Concubine Wei, Wei Guier, and her first husband Li Min once followed Yang Xuangan in the rebellion.
When Li Min failed in his rebellion and was killed, Wei relied on Jingzhao Wei's reputation to break away from Li Min and avoid punishment.
Later, Li Shimin led troops to attack Wang Shichong and captured Luoyang. Hearing about Concubine Wei's reputation, he took her into the palace and made her one of his concubines.
Also taken into the palace with Wei Guier was her cousin Wei Nizi.
Before Wei Nizi entered Li Shimin's palace, he was also married to Li Shimin's enemy, the son of Wang Shichong.
In other words, Li Shimin killed Wei Nizi's husband, then snatched Wei Nizi away, and along with him, he also packed Wei Nizi's cousin Wei Guier away.
No matter which of the two sisters was snatched away first, in short, both sisters were widowed before they were taken over by Li Shimin.
Later, when Li Shimin ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Wei Guier relied on her beautiful appearance, her ability to serve men, and the support of Jingzhao Weishi behind her to become Concubine Wei, one of the four concubines in the harem.
And Wei Nizi also got the position of the ninth concubine - Zhaorong because of her fair skin and beauty.
The Wei cousins occupied two of the four concubines and nine concubines. This situation was not uncommon in the harem of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
For example, the daughter of the Hongnong Yang family, in addition to the daughter of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty who was canonized as Concubine Yang, there was also a daughter of the Hongnong Yang family who was canonized as Yang Jieyu.
This is the benefit of a prestigious family.
The more heirs you have, the more likely you will be a beautiful woman.
For another example, the Zheng family in Xingyang married Zheng Guanyin to Li Jiancheng, but later also gave a beautiful daughter Zheng Yuerong to Li Shimin.
Zheng Yuerong and Zheng Guanyin were also cousins. Later, Li Shimin ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and Zheng Yuerong was also named Zhaoyi, whose status was still above Wei Nizi.
Therefore, beauty is an important strategic resource at any time.
This day.
Wei Guier called Wei Nizi to his palace. The two sisters sat behind the desk and exchanged words in a low voice:
"Little sister, as long as I can grace the world, our sisters will have the harem from now on."
Wei Guier worked hard to win over her cousin Wei Nizi and help her consolidate her position in the harem.
Because Wei Nizi had no heirs, he didn't have much interest in power.
No matter what his cousin said, Wei Nizi could only agree:
"Don't worry, sister, I know what I know..."
Wei Guier was particularly favored by the emperor because she knew how to serve men.
In the harem, Wei Nizi still needs to rely on his cousin Wei Guier for support.
While the two sisters were chatting, suddenly the chamberlain of Hanyuan Palace received Li Chengqian's order and hurriedly came to report:
"Empress, Your Majesty is furious and wants to drive His Highnesses the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince into fiefdoms."
"What is the situation, what is the reason, and why is Your Majesty angry?"
Wei Guier is two years older than Li Shimin and has been through a lot of troubles. Although she was shocked when she heard the sudden news.
After the waiter reported the situation clearly, Wei Guier was rewarded with a jade pendant.
After sending away the chamberlain, Wei Guier quickly sent someone to find his son and asked his son Li Shen to go to Hanyuan Hall to plead guilty.
But she herself just continued to sit still.
When Wei Nizi saw it, he couldn't help but curiously asked:
"Sister, Your Majesty wants Shen'er to become a vassal, why aren't you in a hurry?"
"Your Majesty has a decree, what can I do?"
Wei Guier had a guess in her heart, but it was inconvenient to tell Wei Nizi, so she could only pretend to be resigned to fate.
Wei Guier gave birth to two daughters and one son.
The eldest daughter was born to her and her ex-husband Li Min. She was named the lord of Dingxiang County and was already married to Ashina Zhong, Duke of Xue.
The second daughter, Princess Linchuan, whose maiden name is Li Yi and whose courtesy name is Meng Jiang, is fifteen years old this year and has been betrothed to Qiaojun Gongzhou Daowu.
Zhou Daowu was the son of Zhou Shaofan.
Zhou Shaofan was Li Shimin's confidant, and his relationship with Li Shimin was closer than that of Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and Hei Yuchi.
Unfortunately, Zhou Shaofan died in the seventh year of Zhenguan.
After Zhou Shaofan passed away, Li Shimin took the young Zhou Daowu into the palace to take care of him.
This kind of treatment far exceeds that of other royal relatives and nobles.
Originally, Li Shimin planned to let him marry Princess Linchuan when Zhou Daowu's filial piety period expired.
Who would have thought that God's calculations are not as good as those of humans.
Two or three years ago, Emperor Gaozu and Empress Changsun died of illness.
Princess Linchuan wanted to honor her grandfather and her aunt, so their marriage was postponed again.
This year, Princess Linchuan is already fifteen years old, and she has become the oldest princess in the palace.
Li Shen, the only son of Wei Guier, was granted the title of King of Ji and the official position of governor of Xiangzhou.
He is only eleven years old this year. Because his mother was favored in the harem, and the previous empress Changsun cared for other concubines and children in the harem, Li Shen had not suffered much since he was a child, and he developed a character as gentle as jade, and his conduct was also pure.
Ruri has become a breath of fresh air among many princes.
If it were not necessary to maintain the eldest son system, Su Mingzhe would have wanted to make Li Shen the crown prince instead.
Today, Li Shen did not go to class at Hongwen Hall. It was not because he did not want to go, but because he was dragged by several brothers and sisters to the Imperial Garden to enjoy the flowers.
It is mid-March now and the flowers are in full bloom.
