The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 254 Harem
In the Hall of Literary Glory, Zhu Zhanji, the princes, and dozens of ministers from the Six Ministries, Five Courts and One Academy all remained expressionless.

Such scenes have occurred countless times since His Majesty ascended the throne.

The emperor had a question—the emperor asked Li Xianmu—Li Xianmu answered—the emperor inquired about the details—Li Xianmu explained further—the emperor agreed.

Even low-ranking officials in the imperial court and ordinary people across the country have begun to refer to Li Xianmu as "Prime Minister Li".

In the Ming Dynasty, where the imperial ancestral precepts explicitly prohibited the restoration of the prime minister system, the fact that Li Xianmu was addressed in this way speaks volumes about his political status at the time.

It is easy to imagine how much the emperor trusted Li Xianmu!
Li Xianmu felt a pang of sadness. Seeing that everyone was silent and no one objected, Zhu Gaochi immediately settled the matter and said, "Since everyone agrees on this matter, let's talk about the specifics next."

Now everyone hesitated, because it was hard to say how big a slice of the pie would be given to the royal family.

"Your Majesty, this matter requires careful calculation to determine a suitable figure that the court can afford now and in the future. It is not something that can be concluded now, so please postpone the discussion."

Zhu Gaochi knew at a glance that nothing could be said in a short time. After a moment's thought, he said, "In that case, first issue the decree abolishing titles after five generations and allowing members of the imperial clan after five degrees of mourning to take the imperial examinations."

As for the matter of the salary ratio, let's discuss it further. All of you may leave the palace now. Mingda, please stay. I have some matters to discuss with you.

The officials all took their leave and left the hall, leaving only Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Zhanji, and Li Xianmu. Li Xianmu immediately knew that this matter was related to the Crown Prince.

"What matters do Your Majesty and the Crown Prince wish to ask me?"

Zhu Gaochi said, "Xianmu, recently someone has submitted a memorial saying that the crown and robes I bestowed upon the Crown Prince's concubine, Lady Sun, are not in accordance with etiquette. This is truly annoyed me greatly, and I suspect..."

Li Xianmu immediately understood.

The emperor suspected that this was orchestrated by the Prince of Han.

In the drama "Ming Dynasty", in order to whitewash Sun Ruowei, Empress Hu Shanxiang was completely vilified, and it was even said that Empress Hu had an affair with the Prince of Han. This was pure fabrication. However, there was one thing that was not fabricated: Empress Hu's family really did have an improper relationship with the Prince of Han.

The selection of a grandson consort for Zhu Zhanji was a complete mess.

When Sun Ruowei was sent to Zhu Zhanji's side in the eighth year of the Yongle reign, she was intended to be his principal wife. However, in the fifteenth year of the Yongle reign, Sun Ruowei became a concubine, and Empress Hu became the principal wife, the Crown Prince's Consort.

After Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, he first killed the eunuch in charge of selecting the Crown Prince's consort, and then after appointing Hu Shanxiang as the Crown Princess, he bestowed upon Sun Ruowei the crown and robes of the Crown Princess.

That's right.

The first person to slap Empress Hu in the face was not Zhu Zhanji, but Zhu Gaochi, who was known for his benevolence and gentleness. Zhu Zhanji gave the golden book and seal that belonged to the Empress to Consort Sun Ruowei, but Zhu Gaochi had broken the rules long before that.

This shows that both Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji were dissatisfied with Empress Hu, and the source of this dissatisfaction mainly came from the Prince of Han, and also probably from Zhu Di. It was a kind of rebellion.

What was the court's reaction to this?

There was no response; not a single member of the core princeling faction offered any advice.

Historically, when Zhu Zhanji wanted to depose the empress, apart from Yang Shiqi, who always adhered to etiquette, Yang Rong even tried to find reasons to fabricate some charges against Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji.

Given the temperament of Ming Dynasty civil officials, the fact that the deposition of an empress did not escalate into a major incident of officials kneeling and pleading at the palace gates indicates that they simply did not want to get involved.

After all, later, the civil officials repeatedly confronted the emperor and his birth mother in order for Empress Qian, the wife of Emperor Yingzong, to be made empress dowager and buried with the emperor.

Although Li Xianmu had never spoken to Hu Shanxiang and Sun Ruowei, he was still aware of the inside story.

So when Zhu Gaochi bestowed the crown and robes upon the Crown Prince's concubine, he did not object, but he never expected that the emperor would question him about this matter today.

"What does Your Majesty intend to do? Should you simply depose the Crown Princess?"

Zhu Gaochi was both the emperor and Hu Shanxiang's father-in-law. From the perspectives of both the relationship between the emperor and his subjects and filial piety, it would be easy for him to depose the crown princess. The obstacles to deposing the crown princess were much simpler than those to depose the empress.

