History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 366 The Emperor's Plans (Thanks to reader Lu Shuoning for the donation)

After more than a dozen strokes, Ru Hao's skin was torn and bleeding, his official robes soaked with blood. This was what Wei Yao meant by "beating him until he was drunk and stinking."

A minor punishment was enough. Wei Yao ordered Song Fan to stop and loudly asked Ru Hao, "General Ru, do you know your mistake?"

Few of those who have served His Majesty are fools. Ru Hao has already figured out ninety percent of the matter. It must be that the Gao family members behaved disrespectfully in front of His Majesty, causing His Majesty to dislike and be dissatisfied. The Gao family is one that His Majesty intends to promote, so naturally, he cannot spread scandals so soon after arriving in the capital. Therefore, he must shift the blame for the scandal onto others and bear the disgrace for the Gao family.

Ru Hao raised his head, suppressing his resentment and admitting defeat: "It was my dereliction of duty. I failed to manage Hualin Garden properly. Knowing that Empress Wenzhao's relatives were living in the garden, I did not send an official to teach them etiquette in time."

His reply was also loud. Wei Yao nodded in satisfaction and called to Gao Zhao and the others: "Lord Pingyuan, Lord Chengcheng, Lord Bohai, Miss Gao, come with me to the new residence to settle down."

Gao Zhao was the first to ask Captain Yao, "Are we just going to leave him on the ground and ignore him?"

"Hitting him is a way of controlling him."

"To hit him is to control him?" Gao Zhao pondered this question, unable to understand it, finding it extremely profound.

Jujube trees could be seen everywhere in the North Palace Garden, and no matter how diligent the palace servants were, they couldn't pick up all the fallen jujubes in time.

Gao Zhao recalled the strange tale of the raccoon cat calling for "dates," and thinking himself clever, he deliberately crushed a date, beginning to test the waters: "What a fine red date! I've ruined it, it's inedible now. But with so many date trees planted in the palace, surely the princes and nobles don't care for dates?"

Wei Yao was only afraid that the Gao family would be too timid to speak up, not that they would speak up. She pretended to be reserved and said, "What right does the Prince have to care about things in the palace?"

She only said one sentence; saying more would likely be superfluous!

She observed Gao Zhao's expression and, sure enough, this fellow had not mentioned "dates" casually. It seemed that he had heard some rumors related to "dates," and these rumors made him suspicious and fearful.

Could it be... related to the mother choking the traitor Yuan Xi to death with dates?

Wei Yao's thoughts suddenly turned to this!

Gao Meng shamelessly echoed Wei Yao: "That's right, that's right, you can't eat too many dates in winter, or you'll get a stomachache."

Gao Zhao turned around and glared at his nephew: What are you doing meddling, you idiot?

Wei Yao smiled and continued to lead the way in silence. The emperor had entrusted the Zhizhai guards to her, not only for their protection duties but also for reporting matters. Therefore, she could not rush to deal with the Gao family. She needed them to take the initiative to speak to her, and she could probe their character in her replies. She must not take the initiative to make a move.

If she arouses the emperor's suspicion, or if the emperor thinks she despises the Gao family, she will be banished from the palace just like Ru Hao!

The conversation is divided into two parts.

During his time at Hualin Garden, Ru Hao had won over many confidants. Soon after he was beaten, a palace servant relayed the news to General Liu Zhou.

The original commander of the Imperial Household Department was Yu Zhong. After Yu Zhong resigned due to the death of his father, Prince Yuan Xiang of Beihai immediately recommended Liu Zhou to take command of the Imperial Household Department's guards. In order to appease Prince Yuan Xiang, the emperor readily agreed, but secretly ordered Cui Liang, the Yellow Gate Attendant of the Secretariat, to keep a close eye on Liu Zhou. Cui Liang's daughter was the former Consort Cui, now Consort Cui.

Liu Zhou was not stupid. Upon hearing that Ru Hao had been beaten by Wei Yao, he did not dare to go directly to the Emperor to complain. Instead, he went to the Secretariat to find Yuan Hui, the Attendant-in-Ordinary.

Recently, Yuan Hui has been taking advantage of the construction of Luoyang City to accept bribes and buy luxury houses. Before Liu Zhou was promoted, he followed the instructions of the Prince of Beihai and bribed Yuan Hui.

Having taken the money, Yuan Hui knew that Liu Zhou wouldn't come to the Secretariat without a reason. After welcoming him into the office, he asked directly, "I'm busy here. What is it? Speak."

