Chapter 337: Cherish the fragrance and cherish the jade
Zhu Qizhen was in such a good mood that he didn't even notice the intriguing smile on the corner of Prince Ning's mouth.
"Very good, just follow your family's arrangements!"
The smile on Prince Ning's face became even brighter, but he said: "Your Majesty, please don't be offended. I have something to say, and I don't know whether to say it or not..."
Zhu Qizhen was puzzled and said: "If the Qing family has anything to say, just say it."
"Yes, this..."
Prince Ning lowered his voice and said: "What I mean is that since we are going out to play... no, no, it is... the Holy Emperor came to the south of the Yangtze River, he naturally wanted to experience the local customs here. If it is done in a big way, the people will not be in awe.
It is better to go on a tour in casual clothes, so that you can feel the most authentic folk customs."
Zhu Qizhen had this intention, and immediately nodded and said: "That's fine, Fan Zhong, you follow me."
Fan Zhong lowered his hands and saluted: "Yes!"
On the side, Yuan Bin looked nervous and said: "Your Majesty, please think twice. If you don't send guards to accompany you, if you encounter some unexpected situation..."
Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said: "It's not that much of a possibility. Bring some spies and hide them in the crowd. Don't reveal your identity easily unless it is absolutely necessary, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble."
Yuan Bin had no choice but to nod in agreement, and then went down to prepare.
At this time, Huaien hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, I have brought a few elite people from Dongchang with you. Why don't you go with Commander Yuan..."
"Okay, having a royal guard is enough!"
Zhu Qizhen glanced at him and said, "You also change into casual clothes and come with me."
"My slave obeys the order!"
What Hua En is most worried about now is that the emperor leaves him alone, because the identity of a eunuch is to serve others. If the emperor does not take care of him in anything, somehow he will always feel like he has been abandoned.
Half an hour later, Zhu Qizhen and Prince Ning put on Confucian shirts and turbans, just like two young talents who went to Beijing together to take the exam.
Fan Zhong and Huaien followed behind, pretending to be servants, and the four of them went straight to the Qinhuai River.
Halfway through the walk, Zhu Qizhen realized that something was wrong.
Why does this place feel so familiar?
When he came to the river and saw the gorgeous painted boat, he suddenly remembered that he had been here before!
He turned around and glanced at Prince Ning, who still had a flattering smile on his face. No wonder this guy insists on going out in casual clothes. What the hell is this...going on a flower boat!
[In view of the general environment,
This kind of thing really cannot be made public. If word spreads, the emperor will listen to music in Goulan, Jiangnan, and the people in the Ministry of Rites will go crazy!
He gave Prince Ning a meaningful look and wanted to tell him loudly that I wanted to see the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan, not the beautiful women.
There are so many concubines in the harem, I need to travel more than two thousand miles by train to come here... to listen to music?
This is the Ming Dynasty, not the Qing Dynasty. The harem is full of crooked melons and jujubes, forcing the emperor to have no choice but to run to the south of the Yangtze River again and again.
Although the Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming Dynasty system, the selection of harems between the two dynasties was almost completely different.
When choosing palace maids and concubines, the Ming Dynasty paid attention to a commoner's background.
Generally speaking, those who can become queens are women from ordinary people's families.
Of course, the ordinary people here generally refer to the local gentry. If they are officials, they are mostly grassroots officials, or generals who have no military power at all except for fighting.
Really, the people at the bottom are not included in the discussion. Just imagine, the poor people have difficulty in eating, and it is good to be alive. Even if they are born with some beauty, their speech, behavior, knowledge and knowledge cannot be compared with that of the ladies.
For example, the Queen Zhang of the Hongxi Dynasty was the daughter of the commander Zhang Qi.
There were two queens during the Xuande period. Hu Shanxiang's father was the county magistrate, and Sun Ruowei's father was the chief regent.
The Qian family, the main queen of Zhu Qizhen, was descended from Qian Zheng, a hero of the Jingnan period. He served as the deputy Qianhu of the Yanshan Guard, and was the commander of the right guard of Jinwu. His father Qian Gui inherited the ancestral legacy
Served as a military officer, he was promoted to command the capital by virtue of his military exploits.
However, such an official still cannot enter the power center of the Ming Dynasty. At most, he is a vulgar general with some ability.
Therefore, when the Empress Dowager Zhang was selecting a queen, she not only had to consider her appearance, conduct, etc., but also her family background, and finally decided on the Qian family and personally presided over the wedding.
Qian Gui is the daughter of the father. It was not until the daughter was elected as the queen that she was promoted to the governor of the central government.
This concubine selection system is mainly to limit the excessive expansion of power of those important ministers.
