Chapter 149 The Choice of Concubines and Concubines
Chapter 149 The choice of concubines and concubines
In the afternoon of New Year's Eve, Beijing is already in a New Year atmosphere.
Firecrackers sound from time to time, and every household is looking forward to a better next year.
The day before the first year of Jiajing's reign, Yang Tinghe once again read the letter from Yang Shen's family brought by his trustee from Guangdong.
After thinking about it, I decided to reply to him after returning from the palace today.
"Go and ask Madam if she's ready."
Yang Tinghe came out of the study, and his second son, three sons and four sons were all busy writing Spring Festival couplets together.
Lao Yang is naturally a complete winner in life, with four sons and two daughters.
Yang Shen was the number one scholar, the second and fourth children were already candidates for examination, and the third was also selected as a candidate for the imperial examination. Of the two daughters, the eldest daughter was married to a Jinshi scholar, and the second daughter was married to a candidate for examination and could still take the examination.
Yang Tinghe looked at the current stability of his family and felt a little afraid.
After saying that, he looked at Zhu Houcong eagerly, with a look on his face that was waiting for praise.
So Sun Jiao was very strange: "...I have a good family. The eldest son Yuan is serving as an official in Sichuan, and the second son Jing is stupid and is still preparing for the provincial examination. The only ones who came to Beijing together were the second son and the youngest daughter Ming..."
"I'm afraid the soil and water will make it hard to subdue." Wang Shouren looked at the emperor and bent down, "I would like to express my gratitude to Your Majesty for your concern."
Everyone, including Jiang Mian, Fei Hong, and Wang Qiong, glanced at him.
A position like the Imperial Study Room that has direct access to the center can almost be directly promoted by the emperor, but there is no rank anyway.
The emperor has a lot of room for maneuver.
"...a few flesh wounds, nothing serious." Guo Xun always felt that there was something else in Yan Song's smile, but he couldn't understand it.
Power is decentralized in the central stage before the end of the process. Even if the emperor is young, he does not need to rely too much on his ministers and relatives.
Who wants to go to Nanjing to retire? Cui Yuandu said that Beijing camp has a great future!
"Speaking of which, Xia Geishi has been extremely diligent and capable this year, which allowed the Beijing camp to reorganize and straighten out the regulations." Guo Xun then said to Cui Yuan, Wang Shouren, and Jiang Mian, "He should be given credit."
On the way to Qianqing Palace, they all asked Zhang Zilin about the situation in the southeast.
No matter how tit-for-tat they were in the past, now that the New Year is coming, everyone is greeting each other with smiles on their faces.
What are you talking about?
No one else knew what happened back then. Guo Xun just said: "I have many uncles and brothers in my family, but I only have the second son, who is still young. When I saw that I came back from suppressing bandits, I still thought that I smelled bad."
After chatting for a while, Huang Jin came out and invited them into the palace.
In comparison... if the relatives at the national policy meeting are also civil servants themselves, it seems more acceptable: at least everyone has a similar "cultural level", and some things are not as brainless or twisted as eunuchs.
After Yang Ting thought about it with them, they found that this was indeed the case.
Just imagine, if you choose the daughter of an important minister from a rich clan, the descendants, disciples, and relatives of their clan can still form a force in the court after one or two generations. This dynasty does not allow relatives to serve as officials, which does not mean that all three clans cannot be officials.
, but you cannot directly confer an official position. If your heir brothers are capable enough and pass the imperial examination and pass the imperial examination, they can still be officials.
Whether relatives will be included in the national policy meeting after the new emperor ascends the throne depends entirely on whether the emperor thinks the courtiers are useful. If the courtiers are not "easy to use" and old relatives are reinstated or new relatives are used to cause chaos in government, then the root cause is not the system of relatives itself.
, but the emperor said that the ministers "child-liked" the emperor and oppressed the emperor.
"Wei Zhong." Yang Tinghe asked Yan Song cordially, "Congratulatory lists from various places and officials in Beijing have been presented to the palace. Your Majesty must have seen them in the past few days, right?"
As for Beijing camp and border towns, the key point is what the emperor said: no matter how difficult it is, it will not be difficult for border towns. The preparation and transfer of food and wages, the court is nothing more than to establish a more complete mechanism to ensure this.
a little.
After all, everyone is a little worried about the reason for today's royal banquet.
This means that cabinet ministers are not the most popular: if they have stayed in the position of Jiuqing for fourteen years, then they have to completely retire one year after entering the cabinet?
