Chapter 4: The Self-Indulgent King You of Zhou

  Prince Chao of Zhou succeeded to the throne in front of his father King Xuan of Zhou's coffin, later known as King You of Zhou. He made the daughter of the Marquess of Shen queen and her son Yijiu crown prince, and promoted the Marquess of Shen to Duke of Shen.

  King You of Zhou was described by his father as "dark and obscure", meaning he was unclear in his understanding and extremely muddled. This is how King Xuan of Zhou understood him from the perspective of ability, but in fact, King You's personality had even more unique aspects. In terms of personality, he was like a bolt of lightning, changing suddenly and unpredictably. He would change his mind constantly, one day it would be windy, the next day rainy. In the morning, he would talk about building a tall tower, but by evening, he would order it to be demolished and instead dig a deep well to irrigate the garden.

  This is not the most fatal, the most fatal is that Zhou Youwang's character should not be a good person in terms of quality, without any emotional intelligence, and the most prominent feature is his cruelty. Even during the mourning period for his father, he was still reveling every night, drinking and having fun.

  After Jiang Taihou's death from grief, King You of Zhou became even more unbridled and neglected his duties as the Son of Heaven, often absent without reason.

  The Marquis of Shen repeatedly advised, but it was like playing the zither to a cow. The Marquis of Shen had no choice but to retire to the state of Shen. At this time, great ministers such as Yin Jifu and Shao Hu died one after another, and King You of Zhou became even more unscrupulous. The last restraint that his father had placed on him was also lost, and he could finally spread his wings and take action. King You of Zhou appointed Guo Gong, Zhai Gong, and Yin Jiu, the son of Yin Jifu, as the three dukes. These three men had one major advantage: they were good at flattering. Now, in the entire court, only Si Tu Zheng Bo was a decent person, but whenever King You saw him, he felt annoyed, so he got rid of him!

  These days have been spent comfortably and freely!

  On this day, during the morning court session, a high-ranking official reported that the rivers Jing, Yellow and Luo had all overflowed on the same day. King You of Zhou thought it was nothing out of the ordinary and dismissed the court.

  Tai Shi Bo Yang's father and Grand Master Zhao Shu were both worried after the earthquake. Tai Shi Bo said, "These three rivers are the foundation of our great Zhou dynasty! How can we say that an earthquake has occurred?" Can this Zhou dynasty be safe? Zhao Shu couldn't help but smile bitterly, "No matter what earthquake, just look at the current situation, the small men are in power, the national policy is chaotic, how can it be good?" It won't work, I have to remonstrate. Bo Yang's father said, "You, I think you're useless even if you speak out!"

  The two were discussing, unaware that the wall had ears.

  How can subordinates privately discuss their leader's mistakes? Regardless of whether you have good or bad intentions, it is wrong.

  There was already news that reached Gu Gong Shifu. This Gu Gong originally relied on flattering to get the title of San Gong, and he was most afraid that others would remonstrate with him for being incompetent. An idle person who didn't work could only maintain his position by picking faults in those who worked hard. So at this time, he directly entered the palace to report to King You of Zhou, saying that Taishi Bo and Zhao Shu were speaking ill of him. However, King You did not listen, probably thinking himself wise, and said that these two fools were not worth his notice.

  Zhaobo began to repeatedly remonstrate, and the governor of Qishan also reported that Qishan had collapsed again, damaging many ordinary people's houses. King You of Zhou was not worried at all, come on, let's do something serious. He ordered the whole country to search for beauties to fill the harem.

  Zhao Shu was heartbroken and disheartened. He thought to himself, "A wise man does not enter a country in peril, nor does he stay in a country in chaos." Without any prophecies or omens, it was clear that things were going badly. So the whole family moved to Jin State. Later, they became the ancestors of the Zhao clan and participated in a major historical event - the division of Jin into three states, becoming one of the vassals.

  Uncle Zhao left, waving his sleeves, without taking away a single cloud.

