The struggle for the throne during the Jiajing reign

Chapter 137 Imperial Concubine

Huang Jin brought in a mahogany stool about one and a half feet tall, with openwork patterns on it, and placed it behind Yan Song.

Xia Bangmo and Ouyang Bijin helped the Grand Secretary to sit down, and Yan Song calmed down considerably after sitting down.

"This old minister thanks Your Majesty for your great kindness."

Jiajing looked at the others and smiled kindly: "Don't be envious. When you all reach seventy, I will also grant you a seat."

The crowd laughed in agreement. There are few officials in the court who are seventy years old, but they are not absolutely nonexistent. However, we haven't seen you take good care of them.

After a moment of silence, Xia Bangmo briefly and quickly recounted to Yan Song the emperor's question and its background.

Yan Song thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "This old minister believes that the rewards and promotions of the empresses and concubines are matters of Your Majesty's family affairs, and it is best for Your Majesty to make the decisions on them."

Zhou Mian immediately retorted, "That is a fallacy! The emperor has no private matters!"

Jiajing's mood, which had just improved, so soured again. However, the punishment of flogging this person was like a reward. He felt like he wanted to slap him, but he was afraid that the person would lick his palm—so he refrained.

Ouyang Bijin had no intention of arguing with Zhou Mian. As for the censors and officials, trying to outdo each other in barking was a pointless exercise.

At this point, everyone could see that His Majesty probably wanted to promote Prince Jing's mother to a higher rank. Those present naturally understood why. Although it seemed that the two princes were working together, in reality, Prince Jing was the one who did all the work, while Prince Yu was just putting on a show.

If the same reward were given, it would undoubtedly chill Prince Jing's heart. However, for Consort Jing, taking three more steps up would be the end of her career.

Imperial Concubine, Noble Consort, Empress.

The conferment of these three ranks differed from others. For ranks below the rank of concubine, only the emperor's decree was required, but for these three ranks, which were auspicious ceremonies of the court, it was necessary to send an honored minister with imperial credentials to convey the decree in the palace.

Although Consort Jing's promotion to Imperial Noble Consort wouldn't necessarily make Prince Jing the legitimate heir, it certainly surpassed Consort Kang's position. Moreover, with no empress in the palace, Consort Jing was highly experienced, had a meritorious birth, had never made a mistake, and her maternal family was law-abiding. If His Majesty insisted on making her empress in the future, who could stop him?

In that case, Prince Jing would be the legitimate son of the Empress, the most rightful heir to the Ming Dynasty. As the saying goes, the succession is based on nobility, not seniority. In the face of the legitimate heir, the few months of Prince Yu's nominal seniority would be useless.

Xu Jie wanted to object, but his position left him with no say at the moment. For the first time, he felt that perhaps he shouldn't be the Minister of Personnel, but rather the Minister of Rites would be more effective.

As expected, Minister of Rites Ouyang Bijin immediately said, "There are primary and secondary merits and priorities. Consort Jing led the palace in donating the most, using all her savings to make clothes to relieve the people. Her merits are known throughout the capital and her reputation is spread among the people. She should be specially commended to show His Majesty's appreciation for the virtuous. Consort Shen and Consort Kang are also respectful and virtuous, and have donated to relief efforts. They should also be commended as usual."

This is reasonable. It's not that we don't want to reward others, but there has to be a hierarchy of merit, with higher rewards for lower ones.

The Minister of Revenue and others immediately bowed and said, "We second that proposal."

Seeing that he couldn't stop them, Xu Jie had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Since the two princes have made contributions, and Consort Jing and Consort Kang have also donated money, I humbly request Your Majesty to promote them both."

Ouyang De, Zhou Mian, and others immediately chimed in, "We second that proposal!"

Prince Yu couldn't help but look nervously at his younger brother beside him. Zhu Zaizhen noticed this and shook his head at him, indicating that nothing would change.

But what Prince Yu was actually nervous about was not this. He had broadened his horizons during his trip and learned that things were difficult to handle. People were not necessarily willing to listen to you just because you had a high status. There were many ways to feign compliance while secretly going against your wishes.

