Jingming

Chapter 149 The Choice of Concubine and Concubine

In the afternoon of New Year's Eve, the capital is already in the atmosphere of Chinese New Year.

The sound of firecrackers sounded from time to time, and every family is looking forward to a better next year.

The day before the first year of Jiajing, Yang Tinghe read again the letter Yang Shen had brought from Guangdong.

After thinking about it, I will write back to him after returning from the palace today.

"Go and ask Madam if you are ready."

Yang Tinghe came out of the study, the second son, the third son and the fourth son were busy writing Spring Festival couplets together.

Lao Yang is naturally a complete winner in life, with four sons and two daughters.

Yang Shen is the number one scholar, the second and fourth are already Juren, and the third also has to be a scholar in the shade.Two daughters, the eldest daughter married a Jinshi, and the second daughter married to Juren can still take the exam again.

Seeing the stability of the whole family now, Yang Tinghe felt a little afraid.

His thoughts naturally returned to the emperor. He felt that the emperor's temperament was very complicated: he had a decisive and eager side, but he was also very calm and tolerant.

Including Yang Tinghe's previous offenses on many things.

Thinking about it the other way around, knowing that Zhang Heling had participated in setting fire to the Rijing Gate, His Majesty could bear with it and not deal with it wantonly, so what about Yang Tinghe's matter?

But after all, he did not expect that the emperor, who was so sharp during the ceremony, really wanted to keep Yang Tinghe, so that he could continue to celebrate the New Year in the capital, and even invited him and his wife to the imperial banquet on New Year's Eve.

At about three o'clock in the morning, the ministers of national policy had already arrived outside Chengtianmen, together with Guo Xun.

Their wives took another warm sedan chair and entered the palace through another door.

No matter how tit-for-tat they were in the past, at this new year, everyone greets each other with a smile on their faces.

"Master Hou took the lead this time, are your injuries healed?" Yan Song asked with a smile when seeing Guo Xun again on this occasion.

"...a few flesh wounds, nothing to worry about." Guo Xun always felt that there was something else in Yan Song's smile, but he couldn't understand it.

"Weizhong." Yang Tinghe asked Yan Song very kindly, "The congratulatory forms of officials from all over the country and in Beijing have been presented to the palace. Your Majesty should have read them in the past few days, right?"

"Your Majesty said that he would also have a holiday if he stopped going to rest and take a bath. They are all beautiful words, and it doesn't matter whether you read them or not. Bo'an, Chong Xiang, and I have not been called into the palace these few days."

"...It's rare." Yang Tinghe sighed with emotion, and then said leisurely, "Your Majesty mourns the passing of Lord Zhongde. From now on, Lord Zhongde will be missing... Anyway, Your Majesty is lenient, and always expects us to speak out boldly. After the change of Yuan Dynasty , let’s all be loyal to you.”

Including Jiang Mian, Fei Hong, and Wang Qiong, all of them took a look at him.

After all, everyone was worried about the reason for today's imperial banquet.

After chatting for a while, Huang Jin came out to invite them into the palace.

Eighteen ministers of national policy, Yuan Zonggao passed away, and Yang Yiqing was in the northwest.

However, Wang Shouren temporarily represented Yang Yiqing in the national policy meeting, and Guo Xun made an exception and ordered that 18 people enter the palace.

On the way to Qianqing Palace, they all asked Zhang Zilin about the situation in the southeast.

"There are seven big families who have established evidence to hide the traitors, so who can say anything?" Zhang Zilin replied calmly, "There are three more families who knew that those servants secretly communicated with the pirates, so they made a plan to lure the pirates to rob them." The act of the enemy is unforgivable. When Jin Yiwei finds out the truth about the case of the traitor killing an official, and sends the mansion report to the southeast, it will not be so easy to deal with such things in the future."

He looked at Guo Xun again, and said with a rare smile: "Before I returned to Beijing, I also said that Marquis Wu Ding and Marquis Funing were on standby at any time. Duke Wei repeatedly asked me to persuade Marquis Wu Ding to guard Nanjing."

"... Wei Guogong is really..." Guo Xun did not say that Xu Pengju was afraid of trouble in front of so many ministers.

Who is going to Nanjing for the elderly?Cui Yuan has said that Jingying has a bright future!
"Speaking of which, Xia Geshi was extremely diligent and capable this year, which allowed the Beijing camp to reorganize and straighten out the regulations." Guo Xun said to Cui Yuan, Wang Shouren, and Jiang Mian, "We should ask for credit for him."

