Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 112: The old servant's advice, the country should be worried

The Ministry of Revenue and the nine ministers of the cabinet secretly calculate the world's affairs.

In the Forbidden City, it was dusk after Zhu Changluo had read the memorials and commented on some unimportant matters.

"It's time to go to the palaces."

He is in a good mood.

Zhu Changluo did not object to the gradual transformation of in-kind taxes into monetary taxes. It would be good enough if the Caohe River could guarantee the annual grain supply for the densely populated areas in the north.

The most important thing is that the important ministers are finally willing to give him a solution that will kill several birds with one stone.

He won't agree until he has to endure some hardship!

This is actually not surprising. Why should others back down if they haven’t seen any tricks used?
"Is there anyone visiting Shen Yiguan's residence today?"

"Yes, I have heard about it." Tian Yi said with a smile, "Four groups of people went there yesterday. After the court session ended today, all six departments went to the Shen family before reporting for duty."

Zhu Changluo nodded and joked: "Mr. Shen is in good health. He is over 70 years old. He was so sick that he couldn't attend court, but he recovered quickly. I think you can entrust him with more important tasks in the future."

After laughing together, Zhu Changluo put away his smile again: "No news from Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu yet?"

This was also one of the reasons why he simply adjourned the court the day before yesterday.

In addition to the Beijing Camp, the training of the Four Guard Camps and the summoning of Ma Qiancheng and his wife and the local soldiers to the capital should be finalized among the many important matters.

If it is raised as a separate issue, there will naturally be a lot of opposition.

Whether or not you can stop it is one thing, whether or not you express your attitude is another.

Zhu Changluo just promoted a group of censors first, hoping that they would restrain themselves out of the emperor's favor.

"Since Cheng Jing hasn't reported yet, it means the news hasn't come yet." Tian Yi comforted Zhu Changluo, "Bozhou is located in a mountainous area and the road is long. Although Pingyi Bo has to arrange for the elimination of the remnants of the rebellion, he should have set off for the capital before the New Year, and he hasn't arrived yet."

Zhu Changluo could only continue to wait.

Indeed, the person who went to Bozhou alone to announce the emperor's decree to Chen Lin must have walked faster than Qin Liangyu. Even if Qin Liangyu and her companions wanted to reply to the emperor, they could not use express delivery, but could only send people to Beijing as soon as possible, which might not be faster than the newly promoted earl Chen Lin who came to Beijing to thank the emperor.

After a visit to the Cining Palace, we went to the Renshou Palace.

Then naturally we have to pass by the Liushang Bureau of the Palace Administration Department.

Seeing the emperor turning his head to look over there, Tian Yi smiled and said, "How about I ask them to arrange something, saying that we are going to examine the night lights and their appearance, and let Your Majesty take a look first?"

"…Even if I want to take action, can't I just do it openly?"

Zhu Changluo complained speechlessly, "Wouldn't that be like peeping? What can you see clearly from a distance?"
"Your Majesty said so."

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty passed by the gate of the palace, and these beautiful ladies who were looking forward to becoming the women of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty were now staying in their assigned rooms one by one.

They are all large bunk beds, with several people in one room.

Now they are all preparing for one of the assessment subjects for the first month: needlework.

Everyone had to submit their work, and the female officials who were responsible for training and examining them would assess its quality.

The schedule for candidates is very full.

There is a clear schedule for daily life. One must learn palace rules and female training, practice various manners such as standing, sitting, and walking, and be tested on needlework, chess, calligraphy, painting, cooking, sweeping, and washing...

Now the Ten Beauties of Shanxi have been dispersed, because even at other times of their daily lives, there are female officials and eunuchs who will secretly watch over them and observe their character.

Fan Sirong no longer had time to worry about her other nine sisters. They were all in different places and they could only meet occasionally.

After returning from Renshou Palace, they realized that there were still three hurdles among the three hundred people.

That is to eliminate one hundred people every month in the first two months. These one hundred people must be ordinary palace maids. In the future, they will only be trained according to the requirements of palace maids, and even start working in various places in advance.

In the third month, there will be specialists to read the faces of the hundred people to see if they have bad facial features such as "unlucky in marriage".

The birth date and horoscope had been calculated long ago, and if the result did not match the emperor's birth date and horoscope, he would not be included in the list of 100 people.

By the third month, fifty people were selected. These people would have the most basic status of ladies and could be regarded as the emperor's women; the remaining fifty people would be trained as female officials.

So in the end it’s actually a matter of choosing three out of fifty.

Some of the ten beauties from Shanxi who were added to the 300-person list have been spoiled since childhood.

Although they would definitely be taught to do needlework, this was not necessarily the case for them to learn cooking, sweeping, and washing.

After Fan Sirong heard the call to remind them to have dinner and walked out of the room, she saw Zhang's sister in another room in the same courtyard.

Her eyes were red and her lips were tightly pursed. She looked at Fan Sirong with great grievance, but did not dare to say anything.

In the afternoon, some people had already been beaten.

There is no need to think about it. Anyone who can be beaten will never be among the final fifty.

How could the eunuchs and female officials who were responsible for training and assessing them push the concubines they had punished into the list of fifty at this stage? Unless it was due to the intrigues between the eunuchs and female officials.

As night fell, Fan Sirong spent her first day in the Forbidden City in a daze, and she couldn't help feeling extremely uneasy.

