prosperous age

Wei Guangde put the note away but did not make any arrangements.

The official decree from the palace has not been issued yet, which means that it is possible that the young emperor has only chosen Sister Wang Xi, and the two empresses have not yet had their names on the list, so it does not count.

According to etiquette, this matter had to wait until the Empress Dowager Chen, the benevolent and holy, and the Empress Dowager Li, the compassionate and holy, issued an edict before the Cabinet could draft an order for the Ministry of Rites to make preparations.

After all, the parents of Sister Wang Xi would soon become the emperor's relatives, and according to the rules they would be granted titles.

Considering that it is almost the end of the year, the emperor's wedding in March of next year has basically been decided.

Well, a fourteen-year-old emperor and a thirteen-year-old queen. Wei Guangde thought about it and felt that the ancients seemed to be a little too hasty about getting married.

What were you doing when you were fourteen?

By the way, the imperial examination has already begun.

It was because I was always preparing for the imperial examinations that my family did not have time to prepare for my marriage.

Thinking about my eldest son, according to current customs, shouldn't I arrange a marriage for him?

For a moment, Wei Guangde suddenly felt something was wrong.

How come in the blink of an eye, my children have reached the age of marriage.

Finally, Wei Guangde still hadn't forgotten the last thing of the day, so he told Lu Bu, "Go ask Zhang Gelao if there are any difficult memorials. If not, tell them to go back to their homes and rest after the court session. They've been tired all day."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu agreed and left.

While sitting and waiting for news, Wei Guangde was also thinking about who his son should marry.

Forget about the nobles. In fact, for those who are taking the imperial examinations, if they really marry a noble, it will have some impact on them.

That is to say, the Duke of Wei's mansion was in Nanjing, and the court needed stability in the south. Also, because it was a turbulent time, Wei Guangde unexpectedly caught the eye of Emperor Jiajing, which did not hinder Wei Guangde's career advancement.

Wei Guangde didn't believe that he had such bad luck, nor did his son, unless he was also reborn by someone else.

But when he thought of this, Wei Guangde still felt a little uncomfortable.

I can be reborn and travel through time, but I don’t want my son to be the same.

On the second day, Wei Guangde received the imperial edict from the palace in the cabinet, and the two empress dowagers confirmed that Wang Xijie was the queen.

I think that after the Emperor chose the Queen yesterday, the two Empress Dowagers listened carefully to the evaluation of Sister Wang Xi by the old people in the palace before making the decision.

Previously, the matter of selecting a queen for Emperor Wanli was actually led by the palace.

As far as Wei Guangde knew, the first person to propose it was the benevolent and holy Empress Dowager Chen. Zhang Juzheng did not object, but asked the Ministry of Rites to carry out the imperial decree.

Wei Guangde didn't care about the response from both inside and outside the palace.

But he was somewhat shocked yesterday. When Wei Guangde thought of his own child, he always felt that the age of thirteen or fourteen seemed a little young.

So, Wei Guangde worked overtime in the study last night and carefully looked up the wedding ages of previous generations of emperors. Zhu Yijun was undoubtedly the youngest among them.

Among the Ming emperors, Emperor Yingzong was the youngest at marriage, who ascended the throne at the age of nine and married in the seventh year of Zhengtong. The next youngest was Emperor Zhengde, who also married at the age of sixteen.

Coincidentally, the succeeding Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne at the age of fifteen and got married the following year, so he was naturally sixteen years old.

The age of Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun's wedding, unless postponed to the second half of next year, would be only fourteen years old, not even fifteen.

Sister Wang Xi's situation is similar. When she gets married next year, she will only be thirteen years old, and will only be one year older in the second half of the year.

Wei Guangde looked up the marriage ages of the empresses. When Emperor Yingzong got married, Empress Qian was 16 years old; when Emperor Xianzong got married, Empress Wu was 17 years old; Empress Zhang was 18 years old when she married Emperor Hongzhi, who was then the crown prince; and when Emperor Zhengde got married, Empress Xia was only 14 years old.

This was Queen Xia, the youngest, but she was the one who did not give birth to any children.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde had made up his mind that he had to remind this matter no matter what.

The emperor's wedding is imminent and has to be scheduled, but the empress can be enthroned. However, some things should still be prevented in advance.

Wei Guangde had the impression that this Wang Xijie was childless, or at least did not give birth to a son, otherwise the emperor would not have been angry with the court officials over the issue of appointing an heir.

Not to mention the unofficial historical rumors, it seems that the successor favored by Emperor Wanli was finally cooked by Li Zicheng, at a deer banquet.

Yes, this rumor was so widely spread that Wei Guangde still remembered it.

It seems that the prince was the Prince of Fu in Xi'an. It is said that he couldn't escape because he was too fat.

How could he not be fat? It was said that his good-for-nothing disciple actually gave his son tens of thousands of acres of land, as well as the right to collect local salt taxes and other taxes.

