Chapter 43: Called Lonely and Few
The original fifteen people, plus the thirty more people now added, there are forty-eight people including Aunt Feng, Eunuch Li and Aunt Kong.
There is also Liu Sanshi who is recovering from his injuries. A total of forty-nine people are waiting for him.
It seems like a lot, but when Mrs. Sheng was a girl, she had more than thirty people waiting on her.
She is just a legitimate daughter of the Hou family, and Zhao Xing is the prince.
It's just that we haven't moved to the East Palace yet, otherwise there would be one or two hundred people.
The move has been decided, but Zhao Xing does not need to worry.
Although he was canonized as a prince, because of his age, he did not need to go to the morning shift. He still focused on studying, which was not much different from before.
But it’s not that there are no changes at all. There are more teachers in Zishan Hall.
In the past, the only people who taught Zhao Xing were Han Zhang, the Prime Minister, and Hai Wenyou, the Hanlin bachelor.
Han Zhang is busy with things and has limited class time, so Hai Wenyou is the main one.
After the crown prince was enthroned, his father arranged for several great scholars, as well as Shen Xianggong, the Minister of Rites, and Pang Xianggong, the Minister of Officials, to come over in turn to give him lessons.
In the past, during class, he would salute Han Zhang and Hai Wenyou as students, followed by the two of them.
Now it has become that they first perform the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers, and then Zhao Xing performs the courtesy of a student.
Princes and teachers of heaven and earth, before they canonize the crown prince, the prince is still a minister. They are the teachers who teach the profession.
But now that Zhao Xing is the king, it is naturally the other way around.
Zhao Xing attended classes for a few days and moved home.
After finishing school that day, Zhao Xing went to greet Empress Cao first, and then came to Yongning Palace happily.
Although he practices martial arts here every day, it is still different from moving here.
After officially moving here to live, Zhao Xing also had a permanent guard.
The officials mobilized three battalions of forbidden troops in three shifts to guard Yongning Palace day and night.
In the military system of the Song Dynasty, there were captains for the capital with hundreds of people, and commanders for the battalions with five capitals.
The three battalions that protected Zhao Xing were headed by the Cao brothers and Fang Zhongrong, the eldest son of Qingyuan Hou respectively.
Although Marquis Qingyuan did not appear in the original drama, it is not simple either.
My ancestor was granted the title of Marquis due to his meritorious service during the Taizong period. He was both a lord and a general.
Among the Marquis Mansion of Bianjing, it is not much worse than the Marquis Mansion of Ningyuan.
It’s just that the contemporary Marquis of Qingyuan has been defending the Liao Kingdom in the north and is not in Beijing.
After Zhao Xing moves into the East Palace, these people will follow him to the East Palace.
I also saw Zhao Xing, the maids and eunuchs carefully selected by Queen Cao. These maids are all fifteen or sixteen years old and of good looks.
Being able to enter the palace as a palace maid, in addition to having a clean family background, appearance is also an important factor.
In addition to selecting the concubines of ancient emperors from the families of lords and civil servants, the concubines of ancient emperors were also one of the main sources. They were not beautiful.
I have to say that it is not without reason that there were so many foolish kings in ancient times. Having grown up in such an arrogant and extravagant environment, it is normal to be foolish.
With Zhao Xing's identity, these palace maids can be said to be completely at his mercy.
Of course, at his age, he can only think about it.
In the main hall of Yongning Hall, Zhao Xingduan sat in the main seat and asked someone to call in Fang Zhongrong, who was on duty.
After a while, Fang Zhongrong, wearing armor, followed Sanshui and walked into the hall.
“I pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince!” Fang Zhongrong said in salute.
"No courtesy, please sit down." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
The eunuch standing in the palace heard this and quickly moved a soft stool up.
After Fang Zhongrong thanked him, he sat down and was thinking about what Zhao Xing wanted him to do.
He has been on duty in the East Palace for a few days, and this is the first time Zhao Xing has come to see him.
"I heard that Commander Fang has a biological sister who just got hairpins not long ago. Now she is discussing marriage and has not decided yet?" Zhao Xing said. After being crowned the crown prince, he can no longer call himself me like before.