The matter was led by Jiang Mian, and after Yang Yiqing went to the Northwest, Wang Shouren co-organized it on his behalf.

In the current Beijing camp, more than [-] counterfeit cleanups involve a huge workload.After changing to recruiting troops, except for the Shenji Battalion Central Army where Guo Xun was in the camp, although it has not reached the full [-] in the past few months, the new three major battalions have appeared, and the total strength has reached more than [-]. people.

Jiang Mian knew that he was talking about next year's opportunity after the absence of Minister of Rites, so he nodded and said, "Of course."

Since the emperor used Xia Yan as the first example, now that things are done well, he should be promoted.

Before they arrived at Qianqing Palace, they still chatted about state affairs, and that was because they all thought that the emperor would also talk about it at today's imperial banquet.

But I didn't expect it to be a family chat.

So Sun Jiao was very strange: "...the minister's family is good. The eldest son Yuan is an official in Sichuan, and the second son Beijing is stupid and is still preparing for the provincial examination. The only people who came to Beijing together are the second son and the youngest daughter Ming..."

Zhu Houcong was laughing, so Sun Jiao felt even more nervous.

How could the emperor not know about the situation in the important minister's house?

What are you talking about?
The others didn't know about the past, Guo Xun just said: "There are many uncles and brothers in my family, and I have only two sons, who are still young. Seeing that I have returned from suppressing bandits, I still feel that I stink."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Zhu Houcong eagerly, with a look of waiting for praise.

Zhu Houcong convinced him a little: You are in your 40s, can you stop pretending to be naive?

Although Guo Xun is not particularly smart, he is not an easy character among his relatives.The first Marquis of Wuding, Guo Ying, was very capable of giving birth. When it was handed down to Guo Xun, the sixth grandson, the Guo family was not small, but only had one title.

Guo Xun's father was a nobleman, and the disputes in the family even went to the emperor.When Guo Xun came to the throne, his situation was considered great. He was rewarded by Zhu Houzhao for his meritorious service, and the place of Yinzi was given to his brother to ease the conflicts in the family—although it was also because Guo Xun had no son at that time.

He made money in Guangdong and Guangxi, and there are also reasons for this.Don't look at him as a big and three rough, but he also knows how to spend money to publish books to help the Guo family earn some fame.

"It's good that the general is a bit sweaty." Zhu Houcong smiled, "Although the suppression of the bandits this time is ugly, I remember the hard work, and I haven't forgotten it. But let's not talk about state affairs today, let's celebrate the New Year with peace of mind."

Guo Xun continued to maintain his simple and loyal appearance, showing a look of joy.

After exchanging pleasantries and asking about their family's recent situation, Zhu Houcong said to Wang Shouren: "You said your father's health is not very good. How about taking him to the capital to recuperate after the warm spring?"

"I'm afraid that the water and the soil will be difficult to accept." Wang Shouren looked at the emperor and bent over, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern."

Zhu Houcong sighed: "Master Yuan passed away, and all the ministers have worked hard this year, and they have all worked hard."

Yang Tinghe said: "The national policy has been decided for three years, but it is only to vigorously establish social studies and health studies, coupled with the investigation of floods and water conservancy conditions, Beijing Yingbian town to practice food and other matters, Guangdong's new law, and the ministers are relieved. Like this year."

"Let's talk about state affairs." Zhu Houcong laughed, "The first three things cost money, and I've done them before. It's enough to spend the money well. Naturally, it's not as good as the last one."

Zhu Houcong didn't do as much as they thought they would do in the next three years.

Establish more enlightenment schools, set up some expenditures by the court, and then call on the officials and gentry to donate. This has been done in the past, but now there is a clearer plan.The number of sociology schools established in each province and region within three years will also be included in the performance appraisal of local officials if there is a target requirement.

Flooding and water conservancy conditions do not require immediate large-scale projects, but take three years to figure out the bottom line.This is related to people's livelihood, and also related to future food production and land tax. It is an act of laying the foundation.

As for Jingying and Bianzhen, the key point is what the emperor said: No matter how difficult it is, Bianzhen will never be difficult.The preparation and transshipment of food and wages, the imperial court is nothing more than establishing a more complete mechanism to ensure this.

As the emperor said, these three things cost money.

