During the five days when Fan Gongzheng was giving lectures, all the concubines with official titles in the six palaces in the east and west gathered in Kunning Palace to listen to his lectures. Only then did Hu Shanwei figure out how many women the emperor had in the harem.
I secretly counted them, there were ninety-seven people, if the queen was included, that would make it ninety-eight.
This does not include the concubines who have passed away, such as the birth mother of the crown prince, Wuming, the birth mother of the second prince, Prince of Qin, and the third prince, Prince of Jin, Wuming, as well as the birth mother of the fourth prince, Prince of Yan, and the fifth prince, Prince of Zhou, Fei Shuo, and of course, the birth mother of the sixth prince, Prince of Chu, who just passed away, Hu Shuren.
At that time, Empress Ma had been unable to conceive. The eldest son, the second son and the third son were all born to concubines of lowly status and died young. In order to continue the Zhu family's bloodline, Empress Ma raised these three sons as her own. In order to let the three sons remember the grace of Empress Ma's upbringing, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, Emperor Hongwu did not record the biological mothers of these three princes in the jade disc, and only recognized Empress Ma as his legal mother.
Emperor Hongwu is fifty-three years old this year. The concubines and maids who have served him have been replaced like leeks in the fields. Only these ninety-seven are still alive.
They were all dressed up, standing and listening, their shining headdresses and jewels dazzled Hu Shanwei.
When Fan Gongzheng was sitting and giving a lecture, Hu Shanwei stood beside him, turning pages and serving tea. She stood for five days and still had to work, but she didn't feel tired at all.
It was only half an hour, and there were ice cubes in the palace to cool down, so it was quite cool. Hu Shanwei used to copy books in the bookstore, and she would never stop writing regardless of the weather, even if her clothes were soaked with sweat, so she felt that the environment for listening to lectures in Kunning Palace was simply too good.
She thought so, so when she felt that some concubines looked at her in an unfriendly manner, she didn't understand: With such good conditions, why do they still blame me
On the sixth day, a group of concubines fell ill one after another, and the entire harem looked at Hu Shanwei with the word "culprit" written all over their eyes.
Hu Shanwei was even more puzzled: "What's the big deal? I got sick from all the hard work? If I had such conditions before, I would have been so happy."
Kunning Palace.
Empress Ma called Ru Siyao from the Imperial Food Bureau and asked, "Today, people from all over the six palaces are sick. I am very worried. It is my responsibility to take good care of them and expand the royal family. How can I watch them get sick one by one? Send female doctors to each palace to diagnose them. If they are sick, they must take medicine. Don't delay."
That’s right, the imperial harem of the Ming Dynasty couldn’t afford a doctor or medicine
Ru Siyao took the order and left. As a result, when she looked at the pulse records and prescriptions written by the female doctors, she found that nine out of ten were Taifang prescriptions, and there was not much difference between taking them and not taking them.
What a waste of medicinal materials, Ru Siyao sighed inwardly and told Empress Ma the diagnosis results, "Except for Concubine Sun and a few concubines over fifty who are really sick, the rest are just a little weak and there is nothing serious."
Ru Siyao didn't dare to tell them directly that they were faking illness.
Empress Ma's face showed no emotion, she just said calmly: "I understand, put down the pulse diagnosis and prescription, and summon Cui Shangyi."
Cui Shangyi from the Shangyi Bureau came to see the emperor.
Empress Ma pointed to the thick stack of pulse records and prescriptions that Ru Siyao had brought on the table and said, "How can the concubines serve the emperor if they are not feeling well? They must not be infected with the disease. You and the female official Tongshi should temporarily remove these people from the "Qin Bo Lu" and wait until they are better."
Although the Shangyi Bureau is not as powerful as the Shanggong Bureau, nor as influential as the Gongzheng Division, it has one department among the six bureaus and one department - Tongshi, which is the most mysterious.
Tongshi is a record of every time the emperor visited the harem. From the report of the palace, the bedroom of the guard, the name of the concubine, to the record of the visit, all were recorded in detail by the female official of Tongshi.
That is to say, when the emperor sleeps with a woman, the four elements of time, place, people, and process must be complete. Who is the person waiting outside the door? Who is the guard? All of these must be clearly written.
The next day, the queen would also give generous gifts to show her gratitude for your hard work.
The women who serve the emperor in bed dress up and go to Kunning Palace to express their gratitude, saying, "It is not hard at all for me to serve the emperor and to expand the royal family."
This kind of meticulous attention to detail is what is needed, with both "witnesses and evidence" being available, which will be the only proof of identity and bloodline for the children born to the concubine in the future.
Because there are too many women in the harem, the emperor may not know them all, and he will forget them after sleeping with them. What if they refuse to pay
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were so weird that some of them even denied their debts or forgot to remember them. However, they had to admit it after being recorded in detail by the female official of Tongshi: the later Emperor Wanli slept with a young maid in the Empress Dowager's palace and refused to admit it. The Empress Dowager ordered the female official of Tongshi to produce evidence and forced Emperor Wanli to admit it with a pinch of his nose. The little maid gave birth to the later Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty.