In fact, Zhao Xing should have called himself the prince before, but he felt awkward and kept calling himself me.
When you become a prince, you have to call yourself an orphan, and you will be followed by a living man every day. You must pay attention to your words and deeds.
Julang seems to be responsible for daily life from the name, but he is actually responsible for recording the prince's every word and deed.
There are people like this around the emperor. In the future, after the emperor dies, the recorded content will be compiled into history.
The living man will record what he does and say every day, and even who he sleeps with at night. He will also be reminded of the mistakes he made.
Zhao Xing was not used to calling himself an orphan at first, but when the man next to him heard it, he would remind him and try to reason with him, just like Tang Monk reciting sutras.
Zhao Xing is used to it.
"Back to Your Highness, my sister-in-law has indeed just gotten haircut and is discussing marriage."
Fang Zhongrong was confused and didn't understand what His Highness the Crown Prince meant by asking this.
Did His Highness the Crown Prince fall in love with his sister?
But he soon gave up this idea. His Royal Highness was only seven or eight years old, and his sister was already fifteen.
"I have a cousin who is nineteen years old this year and is not yet married. I want to find a matchmaker for them, how about that?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
As he learned more about the internal situation of the imperial court over the years, Zhao Xing increasingly felt that it was too difficult to eliminate the long-standing abuses.
But one thing is clear to Zhao Xing: he must control the military power.
Political power comes from the barrel of a gun. This saying never goes out of style.
The daughter of a British duke is his future princess, and Gu Tingye is his study companion, and she has developed enough loyalty over the years.
If he could get his cousin to marry the legitimate daughter of the Fang family, he would win over three influential nobles in the army.
In fact, what Zhao Xing wants to win over the most is the Zheng family of the Zhongjing Hou Mansion.
In the original play, after Zhao Zongquan ascended the throne, he gave Queen Shen’s sister a marriage to the Zhongjing Hou Mansion in order to win over the Zheng family.
This shows how influential the Zheng family is in the military.
The ancestor of the Zheng family was a confidant of Emperor Taizong before he succeeded to the throne. After he succeeded to the throne, he was promoted to the commander of the palace in front of the palace, in charge of the forbidden army in the palace, which shows how much trust he had in him.
The previous generation of Marquis Zhongjing passed away due to illness a few years ago, and Xijue's eldest son is still young. Otherwise, the Zheng family's influence in the military would be higher than that of the Gu family.
Unfortunately, there are only two brothers in this generation of the Zheng family, so there is no suitable candidate.
"Your Highness, marriage matters are always ordered by parents. I cannot make the decision on this matter. I need to go back and report to my mother." Fang Zhongrong said.
Zhao Xing smiled and said: "This is what it should be. When you go back from duty, ask your Majesty. You can tell your Majesty. That's all I said. It is up to her and Qingyuan Hou to decide whether you are willing or not."< br>
“I’ve written it down,” Fang Zhongrong said.
Just listen to this. If you take it seriously, you will lose.
......
After Fang Zhongrong got off duty, he returned home and went directly to the yard where his mother was.
The imperial court did not prohibit ministers and generals from bringing their families to their posts.
However, the border generals did not allow all the family members to be brought with them, in order to prevent the generals from surrendering easily, so Fang's family members were all in Bianjing.
"Mother!" Fang Zhongrong saluted.
"Rong'er is back, sit down and talk." Mrs. Cheng smiled.
After Fang Zhongrong sat down, he said, "Mother, His Royal Highness met with his son alone today."
"What does His Highness want from you?" asked Cheng.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he would arrange a match for the third sister, and he wanted the third sister to marry the eldest son of Dr. You Jianyi." After Fang Zhongrong finished speaking, he also repeated the last words of Zhao Xing to his mother.
Cheng can become the mistress of the Hou Mansion, and her background is not bad, so naturally she will not take Zhao Xing's words seriously.
After pondering for a moment, he said: "The Zhu family is the uncle's family of the prince's biological mother, and they are worthy of Qin Sanmei. It's just that your highness's uncle had a bad official reputation before, so your highness used some tricks to do so. Let him be honest. It is hard to say whether it is a blessing or a curse."
(End of this chapter)