When the time entered October of the fourth year of Wanli, the second batch of crops of the first batch of immigrants from the Northeast had been harvested and all dried. Huolin of Huojiabao held the first wedding of the immigrants from the Northeast on September 20th.
Less than half a month after the wedding, the bride Yu'er had a belly that needed no concealment, and she was skillfully breaking off the corn in the large courtyard covering an area of two and a half acres.
Old Mrs. Huo was wearing a wolf-skin coat and was sitting on a wooden bench at the edge of the yard. He looked at a group of strong men while a village woman was beating the beans on the ground with a grain lid. The rotating wooden shaft on the top of the grain lid was made by a carpenter.
, and the work of braiding rackets with wooden sticks and leather strings requires Huo Laosi’s handiwork.
The racket rotates according to a unique rhythm at the front end of the long pole, and along with the whistles, it hits the dry bean pole neatly and powerfully. The plump pods that have been sun-dried and broken at the touch of a touch are shaken open with just the right force, and the soybeans are ready.
He jumped out in a hurry.
Old Mrs. Huo felt that he had never seen enough of such a scene in his seventy-three years of life. The noise in the courtyard, the late autumn wind that already had a hint of chill, and the unlimited food brought him
The fragrance of satisfaction made him intoxicated.
At Huo Lin's wedding, the old man drank wine brewed by the Huo family for the first time in his life. Wang Peng bought the wine starter as a gift for Huojiabao, saying that if there was more food, it would be good to brew some wine to keep out the cold.
.In order to introduce this wine, Huo Da and his family even went to learn how to brew local wine.
Huojiabao, who had never had a large vat to display Huo Da's learning achievements, finally in July of the fourth year of Wanli, used a whole truck of last year's old grain to replace dozens of pottery vats in Daning.
After learning the result of the transaction, Huo Laoshuan was cried stupidly by Huo Laoshuan and others who went out to buy a vat, and scolded them for being prodigal. Huo Laoshuan argued that the potter's door was crowded with people, all of whom were bringing grain to exchange for the vat -
—Who makes this the only one in Daning that sells vats! Now in July, Daning has a shortage of food. If the autumn harvest comes, it will be good if one truck of grain can be exchanged for two vats!
When he learned that those large vats had become the scarcest resource in Daning, Mrs. Huo suddenly had an idea. He immediately ordered every household not to use large vats to hold water for the time being, and to use wooden barrels brought from Shandong.
The large vat will be used for brewing wine, and Huojiabao will be able to make money during his second winter in the Northeast!
He was inspired by the six Huo men who were left in the Northeast to look after grain last year. They almost froze to death in their three-story adobe thatched house. Fortunately, Huolin's father-in-law dug out a pile of wolf and fox skins and saved them.
Otherwise, these few would never see the spring sun.
The old lady who moved all her belongings from Shandong for the second time has heard the blood and tearful accusations of these men.
Because of their inexperience, six men living in one house did not clear the first heavy snow in time. As a result, they did not open the door after getting up in the morning, and the wooden windows were frozen. They could not get food from the granary, and there was no firewood.
It burned out quickly, and just when they were about to break out of the window due to cold and hunger, they were rescued by Tong Chunqing who came to visit and opened the snow.
The old man thought at that time, these idiots were talking nonsense. I have lived for more than seventy years, and I have never encountered snow that can't open the door. How can the Northeast be so evil? Later, Yu'er confirmed that it was true.
At that time, the old lady suddenly breathed in the cold air in the spring. This idea of making wine and selling money was born from this.
Huo Da received the instructions from the old lady. After making more than a dozen vats of vinegar, he finally mastered the trick - corn wine cannot be brewed in the summer. Therefore, on Huo Lin's wedding day, he scooped out the vinegar from the vat.
The first ladle of yellow and turbid wine. The old man tasted it first, and then drank a large bowl. The result was tragic. The old man fell ill on the second day of the wedding and almost became the first Huo family member to be buried in the Northeast.