Of course, the rule that a foreign relative who was originally a minister of national policy would voluntarily leave office before the new emperor ascends the throne is naturally very binding on the foreign relative.
Once the foreign relatives can participate in the national policy meeting, the situation will be completely different. There is a queen or queen mother in the palace, and she is also an important minister of national policy. If there are internal ministers and foreign ministers, wouldn't it become a big party?
To put it bluntly, even if the emperor wants to touch his relatives, he will have to weigh the consequences and even put his own life in danger.
Yang Tinghe summarized the current situation and said doubtfully: "I bluntly say that there are real contributors. In many situations in the past, the queen has also made arrangements for the court. It is just an example of a wealthy family, where the daughter of an important minister is a concubine.
Even though my relatives cannot be appointed officials at the beginning, they already have a solid foundation and may become more and more powerful day by day. In my humble opinion, your Majesty is wise and powerful, so there may be no major dangers in this dynasty, but what happens in the future, we have to take precautions. The ancestral precepts have been effective for hundreds of years.
, or don’t change it.”
Others are still waiting for Yang Tinghe: Who made you the chief assistant?
"... The ancestral teachings of this dynasty are: firstly, ordinary families have no foundation for disorderly government. Secondly, they are not allowed to enter the palace for the second and third generations. Those who enter the palace and become queens and concubines are replaced by the old and the new. Thirdly, relatives are not allowed to be officials, and they are only given land and houses and generous salaries.
Fourthly, the ancestors taught the queen to only deal with the affairs of the concubines in the palace, that is, outside the palace gate, and nothing can be foreseen. Every emperor, prince, queen, concubine, and concubine should be carefully selected to be women from good families, and those who enter will not be tolerated."
And all the nine ministers can participate in the national policy meeting, and the cabinet ministers have a quota of six, so the emperor's will can be better implemented.
At about three o'clock in the morning, all the national policy ministers arrived outside Chengtian Gate, including Guo Xun.
"In this dynasty, there were no troubles caused by foreign relatives before. The Chief of Ceremonies has become increasingly important, and there have been several disasters caused by internal ministers." Zhu Houcong looked at them and said, "Now the Chief of Ceremonies, the imperial study room, the national policy meeting, and the cabinet are all in a four-legged relationship. Major national affairs are from
The process will not be easily controlled by anyone or any yamen. Even if the emperor is young, what can his relatives do?"
As the emperor said, these three things are all matters of money.
At present, Guangdong is just updating the Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book first, without actually touching on land annexation and other interest issues.
Including Yang Tinghe’s previous offenses on many things.
If the courtiers want to bully the emperor, the ministers and relatives can quickly reach the center. If the ministers and relatives want to control the government, they cannot occupy so many positions.
On the other hand, if you think about it, even though your majesty could tolerate Zhang Heling's involvement in setting fire to the Rijing Gate and not deal with it arbitrarily, what does Yang Tinghe's matter mean to him?
They still chatted about state affairs before arriving at the Qianqing Palace, because they both felt that the emperor would also talk about it at today's royal banquet.
"...It's rare." Yang Tinghe sighed with emotion, and then said leisurely, "Your Majesty is deeply saddened by the passing of Duke Zhongde. From now on, there will be no more Duke Zhongde... Anyway, your Majesty is merciful and always hopes that we can speak out boldly. After the change of Yuan Dynasty, , let’s all be loyal to the emperor and do everything we can.”
The situation of floods and water conservancy does not require large-scale construction immediately, but it takes three years to get to the bottom of it. This is related to people's livelihood, as well as future food production and land tax, and it is an act of laying the foundation.
There are eighteen ministers of national policy. Yuan Zonggao has passed away and Yang Yiqing is in the northwest.
This is a tone of discussion. What do you want to do? I think you have the ability. But to guard against relatives, it is all for your children and grandchildren.
Zhu Houcong nodded: "It may indeed bring hidden dangers, so I have been thinking about preventive measures. Setting up a national policy meeting and an imperial study room is one of the ways."
"Let's talk about state affairs." Zhu Houcong laughed, "The first three things all cost money, and they have been done before. As long as the money can be spent well, it is naturally not as good as the last one."
As for the new law in Guangdong, there is no doubt that it is trying to find ways to "make money". Zhang Fujing asked how to do this in the place where the new law is being trialled. It was also discussed at the national policy meeting, but it has not yet been decided. Or the emperor decided to do this first. The rhythm of things is as follows.
He looked at Guo Xun again, and said with a rare smile: "Before I returned to the capital, I also told Marquis Wu Ding that Marquis Funing would be on call at any time. The Duke of Wei repeatedly asked me to advise Marquis Wu Ding to guard Nanjing."
Zhu Houcong was laughing, which made Sun Jiao feel even more nervous.
Yang Ting and others looked at the emperor in confusion: You started thinking this way so early? So you have long thought not to choose concubines from ordinary families? What does the national policy meeting have to do with this?
"The reasons why foreign relatives interfere with the government are firstly because the emperor is young, secondly because the central government has an overly powerful official position, and finally because of the emperor's use of the emperor's red pen and seal." Zhu Houcong said, "Nowadays, there are both cabinets and national policy meetings, and the emperor's red pen and seal are even more important. The study room and the ceremonial supervisor rely on each other to supervise each other. How can the maternal relatives take full advantage of the throne? What needs to be guarded most is that the emperor is young and all the ministers are focused on children, so the emperor has to rely on his maternal relatives."
"It's good that the generals are a little sweaty." Zhu Houcong smiled, "Although the suppression of bandits this time was ugly, I remember the hard work and have not forgotten it. But instead of talking about state affairs today, let's celebrate the New Year with peace of mind."
For a moment, they couldn't figure it out: Is this using the hidden danger of the relatives' participation in the national policy meeting to limit the terms of other civil servants, or does the emperor really think that this can prevent the relatives from disrupting the government?
Everyone was hesitant.
How could the emperor not know the situation at the home of an important minister?
"Therefore, we only need to add a few items." Zhu Houcong said, "In the royal study, cabinet, and national policy meetings, there must be no relatives of the three clans. Only two or more disciples of the same family can be included. No relatives of the third generation can enter the palace as concubines.
"Concubines." Zhu Houcong finally said, "Besides, every time there is a draft, local benevolent families are panicked and disturbed a lot. It is uncomfortable to persist, but the concubines, concubines, and concubines generally know the importance, and the families of foreign relatives are well-educated and fear the laws of the country.
Very important."
The current Beijing camp has more than 120,000 counterfeit cleanups, which involves a huge workload. After the switch to recruiting troops, except for the Shenji Camp where Guo Xun is stationed, although the full quota of 50,000 has not been reached in the past few months, it has
Three new battalions appeared, with a total strength of more than 46,000 men.
"... Wei Guogong is really..." At least Guo Xun did not say that Xu Pengju was afraid of trouble in front of so many important ministers.
"What do you think of Yi Qing?"
In other words, no one can stay in the National Policy Council for more than fifteen years, no matter starting from the Chief of the Imperial Study Room or the Nine Ministers.
Zhu Houcong sighed: "Master Yuan passed away, and all the ministers have also worked hard this year. They have all worked hard."
"Your Majesty said that he would take a break from the imperial court, and he would also take a vacation. They are all full of beautiful words, and it doesn't matter whether you read them or not. Bo'an, Chongxiang, and I have not been summoned to the palace in the past few days."
"Let's not talk about these things today." Zhu Houcong said relaxedly, "Even if we want to talk about state affairs, let's just talk about one thing. When we get married next year and the concubine will be crowned, I intend not to choose just from ordinary good families.
That’s right. To suddenly enjoy wealth and honor without knowing the basics is really not a blessing for the country.”
Although Guo Xun is not particularly smart, he is not a simple figure among his relatives. The first generation of Wuding Marquis Guo Ying was very talented. By the time it was passed down to Guo Xun, the sixth generation grandson, the Guo family was already quite big, but it only had one title.
After all, the killing of officials in Southeast had a great impact on the emperor. Fang Muxian actually thought that this was a good time, which only shows that there will be great resistance to the actual implementation of the new law in the future.
The emperor wanted to break the ancestral precepts on this matter. Yang Tinghe and others had to endure it for more than half a year, but now they have learned not to rashly dissuade him.
Guo Xun continued to maintain his naive and loyal look, showing a joyful expression.
It's just that the imperial examination is very difficult, ordinary people's family education and accumulation are not enough, and they will gradually lose their enterprising spirit when they suddenly become rich and powerful, so it is not a problem.
But I didn't expect that it would just be chatting about family matters.
Hearing this, Yang Tinghe had to ask: "According to your Majesty's wishes, this relative can still be in the central committee. If other important officials of the central committee take this position in the future, there will still be hidden dangers."
This is also the reason why he makes money in Guangdong and Guangxi. Even though he is rich and humble, he still knows how to spend money on publishing books to help the Guo family earn some reputation.
Since the emperor once took Xia Yan as his first example, now that things are done, he deserves to be promoted.
