Chapter 367 The Political Situation (Part 2)

Chapter 367 The Political Situation (Part 2)

Xie Wanniang's two younger brother-in-law's daughters-in-law were both married in the capital. Although she sent generous gifts, she did not attend the weddings in person.

The servants of the Xie family knew this, which is why they took the initiative to introduce her.

She had never met either of them, so Jiang Yuan certainly hadn't either.

He held his daughter's hand, his eyes occasionally glancing at his son, who was being held by a servant, walking side by side with Xie Wanniang at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

The two men met face-to-face with the two young mistresses of the Xie family at the second gate. After exchanging greetings, the two young mistresses of the Xie family personally led them to the main courtyard.

In the main courtyard, Xie Wanniang's aunt, Huang, was already waiting for them.

Hearing the noise, she came out of the house and walked quickly toward Xie Wanniang's family with a smile on her face.

Xie Wanniang quickly walked a few steps to Huang Shi, and with a smile on her face, she curtsied and greeted her, "Auntie."

Jiang Yuan followed closely behind, cupped his hands and bowed, also calling out "Auntie".

The two children, under Cunyu's guidance, bowed and addressed Huang as "Grandma."

An'an's voice was clear and crisp, while Linlin's voice was sweet and childlike. The two children were adorable, one holding the other.

Huang was overjoyed and exclaimed, abandoning Xie Wanniang, she went over and hugged the two children.

Xie Wanniang, who suddenly fell out of favor: ...

Madam Huang held one child in each hand and said, "Good children, come on, come inside with your great-aunt."

Her two grandsons have already started school and are rarely seen until the end of the school term, but she also has a little granddaughter who is currently being looked after by a servant and is fast asleep in the room.

As she led the two children into the house, she called out to Xie Wanniang, Jiang Yuan, and her two daughters-in-law, "You all come in too, let's sit down and have a good chat."

Her two daughters-in-law responded with a "yes" and smiled as they invited Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan into the main room to chat.

After everyone took their seats, Huang explained to Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang with a smile, "Your uncles and brothers haven't left the yamen yet. I just sent someone to inform them, and they should be back in about 15 minutes."

Her two sons used to study at the Imperial Academy, but now one works at the Hanlin Academy and the other at the Jingzhao Prefecture. Like their father, neither of them has yet left their posts and returned home.

Xie Wanniang was familiar with their family's basic situation, so she wasn't surprised.

She and Jiang Yuan kept Huang company while she drank tea and chatted, while Huang's two daughters-in-law quickly left the main room to get busy with their own tasks.

One of them led Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan's servants and guards to settle them in the guest house where they were staying, while the other went to the kitchen to oversee the cooks and helpers preparing the sumptuous feast for the evening.

When they had finished their work on both sides, Xie Wanniang's uncle and cousins, just as Huang had said, hurriedly returned one after another.

When everyone met, there was naturally another round of greetings and pleasantries.

After Xie Wanniang and her two children had exchanged greetings and conversations with the three men of the Xie family, her uncle took his son and nephew-in-law to the study.

Xie Wanniang was not surprised at all that she was left out. Although the Xie family advocated raising daughters like boys, they still did not openly discuss politics in front of their female relatives and children.

For matriarchs like her adoptive mother and aunt, the head of the household would usually discuss important matters with them privately to prevent them from making mistakes due to ignorance when interacting with others.

For young wives like her two cousins' wives, who are far from being in charge of their own households, whether their husbands will talk to them, and how much they will talk, depends on their husbands' habits, as well as the depth of their feelings and trust with their husbands.

This situation exists not only in the Xie family, but also in the vast majority of official families in this world, and even in the homes of gentry and merchants with some wealth and property.

Having grown accustomed to being able to make all the decisions at home independently, and with Jiang Yuan sharing military and political matters with her anytime and anywhere without the need for secrecy, Xie Wanniang was actually quite unaccustomed to being suddenly excluded.

