Is this really sending him to the Imperial College to study?
Although since ancient times, major foreign states in the past dynasties have sent many people to study at the Imperial College or the Imperial College, Zhang Shou remembered that in the Ming Dynasty in history, although the Li family in Korea seemed to be deferential, in fact there were many Jurchens.
They hide their selfish interests on various issues, constantly trying to establish their own prestige and influence among the Jurchen tribes, while resisting all-out Chineseization, so...
Therefore, the Korean royal family came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, but never entered the Imperial College! Regardless of the Yongle to Renxuan years, it was really common for Korean tribute virgins and eunuchs to go to the Imperial College to study, but it was mainly during the Hongwu period that the royal family's children went to the Imperial College to study on a large scale.
If you don't come out, after all, if you take the sea route, there was a ship capsizing incident in the early years of Hongwu, and at least dozens of people died.
As for how many students from Li's Korea studied abroad after Hongwu, he didn't know much about it. He couldn't understand the history of his country. He didn't have that much time at the beginning, so how could he study how many foreigners came to study abroad?
So, at this moment, Zhang Shou couldn't help but stare at the cramped sedan that seemed to him to be extremely simple and shabby, wondering in his mind who this so-called tiger was. However, his Korean dramas were really not good enough.
, coupled with the fact that the history of the Li Dynasty is too long, only experts can figure out the emperor's lineage table, so he finally gave up.
Furthermore, even if a person is a certain Korean king in history, but... what does it have to do with him? Therefore, he glared at Zhang Chen and signaled him to stop talking nonsense, but said calmly: "It turns out he is a Korean king.
Tiger, you are really thirsty for knowledge if you come all the way to the Imperial College to study. The weather is cold, so if you want to go to the city gate to ride a sedan, please wear thicker clothes."
Having said this, he paused and then continued calmly: "Just now, Zhang Chen argued with the envoy. It was not that he was arrogant and eager to return to the city, but that he had been accompanying the fourth prince to teach abroad for a full month.
, We are now in a hurry to send the fourth prince back to the palace to report to the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince. The king and the envoy may wish to proceed slowly, while we take the first step."
After saying this, Zhang Shou winked at Ah Liu, and then waved to the other guards to follow him. He immediately turned his horse and left, but he had no intention of wasting any more time on this group of Korean envoys.
Zhang Chen, who had been taking the lead just now, deliberately lags behind and said with a smile: "The fourth prince never rides in a sedan, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince never rides in a sedan. Moreover, he is the Eastern Palace, and he once came all the way from
I rode from the capital to a village in Tongzhou to visit the fourth prince who is going to the countryside to study. This tiger, you are really too squeamish!"
Seeing that Zhang Chen had said these words and walked away, the emissary could not help but grit his teeth secretly. He came to the side of the silent sedan, leaned down slightly and said in a low voice: "Zheshanjun, this eldest son once said to
Your Majesty is also quite rude, so please don’t argue with him. This time, our country has ordered you to study as a tribute girl in the Imperial Academy of the Ming Dynasty, so it’s best not to cause any complications.”
There was only a slight sound of breathing in the carriage, but no agreement or rejection could be heard. The envoy felt a little embarrassed immediately, and then quietly rode away and ordered the rest of the envoy to continue moving forward. Not to mention the tiger in the sedan chair.
He himself often rides in a sedan chair on weekdays, especially riding a horse in this cold weather, the feeling is even more uncomfortable.
The most important thing is... the cost of using a horse-drawn carriage or riding a horse, feeding the horses and maintaining a carriage is much higher than the cost of those lowly untouchables carrying a sedan chair. The Ming Dynasty claimed to be the Celestial Empire, but it did not even pay for it.
Will it count?
In the cramped sedan, a frail young man of about eleven or twelve years old, wearing a heavy fur coat, sat cross-legged. Although he was holding a hand stove in his hand, his face still looked a little pale.
After each generation of kings ascends the throne, one of the royal children must be sent to study at the Imperial College in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. This is a rule that Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty established when he canonized the King of Korea. And after generations of emperors, he reiterated it again and again.
The Sungkyun Palace had long been imitated by the Imperial Academy of the Ming Dynasty, but it still could not withstand this Ming ancestral system.
Although the kings of all dynasties tried hard to allow the Ming Dynasty to change the name of the so-called Goryeo country to Korea, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were extremely stubborn and often refused to allow it. However, Liaodong was densely populated with soldiers and horses, and the Jurchens were suppressed if they made the slightest move. The disputes in the Goryeo Kingdom
Moreover, it was difficult for the civil and military ministers to work together, so they could only serve the emperor cautiously and did not dare to act rashly. As for the tribute of tribute girls, it was even more commonplace.