A group of princes, princesses, and clan members made an appointment, and they all gathered in the imperial garden to enjoy flowers, drink, and play games.
When Wei Guier sent people over, they were all dumbfounded when they heard that they were being 'challenged'.
Nearly twenty princes and clan members, all with pale faces, hurried to the entrance of Hanyuan Hall and knelt down to apologize.
"Father!"
When Li Chengqian heard the pleas from outside, he quickly knelt in front of the imperial case, wanting to open his mouth to plead for the people outside.
"There is no need to mention this matter again. If you want to plead with them, you might as well kneel outside!"
Su Mingzhe finally found a reason to use the topic as a reason to punish these disobedient brats.
Naturally, you won't let them go so easily.
Seeing that Su Mingzhe was so "hard-hearted", Li Chengqian could only bow before him, then ran outside the hall and knelt down with his younger brothers and other members of the clan.
At this time, everyone saw that Prince Li Chengqian was kneeling down with him, and then they realized that the emperor was really angry and no longer dared to ask for mercy.
However, these people did not dare to leave, so they could only kneel upright.
A group of clan members knelt in front of the Hanyuan Hall. Naturally, such a big matter could not be hidden from the ministers of the court.
However, Su Mingzhe's methods can scare these clan members, but they cannot scare these thousand-year-old foxes.
Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, Tang Jian and others all laughed when they heard about this.
Only the fathers of the clan children heard about it and asked to see them one after another to intercede for their children.
On the other side, when Wei Guier heard that her son was kneeling in front of Hanyuan Hall, she began to wonder what the emperor meant.
However, she herself did not dare to show up rashly and plead for mercy.
After thinking about it, Wei Guier turned his attention to his daughter, Princess Linchuan: "Yiyi, your brother is kneeling in front of Hanyuan Hall. Your father has always loved you. Please go and beg for mercy on your brother's behalf."
"My child, go right away."
Princess Linchuan was very talented, so she could naturally see that her father just wanted to scare everyone.
However, it would be chaotic if his mother and concubine cared about her.
Princess Linchuan also felt sorry for her brother, so she agreed to go to Hanyuan Hall to plead for mercy.
However, before going there, Linchuan could not guarantee that he would be able to achieve success by himself.
So, before going, she went around again and brought several younger sisters with her, who were about the same age. They all came to the Hanyuan Hall, knelt down and begged for everyone.
Su Mingzhe heard that several of his daughters also ran over and knelt down to beg for mercy, especially his most beloved Si Zi among them. Then he walked out of Hanyuan Hall and said with a gloomy face:
"Look, look, they all look listless, they are really promising..."
Su Mingzhe scolded and cursed for a while, and finally put down his words:
"Each of you, after you go back, you must think about your mistakes behind closed doors, write an independent book on your mistakes, and then write a strategy for governing the fiefdom. Whoever fails to write will not have to go to class or go to the fiefdom to establish a vassal, just keep writing until it is over.
Until I’m satisfied!”
Hear what Su Mingzhe said.
Instead of worrying, Li Zhi, Li Shen, and the other clan members kowtowed to express their gratitude.
The reason why they don’t pay much attention to writing, thinking, and policy making.
The main reason is, of course, that everyone has a scribe in their home, and they think that after returning home, they can just find someone to write for them.
Immediately afterwards, Su Mingzhe spoke to Li Chengqian and Zhang Anan, asking Li Chengqian, as well as the princes and princes living in Chang'an City to submit a strategy for managing the fiefdom.
This is the real use of the topic.
When the big bosses from Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province heard Su Mingzhe's order, their eyes lit up, and their work efficiency suddenly increased.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.
The former Li Shimin and the former Emperor Gaozu both doted on the children of the clan.
If a clan member makes a mistake, he or she is often just scolded and reprimanded, and that's it.
And when courtiers make mistakes, they will be punished with a ban, or demoted or demoted.
Now, Su Mingzhe actually started to be strict with the princes and princes. Even if he said there was nothing fishy, no one would believe him.
At this time, some smart ministers began to think of the gossip that had been circulating inside and outside the court recently: the emperor was planning to demote the emperor.
In the past, everyone was still thinking whether this incident was groundless or if it was true.
Now it seems that downgrading to a higher rank has been something the emperor has thought about for a long time and is something that is inevitable.
The ability of ministers to associate and guess is the so-called "one leaf falls to know the autumn".
The attendant, Chu Suiliang, the living man, recorded everything that happened today word for word.
Su Mingzhe was also helpless when he saw Chu Suiliang recording his every word and deed.
This is the role of the historian.
Because there was a layman around him, the emperor had almost no privacy.
Even at night, when the emperor's work was over, there were still eunuchs who continued to record the emperor's actions.
Yesterday, Su Mingzhe left Wang De and prepared to go to Yeting Palace alone to find Zheng Guanyin and Dai Ji.
However, before leaving, I still informed Wang De.
On the surface, Su Mingzhe said that Wang De should go to Dai Ji to find him if he had something to do.
In fact, what he meant was to ask Wang De to note that he would rest at Dai Ji's place tonight.
Later, Dai Ji became pregnant, and this record was the proof.
By the afternoon.
News of the emperor's punishment of the prince and clan members has begun to spread throughout Chang'an City.
The people who had the biggest reaction to this incident were not the princes or princes who lamented the disaster of Chiyu.
Neither are those court ministers, civil and military nobles.
But those literati and poets who lived in Chang'an City.
These people all feel that their opportunity has come, and they are sharpening their pens one after another, preparing to write a good policy statement, strive for a successful contribution, and then become famous in Chang'an.