Chapter 9

Chapter 9

[Prince Consort, the Princess Has Been Beaten to Death – 8]

When Emperor Gaozu finished, the palace consorts all knelt and hailed, “Long live Your Majesty!” Their lovely faces and peach-soft cheeks only emphasized Consort Shu Chang’s bloodless face and devastated expression.

Emperor Gaozu appeared not to notice. He turned toward the main hall, with Luan Jiaojiao skipping happily behind him. The consorts silently rose, formed two lines according to rank, and went to wait outside the main hall.

Consort Shu Chang remained collapsed on the ground, disheveled from head to toe. Several consorts who ordinarily attached themselves to her hesitantly approached and called softly, “Consort Shu?”

Consort De Chang sighed inwardly. She came forward and helped Consort Shu Chang up with the woman’s personal attendants, half advising and half pleading. “Elder Sister, His Majesty has spoken so plainly today. You must not give free rein to your temper and anger him. Please, consider this your younger sister begging you. All right?”

Consort Shu Chang shoved her away. “I have no need of your false concern!” She ordered her attendants to restore her appearance, forced herself upright, and went to wait in the first position on the left for the Empress’s summons.

Emperor Gaozu remained in the hall drinking tea. Female officials and palace attendants served Empress Miao as she changed in the inner hall. Luan Jiaojiao slipped inside cheerfully and poked her head around the door. “Mother!”

Empress Miao pretended to slap her. “What is all this noise? Where did you spring from?”

Luan Jiaojiao did not dodge. She let her mother tap her lightly, then said with sparkling excitement, “When I went outside, I saw Consort Shu Chang. You should have seen her standing there with her nose in the air, as if she’d become Empress Dowager. Nobody pleased her! And Jiang Zhaorong did whatever Consort Shu Chang told her to do. She even mocked Han Zhaoyi and Zhuang Jieyu. I think she’s the real dog relying on its master’s power!”

Empress Miao sighed helplessly. “You quarreled again, didn’t you?”

“Sort of, but that isn’t important.” Once Empress Miao was dressed, she sat before the dressing table while attendants placed the phoenix crown upon her head. Luan Jiaojiao sat affectionately before her like a little puppy and continued in an exaggerated voice, “Then Father came outside. Consort Shu Chang immediately began pretending to be pitiful and begged Father to grant her justice. I thought that if Father dared favor her, I would start a huge scene. But this time, he was actually reasonable! Not only did he leave me alone, he even gave Consort Shu Chang a scolding. You should have seen her face. I think she wanted to die… She deserved it. She spends every day strutting about like a phoenix and putting on the airs of a princess. Her dynasty is gone. At best, she’s a wild pheasant!”

Empress Miao had not witnessed the scene, but she could easily imagine it. She smiled, her gaze turning nostalgic. “When your father was young, Heaven blessed him with extraordinary wisdom. Nothing escaped his eyes. It was only these last two years that he… But everything is well now.”

Luan Jiaojiao caught the fleeting sadness in her mother’s eyes, and her own heart ached. After a moment’s thought, she rose, leaned close to her mother’s ear, and whispered, “Father also said that Mother is his only wife, and only Mother can be his Empress. In his heart, Mother is the only woman worthy of that place.”

Empress Miao froze. Then heat flooded her face. She had not yet applied rouge, but her cheeks were already pink.

She pretended to scold, “Do not talk nonsense.”

“I’m not talking nonsense,” Luan Jiaojiao insisted. “Everyone heard him!”

Empress Miao could not suppress her smile. She took earrings from her jewelry box and put them on before saying gently, “Do not repeat such things in the future. You are a young girl and will soon begin meeting prospective husbands. Think how it would sound if word spread.”

“I don’t want to marry.” Luan Jiaojiao buried her face in her mother’s arms and mumbled unhappily, “I want to stay beside Father and Mother forever.”

Empress Miao laughed but could not bear the thought of parting from her either. She quietly held her daughter and sighed. “Foolish child.”

About a quarter of an hour later, Empress Miao finished dressing. With a palace attendant on one side and her daughter on the other, she went to the main hall to greet the emperor. Emperor Gaozu told her to rise and take her seat, then summoned the consorts of the Six Palaces into the hall.