Are you kidding? Without tax revenue, how could the imperial court fight the Jin Tartars? In the end, the country was simply handed over to others because of the collapse of finances.

Although Wei Guangde did not know the later saying that "Ming Dynasty fell under Chongzhen, but actually fell under Wanli", he could guess a lot.

After all these years as a cabinet minister, doesn't he clearly understand the importance of finance to a country?

Although developing industry can alleviate the land annexation problem that the Ming Dynasty is currently facing, the court will still perish without tax revenue.

Otherwise, why did Zhang Juzheng care so much about land tax? It was because he saw the future.

As for Gao Gong's plan to clean up the bureaucracy, I'm afraid the court would have become impoverished before the bureaucracy was cleaned up.

It is not so easy to clean up the bureaucracy. If you get rid of one corrupt official and another one comes next, what should you do?

What's more, Gao Gong was not a truly noble person, and he relied on a small group to run the government.

But if someone in this small group is involved in corruption, what will he do?

I'm afraid that in the end, I'll be trapped in it without realizing it.

Clean up the shit.

Zhang Juzheng's performance evaluation system was practical. At least it got officials moving and making them do what they were supposed to do.

If someone does something that he shouldn't do, he will be directly cleared out through the Jingcha.

The Kaocheng System at least emphasized that government orders should be communicated. What the imperial court feared most was that government orders could not leave the capital, and the imperial court would lose control of the entire dynasty. That would be the most terrifying thing.

At that time, the officials below were messing around, and as for the current situation, the capital had no idea what was happening outside.

In later times, there was still the Internet to transmit some local information.

But even so, some places still do as they please, completely disregarding the law.

Because people do not understand the government system, they often feel that some punishments are too light and believe that officials are protecting each other, which fuels the growth of public resentment and affects the government's credibility and authority.

To put it bluntly, the problem is the same in every dynasty, but the rulers have failed to deal with it properly, and then they complain.

Using the performance evaluation system, each level can supervise each other, and at least there will be no problem in conveying government orders.

So last night, Wei Guangde wrote a memorial on the subject of Emperor Wuzong's past. He would not stop Emperor Wanli from getting married, but would remind them that it would be better to have sex later.

Except on the wedding day, it is better to send the Queen to the Queen Mother for care at other times, lest the little Emperor loses control and becomes addicted, which would cause trouble if he harms his body.

After all, if Sister Wang Xi had a son, all those terrible things wouldn't have happened later.

The illegitimate son is still trying to seize the throne from the legitimate son. What a joke! Those people in the Hanlin Academy will scold him to death.

Now that he had received the imperial edict from the two Empress Dowagers, Wei Guangde still followed the rules and first drafted the edict and sent it to the Imperial Household Department.

However, his memorial was also submitted.

So soon, Feng Bao received the news.

There wasn't much that needed to be paid attention to in the edict drafted by Wei Guangde, so Feng Bao had ordered early on that once the cabinet's edict was drafted, it should be immediately sent to the six departments for filing, and then issued to the Ministry of Rites.

There were still many things to do, such as asking the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to select an auspicious time, and the Ministry of Rites to determine the rituals according to the time. However, Feng Bao did not expect that along with the imperial edict, Wei Guangde's separate memorial would also be sent to the Ministry of Rites.

The eunuch in the hall had already read the memorial and knew what was written in it, but he didn't dare to make a decision, so he had to go to Feng Bao.

"Let me consider."

Feng Bao returned to the Imperial Household Department and immediately called someone over to get Wei Guangde's memorial. He read it carefully and then frowned slightly.

As for the relationship between Feng Bao and the young emperor, it was of course very good.

It can be said that Feng Bao accompanied Zhu Yijun and watched him grow up. Even when he discovered in his childhood that his leg disease might affect his succession to the throne, Feng Bao never chose to give up on him.

This is the kind of affection that is developed slowly through long-term companionship.

Now seeing the problem mentioned in Wei Guangde's memorial that both the emperor and the empress were still young, especially the fact that Wei Guangde mentioned the old affairs of Emperor Zhengde in his memorial, which affected such a major issue as succession, Feng Bao also felt unsure.

In fact, many people get married at the age of fourteen or fifteen among the folks, so Feng Bao didn't take it seriously at first.

But now that someone has brought it up, he can't sit still.

He couldn't make the decision on such a big matter, let alone dared to make the decision.

So, holding Wei Guangde's memorial, he hurried to the Cining Palace and met Empress Dowager Li first. He didn't even have time to deal with the memorial from the Ministry of Rites.

In the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Li was also shocked after reading Wei Guangde's memorial.

"Feng Bao, what was the age of the previous weddings in the palace?"

Empress Dowager Li then began to take the issue of the emperor's age seriously and asked immediately.