However, she did not show her discomfort. Now that they had entered the capital, and Jiang Yuan had been specially dispatched by the emperor with a special purpose, Xie Wanniang would not allow herself to be too unconventional until she understood the situation.

She had already decided to conceal her talents and observe and adapt first. Only when she and Jiang Yuan had thoroughly understood the situation and rules of the capital, and even the networks of relationships among the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital, would she decide whether or not to reveal her talents.

Anyway, Jiang Yuan knows her well enough, respects her enough, and trusts her enough. Even if her uncle pulls Jiang Yuan aside to talk, once Jiang Yuan sees her, he will tell Xie Wanniang what they talked about in private.

After chatting with Madam Huang for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xie Wanniang and Madam Huang were invited to the dining room.

The Xie family's main kitchen had prepared a welcome feast for Xie Wanniang's family. Because it was winter, they had taken special measures to keep the dishes warm when serving them.

Xie Wanniang saw once again the various exquisite porcelain pieces being simmered in a charcoal stove and enveloped in hot water.

She had seen these methods of keeping warm before in the Xie clan and the Dingbei Marquis's residence, so she didn't find them particularly strange. However, it was the first time her two children had seen these two methods of keeping warm, and they stared at the servants with wide eyes.

Unlike those scions of noble families who were obsessed with saving face, Xie Wanniang, despite being born into the Xie family, did not feel that it was something that would make her lose face if her children showed curiosity about new things they had never seen before.

As for why their family never had to worry about the temperature of their food in winter, even though they had lived in Baoding Prefecture—they only had four masters in total, two of whom were still children.

In addition, although Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan are adults, they do not blindly show off or put on airs just to display their status.

All the meals for their family of four were prepared in a small kitchen not far from their courtyard house.

Because of the close proximity, there is no problem of food getting cold in winter due to the long transportation distance.

As for the servants and guards in the house, although their three meals a day were prepared by the main kitchen, Xie Wanniang arranged for them to eat in batches in the two main kitchens in the front and back yards, instead of the main kitchen having to painstakingly distribute the food and collect the utensils. Therefore, the issue of whether the food was hot or cold was not involved for them.

Since she didn't take the two children out to visit many people, they naturally lacked knowledge in this area.

Ms. Huang was a thoughtful person and quickly noticed what the two children were curious about, but she didn't say anything and just let them look around as if nothing was wrong.

The servants, of course, noticed the two children's gaze, but they remained meek and obedient, doing their own jobs, which showed how strict Madam Huang was in managing her household.

Soon the men and the two children who had just finished school were invited over by the servants. They sat down at two tables, one for the men and one for the women and children.

The servants brought by Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan were served the same meals as the servants of the Xie family, with their meals distributed by the main kitchen.

However, according to the rules of the Xie family, they could only eat after their master had finished eating.

After enjoying a sumptuous welcoming feast, adhering strictly to the rules of not speaking while eating, Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan took the children back to the guest courtyard to rest.

Huang's two sons and two daughters-in-law personally escorted them to the entrance of the guest courtyard before they went back to rest in pairs.

As expected, after everyone was sent away and the children were taken back to sleep by the maids, only he and Xie Wanniang remained in the room. Jiang Yuan then told Xie Wanniang everything about his conversation with Xie Wanniang and her father.

Xie Wanniang then realized that the emperor already had the intention of abdicating in favor of the crown prince and becoming the retired emperor to live a leisurely life.

Although he did not explicitly state his intentions, these courtiers, who were used to trying to figure out his thoughts and observing his movements, easily guessed what he was going to do next from his series of actions.

Although most court officials had already seen from his consistent attitude that the Crown Prince was the undisputed successor, there were always some who, from the perspective of their own interests, were not entirely satisfied with this outcome.

As mentioned earlier, emperors also used marriage alliances to win over allies during their conquest of the empire. Now, those women who chose to be his concubines have become his imperial consorts.

His concubines had all given birth to children. It was one thing for the ones who had daughters, but the ones who had sons were naturally unwilling to let their sons miss out on the most prestigious position in the world.

