Chapter 1 Clothes in Disarray

"The Emperor sang and danced with the singing girls in the palace, feasting until dawn, and was very drunk. In the daytime, nine of the singing girls left, covering their faces, with their clothes in disarray."

What constitutes "clothes in disarray"? I really hate the writing style of the ancients. They narrate events with just a few strokes, and don't know how to fill in the details. This foolish emperor, so young, already holding orgies... Zhang Yuanqing clicked his tongue while reading.

"The Emperor floated on a lake with the singing girls, ordering them to remove their clothes and perform, ordering the palace servants to remove their clothes and serve tea. Whenever the Emperor felt like it, he would seize naked women and defile them, returning at sunset, with all the palace maids on the boat having been favored."

Favoring them all... Zhao Shun's kidneys must be good. Could he also be a Night Wanderer? Zhang Yuanqing sighed and turned the page:

"The Emperor wanted to favor the Empress, but encountered Consort Rou on the way. Consort Rou said: Your Majesty is busy with affairs of state, but do you still remember where the gate of the Apricot Blossom Palace is? The Emperor refused, and Consort Rou wept: Does Your Majesty remember the light rain of apricot blossoms that year, when you said that among the three thousand people in the harem, all three thousand favors were focused on me."

"The Emperor felt ashamed, and then took Consort Rou to see the Empress, wanting to sleep together in the same bed. The Empress was furious and rebuked him for being昏聩 (hūnkuì, muddle-headed and fatuous). The Emperor shouted: Although you are the mother of the world, your honor and disgrace lie with me. How do you know that I dare not depose you?"

This is too much. Letting the Empress and a concubine sleep together in the same bed? Can the wife and concubine be the same? Shouldn't the ancients have a strong sense of this... Zhang Yuanqing had a new understanding of Zhao Shun's absurdity.

"The Emperor toured the garden, arriving at the West Garden, and suddenly heard the sound of a zither. Following the sound, he encountered a woman playing the zither in a pavilion, saying: Her face is like peach blossoms, graceful and charming. Such a beauty is wasted in the palace, a disgrace to nature, a pity and a sigh."

"The woman said: I am a concubine of the late Emperor. Since the late Emperor passed away, I have lived in the West Garden, living a simple and hard life, my beautiful face withering."

"The Emperor said: Flesh that can intoxicate the soul, bones that deserve pity, one only fears not being in the present. To have such a pair of lovebirds who would die together, I would rather be a pair of mandarin ducks than envy the immortals."

"He embraced the woman and left. That night, he stayed in the West Garden."

He even defiled his father's woman... Zhang Yuanqing realized that he had underestimated Zhao Shun. Then he thought, after the Emperor died, the palace concubines seemed to have only a few choices:

First, to be buried alive with the deceased Emperor; second, to guard the spirit; third, to be forced to become a nun; fourth, to be thrown into the Cold Palace; and fifth, to be favored by the new Emperor and brought back into the harem.

Zhang Yuanqing flipped through the pages quickly. Since meeting the late Emperor's favorite concubine, Zhao Shun seemed to have opened a new world, lingering in the West Garden for two consecutive months.

In summary: the eleven mistresses, twenty beauties, and thirty-six palace maids in the West Garden were all favored by him.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

The pages turned quickly. The daily life records became thinner and thinner, and Zhang Yuanqing read more and more carefully. Zhao Shun was poisoned three days ago, but that doesn't mean the spy contacted him that day.

If it was a slow-acting poison, it might have started affecting his body a few days ago.

Therefore, the concubines Zhao Shun had contact with in the past half month were all key targets of Zhang Yuanqing's investigation.

The spy's reason for poisoning the Emperor was simple. When two countries are at war, if the Emperor suddenly dies, it will inevitably cause political turmoil in the Southern Dynasty, especially since this foolish emperor, although lecherous, had no children.

Once the Southern Dynasty started fighting over the throne, the central government would likely recall the troops from the front line to compete for imperial power. In short, as long as the current relatively stable regime of the Southern Dynasty was disrupted, it would definitely affect the army.

At that time, the Northern Dynasty's southern expedition would be twice as effective with half the effort.

Therefore, the spy either infiltrated the palace recently, or had already mixed into the palace long ago, but had been biding their time until the war started before approaching the Emperor.

He tirelessly read from beginning to end, not out of a morbid interest, but hoping to learn as much as possible about the number, personality, style, family background, etc. of the harem concubines from the daily life records.

Old-timers in the harem like the Empress and Consort Rou are probably not spies, because the examination system for palace maids and the examination system for concubines are different.

To become the Emperor's concubine, the ancestors for eighteen generations must be thoroughly investigated, but the review of palace maids is not so strict.

Therefore, spies are likely to enter the palace as palace maids, and then seduce the Emperor with their beauty, waiting for an opportunity to poison him. Anyway, Zhao Shun is an old lecher. He doesn't let go of young and beautiful women, nor does he let go of older and beautiful women.

