Empress Xu passed away and was posthumously titled “Ren Xiao” (Benevolent and Filial). Henceforth in the text, she shall be referred to as “Empress Ren Xiao.”
Emperor Yongle emulated the funeral protocols of his late legitimate mother, Empress Xiaoci, granting her a grand and glorious burial.
That same month, Zhang Fu, Marquis of Xincheng and commander-in-chief of the court’s first military campaign—the Annan Campaign—finally returned triumphantly to the capital. Originally, the great victory had been achieved in May with the capture of Hu Jili and his son, but due to the long journey, transporting numerous prisoners, along with war trophies including elephants and cannons, and dealing with attacks from Hu Jili’s former subordinates attempting to rescue their master, the journey had been delayed and took two months to reach the capital.
When the main army received news of Empress Xu’s death, all three armies donned white mourning garments and held funeral rites for the empress.
On one hand was the heavy blow of the empress’s death; on the other was the good news of the southern expedition army’s triumphant return.
The first great victory since ascending the throne marked a turning point for the Ming Dynasty’s national fortune and military morale.
After experiencing four years of civil war during the Jingnan Campaign, the Ming Dynasty had suffered greatly, to the point where even a vassal state like Annan dared to deceive Emperor Yongle, their suzerain lord, by fraudulently obtaining imperial investiture documents—a direct slap in the face and utter humiliation.
The Ming Dynasty urgently needed a victorious foreign war to reunite and consolidate its military forces, boost civilian morale, and demonstrate national prestige.
Therefore, Emperor Yongle suppressed his grief over losing his wife and held grand ceremonies for presenting captives and bestowing rewards. Among those receiving honors, the greatest credit naturally went to Consort Zhang’s elder brother, Zhang Fu, Marquis of Xincheng.
Zhang Fu was enfeoffed as Duke of Yingguo with the titles “Military Minister who Served Heaven, Pacified Rebellion, Demonstrated Loyalty, and Manifested Strength,” “Grand Preceptor and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent,” and “Right Pillar of State,” receiving an annual stipend of three thousand shi of grain and hereditary succession documents. He was additionally granted ceremonial caps and robes, gold, silver, colored silk, and paper currency.
The Zhang family thus obtained the hereditary and irrevocable ducal title of Duke of Yingguo, instantly becoming one of the most powerful nouveau riche families in the capital.
From one great victory, some people like Zhang Fu gained fame and fortune, leaping to become top aristocratic families in the capital, while others remained obscure, seeking no rewards, wanting only to return home to see their wives and children after the war.
The Hu Residence
With Empress Ren Xiao’s death, funeral arrangements were being conducted in the palace. Hu Shanwei, having just arrived and taken over responsibilities, was somewhat overwhelmed. She could only rush home every three to five days to spend one night, have dinner with A’Lei, sleep, then rise at the fourth watch the next morning to enter the palace, waiting outside the Xi’an Gate before dawn for the palace gates to open. For an entire month, she hadn’t rested even half a day.
During the national mourning period, noble ladies of the fourth rank and above in the capital were required to enter the palace on dates assigned by the Court Bureau of Rites to hold funeral rites. The July weather was harsh—either scorching heat that could literally cook people alive, or sudden torrential downpours that soaked everyone like drowned rats. It was truly an alternation of ice and fire.
With the national mother’s death, even Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household, who had been secluded in Buddhist prayer, donned hemp mourning clothes and went to the rear palace to wail in grief.
This was the first time in five years that Hu Shanwei had seen Madam Geng. The former most prestigious noble lady of the capital, whose maternal and marital families were both top aristocratic households—seeing Madam Geng again, Hu Shanwei almost didn’t recognize this white-haired, decrepit old woman. Who could believe that this woman, who could barely catch her breath walking from Xi’an Gate to Empress Ren Xiao’s coffin chamber, was not even sixty years old?
Duke of Qianguo Mu Sheng was also a great hero of this southern campaign, so his mother needed proper care. Hu Shanwei gestured to the female officials responsible for guiding the noble ladies to first escort Madam Geng to a side hall to rest and recover her spirits before continuing to wail.
To prevent these delicate noble ladies from suffering heatstroke and fainting, Hu Shanwei ordered the Imperial Kitchen Bureau to freely provide chilled mung bean soup and plum soup.
But the noble ladies didn’t dare drink—they had to hold even their bladders! One group would finish wailing, then the next group would wait to wail. Every rhythm was arranged, and disrupting the rhythm would be disgraceful.