Even though there were disputes in the Ming Dynasty, every time the battle for the throne ended too quickly, it was too late for Goryeo to take advantage of the opportunity to gain something. From Yingzong to Ruizong, the first thing they did after taking the throne was to bring the Mongols and Jurchens on the border together.
Clean it up. Faced with a situation like that where soldiers are pressing down on the country, how dare Goryeo not continue to send the royal family to the Imperial College? After all, studying is only three to five years, not a lifetime.
Although there have been occasional exceptions to this situation over the past hundred years due to the internal strife and strife of the Ming Dynasty, most of the time, this situation has continued. And the most stringent of this rule that is almost like a proton is,
Emperors of all dynasties have made it clear that they only want legitimate sons, not concubines. They want the king's legitimate sons and nephews, and other side branches cannot be used to make up the number.
Presumably, the law of confining concubines in the country spread, and even the Ming Dynasty knew about it.
After all, although all the bastards of noble civil servants cannot get involved in power because of their maternal inheritance, there are also situations in the royal family where the main family member cannot give birth to a son or even loses an heir. Therefore, sometimes even if there is only one legitimate son left,
When he was the crown prince, he had to be carefully escorted to the capital of the Ming Dynasty and stayed in the Imperial College for more or less several years.
For example, his uncle who became the king now. Even though he stayed in the Imperial Academy for less than a year before he was reprimanded for the sedan chair dispute and then returned home in despair, at that time his grandfather, King Shizu, only had an uncle left.
If he is a son, how can he dethrone his uncle as the heir apparent for this? It is just a matter of writing a letter to apologize for his uncle and sending tributes to apologize at the same time.
Even my uncle, who had been resentful of being humiliated in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, would dare to offend the Ming Dynasty after he came to the throne? The disputes among various nobles and civil servants in the country and the struggle for power have not yet been resolved!
But no matter how much trouble he couldn't solve, he still didn't forget to send his nephew over quickly.
Therefore, while he had to endure the pain of being separated from his most respected mother, he also had to worry about how long he would stay in the capital of the Ming Dynasty and whether he could really go back in three to five years.
As for the throne that should belong to his father, he does not expect to return to his own lineage. Although his uncle's eldest son died, he already had a second son before, and he is not yet twenty, and there will be more in the future.
Have more sons.
In comparison, even if his nephew was left in the capital of the Ming Dynasty for the rest of his life, it wouldn't matter to him.
Moreover, even if his father can live to this day and successfully ascend from the throne to the throne, his son may still have to come to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, it is possible that his more frail and sickly child will be left behind.
Is the eldest brother coming?
Thinking of this, thinking that Zhang Chen, who had provoked his uncle before, regarded the Goryeo mission as nothing, and thought that before leaving, he compared the crown prince of Ming Dynasty and another prince with himself, the little tiger in the sedan chair couldn't help but sigh deeply.
He took a breath and immediately hugged the hand stove in his arms tightly.
The carriage he set out on had been repaired several times due to the bumps and wear along the road. Not far from the capital, it simply fell apart, so the spare sedan was just taken out. After all, he was really walking all the way.
It was too difficult, and because he was afraid of the dangers of the sea route, he came by land this time.
Although the ship is very fast once the wind is favorable, once it sinks, even the body may not be found. Decades ago, more than a hundred Korean scholars who went to the Imperial College to study, ended up drowning 39 people on the road. And just
Not long ago, the second prince of the Ming Dynasty who sailed south by boat was also dead.
On this freezing day, he immediately got off the sedan and went to ride a horse after being accused. He didn't think he could hold on after being knocked around all the way. He also had a mother and a frail elder brother who couldn't use it.
It's enough to gamble with your own body and keep riding for a while after changing horses at the city gate.
Anyway, my uncle has been criticized like that before. Even if he is scolded like this again, he will only be treated the same as his uncle. If he can be driven back, it is not necessarily a bad thing. In that case, he can only protect his mother and elder brother.
That’s it!
However, when the Korean delegation arrived at the city gate, they were already greeted by officials from the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites.
After a few polite exchanges, he was just about to ask Mr. Zheshan, who was in the sedan, to get out of the sedan and ride a horse, but he saw the chief guest officer said with a half-smile: "I mentioned this before when Zhang Xueshi and his entourage came here.
The tiger is young, so in this cold weather, it’s better not to ride a horse, but to ride in a carriage.”
Zhizhang immediately looked embarrassed. However, before he could explain that there was something wrong with the mission's carriage that was specially designed for tigers to ride on, the host and guest officer had already waved gently, but it was a red oil truck.
The carriage drove over.
