Zhu Hengjia was secretly annoyed. How could they be conscientious in their duties? They clearly thought that I was sick and my body was failing, and they were eager to join the future new emperor!
Hum, hum! My health is still good, and I can still rule the world for twenty years! Now I just have a slight cold and fever, and these important ministers are eager to defect to the new master. What if I am really seriously ill?
Got it?
Zhu Hengjia couldn't sit still, Ma Jixiang, and Zhao Daxi went to court the next day even though they were still ill.
Although the rumors and rumors have ceased since he came back to the court, after all, time is not forgiving. At the age of sixty-six, it is inevitable that some ministers will "care" about his health.
Is there any way to show the ministers that they still have a strong body and warn those ambitious people who are ready to take action?
Zhu Hengjia thought of Emperor Qianlong of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. I remember reading history books in later generations. This emperor ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five, reigned for sixty years, and served as the Supreme Emperor for more than three years. He was in excellent health, and continued to draft women when he was eighty years old.
, and his last concubine, Concubine Jin, was only sixteen years old when she entered the palace. It is said that when the eighty-year-old Qianlong saw the sixteen-year-old Concubine Jin, he was very happy and was granted the honorary title as soon as he entered the palace. Soon afterwards,
She was also named Concubine Jin and staged a farce of "a pear tree crushing a begonia".
Before traveling through time, Zhu Hengjia was very ashamed of Qianlong's character. He thought this old guy was really shameless, and he still harmed teenage girls when he was over eighty years old. It was shameful! Hateful! Hateful!
But after time travel, he became the emperor, and he was a sixty-six-year-old emperor. He began to understand the psychology of Emperor Qianlong. The old man selected the girl not for himself, but for the ministers to see.
To put it bluntly, I am warning those ministers who have ideas, I am not old yet, I am still young, and I still have the same abilities as young girls. You must not have the bad idea of competing for class and power! As for the elected ones,
The old man can't control whether those beautiful ladies will be as deep as the sea once they enter the palace and stay widowed for the rest of their lives.
The evil feudal emperors were so evil. Because they had unrestricted absolute power, they could do whatever they wanted without any worries.
Zhu Hengjia felt that Emperor Qianlong's method was a good one. By casting beauties among the people, he could not only declare to the ministers that he was still young, but also put beauties in the palace to be eye-catching.
He glanced at Ma Huanxi, the eunuch and eunuch serving in front of the emperor, and said: "Ma Daban, get a pen and paper, I want to draft a Taoist edict."
Ma Huanxi wondered in his heart that the emperor's imperial edicts were usually drafted by the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy in accordance with the holy will, and there was no need for the emperor to write it himself. What is the edict so important that it actually attracted the emperor's grandfather to write it himself?
After all, he was the most powerful eunuch in the harem. He was suspicious in his heart, but his face didn't show it at all. He respectfully took out the pen and paper.
I don’t know whether he was stimulated by the beauties who were about to enter the palace, but Zhu Hengjia wrote very quickly, and his decree was completed in one go.
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Bong
Tiancheng
The emperor issued an edict, saying: I will protect the family of heaven, inherit the prosperity of the sun and the moon, wipe out the barbarians, and bring about the world. Only then can the country prosper, the people live in peace, millet and silk are accumulated, and the treasury is full. However, this dynasty has always relied on the Taoist tradition to cope with the world.
, the yin and yang of destiny cannot be violated. I am in my prime year, and it is suitable for my concubines to be accepted. I will obey the will of heaven and care for all the people. Therefore, this year, I order all the prefectures and counties in the world to select girls from all over the country to fulfill the six palaces.
In order to uphold this edict, the two departments of Huli and Li visited all prefectures and counties. All women above hairpins and under flowers and letters, with graceful appearance, upright voice and good manners, and who are adept at the six arts will be among the ranks of the Zhenjin. This year
On the eighth day of the third lunar month, the emperor’s wife is ceremonially selected, the yin and yang are rising, the Min’an of the Ming Dynasty is restored, and the ancestral temple is extended. Qinzai, special edict.
