Wanli Xinming

Chapter 139 Selection

At the end of August of the fourth year of Wanli, the second batch of crops of the first batch of immigrants in the northeast had been harvested and all dried.Huo Lin of Huojiabao held the first wedding among immigrants from the Northeast on the fifth day of August.Less than half a month after the wedding, the bride Yu'er held her belly straight, and skillfully broke the corn in the large courtyard covering an area of ​​two and a half acres.

Mrs. Huo was wearing a wolfskin coat, sitting on a wooden bench beside the courtyard, watching a group of strong men and village women beat the beans on the flat ground with grain caps.The rotating wooden shaft at the top of the grain cover was made by a carpenter, and the work of weaving the beats with wooden sticks and leather cables had to be done by Huo Lao Si.

The beat rotates according to the unique rhythm at the front end of the long rod. With the sound of a trumpet, it hits the dry bean rod neatly and powerfully. Jumped out in a hurry.

Mrs. Huo felt that such a scene could not be seen enough in his 73 years of life.The noise in the courtyard, the chilly late autumn wind, and the infinitely satisfying fragrance of food all made him intoxicated.

At Huo Lin's wedding, the old lady drank the wine brewed by the Huo family for the first time in her life.The wine introduction was bought by Wang Peng as a gift to Huojiabao, saying that if there is more food, it would be good to make some wine to keep out the cold.For the sake of this wine introduction, Huo Da's family also went to learn the brewing method of local wine.

Huo Jiabao, who has never had a big vat to display the results of Huo Da's learning, finally replaced dozens of pottery vats in Daning with a carload of last year's Chenliang in June of the fourth year of Wanli.

The old lady Huo, who learned the result of the transaction, was crying stupidly by Huo Laoshuan, who went out to buy a tank, and scolded them for being a loser.Huo Laoshuan argued that the potter's door was crowded with people, and they were all pulling the grain to exchange for the big tank - who made Quan Daning the only one to sell the tank!Now in June, there are few grains in Daning. If the harvest is harvested in autumn, it would be good to replace two tanks with one truckload of grain!
When he learned that those big tanks had become the most scarce resource in Daning, Mrs. Huo suddenly had an idea.Immediately, they ordered each family not to use large tanks to hold water for the time being, but also to use wooden barrels brought from Shandong.These large vats will be used to make wine, and Huojiabao can also make a fortune in his second winter in the Northeast!
He was inspired by the six Huo family members who were left in the northeast to watch food last year, and they almost froze to death in their three-story adobe grass house.Fortunately, Huo Lin's father-in-law found a pile of wolf skins and fox skins to save their lives, otherwise these few would never see the spring sun.

The old lady who moved all her belongings from Shandong for the second time has heard the bloody and tearful complaints of these men.

Because of their inexperience, the six men living in the same house didn't clear the first snow in time - as a result, they didn't open the door after getting up in the morning, and the wooden windows were frozen.They couldn't go to the granary to get food, and the firewood quickly burned out. Just when the cold and hunger forced them to break out the window, they were rescued by Tong Chunqing who came to visit and opened the snow.

At that time, the old man thought, these idiots have nothing to say.My old man has lived for more than 70 years, and I haven't encountered snow that can't push the door open. Is the Northeast so evil?Later, when it was confirmed by Yu'er that it was true, the old man took a deep breath in the spring. ——The idea of ​​making wine and selling money came from it.

Huo Da received an order from the old lady, and after making more than a dozen cylinders of vinegar, he finally mastered the trick - corn wine cannot be brewed in summer.Therefore, on the day of Huo Lin's wedding, he scooped out the first scoop of yellow liquor from the big vat.The old lady first tasted it, and then drank it from a large bowl. The result was a tragedy. The old man fell ill on the second day of the wedding and almost became the first patriarch buried in the Northeast.