Huo Taigong recovered from the illness and was lucky to have no sequelae, but he judged that it would be difficult to work in the future. Today is the fifth day after he recovered. Because he had to beat beans, he put on a thick wolfskin coat and went out to watch.
lively.
He knew in his heart that he might not be able to survive this winter in the Northeast where there was a lack of medical care. However, looking at Yu'er breaking off the corns, the old man felt very happy. It was him, the old coffin man named Huo Feng.
, at the end of autumn, he found a piece of land for the old Huo family to settle down. - In this life, he has never been so satisfied as he is today.
If the old man had watched "Faust", he might have shouted out today: This moment is so beautiful, please stay forever!
Although the old lady couldn't shout these words, her mood at this time was the same as Faust's.
...
At the end of November, Xiyuan was already covered in silver. In the newly built and beautiful Yiluan Hall, Zhu Yijun’s mood was similar to that of Mrs. Huo in October.——The 50-year-old who finally passed the test after many rounds of selection.
This beauty will accept the final round of selection from the Queen Mother and the Emperor of the two palaces today.
In this grand draft, starting from the time when the emperor tied his hair, the two palaces immediately issued an edict banning marriage throughout the country - the date of arrival of the edict shall prevail. After more than four months of grassroots selection, in September, 5,000 girls took care of them together
His family members all arrived in the capital.
After arriving in the capital, they had to go through a body selection test first. They were not too tall, too short, too fat, or too thin. Because when the imperial envoys were selected for the draft, they had already gone through the body shape and appearance, so this test was regarded as nitpicking - probably
Eliminate a thousand people.
After passing the body shape test, they passed the appearance test. A jury composed of the Chief of Ceremonies, the Inner Court Assistant, the Empress Dowager, and the trusted eunuchs around the emperor conducted a third round of interviews for the remaining four thousand girls. This test mainly examined facial features and facial features.
Facial skin, hair and voice are also included in the assessment. A thousand people will be eliminated at this level.
After passing the third level, the next level is for the palace maids to take action. They will hold rulers and measure the body of the beautiful lady. Originally, the measurements of the body measurements, hands, feet, and other places must be measured accurately and recorded in the book, but due to the emperor's order
There is an edict prohibiting foot binding, and all the show girls this time have natural feet. In order to encourage women to relax their feet, Zhu Yijun did not measure the feet of the show girls this time.
According to the draft system, after the fourth round, the remaining thousand show girls will enter the palace. Even if they are eliminated in the next round of draft, they will still have to work as palace ladies. Zhu Yijun originally did not want to include so many people in the palace, but
After discussing with the two queen mothers, I changed my mind.
At this time, in the palace, more than 6,000 maids have been drafted into the palace through the Jiajing and Longqing generations. They serve their masters in the palace. If they are not careful, they will be beaten and their living environment is very harsh. Moreover,
Because there were too many people, most of the maids had nothing to do.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the draft this time, Zhu Yijun persuaded the two palaces to set a quota of 3,500 maids, which has remained unchanged since then.
Since the fifth year of Wanli, the royal family has organized a small-scale recruitment similar to a talent show every five years, and at the same time released a group of palace maids out of the palace - of course, they have to be willing. If the family has no food and clothing, they are willing to stay in the palace to do miscellaneous tasks.
, the royal family also raised them.
As soon as this kind of virtuous policy came out, the whole palace was in shock. Zhu Yijun sent Buddha to the west. All the old palace maids who left the palace this time, the royal family allowed them to choose to work in the royal silk factory. Those who did not want to work and chose to return home
, each person was given one hundred taels of silver to familiarize themselves with the environment outside the palace.
After registration, along with the new girls entering the palace, the royal family selectively released 3,370 old palace maids at one time. Most of the rest were old palace maids from the Jiajing period, and had spent half their lives within the forbidden palace.
, worried that they would not adapt after going out; there were also some who had been unable to find their families, so they voluntarily stayed in the palace to die of old age; the last group belonged to the maids responsible for educating the new maids and the royal children, and the royal family used salary increases and the promise of release after five years
Keep them.
