Chapter 11: Mother's Kindness and Son's Filial Piety (one glance)
"My queen, may you be blessed!"
(The Song Dynasty also had the word "mother" once, but it was mostly out of writing. Mothers were usually called empress or "嬢嬢". Wanfu here means many blessings.)
The moment he saw Liu E, Li Jie bowed slightly and bowed (similar to the gesture of cupping his hands).
"Brother Six is here."
Liu E nodded slightly and pointed towards the opposite side of the table.
"Sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Madam."
As soon as I sat down, the aroma of food came to my nose. The shape of the food at Liu E's side was similar to that at Funing Palace.
Although the dishes are different, the overall format is not overly formal.
After all, the current Liu E is in power for the first time. Although she has ambitions, she will definitely not be as good as she will be in the future.
The Tang Dynasty suffered the disaster of Wu Zhou, and the Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system. How could they not be on guard against it?
Even if Liu E wanted to do what Wu Zhou did, there was no soil for her to grow inside or outside the palace.
"Is Sixth Brother's health feeling better?"
Liu E was different from ordinary women. Even when she spoke words of concern, her face was solemn.
"It's already great."
Although he is new here, Li Jie already knows his body well. His physical foundation is very good. As long as he exercises a little in the future, it will not be a problem to eliminate the remaining erysipelas from his body.
The 'original body' was in poor health, on the one hand it was related to erysipelas, and on the other hand it was due to excessive sadness.
"That's good. I'll send the imperial doctor to Funing Palace tomorrow so that he can take a good look at you."
Having said this, Liu E paused slightly and changed the topic.
"By the way, I heard that you went to the medical hospital today, but for a consultation?"
Li Jie shook his head and said, "No."
Immediately afterwards, he recounted what happened in the medical hospital. At the end, Li Jie stood up from his chair and bowed slightly.
"I ask the empress to be kind to all the people in the world, and allow me to establish a bureau of imperial medicine and a bureau of peace and benefit to the people."
(PS: Emperors of the Song Dynasty did not call their parents ‘sons and ministers’, only ministers.)
"Sixth brother, why do you need to be like this?"
Liu E also stood up, walked up to Li Jie, helped him upright, and then helped him tidy up his clothes.
"This move will benefit all people in the world. Is there any reason why the queen shouldn't do it?"
"Well, when the funeral is over, I'll leave this matter to you."
"Thank you, Madam."
Although Li Jie had already predicted it, as long as it didn't happen, everything was possible.
There are only a few strokes in the history books, which cannot fully describe the events of that year. Moreover, the history books may not be entirely true.
This kind of thing has happened in all dynasties.
For example, Liu E, in the records of the Song Dynasty, Liu E's family was prominent, so this was taboo for the venerable.
"Sixth Brother Renxiao, it's not too late for me to be happy."
Sometimes, Liu E also felt that her nominal son was a bit too polite.
But compared to occasional troubles, being polite is more of a good thing.
Only by following the etiquette can she sit securely. If Sixth Brother is really at odds with her, she may not be able to settle down even if there is an imperial edict.
She had already seen through what the ministers in the outer dynasty were like.
Kou Zhun, in particular, dared to instigate others to support the crown prince on the throne and respect the late emperor as the supreme emperor.
Later, Zhou Huaizheng was even more chilling. A servant dared to plot to assassinate the prime minister (Ding Wei), and even wanted to depose himself as the queen mother.
Fortunately, Lei Yungong and Yang Huaiyu heard the news and reported it to her immediately.
Otherwise, even if the imperial guards were Liu E's people, they would not be able to escape a military disaster.
"Sixth brother can have dinner. If you haven't eaten, let's eat with the eldest lady."
Liu E knew very well whether Li Jie had dinner or not, but this did not prevent her from inviting the little emperor to have dinner with him.
"I just ate, but now I'm a little hungry. I will eat some with you."
Next, the two of them chatted about some household matters while eating dinner.
In the eyes of outsiders, the two of them may appear to be loving mothers and filial piety, but probably only the two of them know what is going on inside.
Liu E had tasted the sweetness of power and was not willing to return power easily.
After a while, Li Jie looked troubled, hesitated for a while, and then said.
"What's bothering you, Madam?"
"well."
Liu E sighed, remained silent for a long time, and then shook her head silently.
"It's nothing, I just thought of your daddy."
In fact, this sentence is just Liu E's excuse.
It was indeed a good feeling to be in charge of power, but she was not without her worries, and her worries were not just a little bit.
The thing that worries her the most now is money.
There is a shortage of money everywhere!
The emperor is the best person in the world, and after his death, he will also be the best in the world.
Although emperors of all dynasties emphasized simplicity in all affairs involving mountains and mausoleums before their death, the word "simple" in the edict does not count.
This morning, news came from the mountain mausoleum. At least 40,000 people have been recruited for the construction of the mausoleum.
At the same time, Sansi also went to Zha Zi, begging for one million and one hundred thousand taels of money, two and a half million pieces of silk, and five hundred thousand taels of silver.
Some of these expenses are necessary expenses for repairing the tomb, and some are for rewards.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the etiquette system, after the Daxing Emperor became an immortal, the officials, princes, queen mothers, concubines, palace servants, chamberlains, and ministers from other dynasties all had to mourn for the Daxing Emperor.
Moreover, the mourning clothes for different identities and different time points are also different.
On average, each person has to make at least five pieces of clothing.
All of this money was spent by the palace.
And these are not even the biggest expenses.
The biggest expense is the rewards given to the armies. The Third Division made a rough calculation a few days ago and found that this item alone cost nearly 10 million yuan.
In addition to the above, there are also "gifts of leftovers to close relatives of the clan", "various miscellaneous gifts", "expenditures for burial items", "expenditures for murder weapons", "expenditures for auxiliary buildings in the mountain mausoleum", etc.
These expenses alone are not much, but taken together, they are probably no less than the rewards given to the armies.
As for the routine rewards, promotions, etc. after the construction of the mausoleum is completed, there is no detailed calculation at all now.
If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are before you become a family, Liu E now knows how difficult it is to be a family in the Song Dynasty.
Money, where does it come from?
Although there is not a lot of money in the treasury now, after deducting the funeral expenses, there is not even 10 million yuan left.
Ten million may seem like a lot, but the family has a big business and a lot of expenses.
Liu E couldn't stop having a headache every time she thought about this matter, and she even considered asking for money from Zhulu.
(Lu is an administrative unit in the Song Dynasty, equivalent to a province)
The people are suffering, and Ding Wei is burdened by the infamy.
After all, Ding Wei is the real Shanling envoy.
On the other side, Li Jie saw that Liu E didn't want to mention anything more, so he didn't ask further questions.
Asking further is not in line with his current personality.
In fact, even without asking, Li Jie could have guessed that Liu E's troubles were most likely due to national affairs.
In terms of political power, Liu E must be a top player, but in terms of governance ability, well, it's better not to make an evaluation.