For a moment, the court was completely silent. The courtiers looked at each other in confusion.
Some of the old courtiers from Nanjing knew what was going on. But even they didn't expect Huo Wujiu to say such things so openly.
Cold sweat rolled down Lord Zhang's forehead.
"This … this … General Huo … this …" For a moment, he didn't even know how to speak. After stammering for a long time, he finally kowtowed heavily.
"I was reckless. I know I was wrong. I won't force Your Majesty to do anything again!" he said in a sorrowful voice.
Perhaps he really had done something wrong or said something wrong. How could he have made General Huo so angry that he was making fun of him?
He hurriedly apologized, but Huo Wujiu wasn't satisfied.
"I'm asking you how I am," Huo Wujiu repeated.
"General Huo …" Jiang Suzhou, who was sitting on the Dragon Throne, saw this and quickly tried to persuade him.
Huo Wujiu raised his head and glanced at him. Jiang Suzhou, who was leaning forward, stopped and sat back down in resignation.
Forget it. Since he had already said what he wanted to say, there was no point in trying to stop him now.
It was just that Lord Zhang … didn't deserve to be punished so badly.
Lord Zhang was already dumbfounded by Huo Wujiu's question. He didn't expect that after he apologized, Huo Wujiu wouldn't let him off the hook. This made Lord Zhang panic. He knelt on the ground for a long time before he raised his head and looked at Huo Wujiu in a daze.
He saw Huo Wujiu looking down at him with an unfriendly expression.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Do you think I can't?"
"No …"
"Then I can?" Huo Wujiu pressed on.
Lord Zhang's sweat fell to the ground.
"But General, you … you …"
"What about me?" Huo Wujiu clicked his tongue impatiently.
"Doesn't Prince Jing like men?"
"Yes … but …"
"But what? I'm not a man?"
"You are, but …"
"Then there are no buts," Huo Wujiu raised his head in satisfaction and swept his gaze across the civil and military officials in the hall.
"Who has any objections?" he asked.
For a moment, everyone was scared silly. No one dared to stand out.
A few quick-witted officials looked straight at Qi Min.
Lord Qi was the most stubborn and conservative. No matter who agreed, he wouldn't agree, right? This stubborn old man was usually quite talkative. Hurry up and say something now!
He saw Qi Min standing there, not saying a word.
"Since all of you have agreed, this matter will be easy to handle." Huo Wujiu withdrew his gaze in satisfaction and raised his head to look at Jiang Suizhou as if he was showing off.
Jiang Suzhou smiled helplessly and could only let him be.
Huo Wujiu glanced around and looked straight at Qi Min.
"I'll leave the wedding to Lord Qi," he said. "With my status, I'm at least qualified to be an empress, right? Let's make it grand. Let's make it grand. "
All of the officials immediately looked at Qi Min.
Lord Qi! General Huo has gone too far! Now that you're in trouble, you have to say something!
Qi Min stepped forward. His expression was calm and neither servile nor overbearing.
All of the officials heaved a sigh of relief. They were waiting for Qi Min to argue with Huo Wujiu.
However, Qi Min held his ceremonial tablet with both hands, bowed, and spoke.
"I will not disappoint you," Qi Min said.
—
The Imperial Court was in an uproar.
What was going on? The officials in the Imperial Court kept urging the emperor to get married. In the end, they succeeded. However, the person they were going to marry was General Huo.
What was even more ridiculous was that General Huo wanted to marry General Huo herself. The emperor didn't object. Even Lord Qi was preparing for the coronation ceremony.
Wasn't this a mess?
There were many officials in the Imperial Court in Nanjing. Everyone knew that General Huo was forced to become Imperial Prince Jing's concubine. However, the situation forced her to do so, so no one took it seriously. Who would have thought that General Huo would be the one to turn the act into reality?
This was extremely inappropriate. However, everyone in the Imperial Court knew that General Huo was a bad-tempered and stubborn person.
No one dared to be the first to object to his decision.
Thus, everyone dragged it out with dissatisfaction until Sir Qi had methodically arranged the coronation ceremony and had Huo Wujiu grandly move from Marquis Dingbei fu to the imperial palace on a tall horse.
After this day, General Huo didn't have to shamelessly stay overnight in the Imperial Palace anymore.
He was now the rightful empress of Daliang.
The coronation ceremony was carried out according to Huo Wujiu's wishes. It was a grand affair. At the ceremony, the civil and military officials all had bitter expressions on their faces, but they had no choice but to put on a smile. They all wanted to cry as they watched General Huo dismount from his horse. Dressed in a gold and red robe, he strode grandly up the stairs to the Emperor's side.
In front of all the officials, General Huo openly took the Emperor's hand.
All the officials were heartbroken and covered their faces with their sleeves.
However, General Huo, who had gotten what he wanted, couldn't care less about them.
The music in the Imperial Palace played until the middle of the night. The Imperial City finally quieted down in the middle of the night.
Jiang Suzhou was exhausted when he returned to his sleeping quarters. He saw Huo Wujiu sitting on his dragon bed.
He hadn't changed out of his ceremonial robes. The golden red robe was as flamboyant as a flame. When he saw Jiang Suzhou enter, Huo Wujiu uncrossed his legs and moved to the side. He motioned for Jiang Suzhou to sit next to him.
Jiang Suzhou sat down next to him. He laughed. "Who let you in? How dare you sit on my dragon bed?"
Huo Wujiu's expression didn't change at all. Instead, he laughed.
"Is there anywhere in the Imperial Palace that I can't go?"
