Chapter 117: The Empress Is with Child

Wanyan Yuzhuo's feelings at this moment were very complicated.

She had always thought Liaodong was vast, and that the territory her own tribe controlled was already very large, but it was only after she actually arrived in the Ming heartland that she fully understood what "boundless" truly meant.

Back in Liaodong, riding from her family's tribe to another tribe sometimes took half a day.

And sailing from Dongjiang to Denglai had taken several days; she had assumed that once she disembarked she could quickly reach the Ming capital, and that she could get an early look at what her future husband was like — if he turned out to be some weak, bookish scholar who couldn't even truss a chicken, she would beat him until he dared not share her bed and obediently did as he was told!

But the journey from Denglai all the way to the Ming capital ended up taking the better part of a full month. That half-month also gave Wanyan Yuzhuo a new understanding of her own status — Imperial Consort of the Great Ming.

Whether it was the post stations they passed or the traveling palaces and detached residences, wherever she went, everything she saw, used, and ate was unlike anything she had ever encountered in Liaodong.

The only truly annoying thing was that old crone the Han high official had found for her — wearing a deadpan face all day long, endlessly drilling her in so-called court etiquette and the like, driving her to utter exasperation.

Fortunately, however, her party hurried and rushed and finally made it to the capital on the fifteenth day of the fourth month.

According to that Han high official, if they missed the date of the fifteenth of the fourth month, she herself probably wouldn't suffer much, but that Han high official would likely be in for disaster.

Arriving in the capital, Wanyan Yuzhuo's first impression, aside from its size, was the sheer number of people.

In Liaodong, she had never seen a city this large, let alone so many people — she just wondered how much tax the Han Emperor, her future husband, collected, and how many slaves he owned. This Han Emperor was surely far more formidable than Father, wasn't he?

The day Wanyan Yuzhuo entered the capital was indeed an auspicious day. Just the night before, a bashful Empress Zhou, blushing, had declined Chongzhen's favor and instead tried to send him off to Consort Tian or Consort Yuan.

Only under Chongzhen's repeated questioning did Empress Zhou, her face still red, reveal the reason: "It is not that your subject-wife is being difficult; it is that today I have been retching constantly, and my monthly courses have not come this month.

I summoned an imperial physician to take my pulse, and I have already, already, already conceived..."

In a daze, Chongzhen thought of his son from his previous life, wondering how that little bastard was doing, and even more, wondering whether the boy's mother had remarried, whether his son had taken another man's surname...

In any case, Empress Zhou was with child, and Chongzhen once again experienced the same feeling he had in his previous life upon hearing his wife was pregnant. In his delight, he was all the more unwilling to go to Consort Tian or Consort Yuan.

He simply stayed in Empress Zhou's palace, wanting to hold Empress Zhou and sleep honestly through the night.

But just as he was about to fall asleep, Chongzhen suddenly recalled something. He abruptly sat up, and ignoring the startled Empress Zhou, called out loudly: "Someone! Summon Wang Cheng'en and Wei Zhongxian to see Us."

Wei Zhongxian, who had just gone to bed, was hauled out from under his covers. A bellyful of wake-up rage simmered but he dared not let it show, so he could only hurriedly rush to the palace to see Chongzhen — this Emperor was far too taxing.

His elder brother had practically never summoned him at this hour. He was already an old bag of bones; sooner or later this lord would shake him to pieces.

Yet when Wei Zhongxian and Wang Cheng'en came before Chongzhen, their hearts began to pound again.

In the outer hall of Empress Zhou's bedchamber, although the corners of Chongzhen's eyes held a trace of irrepressible joy, the killing intent in his gaze was something that, no matter how he tried, could not be held back from spilling out.

Seeing that the two had arrived, Chongzhen tapped his fingers on the table beside him and asked, "Zhongxian, let Us ask you — where is Madame Ke?"

Wei Zhongxian's heart gave a thump. Terrified that Chongzhen was about to move against Madame Ke, yet not daring to refuse an answer, he could only stammer, "In reply to His Majesty, since the late Emperor's passing, Madame Ke has left the palace and returned to her home."

Chongzhen gave an "Mm," then continued: "When We were still in Our princely residence, We once heard rumors that Madame Ke secretly stayed overnight within the forbidden precincts.

