With the emperor's approval, Lin Yan naturally began to work on the matter of reducing the number of cases in the harem.

The people of the harem are used to living a life of honor, and this kind of thing that touches the interests of the harem people will naturally be opposed by people.

There are not many people in the emperor's harem, Concubine Cui Xian and Hu Zhaorong responded to Lin Yan, and Wu Guifei objected in her heart, but with the comparison between the second prince and the prince yesterday, she was worried that Lin Yan would take another hat of "extravagant life" and buckle it on her, so she didn't speak, she only planned to let others make some small moves, and the status of the remaining palace concubines was too low to have the right to speak.

Therefore, the first to come to Lin Yan to express their opposition was the concubines and concubines of Ci'an Palace.

Starting with Concubine Cao Gui, he entangled five or six concubines such as Concubine Duan and Concubine Yun, and sat in the side hall of Changkun Palace at this time.

Concubine Cao Gui was originally the concubine of the first emperor, and when the emperor ascended the throne, he rewarded the harem and promoted her to a noble concubine. Concubine Cao Gui gave birth to the fourth prince of the first emperor, King Heng. In the later period of the first emperor, the battle for the prince was fierce, and the prince suffered many casualties, and King Heng was the eldest of the existing princes of the first emperor.

And Concubine Duan gave birth to the eldest daughter of the first emperor, the current eldest princess of Jing'an. The eldest princess of Jing'an's husband's family name is Hang, and her eldest daughter is married to Wu Guifei's younger brother, the current wife of the prince of Xuanguo, Hang.

As for Concubine Yun, she gave birth to the youngest son of the first emperor, King Xiangcheng County. The king of Xiangcheng County is younger than the crown prince and the second prince, although the emperor ascended the throne to make him the king of the county, but because of his young age has been raised in the palace, until he reached the age of ten last year, he was not allowed to leave the palace to open the palace.

…………

In short, these are all concubines who have children and daughters, and Lin Yan can't treat them perfunctorily.

Concubine Cao Gui said with a sad face: "...... We are old, we are afraid of heat in summer and cold in winter, and last winter, the silver carbon distributed in the share was used up before the beginning of spring. My maid persuaded me to ask the palace for some more silver carbon. I thought that there was only so much for the palace to do, and I would have no use for other people if I asked for more, so I forgot it, and then put on a few more clothes every day, and boiled a bowl of chili water to keep out the cold. I never thought that I still suffered from a cold and was sick for a long time before I got better, but it caused a lot of trouble to the concubine......"

It's been a long sentence, but it can be summed up in one sentence: if you don't have enough examples, you won't be human if you cut it again!

Concubine Duan, Concubine Yun and others also agreed, and one said, "Isn't it, Sister Cao still has clothes to keep out the cold, I can't even find thicker clothes, either I can't wear them for a few years, or I don't have the materials to make new ones." ”

Another person said, "Exactly, the tea that was distributed last time was not enough." I'm not afraid of the queen's jokes when I say it, the last time my sisters came to my house, I couldn't bring out tea to entertain, so I still asked Sister Duan to borrow it. ”

Concubine Duan replied: "I also have so much left, and you took it all." ”……

Lin Yan looked at them with a smile, and they complained one by one.

Although Lin Yan doesn't like the people under her to be too greedy, she also knows the truth that if the water is clear, there are no fish, so even if the proportion is cut by 20%, the remaining part is more than enough for the masters of each palace.

Like cloth and satin, they make a whole day, which is enough for them to wear, and even materials such as green cloth and coarse cloth, which are not suitable for them to make clothes and wear, are also reserved for them to be used for reward.

So to do this, Lin Yan asked herself, whether it was the emperor or herself, she did not treat these concubines and concubines badly.

But the human heart is always insatiable.

Concubine Cao Gui and the others sang and talked for a long time, only to find that the queen was sitting there without saying a word, and then stopped one after another and looked at Lin Yan.

Lin Yan bent the corners of her mouth, and then she spoke: "This palace didn't know that the concubines and concubines had suffered so much in the past two years. But what to do, the palace only entered the palace last month, and last year the concubine was still in charge of the palace, and after these things, the palace must ask the concubine what is going on. ”

Concubine Duan frowned, her granddaughter married the Wu family, she was naturally towards the Wu family and Wu Guifei.

It's just that they are complaining that the grievances are not enough, how did it get to the queen's mouth, that is, the concubine is not in charge of the palace.

Lin Yan said again: "The palace also knows what the concubines and concubines said, the concubines and concubines are both elders, and they are both people who have served the first emperor to give birth to heirs for the first emperor. It's just that the concubines and concubines also have to understand that the palace and the emperor have no choice but to reduce the entire harem and even the emperor and the prince of the palace together, not only the concubines and concubines. In the past few days, Wu Shangshu of the household department has also written several times, saying that the household department is really out of silver, and suggests that the emperor increase taxes. The women of our harem can't do anything else, and saving a few taels of silver for the emperor and the people is also a credit, don't you say? ”

Concubine Cao Gui and Concubine Duan glanced at each other, and then Concubine Cao Gui spoke again: "That being said, the harem can save a few taels of silver." Besides, even if the household department has no silver, it can't make everyone in the palace hungry. The emperor can't just think about throttling, he has to think of a way to open up, queen, do you say yes. ”

Lin Yan's eyes sank, her face was two more stern, and she said: "The imperial court's silver money is mainly derived from taxes. I heard from people in this palace that ordinary people only spend 20 taels of silver a year, but the concubine, the harem uses more than 3,000 taels of flowers for you every year. According to the meaning of the concubine, you should also squeeze the twenty taels of silver from the people for the concubine to eat and drink? ”

Concubine Cao Gui choked and was almost speechless. She could not say that she should squeeze the people's money for herself to eat and drink, nor could she say that the queen should cut their share, and she chattered for a long time before she said: "I didn't mean that, the queen, you misunderstood......

When Concubine Duan saw that Concubine Cao Gui was speechless, she hurriedly came out to play a round, and said to Lin Yan with a smile: "Sister Cao can't speak, queen, don't you mind......"

Lin Yan turned her head and looked at Concubine Duan with a smile, and said: "Concubine Duan, you can speak, but you should tell this palace that the people can live with ten taels of silver a year, and you can still be hungry for three thousand taels of silver a year. ”

Concubine Duan lowered her eyes and lowered her head, unable to speak.

When Concubine Yun saw Concubine Cao Gui and Concubine Duan like this, her heart was full of words ready to deal with the queen, and she didn't dare to say it at this time.

Concubine Cao Gui and Concubine Duan are still like this, she was originally a palace maid, and she was able to stay in the palace by giving birth to the king of Xiangcheng County, and the king of Xiangcheng County had no errands in the court when he was young. The queen will not be polite to Concubine Cao Gui and Concubine Duan, let alone to her.

This harem is about to change, no wonder the concubine has been pressed by her several times and can't hold her head up.

Looking at her small figure and small face, she looks smiling on weekdays, and her face looks soft, she thought it was a noodle melon. I didn't expect that his temperament was much harder than that of the Yuan Empress back then.