prosperous age

Every time the eldest prince was mentioned in front of Emperor Wanli, Zhu Yijun would become extremely displeased.

Now Wei Guangde doesn't bring up the matter directly anymore, but he still says a few things indirectly.

This time, in his view, it was Huang Taiji who was helping his son and making moves to strengthen his power.

The topic of father-son relationship is also a reminder to Zhu Yijun that even the barbarians on the grasslands treat their sons well, so shouldn't you, an emperor who has been taught by them, do even better?
Zhu Yijun was not stupid; he naturally understood that Wei Guangde was once again urging him to lend money to his children.

But thinking about that woman, well, she's still somewhat pleasing to the eye, but that's about it.

His harem already contains more than ten women, all of whom are more beautiful than the palace women.

Furthermore, he was the emperor, so the women around him, while not necessarily from wealthy or noble families, should at least be ladies from respectable backgrounds.

She was not a palace maid, but merely a commoner.

Just thinking about how he, the supreme ruler, could have a relationship with an ordinary woman and even give birth to his eldest son makes me feel extremely disgusted.

It can only be said that the Ming Dynasty's throne was passed down to the eleventh generation, and Zhu Yijun truly regarded himself as the Son of Heaven, believing that the royal bloodline was noble.

Since Zhu Yijun remained silent, Wei Guangde also refrained from speaking further.

The hall fell silent.

A moment later, Wei Guangde took his leave.

The cabinet still has memorials to process; things have been really hectic lately.

"Okay, Master Wei, please go ahead."

Emperor Wanli nodded to him and said, but just as Wei Guangde was about to leave the hall, he couldn't help but ask, "Master Wei, is the bond between father and son really that important?"

Wei Guangde stopped and turned to Emperor Wanli, saying, "Your Majesty, think about your background."

Empress Dowager Cixi also entered Yuzhi as a palace maid, and at that time she was even less important than the royal palace maids, which is why the Empress Dowager was dissatisfied with you.

Your irresponsibility towards the palace staff is, in the eyes of the Queen Mother, the same as your disrespect towards her.

The late emperor favored the Empress Dowager, and this favor was not shown to her because of her status as a palace maid; she was also extremely kind to Your Majesty.

Regarding the matter of the palace maids, Wei Guangde was summoned by Empress Dowager Li and also met the palace maids when they were pregnant.

All of this was done to persuade the emperor; at the very least, it was necessary to let people know what the emperor was complaining about.

"Does Your Majesty still remember Emperor Xianzong? His most favored Consort Wan was just a palace maid by his side, and she was the descendant of a disgraced official who was punished and sent to the palace."

After saying this, Wei Guangde remained silent for a moment before continuing, "Even if Your Majesty truly dislikes the palace women, your eldest son is still your bloodline. Do you still remember how the late Emperor treated you?"

The principles of human relations emphasize the kindness of fathers and the filial piety of sons, as well as the friendship and respect between brothers. The imperial family is the model for all people. If fathers are not kind and sons are not filial, how can the principles of human relations be applied to all people?

Your Majesty may dislike the palace servants, but you must treat them well, and you must treat the eldest son even better, because he is the eldest prince. This is his destiny, ordained by Heaven, and is the glory and wealth bestowed upon him.

Even if His Majesty gives birth to other talented princes in the future, as long as they are not born to the Empress, they will not be able to compete with the eldest son.

To put it bluntly, if His Majesty does not treat him well, he may be punished by Heaven.

Although I don't believe in supernatural things, when I connect certain things together, I can't help but marvel at the mystery of things.

The Wanli Emperor mistreated the Guangzong Emperor Zhu Changluo, resulting in the dynasty's demise after only two generations.

Yes, the Ming Dynasty ceased to exist when it came to the hands of Zhu Changluo's son.

In fact, Emperor Wanli bore a great deal of responsibility for the fall of the Ming Dynasty. His treatment of Zhu Changluo, as well as the brothers Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian, was partly due to their lack of formal imperial education.

The traditional Chinese practice of "establishing the eldest son as heir" was indeed effective in ensuring the continuation of a family line. It didn't necessarily lead to great wealth and status, but at least it ensured the family's longevity.

Because of this rule, there will be fewer disputes within families, which is also very beneficial to social stability.

After speaking, Wei Guangde remained silent for a long time, but seeing that Emperor Wanli was still speechless, he took his leave again.

Wei Guangde left the Qianqing Palace and went straight back to the Grand Secretariat.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Wanli sat on his dragon throne, speechless for a long time. Even when Zhang Jing presented him with some strange and unusual items, he showed no interest and was directly scolded and kicked out.

Zhu Yijun had a leg ailment since childhood, so he felt somewhat inferior when facing others.

However, both the Longqing Emperor and his empresses treated him very well, even better than his younger brother.

Because he knew from a young age that he was the crown prince appointed by his father and would inherit the country in the future.

Although my younger brother is healthy, he is ultimately younger than him and has lost the right to compete.