He had already lost all the face there was to lose. There was no reason for coy embarrassment now. Emperor Gaozu did not avoid the subject of what had happened. He told the palace consorts, “Previously, We lost Our virtue after drinking and failed in word and deed. We even cast aside loyalty and grace by driving the Empress from the palace. It was profoundly wrong. Fortunately, We awakened today and personally left the palace to escort the Empress home, preventing a grave mistake.” He then rose and offered Empress Miao the ordinary courtesy of one family member to another.

The consorts of the Six Palaces were badly shaken. Empress Miao hurriedly rose as well, arranged her clothes, and bowed. “If Your Majesty does this again, this subject-wife will have no face to remain standing.”

After witnessing this exchange, the palace consorts finally understood the weight of the emperor’s resolve. None dared cling to hope or harbor a different intention. Even the proud and spoiled Consort Shu Chang sat rigidly upright and waited for the emperor’s admonition.

Emperor Gaozu had no desire to involve himself in the affairs of harem women. But Luan Zhenghuan’s reckless behavior had trampled the Empress’s authority and thrown the harem into complete chaos. He had no choice but to intervene this once.
Now that everyone appeared to have taken the warning to heart, Emperor Gaozu spoke with crisp simplicity. “We are the sovereign. Our duty is to balance the court and govern all under Heaven. The Empress is the Junior Sovereign, motherly model to the realm. Her duty is to keep the harem in order so that We need not worry about affairs behind Us. It was improper of Us to interfere repeatedly with the Empress’s commands. From this day forward, let the watchdog guard by night and the rooster crow at dawn, each attending to its own duty. All Six Palaces will obey the Empress’s decrees. There is no need to bring the affairs among you women to Our attention.”

When he finished, silence fell on every side.

The women who had been with him since the days of his private household were naturally willing. Empress Miao handled matters impartially and treated those beneath her generously. The consorts selected for the palace after Luan Zhenghuan took the throne, however, could not entirely conceal their resentment.

Even so, no one dared speak rashly.

Noble Consort Qin had first been stripped of rank and confined to the cold palace; Consort Shu Chang had then suffered a savage rebuke. The two women who stood tallest had both been hammered back down. Who would dare start squawking now?

Emperor Gaozu had only meant to inform them of his decision, not discuss it with them. As soon as the matter here was settled, he prepared to return to Taiji Hall and review memorials.

Empress Miao led the palace consorts in seeing the emperor off. Unexpectedly, he turned back halfway and instructed her, “Set a banquet in Chonghua Hall at noon tomorrow and summon all the children. It has been some time since We saw them. We truly miss them.”

Empress Miao answered with a smile, “Yes. This subject-wife will arrange it.”

Emperor Gaozu gave a slight nod, turned, and strode away.

He had only just arrived in this world today and had done a single thing: bring Empress Miao back to the palace. Just before leaving, however, he remembered the square of white silk he had seen in the space and the two lines written upon it. That was why he had given the final instruction.

Prince Consort, the Princess has been beaten to death.

A jade pendant fell from her body. It is the one you have sought for ten years.

Merely letting those two sentences circle his mind made Emperor Gaozu’s head hurt.

The other emperors in the space guessed his intention. Ying Zheng said thoughtfully, “The Prince Consort dares to be so arrogant. Could the realm of the House of Luan have already fallen?”

Liu Che nodded. “We think so too. This Great An Dynasty is probably another short-lived dynasty-like a certain Zheng family’s, gone after only two generations.”

Ying Zheng shot him an icy glance and could not be bothered to trade words with that wild boar.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and pondered for a long while. “There seems to be some history between the Prince Consort and the Princess. A jade pendant he searched ten years for… What, did they meet ten years ago?”

Liu Che said, “Those two sentences seem to contain a reversal. The Prince Consort hated the Princess and ordered her beaten to death, only to discover afterward that she had possessed the jade pendant he had sought for ten years. By then, regret came too late?”

After considering it for a while, Li Shimin shook his head. “It does not feel much like Jiaojiao. She has a temper like fire. She does not seem the sort to keep secrets buried in her heart.”

After a lengthy discussion, the emperors arrived at only one useful conclusion: Emperor Gaozu had better stop fooling around, especially with women. The Great An Dynasty might fall in a few years, and fall so thoroughly that even a princess could be beaten to death by her Prince Consort.

Li Shimin said from the heart, “Brother, if you can summon the will to build your realm, do it now. Time passes very quickly.”

It had been a long while since Emperor Gaozu felt such soaring ambition. Hearing them speak this way in the space, he threw back his head and laughed. “What is there to fear?!”

