History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 196 Fate

Emperor Yuan Ke carefully read through his seventh brother's notes, and after sorting out the meaning of the whole text, he marked the original characters of all the phonetic loan characters and the ones that were circled and replaced with red ink, and added the comment "There has been progress". Then he instructed Kou Meng: "Summon the Prince of Rencheng to see me."

Yuan Cheng entered the palace, walking with some difficulty. After bowing, he said, "Your Majesty, please forgive my rudeness. I was assassinated in the west of the city two days ago and was stabbed in the leg."

Yuan Ke's brow furrowed with anger as he asked, "Have you captured any prisoners alive?"

"Your Majesty, rest assured, he has been captured and is being interrogated at my residence."

"I rely on my uncle for assisting me in governing the court. When I visit the people in the future, I must bring more attendants and warriors."

"My minister obeys."

"I suddenly remembered the matter of recruiting lecturers for the Imperial Academy and the Palace Academy. How is it progressing?"

Yuan Cheng hadn't inquired about this matter for about ten days. After a slight hesitation, he replied truthfully, "Half a month ago, I asked Liu Fang, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, about this matter. Most of the newly selected palace students came from Qixing County. Most of these palace maids are knowledgeable in textual exegesis and can recite basic classics. However, the female lecturers on the list of those to be called up are all quite young, and they were all stumped by the questions from the palace students in their first class. Your Majesty, rest assured, I have already instructed the county government to conduct preliminary assessments of all the lecturers to be called up before they can enter the palace academy to teach the classics."

Yuan Ke: "What about the Imperial Academy?"

"I took the exam once, and my score was about the same as in the annual exam; it didn't decline."

That means there's no progress, and he's still skipping school every day!

Yuan Ke frowned and rebuked: "Restoring the rites and building the Imperial Academy have always been the late emperor's wishes. Unfortunately, the treasury and the people's resources have always been consumed by war and the construction of the capital. The late emperor knew your difficulties, so he rarely urged or inquired about them."

"But the Imperial Academy and the Palace Academy have always been located in the palace, yet the officials in charge of these schools have been lazy day after day, failing to find effective methods to fulfill their teaching duties. Instead, they blame the children for being difficult to teach and averse to learning! How hateful and despicable!"

"Go and tell all the academic officials that I will not tolerate them like the late emperor did. Anyone who dares to neglect the classics and scriptures will be dismissed by me!"

Yuan Ke was furious at every word, and finally threw his seventh brother's notes at Prince Rencheng: "Take a look! Yuan Yu studied with a Confucian scholar in the countryside for an hour, and then took the initiative to write notes that were usually difficult to understand. This Confucian scholar said something that resonated with me... The purpose of lecturing is not to compete in who can talk the most, nor in who has the most knowledge. The purpose of lecturing is to make the listeners understand and willing to continue listening!"

Yuan Cheng left the palace in a sullen mood. It was already dark when Li Xuanmao, the chief secretary of the palace, led a group of warriors to meet him and reported, "Minister, an assassin has spoken. He speaks with a Bingzhou accent and has made a condition: bring his entire family to Luoyang first. Once he sees them, he will confess who the mastermind is."

"A Bingzhou native? Hmph, most likely that old traitor Yuan Pi. Continue with the severe torture, and let him die."

After Li Xuanmao responded with "yes," he continued, "I also suspect that the mastermind behind this is Yuan Pi. Even a centipede with a hundred legs will not fall down after it dies. I estimate that for many years, he has held a grudge against the Minister of Works for using a clever scheme to kill his two sons, Yuanlong and Yuanchao."

“Last year, I happened to hear that there was a ‘Bingfang spy case’ in Pingcheng, Hengzhou, which was related to the rebellion of Mu Tai and Yuan Long in the past. So I went to the Court of Justice and actually found out some information. Bingfang’s former master was Yuan Pi. After Yuan Pi was deposed and reduced to a commoner in Taiyuan, Bingfang still had money to operate in Pingcheng.”

"Bingfang's last major case involved Mu Tai."

"Mu Tai's old forces have never given up on avenging this traitor. They have been searching for the brave warrior who captured Mu Tai alive back then through Bingfang. They actually managed to find out who it was, but the message they sent out fell into the hands of the Cui clan of Pingcheng. The Court of Justice did not show me the contents of this spy letter, but I felt that I had heard the name 'Bingfang' somewhere before, so I went to the county office again and found out that the nun Sengzhi who died a few months ago had the secular name Hu Bingfang."

