Emperor Huiyang, having anticipated such situations, immediately began a forceful suppression.
This included the prosecution of corrupt officials as a warning to others.
It involved apprehending certain nobles for offenses and severely punishing their descendants.
It entailed digging up old grievances and dealing with violations by members of the imperial clan.
In those times, few among the court officials or the nobility could guarantee their own absolute purity and freedom from illegal acts or corruption. Even if they themselves were clean, they couldn't ensure their children, grandchildren, or relatives were.
The reason no one investigated or questioned things before was simply that everyone knew the situation, turned a blind eye, and let things slide.
Now, Emperor Huiyang had spent three years collecting evidence.
He was essentially always accurate in his accusations.
Within three days, the prisons of the Imperial Prison and Dali Temple were overflowing, packed beyond capacity, with people crammed in so tightly that seventeen or eighteen individuals occupied a single ordinary cell.
Among these prisoners were those who had committed heinous crimes.
These were specifically selected to serve as examples.
Others, whose crimes were of varying severity, were held temporarily, awaiting the stance of their elders or their own expressions of compliance.
Those willing to compromise were treated leniently.
Those unwilling to compromise were, naturally, investigated and dealt with strictly.
The capital descended into chaos for a time. Some regional princes even raised banners proclaiming the removal of corrupt officials from the emperor's side, while some local prefects began submitting memorials condemning Emperor Huiyang.
They felt he was acting against ancestral laws, allowing a hen to rule over the rooster.
This period of unrest lasted for nearly half a year, from mid-year to year-end. Even Ding Yun, using her Electric Mother card, lent a hand, summoning lightning to strike down several of the most vocal princes, thereby granting Emperor Huiyang some divine favor. It was only then, at the end of the year, that the first Imperial Crown Princess in history was established.
Simultaneously, the Imperial Grandson was also formally recognized.
This was the final bottom line for the entire court: the Imperial Crown Princess was merely a transitional figure, and the throne would ultimately pass to a male heir. Otherwise, they would never agree.
Emperor Huiyang himself acknowledged this.
He even made a public promise that if he lived to see the Imperial Grandson reach adulthood, he would directly abdicate to him.
This arrangement provided a compromise.
However, Emperor Huiyang did not live that long. Three years after establishing the Imperial Crown Princess, when the Imperial Grandson was only eight years old, he succumbed to exhaustion and died of a hemorrhage.
Princess Pingde, who had intended to make a move but had not yet had the opportunity before Emperor Huiyang's death, smoothly ascended the throne. She changed the era name to Pingde and became Empress Pingde.
Her position was very unstable in the early days of her reign.
Some even hoped she would abdicate and rule from behind a screen, allowing her son to ascend the throne. Meanwhile, members of the imperial clan harbored significant grievances, and court officials feigned compliance while secretly disobeying her orders, which was quite common. However, Empress Pingde was not one to be trifled with. She directly summoned all the princesses and county princesses of the current dynasty to court and appointed them to official positions to serve her.
When more personnel were needed, she later brought in county ladies, village ladies, and even the female officials from the harem to work for her.
She even specifically held a "Women's Imperial Examination" to recruit many female officials.
If some officials were being disingenuous, she would simply replace them with those who were not and were willing to obey her commands and work for her. With so many people in the world, surely there would be those willing to become officials. If men were uncooperative, she would switch to women.
This maneuver by her
undoubtedly struck at the jugular of those officials.
Their intention in feigning compliance and not working diligently was to force the Empress to retreat and to regain control. However, Empress Pingde's extensive promotion of women to official positions
immediately put immense pressure on them.
They were compelled to abandon their petty schemes.
And resume their work diligently.
Because they were not foolish; if they continued to be insincere, they would be handing over even more power to those female officials, allowing them to dominate and lord over them. Therefore, they could only endure for the time being.
They bore this humiliation.
Waiting for the day when the Crown Prince would ascend the throne.
They were determined to exact their revenge.
And this was merely a problem within the court. Beyond the court, there were many other issues, such as continuous assassination attempts, discontent among the imperial clan, rebellions by regional princes, and even the inaction of local prefects.
Even though Empress Pingde possessed considerable skill,
the nation still felt as though it were adrift in a storm.
To achieve stability was a long and arduous journey, truly difficult.
It was at this juncture that the over-a-hundred-year-old Ding Yun made a timely intervention. She personally went to court, leaning on her walking stick, to announce that over the years she had researched and developed a significant amount of staple grain seeds with a yield exceeding a thousand catties per mu.
She also presented new livestock breeds with rapid growth and finishing times.
These she offered to the court.
Following this, she led Empress Pingde and all the court officials to her farm for a field inspection, to verify the true yields of the grain seeds and the finishing times of the livestock breeds.
The entire process was, naturally, without any issues.
Whether it was the staple grain seeds with yields of a thousand catties per mu, or chickens ready for slaughter in forty-odd days, or pigs ready in half a year,
there were detailed records and tangible samples available.
Even if they were skeptical, the court would only need half a year to verify it, which was not troublesome at all.
With Ding Yun's assistance, Empress Pingde was almost unable to contain her joy. What she lacked most at that moment was prestige, divine mandate, and achievements. In this world, apart from the merit of expanding territory, the greatest achievement was none other than ensuring the populace was fed. In fact, to some extent, the merit of feeding the populace surpassed that of expanding territory. With such a significant achievement,
who could still claim she had an illegitimate claim to the throne or was unworthy to be emperor?
However, to avoid any missteps,
Empress Pingde did not immediately announce the relevant news to the world and implement widespread promotion. Instead, she specifically spent half a year on verification before commencing comprehensive promotion.
She utilized all her available resources to promote it.
As a token of her gratitude, she not only bestowed numerous rewards upon Ding Yun, including the title of Princess Zhenguo, but also revered Ding Yun as the "Goddess of Agriculture" during the promotion and propaganda efforts, ordering local county offices to erect shrines in her honor.
Within three years, Ding Yun's reputation spread far and wide with the comprehensive promotion of high-yield grain seeds and superior livestock breeds. Not only was she renowned domestically, but even foreign barbarians heard of her. They attempted to steal the superior seeds while also revering Ding Yun.
In a short time, her honorary title of "Goddess of Agriculture"
truly became deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people.
Only then did Ding Yun accumulate enough influence to engrave her mark into the world's origin, completing her mission.
Empress Pingde, on the other hand, finally gained universal recognition. With sufficient prestige and achievements to suppress all dissent, although the superior seeds and high-quality livestock were not cultivated by her, their emergence and promotion during her reign meant she also shared in the credit.
At that moment, past opposition and rebellions vanished, and the prosperous Pingde era officially began.