If the emperor marries the daughter of a prime minister or a minister, wouldn’t this person be able to control the sky with one hand?
The harem of the Qing Dynasty was completely different. It was more of a transaction of power than choosing a concubine.
When the Manchus entered the customs, they encountered a big mistake. They always felt that the Han people could not tolerate them, so they were wary of everything. They even banned intermarriage between the Manchus and Han people. However, the Manchus only had a few families, so the emperor chose his wife.
There are only so many people to choose, and the influence of these families must also be taken into consideration. This one must not be offended, and the other must be won over. In the end, the only choice is to choose from the families of ministers who hold great power.
For example, among the four queens of Kangxi, the first was the granddaughter of Sony, the second was the granddaughter of Eyidu, and the third was the granddaughter of Tong Tulai. Only the fourth queen's family was slightly less powerful. This one was his own.
The one I picked, I really liked, was the biological mother of Emperor Yongzheng.
During the Qianlong period, major families were scrambling to send their daughters to the palace. Emperor Qianlong had no choice, so no matter whether they were good-looking or not, he could only hold their noses and accept them.
Then, there was the famous Emperor Qianlong's six visits to the south of the Yangtze River, and people ran away to see the beautiful women!
In the later period of Emperor Guangxu, Queen Longyu was originally his cousin. It was entirely under the control of the Empress Dowager Cixi that she was made the queen.
The main purpose of Cixi's old ladies doing this was to monitor Emperor Guangxu. Therefore, Emperor Guangxu treated Longyu as if he were on guard against thieves every day, and the couple had to keep a hundred taboos on each of them to live their lives.
As for Longyu's appearance, it can only be said to be very average. Emperor Guangxu simply lived in Concubine Zhen's bedroom every day.
As a result, Longyu was jealous of Concubine Zhen and always wanted to find a reason to kill her. Emperor Guangxu was even more bored with her, but he couldn't defeat Lafayette. In the end, Concubine Zhen fell into the trap and the harem became a mess.
However, there is really no shortage of beauties in Zhu Qizhen's harem. He said that Song Guxi was also born like a fairy. Her every frown and smile captured people's hearts. Even with such a beauty, placed in front of Queen Qian, she would be attracted by her every minute.
The existence of flash sales.
Generally speaking, the harem of the Ming Dynasty mainly came from two sources. One was the nationwide selection of beautiful women, and the second was the contributions from various vassal states. For example, in the Korean state, Emperor Taizong Zhu Di had a concubine, and the Korean state paid tribute.
Coming.
Another special thing is that during wars, some good-looking boys and girls will be selected from the defeated captives and sent to the palace.
This is done because the Ming Dynasty has a rule that even if a capital crime is committed, children will not be attacked unless the crime is extremely heinous and unforgivable.
For example, Huai'en was the younger brother of Dai Lun, the Minister of War. He was implicated because of Dai Lun's crime. "...Xuanzong killed Lun and joined the family of his benefactor, the imperial servant Qing Xiwen. Enfang was young and was consecrated to the Xiaohuangmen.
Give me a name and show my grace."
These people grew up in the palace and have long forgotten things about their hometown. The most famous one is the later Emperor Hongzhi. His biological mother was the Ji family from Hezhou, Guangxi. She was originally guarding the internal money accounts in the palace. Once
Emperor Chenghua went to check the accounts. When he saw that there was such a beautiful woman in the harem, he didn't leave that night. Then there was Zhu Youtang who had been hiding in the harem for six years...
As for Zhu Qizhen, he doesn’t have much interest in the beauties from Jiangnan.
When he said go for a walk and take a look, he meant to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan and take a look at the lives of the people.
As an emperor, you cannot stay in the capital all the time. You must always step out. Otherwise, everything must be understood through memorials. If someone deliberately conceals it or even confuses right and wrong, how can you tell the difference?
However, Prince Ning misunderstood and thought that the emperor had other thoughts. Men, they all understand...
Zhu Qizhen stood in front of the boat, neither advancing nor retreating
Very embarrassing.
If you are an ordinary person, that's it. It doesn't hurt to go have a drink and listen to music.
However, he is the emperor. He came here once because Bai Lian got clues in advance and had to hide his identity. In emergency situations, extraordinary things should be done out of necessity.
Is this situation appropriate now?
If you don't go in, you will make others laugh and think that you...can't do it...
Prince Ning also thought that the emperor could not save face due to his status, so he stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that people inside and outside the boat have been replaced by ministers in advance. There will definitely not be any news about tonight's events!" p>
Zhu Qizhen looked at him helplessly and said to himself, thank you!