Even a casual remark from Zhu Gaochi about being unfilial could cause Hu Shanxiang to commit suicide on the spot. That's what a ruler and father are like!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhanji was immediately intrigued and looked at Zhu Gaochi with some anticipation.

Li Xianmu showed no particular expression.

He wasn't the protagonist of any palace secrets or historical novels, yet he was incredibly familiar with this princess, that empress, and that imperial concubine.

He is a proper minister!
Of all the women in the Emperor's and Crown Prince's palaces, he was only somewhat familiar with Empress Zhang and Consort Zhang.

He had slightly more contact with Empress Zhang during the Yongle era, while Consort Zhang was his wife's younger sister and sister-in-law. Zhang Wan frequently visited the palace and would mention some things when she returned.

As for influencing the emperor through the harem, that's even more impossible.

Wouldn't doing that increase the influence of the harem over the court?
He was vehemently opposed to women in the harem interfering in politics. The reason was simple: the civil and military officials, or even any scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, were ten times more talented than the women in the harem.

How can a group of people who read the "Admonitions for Women" compare to those who read the classics of sages in governing a country?

Zhu Gaochi was stumped by Li Xianmu's question, and then quickly waved his hand, "That's not necessary. Although Hu Shi and the Prince of Han have an affair, the Crown Princess is virtuous and hasn't made any mistakes. It's not like she should be deposed."

Li Xianmu frowned. He felt that the simplest way to eliminate future troubles was to abolish it directly. Many times, it was because of hesitation and worrying about this and that that the sunk costs became larger and larger.

Li Xianmu looked at Zhu Zhanji and thought, "If she's not deposed now that she's just the Crown Princess, things will get complicated if she's deposed after she becomes Empress."

Li Xianmu believed this was very likely, as Zhu Zhanji acted more drastically and considered things less than Zhu Gaochi.

But the crown prince was unwilling, and Li Xianmu did not intend to force him to comply.

He also had his own selfish motives. The matter of deposing his daughter-in-law would inevitably damage his reputation. He had the best relationship with the emperor, and the emperor was nearing the end of his life. Naturally, he did not want the emperor to suffer such a reputation for no reason.

Let's leave this matter to Zhu Zhanji to handle.

However, this would make the matter of the Crown Prince's wife difficult to handle, and even Li Xianmu couldn't think of a good solution for the time being.

After all, the connection between the Hu family and the King of Han was not something that outsiders could know.

Zhu Gaochi noticed Li Xianmu's predicament, an expression rarely seen on Li Xianmu.

"Your Majesty, after much deliberation, I have no other choice but to depose the Consort. The core of this problem lies with the people, with the Prince of Han and the Crown Princess. If we cannot target the Crown Princess, then there is nothing we can do. After all, we cannot directly target the Prince of Han, can we?" Targeting the Prince of Han was certainly out of the question. Although Zhu Gaochi disliked his younger brother, he had no intention of doing anything to either the Prince of Zhao or the Prince of Han. The relationship between ruler and subject was already established, and there was no need for him to bear the guilt of killing his brother.

After all, this is the Ming Dynasty, not the Tang Dynasty known for its brotherly harmony.

Zhu Gaochi sighed softly.

Zhu Zhanji angrily said, "These civil officials are always looking for trouble. They are far less useful than eunuchs. What do they have to do with the affairs of the inner palace? They are just making trouble out of nothing."

Although Li Xianmu felt that eunuchs were inferior to civil officials, he quite agreed with the second half of Zhu Zhanji's statement. Some civil officials were really just making trouble out of nothing, even meddling in the jealousy and tantrums of the women in the harem.

Even the gossipy old women on the street don't have as long tongues or as wide a sphere of influence as they do.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very careful not to let eunuchs interfere in politics, but Zhu Di was the complete opposite. He trusted the eunuchs who had followed him through the Jingnan Campaign and risked their lives. Zhu Zhanji went even further and prepared to institutionalize the use of eunuchs.

Zhu Gaochi did not reject the use of eunuchs, but he placed the greatest emphasis on learned ministers, especially the Grand Secretariat, since eunuchs could not govern the country, but could only maintain the rule.

After Zhu Zhanji finished speaking angrily, he recalled what Li Xianmu had just said. He had great trust in his teacher's wisdom, and since even his teacher couldn't do anything about it, he knew that there really was nothing that could be done.

"The problem lies with people; without addressing the people, the problem cannot be solved."

These words resonated with Zhu Zhanji, who began to ponder them. His father was unwilling to do this, but he didn't mind.

"Teacher, if we were to depose the imperial concubine, what would be a good reason?"

Li Xianmu casually said, "The seven grounds for divorce from a woman are nothing more than a few. If you don't want her to be deposed because of the seven grounds, after all, if she is deposed like that, she will basically lose her life."

Then try to persuade her to withdraw voluntarily.

As for the reason, being childless is the simplest and most controllable reason; after all, being childless is absolutely unacceptable.

