On the first day of March in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, the Empress Dowager was born.

Empress Dowager Zhou, Yingzong Guifei, Xianzong's biological mother, today's grandmother, Changping people, Tianshun was named a concubine in the first year, Xianzong was enthroned as the Empress Dowager, and now ascended the throne and respected as the Empress Dowager.

After the death of Emperor Yingzong, the Zhou family relied on being the biological mother of Xianzong to squeeze out the Empress Yingzong Qian, and wanted to be the queen mother, which once attracted criticism from the government and the opposition, and even caused hundreds of officials Wenhuamen to cry and admonish, and his reputation in the Qingliu was really not good.

But after all, a long time has passed, and more than 40 years have passed, and the world remembers more about the empress dowager, because she sheltered and raised the current emperor when the first emperor favored Wan Guifei alone.

Even in the heart of Emperor Hongzhi, he is also grateful to his grandmother. Over the years, he has treated Empress Zhang's family well, but he has not forgotten the Zhou family where the Empress Dowager Jiaen is located. In the capital, the only relative who can match the Zhang family is the Zhou family.

The Empress Dowager is already a long life this year, and if she goes at this time, it can be regarded as a joy and mourning for the people. But the heavenly family is the heavenly family after all, and as soon as the national funeral comes out, there will be many things, and the inner court and the outer court will move together.

What's even worse is that if the queen mother dies, she doesn't care, and then the emperor falls ill, which is a major event for the government and the opposition

The Empress Dowager did not die suddenly, and she began to linger on the sickbed last year.

According to filial piety, it is natural that Empress Zhang will serve the Empress Dowager with the Empress Dowager, but who in the palace does not know that the Empress Dowager looks down on the Empress Dowager the most. Even when the Empress Dowager was still strong, she and Empress Zhang, the granddaughter-in-law, had a bit of a phoenix and no phoenix, and she didn't even bother to look at it unless it was necessary to set the province and the New Year's Festival.

Although the Empress Dowager is old, she did not fall ill for no reason in the lunar month last year. Before the old lady fell ill, she happened to have a quarrel with Queen Zhang about the prince's future choice of concubine.

When people get older, they are already prone to paranoia, let alone illness.

The Empress Dowager did not wronged herself, every time Empress Zhang went to serve the sick, she didn't see it.

On one side is the wife of the same as Moyuan, and on the other side is the old grandmother of En Shen and Yi, the emperor is caught in the middle, and the two ends are in a dilemma.

However, in order to hide the dispute between Empress Zhang and the Empress Dowager and not attract criticism, the emperor let the empress be ill and took the prince to the Empress Dowager's palace to serve the sick.

The eldest grandson and the most beloved great-grandson were in front of her, and the Empress Dowager was in a good mood and most of her illness was cured, and at the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet, she was already able to sit up and happily accept the kneeling of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There was no royal brother Rong Wang, who was not knighted, and the empress dowager did not forget to tell the emperor a few more words, and when he was old, he would let him choose a concubine as soon as possible.

Emperor Hongzhi listened respectfully, and also planned to send a concubine after the first month to choose King Rong, who did not have a vassal

These young imperial brothers grew up one after another, and they became vassals one after another, and the youngest King Rong and King Shen were left in the imperial city, but King Shen died in July last year and had no children to be removed.

I thought that the Empress Dowager had recovered, but I didn't expect that just after the first lunar month, the Empress Dowager, who had been healed, fell down again.

This time, it was menacing, and even the judge of the Tai Hospital also tactfully reminded him to prepare early.

Emperor Hongzhi's parents are weak, and the most beloved is this old grandmother, who can't stand it when he sees his flesh and blood die. In the past half a month, he has just held on to his breath, accompanied the Queen Mother, and when the Queen Mother breathed, he also fell.

In the eyes of the world, compared with the unobtrusive Chenghua Emperor in front of him, Emperor Hongzhi lived a frugal life, was diligent in government affairs, and treated civil and military officials with more love and respect.

In fact, due to the ups and downs of his childhood, Emperor Hongzhi's temperament was more cowardly than benevolent. He restrained himself, rarely had disputes with hundreds of officials, and was also afraid that there would be a scene of arrows and crossbows between the monarch and the minister

was raised in the inner court when he was a child, he relied on Zhou's grandmother wholeheartedly, and he was only afraid of the arrogant and domineering Wan Guifei, and he didn't even dare to hate; When he became the crown prince, he could only avoid Wan Guifei's provocation.

Outsiders say that the emperor and queen are deeply in love, and only Emperor Hongzhi himself knows that for the wife of the wife, in addition to the love of husband and wife, there is also the kind of dependence in the heart that is regarded as the backbone of the heart.

It's just that with the ascension to the throne for a long time, the government and the opposition have been pacified, and Emperor Hongzhi has no initial trembling, whether it is for the empress dowager who raised him, or for the wife who has accompanied him through thick and thin.

There are some things that he is willing to give, but he doesn't give them but he can't see others forcing him.

The Zhou family is the empress dowager's maiden family, with the light of the empress dowager, the Zhou brothers have a marquis and an uncle, and they have been prosperous for two dynasties, and they have been beautiful for too long, even in front of the emperor, they will hold their uncle's shelf.

No matter how beautiful the Zhang family is, that is what the emperor is willing to give. Rather than letting those veteran royal relatives rely on their status to be powerful, he would rather support the Zhang family, which has no foundation, to rest assured.

For the confrontation between the two palaces over the years, after the mediation failed, Emperor Hongzhi also turned a blind eye and let them make trouble.

