During the Lingjue era, nothing of great consequence happened under heaven.
In the tenth year of Lingjue, a decree spread throughout the commanderies and kingdoms.
Grand Marshal and Great General Huo Guang ordered all High-ranking Marquises, Lords King, commandery governors, and senior officials ranked Two-Thousand-Shi or above throughout the realm to present beautiful women who had already borne male infants to Chang'an.
Preferably, they were to be beautiful women who had conceived within ten days or a month of marriage-in other words, women who became pregnant extremely easily.
The decree also stated that, apart from senior officials ranked Two-Thousand-Shi, any commoners who considered their daughters or wives beautiful and likely to bear male infants could report them to their local county officials.
Huo Guang explicitly stated in the decree that the direct bloodline of Emperor Xiaoxuan and the Empress Dowager was far too thin. After Crown Prince Li died, His Majesty alone remained, a solitary shoot.
These women were being presented to propagate the imperial family's offspring, which was why beautiful women who had borne male infants were required.
If a woman presented truly conceived an imperial child, the officials would receive credit toward their administrative records, and the father or husband who presented her would receive generous rewards. Like imperial maternal relatives, they would enjoy inexhaustible glory and wealth, with blessings extending to their descendants.
There was a long history of the Son of Heaven in Chang'an ordering the commanderies and kingdoms to present beauties. Emperor Xiaowu, in particular, had loved beautiful women and repeatedly had the commanderies and kingdoms select beauties to present.
The Great Han did not particularly care whether they had been married. Provided the women presented were genuinely beautiful, even a second marriage was no obstacle.
But Huo Guang's direct demand for beautiful women who