Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 879 The Prelude to the Rain
Li Dao received the Empress Dowager's decree but showed no excitement whatsoever.

If it were in the past, during Zhao Yuan's time, or even in the early years of Zhao Qi's reign, even if Zhao Gou, who was fond of young girls, had issued an edict to make Feng Niang his empress, Li Dao, that old man, would probably have readily agreed, except for muttering a few words about how his son-in-law was about the same age as him.

No matter what, she's the Empress!
The ancestral graves of the Li family are emitting auspicious smoke!

But now...

So you, Zhao Dun, want to make my daughter your empress?

I'd rather marry a poor scholar into my family.

The previous emperor, Zhao Qi, is still under house arrest.

Consort De, née Qian, had only been in the palace for about a hundred days when she became a prisoner along with the unfortunate young emperor.

Li Dao thought about it for a while, mainly considering how to politely decline.

After much thought, I realized that saying things like "my daughter is unruly" or "unfit to be the empress" seemed insincere and could easily offend the empress dowager.

So, Li Dao wrote a long piece, first expressing his joy and then writing a passage of heartbreaking regret.

The reason is that he has already arranged a marriage for his daughter!
If one is greedy for wealth and status, and breaks off the engagement to marry into the royal family, that would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.

Moreover, if this matter were to spread, it would damage the royal family's reputation.

Li Dao vividly described the poignant lines, "I return the pearl with tears streaming down my face, regretting that we didn't meet before I was married," which undoubtedly gave the Empress Dowager enough face and a way out. She immediately summoned the envoy to take the poem back to Lin'an.

However, before the Empress Dowager's envoy had even left, Li Dao had already sent someone with a personal letter on horseback straight to Lin'an City to find his beloved daughter.

The handwritten letter could be summed up in one sentence: "There's a hell on the road ahead, come home quickly and get married!"

……

The palace in Zongyang Palace, where Zhao Qi used to practice calligraphy with Zhao Chen, is now the place where he is imprisoned.

The deposed emperor was imprisoned here, with Yang Shou in charge of guarding Zongyang Palace. His supervision was a hundred times stricter than when Zhao Chen was imprisoned at this time.

The palace gates were nailed shut, and thorns were erected on the high palace walls.

There was only a small hole about one foot square under the door, used to pass food and water.

The thirty-six women who had been selected for the palace, regardless of whether they had been favored by the emperor or not, and regardless of whether they had been made concubines, all lived outside this palace and did not live with Zhao Qi.

Yang Yuan would never allow them to live with Zhao Qi.

If this leads to a bunch of more children, even just one, it will create another problem later on.

However, these young girls were not dismissed from the palace and were instead temporarily kept here.

Although the Song Dynasty had regulations for dismissing imperial concubines, two conditions had to be met:
First, the emperor died.

Second, they did not have any children.

The verification method was to stay in the palace for at least 100 days after the emperor's death to confirm that the woman was not pregnant.

The first condition is not met, so Yang Yuan can only keep them in Zongyang Palace for the time being.

"Xingruo..."

Upon seeing her younger sister Qian Xingruo, Qian Qingyuan burst into tears.

She's only fourteen years old, and she's confined to this kind of place, with only this one courtyard as her living space.

This could very well be her whole life. She was not only heartbroken, but also filled with fear and despair.

Upon seeing her sister burst into tears, Xingruo's eyes immediately filled with tears as well.

Yang Shou wanted to comfort the two sisters, but after opening his mouth and thinking for a moment, only the words "please accept my condolences" came to mind.

He seemed to have used the wrong place, so he scratched the back of his head and walked away.

The soldiers caught up with them and whispered, "General, shouldn't we keep an eye on them? What if they have some scheme or are passing on any messages..."

Yang Shou rolled his eyes at him: "Do you even know who Miss Xingruo is?"

"Yes, I know her. She's Consort De's younger sister and the daughter of Master Qian."

"You know nothing! In short, if Miss Xingruo comes to visit her sister in the future, you must let her in, treat her with respect, and absolutely not offend her, understand?"

"I understand, but General, why?"

Yang Shou lifted the melon-sized iron hammer, examined his head, and said, "Why do you have so many whys?"

In the palace where thirty-six beautiful young women were imprisoned, those lovely girls with bright eyes and white teeth watched with envy from afar as their sisters embraced and wept.

At this time, the desire for family members to enter Zongyang Palace and visit their relatives was something they could hardly fulfill.

Thinking of their tragic future, many girls secretly covered their faces with their sleeves and wept softly.

Xingruo cried for a while, then remembered her purpose and quickly pulled Qingyuan to the end of the corridor.

"Sister, Father has betrothed me to His Highness the Prince of Yan."

"King Yan?"

Qian Qingyuan's eyes widened suddenly, and the image of a noble and handsome man flashed into her mind.

She had seen that man before, only once.

When the young emperor Zhao Qi was "invited" out of the palace and imprisoned in Zongyang Palace, these girls who had been selected to enter the palace were also taken out of the palace and brought to Zongyang Palace.

At that time, she saw the legendary King Yan.

She had read about it in storybooks before, and had also heard about it and seen it in storytelling and variety shows when she went to brothels with her younger sister.

But that was the first time I equated this person with the man I had imagined.

He was even more pleasing to the eye than she had imagined.

