When the Dutch were sent to Zhu Shuren's mansion, they also saw that the palace was decorated with lights and decorations, and they were about to prepare a gift for the prince to accept his concubine.
Therefore, a few days after the Dutch left, Zhu Shuren completely ended this long-cherished wish that had been planned for several years and officially prepared for half a year.
Under the old system of the Ming Dynasty, only the principal wife of a prince was a concubine, so there was no reason for the concubine to be called a concubine.
But the general trend of the world has developed to this situation, and the old ancestral system is used to gradually break through. Longwu Emperor Zhu Changzi personally issued an order to improve his son-in-law's salary, and he didn't even care whether his daughter was jealous. What else could outsiders say?
To be honest, at the same time, Dorgon and Jierhalang in the north have further improved their honorable treatment based on the previous years.
Dorgon has almost changed his name from "Emperor's uncle and Regent" to "Emperor's father and Regent". Isn't that a hundred times more arrogant than Zhu Shuren?
The turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was originally a relatively poor era. With such a negative teaching material like Dorgon placed there, Zhu Shuren simply seemed too humble.
He just wanted the new woman he accepted to have a concubine title. This was not for his own sake, but to stabilize the place and win over the governor.
The day of the ceremony was finally chosen on the first day of April.
Fang Ziling, who was already twenty-one and a half years old, was finally taken to the house in a sedan chair.
Her father, Fang Kongzhen, was far away in Sichuan and was responsible for stabilizing one side. In addition, Sichuan's geographical situation was relatively closed and easy to form separatist regimes. Zhu Shuren was not worried about letting Fang Kongzhen leave, so Fang Kongzhen did not have to travel all the way to watch the ceremony.
of labor.
The woman's family records are naturally represented by Fang Ziling's eldest brother, Fang Yizhi, the governor of Huguang. Anyway, Fang Yizhi is based in Wuchang, so it is much easier to come to Nanjing. The geography of Huguang is also relatively open and relatively undivided. Fang Yizhi every year
It won't matter if I leave for a few months.
The tacit understanding and transaction of power behind this political marriage are also very obvious——
The truce with the Tatars has been going on for more than two years. The Qing government in the north has trained a lot of new army green battalions in recent years. However, in order to maintain expenses and restore combat effectiveness, the people in the north are increasingly forced into dire straits by them.
His hatred towards the Qing court was as deep as the ocean.
Therefore, there are various signs that Dorgon can no longer suppress the truce period. If there is no war and he just relies on internal self-exploitation and strengthening armaments, he is afraid that he will completely self-destruct without having to fight against the Qing Dynasty.
This year, there is a high probability that the Qing army will restart the war and move south again!
According to Zhu Shuren's plan, after the Ming army withstood the first wave and once again severely damaged the Qing army's effective strength, they would take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack and strive to gradually regain the lost ground.
The worst years of natural disasters at the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties have almost been overcome. In the future, the burden on the north will be much lighter than during Chongzhen. At this time, recovering the north will be able to bear the financial burden on the south.
However, when spring plowing is busy, the Tatars themselves also have to farm and maintain their own self-feeding lifeline, which is so fragile that it may collapse at any time, so they will not start fighting at this time.
Anyone with a little knowledge of military knowledge knows that a spring attack will not only destroy agricultural production, but the key point is that there are no crops waiting to be harvested in the fields.
Last year's harvest has all been "hidden for the winter", which makes it much easier for the defenders to clear the country. Even without doing anything, the attackers can be prevented from losing food to the enemy.
No matter how short of food the Qing army was, they should not destroy the production of both sides at this juncture. For Dorgon, the best time to restart the war was either when the summer grain was about to be harvested, or after the summer grain was harvested and replanted, the autumn harvest
Before.
In this way, wherever the Qing army went, they could harvest grain at will, or plunder new grain that had not yet been stored in the warehouse.
Dorgon knew this, and Zhu Shuren and the senior officials of the Nanjing court certainly knew this, so all the strategic preparations made by everyone were for the resumption of war at the turn of summer and autumn this year.
Zhu Shuren has other things that need to be busy, whether it is farming, dividing the spoils, or personal matters, they should be done as soon as possible within this time limit.
Once the Ming Dynasty returns to a wartime state, it is also very necessary for various localities to adapt to changes and temporarily partially decentralize the dispatching authority of the army to prevent thousands of miles of micro-management from damaging the combat effectiveness of the army.
During the peaceful farming period of more than two years ago, it was enough to leave at most two governors in the local area to handle matters. Anyway, the main focus was on handling civil affairs. In wartime, it would be very useful to have a few more governors.