The mention of offspring immediately darkened Zhu Zhanji's expression.

Zhu Zhanji also had a difficult time conceiving. He had been married for six or seven years, but none of his concubines had gotten pregnant. He was almost thirty years old and still did not have a son.

Historically, only Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen and Emperor Daizong Zhu Qiyu were involved.

Moreover, it wasn't that he couldn't have children, but that he only had princesses and no princes. This was the most difficult thing to bear. Emperor Renzong of Song in history was also like this. It wasn't that he couldn't have children, but the first child he had was a daughter, and the second child he had was also a daughter. He was born without the fate of having a son.

However, Zhu Zhanji still listened to Li Xianmu's advice. Indeed, not having children was the simplest and most controllable thing. As long as he spent fewer nights with the Crown Princess, she would naturally not be able to get pregnant.

The world will not care about or know the real reason why the Crown Princess has no children; this is a foolproof plan.

The only losers were naturally Crown Princess Hu and Lady Hu, but that's politics. Anyone involved with the Prince of Han would inevitably be purged after his failure to seize the throne!

Despite feeling some pity for Hu Shanxiang, Li Xianmu still did not hesitate to offer his advice to the emperor and the crown prince.

"Your Highness, you really should try to produce a son. It's no good for an emperor to be without an heir!"

Zhu Gaochi was quite qualified to say this. Despite Zhu Zhanji's heroic appearance, Zhu Gaochi was in such poor health that he needed help to walk, yet he had ten sons!
They are quite prolific.

Zhu Zhanji nodded solemnly and said, "Your son understands."

Today, Li Xianmu enlightened him: a son's status depends on his mother, and a mother's status depends on her son. Only if the Crown Princess has no son, but the concubine has one, can he elevate Sun Ruowei.

With the matter considered settled, Li Xianmu bowed and left the Huagai Hall for the Wenyuan Pavilion. He didn't take the incident to heart at all, and as soon as he left the hall, he completely forgot about it.

Because he knew better than anyone that the Ming Dynasty was not the Han or Tang Dynasties, or even the Song Dynasty. Under the current system of the Ming Dynasty, as long as there were normal ministers in the previous dynasty, there was no room for the empress's family and relatives to exert their influence, nor for wicked concubines to cause trouble.

The women in the deep palace—the Crown Princess, the Empress—it didn't matter who they were; their only purpose was to give birth to princes and continue the dynasty.

……

The biggest event in the first year of the Hongxi reign was the sudden issuance of an edict concerning the imperial clan. This edict was issued by the Grand Secretariat, sent to the Imperial Clan Court, and then distributed by the Imperial Clan Court to the fiefdoms of the princes.

It might not be appropriate to say "fiefdom," because the princes of the Ming Dynasty did not have fiefdoms; they only had a palace and guards.

The imperial court intends to strip the imperial family members from the Five Dynasties period onwards of their titles!
The distant relatives will become ordinary citizens, no different from other people in the Ming Dynasty. The guaranteed harvest promised by the founding emperor has completely vanished.

This matter caused a huge uproar in Beijing and wherever it spread.

The Prince of Yan's lineage ascended the throne because Emperor Jianwen reduced the power of the princes, so the late emperor established a policy of treating the imperial clan well. Unexpectedly, less than a year after the late emperor's death, the new emperor overturned the late emperor's policy and even the policy of Emperor Taizu.

There was much opposition within the court and among the people. Their opposition was not to strip the imperial family of their titles, but rather that allowing them to take the imperial examinations was too dangerous, and that it would be better to support them with the government's stipends.

These conflicting opinions reached the imperial court, which then clearly outlined the estimated stipends to be paid to the imperial family over the next one or two hundred years.

When this clear list was presented, it was as if the pause and silence buttons had been pressed between the government and the public; suddenly, no one spoke.

Even the princes and dukes who were preparing to submit memorials in opposition remained silent for a long time after seeing this, and then put away their memorials.

If the old system continues, the Ming Dynasty will really be dragged down. Although these princes and dukes are short-sighted, they are not so desperate as to insist on courting death when faced with the facts.

Of course, the most fundamental reason is that the court could not possibly lose the princes and dukes. The three lowest-ranking noble titles that the court really wanted to strip are now empty, which is the brilliance of this policy.

Since it did not directly infringe on anyone's interests, the resistance was naturally much weaker.

The Prince of Han, who was in Le'an, was practically grinding his teeth in frustration. He had thought his chance had come, but it turned out to be nothing but a pipe dream.

After the opposition from both the ruling and opposition parties rose and fell rapidly, another issue became a hot topic among them.

That is, how big of a pie should be allocated to the imperial family? Many people in the court and the public know that the Ministry of Revenue has been discussing this matter with the cabinet and has submitted three proposals, but all of them have been rejected by the cabinet.

Everyone knows this matter will take time to resolve.

(End of this chapter)