He can't even manage what's happening right under his nose. The world is so big, and officials are so far away. How can he possibly manage it?

What he feared was that if it was merely Consort Jing who was promoted, given his mother's temperament—he could almost hear her piercing screams in his ears—

After listening to everyone's opinions, Jiajing looked at Zhu Zaizhen. He had indeed put in a lot of effort this time, but he was only given a new set of clothes as a token of respect. It was not dignified, and Zhu Zaizhen might even think he was stingy.

Others might not understand this brat, but he did. He put on airs in front of all the civil and military officials, but when he had a private audience with the emperor, he would definitely bring up repeatedly the matter of buying a set of clothes for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

So we still have to keep quiet. Since it's not feasible to reward the princes and nobles, we can only promote her mother to the rank of Consort. Thinking about it this way, Consort Jing is indeed a blessed and lucky person.

She was specially selected to enter the palace and was favored by the Empress Dowager. She soon became pregnant and gave birth to a prince. She was also favored and cared for by the Imperial Noble Consort Wang. Moreover, she has never been seriously ill in all these years. She eats, drinks and has fun every day and looks like she will live a long life.

Now that her son is growing up to be exceptionally intelligent and has made meritorious contributions in disaster relief outside the palace, she can rise in status through her son's success—thinking of this, Jiajing couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Perhaps she performed great good deeds in her past life, accumulating unseen merit, or achieved great spiritual cultivation, which enabled her to have such a perfect life in the ever-strife-ridden imperial harem.

While thinking to himself, Jiajing did not delay and issued an edict: "I believe that Consort Jing, née Lu, comes from a virtuous and noble family and is kind and gentle. Recently, there have been frequent disasters and famines, and the common people have been displaced. Consort Lu generously donated her wealth to distribute porridge and clothing, saving countless lives. Her benevolence is truly touching and comforts my heart."

She is hereby specially promoted to the rank of Imperial Concubine, to honor her exemplary conduct. The Ministry of Rites shall select an auspicious date, in conjunction with the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and prepare the necessary rituals for the investiture. On the appointed day, the Duke of Cheng shall be dispatched as the investiture official, and the Minister of Rites as the deputy envoy, carrying the imperial edict and golden book, to the palace to carry out the investiture ceremony.

Those concubines in the six palaces who donate to disaster relief shall be rewarded according to their respective ranks, as an encouragement. The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs is instructed to prepare the necessary arrangements immediately without delay.

The imperial edict read aloud clearly, and all the civil and military officials in the hall bowed their heads and shouted in unison, "Your Majesty is wise!"

The orderly praise echoed between the palaces, but it could not conceal the turbulent thoughts in everyone's eyes. The faces of the group of upright censors turned pale and then red. They had just jointly petitioned for the same promotion, hoping to equalize the treatment.

However, His Majesty's word was law; he only granted Consort Jing the special favor of being promoted to the rank of Noble Consort, while the other concubines only received routine rewards, reflecting their different ranks.

The difference in thickness is immediately apparent.

They knew that any further argument would be tantamount to openly defying the imperial decree, so they could only suppress their burning anxiety.

He could only submit another memorial a few days later, earnestly requesting that Consort Kang be promoted to the rank of Consort Kang.

Zhu Zaizhen stepped forward to express his gratitude on behalf of his mother, and Prince Yu followed closely behind. "Whatever you have given me is like a blessing. How dare you harbor resentment and not express your gratitude?"

Prince Yu buried his head on the ground, already imagining his mother burning with jealousy after receiving the news, complaining wildly about how he hadn't done his job well and hadn't pleased his father.

I felt a cold sweat running down my back, and I wished I could fall seriously ill immediately to avoid this unexpected disaster.

Prince Yu's expression was impossible to hide; he didn't yet possess that level of cultivation, and Jiajing could guess what he was afraid of at a glance.

Lady Du, you raised my son to be like this, and you still want to be promoted?

Seeing that the officials had no further objections, Jiajing, somewhat weary, instructed: "The matters of disaster relief and pacification of the people must not be neglected or slack. All departments must do their utmost to ensure the success of the entire process."

