Chapter 38 Uncle and Cousin
In early February, Zhao Xing’s uncle and his family arrived in Bianjing.
The official rewarded him with a house in the inner city of Bianjing. Although it only had a dozen acres, it was very rare.
It has been nearly a hundred years since the founding of the Song Dynasty. There are almost no vacant houses in the inner city. Many third- and fourth-rank officials in the court can only live in the outer city.
Without him, you can’t buy it and you can’t afford it.
The rewarded house had been repaired and cleaned early. The Zhu family arrived in Bianjing and moved directly into the rewarded house.
On the day of arrival, before the Zhu family had settled down, many officials from Bianjing sent gifts and issued invitations to prepare for a visit in the near future.
......
The officials learned that the Zhu family had arrived in Bianjing, and the next day they allowed Concubine Zhu to leave the palace to visit. Zhao Xing also got a day off to accompany his mother and concubine.
When Concubine Zhu knew that her brother and his family were coming to Bianjing, she prepared many gifts one after another. After receiving permission, she packed the gifts early and left the palace with her son early the next morning.
Along the way, Concubine Zhu was very happy. It had been more than ten years since she entered the palace. In addition to letters from home, her brother and sister-in-law came to visit her just after Zhao Xing was born.
Zhao Xing sat in front of his mother, but he was not so happy.
Yesterday when the Zhu family arrived in Bianjing, many people came to give gifts. Zhao Xing had already heard about it.
This matter is not a big deal, but as his uncle, he should avoid suspicion at this time, but his uncle accepted all the gifts and invitations without hesitation. Got off.
When dynasties change in ancient times, they like to learn from the shortcomings of the previous dynasty and formulate some rules and regulations to prevent them.
However, there have been many cases in history where foreign relatives have exclusive power, and even foreign relatives have taken over the throne. However, all dynasties still like to use foreign relatives very much.
This is because of the needs of imperial power and the need for relatives to balance the various forces in the court.
The wealth and prosperity of the foreign relatives all benefit from the emperor. If the foreign relatives want to prosper for a long time, they must maintain the imperial power.
And it is easy for relatives to be promoted and given high positions. Just like Zhao Xing's uncle, he did not even pass the Jinshi examination. In just a few years, he went from a county magistrate to a fourth-rank admonishment doctor.
If this were placed on other people, many people in the court would definitely object, because the court has a promotion system, and even the emperor cannot do anything too outrageous.
But when it comes to relatives, no one objects, as if this is how it should be.
Zhao Xing will be the emperor in the future, and the civil servant family is the dominant one in the Song Dynasty. Although these people are not of the same mind, when their common interests are touched, these people will stick together.
Of course he also thought about supporting his relatives to check and balance the civil servants.
But if the foreign relatives are used well, just like Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, they will become a helper in consolidating the imperial power. If it is not used properly, it will lead to the destruction of the country like Wang Mang and He Jin.
In the past, I had mostly heard about my uncle. After all, he was far away. Zhao Xing didn’t know how much information had reached Bianjing.
Therefore, although he was a little disappointed with this uncle, he still held some hope.
But Zhao Xing was completely disappointed with his uncle's behavior after arriving in Bianjing yesterday.
Although he had decided not to reuse this uncle in the future, Zhao Xing could not let him do whatever he wanted. He was still thinking about how to beat him to make him honest.
While Zhao Xing was thinking wildly, the carriage stopped.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we have arrived." The eunuch accompanying him outside the carriage said.
The palace maid opened the curtain, and Zhao Xing got off the carriage first.
Leaning out, he saw a fat middle-aged man and a woman waiting at the door with several boys and girls in front of the house.
Seeing Zhao Xing come out, they all said in unison: "Greetings to Your Highness!"
"Uncle and aunt, you have really offended me. Please excuse yourself quickly, otherwise my mother and concubine will scold me. "
Zhao Xing quickly stepped off the carriage and stepped forward to help his uncle.