The intrigue started from the first day. Is this path really feasible?

Over at Renshou Palace, Zhu Changluo was having his meal.

Since the Ministry of Rites has already requested to promote the Concubine Dowager to the title of Queen Mother, Zhu Changluo has to make a gesture to let Queen Mother Wang know that he will not treat her badly.

In fact, how could Sister Wang Xi, who had experienced the night of the palace coup, dare to have any complaints?

After all, the emperor's attitude made Wang Xijie feel at ease. So when she was dining with Zhu Changluo as a "mother", she looked at Concubine Wang and said with a smile: "We have seen the selected beauties today. There are quite a few pretty ones among them. I am afraid that our taste is not to the emperor's liking. We sisters think that if the emperor is free, it would be better for us to choose ourselves."

"The head of the palace should be like my mother. Character is more important than appearance." Zhu Changluo was both well-behaved and honest. "Except for my mother and a few people in the old Jingyang Palace, I have rarely interacted with women since I was a child. How can I know the character of women outside the palace? Such an important matter should naturally be entrusted to my mother and mother."

"Well, even if we don't select those lovely girls into the final three, they will at least remain in the fifty. It depends on their future fate."

Zhu Changluo praised it repeatedly: "This is a win-win plan. Thank you very much, mother."

"Then the ten people selected from Shanxi..." Sister Wang Xi hesitated for a moment, but still asked.

The right measure in making decisions is very subtle.

"Then there is no need to take special care of it. As long as someone can be among the fifty people first, that will be enough."

"...I see. If that's the case, sister, I think we should do a face reading first, at least for the ten people. Otherwise, if only two or three people can be among the fifty, but their faces are not good, it will be difficult to deal with."

"Sister, you have taken very thorough considerations!" Princess Dowager Wang nodded repeatedly. Of course, she couldn't allow her son to suffer in the future.

Zhu Changluo was calm and there was no need to worry about it.

This kind of thing is just for the sake of appearing serious.

At the time of the wedding, when the emperor saw a palace maid in high spirits and wanted to favor her, would he ask someone to calculate her birth date and look at her face first?

When he actually has so many "resources", he doesn't have to be emotionally unstable for any woman he hasn't met yet.

So when he passed by there on his way back, Zhu Changluo didn't even take another look at it.

Tian Yi, on the other hand, was even more chattering: "Your Majesty is so careful in observing etiquette, I admire you."

"…What kind of flattery is this?"

"I speak from the bottom of my heart. I heard from Zou Yi that Your Majesty has been very strict in observing the rules and has not relaxed for more than half a year. First it was the Ciqing Palace, and now the maids in the Qianqing Palace and the Yangxin Palace are waiting for rain but have not seen it."

"...Weichuan, at your age, it's not right for you to say these dirty words to me, right?"

Zhu Changluo was a little surprised by Tian Yi's boldness, but Tian Yi said: "It is because I am old that I hope to see Your Majesty's successor before leaving the palace. Your Majesty has great ambitions, and now it is time for Your Majesty to worry about the foundation of the country."

Looking at his solemn expression under the palace lantern, Zhu Changluo nodded.

"Don't worry too much. If the palace and the factory guards are well managed, there won't be any changes. I'm observing the precepts now, but I'm afraid there will be disputes in the future."

"There is a difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, and there is an order of seniority, so why would there be disputes?" Tian Yi only began to advise him when the wedding was on the agenda. "Besides, if Your Majesty is not familiar with the rites of Duke Zhou, it will not be good. Even if you favor someone, whether to keep him or not is a matter of medicine."

"A dose of medicine?"

So Tian Yi talked as he walked, and Zhu Changluo understood.

In addition to contraceptive medication, there are also massage, acupuncture... various other methods.

In short, in Tian Yi's opinion: Your Majesty, you should at least understand the relationship between men and women and know how to make the concubines pregnant? Besides, there is a distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, and there is a hierarchy of seniority. Even if someone dies before the wedding, what's the big deal?
Before the emperor has an heir, the emperor emeritus is still in power, and what you want to do makes people worry. It will be beneficial to give birth to a prince as soon as possible.

Zhu Changluo walked to the outside of Rijing Gate before stopping and looking at Tian Yi, who had a loyal and sincere look on his face.

So Zhu Changluo patted his forehead and said, "What you said makes sense."

Tian Yi's face was full of an "of course" expression.

Zhu Changluo knew that he was also influenced by future thinking. Regardless of what happened to the Qing Dynasty, in fact, except for the special cases of Jingnan and Duomen, there was basically no dispute over the throne in the Ming Dynasty.

The Chen Hao Rebellion doesn't even count.

Even for himself, although the dispute over the country's foundation has lasted for so many years, in fact, as long as he waits patiently, he can still inherit the throne.

First of all, he really had no intention of thinking about these things in the past few months. Also, he was not the pure young man who had never seen or tasted anything and was completely controlled by impulse as Tian Yi thought.

In addition, I still want to avoid as much trouble as possible in the future, so I plan to focus on the government affairs first.

The beauties have entered the palace, and Zhu Changluo is planning to have some free time recently to spare some time for the civil officials. After Tian Yi reminded him of this, Zhu Changluo, who returned to the Qianqing Palace and looked at the palace maids kneeling in the hall to welcome him back, felt a little uncomfortable.

You know what, it seems to smell quite fragrant.

(End of this chapter)