Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 406: The Lame Vice Emperor (Additional chapter for JJM leader)

Zhao Qu actually refused to accept the throne.

Moreover, his behavior is different from the "three refusal and three decline" in the etiquette system. He really does not want to be the emperor.

After Zhang Quwei brought the news back to Chuigong Hall, the two palaces and all the ministers were dumbfounded for a moment.

There are only two candidates for the emperor, and one of them refuses to take the position. What else can we do?
Queen Wu was closest to Zhao Que. If possible, she would certainly hope that Zhao Que, whom she raised, would ascend the throne.

But Zhao Qu refused, and there was no reason for him to force him. Was he going to make him wear the yellow robe?
Queen Wu understood her adopted son's temper. Since he refused, there was no way to persuade him.

Besides, to be fair, she also felt that Zhao Yuan was more suitable.

The two palaces and the ministers had a brief discussion and only had one candidate. In fact, there was nothing much to discuss, so they asked Zhang Quwei to invite Zhao Yuan to the Chuigong Hall again.

Zhang Quwei arrived at the Huangyi Hall and respectfully invited Prince Pu'an to go to the Chuigong Hall to meet the two palaces, the prime minister and the six ministers.

When Zhao Yuan arrived at the Chuigong Hall, the ministers invited him to take the seat, bowed to him and called him "Your Majesty".

From then on, the second emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty was established.

Once the emperor is enthroned, a temple name must be given to the deceased emperor, titles must be established for the two palaces, and the deceased emperor's funeral must be conducted as the successor.

Empress Dowager Wei was honored as the Grand Empress Dowager, Empress Wu was honored as the Empress Dowager, and Prince Enping Zhao Ju was canonized as Prince of Jin.

In fact, as long as the status in the palace is determined first, we can hold funerals for the late emperor.

The coronation ceremony must wait until the mourning period is over.

On the one hand, this is a ritual of bidding farewell to the old and establishing the new.

Secondly, the ascension of a new monarch to the throne involves a very grand and cumbersome procedure that cannot be prepared in a few days.

Therefore, after the new emperor ascended the throne, he first presided over state affairs and held power as the emperor.

However, he could not officially ascend the throne until the funeral of the late emperor was completed and the coronation ceremony of the new emperor was ready.

The promotion of some relevant royal personnel and the appointment of ministers can be announced at the coronation ceremony, which can be regarded as a kind of joy shared by the monarch and his ministers.

However, Zhao Yuan seemed to be impatient for the enthronement of Zhao Qiu, Prince of Enping.

The two brothers Zhao Qu and Zhao Yuan used to pretend to be at odds with each other, but they had a very good relationship in private.

At that time, Zhao Qu told Zhao Yuan more than once that he would not fight for the throne.

Even so, Zhao Yuan did not expect that when the throne was really presented to Zhao Yu and he only needed to nod his head, he did not even hesitate for a moment and accepted it resolutely.

Now that Zhao Yuan has become emperor, he naturally has to repay his "brother" for his kindness.

The emperor's brothers should be given the title of Yi Zi Wang, that is, prince.

Among the one-character king titles, the four titles of "Jin, Qin, Qi, and Chu" are the most honorable.

Because the countries represented by these four titles were the four most powerful countries during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Among these four titles, "Jin" is the most honorable.

Below the four great titles is the second tier of "Zhou, Lu, Zhao, Wei, Liang, Yan, Dai, Han, Song, Wu, and Yue" etc.

Zhao Yuan appointed Zhao Qu as King of Jin, which was the most honorable title of king.

Previously, the second emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi, had also received this title.

However, if this title of king is not hereditary, it can be conferred on someone else.

During the Tang Dynasty, the title of King of Qin was used repeatedly.

After all, there are only a few titles of king.

If it is just an honorable title, it is nothing.

However, Zhao Yuan also specifically stated in his edict that all royal ceremonies and processions of Prince of Jin Zhao Ju should be carried out in the same manner as those of the emperor.

This means not only the "one-character king" but also the "shoulder-to-shoulder king".

"The King of One Word Shoulder to Shoulder" has never existed in history.

In the storytelling, the title of king was simply fabricated by summarizing the titles like "One-Character King" and the treatment like "Shoulder to Shoulder King".

However, although the title of "King of One Word" is not real, there really were princes who enjoyed such honorable treatment in history.

Now, the Goose King also possesses such honor and has become the vice emperor of the Song Dynasty.

If these rewards were just honorary titles, then the other position that Zhao Yuan gave to Zhao Qiu was truly equivalent to that of vice emperor.

Zhao Yu was appointed by Zhao Yuan as "the chief minister in front of the emperor and a participant in the decision-making of military and national affairs."

The highest government office under the control of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was divided into four major systems: finance, administration, military affairs, and supervision.

The finance department is the Three Departments, the administration department is the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel, the military and political affairs department is the Privy Council, and the supervision department is the Censorate.

The emperor cannot make decisions on all the important military and national affairs submitted by these four major systems alone.

He needed to convene an "imperial meeting" and summon the prime minister, the privy councilor and the ministers of the six relevant ministries to discuss and make the final decision.

Now that Zhao Gou is dead, a new monarch needs to be appointed. The meeting in Chuigong Hall convened by the two palaces is actually a "meeting before the emperor."

From then on, Zhao Qu had the right to participate in and vote in such important meetings concerning the country and the people.

Of course, given the Goose King's lazy nature, it is hard to say whether he would find excuses not to go when the time comes to convene a royal meeting to decide on military and national affairs.

The royal funeral and the new emperor's ascension to the throne were all completed within twenty-seven days.

The emperor's mourning period just ended.