"Brother, sister-in-law!"
Concubine Zhu, who got off the car, shouted excitedly.
"Meet the Imperial Concubine!"
Zhu Shiquan led his family to salute again.
"Brother and sister-in-law, what are you doing?" Concubine Zhu said angrily. "Haha, etiquette cannot be discarded." Zhu Shiquan said with a smile.
"Is this Brother Yu?"
Concubine Zhu looked at a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old behind her eldest brother, and said with some nostalgia: "When I left home, I had just learned how to Let’s go, he’s grown so big in a blink of an eye.”
Her eldest nephew was born when she was at home, and she has never seen him since.
“It’s Jing Yu who is your queen.” Aunt Sun quickly replied.
"Jing Yu has met the empress!" Zhu Jingyu quickly stepped forward to greet her.
"What do you call me, aunt?" Concubine Zhu said with some displeasure.
Hearing this, Zhu Jingyu looked at his mother, saw her nodding slightly, and saluted again: "I have met my aunt."
Concubine Zhu nodded with satisfaction, greeted Zhao Xing, and said : "Fu'er, this is your eldest cousin."
"I've seen my cousin!" Zhao Xing said with cupped hands.
Zhu Jingyu quickly returned the greeting: "Your Highness..."
"Cousin."
Zhao Xing smiled and interrupted Zhu Jingyu and said: "My mother and I are here to visit relatives today, cousin. Such a separation!”
“Yes, we are all one family, Brother Yu doesn’t need to have separation.” Concubine Zhu said with a smile.
Hearing this, Zhu Jingyu hesitated for a moment, then called his cousin.
"Is this Brother Yuan?"
Concubine Zhu pointed to another boy of fourteen or fifteen years old and asked.
Zhu Shiquan had three sons and one daughter. When Concubine Zhu entered the palace, only Zhu Jingyu was born, and she had never seen the rest.
However, Zhu Shiquan told her in the letter that she remembered the names and ages of her nephews and nieces very clearly.
The second son and the fourth son were both concubines, named Zhu Jingyuan and Zhu Jingyan respectively.
One of them is fifteen years old and the other is just ten years old.
The only daughter, the third in line, is a legitimate daughter and is eleven years old this year.
After recognizing each other, Zhu Shiquan and Sun invited Zhao Xing, mother and son in.
When he came to the main hall, Zhu Shiquan asked his sister and nephew to sit up, but Zhao Xing insisted and sat down at the lower left position.
Concubine Zhu and her brother sat at the main seat, and Mrs. Sun led several children to sit down on the right.
After recounting her longing, Concubine Zhu looked at her nephew and said with a smile: "Brother Yu is not young now, has the marriage been decided yet?"
"No, there were many people in Quanzhou before. He is interested in getting married to our family, but my sister-in-law insists on waiting for him to get the honors before negotiating for him." Zhu Shiquan said with a little anger in his tone.
Hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at his aunt Sun in surprise. He was willing to listen to his uncle's wishes, but his aunt firmly refused.
After passing the examination and gaining merit, the purpose of discussing marriage is to marry someone with a high family status and a good in-law, which will help with the future.
This is what Mrs. Sheng did in the beginning, and she did not hesitate to offend her parents' family to death.
But as the Zhu family is his mother's family, the family status of anyone who wants to marry into the Zhu family will naturally not be low.
In this case, Mrs. Sun still did not agree. It seemed that this aunt was sober.
Hearing this, Concubine Zhu said, "Sister-in-law, Brother Yu is the eldest son in the family. Now he is nineteen years old and it's time to get married. Examination for fame will not delay getting a wife, right?"
"What the empress said is that Yu'er failed the provincial examination twice, and I also intend to propose a marriage for him. But I haven't chosen the right one yet. As a girl, the empress has to put some effort into it." Sun said with a smile. .
Thanks for the reward if you just like to chase.
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(End of this chapter)