Fang Kongzheng and Fang Yizhi have been governors for four and a half years and two years respectively. In terms of qualifications, it is not impossible to be promoted to governor. Zhang Huangyan can actually be promoted when the time comes, but he is too young after all, and he is still a little short of it.
Just turned thirty.
Before Fang Kongzhen was promoted and Fang Yizhi was promoted to governor, completing the marriage was a good political insurance.
…
The matter of Prince E's adoption of a concubine was a matter of course in this political atmosphere.
Zhu Shuren did not treat Fang Ziling badly. They reunited in September last year. In the end, it took them half a year to complete all the etiquette procedures. There was no shortage of steps to propose marriage, betrothal and gifts.
Although the six etiquettes are not as complete as those of marrying a real wife, basically all the six etiquettes that can be followed are covered.
On the day of the ceremony, after dealing with the bride's family, represented by Fang Yizhi, and dealing with all the outside matters, Zhu Shuren finally dressed in auspicious clothes and arrived at a new house he had packed in the garden.
Fang Ziling was wearing a pink Suzhou embroidered dress with bright red embroidery. She was sitting quietly on the boudoir bed, making no movement at all and waiting completely passively.
Zhu Shuren dismissed the maid who was waiting in the room, leaving only a woman who was carrying a plate and followed him into the room. Then he picked up Yu Ruyi from the tray, took off Fang Ziling's headdress, and put it back on the plate.
.
In addition to the jade Ruyi and the headdress, there are also gold cups and jade pots on the plate.
As a prince, even if he has a concubine, it is impossible to leave the prince and his concubine alone in the bridal chamber. There must be more or less maids to help them.
This is normal. If he were an emperor, his concubine would not be served by a group of palace maids. How could he give the concubine a chance to be shy?
Some concubines even had to ask their most trusted maids to serve them more diligently in order to maintain their favor, so as to gain more opportunities to show their faces in front of the emperor. If the emperor was in a high mood one day and still had unfinished business, the maids who were close to the concubines would also be lucky.
Then the concubine must be secretly happy that she had another reason to attract the emperor to her palace.
As the prince, Zhu Shuren only kept one person by his side in order to deceive others and respect the etiquette. He was already very considerate of Fang Ziling.
Fang Ziling was also a lady in the family, and had read a lot of poetry, books, classics and history. Naturally, she knew the bitterness of the Hou Men as deep as the sea, so she could more and more appreciate the thoughtfulness in Zhu Shuren's small gesture.
We had known each other through courtesy for many years, but then things went wrong, and the sense of alienation that gradually faded away also dissipated a lot.
"Although I have forgotten about him these past few years, he is still a considerate and attentive person..." Fang Ziling silently thought to herself.
Seeing the expression on her lowered head and thinking, Zhu Shuren could roughly guess that the other party had already seen the details of his arrangement.
This is the benefit of communication between smart people. You don’t need to say too much, just hit the mark.
However, Zhu Shuren's arrangement did not stop there. Fang Ziling kept his head down and remained silent, so how could he know everything? Zhu Shuren naturally wanted to provoke him again:
"My lady is very smart and she doesn't even raise her head to see who is waiting for us to drink Hexin wine?"
Fang Ziling raised her head slightly in shame, and with a quick glance from the corner of her eyes, she noticed that the Duanpan woman did indeed look familiar. Although she hadn't seen her for two or three years, she quickly reacted: "Sister Yujing? How dare you do this? You are the same after all."
...How can you do what a maid does?"
It turned out that the woman in Duanpan, even more beautiful than Fang Ziling and one or two years younger than her, was Zhu Shuren's last concubine, Bian Yujing.
Among Zhu Shuren's four concubines, she was the one who had the most friendship with Fang Ziling. Both of them liked to comment on historical gains and losses, and they read a lot of miscellaneous books. They also helped annotate "Continuation of the Theory of Liu Thieves" together and wrote many poems ordered by Zhu Shuren.
, the lyrics and lyrics of the song are of great propaganda value.
Fang Ziling quickly took the plate and put it on the boudoir bed. She then pulled Bian Yujing to sit next to her and said a few words to ask about her current situation. She had pure natural hair and was not trying to get close.
Bian Yujing also stroked his hair and smiled calmly: "Sister, don't worry, my husband is not using my little girl as a maid. He also knows that we have old friends and we have compatible temperaments, so he asked me to serve him for a while. It is enough for other maids.
They all rested.
My elder sister is a lady from a famous family, but although my younger sister is favored by my husband, she is from a humble background. Occasionally serving tea and water is nothing. When you finish drinking the Hexin wine, my younger sister will leave on her own."
