Chapter 1268 Abdication, Reclusion, Six Emperors
The Empress Dowager ultimately could not escape the age of 73.

He passed away in the winter of the eleventh year of Yongzheng's reign.

According to regulations, after twenty-seven days of mourning, Su Mingzhe took off his mourning clothes, returned to the Southern Study, and continued to handle state affairs.

The tasks of keeping vigil and attending the funeral of the Empress Dowager were left to Yinzhen, who had not yet returned to America.

Yinzhen, the King of Tang, was very interested in the "Sinicized" Qing Dynasty. In his spare time, he traveled around to investigate people's livelihood.

With the implementation of the Manchu-Han integration plan, not only the ancestors of the Manchus were traced back, but also dozens of ethnic groups such as the Mongols, Miao, and Zhuang were studied.

To this end, Su Mingzhe specifically instructed the Ministry of Rites to update the version of "Genealogical Charts of the Various Ethnic Groups of the Descendants of Yan, Huang and Miao" every three years and distribute it free of charge in the branches of the Imperial College across the country.

With this "Kaojiu Tu" and the relaxed folk cultural atmosphere during the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, the hatred between ethnic groups was gradually alleviated.

The situation of different ethnic groups living together and even intermarrying is gradually emerging.

In a blink of an eye, it was the twelfth month of the twelfth year of Yongzheng's reign.

The Empress Dowager's funeral was finally over.

In order to let the people have a good New Year, Su Mingzhe cancelled the curfew in the capital.

After more than 20 years of "land and population reform", people now basically have some spare money.

By the end of the year, hundreds of thousands of people from the surrounding areas would flock to the capital to purchase New Year's goods.

Looking at such a prosperous scene, Su Mingzhe's eyes were full of pride. Looking at Ruoxi who was accompanying him, he smiled gently and said:

"After New Year's Eve, it will be the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign. The palace next to the West Lake has been built. After the abdication ceremony, I will accompany you to settle in the West Lake!"

"Are you really willing to abdicate?"

Ruoxi looked at the man with eyes full of gratitude and love.

She really didn't expect that the man's favor for her not only exceeded beauty, but also power.

Facing the woman's question, Su Mingzhe just laughed, hugged her in his arms, and said with the words he had repeated many times:

"So what if it's the throne? In my eyes, you are the most important one..."

Su Mingzhe was smiling and saying sweet words, and feeling the atmosphere getting tense, he immediately ordered people to prepare to return to the palace.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe got up and went to court. After the two sisters got up and washed, they went to pay their respects to the queen according to the rules.

Rouze was already over fifty years old, so naturally she had not served the emperor in bed for a long time.

It wasn't just Rouze, even her sister Yixiu stopped sleeping with him.

The only concubines still serving the emperor in the harem were Nian Shilan, Lan Xin, Ruolan, Ruoxi, Yu Shu and Yingying.

More than a dozen concubines sat together, and because there was no need to compete for favor and love, the relationships between them were quite harmonious.

Soon, everyone finished greeting each other and left.

Rouze suddenly called out to Ruoxi, with a look of gratitude and thanks in her eyes, and said:

"Good sister, thank you for this time."

"What did my younger sister do to cause you to misunderstand me, Madam?"

Ruoxi has been spoiled by her man and has become straightforward. She felt a little puzzled by the Queen's sudden gratitude.

Rouze did not beat around the bush and directly pointed out:

"Your Majesty has already said that he abdicated this time because of your persuasion..."

"My lady has misunderstood!"

When Ruoxi learned why the Queen thanked her, she couldn't help but chuckle:
"My younger sister is tired of staying in the capital and wants to live in the south for a few years. His Majesty heard this and decided to abdicate the throne to the crown prince and accompany my younger sister to Jiangnan..."

Ruoxi does have some resentment towards the Queen. Although it is not deep, it definitely exists.

Therefore, on weekdays, when Ruoxi chatted with the Queen, she would occasionally make sarcastic remarks and say some offensive words.

Fortunately, Rouze is kind-hearted and tolerant to others, and she has never been jealous. This is how they have maintained a relationship of "deep sisterhood and harmonious family" for more than 20 years.

Now, knowing that the emperor had abdicated in order to accompany Ruoxi, his favorite concubine, to Jiangnan, Rouze secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At the very least, this represents the abdication, which should be absolutely true.

Since ancient times, being a crown prince has always been a high-risk job. After her son Honghui was canonized as the crown prince, and the emperor always favored Imperial Noble Consort Ruoxi, Rouze has been worried about her son's position as the crown prince.

More than a decade has passed, and fortunately, Ruoxi's four sons have all gone out to sea to become fiefs.

The remaining princes in the palace are no match for the crown prince.

