Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 207 Rejecting the East Palace Marriage and Welcome the Folk Empress

Renshou Palace, the main hall.

In fact, the draft is a relatively long process, and because it requires a lot of manpower and financial resources, it has not been liked by the civil servants.

This draft is different from the previous ones. It is not only to choose the maids for the Forbidden City, but also to choose the empress of Ming Dynasty, and it can even be said to choose the mother for the next emperor.

Because of the false rumors about the draft during the He Longqing period, the people in Hangzhou married their daughters overnight?
It was precisely because Longqing already had a queen and a prince at that time, who would send his daughter to the palace to be an old maid?

In fact, there were very few emperors in the Ming Dynasty who drafted big marriages after ascending the throne, and usually the candidate for the queen was drawn up in the East Palace.

For example, when Emperor Chenghua was just an adult, Yingzong made a lot of effort to choose the crown princess. At that time, he still chose three princesses, but they passed away just before the sick bed.

The same is true for Zhu Youtang. The civil servants recommended Zhang Yujiao, the daughter of Zhang Qi's cousin, and a group of girls from the capital, and then the Empress Dowager Zhou finalized the candidates.

As for Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Zhanji, they all got married first and then succeeded to the throne. The only emperor who was drafted and married after he ascended the throne was Yingzong Zhu Qizhen who succeeded at the age of eight.

It's just that history has quietly changed now. After Hongzhi rejected the marriage arranged by the civil servant and the Empress Dowager Zhou, he will become the second emperor to draft a wedding after he ascended the throne.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Rites, officials and eunuchs at all levels selected the best five thousand beauties from all over the country and sent them to the capital.

After primary selection, re-selection and selection, only 300 of the [-] beauties who came to the capital are left, and these [-] beauties will officially enter the palace tomorrow.

After entering the palace, they will be screened again, and then they need to live a collective life in the Forbidden City, mainly to observe their personality problems.

Only 50 people with dignified words and deeds and good conduct can enter the next round of screening, and finally three people will be selected by the queen mother and handed over to the emperor to choose the queen.

As the owner of the Forbidden City, Zhu Youtang, one of the three hundred beautiful women will become the Empress of Ming Dynasty. It is indeed necessary to show up tomorrow to impress them.

The Queen Mother also regarded Zhu Youtang as a family member, so she was thinking of Zhu Youtang now, so she made such a request.

Zhu Youtang is not so busy that he can't even squeeze out this little time, so he nodded lightly and said: "Okay, you can arrange the time tomorrow, and I will go over and have a look!"

"The information on the [-] beautiful women has been sent to the Qianqing Palace, but Aijia wants to know something!" The Queen Mother's fingernails are very long. Seeing that the matter has been finalized, she gracefully picked up the teacup and said with a faint smile.

Zhu Youtang reached out and picked up a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake from the colorful porcelain basin, took a bite, and said casually, "What's the matter?"

"What kind of queen does Your Majesty want? Don't get me wrong, Your Majesty just wants to help you choose the most suitable candidate, and has no other intentions!" The Queen Mother worried that Zhu Youtang misunderstood that she was going to manipulate the queen candidate for the civil servants, so she explained seriously.

Zhu Youtang knew that the Queen Mother had long been abandoned by the civil service group, and was even less important than Concubine Shao in the Chenghua Dynasty, but he didn't have a clear standard in his heart.

In fact, there is no standard for this kind of thing, just like a joke: a rich man is about to marry a wife, and the rich man gives 1000 yuan to three candidate girls and asks them to fill the room.

A girl bought a lot of cotton to fill one-half of the room, a girl bought a lot of balloons to fill three-quarters of the room, and the last girl bought candles with the least money to fill the room with light.

Ordinarily, the rich man should choose the last girl, but the rich man chose the one with the biggest breasts.

Zhu Youtang chewed the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in his mouth, and asked seriously: "Queen Mother, what kind of woman do you think is suitable to be my queen?"

There was no sense of precaution in the language, but a sense of sincerity, and he was really asking the Queen Mother about this question seriously.

"This palace seems to be peaceful, but whoever wants to get more for himself will inevitably have friction and disputes, so Aijia thinks that a woman with a strong temper and who knows how to coordinate the relationship between the palaces is needed to be the queen! "The queen mother realized that the intelligent emperor in front of her was still a "child" after all, so she honestly expressed her thoughts.

