The Imperial Guard’s Revenge

press Zhang also felt sad.

She had only two younger brothers and she became the empress dowager.
What happened to the support of the mother’s family? She just wanted her mother’s family to have a title, and some money to spend, who did this even bother.

She couldn’t help remembering that when Emperor Hongzhi was still alive, the Zhang family went into and out of the forbidden court at will as if they were in their own home.
At a banquet, Emperor Hongzhi saw that his tableware was gold while his father-in-law and mother-in-law’s bowls and chopsticks were silver.
He felt very guilty and asked someone to give his gold tableware to the Zhang family on the spot.
Zhang Luan used the emperor’s gold tableware in his own home, and everything was as good as the emperor’s so the scenery was decent.
And now, the son of a feudal king dared to ruin the Zhang family’s dignity.

Empress Zhang thought that the sadness began here.
The first half of her life was smooth sailing.
When Emperor Hongzhi was alive, she was the only woman, and there were no concubines in the harem.
She gave birth to a son who became the emperor smoothly without fighting for the throne.
Empress Zhang always thought that she was the most fortunate woman in the world.
She was born to enjoy happiness in this world.
She did not expect that the hardships she had never experienced in the first half of her life would be left for her to savor in the second half of her life.

Empress Zhang grieved deeply and burst into tears: “Xiaozong and Zhao left early, leaving me alone to suffer in this world.
If only I knew about today.
At that time, what harm was there in receiving from Emperor Xiaozong?”

When Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling heard this, they both cried when they thought of the image of the Zhang family when Emperor Hongzhi was alive compared to today.
The three, brothers and sister burst into tears, and Qin Xiang’er, the female official serving in the Ciqing Palace, quietly went out.
Guessing that they were almost done crying, she came in with hot water and said: “Empress, Duke of Changguo, Marquis of Jianchang, you are are all decent people and others just can’t see that well, so please wipe away your tears.”

Empress Zhang was also tired of crying.
She was Empress Dowager and regarded herself as the real mistress of the palace.
How could she let the people on the other side of the West Palace see her as weak? Empress Zhang nodded in agreement, and went into the inner room to re-dress.
Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were also taken down by the palace servants, and they were arranged in another palace.

Qin Xiang’er stood beside Empress Zhang, wetted the handkerchief herself, and handed it to Empress Zhang to wipe her face.
The water temperature was neither cold nor hot, and the handkerchief was twisted just right, so it was very comfortable to apply to her face.
After Empress Zhang wiped away the tears, she regained the respect of Empress Dowager.
A palace maid came inside to re-apply powder to Empress Dowager Zhang and Qin Xianger went out to pour water.
She stopped a palace maid who was passing by and asked: “Where are the Duke of Chang Guo and the Marquis of Jianchang?”

The palace maid pointed to the lower main hall and said: “The Duke of Chang Guo is just waiting for the Empress inside, and the Marquis of Jianchang has not returned.”

Men didn’t need to put on makeup.
After so long, the Marquis of Jianchang hadn’t finished cleaning up yet? Qin Xiang’er frowned slightly, handed the water basin to the little palace maid behind her, and tapped: “You are all smart, hurry up and exchange hot water for tea, don’t neglect the Duke of Chang Guo and the Marquis of Jianchang.”

The palace girl bowed, hurriedly lowered her head, and ran away.
Qin Xiang’er walked to the palace where Zhang Yanling was changing clothes.
When she walked to the place, she found that the doors and windows were closed tightly.
With her face still, she raised her hand and knocked on the door crisply and forcefully: “Marquis of Jianchang, the Empress is back, have you sorted it all out?”

There seemed to be some noise inside, ping-pong ping-pong, as if something had fallen to the ground.
After a while, the hall door opened, revealing Zhang Yanling from behind.

The traces of wiping could be seen on Zhang Yanling’s face, and his eyes were slightly red and swollen, with blood streaks in the whites of his eyes, making his eyes more and more cloudy.
He would be fifty years old in a few years, his stomach gained weight, the muscles on his face were sagging, and deep ravines appeared around his eyes.
He was no longer young.
But based on the appearance of his bones, it could be told that his skin was pretty good when he was young.

Empress Zhang was selected as the Crown Princess and she was only favored for many years after that.
In addition to the factor of Emperor Hongzhi’s childhood, Empress Zhang’s beauty was also a very important reason.
If the elder sister was good-looking, the younger brother was naturally not bad.

Zhang Yanling’s face seemed a little unhappy, but when she saw Qin Xiang’er, he held back and asked: “The Empress is back so soon?”

Qin Xiang’er lowered her eyebrows and replied with a straight face: “The Empress has not seen the Marquis of Jianchang in a long time, so she sent me to ask.”

