On June 15th of the first year of Tianqi, the selection of the new emperor’s concubine, presided over by Concubine Liu, had come to an end.
If we had followed Taizu's system, it would definitely not have been so fast, because it was too cumbersome. If we had followed that rule, I'm afraid the auditions wouldn't even be over yet.
The selection of concubines by emperors of all dynasties has been a top priority. As long as the emperor's imperial edict to select concubines is issued, the whole country will have to stop weddings.
And because the selection of concubines in the Ming Dynasty was different from that of other dynasties, it was even more troublesome. The queens, concubines, princes, concubines and concubines of the Ming Dynasty must all be women from the common people, and were not allowed to be women from the families of princes, nobles and officials.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, except for Empress Ren Xiaowen and Emperor Xianzong's first empress, who were noble women, the others have all been private women, and these two became empresses for various reasons.
During the Hongwu period, not long after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu had no choice but to let his princes marry women from noble official families for the sake of national stability. It was for this reason that Queen Ren Xiaowen married the fourth son of the emperor, Zhu Di.
As for Xianzong's Empress Wu, it was because of her kindness that the Tumubao Incident and the struggle between the two emperors at that time brought a devastating blow to the prosperous Ming Dynasty. The court and palace of the Ming Dynasty were in chaos and were surrounded by crises.
Zhu Jianshen was born in this dark period, and the place where he was born was in the cold palace. Emperor Jingtai was still in power at that time, and even his father could not save himself. The young Zhu Jianshen was like air, unsupervised at all.
Marquis Huaining's wife secretly raised him for several years before preserving the future Emperor Xianzong.
And this Empress Wu was the niece of Marquis Huaining. After the coup, Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne again as emperor. In order to thank Marquis Huaining for raising Zhu Jianshen, he specially allowed his niece to enter the palace and become the concubine of Prince Zhu Jianshen. But
The queen of the Wu family was deposed in less than a year because she offended Concubine Wan Gui.
Zhu Youxiao was well aware that the Ming Dynasty had accumulated a lot of wealth. In order not to waste the people and money, he specifically asked Concubine Liu not to make a big fanfare, so he selected two thousand people from several neighboring provinces. (This is already very few. After all, the emperor must be dignified, and according to the rules, he must
Five thousand or even eight thousand beauties are carefully selected from across the country.)
After auditions and a one-month assessment in the Imperial City, fifty candidates were identified, and then personally designated by Mrs. Liu. In the end, three people stood out. These three people can be said to be one in a million.
Zhu Youxiao wanted to choose his first wife, the queen of the Tianqi Dynasty, from among these three people.
In the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart, three young girls who stood out were standing in the middle, bowing their heads as they waited for the emperor and concubine at the top to decide on the candidate for the queen.
Concubine Liu, who was sitting next to the emperor, was the first to say:
"According to my opinion, Zhang Zhang is quite suitable to be a queen!"
"This person has a handsome face, a face like Guanyin, eyes like autumn waves, a mouth like cherry blossoms, a nose like hanging gallbladder, and white teeth. He is really a lovely person. The more I look at it, the more I like it. I don't know.
What does the emperor mean?"
After Concubine Liu finished speaking, Zhang Yan, who was standing below, also started to get excited. The concubine's heart was hers, which was a huge advantage.
The old palace maid in charge of teaching her said that Your Majesty respects the concubine very much, and the concubine is in charge of all matters in the palace. If the concubine likes her, that is half the battle.
But Zhu Youxiao was not in the mood to see which girl was more beautiful. What he was thinking about was how the three of them were doing. The queen was the top priority and would be in charge of the entire harem in the future. If this was too weak, it would not work.
And he also knew who the Zhang family mentioned by Mrs. Liu was, it was Zhang Yan, known as Queen Marie.
Although Zhang Yan is a peerless beauty, her appearance and temperament are indeed suitable for the position of queen, but she is not a good person, and her ability is not enough to control the harem.
Otherwise, there would not have been so many tragic events in the Apocalypse Harem in history. In the history of the Apocalypse Emperor, several of his concubines and princes died in mysterious circumstances.
Zhu Youxiao also prefers that Hakka and Wei Zhongxian conspired to assassinate him, because after that, Wei Zhongxian gave Emperor Tianqi a woman, who seemed to be some distant relative of his.
Although Keshi will not harm Tianqi, there is no guarantee that she will not take action against the emperor's women and children. After all, they all have their own interests in mind.
If we want to follow history and continue to make Zhang Yan the queen, the Hakka family will not be able to stay, and the harem will have to be cleaned to pave the way for her, and she will also be given the greatest support and stable status.
Regardless, the situation is now clear anyway, and the Hakka family has no effect on him. Let's just follow history's choice this time.
"Emperor, Emperor?"
Seeing that Zhu Youxiao was silent for a long time, Mrs. Liu shouted in a low voice from the side.
Zhu Youxiao suddenly came to his senses and said to Concubine Liu with a smile:
"My grandson just lost his mind. There have been a lot of things lately."
"Since the concubine has taken a fancy to the Zhang clan, my grandson will naturally obey the concubine's wishes!"
Concubine Liu joked:
"The emperor didn't even look carefully. You can't be so hasty. This is your life-long event. How can you be so careless? I'm just giving you an opinion. The emperor should be careful!"
Naturally, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help Concubine Liu's face, so after responding, he personally went out and looked at the three people carefully.
After careful observation, he couldn't help but sigh that the ancients did not deceive me. Zhang Yan was indeed much better than the other two. It seemed that the reputation of this queen was not in vain.
The name of Queen Elizabeth does not mean that Zhang Yan is charming and coquettish. Such a woman cannot pass the first three tests at all, because this is included in the ancestral precepts of the Emperor Taizu.
Zhu Youxiao stood behind Zhang Yan, patted her shoulder gently, and said loudly:
"She is the queen!"
Zhu Youxiao's hand on Zhang Yan's shoulder clearly felt that she was very excited, her shoulders were shaking slightly, and she was obviously trembling.
"My eldest companion, go inform the Ministry of Rites and the officials and ask them to immediately determine the date of the wedding. The Ministry of Rites begins to prepare the necessary registration items and etiquette, and prepares an imperial edict with the cabinet to inform the world. This year, all provinces will be exempted from paying taxes for one year. The whole world will celebrate together.
Let the people rejoice together!”
"Send a message to the Jin Yiwei, asking them to bring the Queen's family to the capital as soon as possible. In the Queen's hometown, each household will be rewarded with ten stones of rice, twenty taels of silver, and pieces of cloth and stones!"
Wang Chaofu bowed with joy and immediately ran out to deliver the order.
Although the other two women were a little disappointed, they were still able to accept it. The ones who could reach this point were at least starting out as concubines.
Concubine Liu also rarely got up and got off the stage, walked to Zhang Yan and held her hand. It was obvious that she was very satisfied with the queen.
Concubine Liu said softly:
"From now on, this Kunning Palace will have an owner. From now on, I will come to Cining Palace more often. The emperor is busy with state affairs, so you should talk to me to relieve your boredom!"
"Folk girls know!"
Concubine Liu gently stroked her white jade hand and said:
"Silly boy, you can't call yourself a girl from now on!"
Zhang Yan understood the idea and immediately bowed and said: