"We currently have this plan.
However, I don't know if my daughter will be capable. If she truly has the ability in the future, then it's certainly not impossible for her to inherit the throne. But if her capabilities are too poor, I might have to make other preparations.
We cannot let the common people suffer hardship for the sake of a bloodline.
Of course, if she doesn't wish to bear the immense responsibility of the entire realm in the future, I will find another way.
In short, it all depends on future developments.
Plans must also change with circumstances."
The future is unpredictable. Ding Yun wasn't a fortune teller or a diviner, so how could she be certain of future changes? Therefore, everything now was a decision and plan based on the current situation. What would happen in the future remained unknown; they could only take things one step at a time.
"A'Luan, you've become quite strange. I don't know what happened to you during those years in the palace that caused such a significant change.
But no matter what, there's one thing I hope you will remember: you are a Dugu. The previous imperial family is completely extinguished. Your daughter is also a Dugu. If she truly inherits the throne and has children in the future, I hope her children will still bear the surname Dugu.
I believe you understand what I mean.
Since there hasn't been a change of dynasty, the Dugu surname must not be lost. It cannot be that you marry a man or marry a man and then change your surname to his. Otherwise, I will absolutely not acknowledge it.
If the Dugu family were overthrown by another surname, then I wouldn't insist on this. But since that's not the case now, I still hope you won't let down your ancestors.
Can you give me your assurance on this?"
Ding Yun's thoughts and actions were clearly at odds with ordinary women of this world, but the Empress Dowager didn't suspect transmigration or reincarnation.
In the end, she specifically stated her requirement: she could accept her granddaughter ascending the throne, but absolutely not accept the imperial family changing its surname in the future.
Unless there was a change of dynasty.
The entire Dugu clan was overthrown.
Ding Yun had no objections to this requirement and nodded indifferently, stating:
"There will be no problem with that.
However, Grandmother, aren't you also not surnamed Dugu?
If I recall correctly, Grandmother should be surnamed Liu. The Liu family of Qidong. So, have you now completely considered yourself a member of the Dugu family, living and dying as one of them? Have you completely abandoned your own surname?"
Ding Yun was genuinely curious about this. She had originally thought her grandmother was a rare clear-headed person of this era, but unexpectedly, she still had the limitations of her time, the notion that once married into a family, one belonged to that family from then on.
She gradually stopped mentioning her original surname to outsiders.
Outsiders only called her Madam Dugu, Empress Dowager Dugu.
Rarely was her original surname, Liu, used.
"Isn't that how women are? If I had married into the Zhu family or the Wang family back then, perhaps people would still have called me Zhu Liu-shi or Wang Liu-shi. But after marrying into the Dugu family, no one ever called me Dugu Liu-shi.
They directly addressed me as Madam Dugu.
Over time, some younger generations, as you said, truly don't even know that my original surname was Liu.
I understand what you mean.
You're saying that I didn't let my own children adopt my surname Liu, yet why am I now forcing you to agree that your daughter's children should bear the Dugu surname?
But we are different.
A family and the imperial court are ultimately different.
If your daughter marries and her children change to another family's surname, then what is the point of competing for the realm?
Wouldn't it be simpler to compete to become your daughter's husband?
Such a change of dynasty and extinction would be difficult for me to accept, and I imagine others in the Dugu family would also find it hard to accept. It would likely lead to rebellion!"
The Empress Dowager knew very well that a woman ascending the throne was already enough to make many people dissatisfied. It was just that they hadn't revealed it yet, or were secretly preparing, accumulating strength, and waiting to resist.
The reason why there wasn't much opposition from the Dugu family currently was primarily because Dugu Luan still bore the Dugu surname. But once her descendants changed their surname due to their husbands or other reasons,
Then it would be almost a certainty for the rest of the Dugu family to rise up in rebellion.
"I understand your meaning. Rest assured, I have my plans. Also, there's one more thing I want to clarify in advance, so you can be prepared.