So Hu Shanwei had young palace maids carry mung bean soup to encourage consumption, telling these noble ladies: “Funeral rites are not about form but sincerity. Empress Ren Xiao always concerned herself with the people’s livelihood and was considerate of their hardships. You ladies enter the palace to hold funeral rites mourning Empress Ren Xiao. If Empress Ren Xiao’s spirit is aware, she probably wouldn’t want you all staring at the blazing sun and risking heatstroke to wail here.
“The Imperial Kitchen Bureau has prepared cooling soups for everyone, also following Empress Ren Xiao’s benevolent intentions during her lifetime. The side halls also have palace maids to assist with changing clothes, so you ladies needn’t worry about inconvenience.”
Meaning: drink freely and heartily—we have plenty of chamber pots anyway.
Since Noble Lady Hu had spoken, the noble ladies set aside their reserve and drank the chilled soups brought by young palace maids before continuing their wailing funeral rites.
After all, she was a palace lady who had served three reigns. Noble Lady Hu’s words carried authority and were more effective than anyone else’s. If she said it was fine, it was fine—drink with confidence.
Although the weather was harsh, thanks to Hu Shanwei’s meticulous and humane arrangements, each day noble ladies filed in orderly fashion to hold funeral rites. The coffin chamber resounded with wailing day and night, yet not a single noble lady suffered heatstroke or fainted.
Empress Ren Xiao’s funeral proceeded busily but orderly.
When the noble ladies reached their third round of wailing, Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household finally recovered her strength and struggled to wail for Empress Ren Xiao.
Even though Empress Ren Xiao’s husband, Emperor Yongle, had exterminated Madam Geng’s entire maternal family, Madam Geng still wailed very sorrowfully.
Looking at the completely white-haired Madam Geng, Hu Shanwei felt much emotion and pity. She went to find Consort Zhang to ask whether they could grant Madam Geng a sedan chair, so when she finished the funeral rites, she could be carried out of the palace instead of walking all the way to the southwest gate under the poisonous sun, fearing Madam Geng’s physical and mental condition couldn’t endure it.
With Empress Ren Xiao’s death, the rear palace was without a mistress and needed a consort to temporarily assume authority and fulfill the empress’s duties.
Although Consort Zhang had just reached her twentieth year and was young, she held the highest rank in the palace. Moreover, she had an excellent brother, Zhang Fu, and her family had just received the ducal title of Duke of Yingguo. Emperor Yongle intended to reward the Zhang family, so unsurprisingly, Consort Zhang was to take charge of rear palace authority.
As Palace Lady, Hu Shanwei had to request Consort Zhang’s approval for any matters she couldn’t decide independently.
Consort Zhang resided in Yanxi Palace of the Eastern Six Palaces.
Consort Zhang came from a distinguished military family, and not an ordinary one that rose through military merit step by step. The Zhang family were originally Yuan Dynasty nobility—generational officials. Her father, Zhang Yu, had been Director of the Yuan Privy Council, similar to the current American CIA director.
Those with good memories should remember that Hu Shanwei’s former fiancé, Wang Ning, had once served in the Yuan Privy Council, working undercover in the intelligence organization…
The Ming Dynasty’s third and fourth northern expeditions during the Hongwu reign were victorious precisely because of intelligence from Wang Ning confirming enemy positions, achieving decisive victory. At that time, Zhang Yu was Wang Ning’s superior, and Wang Ning was specifically undermining Zhang Yu’s operations.
Due to the Yuan golden family’s internal strife and succession struggles leading to the extinction of the direct line, the Yuan Dynasty fell. When various tribes convened, none would submit to another as emperor, so they simply disbanded, splitting back into equal nomadic tribal groups, regressing to a barbaric age where whoever had the strongest fist would attack others and seize their territory and women.
The ancestor of the golden family, Genghis Khan, had spent his lifetime leading his tribe out of the grasslands to ultimately claim the Central Plains. However, the golden family’s descendants squandered the family fortune in just fifty-some years, returning to their ancestral lands and falling into perpetual division and internal strife, never again having the resolve to “reclaim the Central Plains.”
Facing this fragmented situation, former CIA Director Zhang Yu became disheartened and threw himself into the embrace of Prince Yan, then the Ming’s most powerful force, performing great merit during the Jingnan Campaign before ultimately dying with more than ten arrows in his body while saving Prince Yan.
