In previous dynasties, the selection of concubines for princes was either rich or noble, and most of them were carefully selected by princes and prime ministers. But in the Ming Dynasty, it was a little different.
This has to be said by Lao Zhu. After he ascended the throne, he felt the lessons learned from the previous dynasty. Lao Zhu was well aware of the serious consequences of the internal ministers, harem and relatives intervening in politics. He erected a three-foot iron sign outside the palace gate with eight characters: "The internal ministers"
"Do not interfere in political affairs." However, as the civil service group became more and more powerful, the later emperors regarded this ancestral motto as a decoration from a practical point of view, and gave the eunuchs the power to use the inner court to check and balance the cabinet. Later, this iron plate was used by the great eunuch Wang Zhen
It was moved away.
To prevent his relatives from interfering in politics, he implemented two methods.
The first is the reform of the concubine selection system, abandoning the idea of family status, and only choosing ordinary women from good families. In addition to marrying nobles at the beginning of the founding of the country, for example, Prince Zhu Biao married Chang Yuchun, Zhu Di married Xu Da's daughter, and then in the Ming Dynasty
Few of the concubines came from noble families, most of them came from ordinary civilian families. The concubines were usually selected in the capital and surrounding areas, similar to the auditions of later generations. Then the Ministry of Rites selected dozens of people to bring them to the palace, and finally one or two were selected as concubines, and the rest were given ceremonial gifts.
Send them home, so that all the queens and concubines in the harem come from ordinary families, and have no power and power and cannot pose a threat to the imperial power.
For example, Empress Zhou's father Zhou Kui was originally just a fortune teller, and Concubine Tian's father Tian Hongyu was also an ordinary citizen. After becoming noble because of his daughter, they were all awarded empty positions with titles but no power, such as hanging in the Imperial Guard.
Although he has a title, the highest title he can receive is a marquis. In the early days, this title could still be inherited. However, the emperor's relatives in the Ming Dynasty were always on guard and suppressed them from time to time to prevent their power from expanding. For example, during the reign of Emperor Shizong Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty
, it is not the ancestral system to grant titles to foreign relatives. It is believed that "the system of ancestors cannot be granted except for military merit. During the Hongxi period, the governor Zhang Chang was granted the title of Pengcheng Bo, and his younger brother was also granted the title of Hui'an Bo. From then on, the title of maternal relatives began. Following the practice to this day, there is one
"Those who are noble will be rich in salary as they age, and it is illegal to exceed their quota." Therefore, the practice of hereditary titles for relatives was abolished.
Therefore, there are historical records: "In the Ming Dynasty, the relatives were the weakest."
The second method is to strengthen the management of the harem. It is known that in order to prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics, Zhu Yuanzhang made iron plaques outside the palace. In fact, in order to prevent the harem from interfering in politics, he ordered the Ministry of Industry to make red plaques with words of admonition to the concubines, and hang them in the palace.
Made of iron, the characters are decorated with gold.
Inside is a copy of the order, which explains various rules in great detail.
Also in the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Confucian ministers and nuns to ordain, and told Zhu Sheng, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, to say: "To rule the world, the right family should be the first. The way to run the family begins with Jin and his wife. Although the concubine is a mother who respects the world, she cannot
To prepare for political affairs. Your Majesty will wait for those who compile the precepts for women and the affairs of ancient virtuous concubines to be legal, so that future generations will know how to abide by them."
Even during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, the iron seal of the harem was still there, and he almost never discussed state affairs in front of the queen, concubines, and others, and Empress Zhou and others hardly discussed state affairs in front of him.
Therefore, in the late Ming Dynasty, there were almost no cases of harems disrupting political affairs and foreign relatives taking exclusive power.
Chongzhen seemed to be asking Chang Yu, but in fact he was also testing whether this powerful eunuch knew what to do.
You have been asked to take part in politics, but you must have a bottom line and don't interfere in everything.
Chang Yu was not stupid. He knew what he could control and what he couldn't reach out for. Even if the prince winked at him, he pretended not to see it. He knew that if he tried to be clever about the prince's wedding, he would offend Emperor Chongzhen.
The scales are reversed.
As the heir to the emperor, carrying on the family line and continuing the incense are the responsibilities and obligations you are born to bear. At a large level, it is the foundation of the country, and at a small level, it is to ensure that your lineage is not extinct. Chang Yu twice used the war to intensify the situation and unstable situation.
Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to accept the postponement because of the prince, but if you continue to do this now, he will suspect that you have ulterior motives.
Not hearing, not seeing, not wanting to care, not wanting to ask, that was Chang Yu's attitude this time.
The prince was very distressed, but Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied.
"After the Mid-Autumn Festival, this matter will be handed over to the Ministry of Rites." Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Zhu Cihong with a dull expression, and then looked at Chang Yu: "On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I felt that the palace was deserted."