Taigong Huo, who was relieved, was fortunately not left with sequelae, but he judged that it would be difficult to work in the future.Today is the fifth day of his recovery. Because he wanted to make beans, he put on a thick wolfskin jacket and came out to watch the fun.

He knew in his heart that he might not be able to survive this winter of lack of medicine and medicine in the Northeast.However, looking at Yu'er who was breaking the corn, the old lady felt very happy again. It was him, the old coffin huozi, whose name was Huo Feng, who found a piece of land enough for the old Huo family to live in in the late autumn. ——In his life, he has never been so satisfied as he is today.

If the old lady has seen "Faust", he may shout today: This moment is so beautiful, please stay forever!

Although the old lady couldn't shout this sentence, the mood at this time was the same as that of Faust.

Xiyuan at the end of November is already wrapped in silver.In the newly built and beautiful Yiluan Hall, Zhu Yijun's mood was similar to that of Mrs. Huo in October. ——Fifty beauties who have passed the stage after layers of selection will accept the final round of selection from the Empress Dowager and the Emperor today.

In this general election, from the beginning of the emperor's hair, the two palaces issued an edict prohibiting marriages in the whole country - the date of the edict's arrival shall prevail.After more than four months of grassroots selection, in September, [-] girls and their families, all of them, arrived in the capital.

After arriving in the capital, they have to go through the body selection test first, and they don't want to be too tall, too short, too fat, or too thin.Because when the imperial envoy drafted, the body and appearance had already been passed, so this level was considered to be picky-about 1000 people were eliminated.

After passing the body level, then the appearance level.A jury consisting of the supervisor of ceremonies, the inner court walker, the queen mother, and the eunuchs who are close to the emperor will conduct a third round of interviews for the remaining 4000 girls.This level mainly checks facial features and facial skin, hair and voice are also within the scope of assessment.1000 people have to be wiped out in this level.

After the third hurdle, the next hurdle is the palace maid.They will hold rulers and measure the show girls.Originally, the measurements, hands, feet, and other dimensions were all measured and recorded in the book, but because the emperor issued an edict prohibiting foot-binding, all the girls in the show were full of feet. In order to encourage women to put their feet up, Zhu Yijun did not measure the girls in this show. foot.

According to the draft system, after the fourth pass, the remaining [-] show girls will enter the palace.Even if they are eliminated in the next round of the draft, they have to work as palace maids.Zhu Yijun originally did not want to include so many people in the palace, but after discussing with the two queen mothers, he changed his mind.

At this time, there are more than 6000 palace ladies who have been drafted into the palace by the emperors of Jiajing and Longqing many times.They serve their masters in the palace, and if they are careless, they will be beaten immediately. The living environment is very harsh.And because there were too many people, more than half of these court ladies had nothing to do.

This time, taking the opportunity of the draft, Zhu Yijun persuaded the two palaces to set a quota of 500 palace maids, which has remained unchanged since then.

Since the fifth year of Wanli, the royal family has organized a small-scale recruitment similar to the draft every five years, and at the same time released a group of palace maids out of the palace - of course, they are required to volunteer.If the family has no food and clothing and is willing to stay in the palace to do chores, the royal family will also support them.

As soon as such a benevolent government came out, the palace was full of sensation.Zhu Yijun sent the Buddha to the west, and the royal family listened to all the old maids who left the palace this time, and they could choose to work in the royal silk factory.Those who do not want to work and choose to return home will be given 30 taels of silver per person for the cost of familiarizing themselves with the environment outside the palace.

After registration, the royal family selectively released 370 old palace ladies at one time, along with rookies entering the palace.Most of the rest are old maids from the Jiajing period, who spent half of their lives in the forbidden palace, worried that they would not adapt after going out; some could not find their family members, so they voluntarily stayed in the palace and died of old age; the last group belonged to the responsible The court ladies who brought up the new court ladies and the royal children, the royal family kept them with salary increases and promises to release them in five years.

