Duanhua walked in front and led everyone straight to Chuxiu Palace.
When he came to Chuxiu Palace, Duanhua did not enter directly, but asked someone to pass the news first. Immediately, Duanhua approached Zaiyuan again and whispered a few words in Zaiyuan's ear. Zaiyuan told Sushun, Sushun then told Du Han and others that the seven people headed by Duan Hua all knew what Duan Hua said, but Li Zhen did not hear what these people said.
Obviously, Duan Hua directly excluded Li Zhen. The seven of them were treated as a whole, but Li Zhen was not concerned about Li Zhen as an individual. He had no intention of integrating into them.
After a while, the eunuch came out and said respectfully: "My lords, please."
With the permission of Cixi and Ci'an, Duanhua took Zaiyuan, Sushun and others into Chuxiu Palace. After the seven people headed by Duanhua, Zaiyuan and Sushun entered, Duanhua and Zaiyuan sat down respectively. The first people on the left and right sides of the hall were Sushun, second on the left, and Du Han, second on the right, followed by Jingshou, Mu Yin, and Kuang Yuan, all three sitting next to each other.
With this arrangement, Li Zhen could not sit in the front, but could only sit in the back.
According to the order of seats, he is the youngest.
Li Zhen glanced at Duan Hua, who was looking at ease, and secretly cursed the old fox. What Duan Hua told Zai Yuan and others just now was definitely a matter of competing for seats. Although Li Zhen was more or less angry, he felt more that It’s funny, can one seat determine the rights? In the end, it all depends on the actual power in hand.
Li Zhen controlled the nine admiral offices, Zhang Guodong and Zhang Zhiping, and he had the right to speak in Beijing. It was obviously impossible for Duan Hua, Sushun and others to exclude him.
"Dong, dong,,."
The sound of heels hitting the floor came, and Li Zhenxun looked out, but it was Cixi and Ci'an who came. Both of their faces were covered with painful expressions, and their eyes were filled with tears, and they were extremely sad.
Duanhua asked: "Queen, why are you crying?"
Duanhua was over fifty years old and a very prestigious person in the clan. When Emperor Daoguang died, Duanhua was the minister of Gu Ming left by Emperor Daoguang to assist Xianfeng in his ascension to the throne. Now that Xianfeng has died, Duanhua has become the assistant minister. The minister, who was full of authority, asked. Ci'an immediately stopped crying and choked up: "Prince Zheng, the emperor passed away this morning."
"ah,."
Duan Hua exclaimed, his body shook, and he almost fell to the ground.
This news came too suddenly.
Duan Hua was silent for a long time, and then suddenly shouted: "Your Majesty, why did you leave this old minister? Your Majesty, you are so young, and you are still in the prime of life. Your Majesty, this old minister can't bear to leave you..." Duan Hua wiped his eyes, There was a burst of crying, the sky was dark and the earth was dark, as if his own father and mother were dead, and he was extremely hurt.
Following closely, Zaiyuan, Du Han, Jing Shou and others also started crying.
In the main hall, suddenly there was a lot of crying.
However, Sushun and Li Zhen didn't cry, their expressions remained the same, but Duan Hua, Zai Yuan and the rest started crying, which made Ci'an and Cixi also feel sad and shed tears.
Li Zhen was amused, these people were really crying.
I really can’t bear to leave Xianfeng, so I’ll bury him with him.
From Li Zhen's observation, it can be seen that Duan Hua, Zai Yuan and others were crying sadly, but they were clearly squeezed out tears.
Only Ci'an and Cixi really cried.
The two women, whose people they relied on died, were helpless and naturally sad. As for the date of Xianfeng's death, Li Zhen, Cixi, and Ci'an had reached a unified opinion and decided that he died this morning. In this way, they could To avoid unnecessary things happening, and since the emperor died today, Sushun, Zaiyuan and other auxiliary ministers can push Zai Chun to the throne as soon as possible.
Li Zhen didn't speak, but Su Shun couldn't hold it in anymore.
Sushun snorted coldly and shouted: "Why are you crying? There is no point in crying. You are crying, can the emperor survive? The emperor has passed away, and the situation in the court will inevitably be turbulent. Plus Yina The little thieves are ambitious and want to seize power, and the situation is already full of dangers. You don't think about stabilizing the government, but you are crying here. It is in vain that the emperor appointed you as the assistant minister."
Sushun said with a serious expression: "At present, the most important thing is to ensure that the prince successfully inherits the throne. The rest of the things are small matters and can be ignored for the time being." When he said this, Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Duhan and others immediately Don't cry, they all look at Sushun, it seems that Sushun is their backbone.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Sushun felt quite excited and said loudly: "Queen, the Emperor has passed away. Please spread the news immediately and invite all officials to pay their respects."
Ci'an agreed and ordered the eunuch to deliver the order.
Sushun continued: "The prince will inherit the throne, but there are still two issues that need to be determined in advance. One is the titles of the Queen and Concubine Yi, and the other is the reign name of the new emperor. These two things must be determined in advance. Come down and issue it immediately after the emperor succeeds to the throne, so as not to mess up the rules."
Li Zhen was quite impressed when he saw Sushun handling things in a clear and orderly manner.
Sushun is capable, but it's a pity that he is not the same person.
Li Zhenxin was well prepared and immediately said: "As for the honorific titles of the two empresses, Wei Chen thinks that we can respect the Empress Dowager as the Mother Queen and Empress Dowager Yi, and honor Concubine Yi as the Holy Mother Empress Dowager. In this way, everyone will be happy."