But at that moment, he was just standing there, and he felt a sense of utter indifference.

He was high above, like a god who could easily decide someone's life—wealth or poverty, sickness or health, life or death. Little sister, are you going to marry him?

Xingruo looked at Qingyuan's incredulous expression and nodded vigorously.

Thinking of the great Confucian scholar Mu Yi, whom she admired and respected, who was the domineering and handsome Prince Yan, Xingruo felt a sweet warmth in her heart.

“Father said that we will get engaged this year and married next year. Sister, once I become a concubine of the Prince of Yan, I will beg him to let you go.”

Xingruo held Qingyuan's hand and said softly, "Don't worry, I will tell General Yang Shou that if you need anything, just tell him and the family will prepare it and send it to you."

"Oh, by the way, I've already moved everything from your room here. I'll have someone set it up for you in a bit."

Only then did Qingyuan regain her senses, overwhelmed with joy and surprise.

"Little sister, don't lie to me, you...you're serious?"

"Of course it's true, otherwise tell me, why would I be allowed to come in and visit you?"

Xingruo's eyes curved into crescent moons: "Look, we're whispering here, and Yang Shou is hiding far away, not daring to eavesdrop."

At this point, Qingyuan finally believed it and couldn't help but sob again.

However, this time she cried tears of joy.

Xingruo said, "Anyway, just tell Yang Shou what you need. Yang Shou is the grand-nephew of the Prince of Yan, so he has to call me great-aunt."

At just thirteen years old, Qian Xingruo, whose hair hadn't even fully grown in yet, raised her chin with a touch of arrogance.

“If he dares not take good care of you, I, his great-aunt, will make him kneel.”

Qingyuan burst into laughter through her tears and hugged Xingruo tightly: "Xingruo, can I...can I really leave this desolate, cold palace?"

Xingruo patted her back gently and said softly, "Don't worry, I've inquired about it. The Grand Princess is gentle and easy to talk to."

"And His Highness the Prince of Yan dotes on his woman; if I beg him, he will surely agree."

As she spoke, thinking about how to beg Yang Yuan, the girl's face suddenly turned red, as beautiful as a rose.

Upon hearing this, Qingyuan glanced hopefully at the yellow palace wall covered with thorns in the distance.

Having been in the palace for just over a hundred days, among the thirty-six young ladies, she had only seen that unfortunate little emperor a handful of times.

But because of that person, they lived in fear and endured endless terror and suffering.

Now, her younger sister brought her good news, and her heart felt as if it had sprouted wings and had flown beyond the palace walls.

She would be willing to become a nun if she could leave this place of confinement.

No...no, the nun wants to shave her head and become a female Taoist priest, she'd be willing to do it!

……

Xixia Road, Lingzhou.

Tuoba Heiyi's residence is located here.

After conquering the Great White High Kingdom, Yang Yuan adopted a two-pronged approach of dividing and co-opting the entire Western Xia.

Within the territory of the Western Xia, there were two large deserts. The only truly habitable places were the Hetao Plain, which relied on the Helan Mountains, and the Hexi Corridor, which relied on the Qilian Mountains.

Yang Yuan arranged for Liu Qi to garrison troops in Gansu and Jiangsu provinces, thus controlling this vital land trade route between the east and west.

Moreover, this important passageway is frequented by merchants, resulting in a diverse population.

The proportions of Western Xia people, Tibetans, and Han Chinese were not too disparate.

This composition allowed his vision to be fully realized.

In the Hetao Plain region, where the Western Xia people were more concentrated, they adopted measures to counterbalance the Tuoba clan and win over some powerful clans that had previously fallen out of favor, such as the Ren clan, and supported them to rival the Tuoba clan.

However, Yang Yuan was very careful to maintain a proper balance, both using and guarding against the Tuoba clan.

Because the Tuoba clan formed the core of the Western Xia people, their numbers were the largest.

Yang Yuan could not implement a policy of complete suppression against them.

At the same time, if the Tuoba clan were to truly fall into decline, then the newly emerging powerful nobles might very well develop ambitions.

However, the conflict of interests between the emerging and old noble families was already irreconcilable.

Therefore, as long as we pay attention to the appropriate degree of control, we can enable them to spontaneously form a mutually restraining ecosystem.

As a result, whether they were old nobles or newly emerging nobles, they could only rely on the Song Dynasty to ensure their own interests.

As for Sinicization, education, and winning people's hearts, this is a long process that cannot be accomplished overnight.

However, during the period when Yang Yuan was relieved of his military power and returned to Lin'an to live as the carefree Prince, Zhao Qi sent a large number of officials to Xixia.

These officials were mainly stationed in the core territory of the Great White High Kingdom, the Hetao Plain.

And this place is precisely where the old and new nobles of Western Xia are most concentrated.

Therefore, the arrival of these officials actually greatly alleviated the conflicts between the old and new noble families of Western Xia, who were engaged in open and covert struggles.

They also clearly understood that what they were fighting for was interests, and the question of who should own those interests.

But these officials came to dig up their roots.

Once these corrupt officials succeed, there will be no room for competition among them.

In that case, we'll all be doomed.

Therefore, they united like never before.

Especially after Ren Degong received a secret letter from Ren Muyan sent back from Lin'an.

Today, Ren Degong has condescended to personally visit Tuoba Heiyi.

(End of this chapter)