Chapter 580: When the Children All Began to Compete

Good books,,,,,,,,,

In the Eastern Capital, outside Xinzheng Gate of Kaifeng Prefecture, a sea of people had gathered. Toward the Shaoming Son of Heaven, the people of Kaifeng Prefecture held complicated feelings.

Of course, the greatest share was gratitude that the Shaoming Son of Heaven had saved them from the Khitan and given them food — a rare good emperor indeed.

Yet precisely because he was good, the Shaoming Son of Heaven made them feel somehow unreal.

Just look at the caliber of emperors who had held the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, over the years.

Zhu Wen of the Later Liang — no need to elaborate — a heavyweight among heavyweights, a prodigy who could make his daughters-in-law take turns warming his bed.

Never mind how he treated the common people or whether he had merits and faults; on that alone, no one could respect him. Throughout Chinese history, the collapse of human ethics has always been an extremely grave matter.

One like the last Liang emperor Zhu Youzhen was also full of muddled moves, favoring treacherous ministers until Kaifeng was a foul mess.

The Later Jin founder Shi Jingtang, and Shi Chonggui, who is still farming at Tieling, are even harder to sum up in a word. One can only say: freak emperors, each freakish in his own way.

Yelu Deguang went even further, treating Kaifeng as his personal amusement park.

And it was precisely because the emperors residing in Kaifeng were all such freaks that the people of Kaifeng found Zhang Zhao so unfamiliar and unreal.

But there is no need to fear that unreality. Generally speaking, when people are not familiar with one another, a little money changing hands will soon make them familiar.

Moreover, in this great southern campaign, the Left and Right Shenwei Armies, formed from the Eastern Capital's Jin troops and the various regional garrison troops, had rendered no small service, and every man had received rewards.

Most of them were natives of the Eastern Capital, and now that they had returned victorious, the people of the Eastern Capital shared in the glory.

By regulation, when the great army returned, the Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Zhang Xichong, who had remained behind as regent, need only have led the entire remaining staff thirty li out of the city to welcome them.

But after the two mothers in the rear palace discussed it, they had Empress Cao Yanxi also dress in full ceremonial attire and come ten li outside the city to welcome him.

To make it more solemn, Cao Yanxi even had a Jinming Terrace built just outside the Eastern Capital.

As Zhang Zhao, deliberately clad in golden armor, had that armor removed by Empress Cao Yanxi and the maids she had brought, the soldiers who had marched all the way likewise symbolically cast off a piece of armor plate or some other item from their bodies, signifying the completion of the disarmament.

According to the custom of the Zhou state, Zhang Zhao announced that the great army would rest and refit for half a month. Apart from the six guards of the personal army, who would rotate their leave, the seven garrison commands of the outer provinces' imperial armies and the Left and Right Shenwei Armies would be kept at a total strength of only three thousand men; all the rest could take leave.

Zhang Zhao also publicly remitted, for all farming households in the one prefecture and four counties of the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng, and the one prefecture and five counties of the Divine Capital, Luoyang, this year's autumn tax for the second half of the year, as well as the poll silver levied on the townsfolk.

For a time, cheers rose on all sides, and Zhang Zhao, this Shaoming Emperor, at last became real in the eyes of the people of the two capitals.

At the gate of Qianyuan Palace, his legal mother, Empress Dowager Ciyou, and his birth mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng, came out with tears in their eyes to welcome Zhang Zhao.

Although he was the Emperor, Zhang Zhao first performed the rites of a son and paid his respects to his two mothers.

Though the two mothers had much they wished to say to Zhang Zhao, they held back their longing and let Zhang Zhao reunite first with his consorts.

Zhang Zhao also said that the next day he would go to the traveling palace outside the city for recreation, and then enjoy a reunion with his mothers.

After the two mothers returned to the palace, Zhang Zhao cast his gaze about — the lovely ladies kneeling before him were by no means few.

His companion through hardship, Lady Cao Sanniang, though her youth had faded, still held an extremely important place in Zhang Zhao's heart, and she remained his reliable helper in the inner court.

His young aunt Li Ruoliu was just at the honey-peach age of lingering charm, and had already borne Zhang Zhao three sons, so her position was very secure.

Cao Yanmian, the former queen of Sakto, carried an exotic air of her own. She was a specialist at producing daughters, and had borne Zhang Zhao a whole brood of little padded jackets.

Only, who knew whether after this delivery she would get her wish and bear a son.

Ayiguli, the mother of the little chubby Zhang Xianyu, could be counted as not much favored, but because of Zhang Xianyu, her position was still secure. She was simply sickly all along, and in the rear palace one could say she existed in a state of invisibility.

As for Guo Wan'er — well, this little lass was not the sort to topple cities and kingdoms, and she seemed to be barren as well, but her beauty held its value extremely well.

She was the only woman by Zhang Zhao's side whose appearance had basically never changed from when he first knew her to now.

But Zhang Zhao was a little afraid of her, because this little lass thought that since other women could bear children, she surely could too, and therefore threw herself into the bedchamber without reserve, with a great variety of tricks, so that Sage Zhang was often worn out by her.

These five could be counted as those who had followed Zhang Zhao relatively early, and their ages had all inevitably begun to advance.

And among those below, the one blinking her eyes and casting sparks at Zhang Zhao was Li Yunxiu.

She was Li Cunhui's youngest aunt, Sage Zhang's childhood sweetheart. In Zhang Zhao's few memories of being allowed to go to Dunhuang as a child, they always began and ended with Li Yunxiu's teasing, so now it was Zhang Zhao's turn to "tease" her.

Of the two little lolis from Saman Persia, Sefiye was already twenty-three, but she looked like a loli. Her younger sister Pantaiya was only sixteen; were it not for her slightly swelling belly, she would be a standard loli.

