Chapter 187: Empress Dowager's Weakness
What is the purpose of Queen Mother Yuan?
In other words, where is the weakness of Empress Dowager Yuan?
This is what Yun Fenghuang most wanted to grasp after sensing the queen mother's killing intent.
Because of the special relationship between Empress Dowager Yuan and Chunjia, it was impossible for her to treat the empress dowager the way she had treated concubines before.
Not to mention urging the emperor to help him out, even confronting the empress dowager head-on, he had to carefully choose the situation where the emperor was not around and the empress dowager was not easy to complain afterwards.
It's obviously a bad idea to be so restrained.
After all, the empress dowager has the dual advantages of friendship and seniority with the emperor, and she can find faults anytime and anywhere. Even if she fails to find faults, she is still superior to the empress dowager, and is respected and filial by the emperor.
What about her?
The deterrence in the palace and the evaluation in the previous court are all supported by her status as a popular concubine and her deeds of arrogance in the sixth palace.
If she was repeatedly picked and suppressed by Queen Mother Yuan, even if Chunjia still doted on her, the prestige that took nearly two years to build up with great difficulty would still inevitably be hit.
After all, she used to be: "Concubine Xian is one of the fourth concubines, and she is raising the eldest son and daughter of the emperor under her knees. She is deeply favored by His Majesty. Anyone who opposes her in the palace has never had a good end! Therefore, everyone recruits and releases her." Brighten up, offend anyone, and don't offend Xuanqing Palace!"
If the Empress Dowager Yuan succeeded in crushing her, it would be: "Although the Empress Dowager Xian is the fourth concubine, she has the eldest son of the emperor and the eldest daughter under her knees, and she is quite favored by His Majesty, but in the eyes of the loving mother Empress Dowager, But it’s off the table! The loving mother, the empress dowager, was your majesty’s former aunt, closer than the biological mother! How can a pure and filial person like our majesty disobey the loving empress dowager?”
"So don't look at your Majesty who still goes to Huanhua Palace from time to time. With the attitude of a loving mother and empress dowager, it will be a matter of time before that person from Xuanqing Palace falls out of favor!"
Here we have to talk about the importance of family background again. If she is a noble girl, then even if she is considered by the people below to fall out of favor sooner or later, she can still rely on her family background to become a conservative concubine.
Just be a widow in advance and live an honest life with the two children.
But she is not.
She came from such a humble family, especially the two children under her knees have such a special order, once she is considered weak, she may shoot openly and secretly!
Maybe she can handle it, but one can imagine the effort and energy she has to put into it!
So Yun Fenghuang didn't intend to play the game of you move and I dismantled with Queen Mother Yuan from the beginning. She was thinking early in the morning, what is the weakness of Queen Mother Yuan?
Looking at the life of this empress dowager, the most deeply entangled ones are nothing more than Fuyang Wangzhuang Taifei, Fuyang Duanwang, the Yuan family of Xingning Bofu, Chunjia and Yuan Niangniang.
Among them, Fuyang Wang Zhuang Taifei and Fuyang Duan Wang have both passed away, and no matter how deep the grievances are, it will not help.
Then, those who can make a fuss...of course, can only be the Queen Mother's natal family and the two people she raised.
"You seem to know Aijia very well?" On the phoenix seat, Queen Mother Yuan spoke in a low voice after a long silence.
Her question was very flat, without any emotion.
It was as if the anger, sadness and sadness just now were put away in an instant.
"When my concubine was at home, I listened to the teacher's homework, and I heard that 'the way of heaven is to make up for more than what is damaged; the way of humanity is not the same, to give more than what is damaged'." Yun Fenghuang knelt for a long time, really tired The queen mother still didn't cry out, she simply stood up by herself, staggered to the seat next to her and sat down, not bothering to look at the face of the queen mother Yuan at the moment.
Lowering her head, she kneaded her knees and said, "I watch the empress dowager's actions, and feel that the empress is very heavenly."
"Heh!" Empress Dowager Yuan leaned back disdainfully, and said lightly, "The way of heaven? The way of heaven is selfless. In Aijia's heart, there is too much selfishness!"