And that Our Imperial Sister-in-law, because she offended Madame Ke, had Madame Ke secretly employ vicious means against her, which is why she suffered multiple miscarriages?"

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian first began protesting on Madame Ke's behalf: "In reply to His Majesty, the late Emperor was indeed extremely good to Madame Ke, and did keep her overnight within the forbidden precincts.

However, when Madame Ke stayed overnight within the forbidden precincts, the late Emperor was always with Lady Zhang; there were none of those filthy matters the rumors outside the palace speak of.

If His Majesty does not believe it, he may of course seek verification from Her Majesty herself. As for the claim that Madame Ke caused Her Majesty's miscarriages, I know not who spread such slander."

Chongzhen gave another "Mm," and ignoring Wei Zhongxian, simply kept tapping his fingers on the table.

The tap-tap tapping had a certain rhythm to it, and the tense Wei Zhongxian felt his own heartbeat rising and falling in time with that tap-tap sound, only he did not know whether, when His Majesty stopped, his heartbeat would stop along with it.

But very soon, Chongzhen stopped tapping the table. The sudden halt made Wei Zhongxian's heart lurch to a violent stop as well. Coming back to his senses, Wei Zhongxian bent his body into an even deeper bow.

Chongzhen suddenly said to Wang Cheng'en: "Draft an edict. The Empress is with child. Summon Madame Ke into the palace tomorrow to attend and serve. If she serves well, We shall have a reward. If there is the slightest mishap, We shall not let it pass lightly."

After speaking, he turned to Wei Zhongxian and said: "The Empress is with child. Have all your people stay sharp and keep a close watch. All food, drink, and daily necessities are to be of the highest quality, and all are to be rigorously inspected."

Wei Zhongxian bowed and replied: "This slave obeys the decree."

Chongzhen, however, gave a cold laugh: "The rigorous inspection We speak of means strictly tracing the origins of these items, and their intended use. If the Empress suffers a miscarriage like Our Imperial Sister-in-law did, watch your head!"

By now, Wei Zhongxian more or less understood what the joy at the corners of Chongzhen's eyes was about — it was a joy he had seen more than once at the corners of the late Tianqi Emperor's eyes.

As for the irrepressible killing intent, it was likely connected to Empress Zhang's several miscarriages and the early deaths of the Tianqi Emperor's infant sons.

Most likely, His Majesty Chongzhen at this moment suspected that Empress Zhang's miscarriages and the princes' early deaths were the result of someone acting in secret. But very clearly, the ones His Majesty suspected were neither himself nor Madame Ke, but rather those grand gentlemen in the court.

After dismissing Wang Cheng'en and Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen sat for a while longer. He truly had begun to harbor suspicions about the early deaths of the Tianqi Emperor's sons and Empress Zhang's miscarriages.

Later generations all said the secret perpetrators were Madame Ke and Wei Zhongxian, but no matter how Chongzhen thought about it, it just didn't feel right.

If Tianqi left no heir, the beneficiaries certainly would not be Wei Zhongxian and Madame Ke — on the contrary, it would be himself. Judging by his own pro-Donglin Faction stance at the time, Wei Zhongxian and Madame Ke would inevitably meet a bad end.

But if Tianqi had an heir, Wei Zhongxian and Madame Ke, relying on the merit of supporting the succession, could instead have held onto power for several more years.

And most importantly, he had reviewed the Tianqi Emperor's daily records and discovered that it was precisely after Madame Ke left the palace that Tianqi fell into the water and drank that so-called "Spirit Dew Brew."

Had Madame Ke still been in the palace then, with that woman's shrewdness, things likely would never have reached the point they did today.

Book recommendation time:

The Battle of the Hun River at Shengjing in the late Ming — the Great Ming's last army that dared to fight: the Qi Family Army's Zhejiang troops and the White-Pole Soldiers of Shizhu, 7,000 men, took the initiative to engage 60,000 Jurchen armored cavalry.

In the end, they were defeated and the entire army was annihilated.

In that battle, the Ming army killed and wounded over ten thousand of the Jurchen Eight Banners, fighting with the last pride of the Great Ming.

Our protagonist, Zhang Dou, wakes from a sleep to find himself a member of this very army. Can he survive the peril-filled Blood Battle of the Hun River?

Can he lead this force to defeat the Jurchens and become the unyielding steel backbone of Huaxia?

"Late Ming Legend: The Steel Backbone"

(End of chapter)