He had carved a realm out of nothing. Now the new dynasty had only just been founded and all power rested in his hands. Why should he doubt that he could usher in another golden age?

He strode into Taiji Hall and called out, “Bring Us the financial and military reports from the past three years. We wish to examine them. Then summon the three ministers heading the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Revenue to wait in the side hall. We will have questions for them shortly!”

The eunuch answered with utmost deference, then trotted off to convey the summons.

Great An had only just been founded. With every institution waiting to be rebuilt, sweeping reforms were inevitable.

Emperor Gaozu carefully read the financial and military reports several times, then reviewed the memorials that had accumulated in the hall over the past few days. By the time he summoned the three ministers inside, the moon had risen above the willow tops.

“Suspend construction of the imperial mausoleum. Suspend every planned traveling palace along the road from Chang’an to Luoyang as well,” Emperor Gaozu said. “With state affairs in such a condition and the people so impoverished, these grand works consume labor and wealth and interfere with farming. We should never have ordered them.”

The Minister of Revenue felt as though a thunderbolt had struck him squarely on the head. Shock and delight seized him at once, and he hurriedly prostrated himself. “Your Majesty is wise…”

Liao Yuanyan, who served as Minister of Personnel and stood nearby, could not help adding his praise. “Your Majesty’s benevolence has no equal in any age. Since Your Majesty has decided to halt construction of the traveling palaces on the road to Luoyang, might the remonstrating officials who angered Your Majesty by making that same proposal also be released?”

Emperor Gaozu turned an incredulous stare on him.

That bastard Luan Zhenghuan had even imprisoned officials for submitting memorials asking him to stop building traveling palaces?

Damn it. No wonder his dynasty was headed for ruin!
Emperor Gaozu was cursing viciously inside, but his expression remained kindly. “Our inability to accept remonstrance was indeed Our fault. Issue an edict restoring them to their former posts, and bestow ten jars of imperial wine upon them by way of consolation.”

Liao Yuanyan hurriedly offered thanks. “On behalf of my colleagues, this subject thanks Your Majesty for your gracious favor.”

Then he hesitated. “Only… during their days in prison, Your Majesty appointed others to act in their positions. If they are now released and restored to office, then…”

This clearly touched upon the internal factions among the remonstrating officials and censors.

Emperor Gaozu understood immediately. He glanced at the old fox and said without expression, “If constructing palaces squandered the people’s labor and wealth, why did these men not join their colleagues in remonstrating with Us at the time?”

The Minister of Revenue faltered, not daring to speak. Liao Yuanyan chuckled softly and sighed. “Presumably because they were related by marriage or blood to the Qin Clan. They said nothing when Your Majesty spent an immense fortune building Ganlu Hall for Noble Consort Qin, so it would have been awkward for them to speak now.”

That woman again!

Of course, Luan Zhenghuan himself was no decent thing either!

Emperor Gaozu resisted the urge to frown. “Lady Qin committed acts of defiance and disrespect. We have already stripped her of rank and confined her to the cold palace. There is no longer any Noble Consort Qin.”

The Minister of Revenue’s brows twitched. A flash of surprise also crossed Liao Yuanyan’s eyes.

By the time they finished discussing state affairs, the palace gates were due to be locked. Emperor Gaozu ordered servants to escort the two ministers to lodgings for the night, then stepped out of Taiji Hall himself and stood at the top of the stone stairs, looking down across Chang’an.

The Minister of Revenue departed, but Liao Yuanyan lingered behind. The sight stirred old memories in him. “I remember when I accompanied Your Majesty on the southern campaign to Luoyang. I was separated from the army midway and injured my leg by accident. It was Your Majesty who carried me out of the chaos on your back. Looking back now, it truly feels like another lifetime…”

“You remember it incorrectly, Yuanyan.” Emperor Gaozu turned to him with an easy smile. “You did not injure your leg. You contracted a disease of the lungs.”

Liao Yuanyan burst into laughter. “I’m old, I’m old. My memory is failing me.” With that, he saluted and took his leave.

Seeing his thin frame, Emperor Gaozu removed his own cloak and draped it around him. He said warmly, “There will be many matters in which I must rely upon you in the future, sir. You must take good care of yourself.”

Warmth filled Liao Yuanyan’s heart. He answered with a smile, “This subject obeys.”