Now, it has been confirmed that the emperor will abdicate after the new year, and Rou Ze can't wait to tell her son the good news.

Autumn of the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign.

Su Mingzhe abdicated the throne to Crown Prince Honghui.

Honghui set his own reign title - Qianlong.

After the ceremony, Su Mingzhe took his concubines to the south of the Yangtze River and settled down beside the West Lake.

Life is long, but love is short.

More than ten years later, Rouze, who was in the worst health, passed away first.

For this reason, Honghui went to the south of the Yangtze River to personally pay tribute and observe mourning for 100 days.

Then twenty years passed.

The women around Su Mingzhe gradually passed away, and he faked his death to escape, returning to the outskirts of Gusu City, where he continued his secluded life with Concubine Li by his side.

After Qianlong buried the empty coffin, he felt that he was nearly 70 years old and did not have much time left, so he began to favor treacherous villains and enjoy life.

As a result, Honghui had a good attitude and actually reigned for sixty years in one go, living to be nearly a hundred years old, before he abdicated the throne to Crown Prince Yongyan.

After Yongyan ascended the throne, he named the reign Jiaqing and immediately overthrew Heshen, the treacherous minister who was a target of his father's wrath.

After Heshen was sentenced to death, the Imperial Guards seized 1.5 billion taels of silver, 300 million taels of gold, various shops, land deeds, etc., with a value of more than 1 billion taels.

Therefore, a saying spread among the people: "Once Heshen fell, Jiaqing was full."

After Jiaqing ascended the throne, he had no talent and could only follow the old ways.

The morals of the Qing court continued to deteriorate.

After Jiaqing's death, the prince succeeded to the throne and named the reign Daoguang.

After Daoguang ascended the throne, although he tried hard to reform the situation, his talents were just like his father Jiaqing, mediocre and ineffective.

After Emperor Daoguang passed away, Crown Prince Yizhu succeeded to the throne and the reign was named Xianfeng.

As soon as Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne, he began to let himself go. Not only did he enjoy a life of extravagance, but he also held a large-scale beauty pageant. In less than three years, he had filled more than a dozen palaces, including the Forbidden City, with young girls.

In addition to his extravagant lifestyle, Emperor Xianfeng was also fond of fame and power, constantly commanding his army to fight for territory with Western powers.

Overall, there are wins and losses.

In order to support his absurd behavior, local governments began to levy heavy taxes.

The people, who had already been enlightened, were not willing to tolerate Emperor Xianfeng. Instead, they held up Emperor Yongzheng's "Tax Code", shouted slogans such as "Rebellion is not a crime", and continued to revolt.

For a time, the Qing Dynasty was caught in internal and external troubles.

In order to suppress the domestic uprising, Emperor Xianfeng began to compromise with Western powers, signing various unequal treaties that humiliated the country.

Later, after being emperor for more than 20 years, Emperor Xianfeng also passed away, leaving behind his only six-year-old son to succeed him.

When Su Mingzhe learned that the new emperor had ascended the throne, with the reign title "Tongzhi", and that the two Empress Dowagers were ruling the country from behind the scenes, he was completely disappointed with the way of heaven in this plane:
"Why must Shenzhou be destroyed?"

"One withers and another withers, this is the law of reincarnation!"

Plane Heavenly Dao did not expect that Su Mingzhe could not even see through this, and could not help but be extremely disappointed in him:
"Your original body is already a great saint, how come your clone doesn't even understand this principle?"

"You also said that I am a great saint, not a heavenly saint. Isn't it normal for me not to understand this principle?"

After Su Mingzhe retorted to Tian Dao, he also fell into deep thought:
[The Great Dao Saint and the Heavenly Dao Saint are both Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian, both of whom have jumped out of the long river of time and space and can easily travel through the three thousand Xumi worlds. ]

[However, the Heavenly Dao Saint placed his primordial spirit on the Heavenly Dao of the plane, so there is another saying, 'The Heavenly Dao Saint is the Heavenly Dao, but the Heavenly Dao is not the Heavenly Dao Saint'. To put it more clearly, '1 is an integer, but an integer is not 1'! ]

[The Great Dao Saint is equivalent to an infinite non-repeating decimal. Compared with the Heavenly Dao Saint, it is hard to say who is stronger and who is weaker. There are infinite possibilities! ]

[I left the Three Pure Ones' clones in the Three Thousand Worlds to train, and then gathered the magic power and returned it to myself, hoping to accumulate strength and break through the 'shackles of the Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian'! ]

[Now I am unable to comprehend the truth of the rise and fall of the great road of reincarnation, and my state of mind is difficult to be perfect. I can only reincarnate into the next life...]

(End of this chapter)