Their sons, their maternal families, and a considerable number of court officials close to their sons, servants who depended on their sons for their livelihood, and guards were either actively or involuntarily drawn into the struggle for the throne.

Because everyone knows that as long as the crown prince is alive, the emperor will not consider the other princes, so those who want to seize the throne focus all their efforts on getting rid of the crown prince.

Long before the Great Wei unified the Central Plains, they had already used various methods against the Crown Prince.

Poisoning, assassination, framing... the methods are varied and novel.

However, despite all their efforts over the years, the Crown Prince has remained firmly in his position, neither killed nor crippled, nor successfully framed by them.

Seeing that the emperor was about to abdicate in favor of the crown prince, they became somewhat desperate and resorted to desperate measures.

They used all the same old tricks again, and the Crown Prince's surroundings became more fraught with danger than ever before.

The emperor lost his temper several times over this and became even more protective of the crown prince. Perhaps the crown prince himself had long been accustomed to the various forms of targeting by his brothers, and even now that the intensity had increased, he remained calm and composed.

Anyway, it's not like the other side can target him more and more; he can also increase his defense index at the same time.

And there's another important point—the more excited his brothers are, the weaker the already thin father-son bond between the emperor and them will become.

Once he gets through this period and successfully becomes the new emperor, he will have plenty of opportunities to deal with these people at his own pace.

Even if his father were still alive at that time, because of his brothers' long criminal records, his father wouldn't have the face to ask him not to kill his brothers.

Of course, the crown prince did not intend to actually exterminate them.

Firstly, not all the princes had tried to harm him or coveted the position. The crown prince was willing to grant those who were self-aware a lifetime of wealth and honor.

Secondly, since he was going to be emperor, he had to establish an image of benevolence and wisdom. If he was too ruthless, those with ulterior motives would certainly be deterred to some extent, but at the same time, his unaware subjects would also become extremely fearful because of his cruel methods.

A moderate amount of fear is necessary and beneficial for managing his subjects, but excessive fear can subconsciously make people want to overthrow the mountain weighing on them and remove the weapon hanging over their heads.

Thirdly, the Crown Prince did not believe that death was the greatest punishment for a person.

In his view, the best way to repay his good brothers was to cut off their wings, imprison them, and let them live in despair, watching him enjoy his glory and be praised by others.

The more open-minded the Crown Prince was, the more the Emperor and Empress worried about him. The Emperor frequently lashed out at his illegitimate sons in the court, and the Empress also used readily available incriminating evidence to torment the mothers of the princes in the harem.

It was only at this point that the concubines who had previously acted recklessly in front of the Empress realized that the Empress was not powerless against them, but rather treating them like monkeys.

Those women who thought they were provoking and showing off were probably no different from monkeys jumping through hoops of fire and climbing scaffolds in the Empress's eyes—just something to amuse her and relieve her boredom.

They've become excessively arrogant, like monkeys that were showing off their skills suddenly leaping over to swat at the onlookers. The onlooker, the queen, got annoyed, grabbed a big stick, and beat the monkeys senseless with a thud.

The two concubines who were jumping the gun the most, along with some lower-ranking concubines they had either coerced or bribed, were all quickly subdued by the Empress.

They were confined and forced to copy scriptures. The two leaders were even demoted from the rank of four imperial concubines to ordinary concubines.

On the contrary, two concubines who had originally been indifferent to the competition for favors were quickly promoted and replaced them.

One of them had only a daughter, while the other had a son, but the son was not yet ten years old and not old enough to compete for that position, so the mother and son were always very well-behaved.

Now that the other two have been dealt with by the Empress, two of the four imperial concubine positions, which were originally full, have become vacant, and they have taken the opportunity to be promoted.

The Empress had ready-made reasons for mentioning them.

These two women have been with the emperor for many years, and their families have always been law-abiding. They may not have made any great contributions, but they have certainly put in a lot of hard work.

The other one, though young, gave birth to a prince, ensuring the continuation of the royal line. This was a great achievement. It was fine before there was no vacancy, but now that there is, it's natural to mention her.