History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Punishing a group of wicked servants can only temporarily return the houses to the people; it is not a long-term solution for stability. The King of Beihai is greedy and extravagant, and as long as he remains a minister in the court, he will find other ways to expel the common people from this place.

The emperor was well aware of this, which is why he ordered Zhao Zhi to handle the matter in order to devise a subsequent plan.

In the past six months, the Prince of Beihai had repeatedly petitioned to invite the Emperor to visit his palace. The time was ripe, and Yuan Ke ordered a eunuch to return the invitation. The following afternoon, he visited Yuan Xiang’s residence, located west of the North Palace Garden, in disguise.

Zhao Zhi accompanied the guards on either side.

What a coincidence! Among the stewards of the Prince's mansion who were leading the way, one of them looked very much like Steward Fan, whom she had killed the day before yesterday. Zhao Zhi deliberately stared at him provocatively.

As Zhao Zhi guessed, this steward was the younger brother of Fan, the deceased concubine of the Prince of Beihai, and was called Fan Sanlangjun by the servants in the mansion.

Consort Gao was a concubine of Emperor Xianzu. She usually used her status as a consort to act arrogantly, but she was in a dilemma when she met the emperor. Although the emperor was young and appeared honest, he was actually very shrewd and never showed his emotions. She dared not greet the emperor in public as an elder, but if she were to be humble and demean herself, it would certainly hurt the feelings of her son, Yuanxiang. Moreover, she herself did not want to perform the grand ceremony to Yuanke. Therefore, after receiving the invitation, she began to feign illness and stay in bed.

When the emperor entered the Prince's residence, he first went to the back hall to visit the palace. All the palace's staff and officials stopped outside the courtyard. At this time, Consort Gao, supported by her maid, bowed and paid her respects, appearing weak and trembling, as if she had a headache before she could even speak.

The Emperor disregarded the rudeness, helped Consort Gao sit back down, and personally picked up the medicine bowl beside her, comforting her in a familial tone: "In my heart, Consort Gao is the same as my mother. I will visit you often in the future. I hope you will not worry too much and recover your health quickly. I will feed you the medicine, so that the soup will not get cold and upset your stomach."

Just as Consort Gao was about to express her gratitude, she caught sight of Zhao Zhi's disdainful expression behind the Emperor. Old grudges and new resentments surged into her heart, so she continued to feign weakness. She pressed her forehead and replied to the Emperor, "Alas, my headache is not caused by worry, but by fright."

The emperor was shocked and angrily asked, "Who dares to frighten my mother?"

When Consort Gao saw that Zhao Zhi did not take the initiative to admit her mistake, she was just what she wanted. In a moment, she felt wronged and her eyes reddened. She choked up and complained: "Yuan Xiang is busy with court affairs all day long. I have a headache and have inevitably neglected to discipline the servants. I did not know that the steward of the manor dared to disturb the people on Yemen Street! But then again, the people on Yemen Street were not hurt, but my steward was beaten to death and carried back covered in blood. I have always been a vegetarian and a Buddhist, and I cannot bear to see such a scene. I fell ill on the spot and have had nightmares for two nights."

Zhao Zhi scoffed, "Hmph."

Yuan Xiang glared angrily!

Consort Gao, her arm trembling, accused, "Your Majesty, look at this! General Zhao is so arrogant in front of you. How domineering and tyrannical she must be when Your Majesty can't see her!"

Zhao Zhi: "Your Majesty..."

The emperor roared, "Shut up! Who gave you the right to speak here! Go out and receive fifty strokes of the cane! Wang Zhongxing and Kou Meng, you two will carry the canes, and Yang Daye will supervise the number of strokes. If you dare to be too lenient or too light, I will punish all three of you!"

"Yes." The four men acknowledged the order and left.

From inside the bedroom, one could hear the sound of canes striking and Yang Daye counting.

The sound of the cane striking was very dull and solid. You could tell that each strike was very heavy without even seeing it. However, Yang Daye couldn't count any more than ten correctly!

In the end, I was spared more than ten blows.

Prince Yuanxiang of Beihai knew that Yang Daye had never been to school but was very ambitious, so he quickly stopped his mother from pursuing the matter with a look, otherwise it would be troublesome to offend another close attendant of the emperor.

Consort Gao feigned illness, drinking the bitter medicine with a distressed expression. The Emperor took the handkerchief from the maid and passed it to her. The emperor, high above all others, showed his respect and deference, which instantly dispelled much of Consort Gao's vigilance and suspicion.

