Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 5: The Women of the Li Family
After knowing this, Li Yuechen felt a lot more relaxed.
It seems that being born into a royal family has its advantages, especially for someone like this princess, who can retire as soon as she is born!
Since Li Zhi gave his employees a holiday, there were not many memorials during these days, so the emperor and the empress could also spare some time to enjoy their own world.
But no matter what, as parents, we always have various expectations for our children.
That morning, both of them slept in and waited until the sun was about to rise before getting up.
After washing up and eating something, Wu Zetian asked the palace maid to call Xiaofu.
When Xiaofu arrived at the palace, he first bowed: "Greetings to the Saint, Your Majesty!"
Wu Zetian extended her hand to let him off the hook: "Has Chen'er been studying recently?"
"Your Majesty, the princess studies hard every day," replied Eunuch Fu.
"What kind of books do you read?"
Eunuch Fu replied respectfully: "Mostly national history, various Confucian classics and other categories..."
Hearing his answer, Wu Zetian raised : "What about the Four Books and Five Classics?"
"All of them, but..." Eunuch Fu thought for a moment and answered carefully, "The princess seems to have little interest in this kind of thing."
When Wu Zetian heard this, she stood up and planned to go over and take a look.
But before he could leave, he was stopped by Li Zhi: "Chen'er is still young, it's normal for him to not be able to read those obscure books. There's no need to make a fuss about it."
"His Majesty……"
"Mei Niang, you are too strict. Don't forget that Chen'er is only four years old." Li Zhi pressed her shoulders and asked her to sit down. "Besides, although Chen'er is quiet, he knows how to be kind and filial, and often comes to accompany us..."
Wu Zetian seemed a little puzzled by his words: "Why does Your Majesty favor Chen'er so much?"
Li Zhi sat down with a smile: "Since I was old enough to understand, I don't know how long it has been since I last saw that pure look... Every time I see Chen'er, it always reminds me of Sizi..."
As he spoke, he picked up the teacup and took a sip, a look of nostalgia on his face.
Hearing him say this, Wu Zetian fell silent. Sizi was Li Zhi's sister, Princess Jinyang. She grew up with Li Shimin and they had a very deep relationship.
When Li Zhi was about to start participating in politics as the crown prince, she would always grab the corner of his clothes and bid him farewell reluctantly.
Unfortunately, Princess Jinyang died of illness at the age of twelve, which made Li Shimin and Li Zhi heartbroken and they cried for several days.
Wu Zetian waved her hand to let the servants leave, then slowly took his hand and chatted with him.
…
Eunuch Fu, who was leaving, walked back to the meeting with a happy look on his face. He had heard what Li Zhi had just said.
Since the little princess is so valued by the saint, she will also become prosperous.
He returned to Chengxiang Hall with a happy face, respectfully replaced the charcoal brazier, and waited on the side.
The princess was smart and no longer needed him to teach her how to read. She would just occasionally teach him something she didn't know.
After all, although Li Yuechen can understand most traditional Chinese characters, he cannot recognize some individual characters that are too different from those in later generations.
If it is a phrase, you can still guess, but if the upper and lower parts cannot be connected to form a phrase, you are still at a loss.
At this moment, Li Yuechen was sitting in the sun, with various books scattered on the tatami beneath him and the surrounding floor.
These are the books she has been reading these days. If she finds them useful, she will take a closer look at them. If they are useless, she will just flip through them and throw them aside.
Suddenly, a book called "Rules for Women" came into her sight.
This book has been here for several days, but Li Yuechen has never touched it. She instinctively feels that this should be a book about the Three Obediences and Four Virtues and adhering to the code of conduct for women.
But today, Xiaohe, the palace maid who took good care of me, said that this book seemed to be written by Empress Changsun.
She hadn't read it and didn't know the specific content, but had only heard about it.
Li Yuechen still had a bit of admiration for this wise queen who was still famous more than a thousand years later.
To be precise, it's not just Empress Changsun. Recently, as I've learned more and more about the Li Tang Dynasty, I've come to admire the women in this family .
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman now, so I have a different perspective on many things.
Li Er's grandmother, the sister of the former queen Dugu Jialuo, is a real strong woman.
Li Er's mother, Empress Dou, accompanied Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan and gave him advice. She could be said to be his personal think tank. Unfortunately, she died too early.
Li Er's sister, Princess Pingyang Zhao, had already assembled tens of thousands of troops when Li Yuan just started his army.
It can be said that the foundation of the Tang Dynasty was built from the very beginning with the people brought together by Princess Pingyang and the funds earned by her grandfather Wu Shigui from selling wood.
Princess Pingyang was a good warrior and conquered most of the territory for the Tang Dynasty. Even the famous general Qu Tutong was defeated by her!
Moreover, in all the history of the dynasty so far, this is the only princess who was buried with military honors and escorted by the army.
Finally, we have to mention Empress Chang Sun. When I actually opened the book "Rules for Women" and read it word by word, I found that this does not seem to be something like the Three Obediences and Four Virtues.
Instead, it's more like a...how should I put it? A guide to palace fighting?
Or in other words... a guide to harem participation in politics!
Leaving aside this book, after looking through many national histories, I discovered that this queen was never the type to wait for news at home.
In the past, when Li Er was on war, the queen always followed him closely and even served as an adviser in many cases!
…
These things were unknown before, and Li Yuechen only found out after he truly came to this era.
From this perspective, there seems to be a glimmer of logic in the fact that his mother, Wu Zetian, would become the emperor in the future.
If these are all true, then it is not an exaggeration to say that half of the Tang Dynasty was supported by women.
Of course, the most interesting thing is that we discovered from other basic books that women were in power in East Asia during this period.
During the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, Japan had its first female emperor, Empress Suiko.
In the late Zhenguan period, a queen named Kim Deokman appeared in Silla. After her death, she passed the throne to her sister Kim Seungman.
Then think about my mother Wu Zetian who will be the emperor next...
Li Yuechen couldn't help but shiver, and goose bumps appeared all over his body!
Originally, she didn't believe in metaphysics, but after seeing these materials, she felt that these things were difficult to explain with the phrase "historical coincidence".
…
Slowly putting down the book in his hand, Li Yuechen looked at the sun outside and made a preliminary judgment that it should be around three o'clock in the afternoon.
Through recent reading, she discovered that she should have two older sisters, and she plans to go and see them.
Looking at the palace maid guarding the door, Li Yuechen waved her hand: "Xiao He, come here!"
The maid came over quickly: "Your Highness, what do you want?"
Li Yuechen asked: "Speaking of which, I am a little curious, Grandpa, am I your only daughter?"
"this……"
When Xiao He heard her ask this, her expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously turned her head to look at Eunuch Fu who was also guarding the door.
Seeing her like this, Li Yuechen waved again: "Eunuch Fu, come here too!"
Eunuch Fu was stunned for a moment, then walked over with a wry smile on his face.
"Don't bend over, sit down!" Li Yuechen ordered, "Tell me, what's going on?"
“……” Eunuch Fu had a complicated expression and stood there without saying a word.
Li Yuechen waited for a while, then suddenly blinked and smiled cutely: "If you don't tell me, I'll tell my mother that you bullied me!"
"Your Highness, please spare my life!" Eunuch Fu immediately knelt down, "Please, Your Highness, please spare my life!"
There was a sobbing tone in Eunuch Fu 's voice as he prayed, and his head banged on the ground, making a loud "clang clang" sound.
“Okay, okay…” Li Yuechen felt a little guilty seeing his frightened look. For a moment, she even forgot that she was a princess and could easily decide their life and death.
"Then tell me what you know truthfully!" Li Yuechen said.
Eunuch Fu gritted his teeth and whispered, "The Saint... does have two princesses, but now they are both in... the Ye Ting Palace!"
"Ye Ting Palace?"
Li Yuechen frowned. She knew this place. It was a place specially used for training palace maids.
To put it bluntly, it is the prison inside the imperial palace. Many palace maids who have made mistakes will be imprisoned here, including many family members of criminals.
This place is not the same as Jiaofang, but Jiaofang is where courtesans are trained. Every day they have to learn to serve men, play the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, music, dance, etc...
The Ye Ting Palace was a place for on-the-job training for new palace maids, and it also served as a prison in the imperial palace. Many palace maids who made mistakes or were unfavored had to do the dirtiest and worst jobs here.
If the Daming Palace is compared to a city, then the Yeting Palace is the dark area where no one is in charge.
Li Yuechen looked up and asked, "Why did the two sisters end up like this?"
"This..." Eunuch Fu looked at Xiaohe beside him and didn't dare to speak.
This matter is not really a secret to them, but if they tell the little princess about it, I'm afraid...
But seeing the little princess's current state, she might not give up until she gets the answer. For a moment, both of them were a little conflicted.
"Don't worry. If Mother asks about it in the future, I will tell her myself." Li Yuechen comforted them. "Besides, Mother didn't order you not to tell me about this, did she?"
Eunuch Fu and Xiao He looked at each other, then gritted their teeth and said, "Let's start from before His Highness was born..."
Now that he had made up his mind, he began to tell Li Yuechen about what happened in the past. Xiao He would occasionally add a few words to his story.
But they were just eunuchs and palace maids after all, and ultimately just servants, so they had no way of knowing too many details.
All we know is that these two princesses were born to Concubine Xiao Shufei, and were thrown into the Yunting Palace after their mother Wu Zetian became the empress.
Listening to their explanations, Li Yuechen recalled some information he had read on the Internet in his previous life and roughly deduced what had happened.
To put it simply, this palace fighting competition was ultimately won by his own mother, Wu Zetian, and both Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao were given a white silk ribbon and hanged themselves.
Speaking of this, there was a comment online that when Concubine Xiao Shufei died, she would turn into a cat in her next life and eat Wu Zetian.
Since then, Wu Zetian has become extremely afraid of cats and has nightmares...
But Li Yuechen didn't believe it, because there was a cat in the Daming Palace now!
Not only are there such cats, but there are also quite a few of them. Most of these cats roam around the Daming Palace.
The Daming Palace was a wooden building, and was particularly afraid of mice, so they kept cats. These cats were somewhere between wild and domesticated, and basically would not run into the palace, but they were not afraid of people either.
Even Wu Zetian would occasionally grab one and pet it for a while when she was in a good mood.
…
Speaking of these two sisters, Li Yuechen felt a little pity for them. After all, he came from a civilized era where misfortune would not affect family members. He had an instinctive aversion to this kind of collective punishment.
But it was obviously impossible to expect her to just go over and say a word and release her two sisters.
Without the nod from Li Zhi or Wu Zetian, what is she?
He wanted to go and take a look, but without the consent of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi, he was always worried about arousing suspicion.
However, after thinking about it using logical analysis, Li Yuechen shook his head again.
First of all, he and Concubine Xiao Shufei were not related and did not know each other.
Besides, she is Wu Zetian's biological daughter, and has no connection with the Lanling Xiao family behind Concubine Xiao Shufei.
The most crucial problem is that I am still a child with a simple mind. Even if I do this, I will most likely be considered kind-hearted and it will be a virtue.
Sometimes, children still have some privileges that can give people a preconceived idea.
After all…what bad intentions could a child have?
Thinking of this, Li Yuechen raised his head and asked, "Do you have money?"
Although she was a princess of a country, she had no title yet, and all her expenses were paid by her mother, Wu Zetian.
So my pocket is cleaner than my face and I can’t take out a penny.
Eunuch Fu was stunned for a moment, then slowly took out a string of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins from his arms, about thirty in total.
Then Li Yuechen turned his head and looked at Xiaohe without saying a word.
Xiao He also took out a string from her arms, about twenty pieces.
Li Yuechen weighed the two strings of copper coins in his hand, stood up and said, "Let's go."
Eunuch Fu and Xiao He followed behind, and when they saw Li Yuechen had already walked out, they followed and asked, "What should we do?"
"I can only report the truth." Xiao He smiled bitterly and shook her head, "I hope the Saint and the Queen will not vent their anger on you and me..."
Eunuch Fu said, "Your Highness said it's okay, so we can only believe Your Highness."
Although his tone didn't sound that confident.
…
Li Yuechen stepped on the thin layer of snow on the ground and slowly came to the gate of the Ye Ting Palace.
As he was about to go in, he saw a middle-aged palace maid wearing a black hat coming out. She bowed and said, "Greetings, Princess!"
"Who are you?" Li Yuechen asked with a questioning expression.
"Your Highness, my surname is Liu, and I am the palace lady of the Ye Ting Palace." The middle-aged maid replied.
Li Yuechen nodded: "Liu Shanggong, I came here to see my two sisters. Is it convenient for you?"
Although Li Yuechen asked in a questioning tone, she was a princess after all. How could Lady Liu dare to refuse?
He immediately bent down and waved his hand, saying, "Yes! Your Highness, please follow me!"
The area of the Ye Ting Palace is not too small, and it has about three parts. The middle part is where the criminal palace maids are detained and worked, and it is also where most of the palace maids rest.
When I came to an aisle, I saw two girls who looked to be in their twenties cleaning.
They were also wearing palace maids' clothes, their hair was a little messy, and their faces looked a little haggard.
