prosperous age

"Sister, what should we do now?"

"No, let's send them out of the palace. We must quell this matter as soon as possible."

"No, she's already pregnant with the dragon's child, otherwise I wouldn't be so angry."

After a brief whispered conversation, Empress Dowager Li finally revealed the whole story.

Upon hearing that the palace maid was pregnant, Empress Dowager Chen dared not consider sending her out of the palace anymore.

If we really do that, will we still be able to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple? How can we face our ancestors?

Who is it? Where is it?

Empress Dowager Chen stared at Empress Dowager Li and questioned, "How did you learn of this? Have you confirmed it?"

When it comes to the imperial offspring, it doesn't mean that if a woman in the palace becomes pregnant, the child is necessarily the emperor's.

Although nominally, only the emperor in the palace could do this.

“Alas, I asked her, I also inquired with the eunuchs around the emperor, and I also checked the ‘Daily Records of the Emperor’.”

After saying that, Empress Dowager Li looked up at Empress Dowager Chen and continued, "She is a palace maid named Wang in my palace. She has an ordinary appearance, but the fact that the emperor favored her cannot be faked."

The "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities" is an ancient Chinese record of the words and deeds of emperors. This style of historical writing was pioneered by Empress Mingde of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

From the Han Dynasty onwards, almost every emperor had a daily record of his activities, but very few have survived, mainly because they were generally not circulated outside the court and were only used as one of the basic materials for compiling national history.

The formation of the daily records was a long process.

The pre-Qin concept of historical recording laid the ideological foundation, and the "writing records" of the Han Dynasty were its predecessors. The "daily records" of the Eastern Han Dynasty provided the name for historical books. By the Jin Dynasty, a preliminary official system of historical recording had been formed, and dedicated personnel were appointed to compile the daily records.
From the time Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty established the system of recording daily life, the minority regimes of the Northern Dynasties made significant contributions to this system.

The Sui and Tang dynasties mainly inherited the system of the Northern Dynasties. By the Tang Dynasty, an ideal system of recording daily life and events was established. Its characteristics were direct and immediate recording, adherence to the principle of recording events directly, and the unique feature that the emperor was not allowed to view the records. This had a certain restraining effect on the autocratic imperial power.

Later dynasties failed to fully implement this system, but they could not deny the rationality and justice of the daily record system established by the Tang Dynasty.

It was written during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, but the work was done intermittently. It was not until the reign of Emperor Shengzu that the Bureau of Daily Records was established, with lecturers from the Imperial Lectures dedicated to compiling the daily records. The position was often held concurrently by officials from the Hanlin Academy, thus establishing the system of the daily records.

It was abolished by order of the Kangxi Emperor in the 57th year of his reign due to factional strife, but it was resumed in the first year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign. This system continued until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

"Someone, bring me the record book."

Empress Dowager Chen did not immediately believe everything. She ordered to see the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities," and then said, "Summon the eunuchs around the Emperor. I have questions for them."

Soon, the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities" were delivered. Empress Dowager Chen carefully perused them, paying no attention to the several kneeling eunuchs below.

Empress Dowager Chen not only read the contents of the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities," but also checked the consistency between the beginning and end of the book. She also carefully examined the binding of the book before confirming that it was not a forgery.

Then came the interrogation of several eunuchs, but the result was exactly the same as what Empress Dowager Li had said.

"The emperor doesn't recognize it?"

Empress Dowager Chen slowly put down the book in her hand and asked.

Empress Dowager Li nodded.

"What does my sister plan to do?"

Empress Dowager Chen has confirmed the truth of the matter. Although the emperor does not acknowledge it, there are two different things: not having done it and not wanting to admit it.

Just now, Empress Dowager Li said that Emperor Wanli was unwilling to admit it because he disliked the status of a palace maid. In other words, the young emperor tacitly agreed to this matter, but he just couldn't admit it verbally.

"What else can we do? If it's just a casual encounter, it's easy to deal with; we can just send them away."

But now that she is pregnant with the emperor's child, she must remain in the palace.

Empress Dowager Li sighed, saying that she never expected her son to do such a shameless thing, turning his back on her after pulling up his pants.

As a result, Empress Dowager Li also became dissatisfied with Zhang Juzheng.

They were the emperor's teachers; how did they teach the emperor?

If Feng Bao hadn't reminded her that this was a scandal within the palace, she would have called Zhang Juzheng over to explain it to her in person.

Confucianism emphasizes strict gender segregation. The Book of Rites stipulates that "men and women should not sit together" and "men should not enter women's rooms." However, Emperor Wanli's act of having private relations with palace maids in the Empress Dowager's palace directly broke the boundaries between men and women in the palace.

Especially since the incident occurred in Cining Palace, the residence of Empress Dowager Li, which falls under the category of "women's quarters," the emperor's actions violated Confucian restrictions on the space for contact between the opposite sex and were regarded as a desecration of etiquette.

"Bring the emperor in."

Empress Dowager Chen spoke.

Soon, Emperor Wanli walked slowly into the side hall from outside, his hands hanging limply and his head dejected.