Therefore, the show girls who have passed the fourth level this time cannot go home as Zhu Yijun originally intended. They need to come in to replace the old palace ladies who leave the palace. Wait until Wanli ten years and another round of draft, they can
Leaving the palace. At that time, they were around 20 years old, so it was not too late to get married - and girls who left the palace at the age of 10 should have been rushed by many families.
The royal family's good governance has won unanimous praise from both the government and the public. Civil servants and officials found that this emperor's good deeds were beyond their imagination - last year, there was no memorial mentioning the abolition of Dongchang, and the emperor was very proactive
They withdrew the East Factory. This year, there was no memorial to protest against these old palace ladies, and the royal family released them again.
At this time, although Zhu Yijun and the empress dowagers of the two palaces had not reached the level of "birds and fish soup", their reputation among the people was almost the same as that of Yao, Shun and Yu soup. Although this emperor established a chamber of attendants and changed the ancestral system, he implemented
The entrance examination method is also more ruthless, but - isn't this all encouraged by Zhang Juzheng?
...
After four rounds of selection, one thousand girls who enter the palace will undergo a fifth round of selection. This round is a physical examination. One thousand people are introduced into the palace's renovated secret room in batches, and the old palace maid "explores their breasts, smells their armpits, and touches them."
"Check its texture and see how chaste it is." No scars are allowed on the body, and the skin must be smooth and delicate.
After this round of "physical examination", 300 people will be left to enter the final level. These 300 people are different from the other palace ladies who have been assigned jobs. They do not have to work in the palace and only need to be "retained for observation" in the palace.
During their stay in the palace, they were cared for by special personnel dispatched by the Queen Mother and the Emperor. These people would record their diet, daily life, temperament, and speech, as well as their virtuous and foolish qualities. Those who grinded their teeth while sleeping, talked in their sleep, or sleepwalked to spread hysteria were not allowed to pass the test;
In addition, a character test is also required. Only those who are gentle, honest, intelligent and virtuous can be included in the short list of fifty people.
Those who enter the small list of fifty people will be automatically upgraded to the host, and at least they can obtain the title of lady. The remaining two hundred and fifty people do not need to be palace maids, the royal family will send them out of the palace and go home. - A lot of black box operations,
That is what happens at this stage.
As reported by Chen Ju who returned to Beijing, the draft imperial envoys from various places inevitably accepted bribes and operated in a black box during this national draft, which cost a total of 300,000 taels of internal funds.
The southern part of the empire had rarely participated in royal drafts before - unlike the northerners who only resisted early marriages, this time many shrewd southern businessmen bribed the imperial envoys to have their daughters selected in the early stages of the draft. After entering the capital, they bribed internal officials to select their daughters.
Brush down at the last level.
As a result, girls who have participated in the talent show are immediately worth a hundred times as much. In the eyes of the people, those who can pass the top five levels are at least on the same level as the emperor's concubines. Using this as capital, the beautiful girls go home to choose their husbands.
You can climb high. Although it costs a lot of money, as long as you climb into a Jinshi or aristocratic family, your business will be more secure, right?
In addition to this kind of operation, there is also a type of operation in this draft, which is like a bookmaker, targeting the position of the queen and concubines. As long as you are selected as the ninth concubine, it is equivalent to getting married to the emperor. In the future, you will not only be able to protect yourself, but also dominate
Blessings are not a problem either.
Despite the black-box operation, the last group of girls who entered Xiyuan were all very beautiful. Their ages ranged from fourteen to sixteen, and all of them were knowledgeable, courteous, and outstanding in appearance - even though Zhu Yijun was a
Modern people have been influenced countless times by the retouching or makeup techniques of later generations, but when facing the group of ladies in front of Yiluan Hall, the hearts of grown-up teenagers are still beating fast.
The empress dowagers of the two palaces were seated in the Yiluan Palace, and Zhu Yijun's throne was placed in front of the two palaces. Zhang Hong and other eunuchs held rosters, commanded the maids, and introduced the girls who had received the title of lady into the palace in turn - and the girls who were selected at the top were ranked first.
Whether Zhuang Jingjia can be a mother to the world depends on this.