When Lady Zhang was still unmarried, Li Jinglong’s 500,000-man army besieged Beiping city, which had only 10,000 defenders. Princess Yan called upon the women in the city to mobilize, moving stones and boiling water to support the defenders.
Lady Zhang, a tiger daughter from a military family, led household soldiers wearing armor onto the city walls to kill enemies. Her archery was extremely accurate, never missing a shot, earning praise from Princess Yan.
To thank Zhang Yu for saving his life, Prince Yan elevated Lady Zhang into the Prince Yan’s household and heavily promoted her son Zhang Fu, who had received orthodox military education from childhood. Zhang Fu lived up to expectations, repeatedly performing extraordinary feats. After Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, he enfeoffed Zhang Fu as Marquis of Xincheng and Lady Zhang as Consort, ranking only below Empress Xu.
Now Zhang Fu was enfeoffed as Duke of Yingguo, and Consort Zhang managed rear palace authority. Though only twenty years old, she possessed considerable dignity and could intimidate the rear palace. After all, the aristocratic bearing of generational officials and her record of participating in the Defense of Beiping weren’t achieved overnight.
Lady Zhang had fair skin and a round face like the full moon—an excellent physiognomy. With good nutrition for generations, her brother Zhang Fu was mighty and robust, and she was also tall, blessed with large breasts and full hips. If her chest were Mount Tai, then her hips were the Himalayas, yet her waist was slender as a wasp’s—she was simply the Ming Dynasty version of Kim Kardashian.
In common society, such a figure would be praised by matchmakers as excellent for childbearing, having an auspicious appearance for bearing sons.
Therefore, while other consorts wearing loose hemp mourning garments looked like they were draped in tattered sacks, Consort Zhang wearing hemp mourning garments still had distinct chest, waist, and hips, creating a fashionable magazine effect with the aura of a rear palace mistress.
Consort Zhang led the rear palace consorts to the coffin chamber morning and evening to wail. Her eyes were red and eyelids swollen, as if wearing light red eyeshadow, making those large eyes appear even more deep and enchanting.
Consort Zhang wrapped ice cubes in a handkerchief to apply to her aching eyes, appearing very weary. When Hu Shanwei proposed using a sedan chair to carry Madam Geng out of the palace, she paused for quite a while before saying:
“Noble Lady Hu acts from good intentions. This palace is young and newly assuming rear palace authority—I dare not act independently in all matters or carelessly set precedents. This palace recalls that when Empress Ren Xiao was alive, there were many noble ladies older than Madam Geng who all walked when entering and leaving the palace. I have never heard of Empress Ren Xiao granting sedan chairs to any elderly lady.”
Everyone has their own position.
Hu Shanwei met with a neither soft nor hard rejection but calmly said: “Such precedents do exist in the rear palace, just not during Empress Ren Xiao’s tenure. When Empress Xiaoci was alive, the mother of Crown Prince Yiwen’s wife—Princess Kaiping Lady Lan—was always granted sedan chairs or palanquins by Empress Xiaoci when entering and leaving the palace. This matter is clearly recorded in ‘The Daily Records of Empress Xiaoci.’ If Consort grants Madam Geng a sedan chair, it wouldn’t set a precedent.”
When Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, he posthumously honored his father Crown Prince Yiwen as Emperor Xiaokang and his legitimate mother Lady Chang as Empress Xiaokang. When Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, he didn’t recognize Emperor Jianwen’s imperial investitures and restored Lady Chang’s title from the Gaozhu Emperor’s time as “Crown Prince Yiwen’s Consort.”
Similarly, during the Hongwu reign, to consolidate the heir apparent’s position, Gaozhu Emperor had implicated the Chang family of the Kaiping Prince’s household in the “Lan Yu Treason Case” and exterminated the entire clan, stripping the Chang family of all titles. At that time, Lady Lan, who was still the Duchess Dowager of Zhengguo, lost both maternal and marital families and was demoted to commoner status, also losing her noble lady title and becoming simply civilian Lady Lan.
During the Yongle reign, to win over Hongwu veterans and soldiers, Emperor Yongle restored the Chang family’s reputation and posthumously invested Lady Lan as Princess Kaiping. Truly thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river.
Getting titles wrong could mean dismissal at best, execution at worst.
As a palace lady serving three reigns, Hu Shanwei was experienced and solid in such basic skills as proper forms of address. She was also fluent in various rear palace historical precedents, persuading through reason rather than relying on her authority as a three-reign palace lady.