Yun Fenghuang said: "Everyone has selfishness, let's use an analogy. I have only been in the palace for a short time, and I have never seen you before. But I also heard that your Majesty has a shallow relationship with his grandmother Fuyang Zhuang. Your status as the son of the crown prince and the succession to the Fuyang prince are all in your hands."
"At the beginning, Emperor Xiaozong passed away and had no children. The Ji family did not want to establish a lineage of regents, and insisted on being the adoptive heir of Emperor Xiaozong from a distant branch. The reason why he chose His Majesty was inseparable from His gentle, pure and kind demeanor... When I heard this for the first time, I felt that you are really clever, and you are so good at measuring your size."
"Only by allowing His Majesty to maintain a good reputation, and at the same time make it easy for the Ji family to rule."
"Even His Majesty's good reputation has been maintained until now."
Empress Dowager Yuan said without expression: "This is because the emperor is sensible, and his words and deeds are gentle and honest."
"That's because the Empress Dowager taught her well." Yun Fenghuang chuckled, "Oh, and I don't know what your plan is to raise Yuan Niangniang at the beginning. But, you let Yuan Niangniang be with His Majesty's childhood sweetheart, but you didn't teach her To become a virtuous and virtuous woman is to indulge her domineering and domineering, and make His Majesty wronged and accommodate her... I think this is really a stroke of genius!"
"In the eyes of ordinary people, the Fuyang King at that time was really worthy of everyone's praise. Would you like to praise him?"
"Young and promising, with a noble status, a filial son brought up by a widowed mother, has a deep love for Qingmei, and the backyard is clean. Even if Qingmei's status is not as good as mine, and her temperament is not good, she is still infinitely patient..."
She sighed lazily, "However, for a monarch, it is unavoidable that he is too affectionate and indecisive."
A powerful official like the Ji family likes the emperor with weakness in his character the most.
Easy to control, not decisive enough at critical moments, and able to give them enough time to react... For a long time, even after Chunjia came to power, many people in the Ji family thought so.
These empress dowagers and Yun Fenghuang both know it well, and Yun Fenghuang will not repeat it now, just say a few words, and get back to business, "I was in a bad mood when I first entered the palace, and I don't really care how long I can live, so I don't like you. Very respectful. Later, my mother came from afar, and after a few long conversations, my concubine's will to die was dispelled, so I went to admit my mistake to you."
"Because whether it's the concubine himself or the concubine's mother, they all feel that the person who cannot offend in this palace is you."
Speaking of this, she changed the subject, "It's just... After I have been trembling with you for a while, I found that you seem to be different from the rumors?"
Empress Dowager Yuan said indifferently: "Because of Niang Niang?"
"There is also the Yuan family." Yun Fenghuang said, "Your attitude makes me very strange. If you say that you don't care about the Yuan family and Yuan Niangniang, on the one hand, you help the Yuan family to send their daughters to the palace one by one. And they tried every means to sideline Yuan Niangniang. But if you say you care about them... The Yuan family was awarded the title of Uncle Xingning because it was the uncle of the emperor, and because of the exclusion of the Ji family, they never took on any important errands. The court is just following Yi Guogong's second opinion."
"I heard that the two generations of the Yuan family have not produced any outstanding figures."
"But that shouldn't be the root cause."
"There are only a few people with outstanding talents in this world, and most people are mediocre. But mediocre people may not be useful, right? Ordinary women may not understand, since the Empress Dowager can accompany His Majesty to come here , and accompanied His Majesty to suffer under Ji's eyes for eight years, don't you know what they should do for the sake of the Yuan family?"
"Don't you know that Yuan Niangniang's temperament, even if she doesn't have a concubine, she will be abandoned by His Majesty sooner or later?"
"I can't figure out what are you thinking?"
"I also wondered if the Yuan family had done something to you and your majesty in private, which made you love and hate in your heart. When you couldn't bear it, you supported and favored them? When you remembered the past, you became cold and let them fend for themselves. ?”