As for the new law in Guangdong, there is no doubt that it is trying to find a way to "make money".Zhang Fujing asked for a presentation on how to implement the new law, and discussed it at the national policy meeting, but it has not yet been decided, or the emperor first set the pace of this matter.

The killing of an official in the southeast, after all, still touched the emperor a lot.Fang Muxian actually thinks this is a good time, which can only show the great resistance to the real implementation of the new law in the future.

In Guangdong at the moment, it is nothing more than updating the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book first, and it has not actually touched land mergers and other interests.

"Let's not talk about these today." Zhu Houcong said relaxedly, "Even if we want to talk about state affairs, let's just talk about one thing. We will get married next year, and this concubine will show her position. I intend not to choose only from ordinary good families. It is not a blessing for the country to enjoy wealth and honor suddenly without knowing the general situation."

Everyone hesitated.

So it was Yang Tinghe who spoke first: "As Your Majesty said before, how to prevent foreign relatives from chaotic politics? This dynasty can avoid such troubles, and it is based on the teachings of the ancestors."

The emperor wants to break the ancestral precepts on this matter, Yang Tinghe and others have been tortured for more than half a year, and now they have learned not to dissuade rashly.

"What about Yiqing and others?"

The others were still waiting for Yang Tinghe: Who made you the chief assistant?
"...The ancestors of this dynasty said that an ordinary family has no foundation for disorderly government. Second, no second generation or third generation, and those who enter the palace as queens and concubines, the old and the new. Third, foreign relatives are not allowed to be officials, but are only given land and houses. Fourth, the ancestors instructed the empress to stop the affairs of the concubines in the palace, that is, outside the palace gate, nothing can happen. All concubines of emperors, princes, queens, and concubines should carefully choose women from good families, and those who enter will not be accepted."

Yang Tinghe summed up the current situation, and said with doubts: "I said bluntly, there are indeed people who donate, and under many circumstances throughout the history, there are also things about the empress's pre-chamber. It's just an example if the daughter of a rich family or important minister is a concubine or concubine. At the beginning, even if the relatives are not allowed to be officials, they have already established their foundations, and they are afraid that they will become more and more powerful. In my humble opinion, Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and there may be no serious troubles in this dynasty, but what will happen in the future, we have to guard against it. The ancestral precepts have been effective for hundreds of years , or do not change."

This is a tone of discussion, what do you want to do, I feel that you have the ability.But to guard against relatives, it is all for your children and grandchildren.

Just imagine, if you choose the daughter of an important minister of a rich family, the heirs, disciples, and relatives of their clan will still be able to form a power in the court after one or two generations.This dynasty does not allow foreign relatives to be officials, not to say that all three clans cannot be officials, but that officials cannot be directly appointed.If your son and brother are capable enough to pass the imperial examination and pass the imperial examination, they can still be officials.

It's just that the imperial examination is very difficult, ordinary people's family education and accumulation are not enough, and the sudden prosperity and wealth will gradually lose their aggressiveness, so it is not a problem.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "It may indeed bring hidden dangers, so I have been thinking about preventive measures. Setting up a national policy meeting and the imperial study room is also one of the methods."

Yang Ting and the others looked at the emperor in a daze: You started thinking so early?So you have long thought not to choose concubines and concubines from ordinary people?What does the national policy meeting have to do with this?
"Foreign relatives' chaotic politics, firstly because the emperor is young, secondly because the central government has too much authority, and finally because of the use of the emperor's red pen and seal." Zhu Houcong said, "Nowadays there are both cabinets and national policy meetings, and the red pen seal is more imperial. The study and the supervisor of rites rely on each other to supervise each other, how can the relatives take full advantage of the position? What needs to be guarded against most is that the emperor is young, and all the ministers are devoted to children, so the emperor has to rely heavily on the relatives."

The scene was a bit embarrassing for a while, but the words were very transparent.

"Before this dynasty, there was no problem of foreign relatives, but the supervisor of ceremonies has become more and more important, and the disaster of internal ministers has happened several times." Zhu Houcong looked at them and said, "Now the supervisor of ceremonies, the imperial study room, the national policy meeting, and the cabinet are all four-legged. Who and which yamen will not easily control the process. Even if the emperor is young, what about his relatives?"

After Yang Ting and the others thought about it, they realized that it was true.

The central stage of power before the end of the process is dispersed. Even if the emperor is young, he does not need to rely too much on his internal officials and relatives.

