopped at Cheng Cai Hall, the main hall of Tong Xia Palace. Yun Fenghuang and Yun Qingman supported Noble Consort Shu down the sedan. Seeing that, a group of concubines of Tong Xia Palace following them bowed to Noble Consort Shu. The latter talked to them kindly and let them go back to their own residences. Then she took Yun Fenghuang and Yun Qingman into the hall.
Tong Xia Palace had always been the residence of high-ranking concubines. The whole palace was magnificent and majestic, but Cheng Cai Hall was simple and elegant.
Noble Consort Shu seemed not valuing luxury… Of course, this kind of simplicity was relative to the grade of the noble consorts.
“You just joined the Imperial Harem yesterday, and Fenghuang was not with me”, said Noble Consort Shu. She ordered the maids to serve tea and desserts, and then let them leave. Letting the two sisters sit down, she said sincerely, “Therefore, I didn’t say too much about the Imperial Harem to Qingman yesterday. Since you are both here now, I will tell you something unknown for the outside people or hard to speak out.”
Emperor Chunjia’s harem was probably the most complicated Imperial Harem since the establishment of the dynasty.
Even within the Imperial Harems in history, it must be among the most complicated ones.
First of all, Emperor Chunjia was not the son of late Emperor Xiaozong, but his cousin’s son. Xiaozong had only three daughters in his life. After Xiaozong died, it was taken for granted that his nephew should be enthroned… but the problem was that although Xiaozong had no sons, he had a half-brother!
This half-brother was the youngest son of Emperor Shenzong, the former Lord Yi and the current Prince Regent.
Although both Prince Regent and Xiaozong had a few children, Prince Regent had a son, the current Shizi (heir) of Prince Regent.
Therefore, when Emperor Xiaozong was critically ill and the Palace was going to adopt a nephew to be enthroned as the Prince of the country, Prince Regent’s son was the most popular choice. However, the Empress Dowager, Queen Mother Ji and Ji’s Family refused the suggestion by the reason that as the only son of Prince Regent, Shizi of Prince Regent shall succeed to his father’s title instead of the Emperor’s, and then made the current Emperor, Chunjia, who had less royal family’s blood, be enthroned… But the problem was that Emperor Chunjia was also the only son of his biological father, Duke Fuyang. Besides, he was also a son of the concubine. He was only able to succeed to the title of his father under the scheming and help of his legitimate mother, Ms. Yuan.
How could Prince Regent and his son submit to such humiliation?
Noble Consort Shu murmured when she said the following words, “There is a forbidden hearsay in the palace that when the Former Emperor fell ill, he did not mention to adopt a son at all, but hoped to make Prince Regent the Huang Tai Di (the Emperor’s brother who was selected to be enthroned as the next Emperor)… But this idea was severely refused by the Empress Dowager.”
Yun Fenghuang thought that the Empress Dowager surely would not agree.
The current prosperous status of Ji’s Family began since the current Empress Dowager was registered as the Empress of Emperor Shenzong. Not only Prince Regent was not the biological son of the Empress Dowager, but Princess Regent was of modest origin and had nothing to do with Ji’s Family. The key point was that Prince Regent was very mature and strong, and had gone through the frontier training. Even if he was willing to abandon his wife and marry a daughter of Ji’s Family as his legitimate wife, he couldn’t be controlled as easy as Emperor Chunjia.
Anyway, Emperor Xiaozong had failed to make his half-brother as the Huang Tai Di, but he might have given his brother some support before his death. After Emperor Chunjia was enthroned, his brother was titled as Prince Regent.
Noble Consort Shu also wasn’t clear about the mutual compromise between them.
The Imperial Harem was supposed to be centered on the emperors, but now Emperor Chunjia had a complicated background and was like a puppet. Therefore, it seemed that there weren’t enough concubines in the Imperial Harem, but actually different groups of powers had formed.
Empress Ji Lingzi and Zhao Yuan Ji Muzi, based on their family background, were undoubtedly about to replace the Empress Dowager and Queen Mother Ji, guaranteeing that Ji’s Family could continue their decisive role in the imperial issues;
Noble Consort Gui, Zheng Shangchu, was the niece of the powerful official, Zheng Jv. He had used to be the leading eunuch who had served Emperor Shenzong, and now the General-in-chief of the Cavalry who was in charge of the Imperial Guards. It was fair to say that the security of the Imperial City was decided by this person;
Noble Consort Shu, Yun Shuangyu, as the daughter of Duke Yi, was regarded as the representative of the royalists as a matter of course;
Next, the grandfather of Consort Xin (Cui Lianye) not only was titled as the Ceremonial Master, but was also a well-known learned scholar at home, who could be seen as the leader and representative of the literati and incorruptible officials;
Let alone Consort Yue, Emperor Chunjia’s childhood sweetheart and Queen Mother of Mercy’s biological niece. From standpoint to affection, she was the closest concubine to Emperor Chunjia;
And Fu Ren Yaoning, Gu Zhen, was a firm supporter of Prince Regent. She was the lovely daughter of the commander of the Dingbei Army, Duke Zhaowu, Gu Fangshu, who belonged to Prince Regent’s party.