Therefore, the show girls who have passed the fourth level this time cannot follow Zhu Yijun's original intention and go home if they are not selected. They need to come in to replace the old palace ladies who left the palace.After ten years of Wanli, after another round of drafts, they will be able to leave the palace.At that time, they were about 20 years old, and it was not too late to marry—and the double-ten girls who came out of the palace should be rushed by many people.

This virtuous administration of the royal family has won unanimous praise from the court and the opposition.The civil and public officials found that the emperor's good this year was beyond their imagination - last year, there was no memorial mentioning the abolition of the East Factory, and the emperor took the initiative to withdraw the East Factory.This year, there was no memorial for these old palace ladies, and the royal family let them go again.

At this time, although Zhu Yijun and the Empress Dowager Lianggong did not reach the realm of "Niaosheng Fish Soup", their reputation among the people was similar to that of Yao, Shun and Yu Soup.Although this emperor set up a servant's office and changed the ancestral system, and it was more ruthless to implement the test, but—isn't this all due to Zhang Juzheng?
The thousand girls who entered the palace after four rounds of selection will go through the fifth round of selection.This round is a physical examination. 1000 people were brought into the secret room of the palace renovation in batches, and the old maids "explored their breasts, sniffed their armpits, palpated their texture, and inspected their chastity". There were no scars on their bodies, and their skin must be smooth and delicate.

After this round of "physical examination", there will be 300 people left to enter the final level.These 300 people are different from the other palace ladies who have been assigned tasks. They don't have to work in the palace, they only need to be "retained for observation" in the palace.

During their life in the palace, they are served by special personnel sent by the queen mother and the emperor. These people will record their diet, daily life, temperament and speech, and their superiority and inferiority.Those who grind their teeth while sleeping, those who talk in their dreams or sleepwalk and hysteria cannot pass the test; in addition, the personality test is also required, and only those who are gentle, honest, intelligent and virtuous can enter the small list of 50 people.

Those who enter the small list of 50 people will be automatically upgraded to masters, and at least they will be able to obtain the title of lady.The remaining 250 people do not need to be court ladies, the royal family will send them out of the palace to go home. ——A large number of black-box operations occur at this stage.

As reported by Chen Ju, who returned to Beijing, the draft imperial envoys from all over the country will inevitably accept bribes and operate in black boxes during the national draft, which cost a total of 30 taels of domestic funds.

The southern part of the empire has rarely participated in the royal draft before - unlike the northerners who only know how to resist early marriage, this time, some savvy southern businessmen bribed the draft picks and let their daughters be selected in the early stage of the draft.After entering the capital, he bribes the internal officials to brush his daughter down in the final stage.

As a result, the girls who participated in the draft are immediately worth a hundred times more. In the opinion of the people, those who can pass the first five levels are at least on the same level as the emperor's concubine.With this as capital, Xiu Nv can go home and choose a son-in-law, and then she can climb high.Although it is not cheap, but as long as you climb up the jinshi and aristocratic families, your family's business will be more guaranteed, right?
In addition to this kind of operation, there is also a type of operation in this draft, that is, like a dealer, the goal is directly to the position of the queen and the concubine. As long as you are selected as the nine concubines, it is equivalent to having a relationship with the emperor. Fu fear is also not to mention.

Despite the black-box operation, none of the last batch of young girls who entered Xiyuan was extraordinarily beautiful.They range in age from 14 to 16 years old, all of them are well-educated and have outstanding appearances—although Zhu Yijun is a modern person who has been influenced countless times by later generations' retouching or makeup techniques, but facing this in front of Yiluan Hall When I was a group of ladies, the heart that had grown into a teenager was still beating wildly.

The queen dowagers of the two palaces sat in the Yiluan Hall, and the throne of Zhu Yijun was set in front of the two palaces.Zhang Hong and other big eunuchs held the roster, commanded the maids, and introduced the girls who had won the title of lady into the palace in turn - and whether Zhuang Jingjia, who was ranked first in the selection, could be the mother of the world, in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)