Unlike Zhang Yuanqing, who only likes older and beautiful women.

Getting back to the topic, as long as the spy has remarkable beauty, there is no need to worry about not being able to approach the Emperor.

Half an hour later, Zhang Yuanqing finally finished reading the daily life records, and then asked someone to fetch the harem roster. After reading the backgrounds of the concubines, he locked on to five targets.

Target one: Consort Wan!

The daily life records state: The Emperor wandered in the Imperial Garden at night, admiring the flowers and the moon, and suddenly heard a song from the flowers. He pushed them aside and saw a girl sitting in the bushes, her eyebrows freshly painted like the moon, her hair just like clouds. She raised her neck and sang softly, astonishingly beautiful. So he used the flower mattress as a bed, lightly loosened her silk belt, engaging in颠鸾倒凤 (diānlúndǎofèng, sexual intercourse), with fallen petals as bright as flowers. When he returned to the palace, the bloodstains on his dragon robe were still wet. The next day, he named her Consort Wan.

The reason Zhang Yuanqing locked her as a suspect was: She was making ghostly noises in the Imperial Garden in the middle of the night, obviously knowing that Zhao Shun had the habit of wandering at night, waiting for the rabbit to come.

Usually it wouldn't matter, but seducing the Emperor at such a sensitive time node is very suspicious.

Target two: Consort Chu.

The daily life records state: The Emperor took the concubines to tour the Three Divine Mountains, galloping and hunting. Suddenly, a hunter woman broke in, not holding the reins, riding like the wind. The Emperor was very pleased and ordered his attendants to capture her. Seeing that she was a young girl of about thirteen years old, he was overjoyed, named her Consort Chu, and brought her into the harem.

Target three: Consort De.

Consort De is actually an old-timer in the palace. Her father was an official up to the Minister of Revenue, but was executed by the Emperor several years ago, and his whole family was exterminated. Since then, her temperament has changed greatly, full of sorrow and resentment. However, because of her excessive beauty, Zhao Shun would still favor her from time to time.

Consort De has a motive for murdering the Emperor, after all, it's the hatred of exterminating her family.

Target four: Madam Ya.

Madam Ya was a concubine that Zhao Shun snatched back during an inspection tour. She is an older, beautiful woman who originally had a family. After entrusting herself to Zhao Shun, her husband refused to accept it and wrote a letter in blood to the prefect, accusing the current Emperor of forcibly abducting a woman from the people. He was beaten eighty times with a staff and beaten to death.

Madam Ya also has a motive to become a spy and murder the Emperor. To take a step back, what if the drama of forcibly robbing a woman from the people was a scheme set up by the Northern Dynasty?

Entering the palace as a captive can to some extent dispel the doubts and precautions of the Southern Dynasty, after all, she was snatched by the Emperor, not actively entering the palace.

Target five: Singing Girl Wang!

The reason for suspecting Singing Girl Wang is that Zhao Shun had been in contact with this woman in the few days before the accident. Whether it was a slow-acting poison or a virulent poison, she is suspected.

"24 hours is a bit rushed. It's a bit difficult for me alone to find the spy." Zhang Yuanqing's heart stirred. He asked the palace maid to call the guards outside the palace and said in a deep voice:

"I was poisoned by a villain a few days ago. Has your Imperial City Division caught the culprit?"

The information given by the instance is too little, and the time is too tight. It is impossible to rely on himself, but he can rely on the NPCs in the instance.

The guard hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is the responsibility of Commander Zheng and Eunuch Li, and I do not know."

Commander Zheng? The Zheng family, related to the Empress? Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed and immediately said: "Go and invite them quickly."

Although the Zheng family controls the government, causing corrupt officials to run rampant, the Zheng family is, after all, related to the Emperor and is "one of us". They definitely do not want Zhao Shun to die young.

After all, Zhao Shun has no children. If he dies, then the new Emperor will fall to the imperial clan, and the imperial clan will not recognize the Zhao family.

Therefore, they will spare no effort in protecting Zhao Shun and finding the spy.

Soon, a young man with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, wearing armor, strode into the bedroom, clasped his fists and bowed: "Zheng Longtu greets Your Majesty!"

Zhang Yuanqing asked: "Have you found the traitor who murdered me?"

Zheng Longtu shook his head: "Not yet."

Zhang Yuanqing was furious, slammed the table and scolded: "Worthless! What do I raise you for? It's better to raise a group of pigs! I'll give you six hours. If you can't find the murderer, I'll kill you!"

This remark is very much in Zhao Shun's style.

Zheng Longtu's expression changed, and he lowered his head sharply: "Yes!"

He left the palace in a hurry.

