Emperor Jiajing had eight sons, but only the third, Prince Yu, and the fourth, Prince Jing, survived. Prince Yu was actually only twenty-five days older than Prince Jing. Both were twenty-three years old this year.
Prince Yu’s birth mother, Noble Consort Du Kang, fell out of favor very early and was despised by Emperor Jiajing. She also died early. On her deathbed, Prince Yu requested to see his mother consort one last time, but Emperor Jiajing refused. Her funeral was also very shabby, completely unworthy of a prince’s birth mother’s status.
Prince Jing was different. His birth mother, Noble Consort Lu Jing, was one of the favored consorts. From the current perspective, Noble Consort Lu Jing was the ultimate victor of palace intrigue during Emperor Jiajing’s reign. She only needed her son to be crowned Crown Prince and ascend the throne, and herself to be titled Empress Dowager, to claim the championship crown of palace struggles.
In the tenth year of Jiajing’s reign, after ten years on the throne without an heir, Emperor Jiajing began selecting maidens. For the sake of imperial succession, this selection was massive in scale, not limited to the capital region but expanded to include Jiangnan. Finally, nine women including Lady Fang, Lady Lu, and Lady Du were selected and titled the Nine Pin Consorts.
Initially, Lady Du was most glorious because two previous crown princes had died young, and only the third prince, Prince Yu, born to her was the first to survive to adulthood. She was the first to be promoted from Pin Consort to Noble Consort, titled Noble Consort Du Kang, enjoying unlimited glory for a time.
Just twenty-five days later, Pin Consort Lu gave birth to the fourth prince, Prince Jing. But because Prince Yu was born twenty-five days earlier, he claimed all the joy and attention. Lady Lu remained stagnant at the Pin Consort rank, quite dejected.
Noble Consort Du Kang had an upright character. After giving birth to her son, she frequently advised Emperor Jiajing not to take elixir pills made from virgin blood. This angered Emperor Jiajing and she fell from favor.
Pin Consort Lu seized the opportunity to rise, catering to Emperor Jiajing. Having also given birth to Prince Jing, Emperor Jiajing promoted her rank and titled her Noble Consort Lu Jing.
Soon after, Empress Zhang angered the volatile Emperor Jiajing and became the second deposed empress. With no mistress of the inner palace, Noble Consort Lu Jing was overjoyed, thinking that with her favor and having given birth to Prince Jing, she would certainly be named the new empress.
For a time, Noble Consort Lu Jing enjoyed popular support, with everyone assuming she would become empress.
But Emperor Jiajing unexpectedly chose Lady Fang, who had entered the palace during the same tenth-year selection and had never given birth, to be the new empress, becoming Empress Fang.
Noble Consort Lu Jing was so angry her face became distorted, but she still wore a smile while kowtowing to Empress Fang. However, she was unwilling to let the empress position she thought was hers be snatched away by the surprise Lady Fang, so she planted spies around Empress Fang, seeking opportunities to bring her down—after all, Emperor Jiajing’s court had already deposed two empresses, so deposing a third shouldn’t be difficult.
The opportunity came during the Renyin Palace Incident. When palace maid Yang Jinying’s attempt to strangle Emperor Jiajing failed, Empress Fang used the pretext of purging the palace to severely interrogate palace maids. Through forced confessions, she took the opportunity to execute two of Emperor Jiajing’s favored consorts, Noble Consort Cao Duan and Pin Consort Wang Ning, on charges of knowing but not reporting.
Noble Consort Lu Jing’s spy near Empress Fang informed her of this, but she held back, letting Empress Fang eliminate the two favored consorts Noble Consort Cao Duan and Pin Consort Wang Ning. Only after a full five years did she find an opportunity to speak to Emperor Jiajing, saying Empress Fang had abused her power for personal gain, wrongfully killing two favored consorts and deceiving the emperor.
Emperor Jiajing was naturally suspicious. With Noble Consort Lu Jing providing witnesses and evidence, he flew into a rage. But as a monarch, he couldn’t be deceived and fooled by an empress—if word got out, it would be a royal scandal. So Emperor Jiajing ordered arson at Kunning Palace. When the fire started, no one was allowed to enter and rescue her. Even palace servants didn’t die, yet an empress was burned to death in Kunning Palace.
Thus, none of Emperor Jiajing’s three empresses met good ends—two were deposed, one was burned to death.