Make an imperial edict
January 6, the eleventh year of Guangwu
Treasure
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What? Grandpa Emperor wants to draft girls? He is already sixty-six years old!
Ma Huanxi was shocked in his heart, but kept a calm expression on his face. He took out the treasure seal and stamped it with the seal.
"My mate, do you think I should draft a girl?" Zhu Hengjia looked directly at Ma Huanxi and asked in a conspiratorial manner.
Ma Huanxi suddenly felt a coercion coming over him. Even though he was an old slave who had served for many years, he couldn't bear it. He knelt down in the tunnel and said: "The emperor's grandpa is in his prime years and has the spirit of dragon and horse. Naturally, the draft girl is very worthy of it."
”.
"The spirit of my dragon and horse?"
Zhu Hengjia laughed loudly, "You are right, I am indeed the spirit of a dragon and a horse, and I am not old at all. Hahaha!"
Hearing Emperor Guangwu say the words "not old at all", Ma Eunuch immediately understood the true meaning of his master, Guangxuan Nu, and hurriedly followed the order and left.
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The most troublesome thing is the emperor's family! The beautiful ladies of the Ming Dynasty are not chosen casually, there are many rules!
The Ming Dynasty's ancestral system: All emperors, princes, concubines, and concubines should be carefully selected from good families. Those who are successful will not be accepted. Therefore, concubines and concubines are popular among the people. Beautiful girls must be selected from the world's scholars and people.
The age should be at least thirteen years old. Zhu Hengjia came from time-to-time. He felt guilty if he was too young. According to the edict, the age is above the hairpin (fifteen years old) and under Huaxin (twenty-four years old). Only those aged fifteen
Only women who are not doctors, witches, merchants, or laborers are eligible to participate in the draft until they are twenty-four years old. The entire draft process is very complicated. In the words of later generations, it almost requires audition, interview, preliminary test, retest, and probation.
You have to wait for the process to enter the palace. To enter the palace, you have to become a concubine, and there is even a probation period.
His Majesty the Emperor issued a decree, and the Ministers of Household and Rites personally supervised the matter. The entire Ming Dynasty's state apparatus quickly took action, and officials at all levels quickly identified five thousand women across the country.
After the preliminary selection was made, the subsequent draft was a matter of internal supervision. Zhu Hengjia assigned this task to his most trusted Eunuch Ma Huanxi.
Eunuch Ma smiled happily, this is a good opportunity to make money, no, to be loyal to our emperor!
Although it is said that the palace gate is as deep as the sea once you enter, Zhou Yu slaps the yellow cover, one is willing to hit it, and the other is willing to endure it. Some of them are wealthy people from wealthy families, and they are eager to send their daughters to the palace so that they can become relatives of the emperor and the whole family will benefit.
.So, if you do this job, you don’t have to worry about not getting any money.
Eunuch Ma sent more than a dozen teams of internal eunuchs to inspect these five thousand beautiful girls in various provinces. Once he liked a girl from a certain family, the eunuchs would pay some silver coins as a betrothal gift, and then order their parents to send them to the school within the specified time.
Capital.
After all the beauties have gathered in the capital, they will be divided into groups. After the grouping, the selection is mainly a matter for the internal eunuch and Wen Po.
On the first day after the grouping, the internal supervisor will inspect and select. First, a group of women will be eliminated based on their overall appearance. For example, those who are slightly taller, slightly shorter, slightly fatter, and slightly thinner will be excluded from the show girls; the next day
The selection will be more careful. The internal supervision committee will start with the facial features, checking whether there are any irregularities in the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, hair, skin, collar, shoulders, back, etc. If there is any irregularity, it will be eliminated. After looking at the facial features
You also have to listen to the voice. The emperor's grandfather or concubines cannot speak clearly. Therefore, the selected candidates are required to state their place of origin, name, age, etc. If the voice is muddy, rough, or in a panic,
That is to say, they were eliminated; on the third day, the inner prison had another assessment standard. First, they measured the women's hands and feet with a ruler, and then asked them to walk dozens of steps. Those with slightly shorter wrists, slightly larger toes, or slightly impetuous behavior
Eliminate them.