His tone was magnanimous. He sat there arrogantly. He didn't look at all like an Empress who had married into the Imperial Palace. Instead, he looked like a bandit who had taken over a mountain.
"Impudent." Jiang Suzhou laughed.
Huo Wujiu pulled him over and bit his ear. "What's even more impudent is yet to come."
Today was the day of the Empress' wedding. The red candles in the sleeping quarters flickered, and the red curtains hung low. It was a grand scene of a bridal chamber.
When he pressed Jiang Suzhou into the bed, Huo Wujiu asked in a low voice, "Do you remember the last time we got married?"
Jiang Suzhou replied, "What about it?"
Huo Wujiu laughed softly. "Do you know what I was thinking at that time?"
"What were you thinking?" Jiang Suzhou asked him.
"At that time, I was only thinking about how to kill you."
Huo Wujiu leaned closer to him and bit his lips.
"But now, my thoughts haven't changed." He laughed softly.
"But we have to change the way we do it."
— —
According to custom, these women from official families were always sent to the Imperial Palace. First, they served the Emperor and had an heir. Second, they gave their families a backer.
No one believed that the Emperor would never choose a concubine. They only thought that General Huo's action of marrying into the Imperial Palace was a spur of the moment and a joke.
No one took this seriously. No one dared to take it seriously.
But after this day, it would be harder to force the Emperor to marry a concubine.
The Emperor had a good temper. If the officials pushed him too hard, at least the Emperor wouldn't get angry with them. But General Huo was different. Ever since she became the Empress, anyone who dared to say anything about the Emperor filling up the Imperial Harem was asking for death.
Although the civil officials were stubborn, they didn't want to die.
This matter could only be delayed. After a long time, the officials who had women of suitable age in their families became anxious.
There were always some officials who wanted to keep their daughters and send them to the Imperial Palace. But after a long time, they would become old ladies if they delayed any longer.
Finally, a court official spoke up and offered to send his daughter to the Imperial Palace to serve the Emperor.
Sure enough, as soon as this was said, General Huo, who was standing at the front of the military officials, immediately became fierce.
— — Although General Huo was now the Empress, she also held the position of Marquis Dingbei. She was always present at every court meeting.
The official felt General Huo's unfriendly gaze. His back stiffened. He was so nervous that he didn't dare to look at him. His eyes were fixed on Jiang Suizhou.
When Jiang Suizhou saw this, he smiled helplessly.
"Many thanks to my beloved official for thinking on my behalf. But I appreciate your kindness. There's no need to send your daughter to the Imperial Palace."
After saying this, Jiang Suizhou didn't wait for the official to speak. He looked around the hall and said, "Speaking of which, I have an important matter."
The court officials all raised their heads.
"Now that the world is unified, according to the law, rewards should be given according to merit. Most of the generals and officials who helped me unify the world have been rewarded, but there are still some areas that haven't been taken care of. "
As he said this, he looked at Lou Yue.
"Other than General Lou, the one who made great contributions to pacifying Jiangnan was General Huo. There was also General Lou's beloved daughter, Lou Wanjun. If Miss Lou hadn't led the troops to defend the city and saved me from danger, I'm afraid I wouldn't be sitting here facing my beloved officials. "
When they heard this, the court officials' expressions became strange.
Why was he suddenly mentioning Lou Wanjun? Could it be that the Emperor had taken a fancy to Lou Yue's daughter and wanted to take her as his concubine?
For a moment, the court officials' gazes fell on Lou Yue and Huo Wujiu.
They saw that Huo Wujiu's expression was indifferent. He didn't have the fierceness he had when he was occupying territory.
At this moment, they heard Jiang Suizhou continue.
"Although Miss Lou is a woman, she led troops to war and achieved great results. She didn't lose to men. Since ancient times, Mulan has joined the army in her father's place. It's not that women can't make contributions to the court. "
When he said this, he looked at Lou Yue.
"General Lou, receive the edict." Jiang Suizhou said. "I intend to confer Lou Wanjun the title of Primary Third Rank Valiant Cavalry Commander and take charge of guarding the imperial city."
Immediately, the court was abuzz with discussion.
The court officials were dumbfounded. Many of them hurriedly knelt and asked Jiang Suizhou to withdraw the edict.
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" Some court officials said bitterly. "The daughter of the Lou family has made great contributions. It wouldn't be excessive to reward her with gold and silver. However, how can a woman enter the court as an official? Wouldn't that be like a hen taking over the throne? It would mess up the rules of the ancestors! "
Jiang Suizhou looked at him and asked, "Then, Daren, in terms of martial arts and strategy, can you compare to Lou Wanjun?"
The court official's face turned red. "They both have their own strengths."
Jiang Suizhou asked with a smile, "Daren also knows that they both have their own strengths. Since that's the case, Daren is good at governance. I will give you an official position. Lou Wanjun is good at leading troops. Why can't I let her be a general? "
"But …"
Jiang Suizhou didn't give him a chance to continue.
"General Huo, do you have any objections?" He asked.
"This subject obeys the imperial edict." Huo Wujiu looked at the court official indifferently and stood straight.
Jiang Suizhou nodded when he heard this.
"That's good." He smiled. "The person in charge of the three armies is General Huo. Since General Huo has no objections, if any of you have any, please raise them with General Huo. "
As expected, the court officials who were discussing animatedly looked at Huo Wujiu. For a moment, no one said anything.
Jiang Suizhou smiled faintly and looked away.
His Empress was very useful. Not only could she stop children from crying at night, but she could also scare the entire court into silence.
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