History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 449: King Tianzong, Yuan Yong

At the end of February, news of the death of Prince Yuanxiang of Beihai was sent from the capital to various prefectures and counties. At the same time, the six northern garrisons, which were suffering from severe drought, also sent documents about the famine and hardship of their soldiers and civilians to the imperial court.

After reading the documents, the emperor breathed a sigh of relief. Although the six garrisons were still anxiously asking the court for grain, neither the soldiers nor the civilians rioted due to hunger. If this stability on the edge of a knife could continue until the drought ended, then he, as the emperor, would not need to use an "edict of self-reproach" to win back the hearts of the people.

The emperor thought again that the stability of the border regions at the beginning of the year was entirely due to Wei Yao's earlier suggestion to disperse the starving people to other prefectures and to kill the corrupt officials who had confiscated the paddy fields. Thinking of Wei Yao's contributions, the emperor said to the eunuch in front of him, "Go and summon Wei Yao."

As the young eunuch stepped out of Qinghui Hall, he bumped into Yuan Kuang, the Yellow Gate Attendant, who was coming from the opposite direction. Yuan Kuang was furious, and his voice almost overlapped with the voice of the attendant relaying the message.

"Your Majesty, I wish to impeach Minister Wei Yao!"

The emperor feigned displeasure and asked, "What's wrong with Wei Yao?"

On the matter of impeaching his colleague, Yuan Kuang always ignored the emperor's reaction. He spoke loud enough that all the attendants in the hall could hear him clearly: "Your subject, Yao, colluded with Prince Gaoyang, Yuan Yong, and took advantage of this relocation of the neighborhoods to give Yuan Yong six acres of vacant land on the west side of Lingyin Lane in the inner city to build a house! Everyone knows that there is an ice cellar in Lingyin Lane, and Yuan Yong is fond of luxury. The cost of one meal for him is equivalent to a month's expenses for an ordinary family. When summer comes, Yuan Yong will live in Lingyin Lane. Won't the ice cellar of the court become his private cellar?!"

The Emperor said, “Since this is an impeachment, we should collect evidence and submit a written report.”

Yuan Kuang: "I wrote it the day before yesterday. The Chamberlain Yuan Yi and Wei Yao are on good terms, so I gave the memorial to the Chamberlain Zhen Chen. Zhen Chen is unworthy to serve as Chamberlain. He is cowardly whenever Wei Yao is involved. He gave my memorial to the Chamberlain Gao Xian. However, two days have passed, and I have asked Gao Xian several times, but he has always evaded the question. Now Your Majesty is indeed unaware that I have already submitted a memorial impeaching Wei Yao. Therefore, I will also impeach the Chamberlains Yuan Yi, Gao Xian, and Zhen Chen!"

The emperor's eyelids twitched as Yuan Kuang roared. After he finished speaking, the emperor reassured him, "Go back first and impeach me for all matters. I will have someone investigate."

After Yuan Kuang left, Wei Yao arrived. The emperor did not ask her about the Lingyin Lane residence, but instead asked, "The Secretariat is vacant for a Vice Minister. Who do you think is suitable?"

Wei Yao first asked, "Does Your Majesty have someone in mind?"

The emperor shook his head.

Wei Yao then suggested, "I believe that Yuan Kuang is loyal and upright, and is capable of undertaking this task."

The emperor leaned back and asked with a smile, "So you know he impeached you?" Wei Yao had only been gone from the Secretariat for a short time, and his influence was still there. Yuan Kuang was also too straightforward and didn't bother to hide himself. If he had written the memorial impeaching Wei Yao in the morning, someone would have informed Wei Yao within an hour!
Wei Yao did not relax because of the emperor's smile. She remained serious and cautious: "I am young and inevitably make mistakes. It is a good thing to have colleagues to supervise me. It will help me to be aware of my mistakes in time. I will only feel ashamed and will never dare to resent any colleague who impeached me."

The emperor rose, and Wei Yao followed behind him to the east pavilion corridor.

"Yuan Kuang submitted a document impeaching you two days ago, but none of the three Attendants of the Secretariat paid any attention to him, which is truly disappointing to me."

Yuan Kuang knew that Wei Yao had given a piece of land in the inner city to Yuan Yong, which was a tactic used by Wei Yao herself. She had two purposes: first, this move would allow her to visit Yuan Yong's residence and meet with the Prince of Pengcheng to discuss matters; second, it would make the emperor dissatisfied with his uncle Gao Xian again!

She knew how disappointed the emperor was. Yuan Kuang had stuffed all the documents impeaching her into Gao Xian's hands, but Gao Xian had actually kept the memorial a secret.

