Chapter 29 Favoring the noble concubine brought about the disaster of subjugation

In the famous song "Flowers in the Backyard of Yushu", Chen Houzhu vividly and vividly described a peerless beauty, "The face of the enchantress is like a flower with dew, and the stream of Yushu shines in the backyard".And this beauty whom he praised so enthusiastically was his beloved imperial concubine Zhang Lihua. Chen Houzhu was originally "born in the deep palace and grew up in the hands of women". After he came to the throne, he indulged in poetry and wine, and devoted himself to sensuality.His empress, Shen Shi, is a virtuous person, but she is not favored by the empress.He doted on two stunning beauties, Gong Guipin and Kong Guipin, and often had feasts and feasts with them. He also said that even Xishi Zhaojun was not as beautiful as them.Once, the Empress saw a ten-year-old girl with Gong Guipin.Although she is young, she is already lithe and graceful, her manners are leisurely and elegant, her appearance is gorgeous, and she is extraordinary.When Gu Pan squinted, his eyes were shining brightly.What is especially special is her beautiful hair, which is more than seven feet long, and it is as black as lacquer, and its smoothness can shine on people.When the lustful empress Chen saw such a beauty, he would not let it go, but because she was too young, he had to wait a few more years, and when the little girl grew up, he accepted her as his concubine.And this little girl later gave birth to a son for him, and the queen doted on her even more.He has composed many "Three Women's Beauty". "Three Women's Beauty" is originally an ancient title of Yuefu, which describes a family with three daughters-in-law doing housework together, enjoying the happy scene.When he arrived at the Empress's place, it became an admiration for his three beauties. "A big woman's love is always biased, but a middle-aged woman's will is always firm. The little woman smiles alone, and the newcomer is in front of the candle. The newcomer is sincere and confused, so as to make the new pity." Undoubtedly, the one he loves the most is the "dujiao smile" "The "little woman".

This "little woman" is Zhang Lihua. She was born in a poor family, and her father and brother both weaved mats for a living.She entered the palace at a young age, and was assigned as a maidservant of the Eastern Palace, serving as a maid under Gong Guipin.She was born with outstanding appearance, and she was also intelligent by nature. She played, played, danced and danced at the first sight.When the empress was still the crown prince, he happened to meet her at Gong Guipin's place, and fell in love with her at first sight, and accepted her as his concubine.Later, Empress Chen was cut on the neck by a medicine cutter, and during the rest period, she was only willing to let her come to serve alone.After ascending the throne, she was named a noble concubine, and she was favored in the sixth palace.Empress Chen built the three pavilions of Linchun, Jieqi, and Wangxian. He himself lived in Linchun Pavilion, let Zhang Lihua live in Jieqi Pavilion, and Kong Guifei and Gong Guipin lived in Wangxian Pavilion.The three pavilions are also connected by complex roads.The Empress can come and go freely and play with his beauties.Zhang Lihua, who was most loved by him, often dressed in the pavilion, sometimes sitting alone in the pavilion, sometimes leaning on the railing to look into the distance, people in the palace watched from a distance, as graceful as a fairy.

Zhang Lihua is a smart beauty. Although she is favored by the Empress in every possible way, she is magnanimous and has no jealousy.Whenever the empress takes the imperial concubine and guests to play and have a banquet, she recommends all the court ladies to go with them.She also often recommends the beautiful women she acquaintances to the harem. If the family members of the harem break the law, as long as they beg to her, they will all be excused.As a result, all the people in the harem were grateful to her and scrambled to say good things about the imperial concubine, so the empress doted on her even more.

But Zhang Lihua's cleverness is not only used here.She was originally from the common people, and after becoming a noble concubine, she still likes to inquire about things outside the palace. She must know every word and thing in the society first, and then tell the successor, so the successor respects her even more.One person attains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven, and even many members of her internal and external clans have been introduced and reused.Therefore, Zhang Lihua began to intervene in the government by virtue of her intelligence.She can speak eloquently, distinguish colors by appearance, and has a particularly good memory.At that time, Empress Chen was tired of political affairs, and two eunuchs were required to present the official documents for imperial reading. The two eunuchs may not be very educated. Empress Chen still doesn't know the point.At this time, Zhang Lihua, who was sitting next to her, answered the questions one by one, speaking clearly without missing anything.The Empress was overjoyed when he saw that she had such talent, and from then on he handed over all political affairs to her.The Empress also likes to hold her on his lap and decide state affairs together.In history, King Zhou of Shang and Emperor Gaozu of Han appeared in this handsome style. I am afraid that Queen Chen could not do the latter, so he had to be on par with the former.Zhang Lihua was only in charge of internal affairs at first, but later, due to the trust of her master, she also began to intervene in foreign affairs.If the princes and ministers do not obey the internal order, they will be removed from office if they only let her say a word.From then on, the Jiangdong small court did not know about Chen Shubao, but they knew about Zhang Lihua.

Zhang Lihua However, although Zhang Lihua is favored by Empress Chen and holds great power, she can't do what she wants, but there is still one thing that she can't do as she wants, that is, the status she gave to Empress Chen's son, Chen Shen.Although Zhang Lihua is a noble concubine who favors the sixth palace and actually becomes the master of the harem, she is not a queen after all.Although the Empress doted on her, he loved her son and made him the king of Shi'an, and he also held the two positions of Yangzhou governor and military adviser general.However, no matter how big the official position is, it is not as stable as the prince who is the reserve prince.But Empress Chen had already made Chen Yin, the adopted son of Empress Shen, the crown prince.This Empress Shen came from a high school, she was the daughter of Wangcai Hou Shen Junli, and also the granddaughter of Chen Wudi, the founding emperor of the Chen Dynasty.Although the emperor has been ignoring her, he sent her to live alone in the Qiuxian Hall.But Empress Shen has a gentle and virtuous personality, and is deeply respected both at home and abroad, so no one dares to insult her as the mother of the country.The Empress rarely visited her, often only once a year or so.Moreover, this kind of visit is mostly courtesy, and they will return immediately after entering temporarily, and they never stay overnight.Although Empress Shen was dejected, she had no choice but to get up and see her off silently.However, the Empress was still interested in writing poems to tease her: "If you don't keep people, you can go if you don't. If you don't keep people here, you have a place to keep people." Empress Shen couldn't help but feel sad when she saw his sarcasm. The poem replied: "Whoever says that they don't remember each other will be ashamed when they see each other. If you know that you don't want to live, teach your concubine if you want to stay." He secretly complained about the empress's ruthlessness.So the emperor immediately turned his face and returned in a rage.However, the phrase "There is no place to keep people here, but there is a place to keep people" has become an extremely popular saying in later generations, and it may have been unexpected by Chen Houzhu.

The emperor became more and more dissatisfied with Empress Shen, so Zhang Lihua naturally saw it.So under her secret instruction, dozens of close officials headed by Kong Fan immediately began to slander the prince in front of the emperor, framing right and wrong.Zhang Lihua also contacted Concubine Kong, who was also dissatisfied with the queen, to blow the pillow wind to the empress, which made the soft-hearted Empress Chen gradually have doubts about the prince.Finally, in May of the second year of Zhenming (588), Queen Chen made a decision: abolish the prince Chen Yin, change the title to King Wu, and make Chen Shen, the king of Shi'an born by Zhang Lihua, the prince.

According to Queen Chen's intention, the next step is to abolish Queen Shen and make his beloved Zhang Lihua Queen.However, it was too late for his wish to come true. In March of the same year, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty sent 518,000 troops, led by King Yang Guang of Jin to attack Jiankang, the capital of the Chen Dynasty.At this time, the defense line of the Yangtze River was in a hurry, and the disaster of national subjugation was imminent.