His thoughts naturally returned to the emperor. He felt that the emperor's temperament was very complicated: he was both decisive and eager, but he was also very calm and tolerant of things.
Guo Xun's father ascended the throne, and the disputes within the family even reached the emperor. When Guo Xun ascended the throne, his situation was considered big. His meritorious service was commended by Zhu Houzhao, and Yinzi's place was given to his brother to ease the family feud.
The conflict - although it was also because Guo Xun didn't have a son at that time.
However, Wang Shouren temporarily participated in the national policy meeting on behalf of Yang Yiqing, and Guo Xun made an exception and followed the imperial edict. Eighteen people entered the palace.
Zhu Houcong did not do as many things as they originally thought he would do in the next three years.
The situation was a little awkward for a while, but I spoke very clearly.
Besides, in this current situation, how can so many ministers focus on "taking care of" the young emperor? Civil servants have always had many differences in their positions.
Eighteen important national policy ministers, including Guo Xun, stopped talking.
So it was Yang Tinghe who spoke first: "As His Majesty said before, how to prevent relatives from interfering with the government? This dynasty can avoid such troubles and fulfill the teachings of our ancestors."
Build more enlightenment schools, the court lists some expenditures, and the local government calls on officials and gentry to donate. This has been done in the past, but now there is a clearer plan. There is a target for how many social schools to run in each province and locality within three years.
requirements and will also be included in the performance evaluation of local officials.
Yang Tinghe said: "The three-year national policy has been set. It is just to vigorously establish social studies and health education, plus floods, water conservancy situation inventory, Beijing camp border towns to practice food and salary matters, Guangdong's new law, ministers and others are relieved, and they will not be like this.
Like this year.”
But in the end, I didn't expect that the emperor, who was so sharp during the ceremony, actually wanted to keep him, Yang Tinghe, so that he could continue to celebrate the New Year in the capital, and even invited him and his wife to a royal banquet on New Year's Eve.
After chatting for a while and asking about their current family situation, Zhu Houcong said to Wang Shouren: "You said your father is not in good health. How about he be brought to the capital for recuperation after the spring warms?"
Zhu Houcong then said: "If foreign relatives want to be included in the national policy meeting, they can only be from the imperial examination and be classified as civil servants. All ministers who participate in the national policy meeting are limited to five terms and must leave office after fifteen years. Whenever the old and new dynasties change,
Foreign relatives who were originally listed in the National Policy Conference will automatically resign. If the emperor is under the age of sixteen, he will not be allowed to listen to politics behind the curtain, and major issues will be discussed and decided by the National Policy Conference."
Their wives took another warm sedan and entered the palace through another door.
It is really difficult to completely convince everyone of this new regulation. However, the current national policy conference has just appeared, and everyone present is not worried about their own "term limits", and future "disasters" have nothing to do with them.
"After running seven big families and having solid evidence for concealing the traitors, who can say anything?" Zhang Zilin replied calmly, "There are three more families who knew that their servants were secretly working with the pirates, and actually acted to lure the pirates into plundering them.
The actions committed by the enemy are unforgivable. When the Jinyi Guards find out the truth about the case of the traitor and the official, and send the report to the southeast, things like this will not be handled so easily in the future."
This is the same as the previous reliance on internal ministers to control external ministers.
Jiang Mian knew that he was talking about the opportunities next year after the vacancy of the Minister of Rites, so he nodded and said: "Of course."
Jiang Mian took charge of the matter. After Yang Yiqing went to Northwest China, Wang Shouren took charge of it.
"Master Marquis is taking the lead this time. Are your injuries healed?" Yan Song asked with a smile when meeting Guo Xun on this occasion.
Zhu Houcong was a little convinced: You are in your forties, can you stop pretending to be naive?
The ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu had indeed completely prevented the possibility of his relatives from interfering with the government.
It's just that the internal ministers who replaced them made chaos in government, which indeed caused Yang Ting and this group of civil servants to suffer a lot.
Seeing the emperor's confident look, Yang Tinghe asked with a complicated expression: "Your Majesty has thought so carefully. Could it be that among the younger generation, there are people whom your Majesty wants to hire as concubines?"
It's normal for him to ask this. Otherwise, why would there be a need to make provisions for the inclusion of foreign relatives in national policy meetings now?
Yuan Zonggao has passed away. The emperor's most trusted minister is now missing his leader. Who will it be?
So His Majesty is still trying to balance this matter, right?
Am I, Yang Tinghe, not enough to reassure you now?