Just after the fifth watch, the sun vaguely showed its figure, eager to rise to the sky and declare its status as summer.
Unexpectedly, at the fourth watch, the palace was already awakened. Many maids and eunuchs woke up in a hurry and began another day of hardship in the palace.
Yongshou Palace was extremely busy that day. Many eunuchs and maids stayed up almost all night, wiping and cleaning the inside and outside of the palace. It can be said that they were panting from exhaustion.
"Empress, it's the fourth watch."
Cuizhu huddled up on a blanket, wrapped in a quilt. Although it was summer, the cold ground could freeze someone to death at night.
After sleeping for two hours, she suddenly woke up. She quickly washed herself, changed her clothes, and put on a sachet to remove the smell. Then she carefully walked a few feet outside the bed.
As a slave, you not only have to sleep later than your master, but you also have to keep your body clean and tidy to avoid being disgusted.
Irregular sleeping, poor eating, and standing for long periods of time made the maids and eunuchs in the palace weak and sick, and they relied solely on willpower to survive and rise to the top.
Hazy and wide curtains cover the big bed, and the spices seem to be free of charge. They are constantly burning to repel mosquitoes, repel insects, soothe the mind, incense, etc., almost submerging the bedroom in smoke.
"It's the fourth watch?" On the bed, a graceful body pulled off the thin quilt, revealing a beautiful face.
Xiumei frowned lightly and said, "Serve me!"
"Your Majesty, get up early——"
Cuizhu hurriedly responded, and the eunuch on the side shouted, and the eunuchs and maidens who had been preparing for a long time filed in to wash themselves.
After a while, the entire Yongshou Palace was awake and extremely busy.
"How about Tingyulou?"
Zhang Yu lightly opened her red lips and let the maids toss her around.
"Brother, he didn't sleep well last night. The wet nurse had to coax him to sleep for a long time."
Cuizhu combed her hair again and said softly.
The Yongshou Palace is very large and is one of the Six Western Palaces. It is exclusively under the control of Zhuang Concubine Zhang Yu. It includes Tingyu Tower, Mofeng Garden, Yuyingzhai, Suyaxuan, Ninghuizhou and other side palaces and gardens, where concubines also live.
Talented people wait.
However, nowadays the emperor is not interested in concubines, and only has more than ten concubines, so the Yongshou Palace is empty, except for the best Tingyu Tower, where the eldest prince Zhu Cunkang lives.
In the "Cunzi generation", the third character does not have five elements. This is because the emperor had to forcibly create characters in view of the fact that Lao Zhu's family had too many names, so he simply abolished it.
That is, in the genealogy, the character "Kang" is added next to the character "木", but in fact it is still the character "Kang".
In fact, a few months ago, the eldest prince was still sleeping in the attached palace. Concubine Zhuang was not worried about sleeping elsewhere.
But after all, I wanted to be enlightened, and I was past the dangerous period of dying at the age of three, so I stayed in Tingyuxuan, which was not far away.
After a while, Zhu Cunkang, who was neatly dressed, was led by several wet nurses, taking small steps and saluting properly:
"My son, please give your regards to your mother and concubine."
"The ground is cold, my son, get up quickly."
When Zhang Yu saw his son kneeling on the blanket, he immediately cried out in distress and almost held him in his arms to comfort him.
"Yeah!" Zhu Cunkang nodded, smiled, and was carried to the seat by the nanny. After all, the little guy has short legs.
After a while, the three-year-old third princess also ran over, acting coquettishly in Zhang Yu's arms and not wanting to get down.
"Have a meal!"
Zhang Yu smiled lightly and felt very happy watching his children eating.
"My son is going to study today, so he has to pay a proper visit to the teacher and be obedient, you know?"
"My son understands." Zhu Cunkang nodded, his face full of seriousness.
Although he was only five years old, as early as last year, his mother and concubine asked the palace maid to teach him how to read and prepare in advance to avoid disappointing her husband.
In other words, let the emperor down.
A large group of people gathered around and carried the young prince to the Yangxin Hall.
The Yangxin Hall is located on the west side of the Qianqing Palace. Although it is smaller in scale, it still has thirteen side halls, which were the emperor's resting halls.
Obviously, the emperor paid more attention to the prince's education than before Chongzhen, and even placed it beside him to watch.
"Your Majesty is just like the great ancestor back then!"
In the Yangxin Hall, the Imperial Academy offered wine to Fu Ying, and Dr. Shang Xun and Zhan Mingjie were sitting attentively, thinking about how to carry out enlightenment.
Fu Ying was the oldest and had the highest official position, but he was still proud of being able to enlighten the prince. Especially since the eldest son of the prince was only five years old, he was really filled with emotions.
"yes!"
The other two also agreed.
"However, the second prince..."
"It's just enlightenment, don't think too much about it."
Fu Ying shook his head and said, "Your Majesty attaches great importance to the prince's education. This is a good thing."
In the early years of the dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely strict with the education of his princes. Although the education of his eldest son was more powerful, the other princes were still strict.
Without him, he would be almost alone in conquering the world. Since his clan was too small, he naturally hoped that his sons would become talented and help me.
When Emperor Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, his education for his eldest son continued unabated, and he personally set up a young army to train military talents for his grandson without worrying about rebellion.
But for the education of concubines, it was too neglected and almost drifted with the tide.
There is nothing wrong with this. The Crown Prince is the heir, so it will be no problem to train him well.
Unexpectedly, Xiaozong only had one son, Zhengde, and he doted on him endlessly, which caused the complete failure of Donggong Education.
When I arrived in Wanli, I struggled with the prince for fifteen years. By the time he accepted his fate, Guangzong was already an adult, and there was no education in the East Palace.
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the prince leaves the palace at the age of eight, that is, his enlightenment is completed at the age of eight, and formal teaching begins.
Guangzong left the imperial court at the age of thirteen, but soon stopped, and continued to study until he was an adult. In other words, he has always maintained a level of elementary school education.
When Xizong was born, he was even more outstanding. In the year he ascended the throne, he left the cabinet at the age of seventeen and went to kindergarten for more than ten years. If he had not become emperor, he would not have been able to graduate.
Therefore, in his eyes, those memorials and chapters were just like ordinary people reading classical Chinese texts.
As for Chongzhen, he received more than ten years of happy education.
Therefore, it is true that the internal strife during the Ming Shenzong period ruined the Ming Dynasty, which had little vitality, and actually perished in Wanli.
"Your Majesty is here too!"
When the king's chariot arrived, there were also exclamations from the side.
Fu Ying was startled, and the three of them knelt down to salute.
"Get up!"
I saw the emperor holding his son's hand and slowly entering the Hall of Nourishing Heart.
At this time, the Yangxin Hall has been transformed into a school. There are desks that have been prepared, and the smell of books is very strong.
At the front, there is a blackboard and chalk, which are from the military academy.
"Although this is an enlightenment, respecting teachers and respecting morality is unavoidable."
After the emperor said this, he asked people to carry many things. "This is Shu Xiu."
Ten strips of fine cured ham, as well as some Sujin and other things.
Zhu Cunkang, on the other hand, knelt down and kowtowed to the three of them: "Student Zhu Cunkang has met three masters."