Noble Consort Lu Jing thought her time to become empress had finally come, but the suspicious Emperor Jiajing was left with psychological trauma. From then on, he never named another empress, only ordering Noble Consort Lu Jing to manage the inner palace.
Noble Consort Lu Jing worked “diligently” in the inner palace. During this period, four more princes were born in succession, but all died young. The Noble Consort Du Kang in the cold palace also died of depression. After growing up, the third prince, Prince Yu, had the same character as his birth mother—stubborn and upright, frequently angering the dragon’s countenance.
Knowing his father emperor disliked Noble Consort Du Kang, Prince Yu still insisted on kneeling in the Western Garden, tearfully begging to see his mother consort one last time in the inner palace. Naturally, the furious Emperor Jiajing refused and harshly scolded Prince Yu, even ordering that Prince Yu never approach the Western Garden again.
Thus, Prince Yu didn’t even see Emperor Jiajing during his grand wedding, being so neglected. In contrast, Prince Jing, because his mother Noble Consort Lu Jing managed the inner palace and knew how to please his father, learned to wear Eight Trigrams Taoist robes and bamboo crowns like his father, winning Emperor Jiajing’s favor and being able to freely enter and exit the Forbidden City.
Aside from New Year’s holidays and sacrificial days when Prince Yu needed to enter the palace to worship ancestors at Fengxian Hall, he had no opportunity to set foot in the Forbidden City.
Emperor Jiajing was fifty-three this year. After all, he still had two adult sons. By rights, he should have long ago established a crown prince and settled the matter of imperial succession.
Moreover, according to Ming Dynasty imperial succession law: if there’s a legitimate heir, establish the legitimate; if no legitimate heir, establish the eldest. Though Prince Yu was only twenty-five days older than Prince Jing, according to succession law, even if he were only one hour older, Prince Yu was still the elder with natural inheritance rights.
However, Emperor Jiajing disliked the stubborn and cold Prince Yu, preferring the fourth prince, Prince Jing.
For the succession, the court split into two factions. Ministers led by Yan Song followed the emperor’s wishes and promoted Prince Jing. Ministers led by Xu Jie used the ancestral succession law as grounds and only recognized the elder Prince Yu. The two parties pulled back and forth in endless disputes.
Emperor Jiajing grew tired of the arguing and simply reasoned that since the first two crown princes had both died young, and Taoist priests said “two dragons must not meet,” he felt that when two dragons meet, one must die. It would be bad for either father or son to die, so he simply wouldn’t name an heir.
According to Ming Dynasty rules for enfeoffing princes, except for the crown prince, adult princes must go to their fiefs. Now with the crown prince position unfilled, Prince Jing had reached the “advanced age” of twenty-three, married for seven years, yet still lingered in the capital refusing to leave. He relied on his father emperor’s favor and his mother consort Noble Consort Lu Jing’s management of the inner palace to move freely throughout the Forbidden City.
Though Noble Consort Lu Jing had no hope of becoming empress, she was essentially an uncrowned empress. The entire inner palace looked to Noble Consort Lu Jing as their leader, treating Prince Jing as the future heir.
Noble Consort Lu Jing didn’t take the out-of-favor Prince Yu seriously. In her heart, the heir position definitely belonged to her son Prince Jing.
However, Prince Jing had every good quality except one—married for seven years, he remained childless.
Though Prince Yu’s two sons and two daughters ultimately all died young, at least he had had children. His eldest son even lived to age four.
But the princess consort and concubines in Prince Jing’s mansion had disappointing bellies—either couldn’t conceive or miscarried with stillbirths. They hadn’t even seen a single live newborn.
If Prince Jing remained childless, the emperor might yield to pressure from Minister Xu Jie and others, change his mind, and name Prince Yu as heir.
Noble Consort Lu Jing was worried. The women in Prince Jing’s mansion had useless bellies—seven years without producing even a fart. She was thinking of selecting several from these forty-eight maidens to send to Prince Jing’s mansion to continue the family line.
Noble Consort Lu Jing was reviewing the roster of candidate maidens when Prince Jing impatiently entered the palace to ask his mother consort for new women. He also knew his only flaw was lack of heirs and was anxious to have children.
The maidens’ heights, weights, measurements, and even the shape of their private parts during physical examinations were all recorded. Prince Jing’s eyes couldn’t help but glance toward the roster.
Noble Consort Lu Jing closed the roster. “What are you looking at? How improper! Before being sent to your Prince Jing’s mansion, these maidens are nominally your father emperor’s women.”