Waiting until the current Empress Dowager, Emperor Hongzhi was grieving, thinking of his grandmother's kindness, and feeling guilty, he couldn't help but anger the queen.

In front of the coffin of the Empress Dowager, Empress Zhang's eyes were full of tears, and she trembled from crying.

This old pious woman has been living against her for more than ten years, and she refuses to live in peace when she is dying. When he got sick a year ago, he refused to let her serve the illness, and when he fell ill and saw her a year later, he didn't give her a look.

Even if Empress Zhang is full of dissatisfaction, she also knows the truth of filial piety, and she is also worried these days. For the empress dowager's illness, he also discussed with the emperor to exempt the wife from the Qianqiu Festival.

Before the emperor could make up his mind, the empress dowager got the news and sent a message, only saying that the court had been deserted for a long time, and it was good to be lively for a day, and she was not allowed to be exempted from congratulatory advice.

The emperor responded, but yesterday the Qianqiu Festival ordered the woman to enter the palace to congratulate, and the palaces also had a Qianqiu tribute, and the imperial city was lively for a day.

Who would have thought that it had only been a day since the empress dowager died.

Compared with the excitement of the previous day, this old pious woman has already deducted the hat of "unfilial piety" for her in front of the world.

Empress Zhang doesn't need to think carefully to understand the stakes, if there is still the prince, there will be an excerpt in the imperial history on her "unfilial piety" to abolish the matter.

Civil officials have always been on the shelf, guarding against concubines and relatives, and in the past ten years of being in the middle palace, Queen Zhang has not been criticized, but she has never made her so resentful and worried. Just because she knows that her backer is her husband, no matter what others say, as long as the emperor is on her side, she will be invincible.

But in the past two years, in order to teach the prince, there has been a rift between the husband and wife, and now there is such a provocation as the queen mother, and Queen Zhang has no bottom in her heart......

For the people of the capital, the national funeral represents plain clothing, prohibition of marriage, and prohibition of slaughter; For the eunuchs, there are many involved.

Those who are qualified to enter the palace must enter the palace in the morning and evening, and those who are not qualified to enter the palace must also be sacrificed in the yamen in the morning and evening. There is a high-grade edict, and you also need to enter the palace to cry and sacrifice.

From the moment the death knell sounds, the national mourning begins.

As early as after Shen Cang was promoted to the secretary of the Criminal Department, he asked for an edict for the Xu family, and this matter of entering the palace and crying for sacrifices could not be avoided.

Shen Cang and Xu went out early and returned late, so Shen Rui divided his mind and took care of the inside and outside, and he was a little worried while rejoicing.

Fortunately, it was really time for the Empress Dowager to leave, Shen Cang's side had already gotten the news, and there were two imperial historians under the old Li Pavilion who were inquiring about the Shen family, and they couldn't be far from the time of trouble. Although the Shen family is not afraid of right and wrong, this is a family matter, and if it really wants to make trouble in the court, it will be embarrassing and troublesome.

Now that the government and the opposition are staring at the national funeral, they can't take care of these things for a while, which is indeed a good thing for the Shen family.

What Shen Rui is worried about is that the national mourning is tormenting, and Shen Cang's body is not tough. Fortunately, they only need to enter the palace and cry for three days, and after three days, they can be dressed for the 27th, and as for the military and civilian men and women who have no official positions, they need to be dressed for 13 days

Shen Rui was still worried that he didn't know what Brother Shou was doing now.

When they got along with each other before, although Brother Shou rarely mentioned his family, he occasionally mentioned his great-grandmother, and he also had a lot of admiration. For the empress dowager, who was criticized in the history books of later generations, Shen Rui's impression was also vivid.

Shen Jue went out of the funeral, Brother Shou came out of the palace and set up a sacrificial tent to learn folk customs, if it weren't for his true feelings, he wouldn't have reached this point. Even if Shen Rui is in a relationship, he is suspected of using this future son of heaven to cling to him, but people's hearts have grown up with flesh, and after two years of getting along, he has a little sincerity in it.

It's just that Shen Rui and Brother Shou are in a different situation, Brother Shou can sneak out of the palace, but he can't sneak into the palace, so he can only worry secretly.

No matter how much misdeeds the Empress Dowager did during her lifetime, death is great, and now there is only mourning after death.

The entire national funeral specifications are in accordance with the specifications of the queen, and the civil and military officials in Beijing have tightened their spirits.

Although March is the middle of spring, the weather in the north is cold, warm and cold, the young ministers are nothing, and the old ones are encouraged and supported, and no one dares to take leave. Even Liu Jian, the first assistant who is over seventy years old, has been sacrificed every day, and no matter how difficult it is for others, they have to endure it.

When the three-day sacrifice was over, many old ministers were supported by people.

Although Shen Cang didn't use someone to support him, he slowed down, and the cold sweat on his forehead never stopped

Shen Rui pinched the time and took someone to greet him outside the gate of the imperial city.

Seeing Shen Cang's face full of defeat, Shen Rui couldn't help but be frightened, and hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

Shen Cang shook his head and said, "It's okay, it's just that I've been standing for a long time, and I'm a little tired, just take a break......

helped Shen Cang get into the sedan chair, Shen Rui rode a horse to accompany him, and the father and son returned to Renshoufang.

By the time he got off the sedan chair, Shen Cang's face had softened a lot, and Shen Rui's heart was relieved.

In the evening, go to the room.

The room was filled with the smell of medicinal soup, and there was a wooden basin under the couch by the window, which was pitch black. Shen Cang sat on the couch, his eyes closed, and there was not a trace of blood on his face.

Xu Shi said with red eyes: "Master, take leave......