Although Liu Zhou inwardly complained that Yuan Hui was even more greedy than himself, he couldn't help but admire the man's diligence in his official duties, his eyes bulging from lack of sleep, almost matching Yang Daye's. "Just now, Ru Hao was beaten by your subordinate Wei Yao at Hualin Garden. And with a large cane!"

Of all the officials, Yuan Hui hated Wei Yao the most! He even felt that this woman was his nemesis! Take what happened some time ago, for example. He had finally befriended General Yuan Zhen of the Imperial Guard, thinking that he could use Yuan Zhen to reach into the Imperial Guard and broaden his ways of making money. Unexpectedly, he had to borrow money from Yuan Zhen. Just after he made the befriending, Yuan Zhen was sent to Yangzhou by His Majesty because of the scheme proposed by Wei Yao.

But no matter how much he hated Wei Yao, he couldn't use her to get back at her for Ru Hao's sake. Ru Hao had brought this upon himself by secretly colluding with Yuan Xiang, the Prince of Beihai, and all the evidence against him was locked away in the cabinet behind him.

Yuan Hui: "Explain yourself clearly, the cause and effect, why did you hit Ru Hao?"

Liu Zhou expressed his opinion tactfully: "I thought you knew the reason, which is why I came to ask. Today is my shift, and a palace servant from Hualin Garden came to me to tell me about this matter. How could I dare to report it to His Majesty rashly? I also can't hide it as if it never happened, since General Ru was once a trusted close minister of His Majesty. Yuan Shizhong, please help me make a decision. How should I report this matter to His Majesty?"

He took out a slightly smaller brocade pouch from the cloth bag and handed it over.

Yuan Hui took it and peeked through the gap in the closure. He then touched it and found large pearls separated by cloth. The cloth was used to prevent the pearls from bumping into each other when walking.

"Alright, go back to your duty. I will report this matter to His Majesty."

"That's wonderful!" Liu Zhou exclaimed gratefully, then turned away, smacking his lips in exasperation. That damned Yuan Hui! He's a never-ending, insatiable dog!
Despite Yuan Hui's deep hatred for Wei Yao, he dared not delay when it came to matters concerning her. As soon as Liu Zhou left, he immediately ordered his subordinates to investigate at Hualin Garden, and an hour later, they reported the whole story to the emperor.

Petty people need to be dealt with by even more cunning people!

Yuan Hui didn't dare to add fuel to the fire or say a bad word about Wei Yao. When he saw the emperor's satisfied expression with Wei Yao's handling of the matter, he was glad that he had chosen to speak the truth.

After Yuan Hui withdrew, the emperor suspended his official duties to ponder the situation. Given the current circumstances, he still needed to rely on Wei Yao. The only way to maintain control over this minister and continue to trust him was to send Zhao Zhi to an outside post. At least until Gao Zhao and Gao Xian had firmly established themselves in the court and could contend with the princes, Zhao Zhi could no longer be kept in the palace!

Otherwise, with this mother and daughter, one having established prestige among the elite Imperial Guards and the other serving as the chief secretary of the Secretariat, their influence far surpassed that of a mere Attendant-in-Ordinary, he simply couldn't help but be wary of them.

Just then, the court received a secret report that the barbarians of Luyang were planning to rebel. He originally intended to send Li Chong, the Minister of War, to suppress the barbarian bandits, but instead sent Zhao Zhi. In this way, he could leave Li Chong in the capital to deter the various princes who were eyeing the capital, and also give Yu Jin time to rebuild his prestige and take back the command of the Imperial Guards from his fourth uncle, Yuan Yu.

Thinking about this, the emperor began to worry about Yuan Yu again. He instructed the eunuch Yang Fan: "Go to the Imperial Guard Headquarters and see if Yuan Yu is on duty today?"

Since Yuan Yu took command of the palace, his conduct was corrupt, and the soldiers in various camps naturally disobeyed the military officials' orders. Before long, the Censorate began to impeach the Imperial Guards and Tiger Warriors for bullying the people. The worst thing was that the soldiers who were supposed to protect Luoyang City actually robbed foreign merchants of their property in broad daylight. What difference is there between this behavior and that of bandits!
Yang Fan and Prince Yuan Yu of Guangling came to Dongji Hall together. The former looked embarrassed, while Yuan Yu was excited.

The emperor, suppressing his anger, asked, "Fourth Uncle, did you win money?"