"The host and guest have just prepared a carriage, please invite Tiger Tiger to get on the carriage. The delegation will be arranged in the south area of Huitong Hall as usual! Speaking of which, Tiger Tiger is indeed old enough to study in the Imperial College. You are better than me at court.
His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, is just a little bit older. If he has good qualifications, he might be able to study in Ciqing Palace in the future. That would be an honor that no one from the Goryeo royal family who came to the capital has ever had."
Glory or not, Zheshanjun didn't have time to think about it for the time being. After getting off the sedan, he wrapped his cloak tightly around him. Fortunately, the cold wind didn't blow for long before he was helped into the carriage. After sitting down, he followed
As the carriage moved forward, he suddenly felt something different.
It’s not that the furnishings in the carriage are so luxurious, nor is it that the carriage is big, but because when the carriage is driving, it can actually reduce the jolting feeling!
Why is there no carriage like this in Goryeo? No, I should say, if there is a tool like a sedan that can move as long as a person lifts it, who else will bother to study how to make a carriage that will not bump? Untouchables like craftsmen are not like this.
He has a lot of brains, but the noble Yangban doesn’t have that kind of free time!
When Zheshanjun entered the capital on the carriage that was temporarily transferred because Zhang Shou casually mentioned it to the host and guest secretary of the Ministry of Etiquette, Zhang Shou and his party, who were speeding at full speed, had already entered Dong'anmen directly.
He rode his horse slowly to the door of Donghua Gate.
As early as yesterday, the emperor and the third prince had learned that Zhang Shou was bringing someone back today, so when they saw this group of people coming, the eyes of a young chamberlain who had been waiting here for a long time lit up and he rushed forward at a trot.
"Xueshi Zhang, you have finally brought the Fourth Prince back! Your Majesty is at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in Ciqing Palace right now. I will go and report to the Concubine Xian right now!"
Recognizing that he was a chamberlain from the longevity palace of his mother, Concubine Jiang, the fourth prince turned around and ran away before he could speak. He was obviously going to report the good news of his return to the palace to Concubine Jiang. Although he also missed himself very much.
Mother, but knowing that the emperor was at Ciqing Palace, the fourth prince, after sighing deeply, of course knew where he should go first.
However, just as he was about to enter the palace through Donghua Gate, a very weak voice suddenly came from among the guards behind him: "Mr. Zheng, is this really the palace?"
The fourth prince turned around in shock, and saw that the person speaking was Bai Shanshan, who had a confused face. Next to him, Bai Xiaoshui, who was several months younger than the human, seemed to be frightened to the point of crying. Only then did he finally realize that because
On the way, we met the Korean delegation inexplicably, so we failed to pay attention to many things that should be paid attention to, and many things that should not be exposed were exposed.
So, he couldn't help but glared at Zhang Chen fiercely, but he didn't expect that Zhang Chen looked at Zhang Shou with an innocent face. I shouted that I was the eldest son of the Duke of Qin, but teacher, didn't you just slander the fourth prince with one voice?
Has his identity been exposed? At this moment, he completely forgot that just for the sake of quick pleasure, he exposed the fourth prince's study aid to the Goryeo mission.
Zhang Shou finally couldn't help but cover his forehead, thinking that this was really messy! If he hadn't been distracted by the Korean mission, he would never have forgotten that he also brought two young people from Baijia Village with him on this trip.
child.
Thinking of this, he coughed and said: "Yes, this is the palace, Xiao Cheng, Xiao Huahua, you pick two people, send these two little guys back to my house first, and explain everything to them."
Little Peanut suddenly couldn't laugh or cry. He wanted them to explain to others why they had originally agreed to return to Beijing, but suddenly they came directly to the palace? But if the fourth prince or Zhang Chen were to do this task, he felt sure.
It would be simple and rude, so I had no choice but to agree at the moment.
As for the fourth prince, without saying a word, he pulled Zhang Chen, who was feeling guilty, and hurriedly entered the Donghua Gate. He was afraid that Mr. Zheng would be asked another question, but he would not be able to answer. And Zhang Shou saw Xiao Huahua and Mr.
Xiao Cheng resignedly comforted the two little guys who had completed a tour of the palace for the first time in the capital. Knowing that he had made the same mistake, he followed suit.
And Ah Liu stood there, seeing two children who were really too young and ignorant standing under the huge Donghua Gate, ignorant and afraid, so he went up and touched their heads. Thanks to visiting them a few times, Ah Liu
This time, he also had a relationship with him, and the two children were not afraid of him like those people in Zhangyuan in the capital, and the tears they shed gradually faded away.
At this time, Ah Liu smiled and said: "Work hard, not everyone can have the Fourth Prince and Mr. Zhang as teachers."