"There is a record in the memorials of Wei Gelao, so I think it should be correct. The emperor is usually around sixteen years old, and the empress is usually after fifteen years old."

Feng Bao had never paid attention to this matter before. It was actually brought up by Empress Dowager Chen.

"That said, this matter is really a bit too hasty."

Since it was about her own son, Empress Dowager Li was a little worried.

"Come here, go to Ciqing Palace."

Immediately, Empress Dowager Li gave an order and the palace maid hurried out to ask people to prepare the imperial carriage.

After they arrived at Ciqing Palace, Empress Dowager Li finished her greetings and immediately handed Wei Guangde's memorial to Empress Dowager Chen.

"Alas, I was thinking that the palace was not populated enough at the time, and wanted the emperor to get married and have children as soon as possible, but I didn't expect this."

After reading Wei Guangde's memorial, Empress Dowager Chen was also worried.

"However, I remember before I entered the palace, it was not uncommon to see people getting married at the age of thirteen or fourteen."

Empress Dowager Chen still expressed her doubts.

"Yes, I have the impression that there seems to be similar things like marriage at a certain age among the people."

Empress Dowager Li also said, "Feng Bao, what do you think?"

"My lady, I think we should ask Elder Wei to come over and listen to his explanation."

Feng Bao said.

Since the question was raised by Wei Guangde, it would be better to ask him in person.

"Okay, summon the deputy assistant to meet you."

Empress Dowager Chen said immediately.

Soon, a eunuch passed the news to the cabinet. After receiving the order, Wei Guangde immediately left the cabinet and went straight to Ciqing Palace.

Wei Guangde was actually mentally prepared for the palace summons.

After entering the palace, when Empress Dowager Chen asked about this matter, Wei Guangde had no choice but to say: "Although there are people who get married at the age of thirteen or fourteen in the folk, it is actually not common. Generally, people will have sex after the age of fifteen or sixteen.

According to the "Great Ming Household Regulations", all marriages between men and women have their own time, and any marriage between men and women by pointing at the belly or cutting the collar of a shirt is prohibited.

Your Majesty is not yet sixteen years old, so it seems a little early for you to get married."

In fact, as early as the third year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang decreed: "All men over the age of sixteen and women over the age of fourteen are allowed to get married." This is the legal basis for "marriage between men and women has its own time."

In other words, people in ancient times did not get married casually. There was a marriage age, which was 16 for men and 14 for women.

From the perspective of later generations, this age is still too young to get married, and is actually not conducive to offspring.

However, Wei Guangde's proposal at this time was actually a reminder that Emperor Zhu Yijun was not yet satisfied with the policies formulated by Emperor Taizu.

"But."

When Empress Dowager Chen heard the marriage age set by Emperor Taizu, she was dumbfounded for a moment.

This is also an ancestral rule. Now the officials outside the court have not reacted to it, but once they react, I am afraid they will also report the matter.

As the instigator, he didn't know what the officials from other courts would say about his family.

“I think that Taizu’s decision on the marriage age is justified.

And from the perspective of several previous emperors, even if the empress gets married at the age of fourteen, it seems to be a hindrance to the emperor's offspring, so I think it would be better to do it later."

Wei Guangde continued.

"But now that the queen has been chosen, are we just going to leave it like this?"

Empress Dowager Li spoke at this time.

“I think that since the empress has been chosen, the Ministry of Rites should continue with its preparations, but it is best to wait until His Majesty turns sixteen before the emperor’s wedding.

By then, Your Majesty will be sixteen and the Empress will be fifteen, which will not only meet Taizu's custom, but will also be more conducive to the reproduction of offspring."

Wei Guangde said immediately.

"Wouldn't it be necessary to wait two years? I'm afraid we would be laughed at."

Queen Mother Chen said.

"Not really."

Wei Guangde immediately responded: "Whether it is the common people or the royal family, they all prepare according to the 'Six Rites'. It just takes a little time to proceed."

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde's tone couldn't help but lower.

If this process drags on for two years, rumors might really spread in the outside world.

Wei Guangde's brain raced at this moment, and he quickly came up with a solution.

When the emperor was getting engaged, he needed to perform three rituals: Naji, Nazheng and Gaoqi. Among them, Naji actually included three ceremonies, namely Nacai, Wenming and Naji.

The six wedding rites in ancient times refer to the six main etiquettes from discussing marriage to completing the marriage, namely: Nacai, Wenming, Naji, Nazheng, Qingqi and Qinying.

The preparation process cannot be delayed too long, but after all, it is the emperor's wedding, so can't it be made more grand?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly opened his mouth and continued, "For your majesty's wedding this time, you may as well issue an imperial decree to the vassal states and order their kings to go to the capital to congratulate you.

Actually, since the reign of Emperor Yongle, there has been no more grand ceremony of tribute from all nations." (End of this chapter)