At this time, the madam of the boat came out to welcome him, followed by several girls in gorgeous clothes.
"You two gentlemen, please come in quickly!"
As they spoke, the girls stepped forward, pulled and pushed Zhu Qizhen in.
In this situation, Fan Zhong couldn't stop him, so he just followed slowly and entered the boat together.
Wynn was stunned and hurriedly followed in.
Prince Ning was overjoyed and said, "Go and ask Miss Lianxiang to come out and have a drink with my friend!"
The madam promised again and again that these two are the gods of wealth and cannot be neglected in the slightest.
Not long after, the girl Lianxiang came out holding a pipa. She was wearing a bright red silk skirt, her hair was combed into a bun, her face was like a painting with eyebrows, her lips were greased, and her eyes were painted. She was so pretty. When walking, the waist swings like a willow, which is full of charm.
"Lianxiang, I have met these two young masters!"
Prince Ning laughed and said, "I have heard for a long time that Miss Lianxiang is a courtesan from the south of the Yangtze River. Today I saw her beautiful face and she is indeed well-deserved!"
Lianxiang put the pipa aside and stepped forward to pour wine for the two of them. She said softly, "Young Master, you are so complimentary. I am just a prostitute. I am honored to have the pleasure of drinking and chatting with the two young masters today. I am very honored!"
Prince Ning reached out to take the wine glass and quietly tapped the back of her hand.
Miss Lianxiang looked up and saw this man with a smile on his face, but he pursed his lips quietly to the side.
With this small move, she already understood that the person was the protagonist today.
What is the identity that allows the God of Wealth to spend huge sums of money?
So, she picked up another glass of wine, raised it in front of Zhu Qizhen, and said, "Young Master is very nice, isn't he a local?"
Zhu Qizhen took it and replied: "People from the lower capital."
"Looking at the way the young master talks and behaves, he must not be an ordinary person. Could it be that he is this year's new Jinshi?"
This is her conversational skill. In a place like this, people are mixed, and they have to receive all kinds of people every day. However, everyone has one thing in common, that is, they like to listen to flattery.
However, how to flatter is also a skill.
If you come up, you are so awesome, your literary talent is so good, I love you so much. Once you hear it, you can’t lie anymore. Everyone knows it’s just for the occasion.
It's the same as flattering. If you do well, you can get promoted and make a fortune. If you don't do well, you can only make people annoying.
The greatest skill of Miss Lianxiang is not the chess, calligraphy and painting, nor is it her face, but that she is obviously perfunctory, but it makes people sound real. This is the highest state of flattery.
If we say that in such a dusty place, we are exposed to the three religions and nine streams every day, and we can learn to talk to people and ghosts after a long time. However, among so many singing girls, there is only one oiran.
Conversation skills are emotional intelligence and an innate talent.
Zhu Qizhen no longer hesitated at this time, he was here, just listen to the music before leaving.
Singing girls are also people of the Ming Dynasty, and I just want to see the truest side of these people.
During the battle in Nanjing, he had seen the so-called "skinny horses" in that small boat, and secretly made up his mind to get rid of these dregs.
To this day, about
The rectification of brothels has been ongoing.
However, everything must take into account the current historical environment and cannot be done overnight.
In the past two years, the imperial court first abolished official prostitutes, and the families of those criminals were no longer placed in the Jiaofangsi and allowed to be trampled upon.
The original women in the Jiaofang Division should either receive a severance package and make a living on their own, or local officials would arrange some businesses that are legitimate and suitable for women, such as spinning and weaving workshops, dyeing workshops, embroidery workshops, etc.<
/p>
However, the living habits accumulated over the years are not so easy to change.
Some people received severance pay and went to private brothels, still working in their old profession.
Because they are just domestic workers, and they usually don’t go out or take a step outside the door. Compared with working in a workshop, it is better to sing songs and make a smile in a brothel, which is comfortable and earns more money.
Zhu Qizhen has no good solution for this. Things must be done step by step and there must be a process.
Abolition of the Jiaofangsi is only the first step. There is still a long way to go to ban brothels.
Perhaps in the future, brothels will become like theaters, just for entertainment, listening to music and watching operas, and those divas will transform into singers and actors, making a living based on their talents, not their own bodies.
Just when he was thinking wildly, he heard Miss Lianxiang whispering in his ear: "Why does the young master look worried in such a beautiful time?"
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PS: As a digression, if you are interested in Emperor Hongzhi’s biological mother Ji, you can read the previous book "Da Ming: I Want to Be a Powerful Minister". When I wrote "Powerful Minister", I read a lot of information, but unfortunately the results were not satisfactory, so I had to
It has always been a pity to end things in a hurry...