She took a sip of tea, saw Zhu Youtang listening carefully, and gave an example: "It's like the fish His Majesty caught in Taiye Pond, you sent it to Concubine Shao for the first time, and Concubine Yue Jing and Concubine Yang came to play mahjong the next day , there are small emotions inside and outside the words, and there must be some resentment in my heart. It's just that the two of them will not take the initiative to speak up, let alone go to your majesty to say that your actions are unfair, so this requires your queen to listen Speak their hearts. She needs to know what to say and how to do it, and she needs to have rules to deal with the people and things in the harem, so that the harem can be managed in an orderly manner and the harem can be free from disputes!"

After some words, Liu Jin who was standing beside cast admiring gaze.

"No wonder you asked me to send fish to several concubines with children the next day. It's just that I heard that Concubine Yang has been a vegetarian for these years, why does she want to eat fish?" Zhu Youtang listened seriously and bit again A mouthful of sweet-scented osmanthus cake was puzzled.

The queen mother glanced at Zhu Youtang, who was sometimes bright and sometimes confused, and explained bitterly: "How many concubines in the palace really like to eat fish? It's just that this is the comparison between them. To bury it is also to want His Majesty to send fish to their residence, this is their face!"

"The fish I catch don't want to be ruined by them like this!" Zhu Youtang didn't mind showing them a little kindness, but he also had his own principles.

The Queen Mother held the tea lid and poured the tea lightly, looking serious and authentic: "Aijia is just an analogy, but no one really dares to spoil the fish sent by His Majesty! In fact, it is good for you to give one more fish, so that everyone Concubine Toffee feels that she still has contact with you, and they are more comforted in the palace!"

"Anyway, I like fishing very much now, so it's okay to give them a fish or two once in a while! Now they also like to come to you to play mahjong. If anyone really wants to eat fish, then you can just tell them!" Zhu Youtang put the remaining sweet-scented osmanthus cake into his mouth, which was also very generous and authentic.

Since Emperor Chenghua passed away early, these concubines are actually poor people, and giving a few fish is actually a trivial matter.

The Queen Mother nodded lightly, but changed the subject and said: "When it comes to mahjong, you have to ask the Ministry of Industry to get two sets of mahjong and send them to Ai's house. Now mahjong is not enough!"

"Okay! Your Renshou Palace is so lively now, you can open a mahjong parlor if you dare!" Zhu Youtang immediately agreed, but couldn't help joking.

The Queen Mother sipped a sip of tea elegantly, but she was very puzzled and said: "Your Majesty, what is a mahjong parlor?"

"Put ten or eight mahjong tables here, provide them with some refreshments, and then draw some money for the winners of the first few rounds on each table!" Zhu Youtang simply gestured according to the pattern in his memory.

The Empress Dowager put down the teacup lightly, but she said clearly: "The Ai family just sees that they are bored, and wants them to come to Renshou Palace to play together, but this kind of gambling is not a good style!"

"Empress Dowager thinks long-term. This palace is really not suitable for gambling! I will order the Ministry of Industry to help you get some more mahjong tomorrow, but the ivory in the treasury seems to have been exhausted last time, so I have to purchase ivory. Let the internal officials check in the capital to see if they can purchase ivory, and if it is impossible to replace it with other materials for the time being, I will let Guangdong purchase a batch of ivory and send it to the capital!" Zhu Youtang agreed with the Queen Mother's point of view, and proposed a solution Mahjong's plan.

The Queen Mother is from Southern Zhili, so she has heard about Guangdong, but she is confused: "Although Ai's family has never been to Lingnan, there seems to be no elephants in Lingnan, right?"

"It is true that there are no elephants in Lingnan, but Guangdong's maritime merchants trade in Nanyang, and Nanyang has been selling ivory to Daming! If you really want to buy from Guangdong, you may have to wait for a while!" Zhu Youtang resumed Picking up a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake, he explained very seriously.

The Queen Mother shook her head lightly, but asked worriedly: "Your Majesty can do it with such heart, and Aijia is satisfied. It's just that the imperial court spends so much time purchasing ivory, will it cause trouble for Your Majesty? Won't it attract criticism?"

"Those scholar-officials keep saying that Ming has a vast land and rich resources, so they always feel that Ming does not need to communicate with other countries, but they don't know that Nanyang also has what we need! They don't want to oppose the ivory, but they still want to stop me from setting up a city bureau to collect taxes. They are afraid of other countries. Merchants get boat leads and compete with them for business! I don’t care about ivory, whether they say it or not, and I don’t need to care about it!” Zhu Youtang had already seen the true colors of those sanctimonious people, took a bite of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and said disdainfully.

