Chapter 1158: The Empress Dowager's Passing

From Jinling to the Eastern Capital, a journey of over thirteen hundred li, he abandoned the boats entirely, equipping everyone with saddled horses instead, traveling from dawn to dusk, covering one hundred fifty li per day, returning to the Eastern Capital with almost reckless haste.

After reaching the north of the Huai River, Emperor Liu once again cast off some of his attendants, keeping only three thousand imperial cavalry as his escort, while the consorts, imperial princes and princesses, high ministers, and palace women all trailed far behind on the return road.

Emperor Liu, in his extreme urgency, had been thinking of these people—bringing them along not only slowed his pace, but the intense pace of travel had exhausted and sickened many, including his consorts and children.

Yet no matter how hard it was, the elder Lady Fu insisted on accompanying him all the way. Only when they reached Fuli in Suzhou did they rest for a longer stretch. Emperor Liu's body was not made of iron either; it had already been declining, and the key point was that the elder Lady Fu truly could not hold on any longer.

The Empress had suffered a serious illness before, and although it had not recurred in recent years, she clearly could not withstand such toil and hardship. When he saw her face, so weary and haggard, Emperor Liu finally calmed down somewhat.

At the same time, he was moved by the realization that the elder Lady Fu's stubborn insistence on accompanying him back to the capital was likely also her way of trying to dissuade him through this method.

He did not refuse the welcome offered by Fuli County, going straight into the official post station to rest. At night, the lamplight flickered, perhaps affected by the atmosphere, appearing so dim, as if mirroring Emperor Liu's mood.

The reason for his tense urgency and reckless rush back to the capital was none other than word from Kaifeng that the Empress Dowager had passed away. Empress Dowager Li was also advanced in years, old and prone to illness, with recurring bouts in previous years. On this tour, it was only because her health seemed still fairly good that he had felt at ease leaving the capital—yet the tragic news still came unexpectedly.

Emperor Liu might not lack cold and callous behavior, but his feelings for Lady Li ran especially deep; over all these years, he had been sincerely respectful and filial from the bottom of his heart. In Emperor Liu's eyes, his mother as Empress Dowager could not have done better—she never interfered in court politics, never made things difficult for him out of personal sentiment, always understanding, always magnanimous...

If one could say that toward the passing of those meritorious ministers and high officials of the past, Emperor Liu's grief carried a certain theatrical element, then the Empress Dowager's death struck him utterly and completely.

Although he had been prepared for it in the past two years, when the news of her death arrived, he discovered that all his psychological preparation and construction was so fragile. Intense grief drove Emperor Liu to rush back to the Eastern Capital.

Among his various emotions was also a kind of remorse—regret that the timing of his tour had been ill-chosen, and hatred that he had failed to see the Empress Dowager one last time. And this might well become the greatest regret of Emperor Liu's life!

In the autumn night, the cold wind rustled desolately, carrying the dampness of the river, making one feel chilled and sorrowful. Holding a small bowl of porridge as he entered the room, he looked at the elder Lady Fu lying on the couch; amidst her weary expression there was also a trace of worry. He sat down and said, "Your constitution was never strong to begin with. I told you to travel slowly with the main group, but you wouldn't listen..."

Clearly words of concern, yet spoken from Emperor Liu's mouth at this moment, they carried a suppressed quality. The elder Lady Fu propped herself up on the couch and sat up, looking at Liu Chengyou, a hint of heartache involuntarily showing in her eyes. She said, "I'm fine, just a little tired. It's you who should be careful—you've been traveling so long with so little sleep. If you were to collapse, what peace would there be for the realm? Mother-in-law, she wouldn't want to see you like this either..."

At this moment, Emperor Liu's dark circles were severe, his pupils shot through with bloodshot veins, his spirit extremely poor from exhaustion, his beard and hair in disarray—his entire condition was somewhat off.

"Drink some porridge!" Liu Chengyou said with a sigh, still that same suppressed tone.

Seeing his state, the elder Lady Fu grasped his hand and called softly, "Second Brother!"

Hearing this, Emperor Liu's body tensed slightly, then he smiled bitterly: "You haven't called me that in a long time. In this world, only Mother and you could address me so, yet now..."

His grief was written plainly on his face, and the elder Lady Fu's eyes had also reddened. She tightened her grip on Emperor Liu's hand and consoled him: "In life, serve with filial piety; in death, mourn with grief. Mother-in-law's passing should be mourned by the entire nation—you need not blame yourself so much!"

Hearing this, Emperor Liu said with a self-mocking tone: "Tell me, why is it that I didn't even understand the principle of 'while parents live, do not travel far'? All this sightseeing along the way—what fine spirits I had!"

"These past few days, I've also been recalling the past—how exactly did I fulfill my filial duty!" Emperor Liu muttered deeply: "The Empress Dowager revered and believed in Buddhism, while I suppressed and opposed it; the Empress Dowager loved my younger brothers, while I stripped all my maternal uncles of their positions and exiled my youngest uncle to the frontier; my siblings were often outside the capital, keeping mother and children apart for years; the Empress Dowager repeatedly pleaded for my imperial uncle, and I refused every time; the Empress Dowager fell ill many times, and how many times did I personally attend to her medicine by her bedside..."

As he spoke, tears involuntarily seeped from Emperor Liu's eyes, like a sluice gate bursting open, tears streaming without end. Seeing this, the elder Lady Fu drew Emperor Liu into her embrace, and perhaps having found a chest to lean on, Emperor Liu finally broke down and wept aloud.

"I didn't even get to see her one last time!"

The autumn night was cold and bleak; in the Fuli post station, the Emperor and Empress wept in each other's arms, pouring out all their emotions. This was the first time in all these years that Emperor Liu had shed tears, the first time he had wept without restraint. Compared to the calm he had shown when the late Emperor Liu Zhiyuan passed away, the Empress Dowager's death could be said to be the first thing that shattered Emperor Liu's psychological defenses.

After a great bout of weeping, his emotions were vented, and Emperor Liu recovered somewhat to normalcy. He continued traveling, but no longer pushed himself so desperately. Of course, this was also to take care of the Empress—the Empress Dowager was already gone, and he did not want the Empress to have any problems either.

After slowing the pace, one edict after another was sent directly from Emperor Liu to all the circuits and prefectures across the realm. Nothing else—the nation was in great mourning, and all circuits and prefectures were to hold mourning for the Empress Dowager. Where Emperor Liu exercised restraint was in ordering that the common people not be disturbed, warning all local governments in severe terms not to use the national mourning as an excuse to cause trouble or harass the people. He further emphasized that if reports were made and verified, the offenders would be sentenced to death.

The grief was hard to shake off for a time, but after accepting the reality and calming down, Emperor Liu began to attend to the funeral arrangements. He felt he had not been filial enough in her lifetime, but posthumous honor he was determined to make up for his mother.

The returning procession quickly changed all its banners to white, and everyone wore mourning clothes. By the time they entered Songzhou territory, the prefectures and counties along the way were already holding large-scale mourning; after entering Kaifeng, the scale was even greater—nearly every household was mourning and wearing mourning attire.

This was not due to any forced order from the authorities—it was simply the spontaneous behavior of the capital's common people upon hearing of the Empress Dowager's death. The Empress Dowager's virtue and benevolence were famed far and wide, and her reputation among officials and commoners had always been excellent; the title of Mother of the Nation was truly well deserved.

In the early years, when Emperor Liu had left the capital on several occasions, it was actually the Empress Dowager who held the capital in his stead, and even then Lady Li's prestige had already been high. The prestige accumulated through twenty years of good reputation can well be imagined, so when news of the Empress Dowager's death spread, the shock it caused among the officials and people of the capital region was enormous.

In the southern city of Kaifeng, the autumn wind rustled, yellow leaves drifted down, and a sorrowful atmosphere nearly permeated the entire city. Without formal attire, without the imperial carriage, Emperor Liu rode in on horseback, having issued an edict in advance that the officials and people of the Eastern Capital need not welcome him. He rode straight through the city gates, galloped across the main avenue, then spurred his horse through one palace gate after another, past one hall after another, until he reached before Ciming Hall.

Dismounting, his steps were somewhat unsteady, and Crown Prince Liu Yang hurried forward to support Emperor Liu. The ministers who had remained in the capital also came; upon seeing Emperor Liu, they bowed but said nothing, and the scene was momentarily extraordinarily solemn.

Glancing over his sons and the ministers, Liu Xu looked utterly distraught, Liu Yang's eyes were also red, Liu Xi and Liu Fang both wore blank, withdrawn expressions, and the other high ministers all showed mournful faces—especially Li Ye, who looked as if he had lost his own parents. For him, it was not just the passing of the relative who doted on him most, but also the collapse of his greatest pillar of support.

Many who were familiar with Emperor Liu noticed that the white hairs at his temples seemed to have increased by several more strands. Lifting his eyes to look at Ciming Hall adorned with white silk, having hurried back, he now felt somewhat afraid to enter the hall.

His eyes grew moist again, but this time Emperor Liu forcibly held it back, not letting it show on his face—yet it flowed into his heart instead.

"Father!" Liu Yang, supporting Emperor Liu and seeing his sorrowful expression, finally called out softly, breaking the silence.

"Did the Empress Dowager leave any final instructions?" At last, Emperor Liu also spoke, his voice low and hoarse.

Liu Yang answered with a choked voice: "Grandmother said she had no regrets in this life, and instructed that she be buried together with the Imperial Ancestor, that the funeral be conducted with simplicity as the priority, and that extravagance be avoided..."

Hearing this, he opened his mouth slightly, then shook off Liu Yang's support and, alone, step by step, slowly ascended the stone steps, walked up the hall platform, and entered the hall.

After returning to the capital, Emperor Liu wept no more, yet for the Empress Dowager's funeral, he showed no restraint against extravagance, appointing Xue Juzheng and Li Ye as funeral directors, handling everything according to the highest specifications.