"Your Majesty, you have tarnished the reputation of the royal palace women. You must admit it."

Empress Dowager Chen, no longer showing the usual affection she had for Zhu Yijun, questioned him sternly.

The young emperor looked up at his two mothers seated above him, his mouth opened and closed, but he ultimately remained silent.

Well, in his view, this is neither admitting nor denying.

However, in Empress Dowager Chen's eyes, this naturally confirmed what Empress Dowager Li had tacitly agreed to.

"The royal woman is pregnant now. If you don't acknowledge her, it's a disrespect to the royal bloodline. How can you face your ancestors?"

Wang was carrying the emperor's child, but Wanli denied the father-son relationship, violating the principle of "emphasizing succession" in the patriarchal clan system. Empress Dowager Chen questioned him sternly again.

When he got angry, he slapped the "Daily Records" on the table.

By this point, Emperor Wanli was truly in despair.

At first, he hoped that Empress Dowager Chen would speak up for him, but now it seems that when it comes to offspring, Empress Dowager Chen no longer cares about him, her eldest son.

“If you did it, you have to admit it. There are records in the daily log. How could it be forged?”

Empress Dowager Chen continued to exert pressure, insisting that the emperor must personally acknowledge the matter, otherwise it would ultimately lead to disaster.

"I"

Emperor Wanli suddenly looked up, but under the intense gazes of the two empress dowagers, he finally lowered his head. Although he was dissatisfied, he still said, "Please instruct me, Your Majesty, on what to do."

After being suppressed for many years, the Wanli Emperor knew he had to bow down.

He only realized now the importance of offspring to the royal family. Well, the teaching materials compiled by Zhang Juzheng had indeed overlooked this point.

After all, as the old saying goes, "Even a tiger won't eat its cubs," who would have thought that the young emperor would be so ruthless as to disown even his own son?

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng taught Zhu Yijun well, making him realize the meaning of "a lonely person" at a young age.

Well, in the face of imperial power, kinship really is insignificant.

"The palace maids will stay in the palace and serve her well. Once the pregnancy is stable, she will be made a concubine. In the Wanli era, a prince cannot be born without a title or status."

Empress Dowager Chen made the final decision, setting the course of action for this matter.

After saying this, Empress Dowager Chen looked at Empress Dowager Li beside her. Actually, she shouldn't have said these words, but she was indeed extremely angry.

Empress Dowager Li nodded slightly and agreed, saying, "That's how it will be. Once the pregnancy is stable, Your Majesty, you can issue an edict to bestow the title of Imperial Concubine upon her."

Emperor Wanli left Cining Palace dejectedly. He dared not go to Kunning Palace and went straight back to Qianqing Palace to sulk alone. Even if the palace women were more beautiful, he could still recognize them, but they were truly plain-looking and did not catch his eye.

The incident did happen, but Emperor Wanli was sober at the time and felt that he was confused and didn't know how he had slept with her.

If this weren't in the palace, he would have suspected he was being set up.

Well, Wei Guangde mentioned scams like "honey traps" when he talked about the various aspects of life, and he even gave some detailed accounts.

The original intention was to make the emperor always be vigilant against being deceived. Among them, "honey trap" is the most commonly used method in the streets, which takes advantage of people's inherent weaknesses such as greed or lust to commit fraud.

Everyone knows it, but it's impossible to guard against.

Perhaps, that day, he came out because he had been scolded by his mother and had nowhere to vent his anger, so he just randomly picked a palace maid.

Actually, it was just to vent, but who knew it would happen so suddenly.

Afterwards, the young emperor Zhu Yijun recalled the incident and felt that he had taken the initiative to grab the other woman, and the palace maid did not dare to resist, which is how he succeeded.

The young emperor felt a little better after realizing he hadn't been drugged and tricked.

With the follow-up plan settled, Empress Dowager Chen sat in Cining Palace for a short while before leaving to return to Cining Palace.

Neither of them realized that this revealed the Wanli Emperor's character: cold-hearted, indifferent to the continuation of bloodlines, and vehemently denying the existence of the "Daily Records" when Empress Dowager Li brought them out. In fact, it also indirectly reflected his disobedience and filial impiety.

Perhaps, in the past two years, power has been nominally transferred to the emperor, but the real power has remained in the hands of Zhang Juzheng in the cabinet due to Empress Dowager Li's more or less favoritism.

As for Wei Guangde, the second-in-command, he could restrain Zhang Juzheng's words and actions, but if Zhang Juzheng was determined to do something, Wei Guangde would be powerless to stop him.

The cabinet vote could at best result in a tie.

But Zhang Juzheng, holding the position of Grand Secretary, could make decisions with a single word at this time.

There are no secrets in the palace, so Feng Bao could only keep the matter outside Kunning Palace to prevent the news from reaching the Empress's ears.

However, at this time, all the nobles and important officials outside the palace who had any connections had actually gotten wind of the situation.

However, neither the two empress dowagers nor the chief minister Zhang Juzheng realized the problems with the young emperor's personality, and naturally ignored the matter.

After all, the Empress is pregnant now, so even if the palace maid is pregnant with the Emperor's child and gives birth to a prince, it will not actually have any impact on the Ming Dynasty.

When the young Emperor Zhu Yijun returned to the Qianqing Palace, he saw the information about Wei Guangde's whereabouts in Nanjing that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had just sent to him on his desk, and he curiously began to read it.

What happened in the capital was naturally unknown to Nanjing.

Wei Guangde inspected various places during the day, even visiting the river defenses of Nanjing, including the flood control dikes.

After all, it was a secondary capital, so flood prevention was no small matter.

For this reason, Wei Guangde even planned to invite Pan Jixun to accompany him on an inspection tour of Hongze Lake on his way back to the capital. The Imperial Ancestral Mausoleum was actually an important part of the Ministry of Works' water management efforts.

He doesn't understand water management, but if he can come up with a solution after seeing the situation on-site, why not do it?

At least his stay in Jiangnan wasn't entirely fruitless. He took care of the mess left behind in the south, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was diligent in his duties. Even if he didn't achieve great things, he certainly put in the effort.

Finally, Wei Guangde met Yu Dayou in Nanjing.

He received news from Chongming Island while suppressing a rebellion by two tribes on Dongfan Island.

So he ruthlessly suppressed the rebellious people who were putting up a fight, then scattered the remaining tribesmen to the north and south cities and arranged for them to cultivate the land for the garrison. He then hurriedly headed to Songjiang Prefecture.

Upon arriving at Chongming Island, we immediately transferred to a centipede-shaped boat to go to Nanjing.

Since it's going against the current, the centipede boat is even faster than a speedboat.

With the help of the wind and the propellers, they traveled from Songjiang Prefecture to Nanjing City in less than two days.

At the Wei family's villa, Wei Guangde had a lavish banquet prepared to entertain them, and even invited Xu Bangrui, the Duke of Wei from next door, to come over as well.

After the banquet ended, everyone drank a bowl of hangover soup, and then he took out the memorial from the European delegation sent from the capital to show them.

Xu Bangrui was curious about the European affairs mentioned above, but the vague wording made him feel uneasy, as if a cat's claws were scratching at his heart.

After reading it, Yu Dayou had a similar opinion to Wei Guangde.

It's not that he realized the future maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty might be affected by the situation in European countries, but rather that he saw signs of instability in Europe.

Given that such a small country has so many countries, Yu Dayou's first thought was that someone might take the opportunity to grow powerful and annex the surrounding countries to form a unified European nation.

It was all caused by traditional Chinese thinking, but at least he saw signs that a major war was about to break out in Europe.

"I called you here for two reasons. First, the South China Sea Fleet needs to keep a close eye on the potential conflict or peace between the Spanish in Luzon and the Portuguese in Temasek, and even between the two sides."

Whether they separate or unite, it will be detrimental to our Great Ming.

Secondly, you should send more people to investigate the firearms of the barbarians, especially the firearms used by their army in field battles. If you can get your hands on them, do so, even if it costs more money.

After receiving it, send it to the Ministry of Works in Nanjing so they can study it and learn from its strengths and weaknesses.

Wei Guangde began to give instructions, and Yu Dayou nodded repeatedly, while Xu Bangrui seemed to only have a vague understanding.

He knew that most of the firearms in the Ming Dynasty were now copied from foreigners, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

Can you really make those things any more interesting?

Wei Guangde was unaware that the Duke of Wei's mansion actually possessed a breech-loading breech-loading machine, which he had commissioned after hearing of its success in Xuanfu, for use in hunting.

Nobles in the East and West seem to be the same.

His boutonniere was also meticulously crafted by artisans and adorned with various precious gems, making it a true work of art.

This meant that the firearm was never used again after being fired a few times the first time, and instead hung in the study as a decoration.

Xu Bangrui felt that the writing of the Hundred-Flange was already quite impressive, and apart from a slight rewriting, it was flawless.

Even his firearm, which used a matchlock to ignite the flame, was far more advanced than the open flame ignition required in Xuanfu.

Therefore, in Xu Bangrui's view, firearms are pretty much obsolete now, and there aren't many good houses left.

However, Wei Guangde felt that keeping an eye on the foreigners' firearms was completely unnecessary.

"You mentioned the gap between our heavy artillery and that of the barbarians before. When I return to the capital, I will have the Ministry of Works increase investment to cast more advanced cannons."

In Nanjing, the focus was mainly on field artillery research. My goal was to equip the Luzon garrison with the most advanced field guns first.

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Grand Secretary Wei, what are you planning to do?"

Yu Dayou was slightly taken aback, but quickly understood.

It has already been made very clear that Yu Dayou has put a lot of effort into developing firearms for foreigners, so naturally, foreigners would also pay attention to the firearms of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's heavy cannons were made of copper, while its light cannons were cast in iron, a clear advantage.

At this time, most European cannons were cast in bronze, including breech-loading cannons, giving them a clear price advantage.

"In addition, the South China Sea Fleet also needs to build a professional marine corps." (End of Chapter)