A "charity banquet" is being held in the Changxin Palace.

The convener of the banquet is none other than the current Empress Dowager of the Han Dynasty - Dou Yifang.

She was a well-known female politician in the early Han Dynasty.

Unlike Empress Lü, who left behind more notoriety, she had an excellent reputation, and her actions received many praises from later historians.

People say that Wenjing Zhizhi has a credit for her.

She was the woman behind the two emperors, and her role was far underestimated.

Just like now, when Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was trying to organize the courtiers to carry out disaster relief activities in the court, she silently presided over a donation activity in the harem alone.

Empress Dowager Dou was born in a poor family in Guanjin, Qinghe, and her brothers were bought and sold since childhood, and they knew the hardships of the people.

Her childhood and girlhood were spent in hunger and cold, and it was not until she entered the palace because of her beauty that the situation improved.

Now, even though she is the queen mother, she still thinks of the hardships of her childhood from time to time.

It can be said that among the ruling class of the Han Dynasty, she is the only one who empathizes with the suffering of the people of Chang'an.

The donation activity of the harem of the Han Dynasty organized by her actually had two intentions.

The first intention is a simple donation: the harem is full of rich and noble people, and they can save countless people by taking out a little gold and silver.

Imagine that people like them are willing to donate, and other officials and rich people don't donate some, is this appropriate?

Although the treasury of the Han Dynasty is full, it cannot feed the people of Chang'an.

The financial gap is huge, and it is a little bit that can be filled.

The second use is to set an example, which is a political performance.

She wants to let the civil and military officials and the subjects of the whole world see that the current Han royal family cares about the people and stands with the people.

The so-called "natural disasters are all due to the failure to repair political affairs" by Confucian scholars is nonsense.

She wanted to use this to help Emperor Jing of Han consolidate his prestige, so that her son could better carry out the next step of cutting the feudal domain.

。。。。。。

In the blink of an eye, the concubines had gathered.

Because the theme of the party was already known in advance, everyone's expressions were strange.

Obviously, I was very unhappy with Empress Dowager Dou's forced donation.

Isn't it iniquity that all the yellow, orange, and orange gold is scattered to the poor? That's what they thought.

Empress Dowager Dou is so shrewd, after seeing everyone's expressions, she knows everyone's thoughts.

She secretly said in her heart:

"In the past, they were all jewels, dressed like fairies in the sky, living pompous and extravagant. Now when I hear that my wife asks everyone to contribute some money, I am reluctant? If you are reluctant, don't be my Liu family's daughter-in-law! ”

Her expression was serious, and it was clear that she was already in a bad mood.

Empress Dowager Dou knows that in order to make everyone obedient first, she must first find an unlucky egg to kill the chicken and set an example.

Her gaze scanned the audience, and soon locked on her unlucky bastard, Queen Bo.

After making up her mind, Empress Dowager Dou got up slowly and said a great reason, saying that the current disaster situation in Chang'an is serious, and claiming that everyone will donate money for disaster relief.

Then, she faced Empress Bo and asked, "Empress, how much do you plan to donate to help those disaster victims who are waiting to be fed?" ”

Listening to Empress Dowager Dou's words and looking at Empress Dowager Dou's-for-tat expression, Empress Bo was a little flustered for a while.

She stabilized her mood and said, "After returning to her mother, Erchen is willing to take out eighty gold." ”

As soon as this remark came out, the audience was in an uproar.

Eighty gold, used to make money and donate to the poor, which is really a lot.

In fact, Queen Bo originally wanted to donate ten gold, but was forced by Empress Dowager Dou to ask, and unconsciously raised it to eighty gold.

For the powerful Empress Dowager Dou, she is still a little afraid in her heart.

Speaking of which, since the founding of the Han Dynasty, there was a queen who was as weak as her.

can't please the queen mother and the emperor, and can't get the respect of the concubines, she, the queen, is really aggrieved.

Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty always wanted to abolish her for the sins of "not being virtuous" and "having no children".

Now, every step she takes, it's like she's walking on thin ice.

。。。。。。

Empress Dowager Dou listened to Queen Bo's "offer", which was very different from the amount she expected, and she was still very satisfied.

But since she wants to use Queen Bo to make an example of her, she naturally has to show dissatisfaction.

I saw that Empress Dowager Dou's face sank, and said: "The emperor can't sleep all night because of the disaster at the moment, and the queen is only willing to give such a little money, and she is too ignorant of the general situation." No wonder—"

In other words, it is no wonder that the emperor would want to depose the empress.

When Queen Bo heard these words, she was frightened.

She hurriedly added: "The lesson of the queen mother is that it is the sons who are not thoughtful, and the sons are willing to give three hundred gold to help the suffering people and help Your Majesty solve their problems." ”

Three hundred gold is not a small amount.

Everyone knows that the queen has never been favored and has received very few rewards.

Taking out this money has already affected the queen's daily life a little, such as the need to make two fewer clothes.

Queen Bo secretly said in her heart: I'm really too difficult.

Empress Dowager Dou was very satisfied, and praised Empress Bo on the spot, calling her a model for the harem.

Beat a stick and feed a date, the old routine is old.

Under Queen Bo, the highest status is Liu Rong's mother, Concubine Li.

Originally, under the persecution of Liu Rong, Concubine Li planned to donate 100 gold.

Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Dou's persecution was even more ruthless, and she squeezed Queen Bo's 300 gold when she came up.

At this time, if she donated another hundred gold, it would be a little shabby, and she would inevitably be scolded by the Empress Dowager Bo.

So, Concubine Li gritted her teeth, came to a super double, and donated two hundred gold.

Concubine Li gave birth to three princes, which is considered a more favored concubine, and it is not painful for her to take out 200 gold.

But Concubine Li is smart and gives a very good reason: in the harem, she is respectful and orderly, and her donations must not be more than that of Queen Bo.

Originally, Empress Dowager Dou wanted to scold her as usual, but thinking about what she said, it seemed to be right, so she forgot it.

In the harem, not everyone is so rich, and some of the concubines are still very shabby.

If you rashly set the amount too high, it is indeed a little inappropriate.

。。。。。。

With the amount of donations from Empress Bo and Concubine Li, the other concubines were also forced to increase their donation budgets.

Cheng Ji donated 180 gold, and Mrs. Jia also donated 180 gold.

They belong to the same level as Concubine Li, and they are both concubines who gave birth to sons.

However, in order to show humility and save money, they all donated a little less than Concubine Li.

After listening to the amount of donations from the two, Concubine Li was both happy and unhappy in her heart.

She was glad that the two of them took the initiative to show weakness and bow down to her, so that her vanity was satisfied.

What she was unhappy about was that she had contributed more money than these two people, and she always felt that she had lost a lot.

and Concubine Li, Cheng Ji, and Mrs. Jia are also at the same level as two Mrs. Wang, namely Wang Wan and Wang Erjiao.

Under the queen, the five of them are respected.

Because these five people gave birth to thirteen sons to Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, and the same mother was the sect, Sima Qian referred to them as the "Five Sects" in the "Historical Records".

Among the five, Concubine Yi Li is the oldest and the first person under the queen.

So in history, after Empress Bo was deposed, she should be the heir to the queen, but Emperor Jing of Han refused to be canonized.

With Cheng Ji and Mrs. Jia's donation of 180 gold, Wang Wan and Wang Erjiao should have donated 180 gold as well.

After all, the qualifications of the four of them are still worse than Concubine Li.

However, the Wang sisters are the youngest, and their appearance has not collapsed.

They are now very popular with Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty and are popular fried chicken in the harem.

For an old man like Concubine Li, the two newcomers are naturally a little unconvinced.

Everyone has the same status, why give Concubine Li face and take the initiative to lower her?

They didn't, so both sisters chose to donate 200 gold.

They are not very kind-hearted, mainly to be on an equal footing with Concubine Li, and to be vindictive.

Sure enough, hearing that the amount of money between the two of them was equal to herself, Concubine Li's face was a little unkind.

But the status of several people is equal, and she can't say anything, so she has to be secretly angry.

。。。。。。

After the donation of Queen Bo and the other six people was completed, it was the turn of the people below.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the harem system of the Qin Dynasty was followed, and the following were the beauties, the beloved, the eight sons, the seven sons, the chief envoy, and the young envoy.

The well-known names of Zhaoyi, Jieyu and other good grades have not yet appeared at this time.

According to the principle of respect and order, most of the beauties donated 100 gold, most of the lovers donated 50 gold, and the rest of the eight sons, seven sons, long envoys, and young envoys each ranged from 30 to 10 gold.

Under the persecution of the Empress Dowager Dou, they all gave generously "very voluntarily" to express their love for the victims.

In short, these women of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty made donations to a greater or lesser extent.

Although everyone doesn't donate much, there are many people in the harem.

In the end, after settling the accounts, a total of 4,900 gold was donated.

For this figure, Empress Dowager Dou was very satisfied, which far exceeded her expectations.

Empress Dowager Dou smiled, and many concubines also laughed, but their laughter was uglier than crying.

Anyone who is blackmailed like this will probably not be in a good mood.

。。。。。。

At this time, a young man walked into the main hall and bowed to the Empress Dowager Dou.

"Grandson see Imperial Grandmother." This person is none other than Liu Che.