She generously said, "Let's let bygones be bygones regarding Zhao Zhi's offense. Your Majesty, rest assured, I will not hold it against you."

The emperor was quite angry upon hearing this and said, "My mother is of noble status, and I will not allow you to suffer any injustice."

He ordered Ru Hao to go out and announce: "Zhao Zhi is to be punished by standing in the Empress Dowager's courtyard to reflect on her mistakes. The punishment will end after I and my seventh uncle have finished our banquet!"

"Mother, you rest well. My seventh uncle and I are going to the front yard to discuss some matters."

The emperor and his entourage left the backyard, and the courtyard instantly became quiet. Only Zhao Zhi stood alone on one side of the passageway. She was wearing iron armor, and it was impossible to tell the extent of her injuries. Her maid, Han Tao, approached and sniffed lightly before returning to her room to report to Consort Gao: "It wasn't a fake beating; she's very bloody." Han Tao was the daughter of Hu, the wet nurse of the eldest son of the Prince of Beihai. Hu had been stoned to death by Zhao Zhi, and Han Tao had thought there was no hope of revenge. Unexpectedly, with the help of her master's family, she actually had a chance to vent her anger.

Consort Gao, her sickly demeanor completely gone, sneered: "General Zhao has come to my residence again. How can I not speak with her? Let's go and meet her."

Most of the maids serving Consort Gao were strong and skilled in martial arts. A dozen or so of them came out of the room, their imposing manner quite intimidating!

Fan Sanlang hurriedly entered the courtyard and reported, "His Majesty has already entered the banquet, and the King has ordered me to stay and serve the Dowager Consort."

When Consort Gao approached Zhao Zhi, she frowned in disgust, noticing the foul, bloody odor emanating from him. "I heard General Zhao was quite impressive the other day."

Zhao Zhi ignored her.

"Do you know who he is?"

Fan Sanlang picked up where the Dowager left off and said to Zhao Zhihen, "The man you beat to death the day before yesterday was my brother!"

Zhao Zhi stared directly at the man: "He deserves to die."

With a crisp "slap," Consort Gao slapped Zhao Zhi. With that slap, Consort Gao's long-suppressed anger finally found an outlet.

"Zhao Zhi, you were born a lowly commoner, so what if you became a general? If I were to beat you to death here today, do you think His Majesty would order me to pay with my life?"

"Tell me! Will you make me pay with my life?" With these words, Consort Gao slapped Zhao Zhi's left and right cheeks four times in a row.

What a relief!

How comfortable!

Zhao Zhi had suffered hardships since childhood, so she didn't care about such humiliation. She retorted sarcastically, "You wouldn't dare. You only dare to hit me yourself. Do you dare say you're not afraid of me?"

Fan Sanlang had been waiting for this moment, and he cursed, "Don't provoke the Dowager Consort! Don't you just want to spread rumors that the Dowager Consort hit you, so as to tarnish her reputation?"

Consort Gao's expression grew even more arrogant as she said, "General Zhao has not sincerely reflected on his mistakes, so I had the steward reprimand him on his behalf, all for His Majesty's sake." With that, she raised her chin slightly.

Manager Fan was extremely excited. He rolled up his sleeves, raised his arm with all his might, and slapped Zhao Zhi across the right cheek!
But before his slap could land, Zhao Zhi punched him first, striking his throat with the knuckles of two fingers.

"Gurgle—" Fan Sanlang stared wide-eyed at the ground and fell to the ground. Blood only started flowing from his mouth after he fell.

Hantao screamed in fright!

The servants were well-trained and shielded Consort Gao from the rear in layers.

"Zhao Zhi, how dare you! His Majesty punished you by making you stand in repentance, and you dare to kill my steward in front of me! Quickly, go and fetch His Majesty!"

Hantao ran out of the hospital.

Zhao Zhi remained fearless, calmly withdrawing her fist and looking at Consort Gao, saying, "I did not move an inch, nor did I disobey the imperial decree. Your steward committed insubordination, and it was his own fault that I killed him. Does Consort Gao think His Majesty would use my life to pay for the steward's life?"

"you……"

Zhao Zhi mouthed "Get lost," which made Consort Gao take a step back in anger. Her feigned headache turned into a real one, and she angrily wished: "Heavens, please send lightning to strike Zhao Zhi dead!" (End of Chapter)