When Cixi and Ci'an heard this, they both nodded slightly and were very satisfied with the plan proposed by Li Zhen.
The birth mother Empress Dowager is the title of the legitimate mother. Ci'an is the official empress of Xianfeng, so she is naturally the biological mother Empress Dowager. Cixi is the mother of the concubine prince Zai Chun. Although she is the biological mother, she can only use the title of Notre Dame Empress Dowager, but Notre Dame is also the homophone of biological mother. Cixi's request was met, so these two honorific titles were proposed, and both Cixi and Ci'an were very happy.
In fact, after the new emperor ascends the throne, there are certain conventions for honorific titles for his biological mother and queen.
Before the Ming Dynasty, after the death of the old emperor, the newly succeeded emperor would honor the queen as the empress dowager as a rule. However, if the new emperor was not the empress's legitimate child but the concubine's concubine, then the new emperor's biological mother could only be granted the title of empress dowager. It has been a long-standing practice to be a concubine but not the empress dowager. However, after Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun, who was born as a concubine in the Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, respected the original empress as "Benevolent Sheng" in order to please the new emperor and his biological mother. "Empress Dowager", and respected Zhu Yijun's biological mother Li Guifei as "Ci Sheng Empress Dowager", which set a precedent for the two palaces to honor each other.
In the Qing Dynasty, the system of simultaneous respect for the two palaces was strengthened, because most of the emperors in the Qing Dynasty were not directly descended from the queen. Therefore, according to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, after the successor emperor succeeded to the throne, his biological mother must be honored regardless of whether she was still alive. For the Empress Dowager.
After Emperor Kangxi succeeded to the throne, he respected the original queen as "Empress Dowager Renxian", while Kangxi's own biological mother was respected as "Empress Dowager Cihe". After Emperor Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he also respected his biological mother, Concubine De, Wu Ya. For the Queen Mother.
Nowadays, Ci'an and Cixi coexist, so they are naturally the queen mothers of the two palaces.
Cixi rose from Concubine Yi to Empress Dowager, and she was quite satisfied. Her power had risen to a higher level. However, just when Cixi was feeling happy, Sushun said: "Empress, I think Li Zhen The suggestion is not advisable.”
At this moment, Ci'an and Cixi's faces tensed up.
Li Zhen stared at Sushun and said in his heart that Sushun was such a troublemaker that he would get involved in such things.
Seeing Li Zhen's ugly expression, Sushun glanced at Li Zhen proudly.
Ci'an changed his previous friendly expression and asked sternly: "Su Zhongtang, what do you think?" Ci'an addressed Su Shun with a bit of honorific.
During the Ming Dynasty, Zhongtang was the name given to the cabinet’s academicians. Because the Ming Dynasty’s academicians held the power of the prime minister, their offices were in the cabinet, and the academicians’ offices were in the middle, so they were called Zhongtang.
In the Qing Dynasty, the early academicians were just empty names and had no real power. Later, in order to satisfy the academicians' demands for rights, they would often be in charge of a ministry, and because Beijing officials usually had two officials, one Manchu and one Han, sitting separately. The east and west are empty in the middle. If there is an official who is a minister and is also a bachelor, he will sit in the middle, so it is also called the middle hall, and the co-organized bachelor appointed by the emperor also uses this name.
Sushun was the co-organizer appointed by Xianfeng, so the queen called it Suzhong Hall.
Although Ci'an was dissatisfied, she still used the honorific title.
However, Prince Zheng Duanhua was also dissatisfied. When it came to becoming the queen of the two palaces, Sushun was greedy regardless of the occasion, which made Duanhua very unhappy. Duanhua glanced at Sushun and interjected: "Suzhongtang, you have What to say."
Calling Sushun Zhongtang with Duanhua's identity is no longer an honorific title, but a sarcastic one, because Duanhua, as the Prince Zheng of this generation, has a higher status than Sushun, and he is also Sushun's elder brother. When he said this, his words were thorny, making Su Shun's face turn red.
Sushun quickly recovered and said in a deep voice: "The Empress, Prince Zheng, I agree with Li Zhen's honorific title for his biological mother, the Empress Dowager, because it is what the Empress deserves, but for the title of the Holy Mother, the Empress Dowager, I'm afraid It can be postponed. The prince is young. I suggest that it is not too late to add the honorific title to Concubine Yi after the prince becomes sensible. At this stage, adding a concubine is enough."
When Cixi heard this, she was so angry that her body began to tremble.
He was Zaichun's biological mother. If she could not be respected as the empress dowager, wouldn't her rights be greatly reduced? At this time, Cixi already hated Sushun and felt that this guy was clearly targeting her.
However, Cixi was helpless because she had no strength to fight back.
Cixi could only look at Li Zhen, with a look of help in her eyes.
Li Zhen took a deep breath and stepped forward. He and Cixi were on the same front for the time being. Sushun attacked Cixi and also attacked him, so he had to stand up.
Li Zhen saluted Ci'an and Cixi and said loudly: "To express my gratitude to the Empress Qi, I believe that Su Zhongtang's suggestion is purely nonsense and ignores the ancestral regulations, placing the emperor in a place of disloyalty and unfilial piety. Su Shun speaks without thinking and does not take on the role of assistant." In view of the ability of the political ministers, I suggest that Sushun should be dismissed from the eight auxiliary ministers to prevent him from cholera invading the imperial court."
Sushun was furious and shouted: "Little Li Zhen, you fart."
Li Zhen counterattacked: "You just fart, your brain is full of tofu, you are a brainless idiot."
