Daming Military Empire

Chapter 264 Happy New Year's Eve

Another year has passed amid the busy schedule, and Zhu Cijiong ushered in the tenth year of his rebirth. In this year, the troublesome peasant uprising in Northwest China was finally put down, and Ming Dynasty ushered in a rare peaceful and prosperous age. It was joyous and festive, and the common people were celebrating this rare peace.

Zhu Cijiong also wanted to congratulate. He didn't want to celebrate the pacification of the peasant uprising in the northwest. This was expected. With the fighting power of the peasant uprising army, the Ming army could kill them even without guns and artillery. This point There is really nothing to celebrate.

He mainly wanted to celebrate that he had solved the chronic disease of the clan's moths. If the clan's gang of moths were allowed to go on like this, Daming would be doomed sooner or later!

It’s all right now, nearly [-]% of the clans have been settled, and the rest are either enfeoffed in remote areas where the birds don’t shit, or live in big cities such as Jinling and wait to die. There are no fiefs at all, and the harm to Daming has already It is very small, and it can be said that the problem of the clan is solved, and the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as the real world peace.

Of course, this kind of thing can't be celebrated on the surface. He can only have fun by himself. On the surface, he still pretends that the peasant uprising in the northwest has finally been put down, which is worth celebrating.

So when Zheng Zhilong said that he wanted to bring a few well-known troupes from Jiangnan to the capital to perform, he agreed without hesitation. Unexpectedly, he fell into Zheng Zhilong's 'trick'!
Watching operas in this era is similar to watching movies in later generations. Once a famous opera is released, it is like a wonderful blockbuster. The two empress dowagers live deep in the palace, lonely and boring. Naturally, they are very fascinated by this opera. I am so happy to have a troupe from Jiangnan come to sing.

Originally, according to Zhu Cijiong's intention, it was to let all the troupe of the Liyuan play the best song, and it would be fine to sing for a day or two to have fun. Seeing that the two empress dowagers are so excited, well, then every team can sing vigorously Let's put together all the repertoires we are good at and sing them directly until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so the sound of opera is wafting in the Forbidden City throughout the New Year's Eve.

On the second day of the first lunar month, Sishi, in the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cijiong and the two empress dowagers sat at the head of the throne, Zheng Zhilong and his wife and the loyal Marquis Qin Liangyu were on the left and right, and the two future queens and concubines Qin Mingyue and Princess Anna admired the last seat. Symbolically, a one-foot-high stage was set up, and Suzhou Liyuan is currently performing their best "Romance of the West Chamber".

Empress Dowager Zhang is holding Odagawa Shichizaemon in her arms, Zhu Cijiong's little cousin, Princess Changping, is sitting in the arms of Empress Dowager Ren, and Zheng Chenggong is in the arms of his mother, Tagawa Shi. All the female relatives present are watching with great interest. In the performance on the show, the three beautiful young women teased the child in their arms from time to time, the scene was extremely warm.

Zheng Zhilong is better, sitting there alone, silent, seems to be listening, our Chongzheng Emperor Zhu Cijiong is a bit of a spoiler, scratching his head is like having lice on his body, this babbling opera is to him It's really not attractive, but this group of people are fascinated by it, and no one pays attention to him, which makes him feel very boring!
The song ended, it was almost noon, and it was finally time to pause. Zhu Cijiong couldn't wait to announce that the food was served and lunch was ready. Everyone had a rest first, and then watched after eating.

At this moment, the atmosphere finally became a little more active, and everyone started chatting. Qin Mingyue and Princess Anna also came over shyly under the coaxing of everyone, and served him a meal, which made him feel like an emperor at last.

Zhu Cijiong was enjoying nobody's service there, but Zheng Zhilong, as if he had taken the wrong medicine, took the initiative to come up and chatted with Queen Mother Zhang and Queen Mother Ren in a low voice. It seemed that the two queen mothers were elated by what he said. How come there is a taste of conspiracy to succeed in the cheap expression!
Sure enough, this guy ate a few mouthfuls of food in a hurry, then ran out for a walk, and then there was a message from outside: "The beautiful girl Chen Yuanyuan, Li Xiangjun, and Dong Xiaowan are here."

