Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1130 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 56

Before and after the New Year, the imperial court made all-out preparations for the war with Dzungar. The army's food and fodder were prepared all the way from Shandong and Sichuan. Jeju assistant commander Shen Zishan wanted to gain merit by releasing Shen Meiyu from the cold palace. Concubine Xin also wrote a letter to her parents' family asking them to cooperate.

Naturally, Concubine Xin was considering Princess Shuhe more than anything else, and of course she also wanted to let her family take the opportunity to gain merit.

As for Shen Zishan, it's not that he hadn't thought about giving up Shen Meizhuang, and it's not that there were no suitable daughters in the clan who could be sent to the palace, but Fatty Ju had refused the second election on the grounds of the war, so Shen Zishan could only hold his nose and use his merits to help Shen Meizhuang, who was already in the harem, to ascend to the throne.

However, before this, Shen Zishan wrote a letter to Shen Meizhuang and delivered it to her through his own channels. He made sure that Shen Meizhuang had figured it out before he was willing to give it a try.

The war situation on the front line was tense, but an epidemic broke out in the capital. Fortunately, the people in Jiang Xinxin's land had already prepared ways to deal with various epidemics, and the epidemic did not spread into the palace. However, Big Fat Ju also set off for the Old Summer Palace in advance. Jiang Xinxin then took the opportunity to propose the idea of ​​settling the concubines of the previous emperor in Changchun Garden. This time, Big Fat Ju agreed without much hesitation.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the concubines were ecstatic.

In the late emperor's harem, there were at least twenty concubines who were still alive, not to mention the indefinite number of noble ladies, maids-in-waiting, and maids-in-waiting. Moreover, there were enclosures behind both the Hall of Mental Cultivation and the Palace of Heavenly Purity, and there were quite a few palace maids without official titles.

There were still a few concubines from the Shunzhi Dynasty and before who were still alive. Jiang Xinxin and Da Pangju packed them all into Changchun Garden. Those sensible and considerate concubines took the initiative to give Da Pangju and Jiang Xinxin many benefits. They learned a lot of secrets from those concubines.

For example, of the dozen or so princes and princesses who were not ranked in order during the late emperor's early years, at least half died at the hands of Empress Renxiao, and the remaining half were actually the work of the Mongolian concubines in Emperor Shunzhi's harem.

For another example, the biological mother of the late emperor, Empress Dowager Cihe, who was of the Tonggiya clan, died at the hands of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang in order to ensure that the late emperor would obey her, show more favor to Mongolia and pay less attention to the Tonggiya clan.

Even when Longkodo went to Yonghe Palace to meet the Empress Dowager, who was still Concubine De, those Mongolian concubines helped to cover up for Longkodo.

Of course, they were not trying to help Longkodo. They just wanted to make fun of the late emperor. The reason they failed was that the power of the four concubines who came from the bannermen family became increasingly powerful in the later period. They were no longer sure that they could protect themselves after taking action, so they did not use this handle.

However, the concubine Li Si'er that Longkodo took away from his father-in-law's house was the work of those Mongolian concubines. They spent a lot of effort and money to find a woman who looked similar to Defei. But at that time, Li Si'er had already been sold to Longkodo's father-in-law's house and became his father-in-law's concubine.

Fortunately, Longkodo needed her for his own use, so he robbed Li Si'er and even turned his legitimate wife Hesheli into a human pig for her!

In the following period, several Mongolian concubines died of illness in Changchun Garden one after another. However, since they were all concubines of Emperor Shunzhi and were already very old, there was no complaint from the court or the public. It was just that there were some unusual movements in Mongolia, so they wanted to send people into the palace again to seek stability.

Big Fat Ju didn't want to take in any more Mongolian women, so he brought forward Borjigit, who was born in the election in the second year of Yongzheng's reign, and conferred the title of Shenpin on her. If the war on the front line had not been tense, he would have only conferred titles on the six palaces and would never have given Shenpin the honor of a promotion and enthronement ceremony alone.

The rest were the Fang Jia clan, who had made great contributions in the war. Since Fang Jiachang had been given the title Chun when she was pregnant, and now that she was officially promoted to a noble lady, there was no need for a canonization ceremony, so Noble Lady Chun was also very happy.

But there was trouble with another pregnant woman, Concubine Rou. Her father, An Bihuai, was not doing a good job in preparing food and fodder, and was suspected of embezzling it. Now he has been imprisoned and is waiting to be escorted to Beijing to await trial.

The other concubines in the harem only felt that this situation was a little familiar, and Rou Guiren, as the person involved, could only take a deep breath and try her best to calm her belly. But then she would have to face the facts and go before the emperor to plead for her damn father, otherwise she would become the daughter of a criminal, and the baby in her belly would be tarnished before it is even born!

Concubine Rou was about to go to the Imperial Court with her big belly, but Concubine Fu felt that this was inappropriate and advised her, "I know that you must go to the Imperial Court to plead for mercy, but this pleading requires a strategy."

Upon hearing this, Concubine Rou really quieted down and sat back down to listen to Concubine Fu's strategy.

Fu Changzai saw that Concubine Rou had finally calmed down a little, and hurriedly said, "From the matter of Concubine Qi, it can be seen that the emperor hates the harem concubines' connection with the previous dynasty, and he hates even more the ministers of the previous dynasty who are arrogant and domineering because of the relationship with the harem concubines. But in the final analysis, the emperor does not like the harem concubines to discuss the affairs of the previous dynasty."

"It's not that I don't want you to plead for your family. Even if you have a deep hatred for your family, you should at least act filial. I just think that the news from the previous dynasty came too easily. There may be some calculations that we don't know about."

Concubine Rou had completely calmed down. But when she listened to what Concubine Fu said, she felt that the conspiracy in the palace was really hard to guard against, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

Fu Changzai saw all the changes in Concubine Rou's expression and could only sigh in her heart at this moment. Women, it seems, can never escape from their father and son all their lives.

Concubine Rou and Concubine Fu were really good friends. Even though this good friendship was inevitably mixed with some calculations, they were really good to each other, so Concubine Rou couldn't help but talk about the old stories of her mother's family: "If the news of the emperor's announcement of the selection had not reached Jiangnan in time, I would have been given to my father, who only cared about power, as a concubine to his Shangguan, who could be my grandfather."

Fu Changzai also quickly talked about her own affairs: "My family name is Suolunzhuo, which sounds like a big family name, but in fact, I am only from the lower five banners. My family has fallen to the point where I am not even qualified to enter the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so I cannot escape the palace selection. Moreover, I am not favored at home, so my sister, who was supposed to enter the palace, made a few coquettish remarks and decided that I would enter the palace in her place."

As expected, Concubine Rou took Concubine Fu's hand with a look of pity and comforted her, "It's all right now. We are both concubines. Even though your future is limited, you still have me."

Fu Changzai returned the favor with a touched look on his face as he held Lady Rou's hand and said emotionally, "I know that you are good to me, so I hope you can think it through. If Lord An is really implicated in the case of embezzling food supplies at the front line, we should also protect others."

Fu Changzai was clearly hinting to Concubine Rou to give up An Bihuai. Concubine Rou understood and did not think that Fu Changzai was being presumptuous. Instead, she felt that Fu Changzai had probably heard what she had just said, so he changed the subject and was always thinking about her.