Chapter 152: After the Abolition, in Progress

Although the imperial concubine had agreed on a successor, it was impossible for her to be abolished immediately and then reinstated.

After all, the aftermath of the Ji clan's demise has not stopped—on the day the entire family of the Ji clan was massacred, the regent sent orders to the four directions, ordering the officers to hunt down the remnants of the discipline party and make sure to kill them all.

But after all, the Ji family has been in power for three dynasties, even if the building collapses, there are always some loyal people who are willing to risk their lives to cover their absconding.

This kind of purge is impossible in a short period of time. Fortunately, Ye Guogong and others who are in charge of the Ji family have basically wiped out, and the rest have no time to escape, and generally there are no troubles.

It is more important to take advantage of the situation and replace with your own manpower.

Chunjia must be at a disadvantage here. His personal administration is too short, even if he hastily opened Enke at the beginning of the year, how can a young boy who has just entered the officialdom be the opponent of the Regent's team?

But even if he suffered a loss, Chunjia couldn't give up struggling, and had to fight with the regent.

So within a few days, news came from the palace, saying that the empress mother, the empress dowager, knew that the crime had fallen, and she knew that she would not escape punishment, so she set herself on fire.

He even wanted to take away Princess Minghui before he died, but fortunately the palace guards tried their best to stop him, so he failed.

Chunjia, who was very pure and filial, burst into tears after hearing the news, saying that although Ji's mother was sorry for the first emperor Xiaozong, after all, it was his own stepmother, who fell into such a fate, even if it was his own fault, his heart as a son of man is really sad Hold down.

After being comforted by left and right, she finally recovered, and asked Princess Ming Hui again, and learned that Princess Ming Hui was already ill, and after this incident, she became weaker and weaker, and could only rest in the palace for the rest of this year, Chun Jia immediately began to wipe away tears, He felt sorry for this "poor imperial sister" for a while, and finally ordered to drive to Qingci Palace, because the matter was serious, a young junior like him did not dare to deal with it without authorization, so he had to ask the Empress Dowager for instructions.

Because of the situation at the court meeting that day, everyone knew that the Empress Dowager Ji would definitely have no good results, so there was no need to worry that the Empress Dowager would not be able to bear the bad news.

"The Ai family knows." In just a few days, the Empress Dowager became much older. After hearing the news of the death of the Empress Dowager Ji coldly, she said softly, "The emperor can handle these things as he sees. Put more energy into worrying about these things.”

After a pause, he asked again, "How is Ji?"

"The clansmen are still on their way." Chunjia said nonchalantly. The Empress Dowager only said that the clansmen hadn't gathered together, so the Ji clan was still detained in the mansion and not allowed to go out. One can imagine how arrogant the Ji clan was in the past. I'm sure I won't get used to being under house arrest, but I can't care about it right now.

Although she felt a little uneasy, she only said that she was worried about Ji's future, sighed, and said, "What about the queen?"

Chunjia has been so busy these two days, she can't care about Empress Ji: "The empress is still recuperating in Yanfu Palace."

"Can she come to Ai's family to fulfill her filial piety?" The Empress Dowager pursed her lips, she knew that Empress Ji's succession would probably be lost, she might be abolished, she might be killed suddenly, or she might die suddenly after being abolished, in short Neither will be good.

The entire Ji family, including her, the empress dowager, is a little safer.

At least since Chunjia personally denied that she connived at Empress Dowager Ji's murder of Xiaozong's heir, she would not touch her in a short time.

The Empress Dowager made this request, and if it was a tactful request, she would ask for Empress Liuji's life.

It's just that Chunjia pondered for a long time, and said: "The empress is sick now, and she can't take care of herself, but it's not easy to take care of the imperial grandmother. Besides, it's easy to get over the sickness and give the imperial grandmother. If the imperial grandmother wants someone to serve the sick, I will let Xianfei and the others come ?”

"No need." The empress dowager looked disappointed, but she didn't get entangled. After all, after all her clan members got together, the most important thing was to discuss Ji's crimes. Before the dust settled, she didn't want to talk to Chunjia. A conflict occurred.

In contrast, Empress Ji's life alone can be saved if she can, and she can only give up if she can't.

"It's all according to the emperor's grandmother." Chunjia said with a filial face, "It's just... you have to decide the funeral of Empress Ji. After all, she is still my stepmother. According to the rules, I have to go to the palace in person Welcome, this is the courtesy that the empress dowager should have."

The empress dowager heard what he meant, smiled miserably, asked the left and right to take out their own seals, and said indifferently: "The emperor can do whatever he wants, the mourning family is exhausted."

However, Chunjia refused to accept it, saying: "Grandmother, this is a big matter. Even with your permission, I dare not do anything special."

He had a firm attitude, and the Empress Dowager had no choice but to ask her confidants to spread out the Four Treasures of the Study in public, and dictated a decree—in fact, this decree should have gone down a few days ago, but the Empress Dowager was upset, and Chunjia was I was busy dealing with the regent, so I was negligent—as the empress dowager, I abolished the empress dowager position of the mother empress empress dowager, and demoted to a commoner.

Well, this is the decree that Empress Dowager Ji should have when she was alive.

Now that Empress Dowager Ji is dead because of delays, that means she will be deprived of all her titles, and only allowed to be buried with common people's rites. Don't even think about being buried with Emperor Xiaozong. The emperor is kind.

With the imperial edict to abolish the status of Empress Dowager Ji, Chunjia naturally does not need to treat this matter with the attitude of treating her stepmother, so she left the Qingci Palace and once again ordered the left and right to block the good news, and within a year He was not allowed to mention to the Empress Dowager that the Ji family had been exterminated, so Shi Shiran went back to Taichu Palace to handle government affairs.