Chang Yu was startled. What Emperor Chongzhen said was so confusing that he didn't know how to answer it, but he had to answer it. After thinking about it for a while, he said, "Does the Emperor want the palace to be more lively?"
Emperor Chongzhen smiled calmly: "I want the palace to be lively and my heart to be warm."
Chang Yu somewhat understood. It was easy to liven up the palace, just have some fun. The emperor had to be warm in his heart... Could it be that he was hinting at Zhou Guozhang?
But when you think about it, it doesn't seem like it. Emperor Chongzhen and his wife are now extremely disgusted with Zhou Kuina's family, and they will definitely not invite them into the palace. Then...
"I beg your Majesty to make it clear." Chang Yu really couldn't guess, so he could only bite the bullet and said this. Emperor Chongzhen laughed: "I really thought you were a roundworm in my stomach." He said: "You are passing it on to others."
I have orally ordered King De to come to Beijing to celebrate the festival."
In the early Ming Dynasty, vassal kings still had military power in their hands. After Xiaozhenzhen Zhu Yunwen wanted to cut down the vassalage and forced his fourth uncle to rebel, Zhu Di did not want others to follow Xiaozhenzhen's example and use Xiaozhenzhen's methods to the extreme. From then on, vassal kings everywhere became like
Pigs raised in captivity enjoy prosperity and wealth in their own one-third of an acre. Other than that, you are not allowed to have other thoughts. Jin Yiwei and Dongchang have been watching them for two hundred years.
In this situation, nothing has happened in the past two hundred years, at least not a big one. It is nothing more than all kinds of intrigues day and night, cursing Zhu Di's lineage to die early. Although he dare not curse out loud, his body is very honest, as long as
When things happened in the court, I just stood by and didn't help. For example, when Emperor Chongzhen asked for donations, no one responded. Even when he was besieged by the bandit army, there were still many people who had nothing to lose.
Then retribution comes.
Over the past two hundred years, vassal kings in various places have begun to wither. Some have become extinct and have been deposed, and some have been deposed because of troubles. With the help of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, they would kill the vassal kings as soon as they broke the city. In more than ten years, nearly two vassal kings were killed.
Ten, according to statistics, Li Zicheng killed twelve and Zhang Xianzhong killed seven!
To put it simply, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty had almost been slaughtered. Even if Chang Yu appeared, he only saved the king of Jin and the king of Dai.
The clan was almost completely slaughtered, which made Emperor Chongzhen feel extremely complicated. He was grief-stricken, mixed with shame and a little secretly happy.
How to say this?
Ordinary people all think about carrying on the family line and spreading branches and leaves. The more descendants the better, let alone the royal family. The descendants multiply and flourish, and the branches and leaves are luxuriant and the more they gather strength, but in the blink of an eye they are cut down alone. They are unworthy of their ancestors.
He said that his face was not good-looking, and he had truly become a loner, with no foundation and no confidence. Thanks to the Ming Dynasty, if it had been the Han and Tang Dynasties, the royal family would have been alone and overthrown by those noble families.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen desperately wanted Zhu Cixiang to get married and have children as soon as possible. The more children he had, the better. Of course, he himself also wanted to work overtime to have a few more children.
But why is it said that he is still a little happy in his heart?
Of course, it is a bad breath. In ordinary people's families, there are brothers who are not angry with their sisters-in-law, not to mention the various grievances and grievances their families have had for more than two hundred years. Of course, this is one of them. The most important thing is the vassal prince's gift to the court.
Finances have brought tremendous pressure!
Although the vassal king has no military power, he has received the emperor's favor and received his salary from the court to eat and drink for free. Some people will say that there is no pressure to support only a few princes. I can only say that you are naive, you are too naive!
Are they really just a few feudal lords?
According to statistics, Zhu Yuanzhang granted a total of twenty-eight vassal kings, and the rest were granted by Zhu Di and subsequent emperors. Excluding those who expelled heirs, removed vassals, and became emperors, the Ming Dynasty granted sixty-eight vassal kings in the past dynasties.
Of the twenty, five succeeded to the throne and became emperors, and 29 were deposed or removed due to causing trouble or having no children. By the time of Emperor Chongzhen, there were thirty (one theory is that twenty-four)
So can the imperial court not be able to support thirty?
Don't worry, little innocent, which vassal king doesn't have several brothers? The eldest brother is hereditary vassal king, the other brothers are named other kings, and the sisters are all princesses. These people must spread their branches...
Do you know what these vassal kings do on a daily basis because they cannot leave their feudal countries? Crazy population expansion and annexation of land to plunder wealth!
In the inheritance of more than two hundred years in the Ming Dynasty, the number of princes and nobles was in the tens of thousands, and Lao Zhu's direct bloodline has reproduced hundreds of thousands. There are even articles saying that Lao Zhu's descendants number in the millions!
So many people eat, drink, and have sex all because the imperial court supports them.
I don’t know if this data is accurate, but according to the "Compilation and Research of Wanli Accounting Records of the Ming Dynasty", in the early years of Wanli, the total fiscal expenditure of the imperial court was more than 18.5 million taels, of which 5.5 million were the salary expenses of the dead vassals.
, the proportion is close to 30%!
The so-called salary includes not only money but also things, such as horses, cloth, silk, Luo, salt, cloth... According to later statistics, the imperial court paid an annual payment of 70 million to 100 million yuan to support a vassal king, and the Chongzhen Dynasty had thirty people.
Come to think of it, it starts at 2 billion per year!
What’s even more speechless is that they earn sky-high wages and own a lot of land and wealth but they don’t have to pay taxes!
Do you think the court is tired?
But now, in the blink of an eye, they are almost dead. The court has instantly saved a huge amount of money. Are you happy or not? Moreover, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are both in trouble. If they want to kill them, they will directly wipe out their households.
So much so that many vassal kings did not even have an heir, which meant that they had no heirs.
At present, there are only a few vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty who continue to live on, including the King of Jin in Taiyuan, the King of Dai in Datong, King Heng of Qingzhou, King De of Jinan, King Lu of Yanzhou, King Yi of Jianchang, King Huai of Raozhou... all of them are in Suzhou.
I can't get two hands together.
From the age of twenty-eight when Emperor Taizu founded the country, to more than eighty at its peak, to thirty when he ascended the throne, and now seven! Emperor Chongzhen can be said to be filled with emotion and shame. Lao Zhu worked desperately to survive.
The branches and leaves are in full bloom, but now it is doing well, and it is almost a bare stem.
The guilt in his heart coupled with the good behavior of several surrounding vassal kings in the past year, whether voluntarily or forced, they finally contributed a lot to the court. At this time, Emperor Chongzhen felt that blood is thicker than water, so he should get close to him.
Let's get closer. During the New Year and the holidays, we are much more enthusiastic than in previous years.
Especially during the Chinese New Year, people are invited to go to Beijing to have a reunion dinner. You must know that the vassal kings cannot leave their fiefdoms unless summoned. Their annual opportunity is during the Chinese New Year.
But the emperor did not summon them to Beijing every year to celebrate the New Year. Especially in the past few years, when wars were turbulent, they would be avoided if possible, and they would not be seen if possible.
But it was different last year. Although the war was not over, Emperor Chongzhen still issued an order to summon several neighboring vassal princes to Beijing. The two southern ones did not issue an order because they were far away and had to pass through war-torn areas.
The imperial edict made several vassal princes who had not been out for several years very happy. Especially the emperor praised them greatly, which was quite honorable.
Clan members should unite and be friendly! Although Emperor Chongzhen did not say it explicitly during the Chinese New Year, he expressed this intention both inside and outside his words. Of course, who could listen was beyond his control.
But he really admires a vassal king very much recently, and that is Jinan's new king of virtue, Zhu Youjue.
King De was not rich. He was not as rich as the King of Jin who had dispersed all his property in Datong, let alone the King of Datong and others. He and King Lu of Yanzhou were both called the beggar king of Shandong.
The reason why he was appreciated by Emperor Chongzhen was because this guy was honest.
He has ten in his hand, but he is willing to give you eight or even nine to spend!
This guy is simple and practical, who wouldn’t love it.
Compared to other vassal kings who were trying to figure out all kinds of interests, Emperor Chongzhen preferred King De's simple and practical exchange of interests, which didn't have so many demands or thoughts, and he was particularly easy to talk to.
No, Chang Yu passed by and asked him how the harvest was this year, so he lent it to me.
I readily agreed.
If you give me face like this, then I will give you extra face, so Emperor Chongzhen ordered him to come to Beijing to accompany the emperor to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is an honor!
Of course, this is also to give Chang Yu face, and also to give Chang Yu face.
So Chang Yu hurriedly thanked him and thought to himself, hey, I finally got a piece of candy to eat!
After walking around in and out of the hall several times, Chang Yu was thirsty, thirsty, and did not dare to drink tea or urinate. It was not until the sky darkened and candlelight was lit in the hall that Emperor Chongzhen took a long breath: "I am a little tired, you go first."
Go ahead".
Chang Yu then hurriedly resigned, pretending not to see Zhu Cixiang's eyes at all.
After leaving the palace, Wang Zhichu hurriedly came forward and wanted to say something. Chang Yu waved his hand: "Your Majesty, please wait a moment. Let's go to the toilet first." After saying that, he ran away, and Wang Zhichu followed him awkwardly.
So depressed, Chang Yu held his urine for almost an hour, but couldn't pee, because there was no place for you eunuch to pee in the Qianqing Palace, but you couldn't let the emperor wait for you to go out to pee, so you kept holding it in,
Even though my mouth is dry, I dare not take a sip of water.