There is also Ji, who gave birth to Emperor Xiaozong. She was just a warehouse manager in the harem. Emperor Chenghua went to the warehouse for some unknown reason and slept with Ji. He forgot about it after putting on his pants and continued to flirt with his favorite concubine, Concubine Wan. Concubine Wan was in control of the harem and focused on the "abortion" business for more than ten years. Ji had no choice but to hide the prince she gave birth to. Later, it was also recorded by the female official Tongshi that proved that Emperor Xiaozong was the eldest son of the emperor.
Therefore, Tongshi can be said to be the most important department in the harem, directly related to the purity of the royal bloodline. Only the queen mother and the queen, the masters of the harem, can read the Qinbolu. In the future, when the news of the concubines' pregnancy is reported, it is used for comparison. Even the emperor cannot read it at will - in case he is ruthless and does harm to the royal family's offspring.
Similarly, no matter how pampered a concubine is, she cannot get involved in public history. This has been a check and balance technique in the harem since the Tang Dynasty to ensure the bloodline and power of the heir to the throne.
In addition to recording the emperor's sleeping arrangements, the female official Tongshi also had to record the concubines' menstrual periods every month in detail, when they came and when they ended, summarize the patterns, remove them from the list on the days when they had menstrual periods, and arrange for other concubines to be on "duty."
In addition, those who were ill would be removed from the list of concubines to ensure the health of the emperor and his future offspring. Empress Ma's request was not excessive, but...
Cui Shangyi and Tongshi, a female official, looked at the thick stack of prescriptions and pulse records and hesitated. After all, most of them were Taifang prescriptions, not illnesses, so she could continue to serve the emperor in bed.
The female official Tongshi had to remain neutral and impartial, and even if it was Empress Ma, she could not do whatever she wanted, so she said, "Your Majesty, if you remove these concubines from the list of sleeping companions, there will be less than half of the people."
Empress Ma said without even raising her eyebrows, "There are still more than thirty concubines who can sleep with you. The emperor only has one, which is enough."
The honest female official Tongshi said: "Most of these thirty or so concubines are in their forties."
The blooming period has long passed and the color is not bright. She can't be like Concubine Sun, who gave birth to two princesses and was loved by the emperor.
So they kept their tails between their legs in the harem. When Empress Ma said east, they didn't dare to go west. What was the point of standing in Kunning Palace for five days? Even if they knelt for five days, they didn't dare to say they were sick.
Empress Ma asked, "Do you think they are too old?"
Empress Ma’s birthday is the eighth day of the eighth lunar month. On the eighth day of next month, she will celebrate her 49th birthday.
Cui Shangyi felt something was wrong and quickly winked at the female official Tongshi.
The female official Tongshi was not stupid. She immediately shut up and crossed out the names of the concubines one by one according to the pulse records and prescriptions on the case.
As for the previous dynasty, Emperor Hongwu exterminated the clan of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong on the charge of treason and abolished the prime minister system of the Secretariat. He monopolized power and was so busy that he had to review 1,180 memorials every eight days. He seldom came to the harem to visit concubines.
Emperor Hongwu felt that he would be exhausted to death if he continued like this, and he did not trust eunuchs, so he set up the system of four assistant officials in spring, summer, autumn and winter. In each quarter, three civil officials came to help Hongwu handle government affairs. In summer, they were called Xiaguan, and in autumn, they were called Qiuguan. They took turns on duty to prevent them from becoming powerful and becoming prime ministers in name only.
After the implementation of the four-assistant official system, Emperor Hongwu finally had a chance to catch his breath.
As the saying goes, when you are well fed and warm, you will think about sex. Emperor Hongwu was also a human being, a healthy, 53-year-old middle-aged (old) man.
It was just a coincidence that today, after Emperor Hongwu had finished dealing with government affairs, he wanted to find a beautiful woman to accompany him for a drink and entertain him. The older he got, the more he liked young and energetic members of the opposite sex, as if he could draw energy from them.
Emperor Hongwu said: "Exclaim the beauty Zhang."
The eunuch trembled as he held the "Qin Bo Lu" which had just been "updated" by the female official Tong Shi, "Concubine Zhang is not feeling well these days."
Emperor Hongwu said: "Then it's Qin Zhaoyi."
The eunuch looked at the blackened list and said, "It's not convenient either."
Emperor Hongwu said, "Call Concubine Sun."
Eunuch: "I can't sleep with you either."
It's impossible for the three youngest concubines with the best complexion to have their periods at the same time, right? Emperor Hongwu was immediately disappointed, "What's going on?"
The eunuch fell to the ground in fear, "I don't know either. The list was given by the female official. I will go and call the female official Tongshi now."