"Your Majesty, we obey."

The crowd slowly withdrew, but Zhu Zaizhen did not move. Seeing this, Prince Yu also stayed behind. It was better to stay with his father than to go see his mother. He could delay for as long as possible.

"Does Mr. Du always scold you?"

The Emperor's voice suddenly rang out. Prince Yu, who was already somewhat uneasy, was so frightened that his legs went weak and he wanted to kneel down again, but Zhu Zaizhen helped him up.

"Just give a normal reply."

But he still spoke up to explain for his mother: "No—Mother rarely disciplines me; it is my foolishness and stubbornness that always make her angry—"

"Enough." Jiajing didn't like to see him like this. Filial piety is good, but for a prince to be so afraid of his birth mother is wrong, whether it's him or his mother.

If Lady Du had any sense of maternal duty, she would have known that a prince not only has a birth mother, but also a sovereign father; this was a great disrespect.

"You were born into the imperial family, studied the classics, and received instruction from your teachers. How can you be considered foolish? Even if you are unruly, you are still my prince. It is not up to your mother, a mere concubine, to discipline you."

Go back and tell her this: if she doesn't even understand these things, then she doesn't even deserve to sit on the throne of a concubine!

Prince Yu had no choice but to kneel. He fell to his knees with a thud, his forehead hitting the gold bricks heavily. "All the mistakes are yours, Father. Please, Father, do not blame Mother!"

Zhu Zaizhen had no choice but to kneel down as well, but he didn't say anything. This was a matter between his father and his other wife and children, and it was not his place to interfere.

Moreover, he felt that his father's words made no sense; it was impossible that he only found out about Lady Du's character today.

It's likely that after bestowing titles upon his mother, he was thinking of maintaining a balance of power, but when he saw that Prince Yu was incompetent and Consort Kang was dragging his feet, he lost his temper.

Moreover, he could have said this to Prince Yu alone, but he insisted on saying it in front of him. Prince Yu is, after all, his elder brother. When he comes to his senses, won't he feel awkward or angry?

People are always reluctant to let those close to them see their ugly side.

Furthermore, these words were probably a subtle way of reminding him that in all things, the ruler and father come first, then the birth mother.

In the palace, it doesn't really matter who the birth mother is unless she is the empress. As long as the son is the emperor, he is a prince or a prince.

"Step down. For your sake, I will spare your mother's punishment for now."

"Thank you, Father Emperor. Your son kowtows to thank you, Father Emperor."

Prince Yu dared not delay and got up to leave, while Zhu Zaizhen remained kneeling there.

A slap is always necessary; give a slap followed by a sweet treat, or vice versa. It's old-fashioned, but effective.

"What does that silver mean?"

Zhu Zaizhen smiled and said, "The disaster relief funds are enough. I was thinking that sending more to the Ministry of Revenue would only enrich those corrupt officials. It would be better to use the money for the Emperor's Taoist temple. That would be my way of showing filial piety and doing good deeds."

In that case, who knows, I might be fortunate enough to be my father's son again in my next life.

You can't hit a smiling face; there's nothing wrong with smiling, right?

Jiajing's mood improved considerably: "I would still like to be my son in my next life. Isn't there a saying, 'It's unfortunate to be born into an imperial family'?"

"Emperor Shun of Song was forced to abdicate at the age of thirteen, and died and his country was destroyed. He did not want to be born into an imperial family again."

"Thanks to the virtues of my ancestors and the grace of my father, I was born into peace and grew up in wealth and honor, and have never suffered any injustice. Naturally, I wish to be my father's beloved son for all eternity."

Jiajing's tone softened considerably: "You're pushing your luck. Just now you were only my son, and now you're my beloved son."

Zhu Zaizhen laughed and said, "Others may have a father-son relationship with the Emperor for one lifetime, but I am to be the Emperor's son for all eternity. How can I not be a beloved son?"

Fortunately, Zhu Zaizhen was still young, and his words showed filial piety, which made Jiajing feel warm rather than cloying.