Chapter 1293: Afterlife and State Affairs

Chapter 1293: Afterlife and State Affairs

Chapter 1293: Afterlife and State Affairs

After daybreak, the Queen, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess arrived first, crying bitterly on the bed.

Next came the Grand Commandant Pei He.

Shao Xun, who was sitting beside the couch, stood up to greet him, and the emperor and his subject exchanged greetings.

"Your Majesty..." Pei He saluted.

"As you please." Shao Xun nodded.

Pei He, holding a silk scarf in his hand, gently came to the side of the Empress Dowager's bed, first bowed to the silent Emperor Retired, and then covered the Empress Dowager's face with the silk scarf.

This is a normal procedure, called "Shuquan", which involves covering a person's face with a very thin piece of silk to check their breathing.

After the examination, the deceased can be buried, which means changing the deceased into new clothes, moving him to the burial bed, and covering him with a brocade quilt, while mourning is expressed to the relatives.

Taking into account that this was the Empress Dowager, all civil and military officials, as well as women from the imperial family, had to enter the palace to pay their respects, and those who were close to her had to cry.

The entire funeral ceremony was jointly organized by the female officials of the inner court and the Taichang Temple.

Shao Xun came to the yard, paced slowly, and remained silent.

After a while, Cui Yu, the Minister of Rites, came forward and asked a few questions.

After listening to this, Shao Xun asked, "How were national and grand funerals handled during the Jin Dynasty?"

"Since the Cao Wei Dynasty, simple burials have been advocated, and everything should be kept simple." Cui Yu said: "Emperor Wu of Jin left a will to keep funerals simple. Three days after the funeral, the crown prince (Sima Zhong) ascended the throne, the reign was changed, a general amnesty was issued, and the officials reported affairs as before, and there was no ban on marriages, banquets and entertainment."

Shao Xun nodded and said, "My mother was kind-hearted. She gave money and property to the palace ladies many times and advised me to release the criminal women from the palace several times. She certainly didn't want to see the 21 states of Daliang ban marriage and feasting because of this. It would be inconvenient for the people, and she wouldn't be happy in the dark soil either."

"Yes." Cui Yu got the result and said, "After the Cao Wei Dynasty, the jade clothes and other burial items were abandoned. This matter..."

"Let's keep it simple." Shao Xun said, "Let the Doctor of the Imperial Household choose a posthumous title. My mother will definitely like it."

"Yes." Cui Yu asked a few more questions and left after a while.

As the sun rose higher, more and more people came.

Zong Zhengqing and my uncle Liu Shan were the first to arrive.

"Your Majesty, does my sister have any last words?" Liu Shan was supported by his two sons, tears streaming down his face.

Shao Xun took two steps forward, held Liu Shan's arm, and said, "Mother passed away late at night without leaving any last words."

"That means my wish has been fulfilled and I have no regrets." Liu Shan nodded slightly, then entered the mourning hall and knelt on the ground crying.

The two sons immediately stepped forward to comfort him without Shao Xun's signal.

After the worship was completed, Liu Shan was helped into the side hall to rest for a while.

Prime Minister Wang Yan also arrived relatively early.

After the emperor and his subjects met, Wang Yan went to pay his respects first, then sighed, "It has been thirty years since I first met the Empress Dowager in Green Willow Garden. Before her death, she had many children and grandchildren, and the country was thriving. I have no regrets. Now that the world is at peace, I hope Your Majesty will mourn less and put the people first."

"Yi Fu, you should take care of yourself too." Shao Xun said as he looked at Wang Yan, whose spirit was becoming increasingly weak.

After Wang Yan left, many ministers and ladies came to pay their respects.

A group of officials from the Taichang Temple took over the entire funeral ceremony and conducted the reception in an orderly manner.

It wasn't until the afternoon that things quieted down a little.

Shao Xun helped his father to sit down in the side hall, and they looked at each other in silence.

Liu Shan came over, patted Shao's father's hand, and said, "Brother-in-law, don't be too depressed. My sister doesn't want to see you like this. Xiao Chong is so capable, and the Shao family business has reached its peak. What regrets are there? I am old and can no longer ride a horse or lift a knife, but my children and grandchildren are still here. Brother-in-law, don't worry, the Liu family members will work together and will definitely do their best to protect the Shao family's foundation."