After three days of this, only a thousand people were left out of the five thousand people.
Then, Po Wen would lead them into the secret room one by one for more detailed observation and selection, such as exploring their breasts, smelling their armpits, and feeling their texture, and then selected three hundred people again.
These three hundred people will be imprisoned in the palace for more than a month, which is equivalent to the current probation period. During this more than a month, Po Wen and others will select the candidates based on their temperament, style, wisdom, stupidity, virtuousness and the emperor's preferences.
Fifty people who are "beautiful and smart" are concubines.
Good guys, only fifty people were selected out of five thousand people. They are truly the cream of the crop!
"Ma Daban, have you selected all the new beauties? Are there any particularly outstanding beauties?" Zhu Hengjia asked Ma Huanxi with a smile in the Qianqing Palace.
"Grandpa Emperor, among the beautiful ladies this time, there are three who are extremely beautiful, and all of them are familiar with classics and history, and know music and music." Ma Huanxi also responded with a smile.
As we all know, Eunuch Ma is the most fair and impartial in cashiering. Among the fifty selected beauties, Yangzhou Jiang family is a big salt merchant. She paid one hundred thousand taels in one go, so she naturally ranks first among the most beautiful.
The Wang family in Taiyuan is also a well-known lady, and she has paid 60,000 taels in filial piety, ranking second among the most beautiful. The Zhang family in Wuhu, whose family owns a dyeing shop, has a solid family background, and has paid 50,000 taels in filial piety, ranking third among the most beautiful.
"Oh, show me the portrait of the beautiful lady."
The chamberlains brought the portraits, and Zhu Hengjia looked at them carefully. As Ma Huanxi said, the Jiang family from Yangzhou was the most beautiful, followed by the Wang family from Taiyuan, and the Zhang family from Wuhu. None of the other girls were particularly beautiful. p>
He secretly praised: Ma Huanxi, this slave is really careful in handling errands!
Little did he know that he had fallen into Ma Huanxi's trap. Among these fifty beautiful women, there were many beauties who would conquer the country. But no matter how beautiful they were, it was in vain if they had no money at home. Eunuch Ma and the painters in the palace were all on the same page.
Yes, whoever gives more money will naturally draw more beautiful paintings. It is extremely fair, and no one can deceive anyone!
Ordinarily, with such a plan, the old emperor would visit the Jiang family in Yangzhou first. Unexpectedly, everything is unpredictable. Zhu Hengjia is getting older. When people get older, they will inevitably miss their hometown. In later generations, his hometown is Taiping.
The prefecture is Wuhu County. It happened that among these beautiful girls, Zhang Yu'er came from Wuhu. He wanted to hear people speak his hometown dialect, so he ordered to summon Zhang Yu'er to sleep with him first.
Eighteen-year-old Zhang Yu'er was beautiful, well-behaved, and full of youthful atmosphere, especially her Wuhu dialect, which moved the old emperor. He immediately named her the first of the nine concubines in the harem: De Concubine.
The other two beauties, 17-year-old Jiang Rou and 16-year-old Wang Yazhi, although not as lucky as Zhang Yu'er, had Eunuch Ma helping them, and they were granted the title of concubine An and concubine one after another.
The most pitiable thing is the other forty-seven beauties who don't have much money to pay filial piety. Even if they are beautiful and beautiful, what's the use if they can't see the emperor? They can only serve as palace maids. If you are lucky, you will meet the emperor one day, get the favor, and fly to the branch.
The head is like a phoenix; those with less luck will be favored by their masters and given to high-ranking officials; those with even worse luck will live out their lives in old age and get married out of the palace; those with the worst luck will die of old age in the palace, and there are many people there.
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"Damn it! This old emperor is so dissolute and shameless! He is so old and yet he still accepts beautiful women!"
In later generations, a democratic person named "Yangyang Daming" read a history book and read that when Emperor Mingguang was 66 years old, he issued an edict to select women. He was filled with righteous indignation and wrote a doggerel sarcastically:
