Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 208: Legend of Zhen Huan

After Hong Sheng ascended the throne and allowed women to establish female households, Yi Xin caught a difficult-to-cure cold. She also gave the opportunity to Concubine Xi who was watching from the side, and was drugged by Concubine Xi and died.

At that time, Zhen Huan had gone crazy. After Big Fat Ju passed away, she would dream about the original plot every night. The Yi Xin in her dreams was completely different from the empress dowager in front of her, even their appearances were similar.

So she indulged herself in the power, status and favor in her dreams, and gradually lost her true nature. She even always thought that all the unhappiness in front of her was caused by Yi Xin, a demon who came from nowhere. Therefore, if Yi Xin just relaxed a little, she would want to kill Yi Xin without hesitation.

The two noble concubines assisted Hongsheng's Queen Wanyan in arranging Yi Xin's funeral and buried her with Dapangju. However, Yi Xin secretly stuffed a diary written in her own tone among her burial objects. The diary included but was not limited to the story of how Queen Chunyuan came to the palace as a bride-to-be to visit her pregnant concubine sister, but ended up falling in love with her cheap brother-in-law at first sight and snatched her brother-in-law away from her.

Because no one had cheated on Dapangju in her life, she asked the system to record the things between Longkodo and Empress Dowager Uya, and also mentioned that Longkodo's favorite concubine Li Si'er in the backyard looked similar to Empress Dowager Uya.

Although Yi Xin's actions were quite coquettish, no one touched Da Pangju's tomb. Fortunately, Shen Meizhuang and others had manuscripts leaked out of the palace, and the little things that Da Pangju did in the harem were still not hidden. It was only because Da Pangju set a precedent and made great efforts in liberating women that everyone thought that he was a true emperor and he was praised by everyone.

The charity-foundation-like project run by Shen Meizhuang was preserved until the end of the dynasty. This corrupt dynasty actually moved toward constitutional monarchy because of the actions of the concubines more than a hundred years ago. The descendants of Dapangju were all intact and still members of the royal family. Even the descendants of Fucha, Shen, Feng, and An benefited to varying degrees.

Yi Xin at that time was no longer Yi Xin. Although she was a little unhappy about retaining the country's name, at least the country did not experience any serious suffering in later generations, the national treasures had never been lost, and the national strength had never been interrupted and remained the world's number one, which made Yi Xin finally not so depressed.

After Yi Xin passed away, everyone in Da Pang Ju's harem missed her. Every time they celebrated her birthday, they would always go to Baohua Hall to pray for her. There was even a "Queen Xiaoxian Cup" for polo and cuju matches. Yes, Yi Xin's posthumous title was decided by Da Pang Ju during her lifetime.

Shen Meizhuang always felt that Empress Xiaoxian was not enough to highlight Yi Xin's contribution, but this was decided by Big Fat Ju before his death, so she could only sulk with Feng Ruozhao, who was also a noble concubine. In the end, Hong Sheng agreed to pick a few more words, and the two of them finally calmed down.

However, Shen Meizhuang, Feng Ruozhao and An Lingrong all lived very long lives. Even the famous longevity person in history, Concubine Yu, died before the three of them. Fortunately, Hong Sheng had Yi Xin's elixir and spiritual spring as a foundation when he was a child, so he lived to the age of over 130. Otherwise, she and her sisters would have had to see off four generations of emperors.

It was precisely because Hong Sheng lived too long that, although he abdicated in favor of his eldest son in his forties, his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons were all too old, that although this dynasty was somewhat corrupt, it was far from being "shameful to other nations and despised by foreign races."

At that time, the population supported by this land had already exceeded 500 million. Even if a gunboat blasted open the mouth of Tanggu, the imperial court's counterattack was very swift. However, the news that the Fucha family had occupied the gold and silver mountains of Japan spread from then on, and the entire Japan became a part of the imperial court.

Later, news from the outside world was constantly transmitted back to the court through merchants and spread throughout this land. The voices of the people going out became louder and louder and could not be ignored. Therefore, after the West completed the Second Industrial Revolution, the court was forced to fully integrate with the world. After a brief period of pain, the court had to look directly at the outside world and participated in two world wars. It took back the territory ceded to Russia during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. At that time, the entire East Asia and Southeast Asia naturally became areas directly ruled by the court.

There were even people who, after seeing the complete world map, felt that the Korean area was yellow and ugly. The Joseon Dynasty could not withstand the harassment of the Japanese in the early years, and later could not withstand the dumping of the imperial court. The imperial court simply mobilized the Ministry of Revenue and allowed the Joseon Dynasty to submit a letter of credence and become a part of the imperial court.

Of course, that was all more than a hundred years later. Among the three sisters of the Zhen family, it turned out that the sisters Zhen Yuyin and Zhen Yurao lived the best lives.

The two sisters originally planned to rely on the favor of their eldest sister, Concubine Xi, in the palace to choose someone to marry from the royal family. However, they didn't know that before Zhen Yuandao's mourning period was over, all kinds of tricks were going on in the palace.

Zhen Yuyin initially wanted to add some good reputation to herself, so she got involved. Later, when she went to the Charity Bureau, she met the second son of Prince Ping who had remarried a daughter of the Cao family.

The two fell in love at first sight. Even though their families opposed it, they still persuaded Madam Yun and Prince Ping's wife. With the help of Concubine Xi in the palace, the emperor made an exception and granted them a marriage.

Not long after their marriage, the two were separated, and they lived a peaceful life with their meager property. Later, because of the popularity of the Cuju field, the couple caught the emperor's eye, and they had children one after another. They lived a very prosperous life and were not affected by the conspiracy of Concubine Xi in the palace to murder the empress dowager.

Zhen Yurao's marriage was arranged by Zhen Yuyin. At that time, there were not many members of the royal family in the capital who wanted to advance themselves but had little money and connections. Zhen Yuyin selected many people according to Zhen Yurao's expectations. Zhen Yurao finally picked someone with outstanding character. With Zhen Yuyin's help, they really lived a very good life. The two sisters could even take Madam Yun to live with them in their old age.

So after the conspiracy of Concubine Xi to murder the Empress Dowager was exposed in the palace, everyone thought that Concubine Xi was a bad person to the core. That's why no one, including Hong Sheng, blamed Madam Yun or the two sisters of the Zhen family. The two sisters had always followed the Empress in the palace to do charity work, and their family tradition was also very good. After the court was restructured, their descendants even worked for the new government.

As for the Dong family, after being purged many times in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this family gradually grew bigger. They did not commit any crime, so Yi Xin certainly could not touch them. Finally, when Hong Sheng came to power, he simply contracted out the part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that did not need to be paid as tribute through auction.

This move almost cut the power of the Imperial Household Department in half, but it did not cause dissatisfaction among the bannermen, because those bannermen who dared to have second thoughts had all been eliminated during the time of Dapangju.

The Dong family was later divided into two, with one part remaining to serve in the Imperial Household Department and the other beginning to work in the previous dynasty.

Xizhu stayed with Yi Xin for her whole life. After Yi Xin passed away, she left the palace with Sang'er to take charge of the charity work in Yi Xin's hands. Although the two of them remained unmarried for their whole lives, they had no worries about taking care of them in their old age, especially since people like Shen Meizhuang and Feng Ruozhao in the palace lived long lives and thought about them from time to time. They really lived a comfortable life. When they were old, they co-wrote a memoir, which recorded what happened after Yi Xin entered the palace.