The end of Empress Dowager Ji was expected by everyone, so it did not cause any shock in the imperial capital.

Because this is no longer the empress dowager, there is no need for everyone to offer condolences.

On the face of it, Chun Jiaming only asked someone to send a message to the palace, asking them to take care of the funeral according to the instructions of the empress dowager, and at the same time ensure the safety of Princess Minghui, but in private, Sun Yu sent a trustworthy person to rush over: "Look Be clear, is that really Ji Sheng?"

This is not because Chunjia is suspicious, but because the method Empress Dowager Ji chose to kill herself is self-immolation—it is said that the last thing she found was a few charred bones, so who knows if this is Ji Sheng himself?

Maybe she used Ji's influence in the palace as a cover to find a substitute?

Two days after the people from the Imperial City Department set off, the news had not yet come back, and the close clan members arrived one after another, and Zhou Wang and his wife were among them.

His seniority is high, his country is strong and prosperous, and he is not too young, so he naturally becomes the head of the clan.

After entering Beijing, of course, bathe and change clothes to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

After Chunjia explained to him, he was taken to the Qingci Palace to greet the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager and King Zhou had met the clan twice, but the atmosphere at that time was not very good: one time when Shenzong passed away, they came to express their condolences, and incidentally participated in the ceremony of Xiaozong's ascension to the throne; once when Xiaozong passed away, they came to mourn By the way, those who attended Chunjia's enthronement... oh no, they didn't attend the ceremony for Chunjia's enthronement.

Because after Xiaozong passed away, the Ji family and the regent were struggling to find a new monarch. The clan members were afraid of being dragged into the water, so they made excuses and left in condolences.

By the time Chunjia was taken to Emperor Jingjian Zuo, they had already returned to their respective feudal states.

The Empress Dowager didn't care much about these clansmen before, because these people always looked at her face, and she was too lazy to pay attention to them.

But Zhou Wang and others, after saluting, sighed with emotion: "The empress dowager has lost a lot, it is time to take care of the phoenix's body."

"The first emperor was ruthless, and the Ai family had a hard life. Xiao Zong was born after so many hardships, but he was also unfilial. The father and son left the Ai family early, leaving the Ai family to live alone in this world." Mrs. The empress dowager said rather desolately, "It would be a good thing if we could reunite sooner."

"Why did the Empress Dowager say this? Although Emperor Xiaozong was murdered by others and failed to leave a parent and child behind, the Son of Heaven is your heir and grandson that day. He has always been pure, filial and honest. In fact, he is no different from his own." King Zhou and the others said seriously. , "This year, I have added several great-grandchildren to you. You will have a long time to entertain your grandchildren."

The empress dowager showed sarcasm behind her, but she didn't say anything to refute, she just made insinuations about how King Zhou and others would treat Ji's family?

"The people are not here yet, so we have to wait for such a big thing to be discussed." Of course the king of Zhou and the others knew the news that the Ji family had been destroyed, but they didn't dare to tell the empress dowager, so they said vaguely, "It's not your fault after all, don't think too much about it."

"The Ai family never thought that Ji Sheng would do such a thing. She deserves it even if she dies like this." The Empress Dowager said sadly, "Ye Guogong and the others are shameless, they didn't teach her well. It's just that There are many children of the Ji family, and the young ones are pretty well-behaved."

She specifically mentioned a few names, all of them were Ji's juniors who were only in their teens or even a few years old. Most of their talents were not particularly good, but they were the kind that made people feel that "even if you let him go, he can't do anything." type.

King Zhou and the others felt a little sad when they heard it, but they didn't dare to show it. They just agreed and said that they would try their best to help mediate: "But there are many relatives in the clan, so it is not certain whether they can persuade everyone."

The Empress Dowager was not suspicious, and she also knew that what happened this time was too terrible. Even if the clan members had no intention of exterminating the Ji family, in order to prove that they cared about the descendants, and to prove that they felt empathy for Xiaozong's experience, they It is also difficult to propose a lighter punishment.

In particular, there is a regent outside the palace, who is the master who will kill the Ji family soon.

The clansmen have come to the imperial capital, can he not push them?

She regretted that she didn't win over these people well, but then again, if she had known today, how could she have allowed Chunjia to ascend the throne?

The Empress Dowager said a lot of soft words, and sent away a group of people with an almost begging attitude.

It's just that King Zhou and the others reminded each other not to criticize Chunjia's actions when they left the palace.

This man who could slaughter all the families of the Ji family who supported him would not necessarily be soft on their nominal clansmen.

They came all the way here just to touch a fish, but they didn't want to send their lives here.

However, since Chunjia specially sent people to invite them here, they must not be allowed to purely fish for fish, and they must be useful.

For example, the next day, a vassal king spoke to Chunjia in public, saying that his mother, the empress dowager, ah no, the common man Ji Sheng committed suicide in fear of crime, but in fact this matter should never end: because the eight years since Chunjia ascended the throne Here, the harem is similar to that of Emperor Xiaozong.

The same concubines conceived many times, but none of them failed to give birth.

Therefore, based on the experience of Emperor Xiaozong's harem, I am afraid that the current empress is not innocent.

For the sake of the emperor's heir, it is better to thoroughly investigate the good life of Empress Yuan.

Although Chunjia pondered for a moment and was noncommittal when he heard the words, the four families of Luo family, Ouyang family, Meng family and Yin family were very excited.

They thought that the promised reward was about to start!

There is no need for Chunjia to ask privately, the next day the four families began to join forces with the courtiers they had befriended, and together they asked for a thorough investigation of all miscarriages of Chunjia's harem concubines!

Especially the common man Zheng Shangchu!