Yuan Cheng shook his head. It was another nun and another monk!
Yuan Cheng muttered, "Yuan Pi, Seng Zhi... Hmm, I understand. Yuan Pi has been using the nunnery to accumulate wealth and preserve his power. I estimate that after he was demoted to a commoner, Bingfang's master was actually the nun Seng Zhi! It's fortunate that this nun is dead, otherwise who knows how much trouble she would have caused."

In the middle of the night, Yuan Cheng couldn't sleep. With his eyes closed, he recalled the surprise attack on Hengzhou to quell the rebellion years ago. At that time, he had instructed Li Huan, the Imperial Censor, to find a woman named Zhao Zhi to help him after arriving in Pingcheng. Zhao Zhi was a "fierce warrior" personally tested by the late emperor and appointed by him. Capturing Mu Tai was as easy as rebellion...

Yuan Cheng suddenly opened his eyes and sat up!
I remembered!

The woman who warned him the day before yesterday that there were "vicious dogs as numerous as sesame seeds" around him was Zhao Zhi!

"Oh dear." He slapped his forehead, realizing he'd missed a golden opportunity to recruit talent. No, he couldn't let that slip away! Yuan Cheng strode out of the house, his left shoe on his right and his right barefoot, shouting, "Quickly summon Li Xuanmao to see me!"

"Thump—buzz—" "Thump—buzz—"

In present-day Luoyang, the midnight bells of temples are far less noisy than in Pingcheng. Wei Yao knows that this is due to the restrictions imposed by the late emperor on the "capital city system." Once the new emperor assumes power, this decree restricting the construction of monasteries will become a mere formality year by year.

After the faint chimes faded, she continued to immerse herself in her reading.

“The virtuous and noble man is illustrious and virtuous, and is kind and benevolent to the people. He receives blessings from Heaven, is protected and protected by Heaven, and is granted blessings by Heaven.”

This poem is called "False Joy," and it belongs to the "Greater Odes" section. Wei Yao always followed the schedule of one lesson every two days, and if she fell behind, she had to catch up even if it meant staying up all night.

In the Wei Yi Mansion south of Songlin Bieyuan, Wei Mao was also reading by candlelight.

“假 (jiǎ) means good. It is suitable for the people, suitable for bringing peace to the people, and suitable for officials. The commentary says, ‘显 (xiǎn) means bright…’”

Whether on the way to Luoyang or after arriving at his home in Luoyang, Wei Mao always insisted on learning a poem every two days. If he wanted to marry Wei Yao, he could not be ignorant of what she knew. If he wanted to marry Wei Yao, he had to be a good match himself and could not rely solely on the glory of his ancestors and his wealthy family property.

Wei Yao: "May you enjoy a hundred blessings and a hundred million descendants. May you be dignified and majestic, a worthy ruler and king. May you never err or forget, and follow the old rules."

Wei Mao: "It is fitting for a ruler to govern the world. The commentary says, 'Gan' means to seek. Ten thousand is called 'yi'..."

The pomegranate trees filling the courtyard, the green bamboo outside the courtyard wall, and the pine trees in the secluded courtyard temporarily separated the two from each other, but the verses they recited in the middle of the night resisted the obstruction and told of the serendipitous fate that could not be separated no matter what.

Some connections are beautiful and sincere.

Some relationships are destined to end in tragedy!

On the north bank of the Luo River in the south of the city, in Chunfang Lane, lived Zong Dian.

At dawn, Zongyin, disheveled and dirty, was awakened by the crowing of roosters and the sound of spinning wheels. His younger siblings opened the door, and his mother, Hunshi, brought in the food.

Zong Yin covered his head with the blanket and shouted, "I'm not hungry, I won't eat."

Hun Yu Niang: "You really want to starve to death? Fine, then I've wasted my time finding out about Miss Wei. I don't need to tell you anymore."

Zongyin rushed to his mother and begged, "I'll eat properly, no, I'll go wash up first, Mother, wait for me."

"Shame on you, shame on you," his younger sister teased him, rubbing his cheek.

Hun Yu Niang hugged her youngest daughter, Zong Jifu, and sighed, "Alas, it seems that our family has no choice but to marry that woman from a wealthy family."

Zong Jifu looked up at him and asked, "Why?"

"Because, they've also moved to Luoyang."

Zong Yin rushed in, overjoyed: "What did Mother say? Mother said someone moved to Luoyang?"

The capital city system stipulated that only one plot of land was reserved within the city walls for the construction of Yongning Temple, and only one plot of land was reserved within the outer city walls for a nunnery; all others had to be built outside the city walls.

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(End of this chapter)