Goryeo tribute girl
Zhang Shou wanted to check the almanac to confirm whether it was the Yongren and Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty. Because as far as he knew, that period was the period when Goryeo tribute girls were most frequent. Throughout the Ming Dynasty harem, there were many Goryeo concubines represented by Consort Quanxian, and even two Goryeo sisters entered the palace, and then they were unlucky enough to encounter the emperor's death and were forced to be buried alive.
On the one hand, the Age of Exploration had already begun, and a lot of Latin Western documents were brought back from overseas, probably including a lot of science books, while on the other hand, the imperial court issued an edict to Goryeo, asking them to send Goryeo's huge gold as tribute? It felt like two completely incompatible styles were mixed together, so much so that Zhang Shou, who had clearly met the Goryeo delegation today, was a little shocked.
After a long while, he finally noticed that Zhu Ying's expression seemed a little strange. After a moment's hesitation, he asked uncertainly, "Why? Could it be that this so-called imperial edict... is actually problematic?"
"Of course there is a problem!" Zhu Ying was so angry that her eyebrows were raised. "Goryeo has beautiful women. In the past, Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Sejong really liked them, so they often issued edicts to request tribute girls from Goryeo, but only one or two of them were made concubines, and the others died in the palace with only a low-level title, or even no title. But since Emperor Yingzong, they have stopped doing this! Emperor Ruizong also said..."
Speaking of Emperor Ruizong, who might be her grandfather, Zhu Ying seemed full of energy and spirit: "Emperor Ruizong said that it is fine to choose concubines from Chinese people, as they can still have the opportunity to see their families in the future. But if they are foreign women, their families will be separated forever and will never see each other again. So, why commit such a sin? Besides, it's not like we don't have beauties in the Ming Dynasty!"
She paused and said unhappily, "This is what the emperor told me, so the emperor would definitely not issue such an order! So I'm wondering, what went wrong? Why did Goryeo suddenly obey the order to send a tribute girl again?"
Zhang Shou thought of the scene when he met Zheshanjun on the way into the city. He also seemed to have seen a few inconspicuous black oil carriages, the kind that ordinary people and even merchants often ride in. He had thought that these carriages were carrying tributes, but now he thought that this might not be the case.
Sure enough, the next moment he heard Zhu Ying say, "Moreover, the Goryeo royal family is very afraid of death. Because the sea route is prone to capsizing, they usually bring tribute all the way to Tianjin. If something happens, they will cry and wail, and the court will not care because of their obedience. They themselves travel by land, which is farther and harder, but at least it is safe."
"Besides, the wealth is all on the sea, and these people don't have much money. In addition, there are always 100 to 200 people to escort them along the way, so there is no need to worry about encountering bandits. These guys are as shrewd as ghosts. In the past, in order to sell their Korean ginseng at a high price, they even spread the word that their Korean ginseng is better than the ginseng from Liaodong!"
It was originally a serious topic, but it went completely off the track. Zhang Shou didn't care. He thought it was just a joke behind the back. Did it have to be elevated to the level of discussing state affairs
Fortunately, Zhu Ying realized that she had gone off topic while she was talking, and immediately coughed and turned back to the original topic: "If I hadn't happened to meet the people from the Ministry of Hosts and Guests taking the Korean envoys to the South Pavilion, and one of the carriages suddenly fell apart on the spot, and three girls fell out of it, and they were holding a long dress on their heads in a panic."