In fact, the eunuchs knew the reason, but they dared not say it. The Hongwu Dynasty was the nightmare of the eunuchs. In the past, an old eunuch said a few more words about government affairs. The Hongwu Emperor not only set up an iron monument in the harem that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in government affairs, but also demoted all the eunuchs in the palace to one rank, and their overall rank was lower than that of female officials. With the lessons learned from the past, they did not dare to say a word about things that were not within his authority and responsibility.
The female official Tongshi talked about the "Instructions/Admonitions of the Virtuous Concubines of the Zhao and Song Dynasties" that she had lectured on for five consecutive days in the harem, and talked about the concubines in the harem who claimed to be sick, and the pulse records and prescriptions written by the female doctors that filled up the desks.
Emperor Hongwu was very angry. "You fell down just like that? You are too naive. In the past, women only ate coarse food. They gave birth in the morning and went to the river to wash diapers and hoe the fields in the afternoon. They were well fed with fine clothes and delicious food, eating oil and wearing silk. Yet they stood for half an hour and then said they were sick. I think they are too idle and have forgotten the basic principle of men farming and women weaving. They only know how to act like spoiled children and have a bad temper. How can they be virtuous concubines? Call Song Shanggong from the Shanggong Bureau."
The Shanggong Bureau is in charge of needlework.
Emperor Hongwu was originally a farmer from Fengyang. He said to Song Shanggong: "Send a loom to each of the six palaces, except for Concubine Li Xian in Changchun Palace who needs quiet time to raise the little princess. Teach them how to weave cloth and understand the sufferings of women in the countryside. If you want to follow Concubine Zhao Song's example, you must practice what you preach. It's not just talk."
No one expected that Emperor Hongwu would actually take action to suppress the harem. Even Empress Ma was surprised. Now the concubines in the six palaces in the east and west recovered without taking any medicine. They were all busy learning weaving and needlework. They had no time to compete for favor, nor did they have time to target Hu Shanwei.
With the emperor and empress overwhelmingly promoting "The Training and Admonitions for the Virtuous Concubines of the Zhao and Song Dynasties", the harem progressed exceptionally smoothly. Even Fan Gongzheng felt that Hu Shanwei was a lucky person, and the emperor and empress both became her helpers.
The implementation in the harem has been completed from the inside out, and the next target is the East Palace and the princesses.
From the oldest to the youngest, starting from the East Palace.
The Crown Princess Chang was the eldest daughter of Chang Yuchun, the Prince of Kaiping, and gave birth to the eldest grandson Zhu Xiongying. However, in the 11th year of Hongwu, Chang died shortly after giving birth to the second son Zhu Yunhuan.
After the death of the Crown Princess, Crown Prince Zhu Biao did not remarry, so there is no mistress in the Eastern Palace at present, only a concubine, Concubine Lü. Concubine Lü gave birth to Zhu Yunwen in the tenth year of Hongwu, and was quite favored by the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince liked reading and did not like beauties, so there were no other concubines in the Eastern Palace.
The sound of the loom made the harem obedient. As a concubine of the Eastern Palace, Concubine Lü did not dare to have any ideas, and respectfully invited Hu Shanwei to sit down and explain the "Instructions/Admonitions of Concubines of the Zhao and Song Dynasties".
After visiting the Eastern Palace, the Second Prince, Prince of Qin, and the Third Prince, Prince of Jin, were both far away in their fiefdoms of Xi'an and Taiyuan. They had been sent on long missions by two sixth-rank senior female officials, Liu Siyan and Zhou Sixan, to deliver books on their behalf. Therefore, Hu Shanwei's next target was the wife of the Fourth Prince, Prince of Yan, Xu.
Xu was the eldest daughter of Xu Da, Duke of Wei. The two younger concubine sisters were also arranged by Emperor Hongwu to marry the two princes, and they would be married when they came of age.
The Xu family has three concubines, what an honor.
Before leaving, Fan Gongzheng warned Hu Shanwei, "The Princess of Yan is a daughter of a general. She is hot-tempered and has a bad temper. The Prince of Yan usually gives her some leeway. Xu Zengshou, the most famous playboy in the capital, is her younger brother. Xu Zengshou is not afraid of anyone except the Princess of Yan. You must be careful with your words and don't anger her."
Hu Shanwei was trembling with fear, "I know, I will pay attention."
The author has something to say: Hahahaha, I feel like Princess Yan is like venom, with a bad reputation, but actually... meow meow meow~~~
Tonight, I will give out 100 red envelopes and there will be a quiz with a little bit of a quiz. I will give out 100 big red envelopes.
Please listen to the question:
Emperor Hongwu abolished the prime minister system and established the system of four assistant officials in spring, summer, autumn and winter to relieve his pressure. The official on duty in spring was called the Xia official, in summer he was called the Qiu official, and in autumn he was called the Xia official.
So here comes the question, in China today, there is a celebrity nicknamed "Autumn Official", who is he
a Anthony Wong b Choo Ja-hyun c Yuen Qiu d Adam Cheng