History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 193 Prince Rencheng Meets Zhao Zhi
Yuan Ruan's voice was nasal, as if she had been secretly crying: "My name is A Ruan, meaning 'reasonable and logical.' What's your name?"

“My name is A Yao, meaning profound and secluded.”

"Judging from your voice, you've been to school?"

Wei Yao nodded: "I read the Book of Poetry, but I haven't learned the whole thing yet."

Yuan Heng: "What a coincidence, me too. So, how are your studies?"

"I think it's alright."

Yuan Yu's chubby chin bulged out in three layers: "I'm more honest than you. I think I haven't studied well." A warrior was approaching from afar, and he immediately said, "I have to go. I'm staying in Yinian this month. I'll come back to visit you again next time."

The bright sunshine cannot penetrate the deep darkness of the palace.

Since the late emperor passed away during his southern expedition, the new emperor Yuan Ke has been in mourning in the deep palace since returning to Luoyang, and the administration of the court has been entrusted to the prime minister.

After reading the official documents, Yuan Ke had been sitting in front of the chessboard for quite some time. Three white pieces were placed horizontally on the chessboard, and only Wang Yu, the eunuch who served him closely, could guess the emperor's thoughts.

Wang Yu was a convicted official who had been castrated. Because he diligently visited the deposed Empress Xiao Feng, who had become a nun, Yuan Ke discovered that he was able to endure the hardships of life and was good at interpersonal relationships. So Yuan Ke recruited him to serve him.

Wang Yu's guess was correct; these three pieces represented members of the imperial family, meritorious officials, and the Cui clan of Qinghe, among other Han aristocratic families.

Among the six regents in the late emperor's will, two were Han Chinese officials: Wang Su and Song Bian, the Minister of Personnel. These two officials, along with the two princes of the imperial family and the two princes of the imperial clan, formed a three-way power structure that cooperated and checked each other.

Unfortunately, Song Bian died of illness, and the six regents became five, causing the balance of power arranged by the late emperor to be disrupted in an instant.

Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Now that Yuan Ke has become emperor, he can no longer consider things the same way he did when he was crown prince. Since he realized that the five regents were bound to have a fierce struggle, and he could not stop it, he prepared for any eventuality by having a replacement force for either side.

“Summon Zhiqin to Deng to come and see him.”

"I'll go," Zhao Xiu said, quickly accepting the order.

Yu Deng was the son of Yu Lie, the general in charge of the Imperial Guard. Yu Deng's original official position was Crown Prince's Guard Commandant. At the beginning of Yuan Ke's reign, he immediately promoted Yu Deng to Commandant of the Changshui Army, Left and Right Generals, and gave him the position of "Zhiqin" (a close bodyguard).

This move was tantamount to telling Yu Lie that although the other party was not among the key ministers assisting in the government, the new emperor still trusted the commander of the Imperial Guards just like the previous emperor.

After Zhao Xiu left, Yuan Ke summoned Wang Yu and whispered some instructions to him.

As Wang Yu left to receive his orders, the white-clad guard Ru Hao returned to the palace to report: "Your Majesty, the Prince of Qinghe sent someone to report that the Seventh Prince is well and even ran around in the woods for a while this afternoon, and is able to play."

Yuan Ke instructed: "Let Wang Xian continue to go to the residence of Prince Qinghe every five days to examine Yuan Yu's pulse."

"Yes."

Of all his half-brothers, Yuan Ke loved his fourth brother Yuan Yi and seventh brother Yuan Yu the most. Although Yuan Yu was chubby, he was always sick. The emperor left a will that all concubines below the rank of "Lady" should be granted permission to leave the palace and return home. The seventh brother's birth mother, Zheng, was only a Consort. Knowing that she would soon leave the palace, Consort Zheng wept in front of Yuan Yu every day, which made Yuan Yu also feel sad and cry, and he fell ill again.

This illness is quite severe.

So Yuan Ke let his seventh brother stay at his fourth brother's Qinghe Prince's Mansion, temporarily leaving Zheng Chonghua, so that he could recover his health first.

Yuan Ke hesitated for a moment, then placed another white chess piece on the board.

This piece represents monks and nuns.

At that time, regardless of whether people were rich or poor, almost every family worshipped Buddhism. In his last words, the emperor instructed him not to ruin the country because of his worship of Buddhism. He was not only worried that he would become too devout in Buddhism and delay the preparation of military strength and the construction of various ritual institutions, but also worried that he would elevate the power of monks and nuns to become a fourth force that would restrain the princes and court officials.