Fang Ziling was slightly moved. She turned her head so that no one could see her expression, and said softly: "That's it. From now on, we are all our sisters, so I won't be polite to my sister."
She accepted Bian Yujing calmly and helped her carry the plate and pour the wine.
After the couple finished drinking, Bian Yujing was about to leave, but Fang Ziling still held her back and asked her to sit and reminisce for a while.
Bian Yujing didn't expect this, and he didn't know what to say, so he had to joke: "Congratulations to sister, although she has been waiting for several years, she has finally achieved success. The good days are still to come.
Her Royal Highness the Princess has always been kind to others, even our sisters have never endured hardships, as I will know in the future."
Fang Ziling: "There's no point in waiting for several years..."
Bian Yujing was slightly speechless. He didn't know that he had stepped on a thunderbolt, which made Fang Ziling shy and speechless for a moment. He thought quickly and found something else to say to warm up the scene.
She and Fang Ziling are only similar in knowledge, but their attitudes towards feelings are still very different.
After all, Bian Yujing has been in a miserable situation since she was a child. She had to be trained by her adoptive mother to smile at men. Although she was lucky to be redeemed as a shepherd in the end, she still didn't know what shyness was. She was happy to be rescued from the fire pit by Zhu Shuren. Naturally, she was
He is generous and generous in his words, and he dares to love and hate.
Using herself to save others, she felt that since Fang Ziling had been in her heart for many years, and now that she got what she wanted, she must be as happy on the outside as she was on the outside, and there was no way she would refuse to welcome him back.
Seeing their sisters talking, Zhu Shuren felt embarrassed, and finally spoke in time to save the situation: "Well, Yujing, you still don't understand Zi Ling, so you'd better stop talking about this."
After saying that, he didn't criticize her, he just stepped forward and hugged the two beauties domineeringly, as if he didn't care about their jealousy at all.
This move made Bian Yu Jingdu, who had been with him for three years, blush slightly: Sister Zi Ling is a lady from a famous family, aren't you afraid of humiliating her and annoying her? Why should your husband be in such a hurry...
Fang Ziling also immediately showed a look of resentment, deeply annoyed that she had been bullied again: "You are a prodigal son..."
Zhu Shuren smiled proudly: "What's wrong with being a prodigal son? Your father and brother can only betray your wife? If Mi's brother doesn't betray his sister, the court won't worry about promoting him to the governor of Huguang as planned, right? Lao Taishan's Sichuan The Governor, I'm afraid he is also a little jealous.
Now I am able to clear up the doubts among the people and work together as one. If I suffer a little loss, I will bear it for the sake of the world."
These words were so shameless that Bian Yujing didn't react at first and was very surprised inside. However, she had been smiling at people for a long time, so it was not difficult for her to remain calm and smile on the surface.
She originally thought that Fang Ziling would be angry after hearing this. Wouldn't this become a scene of "bullying men and dominating women"?
However, taking a peek, Fang Ziling's face was red, and she was very shy. She didn't show any signs, and just slapped her husband's arm a few times with a flick of her sleeves.
Bian Yujing is also a smart person, and he quickly understood: My husband is really good at dealing with gentle-faced ladies from famous families.
He implies that he is a villain who bullies others in order to take possession of Shimei. Of course, Shimei is pure and pure. She doesn't want a man at all, and there is no such thing as waiting for him for several years. Everything is just taking the overall situation into consideration and obeying the arrangements of her father and brother.
She is a virtuous and virtuous woman who "all depends on the arrangements of her parents and elder brothers". She is not a stubborn woman who wants to find a man by herself and would rather not marry if she doesn't get it.
In the late Ming Dynasty, women were persistent in love, pursuing the good match they wanted, and not obeying their parents' arrangements. This was not a good reputation.
Fang Ziling's three aunts, cousins, and sisters were all widowed and established chastity memorials. The pressure on her family reputation was even greater. How could she be allowed to reveal even the slightest "I want to pursue what I love" in front of outsiders? ’s character?
Even if there is no need to worry about it now, the pressure of twenty years of ethics and education cannot be relieved and adapted to at once.
"My husband is so compassionate and caring. He even thought of sister Zi Ling's inner demons in advance and took care of them. Being able to stay with such a good match like my husband for a long time. Even though I have more sisters to share, it is still a life like a fairy..."
Bian Yujing thought about it, thinking about her husband's usual gentleness and respect for her sisters, and couldn't help but feel a little crazy. It took a long time to realize that she really should leave.
It was already dark, and Fang Ziling did not stop her this time. When she went out and closed the door, she said softly: "Since I am in the hands of my husband, I naturally know how to take care of my husband and teach my children, so I can just let my husband do whatever I want!"
