Hearing this name, Queen Mother Wu frowned, and a trace of undetectable disgust flashed in her eyes.
Of course she knew what that place was, and it was a more terrifying place than being taken into the palace to be a sin slave.
The Jiaofang Division was originally in charge of dance and music, and was subordinate to the Ministry of Rites.
In addition to officials, the most popular among them are musicians and kabuki performers.
Fortunately, musicians are basically passed down from generation to generation. Although they are from a humble background, they are still making a living.
But Kabuki is much more humble.
Not only are they responsible for dancing at daily ceremonies and palace banquets, but sometimes they also need to accompany dignitaries.
The imperial court stipulated that officials were not allowed to have sex with prostitutes.
Theoretically speaking, official prostitutes in the Jiaofang Division do not have the same duties of "receiving customers" as folk prostitutes. At most, they are ordered to accompany them in singing and dancing, and do not need to do other things.
However, as a lowly woman, facing many dignitaries, many things cannot be restricted by a piece of paper.
As for the source of official prostitutes in Jiaofangsi, generally speaking, they are the daughters of guilty officials.
Of course, not all crimes will lead to imprisonment in the Jiaofang Department, it must be a serious crime that involves family members.
In recent times, those who committed crimes worthy of being imprisoned in the Jiaofang Division were domestic prostitutes raised by eunuchs such as Wang Zhen and Cao Jixiang.
Therefore, Jiaofangsi did not have as many people as he thought.
Therefore, Queen Mother Wu was a little confused and asked.
"The number of people serving in the Nangong Palace is no less than a hundred, just from the Taishang Palace. If you add the people called by other palaces, it will be at least four to five hundred. How come the Jiaofang Secretary has so many people?"
Zhu Qiyu's eyes flickered a little, as if he was wondering whether he should say anything, but in the end, he still said it.
"My mother and concubine should know that when the late emperor ascended the throne in the early years, he ordered the abolition of all official prostitutes except those in Jiaofangsi, and prohibited officials and scholars from having prostitutes. However, this matter is difficult to prohibit. Officials often keep domestic prostitutes.
Private acquaintance.”
"As for those ordinary scholars who could not afford to support domestic prostitutes and dared not enter regular folk brothels in an open and honest manner, they could only go to various secret prostitution shops that were not registered with the government."
Empress Dowager Wu frowned, wondering why Zhu Qiyu was suddenly talking about this.
But with the next sentence, she understood.
Zhu Qiyu said: "During the draft some time ago, I ordered the internal officials who went to various places to supervise the local magistrates and inspected all the secret prostitutes' restaurants near Gyeonggi.
He was taken into the Jiaofang Department."
"These people are useless to be placed around the Jiaofang Division. Since the Empress Dowager Sun is unwilling to draft for the Supreme Emperor, I ordered people to select more than a hundred people with beautiful appearance and good service from these people to go to Nangong to accompany them, and they can also be regarded as the Supreme Emperor.
Relieve your boredom."
This is an understatement.
However, Queen Mother Wu felt an inexplicable coldness.
There are indeed official prostitutes in the Jiaofang Division who are innocent. This kind of thing is unavoidable, but there are not many.
After all, the Jiaofangsi is the yamen of the imperial court, and its duty is to perform court songs and dances, not to entertain dignitaries or engage in flesh-and-blood business.
Whenever there is a celebration, there must be great joy. This is the duty of the Jiaofang Secretary.
Therefore, in the Jiaofang Division, most of the official prostitutes, but sometimes they can't escape it, will go to drink with them to add to the fun.
Those who can really force those official prostitutes can basically afford to support domestic prostitutes, so there is no need to do such things.
However, the so-called private prostitution restaurants are mainly engaged in the business of receiving and delivering sex.
The prostitutes in these restaurants are really like a pair of jade arms, a pillow for thousands of people, and a bit of red lips for thousands of people to taste.
Zhu Qiyu sent these people to Nangong, his intention is self-evident.
As we all know, before Zhu Qiyu formally established the draft system, the harem of the Ming Dynasty always had a wedding draft only when the prince came of age.
In addition, unless there are special circumstances, there will generally be no further selection.
However, whether it was Renzong, who was famous for his kindness, or Xuanzong, who was playful and pampered, there were no shortage of concubines in the harem.
Where did these concubines come from? Of course they were palace maids!
It was a common practice in the palace for the emperor to visit his maids on a whim. Emperors of all dynasties were not exempt from this custom, including of course the Supreme Emperor who had just abdicated.
In fact, for the emperor, this kind of thing was as common as eating and drinking.
If the palace maid is lucky enough to be pregnant, then the mother will be canonized based on the value of the child. If not, then she will just get some rewards, nothing more.
With this kind of routine, Empress Dowager Wu didn't need to think about it to know what kind of scene these women, whom Zhu Qiyu called "beautiful and good at serving", would look like when they arrived at Nangong.
Then, Queen Mother Wu looked a little nervous, hesitated for a moment, and then asked.
"Brother Yu, are there no people from Jiaofang Sijin around you?"
Empress Dowager Wu didn't care what Nangong would become, but her own son couldn't be deceived by these prostitutes.
Zhu Qiyu was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly.
"What are you talking about, my concubine? How many concubines are there in my harem? Don't you know where they came from?"
Now, in his palace, except for the two concubines, Wang and Hang, who had been with him for a long time, the rest were all selected through a serious round of drafts under the supervision of Empress Dowager Wu herself.
Empress Dowager Wu was finally relieved.
After thinking about it for a while, it was indeed the case. As the emperor, even if he was an ordinary palace maid, it would be recorded.
During the period when she ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Wu also read Zhu Qiyu's daily life notes. Except for the palace concubines who were selected through the draft, not even an ordinary palace maid was favored, let alone anyone else.
But despite this, Empress Dowager Wu couldn't help but exhort her.
"It's okay if you don't have one. Even though those... prostitutes are somewhat charming and beautiful, their status is too low and they are not serious people."
"If you are tired of these people in your harem, the Aijia will help you choose more newcomers for the next draft, and choose good-looking ones. Don't be fooled by these vile things."
Zhu Qiyu suddenly felt confused whether he should laugh or cry, and he couldn't help but laugh. In the end, he could only smile bitterly.
"Don't worry, mother and concubine, my son knows what's appropriate."
Of course he knows...
After all, he had actually stepped through this pit in his previous life.
At that time, Brother Ji unfortunately died of illness and passed away.
After nearly a year of pain and sorrow, he had to reconsider the issue of heirs, but at that time, he only had three or four concubines in his harem.
The Wang family was deposed, the Hang family was extremely sad, and the other two had nothing to do for many years.
As a last resort, he had to privately order someone to sacrifice the girl.
As a result, the person presented was outstanding in appearance, charming and lovely, but she turned out to be such a prostitute.
He didn't know about it at first, he just thought she was the daughter of a guilty minister who was taken into the Jiaofang Department and became an official prostitute.
But later, after the restoration of Nangong, the officials of the Jiaofang Department who offered him concubines were convicted, and he realized that these were local prostitutes from all over the country.
These women are beautiful and charming, but they have one thing in common, that is, they have given up the idea of having children since I don't know how long ago.
Therefore, in this life, even if he risks being criticized by everyone, he will open the draft again, and it will not be open only once, but every few years. This is the knot in his mind.
He suggested to the Queen Mother Sun that he should draft a talent show for the Supreme Emperor, which was a well-intentioned idea.
However, since Empress Dowager Sun is still concerned about the so-called "reputation" of the Supreme Emperor, which is in danger.
Then, we can’t feel wronged, isn’t the Supreme Emperor...
This chapter has been completed!