I will dismiss all the consorts in the Emperor Father's harem. Those with children will follow their children, and their children will support them in their old age. For those without children, whether they receive a sum of money and remarry outside the palace, or are settled together,
And are supported by the imperial family's funds, are all acceptable.
I hope you will not obstruct this. After all, some women in the Emperor Father's harem are not old, only in their early twenties. If they wish to remarry, it's not impossible for the imperial family to provide a dowry.
Grandmother, what do you think?"
Ding Yun could largely understand her grandmother, the Empress Dowager's concerns, so she didn't argue with her on this matter. Instead, she turned to bring up another issue, which was the handling of the late Emperor's harem.
However, Ding Yun's suggestion, which she felt was normal and reasonable, still startled the Empress Dowager. This was because arranging for imperial consorts to remarry was an unprecedented event in history. Of course, the original owner was an exception.
Furthermore, remarriage after the fall of an imperial family
Was a completely different concept from remarriage proposed by the offspring of the late Emperor.
However, the Empress Dowager also felt that it was a rather tragic fate for those young women to spend the rest of their lives in the palace. Remarrying outside the palace was also a good option.
Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, she said:
"The idea is decent, but it's ultimately inappropriate for you to handle this matter. Fine, I will handle it. Your reign is not very stable as it is, there's no need to be stained with something so easily controversial. I will make the arrangements then.
You just need to cooperate and agree."
Although Ding Yun's suggestion was a good deed, for a child to release all of their deceased father's concubines and arrange for their remarriage was ultimately not considered filial piety by the world.
But if it were arranged by the mother,
People would only say it was benevolence, a good mother-in-law.
The Empress Dowager still wished for stability in the realm and to avoid any disturbances, which was why she immediately offered to help and take on this responsibility.
Ding Yun thanked her profusely for this. Afterward, she exchanged pleasantries with the Empress Dowager for a while longer before leaving Weiyang Palace. She didn't even sleep that night and began to ponder and research the newly unlocked tasks and the积分商城 (Points Mall) within the "Eternal Emperor System," searching for useful items.
As well as tasks that were currently convenient to complete.
There was nothing to say about the novice tasks. Ding Yun had completed them exceptionally well. The data of over five million square kilometers of newly acquired territory directly caused the bonus rewards for the novice territory task to explode. The data on newly recruited troops also saw explosive growth after Ding Yun took over the Ministry of War and gained control of numerous tiger talismans.
They had now gradually increased to the number of a million.
This meant that she could nominally command an army of a million, though how many could actually be mobilized and how many would obey orders was another matter. After all, most of these million soldiers did not directly obey her orders. But regardless, she had earned the corresponding bonus rewards.
Compared to these two aspects, the novice task of earning the first pot of gold, which Ding Yun had started preparing for the earliest, progressed the slowest. The assets she had accumulated in the early stage were not counted at all; the specific amount was calculated only after she accepted the task.
In less than three days, her industries had only earned her less than thirty thousand taels of silver.
There was no choice; her industries were too extensive.
Some industries that benefited the people's livelihood and her own plans were still operating at a loss.
For example, the courier company she had converted into an E-Zhan (postal station).
Therefore, the progress of the novice task of earning the first pot of gold was naturally a bit slower. But fortunately, in less than ten days, the autumn taxes would be collected. She wondered if the tax revenue collected in the national treasury at that time could be counted as her income. If it could, then the corresponding bonus rewards would undoubtedly be substantial.
After reviewing the progress of the three novice tasks and confirming that she would definitely receive an unimaginable amount of points by the end of the month, Ding Yun then confidently began to carefully examine the main quests and their sub-quests.
The main quests had not been unlocked before, so Ding Yun didn't even know what functions were inside.
They were smoothly unlocked when she ascended the throne.
But at that time, she didn't have time to look.
Only now did she finally have some time to check.
[Main Quest: Become an Eternal Emperor]
[Task Completion Standards: The population of the realm shall exceed ten thousand ten thousands, there shall be no more starved dead, the realm shall receive tribute from ten thousand nations, and all nations and barbarians shall bow down.