"Then you're welcome." Zhu Shuren took Fang Ziling's arms and pressed him on his shoulders domineeringly.
This way the other party couldn't see his face, and the expression he had been trying to hide before finally became soothing and natural.
Isn't she just a lady who is extremely sultry and restrained? As a modern person, Zhu Shuren has rich sources of information and has accumulated many ways to deal with the sultry face in her previous life.
It can only be said that modern people respect women more and care more about women's thoughts. Even if men learn a little bit about it, if they take it from ancient times, they can already feel their intentions.
It’s not that the ancients couldn’t understand this truth, they just disdained it.
When the red candle goes out, there will be no words for the whole night.
…
Taking a concubine is considered a newlywed, so Zhu Shuren will of course continue to indulge in the gentle countryside and ignore the government affairs for a few months.
What's more, Fang Ziling is indeed an old girl who has had a hard time waiting, surviving from the age of eighteen to twenty-one. When the ice of boredom is broken, and the lingering resentment that bursts out in private, of course it will take time to heal.
The entire April of the third year of Longwu passed in this peaceful way.
God's will seems to be taking another look at the Ming Dynasty. This year corresponds to the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Northern Puppet Dynasty. The continuous and severe natural disasters seem to have been somewhat restrained on an overall scale.
Because there are no disturbances in the north and south, there is almost no delay in spring plowing, and even minor floods and droughts can be overcome with the repaired water conservancy facilities. Throughout April, the growth of rice seedlings in various places is gratifying, and it is expected that the summer grain harvest will finally be good.
The time has entered May, and seeing that the summer grain harvest is less than a month away, Zhu Shuren finally encountered a political matter that must be dealt with immediately——
As mentioned earlier, when the Zheng family went deep into Dajuan Island to expand the scope of their private influence, Zheng Zhilong contracted the epidemic and eventually died. Zheng Chenggong and his second and third uncles also had some differences on how to divide the spoils with the court.
Of course, Zhu Shuren had to spend a little money in exchange for Zheng Chenggong marginalizing his second uncle and third uncle. And as the world is about to be unified again, the existence of warlords will not end well.
Even the Shen family, to which Zhu Shuren originally belonged, had to restrain themselves, let alone the Zheng family.
Give the other party a little name, take back some economic benefits and military power, but wash away the remaining part, and at the same time let Zheng Chenggong see clearly: not only the Zheng family needs this, but the Shen family also needs it, so that he will not be mentally unbalanced, which is the best way.
There is a peaceful solution.
The final specific measures turned into three integration conditions that Zhu Shuren privately revealed to Zheng Chenggong:
First, Zhu Shuren also knew that Zheng Zhilong made some small moves in the process of regaining Taiyuan Island, which also slowed down the progress of the final attack on Relanja City, leaving more time for the Zheng family to operate other deep areas on the island, such as the horse racing circle.
Expand your power.
To put this matter more seriously, it is suspected of being a bandit, but since Zheng Zhilong has died, there is no need to bring it to the table.
The imperial court could pretend not to know that, even if Zheng Zhilong was devoted to the king and sacrificed his life for the country, they could still give him the title of marquis, but it was just a false title. This title did not have any accompanying economic benefits or power. At the same time, Zheng Chenggong was allowed to directly seize the title as it is.
In this way, he can be considered a feudal prince at such a young age.
Politically, the Zheng family had to give up some things, but the Zheng family had to give up some things in other aspects. The condition Zhu Shuren gave to the other party in private was that from then on, the Ming Dynasty would lift the maritime ban and formally establish customs.
Therefore, the sea trade that was originally carried out by S will definitely not be possible. From now on, everyone will be treated equally and pay taxes according to the regulations. After paying the money, they can all engage in import and export trade. The Zheng family collects "flag money" and other protection fees. In the future, they will also pay taxes.
Not consistent with the law.
However, Zhu Shuren can promise that the Zheng family will be promoted to Zhejiang and Fujian Customs after they are cleared, and the imperial court will legislate that the post of Zhejiang and Fujian Customs can be held for life.
After the customs was formally established, the import and export tariff revenue of the imperial court was divided into accounts according to the 70% to 30% ratio, 70% of which was the revenue of the imperial court, and the remaining 30% was reserved as funds for the construction of the "anti-smuggling fleet", which was raised and allocated by the customs to cover the cost of taxation and support the anti-smuggling fleet.
The police built anti-smuggling ships.
To put it bluntly, the Zheng family originally received 10%, but after that, they had to spend millions of taels every year for various gray expenditures to maintain official relations. Now Zhu Shuren only leaves 30% for him and takes 70% for himself, but
These three achievements were completely legalized and whitewashed, and Zheng Chenggong no longer had to pay filial piety to so many people.