Prince Jing immediately withdrew his gaze, eyes on his nose, nose on his heart. “Your son isn’t lustful—isn’t he just anxious to give Mother Consort grandsons? Prince Jing’s mansion is full of hens that can’t lay eggs.”
Noble Consort Lu Jing’s willow eyebrows shot up. “Your princess consort and concubines were all chosen by this palace. Are you saying this palace lacks judgment?”
Prince Jing was frightened and quickly knelt. “Your son doesn’t mean that. Your son was wrong. Please punish me, Mother Consort.”
Prince Jing had a slippery character, knew how to please his father emperor and mother consort, knelt quickly, unlike his third brother Prince Yu who was persistent and dared publicly contradict their father emperor.
Noble Consort Lu Jing naturally wouldn’t do anything to her precious son, relying on him for her status. She said, “Get up. This time is a warning. Restrain yourself more outside in the future. Don’t let people catch you on small matters and capsize in the gutter.”
“Your son understands.” Prince Jing smiled and went to massage Noble Consort Lu Jing’s back and shoulders. “How could these common powder and rouge compare to Mother Consort’s peerless beauty? Your son listens to everything Mother Consort says. Whoever Mother Consort points to is the one.”
Prince Jing was filial and obedient. Noble Consort Lu Jing was very pleased, saying, “Don’t be anxious. Imperial heirs are inherently difficult. You’re twenty-three this year. Your father emperor didn’t have his first prince until age twenty-six, and that one died young anyway. Though your third brother got ahead by having two sons and two daughters, in the end didn’t they all come to nothing with none surviving? Having children is the same as not having them if they don’t live. Don’t worry about who has sons first—only those who survive count.”
As a victor who had successively brought down favored consorts and even an empress, Noble Consort Lu Jing had weathered many storms. She knew those who laugh last laugh sweetest. Though anxious about heirs, she could still maintain composure. The last batch of hens didn’t lay eggs, so she’d select new ones to send over. If that didn’t work, there’d be another batch. After all, the entire realm belonged to the imperial family—there were plenty of women to continue the imperial bloodline.
Prince Jing looked at the closed maiden roster, wishing he had X-ray vision to see these maidens’ names and private details clearly.
To compete for succession and leave a good impression on ministers, he had no choice but to hide his fox tail, playing the role of a proper prince outside, only sleeping with women his mother consort chose, never acting recklessly.
But the women his mother consort chose were all too blessed-looking—big round faces, big chests, big bottoms, like they came from the same mold. If they dressed identically, he’d immediately become face-blind, unable to tell who was who.
The consequence was that after seven years of marriage, sleeping with over ten women, it was like sleeping with the same woman—no difference when he climbed on top.
Prince Jing really couldn’t stand it anymore. Toward the women in Prince Jing’s mansion, he approached sleeping with them with a sense of duty for continuing the bloodline and an attitude of sacrificing for imperial heirs, like completing a task. Over time, he almost couldn’t get it up.
He wanted to change flavors, testing the waters by asking Noble Consort Lu Jing, “These forty-eight maidens won’t all be kept, right? ‘Increasingly confused by the profusion of flowers’—how does Mother Consort plan to select?”
Noble Consort Lu Jing said, “This palace has arranged a chrysanthemum banquet at Qionghua Island, inviting all forty-eight maidens to test their talents and quick wit. Those stupid or seemingly unlikely to bear children—”
Prince Jing said, “Will be eliminated. Mother Consort’s plan is brilliant.”
Noble Consort Lu Jing smiled coldly, “No, these maidens will actually be selected and sent to Prince Yu’s mansion as concubines. This palace manages the inner palace and should naturally care about all princes’ heirs. Moreover, Prince Yu is the elder, the older brother. Give you four maidens, and I must stuff five into his household for balance. Don’t worry—Mother Consort will save the best ones for you.”
Definitely more big round faces with big chests and big bottoms. Upon hearing this, Prince Jing made a mental note to find an excuse to go to Qionghua Island early the day after tomorrow to secretly observe the maidens. If any caught his fancy, he’d ask his mother consort to bestow her upon him for a change of pace. His mother consort always doted on him—such a small matter would be effortless.
Author’s Note: Prince Jing: No more cookie-cutter women!
Today’s chapter completed an entire palace intrigue story~~~~ I feel Emperor Jiajing’s court had the most intense palace intrigue battles, with the emperor being harsh, ungrateful, cold-blooded and ruthless. A group of women fought each other with no winners—all tragic.