To ensure he had fun, his father, despite requests from the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, refused to allow him to leave the palace to study.

It wasn't that they intended to replace the crown prince; they genuinely pitied him.

Then he recalled what his mother had said to him before, "I am old and have no grandson yet. If I were to have a son, it would be a blessing for our ancestors and the nation."

Those were the words the Queen Mother spoke before the palace maid gave birth. Little did she expect that her words would come true, as the palace maid did indeed give birth to a son, while Wang Xijie only gave birth to a daughter.

"Identity, identity"

Emperor Wanli murmured to himself, and finally, after thinking of his father Zhu Zaiji's voice and smile again, he let out a long breath.

"Zhang Jing, Zhang Jing."

Emperor Wanli shouted twice towards the outside of the hall, and then Zhang Jing tumbled and crawled into the hall.

"Coming, coming. What are your orders, Your Majesty?"

Although there was an element of performance involved, in normal circumstances, Emperor Wanli would definitely have laughed heartily.

However, he wasn't in a good mood right now, so there was no smile on his face.

Looking at the kneeling eunuchs below, Emperor Wanli felt a mix of emotions.

Previously, he had chosen to listen to this lackey's method and delay, keep delaying.

Unfortunately, to my surprise, he was finally persuaded in less than two months.

"A decree was issued to the cabinet to draft an edict, bestowing the title of Consort Gong upon a palace maid."

As soon as Emperor Wanli finished speaking, he saw Zhang Jing look up in surprise.

He was summoned to the emperor's side, but precisely because he was thinking of the emperor, when the inner and outer courts were pressuring the emperor to make compromises, he suggested that the emperor use delaying tactics.

Unexpectedly, the emperor was persuaded after only summoning a few cabinet ministers.

Zhang Jing, who was outside, didn't hear a single word of the conversation between Emperor Wanli and Wei Guangde.

Having just arrived, he was quite honest and attentive, never daring to overstep the boundaries.

This was also what his godfather Zhang Hong had instructed him to do before he came.

Zhang Jing stood there dumbfounded, while the Wanli Emperor roared, "What? You dare to disobey the imperial decree?"

"This servant dares not, this servant is innocent, this servant will go and deliver the imperial decree immediately."

They scrambled and crawled out, disappearing from the palace gate in a matter of moments.

By bestowing titles of imperial concubine upon the palace women, Emperor Wanli was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The pressure from his mother has finally been relieved, and he hasn't dared to go there to pay his respects these past few days.

Zhang Jing left the Qianqing Palace and rushed to the Cabinet without stopping.

The news of the royal concubine being made a concubine quickly spread throughout the Qianqing Palace and then gradually reached the inner palace.

The Cining Palace and Cining Palace were the first to receive the news, followed by the Kunning Palace. Both empress dowagers were overjoyed to hear the news. Empress Wang Xijie, who received the news in the Kunning Palace, simply sighed and did not say much.

He simply went to the bedside to look after his infant daughter.

As for Wei Guangde, he had already met Zhang Jing, the eunuch who came from the Qianqing Palace to deliver the imperial edict, in his duty room.

Upon receiving the imperial decree, Wei Guangde was still somewhat stunned.

The emperor didn't seem to be persuaded at all just now, but unexpectedly, he changed his mind in just half an hour.

"Okay, you can go back now."

Wei Guangde didn't offer Zhang Jing any benefits, nor was it his business; he was simply doing his duty. Zhang Jing knew he wouldn't gain anything; if he were simply delivering an imperial edict to the palace officials, that would be acceptable.
"Pah, that poor palace maid, she probably won't make much money even if she racks her brains."

Zhang Jing knew the situation there; there wasn't much silver.

Even if she did receive it, it was most likely given to her by the Empress Dowager.

In fact, the practice of eunuchs extorting money from the concubines in the imperial harem has existed since ancient times.

Even the most favored concubines had to show some respect to eunuchs like them who served the emperor.

Clever concubines would even give them rewards, hoping to get a mention of them in front of the emperor whenever they had the chance.

After Zhang Jing left, Wei Guangde immediately returned to his desk and began drafting the imperial edict.

Finally, the emperor gave his approval. If he didn't draft the decree as soon as possible, and something else happened, he was afraid that he would incur the wrath of the empress dowager in the palace.

The decree for bestowing the title of imperial concubine is different from ordinary decrees; it requires piling up ornate and flowery language. However, Wei Guangde had seen many such decrees before, but he had previously disdained to do so, so he did not use them.

This time, I decisively used them all, combining the imperial edicts for bestowing titles upon concubines from my memory, and a single edict was completed.

"Reed cloth".

After Wei Guangde wrote down the imperial edict, he immediately summoned Lu Bu.

"Send it to Grand Secretary Shen immediately. If there are no errors, hand it over to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs for processing and registration by the Ministry of Rites. This decree should be issued as soon as possible. You keep an eye on it."

Just have someone wait outside; report back promptly once the formalities are completed.

After giving his instructions, Wei Guangde seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and leaned back in his armchair.