When the previous generation of customs promoted old people to official positions, they could nominate a list of five people to the court, and the court selected the one with the best performance among them to take over the promotion of the customs.
Moreover, the imperial court stipulated that the total number of candidates on the candidate list submitted for promotion by the predecessor should not exceed half with the same surname and clan as the predecessor.
For example, Zheng Chenggong's surname is Zheng. When he gets old and retires in the future, he can submit five candidates for succession. Among them, there cannot be any obvious poor performers or bidders, otherwise the court will reprimand him. Among these five, only two are allowed at most.
The surname is Zheng, and there are at least three others who cannot be surnamed Zheng. The decision of who to choose among these five people lies entirely with the court.
This is also a gradual suppression of the hereditary promotion of customs. People are used to being local emperors, and suddenly they want to completely deprive them of their hereditary nature, which will easily arouse resistance. Even if Zheng Chenggong wanted to agree, he could not suppress his second uncle and third uncle.
But by gradually boiling the frog in warm water, the will of resistance of the group of pirates will be greatly undermined. Although the court stipulates that when Zheng Chenggong retires in the future, the person who will be elected may not be named Zheng, so Zheng Chenggong can still resist
If Zhu Shuren learns from his example, he should cultivate more sons-in-law!
The son-in-law must not be named Zheng. In his later years, Zheng Chenggong would submit a list of five people, two sons and three sons-in-law, and let the court choose from within this range. Although it was not hereditary, he was satisfied. If it were two or three generations, this issue would also
It was gradually solved.
In the end, Zhu Shuren still had a trick up his sleeve. He would not let the Zheng family completely control the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade inspections. Since the sea ban has been completely lifted in the future, not only the customs in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces will go to sea, but also in Guangdong and Guangxi.
, in the future the Central Plains will be restored, and there will also be places like Sulu, Liao and Zhizhi in the north.
Zhu Shuren estimated that four major customs offices could be set up in the future, with each office managing the import and export trade of two coastal provinces. Zhejiang and Fujian Customs are the earliest and strongest. But given time, the other three offices will develop and share their business.
If the Zheng family wants to build a closed kingdom, but their descendants fail to live up to the expectations, their business will become less and less due to the competition from the other three customs, and even cause Fujian's maritime trade to decline and be robbed by the Cantonese.
Even if it is truly hereditary, it doesn't have much ability.
There will be no corruption in the running water and no beetles in the household hubs. Let the four major customs compete freely within the legal framework of the Ming Dynasty's laws, and there will be no fear of low efficiency.
If anyone dares to cross the border and use extra-legal means to attack competitors, and is found out by the court, then they will be thoroughly investigated and liquidated.
Of course, when negotiating terms with Zheng Chenggong, there is no need to talk about "what will happen to the north in the future". You only need to tell him that Guangdong and Guangxi will also open another door.
In this way, the established fact that there are multiple customs offices in the world and the principle of "ancestral law" have been settled. In the future, whether there will be two or three or four will depend on the development of the situation. The meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and the resisters must take one step at a time.
Force them to the opposite side step by step, so that you can't resist.
Zheng Chenggong still chose to trust his eldest brother and agreed to this condition. His second and third uncles who objected were also dealt with. The reason why Zheng Chenggong was able to obtain the support of the vast majority of the family was because he told everyone:
Shen Tingyang's youngest son also had to accept this condition. In the future, he would be promoted to the customs office of Sulu and Sulu provinces. Moreover, it would not be hereditary. He would also have to submit a list of five people when he became official, and the court would choose one of them to succeed him.
Shen Tingyang's youngest son is one of Zhu Shuren's biological brothers.
After all, Zhu Shuren has changed his surname, so in the future his second brother can inherit his father Shen Tingyang's official resources, and his third brother can inherit the family's business interests.
Prince E's third half-brother has to do this, so why shouldn't he, Zheng Chenggong, do the same? It is said to be a very preferential treatment, but Zheng Chenggong feels that if such conditions are missed, it will only become more harsh in the future, so he might as well just see a good relationship.
receive.
Just split the account 30-70 with the court. At least the 30% will be completely and legally cleared, and you no longer have to worry about it in private and pay filial piety every year. It is protected by the court's laws.
——
PS: I’m going out for the weekend, and I saved this chapter yesterday. I was informed that the emotional drama can be skipped. I’m going to take leave tomorrow, change the map, and sort out the outline. I’ll resume updating on Monday, and then I’ll start the Northern Expedition plot to start the war with the Qing army again.