The Queen Mother knew that the emperor in front of her had completely controlled the court, but she suddenly said in her heart, "I heard that Da Ming and North Korea are going to open a sea market on Canzhi Island?"

"That's right. Tomorrow I will finalize the first governor of the East China Sea. In two days, I will escort cotton and lead the army to Daming City!" Zhu Youtang chewed on the sweet-scented osmanthus cake and nodded gently.

The Queen Mother asked curiously: "Who was the first governor of the East China Sea?"

Zhu Youtang put the remaining lotus cake directly into his mouth, dipped his finger in some tea, and wrote a name on the table.

"How could it be him?" Seeing the name on the table, the Queen Mother looked up at Zhu Youtang in puzzlement and asked.

Since the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in Renshou Palace is the best, Zhu Youtang often eats two pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cake here.

Zhu Youtang chatted with the Queen Mother for a while, seeing that it was getting late and the business had already been finished, he got up and left.

Qianqing Palace, here is well organized by maids and eunuchs.

Zhu Youtang was used to being surrounded by dozens of maids and eunuchs serving him, since he just ate two pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cake in Renshou Palace, and now he was not hungry, so he went directly to Xinuang Pavilion.

Xinuange can be said to be a science and technology exhibition of this era, or a storage room for cutting-edge science.The Ministry of Industry has been trying to improve sea ships and build guns, so it often sends some blueprints or models over.

"Your Majesty, this is the fishing line just sent by the Ministry of Industry!" Eunuch Wei Juan, who had been recalled to the capital by the imperial court from Guangdong Ship Lifting Department, was now working in Qianqing Palace, and said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang picked up the long black line and pulled it vigorously, and found that the pulling force of this fishing line was indeed relatively strong, so he said lightly: "I will put this fishing line on the fishing rod tomorrow, and I will try to see if it is strong." Get some!"

This material is not silk or cotton, but horse mane.

The use of horse mane to make fishing line originated in Europe in the 18th century. Because horse mane is soft and elastic, it is a good material for making fishing line.

Although the pulling force of a horse's mane is not strong enough to catch a large fish, the pulling force of several hairs is still very impressive.

Theoretically, the more horsehair you splice with, the stronger its pull will be.

As night fell, the Qianqing Palace was lit up with bright lights.

After dinner and bath, Zhu Youtang came to Dongnuange.

Zhu Youtang usually does not deal with government affairs at night, but he reads the secret reports from eunuchs, Dongchang and Jinyiwei guarding all over the country to get more information.

Although he is a high-ranking emperor, if he doesn't spend more time reading information, he will easily become "blind".

Like the defeat in Datong in the 19th year of Chenghua, a total of [-] Datong soldiers died, but it was concealed by the civil official group and the military eunuchs.

If it hadn't been for the patrol censor who chose to expose it, I am afraid that Emperor Chenghua would not have known that his army had suffered such a defeat until his death, and it is very likely that there will be no record in the history books.

Zhu Youtang knew that he could not only understand the situation in various places from the officials' memorials, but also combined the information from the eunuchs and Jin Yiwei, so that he could have a more comprehensive understanding of the Ming Dynasty under his rule.

Among so many secret reports, Wang Zhi was the most prominent one.

Although there is a lot of slobber, the advantage lies in the great diligence, but it is able to report every day in detail, so that I can clearly grasp the progress of the clear.

"His Majesty Liu Zhongcai proposed that the officials of the state government and county government should live in an ordinary family, and the family of a large gentry family. Because the imperial court offered rewards for those who exposed hidden fields, the local people are now enthusiastic, and the amount of hidden fields found by officials and gentry is amazing. There are already dozens of households in the civil register! However, dozens of households regretted it and wanted to bribe Liu Zhong with a lot of money. Liu Zhong did not take any money privately. He was indeed a clean and honest governor! The stolen goods are taken by the servants, for fear that the servants will cut them off!"

Zhu Youtang knew that since the Sun clan was uncovered, the Qingzhang in Anlu Prefecture was progressing smoothly, and he also believed that Liu Zhong would not disappoint his trust.

Now, he only needs to wait for the results of the Qingzhang in Anlu Prefecture, and then he can solve the problem of Yintian in the two capitals and thirteen provinces step by step by breaking the surface.

Summer is a rainy season. When Zhu Youtang was flipping through information from various places under the lamp, it turned out that the courtyard outside was already pouring down with heavy rain.

Zhu Youtang was not affected by the heavy rain outside. When he turned to the information Wang Yue handed over from Guangdong, his expression turned gloomy.

(End of this chapter)