There shall be flourishing culture and education, and a prosperous trade.
There shall be abundant military virtue, and the people shall be confident.
A century of prosperity shall be considered the mark of an Eternal Emperor!]
[Sub-quest One: A great emperor must have their own authority. First, gain control of the court.]
[Sub-quest Two: A great emperor must control the empire's finances. Ensure the average loyalty of officials in the Ministry of Revenue exceeds sixty and take control of the finances for your own use.]
[Sub-quest Three: A great emperor must have their own sources of information to ensure they are not deceived by officials. Build a new information network.]
[Sub-quest Four: A great emperor must have loyal and capable ministers to assist them. Find a way to recruit talents from across the realm and ensure their loyalty is above sixty points.]
...
Good heavens, not to mention how difficult the completion requirements for the main quest were, just looking at the sub-quests below, Ding Yun couldn't see the end at a glance. After spending several hours flipping through all the sub-quests from top to bottom, she only wanted to beat up the system designer. Three thousand sub-quests, was this trying to kill someone, or did the designer have obsessive-compulsive disorder, or perhaps a fondness for the special number three thousand? Couldn't they choose another number to like?
666 would be good too.
How long would it take to complete so many tasks?
The most crucial point was that these tasks had to be accepted first, and after acceptance, there were time limits. Although theoretically, completing all three thousand sub-quests would mean the main quest was completed without any other action, successfully completing them within the given time limits would require careful sorting and prioritization of these three thousand sub-quests.
If they weren't sorted according to their complexity, difficulty, and time consumption,
Then there would definitely be some mishaps.
Or perhaps a few tasks would be accidentally missed.
Or certain tasks couldn't be completed within the specified time.
Therefore, careful sorting and prioritization were extremely important.
"Forget it. Anyway, the three novice tasks still have almost a month before their completion settlement and point redemption.
During this period, I won't have any points to buy things.
So, I might as well use this time to carefully sort through these three thousand sub-quests and arrange a sequence for their completion, to avoid future trouble."
Although Ding Yun felt a headache looking at so many sub-quests, for the sake of the trial, she could only grit her teeth and accept it. She planned to do nothing major for the next month, aiming for a smooth transition. Everything would be addressed after she sorted out these sub-quests and received the abundant points from the three novice tasks.
Thus, for the next month, apart from the Empress Dowager issuing an imperial decree allowing harem consorts with children to leave the palace and be supported by their children, and allowing childless consorts to remarry, which caused a stir,
There were no major events in Chang'an. The new emperor unexpectedly did not implement any "new broom sweeps clean" policies, which greatly reassured the ministers and the aristocratic families, making them think that perhaps a female emperor wasn't so bad.
After all, for them, a docile
Emperor who didn't cause trouble was a good emperor.
What they feared most was an emperor who wanted reforms, wanted to wage war, and wanted to seize power. Such an emperor was clearly a troublemaker and the most likely to infringe upon their interests. They liked emperors who did nothing.
However, they had clearly relaxed too early.
As Ding Yun's reign reached thirty days, her three novice tasks smoothly reached their submission and settlement day. Then, perhaps because the amount of bonus rewards was too large, the entire system froze for nearly half an hour after the tasks were submitted.
Ding Yun was so scared that she thought the system might have a bug and crash, or refuse to honor the rewards.
Fortunately, after freezing for half an hour, the novice tasks were smoothly settled. At the same time, a balance of many digits appeared in Ding Yun's Points Mall balance. Ding Yun was too lazy to count the specific number of digits. In any case, theoretically speaking, as long as she didn't buy a large number of products and technologies from the interstellar era, and only bought technologies and products from the first and second industrial revolutions,
Even buying the complete industrial chain and industrial system would not be enough to spend that much balance. Since it couldn't be spent, why bother counting the exact amount?
What does it mean to be rich and powerful?
It means not looking at the balance, not looking at the price.
Buy whatever you want, swipe whatever you want.