Alas, the Emperor is a waste, and the ministers are also wastes! Zhang Yuanqing suddenly felt a little hungry. He asked the palace maid to bring pastries. After testing the pastries with a palace maid to confirm that they were safe, he ate a few pieces hastily and then went to the Imperial Study.

The Imperial table was filled with thick memorials. These memorials were screened and did not need the Emperor's approval, only red ink.

In the past, Zhao Shun always used red ink, regardless of what it was. Memorials that did not need red ink could not be sent here.

Zhang Yuanqing looked through the memorials and found that half of them were impeaching the Yang family, and the other half were impeaching Yang Ce.

After reading patiently for a while, he learned that Yang Ce was the General of the Flying Cavalry, the commander of the three armies who was resisting the invasion of the Northern Dynasty, and also the Empress's younger brother.

The two major families, the Yang family and the Zheng family, of the Southern Dynasty are political enemies and fight like fire and water.

Because the Empress did not give birth to any children, the Yang family was at a disadvantage, and the senior family, the Zheng family, had been suppressing the Yang family.

"This instance should have two maps, one is the capital, and the other is Linxia. I am in the capital, and the boss should be in Linxia. This is consistent with his Puppeteer profession. Yang Ce is very likely to be the boss."

Zhang Yuanqing quickly made a judgment.

Fu Qingyang is an eighth-level Puppeteer, so he cannot be a small soldier. Only Yang Ce, the commander of the three armies, is reasonable. Yang Ce is the marshal, and defeat means certain death. The difficulty level is also consistent.

"Since it's Xiao Fu, then don't even think about impeaching him."

Zhang Yuanqing sat in front of the Imperial table, picked up a brush, and refuted all the impeachment memorials before putting down the brush with satisfaction, leading two guards out of the bedroom.

Next, it was time to examine Zhao Shun's harem with a critical eye.

Speaking of the harem, the first thing Zhao Shun did after the death of Empress Dowager Zheng was to expand the harem. He not only renovated the old buildings, but also selected a high and open place in the east of the palace, ordering craftsmen to build new palaces day and night.

He emptied a treasury, scraping the marrow of the world again and again, and it took a full year of labor to complete.

Zhang Yuanqing rode in a deer cart leisurely on the wide road paved with bluestone. He opened the curtain and looked out. He saw that the pavilions reflected each other in height, and the painted beams and flying eaves were faintly connected. Some obliquely revealed a few curved vermilion railings, or slightly peeped at a strip of embroidered curtains. The light of pearls and jade reflected the sunlight, turning into five colors, like a fairyland.

"So extravagant, even I want to kill Zhao Shun." Zhang Yuanqing put down the curtain, slandering his character.

The first target of this trip was the hunter woman he met while hunting. No other reason, this woman is the most recent.

After a quarter of an hour, the deer cart stopped in front of a three-story pavilion. He saw that the eaves were flying up, the golden tiles reflected the sunlight, and the beams were painted with colorful pictures.

The yard was full of greenery, planted with exotic flowers and plants.

Zhang Yuanqing jumped out of the deer cart and, under the guard of the guards, strode into the yard, and then he saw palace maids and eunuchs carrying delicious dishes and empty plates, hurrying between the main building and the kitchen.

Zhang Yuanqing stopped a palace maid and frowned:

"Is there a banquet in the building?"

The palace maid was stunned, and then replied: "Consort Chu is having a meal."

"What?" Zhang Yuanqing was shocked, and looked at the palace maids and eunuchs coming and going a few more times, asking in a confirming tone: "You said Consort Chu is having a meal?"

Was there a problem with the daily life records, or was there a problem with his eyes?

Is my Consort Chu Godzilla, with such an exaggerated appetite?

Zhang Yuanqing hesitated for a moment, worried that "Godzilla" would ask for his favor, and also worried that "Godzilla" would be full and slap the weak and unable Emperor to death with one palm.

So he turned to look at the two guards: "Step forward and clear the way!"

The two guards stepped forward, pushed away the palace maids and eunuchs, and crossed the threshold.

Zhang Yuanqing then entered the main building. The building was even more luxurious, with gold pillars, jade railings, pearl curtains and embroidered screens. Exotic fragrances were burned everywhere in the building, and secluded rooms and deep chambers could be seen everywhere, hidden by exotic flowers and plants.

Passing through a winding corridor, he entered the outer hall. He saw a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl standing by the table with a round belly, eating a roasted chicken in one hand and a handful of mutton in the other, her mouth full of oil.

Although the girl had a large appetite, she was very beautiful.

You can question the character of the昏君 (hūn jūn, muddle-headed ruler), but you can't question his aesthetics. Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief and coughed loudly.

"Your Majesty!"

The palace maids and eunuchs in the hall knelt down and saluted.

The girl, with bulging cheeks, looked over, her eyes sharply scrutinizing Zhang Yuanqing.

(End of this chapter)