  The doctor Bao Si hurriedly entered the palace to remonstrate, saying: "Your Majesty, you are treating your worthy ministers like this, be careful that the state will change!" King You of Zhou was furious and dared to threaten him, ordering Bao Si to be imprisoned.

  This had an immediate effect, and no minister dared to offer any more advice.

  She was said to be the adopted daughter of the man who sold mulberry bows and arrows. It is said that her adoptive father, due to the difficulty of raising a young child, sent her to the wife of Ji Da. The two experiences of being abandoned were fortunately only in her infancy, and did not leave any painful shadows on her.

  Among the green hills and clear waters, she has also grown into a beautiful scenery in this landscape, pure and elegant, enough to add color to the green hills.

  Bo Yu's imprisonment became a major concern for his family. Bo Yu's son, Bo Hongde, came to the countryside to collect taxes and met this woman by chance. At first sight, he was shocked and thought she was a heavenly beauty. He did not expect that in such a remote and poor mountain village, there would be a stunning beauty who could charm the whole city.

  At this time, Bo Hongde's heart was moved by the thought of his father being imprisoned for three years, suffering who knows how much hardship, yet still unable to escape this calamity. But now, this little girl seemed to bring him a glimmer of hope. Bo Hongde inquired about the neighbors and learned that this little girl was 14 years old, merely an adopted daughter of the Ji family. After returning home, he immediately reported back to his mother, saying that if they could buy her and present her to the Emperor, perhaps it would be possible to pardon his father's unpardonable crime. This was also the strategy used by Shanyi Sheng when he bribed King Zhou and rescued King Wen of Zhou. His mother ordered him to take action immediately.

  Hong De's filial piety is commendable, and he was able to cater to his father's preferences, which shows that he is also a clever person. However, he forgot that his own father was imprisoned for speaking the truth, so rescuing him in this way isn't going against his father's principles?

  Perhaps he did not think of this. And his tribute to King You of Zhou, Bao Si, also became the fuse for the turmoil of the Zhou Dynasty.

  Baohongde, who was anxious to save his father, found Baosi and bought her back home at a high price. As a beauty, Baosi now lacked only packaging. Baohongde knew that in order to make King Zhouyou infatuated with her, there was still much work to be done. So he had Baosi recuperate in the mansion, purchased high-end clothing for her, and taught her etiquette. A fourteen-year-old little girl suddenly transformed from doing chores every day to a refined and elegant young lady.

  After Baosi was comprehensively improved in temperament and etiquette, Baohongde took her to Haojing.

  Of course, to start with, my father's crime deserves ten thousand deaths. However, as a family member, we tried every means to redeem this unforgivable sin. How to redeem it? Offer the beautiful woman Xi Shi and beg for your forgiveness.

  King You of Zhou immediately declared an order to summon Bao Si into the palace. Indeed, she was a beauty beyond compare, truly radiant and dazzling. The other beauties presented from various places were not worth mentioning in front of her. King You immediately issued a decree, ordering Bo Yikao to be released from prison and reinstated to his original position. From then on, King You did not hold court for ten consecutive days.

  King You of Zhou lived with Bao Si in the Jade Pavilion from then on and never entered Queen Shen's palace again.

  After becoming the queen, she was a noble and kind-hearted person, basically waiting to be bullied by others. As the empress, she really didn't have the cunning of Empress Lü or the ruthless decisiveness of Empress Wu. Even towards King You of Zhou, she actually deeply loved him. This can be inferred from her reaction when she learned that Bao Si had gained favor. Unlike other queens, she didn't resort to any schemes or tricks, and instead directly went to reprimand Bao Si while King You was still around. It's easy to imagine that Queen Shen would end up getting hurt herself.

  Bao Si came from a poor family, and after being educated by Bao Hongde, she was naturally familiar with the etiquette of the palace. However, she did not go to pay her respects to the empress. It was clear that going to see the empress would definitely lead to humiliation, so why bother? Of course, this was also due to the favoritism shown by King You of Zhou. In this deep palace, young Bao Si began to have her own principles.

