Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 194: Legend of Zhen Huan 64

The emperor touched the wool ball and blanket and felt that they could keep out the cold better than cotton cloth. He also knew that wool was just an insignificant accessory of a sheep. Although some people on the grassland could make felt with wool, most of the wool was discarded.

So the emperor asked Yi Xin how many processes were required to turn wool into yarn, but Yi Xin couldn't say that she knew even this, so she just replied that she didn't know either, but because alkaline noodles were needed to clean wool, the cost of yarn must not be high.

The emperor tried the gloves with half of his fingers exposed and found that these gloves made of wool were indeed better at keeping warm than cotton cloth and even the various fur coats in the palace. The key point was that the price of these gloves was probably only a fraction of that of a fur coat and could keep more people warm!

The emperor immediately took away his own socks and gloves, and also took away Hongsheng's share. He also took Hongsheng back to the Qianqing Palace. Before leaving, he asked Yi Xin to get ready, because Hongsheng would move to the prince's residence to live alone next year.

In the afternoon, the emperor summoned Ma Qi and other members of the Fucha family. As expected, they got the method of washing the wool and weaving it into thread. When they heard that this wool could be purchased from the grassland for less than a copper coin per pound, they were overjoyed.

The Fucha family took the initiative to offer such a method, and the emperor certainly would not let the Fucha family suffer losses, so the person in charge would naturally have to be chosen from within the Fucha family's sphere of influence, or at least someone close to the Fucha family. Prince Ding emerged from among the emperor's brothers.

As for the people in the Imperial Household Department, the emperor certainly didn't want to see anyone in the Imperial Household Department getting too close to the Fucha family, so the Dong family couldn't profit openly for the time being. However, the emperor could still rest assured that Xia Wei was there to help the Prince of Ding. Everything was going according to the plan of Yi Xin and the Fucha family.

Then before the Chinese New Year, Yi Xin was promoted to Imperial Noble Consort, Jing Consort was promoted to Noble Consort, Hui Consort, Wan Consort and Xin Consort were all promoted to Consorts and retained their titles, Yue Noble Consort, An Noble Consort, Fucha Noble Consort and Guarjia Noble Consort were also promoted to Consorts, and Fucha Noble Consort was given the title Shen.

In addition, Liu, Wang, Cao and Su of the Han army banner who were recommended by foreign ministers were appointed as concubines. In the enclosure, there were two women named Li and Lin who the emperor thought served well and were appointed as official girls.

As for the Fucha family, Yi Xin's father was granted the title of earl, and Ma Qi was also granted the title of earl. Both titles were inherited for three generations, which is relatively rare.

After the grand enthronement ceremony, Yi Xin received the phoenix seal and the imperial edict that belonged to the empress. It seemed that she was only half a step away from becoming the empress, but Yi Xin knew that she might not be able to take this half step while the emperor was still alive.

With the establishment of the Imperial Noble Consort, the practice of paying respects to the emperor was resumed in the palace. Half of the palace power held by Noble Consort Jing was divided equally with Consort Hui and Consort Wan. This was all the emperor's intention.

Concubine Guaerjia did not receive a title this time. She only felt that the emperor acted unfairly and complained about him in private. However, the emperor placed people around her and her every move was known to the emperor. The emperor was already a little annoyed with her, but considering her father E Min and her innocent death by the deposed queen, he did not touch her. Unexpectedly, she would blame the emperor behind his back without knowing the severity of the matter, so the emperor completely ignored her.

But after E Min framed Zhen Yuandao and manipulated the exposure of the fact that he had deposed the empress and killed Empress Chunyuan, he became a little arrogant. He felt that no matter in the matter of Nian Gengyao or Zhen Yuandao, he was a loyal minister to the emperor and had good ability to handle affairs. Why was his daughter not as good as an unknown Concubine Shen?

However, E Min was so outrageous that she directly questioned the emperor's decision not to give a title to Concubine Guaerjia during a grand court meeting, and also slandered Concubine Shen. This led to the exposure of Fu Cha, who was behind Yi Xin and Concubine Shen, causing the court officials to look at E Min with surprise.

They never knew that E Min’s true nature was like this!

Naturally, the emperor was amused by E Min's righteous and unreasonable behavior, and he sent E Min home to reflect and announced the adjournment of the court. Before noon, Concubine Guaerjia was demoted to a concubine for disrespecting the emperor and his father, which was two levels lower than the noble lady she was initially given when she entered the palace.

What Guaerjia promised made the former dynasty and the harem laugh, especially Concubine Wan, who was so rare that people gave her a pot of hot wine. Guaerjia promised that her family had fabricated the charge that her father Zhen Yuandao was disloyal to the emperor and the court by secretly storing anti-poems, which caused her whole family to be exiled to the northwest. She couldn't do anything for Guaerjia promised before, but now she didn't need to do anything. Guaerjia promised and Emin had sent themselves astray.

Concubine Wan is now in power. Even though there is a Noble Concubine and an Imperial Noble Concubine above her, the emperor, especially Noble Concubine Jing, has long lost her favor. Even though she is raising Princess Wen Yi, the emperor will only go to Xianfu Palace to sit for a while when he thinks of Princess Wen Yi, and will never stay overnight.

Although the Imperial Noble Consort looked young, the Emperor would never forget her. But everyone knew that the Imperial Noble Consort's service to the Emperor was not as good as before Guarjia agreed.

But the Imperial Noble Consort's future was undoubtedly the best, because she gave birth to a smart prince and had the support of a big family like the Fucha clan.

Concubine Wan has already begun to contact the Fourth Prince Hongli secretly. Similarly, she has the same idea as Concubine Duan did before, and the Fourth Prince Hongli has indeed accepted the olive branch extended by Concubine Wan. No one understands the dilemma of having no one in the harem better than him, and Concubine Wan's family has no one, so he will be more valuable to her than to Concubine Duan.

If Concubine Wan wanted to please someone, she would rarely fail, even though there was an exception like Yi Xin. But the emperor was really pleased by Concubine Wan. Now in the emperor's heart, Concubine Wan had changed from a substitute for Queen Chunyuan to Concubine Wan, and was no longer a dispensable person.

So when the emperor took his harem to the Old Summer Palace to escape the summer heat the next year, the fourth prince Hongli had already been registered under the name of Concubine Wan Zhen.

This made the people of Concubine Duan's family, the Qi family, furious. They all believed that the Fourth Prince's current glory was entirely due to Concubine Duan's adoption of the Fourth Prince, which gave the Fourth Prince the opportunity to return to the palace. But now that the Fourth Prince was about to get married, they were preparing to get in touch with the Fourth Prince, but suddenly the Fourth Prince got together with Concubine Wan and even directly changed the jade book. Now the Fourth Prince had nothing to do with the deceased Concubine Duan, or their Qi family!

Even though the Qi family resented the Fourth Prince for being ungrateful, dealing with a prince was very different from dealing with a concubine, so Concubine Wan soon received news that her father was seriously ill in the northwest due to heavy labor.

This news was sent to the palace through the Shen family. Although Shen Meizhuang and Concubine Wan had already become estranged, Shen Meizhuang still let the Shen family send the news in because of their past friendship. She did not make things difficult for the Zhen family's mother and daughter, and even had someone take care of the Zhen family's four members. It was a pity that although Concubine Wan asked the emperor to send people to the northwest, when Su Peisheng arranged for people to rush to the northwest, Zhen Yuandao's mourning hall had already been set up.