You must understand that all the powers of the Secretariat are meant to check the Department of State Affairs! She is now the head of the Department of State Affairs, and Gao Xian doesn't dare to compete with her, which means he doesn't dare to compete with the Department of State Affairs. What was the Emperor's purpose in establishing the Secretariat?

Wei Yao also understood that the emperor was not worried about whether Yuan Kuang could serve as the Attendant-in-Ordinary, but rather that if Yuan Kuang became the Attendant-in-Ordinary, he would definitely not like Gao Xian. If the two of them fought, Yuan Kuang would definitely write a memorial to impeach Gao Xian every few days. What would happen then?
"I'll think about the vacancy of the Chamberlain again." The emperor was annoyed and broke off a flower branch.

Wei Yao hurriedly raised her hands and pleaded, "Your Majesty, please allow me to take the flower branch back to my residence to cultivate it." The emperor first tapped her official hat with the flower branch, then placed it in her palm: "If it doesn't grow, I will punish you by taking back the land I promised to Yuan Yong!"

Wei Yao's expression became even more serious. This mixture of respect and fear finally put the emperor at ease. Well, if Wei Yao could turn the officials of the Ministry of Personnel into someone who obeyed his orders like the officials of the Secretariat, then Gao Xian would be useless.

That day, as planned, Wei Yao sent a minor official to secretly inform Prince Gaoyang, Yuan Yong, about the matter. Despite Yuan Yong's lack of talent, he actually had no guts...

When Emperor Xiaowen was alive, he racked his brains to find the word "naive" to praise this brother, which shows how simple-minded Yuan Yong was!
The first thing he did was to find Grand Tutor Yuan Xie.

Other officials would try to avoid walking with Yuan Xie, fearing that the emperor would misunderstand them as forming a faction. But Yuan Yong was different. He went up to Yuan Xie and grabbed his hand tightly. At the palace gate, he pulled Yuan Xie into his carriage of the Prince of Gaoyang, saying as he pulled, "I have important business to attend to. Sixth brother, you must help me."

Yuan Xie: "It's just a matter of a few acres of land in the inner city."

Yuan Yong widened his eyes and said, "What do you mean by a few acres of land? Yuan Kuang's mouth is twisting loyalty into treachery! He accused me of trying to embezzle the court's ice cellar for myself! His Majesty already dislikes me; what if he believes Yuan Kuang's nonsense and demotes me back to Jizhou?"

Yuan Xie thought to himself: You wish!

“What’s the rush?” Yuan Xie comforted him. “Yuan Kuang criticizes his colleagues every month. If His Majesty is going to reprimand you, it won’t be your turn.”

"Oh?" Yuan Yong pursed his lips, making him look even more innocent. He thought for a moment and said, "Sixth brother, come to the manor on your day off the day after tomorrow. I just bought more than a dozen beauties, each one a national treasure..."

Yuan Xie was stung by the name "Xiangxiang".

But Yuan Yong couldn't read his expression at all and continued, "If I call him the Grand Commandant and Minister of State again, tsk, I knew you were tired of seeing the Princess all the time!"

He himself was despicable, thinking that Yuan Xie was so engrossed in listening because of the "more than ten beauties" he mentioned.

“Yuan Kuang also impeached her, and I also hosted a banquet for her. Can you two help me come up with a plan? I’m really afraid of His Majesty and don’t want to be reprimanded. You…you should know that Yuan Xiang was also reprimanded first…”

Yuan Xie immediately covered the other person's mouth with his scepter: "Don't say anything about Yuan Xiang in the future!"

"Mmm-hmm." Yuan Yong nodded three times.

Yuan Xie: "All the good wines of Luoyang are stored in your wine cellar. Why don't you invite Yuan Jia, Yuan Cheng, Yuan Yu, and Yuan Yi over the day after tomorrow? If you want a lively atmosphere, you need a lot of people."

Since the emperor was wary of him forming factions, let's take this opportunity to gather all the princes who hold power together and stir up the political landscape of the court.

Unfortunately, Yuan Yong could only understand the most basic meaning of the double entendre. He slapped his thigh in agreement: "Yes! More people means more fun. Oh dear, since the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat is a woman, I hope she won't refuse my invitation?"

"We have to give it a try." Yuan Xie said this, but in his heart he thought that his fifth brother's banquet was very likely a scheme by Wei Yao.

As the carriage swayed, Yuan Xie looked at his fifth brother across from him, who was seriously thinking about how to prepare the banquet, and couldn't help but feel a little envious. It was not necessarily a bad thing that people were so naive. In His Majesty's eyes, any minister who praised Yuan Yong could form a faction with him. However, no matter how good the relationship was, it was useless because nothing could be accomplished.