This is a gathering of women, why did he come as a prince?

Everyone was a little puzzled, and Liu Che's mother, Mrs. Wang, was also confused.

Empress Dowager Dou asked Liu Che to excuse himself and asked him why.

I saw Liu Che Zhengse:

"When my grandson heard that there was a disaster in Chang'an, the emperor's grandmother, father, and queen mother were worried about it and came to persuade them."

"The sage said, "There are catastrophes in the world, and this is the journey of heaven. If you repair the government to deal with it, the catastrophe will be eliminated, please don't worry too much. ”

"My grandson's ability is limited, but my father has also given my grandson a lot of property over the years, and I just asked them to calculate it, about 100 gold."

"My grandson is willing to donate all of it to the people of Chang'an to help them survive this disaster, and I ask the imperial grandmother to agree."

I have to say that Liu Che, a child, has a desire to perform when he is a child.

Now, no matter what his purpose is, he ran to the Empress Dowager Dou and said such a big truth, and all of a sudden it seemed that the other princes were ignorant.

Empress Dowager Dou listened carefully to Liu Che's words.

At first, she was a little unhappy.

Empress Dowager Dou believed in Taoism and believed that disasters were part of the way of heaven and had nothing to do with human affairs.

However, Confucianism had to put the pot of natural disasters on the heads of politicians, which made Empress Dowager Dou very unhappy.

What Liu Che said just now is exactly the truth of Confucianism.

What "if the government is repaired in response, the catastrophe will be eliminated" is obviously the same as the previous argument of those corrupt Confucians that "natural disasters are all due to political affairs and not repaired".

After Liu Che finished speaking, he was very proud, and he felt that he had shown off his knowledge, waiting for Empress Dowager Dou to praise him.

At this time, the story of Empress Dowager Dou throwing Confucianism into the pigsty had not yet happened, so many people, including Liu Che, were not aware of Empress Dowager Dou's deep hatred of Confucianism.

After listening to Liu Che's speech, Empress Dowager Dou nodded.

"It's good that Che'er has grown up and learned to solve problems for her father. The princes of the harem should learn from him. ”

's words can be regarded as affirmation for Liu Che.

Then, she whispered to Mrs. Wang:

"Your son is excellent, this is your credit, I will explain this to the emperor. But you usually have to supervise Che'er's studies more and let him read less messy books. ”

When Mrs. Wang heard this, she hurriedly nodded.

Liu Che came this time, and he didn't discuss it with her mother in advance.

However, judging from the performance of the Empress Dowager Dou, Liu Che's 100 golden flowers are really worth it.

Mrs. Wang couldn't help but sigh that her son had really grown up.

He's incredibly smart, ten thousand times better than his brothers.

For example, at this moment, except for Liu Che, none of the princes moved.

Liu Che operated and successfully gained the favor and hearts of the Empress Dowager Dou.

Mrs. Wang thought that maybe if she worked harder, it was really possible to push Liu Che to the position of crown prince.

There is a lot to be done in this matter.

。。。。。。

Liu Che's operation is over.

Just now, the concubines donated 4,900 gold, and Liu Che donated another 100 gold, for a total of 5,000 gold.

With a wave of her hand, Empress Dowager Dou donated 5,000 gold and made up 10,000 gold.

Hearing the news, the expressions of the concubines soothed a little.

Although their donations can't be taken back, some people donate more, and they always feel inexplicably more comfortable.

It's amazing to be human.

Suddenly, a small yellow door hurriedly walked in.

He came to the Empress Dowager Dou and whispered something.

When Empress Dowager Dou heard this, the expression on her face was a little surprised, and she glanced at Concubine Li intriguingly.

Concubine Li didn't know what was going on, and she was a little suspicious in her heart.

The old lady won't force herself to donate anymore.

Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Dou stood up with a smile, walked over, and took Concubine Li's hand.

She loudly announced:

"Just now, my eldest grandson Liu Rong sent 10,000 gold for disaster relief."

"Rong'er repeatedly emphasized that this matter should not be announced."

"But after thinking about it, I decided to publish it."

"Rong'er hasn't been sealed yet, and he doesn't have much money in his hand, and this 10,000 gold can be said to be all his net worth."

"What is single-mindedly for the country, this is single-mindedly for the country."

"Concubine Li, you have taught a good son."

When everyone heard this, they were all shocked, this is 10,000 gold.

Liu Che's face instantly turned to ashes.

It's over, with this donation of 10,000 gold, my 100 gold is completely not enough, it can be said that it is a waste of donation.

Moreover, compared with Liu Rong's good deeds without leaving a name, his high-profile preaching seems so false and contrived.

He didn't believe it and sighed, his eldest brother Liu Rong was really ruthless.