Zhu Cijiong almost spit out a mouthful of vegetable juice when he heard the sound, Qinhuai Bayan, what kind of plane are you doing!
He hasn't figured out the situation yet, the two empress dowagers agreed almost at the same time: "Xuan."

Immediately afterwards, three twelve or thirteen-year-old girls who looked as beautiful as flowers and jade came in, and knelt side by side in the hall and said delicately: "The slaves Chen Yuanyuan, Li Xiangjun, and Dong Xiaowan will meet the emperor and the two empress dowagers."

Empress Dowager Zhang acted as if the emperor didn't exist, and directly raised her hand and said, "Excuse me, get up and let Ai's family take a look."

Zhu Cijiong stared dumbfounded at the three little beauties in front of him, and his heartbeat started to speed up. They are beautiful, really beautiful, especially Chen Yuanyuan in the middle. This gentle and charming temperament makes people fascinated by it at a glance. I don't know what Jinxi is like.

He was standing in a daze, but Empress Dowager Zhang smiled and asked Empress Dowager Ren, "What do you think, sister?"

Empress Dowager Ren said in a rare voice: "Well, this appearance, this temperament, this figure, I really feel pity."

Empress Dowager Zhang then commented: "What's even more rare is that they can still sing good songs. The emperor will be blessed in the future. Sister, do you think you should be recruited as a servant or talented person first, or directly as a concubine?"

Empress Dowager Ren looked at Zhu Cijiong dotingly and said: "Let's see what the emperor wants, after all, they all serve the emperor."

Empress Dowager Zhang nodded, and asked Zhu Cijiong directly: "Your Majesty, you are going to get married this year. The Ai family originally wanted your uncle to start a draft after the New Year. I didn't expect Prince Zheng to have a heart, and it started years ago. I picked it for you, what do you think of these beautiful girls?"

Zhu Cijiong was a little confused when he heard the words. In the draft, he wouldn't really choose three thousand beauties to serve him in the harem!As for these three, their looks and figures are of course nothing to say, but their birth, Qinhuai Bayan is just a euphemistic name. In fact, they are the eight famous prostitutes on the banks of the Qinhuai River. It is a bit outrageous to make them concubines !

This really made him a little embarrassed, it would be a lie to say that such beauties who have lost their minds are not attracted, but their reputation in later generations is really a bit of that, so he said hesitatingly: "It's not bad, but their background... .”

Empress Zhang was a little unhappy when she heard the words, and said with a very stern face: "What's the matter with their backgrounds? They are all happy wives of the Jiaofang Division. Although their occupations are a bit low, at least they have official status. Your family and your mother are much stronger, but we are all ordinary people without any status! Have you heard some rumors about the Jiaofang Division? The renovation of the yamen is beyond recognition, this matter, the emperor, you should take care of it!"

Zhu Cijiong fainted by mistake when he heard the words. It seemed that this was the first time in his history that he was taught by the Queen Mother Zhang, but he didn't expect it to be for this kind of thing, fuck it.

Well, then don’t blame me for being ruthless. Because of the background of these three beauties, the Secretary of Jiaofang will no longer be able to open a brothel as a part-time job in the future. He must return to the track of art, and he must also study and achieve results in opera. Come on, try to restore your reputation completely, otherwise, the officials of the Jiaofang Division will try to see whether the thin side of the knife is hard or their necks are hard!
Thinking of this, he hastened to make amends: "I was misled by these people, since the two empress dowagers like each other, then they will be made concubines from now on. As for the affairs of Jiaofang Secretary, I will let someone handle them. It’s Chinese New Year, don’t talk about political affairs, come and eat, Cao Huachun adds three more sets of tableware.”

After hearing this, Empress Dowager Zhang smiled again, and even praised the emperor for being sensible, and the atmosphere in the hall became lively again.

(End of this chapter)