A position directly connected to the center like the Imperial Study Room can almost be directly promoted by the emperor, since there is no rank anyway.

And Jiuqing can participate in the national policy meeting, and the cabinet ministers have set a quota of six people, so the emperor's will is better implemented.

The courtiers wanted to "baby watch" to oppress the emperor, and the inner courtiers and foreign relatives could quickly reach the center directly.Internal ministers and foreign relatives want to control the government, but they can't occupy so many positions.

Besides, in the current situation, how could so many ministers be able to "see" the young emperor wholeheartedly?Civil servants have always had a lot of differences in their positions.

There is a lot of room for the emperor to operate.

"Therefore, we only need to add a few items." Zhu Houcong said, "In the imperial study room, the cabinet, and the national policy meeting, there must not be any relatives from the same family and two or more disciples. Within three generations of relatives, no one can enter the palace as a concubine. Concubine." Zhu Houcong finally said, "Furthermore, every time there is a talent show, the good families in the local area are panicked and disturbed a lot. Furthermore, Fu Shou has to insist, but concubines and concubines generally know the importance, and the families of foreign relatives are well-educated and fear the laws of the country. Very important."

Hearing this, Yang Tinghe had to ask: "According to His Majesty, this relative can still be ranked in the center. If the rest of the center's important officials do it in the future, there will still be hidden dangers."

Once the foreign relatives can be included in the national policy meeting, the situation will be completely different.There is a queen or empress dowager in the palace, and she is also a minister of national policy. If there are internal ministers and foreign ministers, wouldn't it be like a big party?

To put it bluntly, even if the emperor wants to move his relatives at that time, he will have to weigh the severity, even his own life.

Only then did Zhu Houcong say: "If foreign relatives want to be included in the national policy conference, they can only be civil servants with imperial examination background. All ministers who participate in the national policy conference are limited to five terms and must leave after 15 years. Whenever the old and new dynasties alternate, the relatives Those who were originally included in the National Policy Conference will automatically resign. If the emperor is under the age of sixteen, he will not be allowed to listen to the government behind the curtain, and major issues will be discussed and decided by the National Policy Conference."

Including Guo Xun, the [-] important ministers of state policy stopped talking.

That is to say, no one can stay in the national policy meeting for more than 15 years, no matter whether it is the chief of the imperial study or the nine ministers.

This means that the cabinet ministers are not the most fragrant: if they have been in the position of Jiuqing for 14 years before, then they will be completely resigned one year after entering the cabinet?
Of course, the rule that the foreign relatives who were originally ministers of state policy automatically resign before the new emperor takes the throne is naturally very binding on foreign relatives.

After the new emperor ascends the throne, whether there will be foreign relatives in the national policy meeting depends on whether the emperor thinks the courtiers are useful.If the courtiers are not "easy to use" and re-enable the old relatives or new relatives to cause chaos, the root cause is not the relative system itself, but the emperor said that the ministers "seeed children" and the emperor oppressed the emperor.

This is the same reason as before relying heavily on internal ministers to control foreign ministers.

In comparison... If the foreign relatives at the national policy meeting were also civil servants, it seems more acceptable: at least everyone has a similar "educational level", and some things are not as brainless or twisted as eunuchs.

For a while, they couldn't figure it out: Is this to limit the term of office of other civil servants by taking advantage of the hidden danger of foreign relatives being included in the national policy meeting, or does the emperor really think that this can prevent foreign relatives from messing up the government?

This kind of new regulation is really difficult to completely convince everyone, but the current national policy meeting has only just appeared, and everyone present is not worried about their "term limit", and the future "disaster" has nothing to do with them.

Emperor Taizu's ancestral precepts really completely avoided the possibility of foreign relatives messing up the government.

It's just that the chaotic government of the ministers who replaced it did make Yang Ting and this group of civil servants suffer.

Seeing the emperor's confident appearance, Yang Tinghe asked with a complex expression: "Your Majesty has thought so carefully, is it possible that among the younger generations including the ministers, there are people who His Majesty wants to hire as concubines and concubines?"

It's normal for him to ask such a question, otherwise, why is it necessary to make regulations on the inclusion of foreign relatives in the national policy meeting now?
Yuan Zonggao has passed away, and the emperor's most trusted minister is now without a leader, who would it be?
So His Majesty is still using this matter to play balance?

Could it be that I, Yang Tinghe, are not enough to reassure you now?
(End of this chapter)