Shao Xun glanced at his uncle, sighed, and said nothing.

These words were spoken to both his father and him.

At this moment, he did not think there was anything wrong with his uncle's words. In the past, when fighting Liu Han, his uncle led the army to stay in Shangdang. At a critical moment, relatives are more trustworthy.

Shao Xun left the space to the two old men and went back to the yard.

He just felt irritated, but he didn't know the specific reason until he saw Yu Wenjun in plain clothes.

"Husband." Yu Wenjun hugged him gently, raised her face, and said seriously: "Husband, you still have me. I will accompany you, always."

Shao Xun gently stroked her face, as if he saw the girl who hid behind the tree and peeked at him that year, and he was filled with emotion for a moment.

The figures of the prince and his wife appeared in the distance. Shao Xun did not look up, but the slight dissatisfaction he had with the prince had disappeared.

Not for anything else, just for his wife who is by his side and whose eyes are filled with love.

How lucky he is in this life.

The ministers and ladies came for three consecutive days.

Three days later, the small gathering ended.

To collect means to hide and never see it again.

Those who bury the dead after three days are waiting for them to be reborn. If they do not regenerate after three days, then they will not regenerate. Even distant relatives can come to visit.

The first three days are a minor burial, with the deceased covered with clothes and quilts.

The last four days are the time for the grand burial, when the deceased is placed in a coffin and accompanied by the things he used during his lifetime.

According to ancient rituals, the emperor would be mourned for seven days and buried in the seventh month.

The coffin is kept for burial. The period of funeral is not fixed, ranging from a few days to several decades. When the Empress Dowager is buried is managed by the Taichang Temple. Currently, the coffin is kept in the underground palace northwest of the Xianju Hall.

All the princes serving outside the capital should have set off to return to the capital by now. They will definitely be present on the day when the Empress Dowager is buried.

As for the burial site, since Mangshan was already very crowded, the Shao family did not want to join in the hustle and bustle, so they chose Luhun Mountain as the location of the royal mausoleum.

This mountain is located in Luhun County. It was the settlement of Luhun Rong in the Spring and Autumn Period. It was later destroyed by the State of Jin, but the place name remained.

Next to Luhun Mountain is Guangchengze, which is considered to be the place where Shao Xun started his career and is of great commemorative significance.

Sima Xiuwei was originally buried in Guangchengze, but later, with the intervention of Shao Xun, he was buried in Luhun Mountain, but outside the royal mausoleum.

The reason for this is that Shao Xun remembered Sima Xiu's last words before his death: "I want to be closer to you."

Xiurong Lu was also buried, also in Luhun Mountain, but not in the main cemetery under construction. Instead, her tomb was built separately and located next to the main mausoleum.

If nothing unexpected happens, the main mausoleum will be the joint burial site of Shao Xun and Yu Wenjun in the future.

******
After the coffin was laid to rest, Shao Xun stayed in the Xianju Palace for some time, mainly to accompany his father.

Although his father's energy and spirit had dropped drastically, he was stronger than he thought.

In mid-March, Shao Xun was asked to go to the front court as soon as possible so as not to delay important matters.

As the Son of Heaven, Shao Xun's mourning period was changed from days to months, so the so-called nine months was actually only nine days.

But he still pays attention to the impact.

After a pregnant concubine gave birth, the news would no longer be announced to the previous dynasty, but only to the Taichang Temple and the Zongzheng Temple.

As for the reason, it is of course the regulations on taking medicine for children - there is no specific legal provision, but it is a consensus reached by social convention.

Taking the maximum mourning period of three years (actually twenty-seven months) as an example, during the mourning period, one important requirement for filial sons is "not to enter the inner room."

Although in actual implementation, many people do not follow the rules and giving birth to children during the mourning period is common, it does not matter if they are not discovered. If they are discovered, they will be criticized.

When Chen Fan of the Later Han Dynasty was the prefect of Le'an, he heard that there was a man in the county who was a filial son. He had been mourning for his parents in the tomb passage for twenty years without leaving.

Chen Fan admired him very much, so he went to visit the tomb in person. It turned out that all five sons of this man were born during the 20-year mourning period, and some were even born in the tomb passage. He felt that he was fooled and angrily accused him of "deceiving the people and blaming ghosts and gods."