"Yes."

Knowing a little, Lu Bu immediately took the imperial edict drafted by Wei Guangde and ran out.

Although Wei Guangde was leaning back in his chair, he seemed quite pleased with himself.

In his mind, if the eldest prince could receive a proper imperial education, the final tragedy of the Ming Dynasty could be avoided.

At the very least, if the emperors Tianqi and Chongzhen had been the ones who received a proper education, things probably wouldn't have turned out so badly.

Perhaps, the words I spoke to the emperor today could change many things in the Ming Dynasty.

"However, we must not be impatient. We need to observe more and see how the emperor treats the mother and son to know what will happen next."

"Right now, it's just a matter of being granted the title of imperial concubine."

Soon, Wei Guangde reminded himself again.

"Someone, bring up a bowl of plum juice."

It was already June, and the weather in the capital was quite hot. However, the palace prepared chilled plum juice for these cabinet ministers to cool them down.

Well, in this kind of weather, only royalty and high-ranking officials in the capital can enjoy chilled drinks.

Wei Guangde now drinks several bowls of ice water every day to cool off in the summer heat. After a bowl of ice water, he feels refreshed all over.

Before long, a bowl of sour plum drink was delivered from outside, along with an urgent report from the Ministry of War that the cabinet had just received.

"let it go."

Wei Guangde first took a big gulp of sour plum drink, and his stomach immediately felt much cooler and no longer as hot as before.

"Move the ice under my desk."

Wei Guangde gave instructions.

Soon, the secretary did as instructed, moving a basin of ice from beside the desk to underneath it, and only then did Wei Guangde pick up the urgent report from the Ministry of War to read.

"Indeed, it is a memorial from Xuanfu."

Wei Guangde glanced at it and muttered something under his breath.

The memorials were copies, and even the letters from Third Sister were copied.

After carefully reading it, Wei Guangde instructed, "Go and invite Grand Secretary Zhang and Grand Secretary Shen to my place. Also, send over a few more ice basins."

The palace has a large ice cellar, enough for the use of the harem.

Not to mention the nobles in the palace, even the chief eunuchs were using it.

Wei Guangde's request for just a few basins of ice was not a troublesome matter.

After all, the palace now relies on these Grand Secretaries to handle official business.

Zhongshu accepted the order and left. Wei Guangde then carefully reviewed the memorial from Xuanfu.

This is mainly to give a briefing, and also to have them come so we can all figure out Third Sister's attitude.

In any case, it seems to Wei Guangde that Third Sister doesn't intend to make him marry Dacheng Biji in a way that would be impolite, which is unacceptable.

Perhaps it was because there was too little time, she hadn't thought of it yet. Anyway, Wei Guangde felt that if things continued like this, the Ming Dynasty would need to take action and give her some hints.

As long as the Third Sister agrees, it seems that either forced marriage or imperial decree marriage are viable options.

What we fear most now is that the war outside Bansheng City will spread, which would be the most unfavorable situation for the Ming Dynasty.

Soon, Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing arrived at the duty room. Wei Guangde handed the Ministry of War document to Zhang Siwei and said, "The Xuanfu Army will leave the pass tomorrow, and the Datong Army should also send troops to Bansheng City tomorrow or the day after."

"That's good."

Zhang Siwei took the document and muttered a comment.

"However, I just received news at noon that Lady Chungshun and the troops of Prince Shunyi have already clashed outside Bansheng City."

Wei Guangde continued.

I hadn't had a chance to tell them about this before, and I was thinking of calling them over before the end of the day to inform them.

"How's the battle going?"

Shen Shixing pressed for an answer.

"It is unknown, but both sides were probably very restrained and no deadly battle broke out."

The intelligence report didn't go into much detail, only mentioning that a battle had taken place, but there was little record of the battle's process and outcome.

It was only said that both sides had ceased fighting and were now setting up camps in a standoff.

Wei Guangde showed the two the intelligence that Liu Shouyou had brought earlier, and said, "Tell me, does Lady Zhongshun's letter contain any indication that she covets Bansheng City?"

“I think so, otherwise she wouldn’t have said she would stop Ban Shengcheng from falling into the hands of others.”

Shen Shixing spoke up.

"I think Lady Chungshun wanted to annex Banshang City, not to prevent him from marrying Daesung Hikichi in a disrespectful manner."

After reading the letter from Third Sister, Zhang Siwei thought for a while before making his own judgment.

"I felt the same way after watching it."

However, even so, I think she might be disappointed.

Unless he impolitely marries Daishinori Hikichi, she has no chance of winning Itaru Castle.

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"What should we do?"

Shen Shixing asked.

“I’m also considering whether to have the Embroidered Uniform Guard inform her or have Zheng Luo contact her by letter.”

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Zheng Luo, it would be appropriate for Madam Zhongshun to write a letter to Governor Zheng and have him reply."

Zhang Siwei said, "The Embroidered Uniform Guards have finally managed to climb to their side; it's best not to expose themselves." (End of Chapter)