The Empress Dowager's complexion changed slightly when she heard this, but she quickly returned to normal, and sighed: "So, you have figured it out now?"
Yun Fenghuang pursed his lips and smiled: "Of course."
She raised her chin in the direction of Qingci Palace, "Speaking of which, I would like to thank the Empress Dowager and the concubine Ji Sheng. If these two hadn't returned to the palace at the beginning of the year, I'm afraid I've been thinking about your thoughts until now Before these two returned to the palace, you were preparing to suppress the concubine, weren't you? But as soon as they came back, you immediately changed your attitude, and even took the initiative to seek concubines to turn your guns into jade!"
"At that moment, the concubine suddenly realized."
"You, you are a person who picks up the strong and supports the weak, just like the way of heaven: Your Majesty must be the one who loves you the most. When His Majesty's status is unstable or in danger, other people and other things, including your own preferences Anger, sorrow, and joy, it doesn't matter. You don't have any hesitation whether you put yourself down for His Majesty, sacrifice your mother's family, or your niece—but!"
"Once your majesty's position is stable, and even the situation is favorable, you will start to take care of people and things like the Yuan family and Yuan Niangniang."
"Even during this process, if you make His Majesty feel wronged, you will subconsciously ignore it."
"Now that the Ji family has been destroyed, your Majesty is flourishing, and Yuji Yu Nei Qiangang's arbitrary decision is just around the corner. Don't you just transfer your thoughts from your majesty to your blood relatives?"
Yun Fenghuang smiled, "So this concubine gave you a chance to let Yuan Lianniang and the Yuan family regain His Majesty's favor and preferential treatment. At least the favor and preferential treatment on the scene are enough for them to seize this opportunity to re-enter Zhenjiasheng... If you still can't catch it this time, it means you don't care enough for them, or their fortunes have declined and they are destined to never get up again."
"You have taken advantage of it now, shouldn't you also raise your hand to my concubine?"
Empress Dowager Yuan looked at her, and after a while, she said: "If the Ai family doesn't raise their hand, are you planning to use the Yuan family and Lianniang to blackmail the Ai family? Mother is the same as in a dilemma?"
"How could it be?" Yun Fenghuang said softly, "You are the most respected and loving empress dowager by His Majesty, and I'm afraid His Majesty can't hide this concubine's plan, let alone you? If you really put your heart and soul into it For the sake of the Yuan family and Yuan Niangniang, I can set up a situation for His Majesty to take the initiative to show kindness to the Yuan family, can't you?"
"It's just that you cherish Your Majesty and don't want to play tricks with His Majesty."
"This concubine has received great love from His Majesty, and I can't repay you, so how can I really disrespect you?"
"To put it more realistically, a concubine is not blessed to bear children for His Majesty, and she still expects the eldest prince and Zhaoqing to honor her concubine in the future. They have given them a bad start at the moment, aren't you afraid that he will report Should I be there?"
"If you don't agree, I can only consider myself unlucky."
"But I don't think you will refuse. After all, you love His Majesty... You have seen His Majesty's attitude just now. Do you really have the heart to let him continue to be so embarrassing?"
Empress Dowager Yuan closed her eyes and said, "Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. You have had such a profound influence on the emperor, you will become a disaster in the future!"
"What you said is wrong, don't you have a profound influence on His Majesty?" Yun Fenghuang asked, "Don't you think you will become a disaster?"
The queen mother was not angry, but said slowly: "The Ai family is different from you. You said it yourself just now. Although the Ai family has selfish intentions, it is based on the premise that everything is fine for the emperor. Once the emperor is a little troubled , the Ai family will throw everything away! What about you? You keep saying that you came to the palace to be loved by the emperor, and you did start your family by relying on the emperor's favor, but dare you say that you are like the Ai family. Put your child first, more important than your life?!"
She turned her head slightly, and looked at the beautiful concubine below, "If you can prove that you are the same, or prove that you will do this in the future, then Aijia herself has suffered from her mother-in-law's making things difficult, and has seen men get caught It was so difficult and painful between the two that they died in depression, but why bother to have trouble with you?"