Sima Jin ruled the country with filial piety, and further strengthened the mourning ceremony. However, some people could not resist the love between men and women, so most of the children born during the mourning period were kept secret and not reported to outsiders, and some ruthless people even drowned the children.

So how to calculate the pregnancy outside the mourning period and the birth of a child within the mourning period? Don't worry, the pregnancy period can be calculated for the child.

The mourning dress ritual developed in the Tang Dynasty, and the regulations of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were further organized and written into the law: "When parents lose their children, it means that the pregnancy is within 27 months. If the pregnancy was before the parents died, even if the child was born during the mourning period, it is not punished. Even if the child is born after the end of the mourning period, if the pregnancy is counted as the period of pregnancy during the mourning period, it is a crime according to the law."

In other words, the definition of "losing a child" is a person who becomes pregnant during the mourning period.

If the baby is conceived before the parents' death and is born during the mourning period, there is nothing wrong.

If a child is born outside the mourning period but is conceived during the mourning period, it is a sin.

There was no legal provision at this time, but there was social opinion.

Shao Xun's concubine Zhongshan Yinan was eight months pregnant, and Zhuge Wenbiao was more than four months pregnant. Neither of them was considered to have lost a child, but Shao Xun still paid attention to the impact and only informed two departments after the birth of the child.

From now on for the next nine months, although he would govern the country as usual, he would try his best to wear plain clothes, not drink alcohol, not feast, and not get married.

Most importantly, abstain from sex until the end of November this year.

So he moved directly to the Guanfeng Hall, attended court meetings and answered questions in the front hall during the day, and slept in the bedroom behind the main hall at night.

The eldest son, Jin Daoren, was still on the way, but he wrote a memorial halfway and sent an envoy to deliver it to Bianliang first.

Shao Xun spread it out and found that it was about the Miaodao Islands.

The so-called Miaodao Islands refer to a series of small islands between the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas. Due to insufficient exploration of the ocean at that time, there was actually no clear and unified name.

After reading it, Shao Xun directly named Nanchangshan Island "Zhongli Island" because Zhongli clan had sent his own troops ashore and set up camps and warehouses on the island. The island is more than 30 miles away from the coast and can be seen from a high place. It is very close.

Twenty miles north of Zhongli Island (Beichangshan Island), a small number of naval soldiers landed to establish a stronghold and store supplies. Shao Xun named it "Shamen Island" - this name first appeared in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that it was named after the Shamen monks who lived on the island.

Seventy miles north of Shamen Island, Shao Xun named another island: Turtle Island.

At present, only dozens of soldiers have landed on this island, cutting down trees and building warehouses and barracks. They have also discovered a large number of sea turtles gathering on the beach to bask in the sun - the island was later named Tuoji Island.

There is an island sixty miles north of Guidao Island, which Shao Xun named "Qindao" (Daqindao). Currently, there are only ten soldiers on the island and a sentry post has been built.

There is an island further north of Qin Island, named "Mo Island" (Xiaoqin Island). There are also only ten soldiers on the island, guarding a shabby outpost.

If you go further north from Demo Island, you will be not far from Liaodong and can just sail directly there.

After reading it, Shao Xun was quite satisfied.

Jin Dao was serious about his work, and I underestimated his ability before. But his princess was really something, and she actually eavesdropped on his conversation with Jin Dao, although it was not intentional.

Never mind. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Without the help of the ships sent by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Murong Xianbei had no navigation ability at all, and probably did not know that the small island on the sea had been occupied by the Daliang Dynasty.

It is very easy to sail along this series of small islands to deploy troops, store supplies, and even avoid wind and waves.

This is the "newbie village" of the Daliang Dynasty Navy, where one can practice navigation skills and improve ship technology while also avoiding encountering too severe sea conditions - in fact, it still depends on the season and luck. If you are unlucky, with the navigation technology of the late Ming Dynasty, any ship anchored in the port can be overturned. One of the three tribute ships sent by the Koreans could sink or disappear. The sea is inherently dangerous and there is no place to complain.

Shao Xun called his secretary Wang Xizhi and asked him to draft an imperial edict: part of the land of Huang County in Donglai County was separated to set up Penglai County, and the islands in the sea (Miaodao Islands) were combined to set up Shamen Town, with Zhongli Ke as the commander of Shamen Town.

(End of this chapter)