Consort Zhang was decisive and didn’t immediately soften and agree just because Hu Shanwei cited precedent, saying: “Empress Xiaoci granted Princess Kaiping sedan chairs because Princess Kaiping was Crown Prince Yiwen’s consort’s birth mother, thus showing special favor. So Princess Kaiping and Madam Geng’s situations are somewhat different—how can they be treated the same?”
Consort Zhang was also knowledgeable, thoroughly familiar with the genealogies and complex family relationships of former aristocratic families—she had clearly studied hard.
Hu Shanwei said: “Consort speaks extremely well. At that time, Princess Kaiping was only in her early fifties, in good health, and didn’t need sedan chairs for transportation. Empress Xiaoci’s gesture was out of imperial favor toward the Chang family and respect for in-laws. Now Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household is not yet sixty but has completely white hair. Due to years of vegetarian diet and Buddhist practice, sitting in meditation and chanting, her body is weak and she can’t even straighten her back. The weather is also hot. This subject observed that her body truly cannot endure it, hence coming to request whether to grant Madam Geng a sedan chair.”
Consort Zhang was somewhat surprised: “Has Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household aged to such a degree?”
In her memory, the last time she saw Madam Geng was in the first year of Yongle, when the entire Geng family of Changxin Marquis household was exterminated and Madam Geng entered the palace to kneel before Empress Ren Xiao begging mercy for the Geng family. At that time, Madam Geng didn’t have a single white hair and was in good health—a pampered noble lady.
Hu Shanwei said: “Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household has devoted herself wholeheartedly to Buddhist cultivation. Empress Ren Xiao exempted her from entering the palace for festival audience ceremonies, so Madam Geng doesn’t enter the palace. Therefore, Consort wouldn’t know of Madam Geng’s rapid aging and physical deterioration these past years.”
Madam Geng lacked virtue and ability, but she bore an excellent son in Mu Sheng. Moreover, her nominal daughter, Miss Mu, married Xu Zengshou, who was posthumously enfeoffed as Duke of Chengguo, and Lady Mu was later posthumously invested as Duchess of Chengguo. Her other nominal fourth son, Mu Xin, was Prince Consort to Princess Changning.
Given this, Consort Zhang didn’t dare be negligent, saying: “If so, then grant Madam Geng a sedan chair to leave the palace… From now on, whenever Madam Geng enters and leaves the palace, provide sedan chair transport.”
The Zhang family were nouveau riche, while the Mu family were old established aristocrats with the strongest credentials—better to be cautious.
Hu Shanwei said: “Consort is benevolent. This subject will arrange it immediately.”
Consort Zhang said: “The weather is hot. Please trouble Noble Lady Hu to inform Madam Geng of the Duke of Qianguo household that she needn’t come to Yanxi Palace to kowtow in thanks—ritual exempted.”
“Yes.” Hu Shanwei responded and withdrew.
After Hu Shanwei left, palace attendants around Consort Zhang said indignantly: “This Noble Lady Hu is too arrogant! She’s only been Palace Lady for a few days and constantly obstructs and difficulties Your Ladyship. This time, invoking Empress Ren Xiao wasn’t enough—she even brought up Empress Xiaoci to pressure Your Ladyship into compliance, doing things her way. Your Ladyship—”
“Silence!” Consort Zhang shot them a killing glare. “Speak such nonsense again and I’ll punish you with bell-carrying duty.”
Madam Geng was ultimately carried out of the palace in a sedan chair. Hu Shanwei, fearing she couldn’t endure it, specially instructed that two ice basins be placed in the sedan chair for cooling.
The day’s busy work came to an end. As the palace gates were about to close, Hu Shanwei breathed a sigh of relief, clocked out, showed her token and waist badge, and took a carriage home—today Mu Chun had returned, and she insisted on going home no matter what.
Arriving home, Mu Chun sat under the grape arbor in the courtyard enjoying the cool air. The weather was too hot, so he wore only a sleeveless vest and thin gauze pants with loose legs, absent-mindedly fanning himself with a golden Sichuan fan while lost in thought.
Her own man looked handsome even in his lazy appearance.
Not having seen him for more than half a year, Hu Shanwei’s heart surged with emotion as she sat beside Mu Chun. “What are you thinking about so intently?”
Mu Chun snapped his golden Sichuan fan shut in his palm with a “pop” sound. “I was thinking—our house is right behind the Grand Warehouse silver treasury. If we dug a hole from our house and made a tunnel, couldn’t we empty out the silver treasury?”
Hu Shanwei: Blood relative! Truly blood relative! Same thinking as A’Lei!