After all, this was the palace.
Zhang Yanling threw up his sleeves in disappointment, adjusted his belt, and strode out.
Qin Xiang’er stepped aside, maintained her etiquette steadily, and gestured for Zhang Yanling to leave.
After Zhang Yanling walked away, she stood up slowly and looked inside.

A little palace maid knelt on the ground, her body shivering.
Not far away, there was also a basin of overturned water.

Qin Xiang’er didn’t say anything, and with longstanding power, she said solemnly: “Hurry up and do the errands.”

The little palace maid hurriedly bowed to Qin Xiang’er and ran out trembling.

After Zhang Yanling returned to the main hall, he happened to run into Empress Zhang coming out of the inner room.
He was afraid that his sister would investigate further, so he didn’t mention what happened just now after sitting down.
Empress Zhang had another conversation with her two younger brothers.
In conclusion, it was nothing more than nostalgia for the past and grief for the present.
Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling coaxed and pestered.
Empress Zhang was soft-hearted and promised that she would take care of the matter of the title until one day when no one would be able to move the Zhang family.

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling returned with satisfaction.
After the two brothers left, Empress Zhang sat in the inner hall and sighed, saying: “I really recruited a pack of wolves, and they didn’t think about it, but without me, where would they be now?”

Empress Dowager Zhang did not name specific people, but it was not hard to guess that she was complaining about the emperor and Empress Jiang again.
Qin Xiang’er lowered her face, looked at her nose and heart, and refused to answer easily.
Empress Zhang cursed for a while, but no matter how much she regretted it, she couldn’t put the emperor back in Anlu.
The matter of the Zhang family title still had to be resolved.
Empress Zhang endured her anger and said: “Qin Xiang’er, go to the Qianqing Palace and find the emperor.”

Qin Xiang’er obeyed the order: “Yes.”

·

In the Cining Palace, the emperor was greeting Empress Jiang.
When he heard the message from the palace servant, he didn’t take it to heart at all: “I’m not meeting her.”

Empress Jiang leaned on the pillow and coughed, her voice was weak, and trailed on: “Emperor, after all, that is the female official beside Empress Zhang.
Did the female official say why Empress Zhang was looking for the emperor?”

The emperor snorted, with mockery in his eyes: “What else could it be? Today, the Duke of Chang Guo and the Marquis of Jianchang entered the palace.
I heard that they cried for a long time in the Ciqing Palace.
A group of idiots without self-knowledge.
I do whatever I want, can they tell me what to do?”

Empress Jiang was silent after hearing this.
Empress Zhang indulged her family with wanton profit and encroached on a lot of fields, shops, and official camps.
From the time of Emperor Hongzhi, the treasury was empty.

The treasury had no money, and the emperor was stretched to do everything.
While filling his own private treasury in Taicang, the emperor tried to solve the problem of the empty state treasury.
The largest source of the national treasury was taxation, but the cultivated land was young and seemed to have a year’s harvest.
If the country could not collect taxes, the national treasury would have no money.
If the national treasury had no money, the emperor would not be able to implement decrees, and it would gradually become a hopeless situation.

The Ming Dynasty had not lost its land so far, so how could there be less cultivated land? The emperor’s heart was clear, it was because the increasingly large group of nobles annexed land, resulting in less tax to the national treasury.
While the emperor planned to recalculate the land, he was raking in oil and water from the officials.
Years ago, he raided the homes of several officials in a row, and finally solved the urgent needs of the national treasury, but it was not enough.

The emperor quickly set his sights on the Zhang family.
He had endured the Zhang family for a long time.
The Zhang family didn’t quickly pay for their wealth and save their lives and the Zhang family even dared to enter the palace to argue?

They were really courageous.

Empress Jiang’s illness was getting worse day by day.
The emperor was in a bad mood and had no intention to deal with Empress Zhang at all.
He was unmoved, and said coldly: “I don’t like idlers, send them back.”

Empress Jiang was weak, and panted while persuading: “After all, she graced you with the title, you have done too much, and outsiders want to talk to you again.
Go over and take a look.”

Empress Jiang persuaded him and the emperor could not bear to worry his mother, so he had to go to the East Palace.
After the emperor left, the palace maid knelt on her feet, carefully taking care of Empress Jiang: “Empress, the medicine is here.”

Empress Jiang was supported by the hand of the palace maid and tried her best to drink the medicine.
Seeing that Empress Jiang was seriously ill, the palace maid couldn’t help but complain: “Empress, it is rare for the emperor to come here, why did you send the emperor to the East Palace?”

Empress Jiang swallowed the dark soup and said weakly: “I know my body, and it will most likely be this year.
I am old, but the emperor is too young to be left behind.”

