Chapter 366: Kindness and Authority
The third generation of the Zhang family now had three granddaughters-in-law. Although the first two came from families of meritorious officials, only Du Wan was someone whom Lady Gu personally requested to marry, so she naturally held her in high regard. Early in the morning, after Zhang Yue and Du Wan came to pay their respects, Xiao Wu cheerfully reported that Du Wan might be pregnant and needed to go to the Duke of Ying’s residence to have Doctor Feng examine her pulse. Lady Gu’s face lit up with joy, and she immediately agreed. She sent the smiling Zhang Yue off to handle official matters and kept Du Wan in the main room, giving detailed instructions to Qiu Hen who had followed along.
A little over an hour later, Xiao Wu brought Doctor Feng Yuanming from the Du family. Since he was a familiar doctor, Lady Gu ordered the housekeeper to bring him in directly and instructed the maids to bring in a cushion without any need to avoid anyone. Soon, Feng Yuanming entered, bowed lightly, and after sitting down, examined her left and right pulses one after another. Then he smiled—a smile directed at Xiao Wu.
“The pulse is smooth, like beads rolling on a plate; indeed, it’s a sign of good fortune. You’ve truly not wasted all these days learning from me.”
Having heard about Doctor Feng’s peculiar temperament from Du Wan, Lady Gu wasn’t offended by his words and quickly asked, “Doctor Feng, although my granddaughter-in-law has always been in good health, this is her first time experiencing this. Are there any special precautions needed?”
Though he would visit the Duke of Ying’s residence every other day, Feng Yuanming stayed at the Du family’s home. Since Du Zhen knew quite a bit about medicine, he often debated with Feng in his free time. The simple meals there kept him healthy, and over the past half year, he had become plumper and less gaunt than before. Seeing Lady Gu’s concern, he explained, “Don’t worry, my lady. Your granddaughter-in-law has strong vitality and is in excellent health. All she needs is to pay attention to her diet and have someone accompany her when walking or doing chores. As for the treatment plan, I’ll give all the instructions to Xiao Wu—she’ll surely take it more seriously than anyone else.”
Seeing Xiao Wu’s energetic demeanor, Lady Gu smiled, thinking that having such a capable person around to handle emergencies really eased her worries. Just then, noise came from outside, and soon someone reported, “Madam, the second master and the eldest young master have returned. They say to have all the ladies dress up in their finest attire, as the imperial envoy carrying the imperial decree has already set off!”
Just moments ago, she had been overjoyed at this happy event, but now, hearing such news, Lady Gu felt her heart race. Without anyone helping her, she stood up on her own and hurriedly urged Bai Fang to fetch the complete set of imperial crown and robe. Seeing Du Wan about to get up, she thought for a moment before saying, “Although it’s the second son who is being granted a title, all family members should go to receive the decree and express our gratitude. Wan is now pregnant, and kneeling for too long might be harmful. How about this: I’ll ask someone to take special care of the messenger delivering the decree, so Wan can stay out of the way for now.”
Feng Yuanming had initially worried that Lady Gu might forget the earlier event due to this new one, but now he thought she was truly a considerate elder. After some thought, he suggested, “Kneeling for too long can indeed cause miscarriage. The old lady has thought this through well. However, we should also consider who will be delivering the decree. If it’s someone close to the family, it shouldn’t be a problem, but if it’s someone hostile, we need to be cautious. So, please also fetch Du Wan’s imperial crown and robe. If that doesn’t work, she’ll have to endure it anyway. She can wrap cushions around her knees, and I’ll use acupuncture to stabilize the pregnancy. It should be fine for now, and I doubt anyone would trouble the Zhang family at such a time.”
“Very good, very good. Thanks to Doctor Feng for reminding me.”
Lady Gu nodded repeatedly, ordering people to go investigate while sending Qiu Hen back to fetch Du Wan’s imperial crown and robe. The crown was adorned with numerous heavy decorations such as pearls, peony motifs, green clouds, green peony leaves, and gold and silver inlaid flowers—dozens of items in total, making it look extremely heavy just by looking at it. The robe’s long sleeves were made of bright red silk, and the outer robe was embroidered with cloud and mandarin duck patterns, quite luxurious. Yet compared to Lady Gu’s own attire in her nearly seventy years, this set of fifth-rank imperial garments seemed rather shabby.
Xiao Wu, who had never seen Lady Gu wear a crown covered in golden decorations before, along with that robe embroidered with golden cloud and peacock patterns, was almost blinded. It wasn’t until Du Wan gave her a white glance that she realized her stunned expression was disrespectful. She quickly stammered, “Please don’t blame me, old lady. I’m inexperienced; seeing so much gold dazzled my eyes… Now I finally understand why so many women encourage their husbands to become officials!”
“You little girl, if it weren’t to secure a position and bring honor to one’s family, why bother sending one’s husband thousands of miles to battle for a title? As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, even his chickens and dogs rise to high status. In poor families, once someone becomes an official, it benefits the entire family, and future generations also enjoy its advantages—so naturally, everyone wants to become an official.” Lady Gu smiled scornfully, but there was one thing she kept to herself—given the meager salaries in their dynasty, if one really relied on official pay, they would surely starve to death.
Before long, the girl sent to inquire rushed back, reporting that Second Master said the imperial edict would be delivered today out of caution, and that it would be brought by Eunuch Huang Yan from the Imperial Ceremonial Bureau and Eunuch Zhang Qian from the Imperial Workshops. Hearing this, even Du Wan, who had been thinking of her unborn child, dared not neglect the matter. Zhang Qian could be considered a close ally of their family, but Huang Yan had ulterior motives. If they were caught with this weakness today, what should have been a happy occasion could quickly turn into disaster.
“Doctor Feng, please help me with acupuncture to protect the fetus. I must go today.”
“…To restore order in the realm, one relies on wise ministers; to quell rebellions in the countryside, one depends on brave generals. Zhang You, Deputy Commander of the Left Army, has previously fought in Jiaozhi and later suppressed the Japanese pirates. His achievements in pacifying the Eastern tribes and deterring foreign invaders are truly remarkable. Today, he is granted the title of Yangwu Bo and made a hereditary commander…”
Although Huang Yan and Zhang Qian came together, since Huang Yan was an eunuch from the Imperial Ceremonial Bureau, it was naturally his role to read the imperial edict. After reading it slowly and emphatically, he waved his hand with a smile, and Zhang Qian personally handed the decree to Zhang You. Then, several young eunuchs brought over the sealed scroll of the title. Since Zhang Xin had previously held a third-rank official position, the Zhang family had already posthumously honored two generations with three scrolls of decrees. Now that Zhang You was granted the title of bo, three generations would naturally be honored as well. Lady Dongfang, dressed in the attire of a third-rank noblewoman, trembled as she received the splendid crown and robes of a bo’s wife, overjoyed beyond measure.
Due to her age, Lady Gu stumbled slightly when getting up. Zhang You beside her quickly helped her up, while Huang Yan, who was standing in front, also reacted swiftly to support her. Smiling, he said, “The old lady is truly fortunate. From now on, she should refer to herself as Lady Taibo. As long as Yangwu Bo keeps working hard, this hereditary title will surely become one of Taibo, and the honor will be even greater. Moreover, above the title of bo is that of marquis, and above marquis is duke—who knows, the Zhang family might even produce another duke.”
Lady Gu quickly humbled herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Li Yun already helping Du Wan to her feet; Du Wan’s complexion seemed fine, and she felt relieved. Just as she was about to signal the butler Gao Quan to present the gold gifts that had been prepared earlier, Huang Yan suddenly smiled at her again and said, “Speaking of which, although the Emperor shows great favor to Marquis Yangwu, he also trusts Lord Zhang immensely. The military camps are not under the jurisdiction of the Five Army Commanders, nor does the Ministry of War usually have any control over them. Yet the Emperor ordered Lord Zhang to oversee them, clearly out of trust. Today, at the request of the three commanders of the Changshan Guards, the Emperor has ordered them to be stationed thirty li south of the military camps, and Lord Zhang is to inspect their numbers and distribute weapons as per protocol.”
Upon hearing this, not only was Lady Gu astonished, but Zhang You beside her also found the situation unusual. However, both mother and son knew that the eunuch Huang Yan from the Imperial Secretariat was difficult to deal with, so they simply humbled themselves promptly. Gao Quan presented a generous sum of money, and Huang Yan casually crushed the heavy gift envelope before smiling and glancing at Du Wan behind Lady Gu.
“I heard Lady Du is pregnant? Today truly brings double joy. Now that we’ve received this gift envelope, we might have to visit again in a few days. Eunuch Zhang, I must go to the Prince Zhao’s palace and several princesses’ residences to deliver orders. I’ll be leaving first; you’ll take care of things here.”
As Huang Yan said, Zhang Yue, still immersed in the good news of his wife’s pregnancy, was met with such sudden news as soon as he arrived at the Ministry of War. The Changshan Guards were the royal guards of Prince Zhao, totaling 15,000 elite soldiers originally under the Beiping Military Command. Naturally, they were not stationed in Beijing city. But this sudden reassignment, right next to the military camps—whether out of the Emperor’s wariness toward Prince Zhao Zhu Gao Sui or his desire to protect him—meant that he had to deal with such a troublesome matter. Despite his headache from overthinking it, he still had to go in person.
The Left Changshan Guard used to be the Yongqing Left Guard, the Right Changshan Guard was the Yongqing Right Guard, and the Central Changshan Guard was the Pengcheng Guard. But since these three guards were renamed Changshan Guards and placed under Prince Zhao Zhu Gao Sui, and after Zhu Gao Sui settled in Beijing, their offices had always been located in Dazha Shu Hutong in Beijing’s Western City. Compared to the civil officials’ offices and the Five Army Commanders’ offices that moved to Beijing later, their premises appeared even more imposing, reflecting the glory of Prince Zhao Zhu Gao Sui’s time in power in Beijing.
For this very reason, despite Zhang Yue having produced an official document from the Ministry of War, the two brightly dressed sergeants at the gate still firmly blocked him outside. One claimed that the commander of the guards had not arrived yet, while the other, unaccustomed to seeing people from other departments outside, was even more harsh, sneering and saying, “Even if it were people from the Five Armies Command seeking entry, we wouldn’t dare let them in. You’re just a minor official in the Ministry of War—please go back first. No matter how urgent it is, it must wait!”
Zhang Yue glared coldly at these two thuggish men and held back the furious Hu Qi and Zhao Hu. At this moment, he had to consider whether someone was deliberately trying to intimidate him, whether this was simply the behavior of the Changshan Guards, or if they were trying to provoke him into making a mistake. Taking a deep breath, he sneered, “Do you dare disregard imperial orders?”
“The Changshan Guards were bestowed by the emperor upon Prince Zhao. The emperor has never issued any orders here—please don’t throw around such grand titles recklessly!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a deep sneer came from not far away: “After two years, the Changshan Guards have become so unruly and lawless—what a disgrace!”