The one with wild fire burning in her eyes was his little niece Yelu Abuli. This little Khitan filly had been left out in the cold by Zhang Zhao for a time because she was too enamored of power; from the look of it now, she had adjusted her mindset and was preparing to win back his favor.

As for Hua Jianxiu, although her age was not far from Zhang Zhao's, her beauty was truly no joke. Just standing there quietly, radiant and lovely, with an air of tranquil elegance mixed in, she was of the highest quality.

And among these familiar faces, Zhang Zhao discovered three new ones.

Lady Da Fu, who had once danced at Kang Fu's residence, was looking shyly at Zhang Zhao. At sixteen or seventeen, with first love just awakening, and married into the palace to an emperor who was a famed hero throughout the realm, Da Fu was very satisfied.

As for Gao E'nang beside her, about the same age but visibly rounder in figure, her face carrying a faint expression neither sad nor glad, she was completely different from the expectant Da Fu.

Well, one could not really blame her. If Zhang Zhao knew what treatment this Gao E'nang had received, he would surely have sympathized with her a little.

The physical precautions alone were enough to give her a hard time, because the first thing that had to be ensured was that she had not conceived a bastard of the Du family.

And this caution came not so much from within the palace as from the Gao family itself, and from the Shanbei strongmen who clustered around the Gao family.

As for the one who fell at the very back, yet whose enthusiasm could be felt from far away, that was naturally Kang Fu's granddaughter.

Now that the Kang family had lost Kang Fu, and the next generation's abilities were lacking, the reason Zhang Zhao was willing to take a Kang daughter of exotic appearance was entirely because Zhang Zhao wished to use this to show the world that he kept his word.

Even if Kang Fu and he had in past years only had a verbal agreement, even if Kang Fu had already passed away, and the Kang family had no value worth drawing over to his side, Zhang Zhao was still willing to take a Kang daughter as a consort — this was the credibility of a sovereign.

Naturally, Lady Kang knew this very clearly as well. She knew even better what her only advantage was: a beautiful face and a tall figure.

So much so that this Lady Kang was too fiery, and had already succeeded in arousing the extreme wariness of Yelu Abuli and the twin Persian princesses.

Zhang Zhao considered for a moment. If this were before he had transmigrated, with a clothes-rack like Da Fu, long legs like Gao E'nang, and a Lady Kang comparable to some Ba or some Zha, Sage Zhang would long since have pounced on them and "battled" them into a tangle.

But now, holding great power, having seen every kind of woman, and able to summon them at will, Zhang Zhao had always remained in a state of great restraint regarding his personal physical needs.

A qualified sovereign, even when going to bed, can regard it as a continuation of politics.

Moreover, when one possesses a vast supply of opposite-sex partners available at any time, if one does not exercise restraint, the body will likely collapse completely before long.

In history, sovereigns who died on, or indirectly from, women's bellies were by no means few.

Furthermore, the appearance of Da Fu, Gao E'nang, and Lady Kang here was clearly at odds with propriety. The three of them had not yet been formally invested, and by rights should not have been allowed to remain here.

So Zhang Zhao turned his head toward Cao Yanxi. "Nineteenth Lady, send the three of them back first. There should still be a ceremony, after all."

Cao Yanxi, hearing this, blinked her lively large eyes. "Erlang is in high spirits today. Why not keep them to serve you? This slave has heard that Lady Gao's Sogdian Whirl dance is excellent!"

Zhang Zhao, hearing this, glanced at Gao E'nang's straight, slender legs. Mm, with such long legs, she was just right for the Sogdian Whirl dance.

But Zhang Zhao still shook his head, then moved a little closer to Nineteenth Lady. "Tonight I shall not watch the Sogdian Whirl dance. This evening I will keep Nineteenth Lady company."

Cao Yanxi gave a sly, fox-like smile and pointed at her belly, already more than seven months along and very large. "If Erlang comes over tonight, he'll be keeping an empty bed."

Zhang Zhao chuckled too. "No matter. You have always stayed home managing the inner palace for me. This time let me have a taste of keeping an empty bed."

These words pleased Cao Yanxi immensely. The next second, the fox-like Cao Yanxi in Zhang Zhao's eyes assumed the authority of mistress of the inner palace and personally arranged places for Da Fu, Gao E'niang, and Lady Kang.

Once the empress left, the rest grew merry. Laughing and chattering, they crowded around Zhang Zhao and headed into the palace. Sage Zhang's children who were old enough to run about also came shrieking and shouting to greet him.

One boy told his imperial father that he already recognized several hundred characters; another said he could mount a horse and draw a bow.

The little chubby Zhang Xianyu was no longer silent either. He squeezed over and said he had newly annotated the Great Compassion Mantra of the Dharma King of Great Compassion and wished to present it for His Majesty's inspection.

The girls crowded over too, each wanting to take their father's hand. Those who could not reach his hand ran and hopped along beside him.

Zhang Zhao suddenly realized that his children had grown up, because they had learned to compete for favor. And in the inner palace, where resources were highly concentrated, they had also begun to grind.

And he also discovered that his impression of many of his children still remained fixed on how they had looked at birth.

Zhang Zhao suddenly understood why the relationships between emperors of successive dynasties and their sons were so rarely harmonious.

Enormous interests, plus the emperor's attention being scattered by a flood of information, meant he simply could not attend to his children's growth. It would be strange if the relationships were good.

Zhang Zhao made up his mind: he would establish the Dragon Tao Academy now — not only for the sons of meritorious officials and the Xia lords and Yi people, but also so that his own sons could receive more training there. He too would go to the Dragon Tao Academy more often to interact with them.