If the college entrance examination originally scheduled for this year had been held as scheduled, it should have been completed by now.

However, due to this series of major events, the final exam was postponed for one and a half months.

The major examination cannot be cancelled easily.

Especially this time, candidates from all over the country have gathered in Lin'an City and have registered their names. If you cancel this year's exam and prevent students from serving the court and being loyal to the country,
Students can carry out the statue of Confucius and parade it through the streets.

Not to mention how many students could not afford the delay due to age and energy, there were also many students who took out loans to go to Beijing to take the exam.

If you ask them to go back, many candidates will go bankrupt or even be forced to hang themselves.

Even so, the postponement of one and a half months caused many candidates to complain.

Not to mention the mental pressure of having to endure for another month and a half, isn’t it free to stay in a hotel? Isn’t it free to eat?
Of course, students won't use this as an excuse.

They said that Emperor Gaozong always attached great importance to selecting talents for the country, and they believed that Emperor Gaozong's spirit in heaven would not want this to affect the court's selection of talents.

They said that when a new king ascends the throne, it is time to work hard to govern the country and revitalize it.
Without talents like us to quickly participate in national management, what will happen to this country?

But no matter how much they complained in private, Zhao Yuan couldn't arrange the imperial examinations for them before the funeral and the coronation ceremony.

During this period, as the Imperial Dragon Guard, Yang Yuan was responsible for the garrison security of the imperial palace.

Be it the coronation ceremony or the national mourning, he basically had nothing to do, so he had a rare moment of free time.

Of course, to say that he has less time means that he has fewer things to worry about.

Before the coronation ceremony, the city of Lin'an was still tight in secret and the Royal Dragon Guards had to guard the palace all the time and were not allowed to go home easily.

Yang Yuan felt that perhaps the "Dragon Slaying Plan" was executed too... basically smoothly.

So he used up all his good luck in the past few months.

Nothing he wanted to do next would go smoothly.

The first thing is the whereabouts of the unknown palace concubine.

Yang Yuan is still very conservative in some aspects.

He is not in the habit of taking advantage and then walking away.

Since he has already married her, and he is still alive and well guarding the palace gate, it means that the imperial concubine has not revealed his secret.

In this case, if possible, he hopes to give others an explanation.

Yang Yuan dared to swear in front of "Little West Lake" that he was only doing it to fulfill his responsibilities and it was definitely not because of that imperial concubine... who was very smooth.

In every dynasty, when a new emperor ascended the throne, he would reorganize the concubines of the previous emperor.

Different dynasties had different levels of civilization, different concepts of etiquette, and therefore different ways of dealing with things.

Basically, the following methods can be included:

One is to be dismissed from the palace; two is to guard the tomb of the previous emperor; three is to be ordained as a nun; four is to be buried alive with the emperor; five is to be executed; six is ​​to live in the palace in old age; seven is to live out of the palace in old age; eight is to be recruited by the new emperor and transferred to another job.

The Song Dynasty was a fairly civilized dynasty, and there were no such cold and cruel treatments as guarding tombs, becoming a monk, burying people alive with the dead, and executing people.

As for changing jobs and finding new employment to continue serving the new emperor... Zhao Yuan couldn't do it either.

In this way, there were only two possible outcomes for Zhao Gou's concubines: dismissal or retirement.

Many of Zhao Gou's low-ranking concubines were given a sum of money and dismissed from the palace.

Many of them were young girls who were still immature. After being dismissed, they married off and the royal family did not interfere.

This would have been unimaginable during the Ming and Qing dynasties when Confucian ethics were in vogue.

How can the emperor's woman be allowed to be touched by ordinary people?

But in the Tang and Song dynasties, this was a very normal thing.

Chai, the legitimate wife of Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, was originally a concubine of Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty.

After Li Cunxu's death, Chai was dismissed from the palace. On her way back home, she met Guo Wei by chance, and a beautiful story was created between them.

For example, Song Guangzong's concubines Zhang Guifei and Fu Jieyu were expelled from the palace out of jealousy by the empress, and they also remarried to commoners.

Yang Yuan stood guard at the Hening Gate, watching batches of concubines being dismissed from the palace and walking out of the Hening Gate.

His eyes were dazzled and he didn't notice the woman on that stormy night.

Could it be that I missed it?

Or was she left in the palace to retire?

The imperial palace of the Southern Song Dynasty was so small that some palaces had to prepare several plaques. When they were needed, the corresponding plaques would be replaced. How could there be enough space in the palace to keep the women of the previous emperors?
Therefore, except for the Empress Dowager and the Empress, as well as the concubines who had given birth to royal children, the late emperor's harem of concubines had basically all been dismissed.

Could it be that the woman is the queen?

Of course not, the queen is already forty years old.

Yang Yuan clearly remembered that the woman was only about twenty-four or twenty-five years old.

That means...she gave birth to children for the emperor?

It would be impossible for a concubine who gave birth to a prince or princess to leave the palace and marry someone else.

Otherwise, wouldn't the little prince and princess have to have a commoner as their stepfather?

Give birth... Pah! Give birth to a fart, Zhao Gou has no children.

That's strange, where is she?

Yang Yuan couldn't figure out the reason for a moment, and he didn't want to ask anyone: "Brother, may I ask which imperial concubine served in Funing Palace on the night of the late emperor's death?"

Therefore, this matter will have to be put aside for the time being.

At this time, there was less than a month left before the new emperor would recruit disciples for the first time after ascending the throne.

At this time, the Goose King Zhao Qu came to him with a sad face.

The newly-minted, powerful, and arrogant King of the Song Empire, His Excellency Vice Emperor Zhao Qu, did not get the test questions!

(End of this chapter)