"If Sengzhi hadn't died, he could have served as a stepping stone." Yuan Ke shook his head regretfully and swept the chess piece back into the chess basket.

Why could Sengzhi be used as a stepping stone? When Wang Yu first joined the Eastern Palace, he was unaware that Sengzhi was already dead. He told Yuan Ke how deeply Sengzhi had mingled among the nobles and ladies of Luoyang, hoping that Yuan Ke could help rescue Sengzhi and make him serve the Eastern Palace.

The so-called "efforts" obviously refer to gathering information, while the Crown Prince helps this nun expand her reputation and recruit more disciples.

Forget it, you useless brat, not worth Yuan Ke's time.

The next morning.

After obtaining the contract, Wei Yin and his family boarded the oxcart and headed to the western market. They found the Pingcheng caravan, which rented out oxcarts, at the market in Tongshangli and returned all three oxcarts. It was noon by then.

The residents of Tongshangli made a living by butchering and selling meat. The stalls selling cooked and roasted meat were all thriving. Zhao Zhi liked to eat roasted venison, Wei Yin liked to eat roasted lamb leg, and Wei Yao liked to drink lamb soup. It was easy to find food stalls selling both cooked and roasted meat in the market of Tongshangli.

The Wei family chose a location where the food stall was furnished with unusual double folding chairs, and the utensils were placed on high chests with openings separating the upper and lower sections, where condiments and refreshing pickled vegetables were stored.

"The higher you sit, the more you eat." Every time a new customer came, the stall owner, Hu Shang, would repeat this in broken Han Chinese.

The street was bustling with life. Everyone, whether they were food vendors or customers, was in high spirits. The most interesting thing was that the vendors at one stall and the woman at the next stall were talking non-stop, their voices so loud they sounded like they were arguing. Sometimes they even waved their iron spoons around.

Wei Yin said to his wife and daughter, "Can you see it? Although they are all foreign merchants, they cannot understand each other's language."

There were too many diners at lunchtime. Besides those who were sitting and eating, there were even more people taking food away. Zhao Zhi saw that someone was arguing over a folding chair, so she asked her husband to go and sit with their daughter, while she sat down by herself.

A dozen steps away, Prince Rencheng, Yuan Cheng, walked alone with his hands behind his back, looking preoccupied.

He was troubled by two things.

Firstly, among the senior officials assisting in the government, Wang Su, with his shallower political foundation, held a higher official position than him. Yuan Cheng was indignant yet helpless. He recalled how he had always taken the late emperor's reforms as his own responsibility. When Mu Tai, the governor of Hengzhou, rebelled, it was he who rushed to Hengzhou day and night, capturing the rebel leader Mu Tai alive before the rebels could react, quickly quelling the riot. What did Wang Su have that made him superior? Was it just his handsome face that had seduced the Princess of Chenliu?
The second worry was that Prince Pengcheng, to avoid arousing the new emperor's suspicion, voluntarily relinquished his military power and took up the post of Prefect of Dingzhou. Like a bow discarded after its birds are all shot down, preserving one's reputation and self-interest, Prince Pengcheng was gone. Who would be next? Could it be me?

"Gurgle—" Yuan Cheng's stomach growled with hunger. He saw an empty spot on a double-folding folding chair and sat down half-asleep.

The space was a bit cramped, so he lifted his buttocks, wanting to move the folding chair closer to himself.

They didn't move.

"Your butt's already sticking out, how can you move it if you can't move it?"

He put in extra effort.

Hey?
Pull it again.

Why? ?

Yuan Cheng then looked at the woman next to him properly. Well, he had been distracted and hadn't noticed that the woman was drinking soup from a bowl.

However... this woman is incredibly strong!

Zhao Zhi also glanced at the person next to her out of the corner of her eye.

Yuan Cheng realized the three were a family and asked Wei Yin, "You just arrived in the capital, right?"

Just as Wei Yin was about to reply, Zhao Zhi tore off a piece of the pancake and stuffed it into her husband's mouth, subtly reminding him, "This pancake is covered in sesame paste, it looks like it's full of black eyes, you eat it."

Double Hu Bed: The Hu bed is the earliest type of stool. A double Hu bed is a stool for two people to sit on, as seen in the Dunhuang mural "The Karmic Bond of Sumoti".



(End of this chapter)