The palace maid wanted to comfort Empress Jiang, but she couldn’t say what she wanted and could only let out a long sigh.
Empress Jiang drank the medicine with difficulty, and leaned on the pillow to ease her breathing.
She looked at the young and bright palace maids who were traveling in and out, and said quietly: “That one, she went so smoothly, I feel that everyone in the world should praise her.
She will live longer than me, but I am afraid she may not be more comfortable than me when she dies.
It’s not that I don’t want to announce it, the time has not yet come.
For the time being, you should watch her.”

Empress Zhang and the emperor didn’t know what they said, but they broke up unhappily in the end anyway.
When the emperor came out of the Ciqing Palace, his face was very bad, and there was no follow-up to the matter of removing the foreign relatives.

Everyone in the palace thought this matter was over.
After all, Empress Zhang was the Empress Dowager of two dynasties and the emperor’s benefactor.
The emperor could not openly disobey Empress Zhang.

The council, brother Zhang Heling and even Empress Zhang all thought so.

At the end of the first month, the weather gradually warmed up.
One night, Empress Zhang felt cold and woke up in the middle of the night.
She opened her eyes and found that the room was cold and her throat was dry and sore.
Empress Zhang was displeased.
Who was on duty today and why was she so negligent?

Empress Zhang called for water, but after shouting several times, no one came in.
Empress Zhang became angrier and angrier, but she was so thirsty that she could only get up by herself and go to the ground to pour tea to drink.

The teapot on the table had been left in the middle of the night and had already cooled down.
Now that Empress Zhang couldn’t take it anymore, she groped in the dark to pour a glass and drank a cup of cold tea into her throat.
The dryness in her throat finally eased, but Empress Zhang still felt a little cold.
Empress Zhang looked around and found that the window was open, and the cold wind was pouring in.
No wonder she felt cold.

Now that there was no palace maid, Empress Zhang could only close the window by herself.
When Empress Zhang approached, she vaguely saw a white shadow dangling outside the window.
Empress Zhang was startled, and when she looked closely, she found that a white ribbon was blown from somewhere, hanging on the eaves of the window, and swaying with the wind.

The shadow that Empress Zhang saw just now was this ribbon.

Empress Zhang breathed a long sigh of relief and then she was furious.
She had already planned to sentence the palace maid to a night watch.
The palace maid on duty at night was so neglectful that she deserved death.
Empress Zhang closed the window, turned around in anger, and suddenly saw a woman in white standing behind her.

Her hair was disheveled, her body was covered in blood, her tongue stuck out from her mouth, and her bloody eyes were staring at Empress Zhang motionlessly.

Empress Zhang was so frightened that she couldn’t even speak.
At this time, the white-clothed female ghost approached step by step, and said: “How did I offend you, why did you kill me?”

The female ghost in white spoke as she stretched out her long fingernails, almost scratching Empress Zhang’s face.
Empress Zhang finally reacted and screamed.
She took two steps back one after another, fell to the ground, and fainted.

Empress Zhang fainted on the ground in the middle of the night.
The next day the maid on night watch got up to check, only to find that the Empress Dowager had fallen to the ground.
They hurriedly moved Empress Zhang back to the bed and hurriedly called the imperial doctor.
Unexpectedly, when Empress Zhang woke up, she said that there was a ghost in the palace, and she would scold any palace maid she saw, “how dare you hurt me”.
The palace ladies were frightened by Empress Zhang’s abnormality, and soon, news that the Ciqing Palace was haunted spread like wildfire.

The emperor laughed disdainfully when he heard that Empress Zhang had met a ghost and fallen ill.
It would be too stupid to threaten him by pretending to be sick.
However, after more than ten days, instead of calming down, the rumors of ghosts in the palace intensified.

Ever since Empress Zhang encountered the ghost, she kept the maids from leaving at night, and asked five or six people to take turns to watch the night.
She even asked the eunuchs to carry lamps and patrol outside the Ciqing Palace day and night.
The maids did not dare to disobey the empress, so they had to work during the day and wait in the palace at night to serve Empress Zhang.

The palace maids were having fun, thinking that they were doing pretty good, but the eunuchs outside were cold all night and couldn’t sleep, so they were miserable.

Unexpectedly, the guards of the Ciqing Palace were so tight that they bumped into a ghost again.
This time, five or six people saw the ghost together.
Empress Zhang fainted with fright, and the palace maids were in a state of panic.
Rumors of haunted houses were rampant in the palace, and even Empress Jiang heard them.

After listening to the eunuch’s report, the emperor frowned and asked: “Are you sure it’s not someone from the Ciqing Palace who is doing the trick?”

“It is not.
The eunuch who reported the matter was also very flustered, and said trembling, “The eunuchs of the Ciqing Palace are patrolling outside all day, and even if one wanted to play a trick, he couldn’t get away.
What’s more, Empress Zhang and the five palace maids heard the cry of the female ghost, and they couldn’t fake that.”

The emperor believed him and after listening to the eunuch’s true words, he was also a little shaken.
The emperor thought for a while and said: “Go and call Lu Heng.”