  Afterwards, day after day, she shed tears, and towards Empress Cao, she was so resentful that her teeth itched, but there was nothing she could do. It can be seen that Empress Shen was indeed a kind-hearted person, who had no understanding of the palace's sinister plots and poisonous designs. The more helpless she felt, the more her hatred grew.

  The crown prince Yi Xuan was deeply worried, and the mother and son discussed it. This is all because of the evil woman Bao Si causing chaos in the palace. The crown prince Yi Xuan is not a wise person either. If King You of Zhou were a wise ruler, how could he be infatuated with Bao Si? Or looking at it from another perspective, if King You of Zhou was so foolish, even without Bao Si, there would be other beauties. Anyway, the evil woman is indispensable.

  After being abandoned by King You of Zhou, the Marquis of Shen also retreated to the land of Shen. As the crown prince, what he should do is probably just go wherever it's cooler and be careful to stay alive.

  For many years, the noble treatment made Yi Xuan unable to tolerate others bullying his mother, and he must make this wicked woman suffer. Crown Prince Yi Xuan told Shen Hou that everything would be seen tomorrow, and he would definitely avenge his mother's grievances.

  Tomorrow is the first day of the lunar month, and all ministers must pay their respects to the emperor.

  Taking advantage of King You of Zhou's early morning court, Crown Prince Yijiu ordered his trusted attendants to run to the residence of Bao Si on the Jade Platform and deliberately pluck flowers in disorder. The palace maid on Bao Si's side saw the commotion and ran to the Jade Platform, saying "Is the Eastern Palace so powerful?" The two groups of palace maids quarreled and argued endlessly. Bao Si heard the noise and stepped out of the Jade Platform, but before she could speak, someone suddenly grabbed her hair. It turned out that Crown Prince Yijiu had staged a trick to lure the snake out of its hole and now took the stage himself!

  One was Zhou Tianzi's pampered concubine in the palm of his hand, and the other was the crown prince who came out to avenge his mother. Without saying a word, they began to fight fiercely. The palace maids on both sides were already stunned, too ruthless, directly using force, no one dared to offend, after being stunned for half a day, all knelt down and kowtowed, begging the crown prince to spare their lives!

  No need to say anything, everyone knows what's going on.

  At this moment, King You of Zhou returned from his morning court session and was shocked to see Bao Si like this. Although Bao Si was young, she was indeed clever. She knew that the favor she had received had already offended many people, and even if she continued to receive favor, she could not be compared to Queen Shen. So at this time, she chose to show weakness. Sometimes, being in the right but not showing mercy is not a way to solve problems, while showing weakness can often evoke sympathy from others and achieve unexpected results. Especially with King You of Zhou, who doted on her.

  According to Bao Si's words, the Crown Prince was acting on behalf of his mother, and his temper would not rest until he had achieved his goal. She was already six months pregnant. To avoid this conflict and preserve her life, she begged King You of Zhou to let her leave the palace, in order to protect the lives of both herself and her child.

  King You of Zhou originally thought that the crown prince Yi Yu was like this, which was naturally the idea of Queen Shen. However, if he let Yi Yu kill Bao Si, it would be unbearable. To avoid such a conflict, he could only let the crown prince leave. So he issued an edict to send Crown Prince Yi Yu to the state of Shen, entrusting him to Marquis Shen for education. It can be said that at this time, King You of Zhou was just trying to avoid the intensification of the contradiction between Crown Prince Yi Yu and Bao Si, otherwise he would not have sent the crown prince to the state of Shen, which was equivalent to going to his maternal grandfather's home, where there were many opportunities for trouble.

  In this matter, the only one he didn't consider was his beloved Shēn Hòu. Since the Crown Prince was punished and expelled from the palace, Shēn Hòu fell into an even deeper mental crisis. Her husband already belonged to someone else, her son was sent away by that ruthless father to live with his grandparents, and she truly became a lonely person, spending every day crying. However, this sorrowful yet peaceful life wouldn't last long either.