After having a child, a special psychological change occurs.
That comes from the sense of responsibility as a father.
While Zhu Ying was accompanying Ye Yueqing during confinement, Zhu Yuanzhang began to spread rumors that he would choose a concubine for his grandson.
This makes many people have their own thoughts.
Especially those who have girls of the right age, their hearts are filled with extremely high expectations.
There are generally four criteria for selecting a concubine.
The first is background. In addition to being beautiful, a woman must also have a certain background. If a woman's background is relatively strong, then her starting point is relatively high, and her chances of being favored will be greater.
Because such women can also bring certain benefits. On the contrary, some who are more beautiful but have no status may be unknown little people, serving in front of the emperor or concubines all day long.
In the current Hongwu period, it was quite important to be well-matched. Later, after Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty chose his concubines from among the people in order to prevent his relatives from taking over power.
For example, Prince Zhu Biao's Chang family is the daughter of Chang Yuchun.
It can be said to be a strong alliance.
The second thing is to be beautiful. A beautiful woman will always make people feel pleasing to the eye, and as a concubine, bringing her out is also a symbol of her own face. After all, in ancient times, a good-looking woman did not just find someone to marry easily.
In addition, beautiful women generally have greater power and have a higher chance of being favored.
Then you have a good figure, and being beautiful will attract people's attention, and you will be one of the candidates to become a concubine. But in addition to being beautiful, you must also have a very good figure. If you only have a beautiful appearance but not a good figure, you will also be excluded from the concubine. chosen.
After all, nowadays, women are stuck at home. The various exercise equipment are not very complete, and no one exercises. Being obese will also affect their future status.
The last thing is to be proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. People believe that women without talents are virtuous, but women who live in wealthy families still need to learn some talents.
This is also a bonus when choosing a concubine in the palace. If you are beautiful, have a good figure, and have a prominent family background, you can also please the emperor. In this case, the probability of being selected as a concubine is very high, and you will be truly favored as a concubine. The chances are also very high.
The news quickly reached Xu Miaojin.
Xu Miaojin looked a little strange as she looked at the eldest sister in front of her. She wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.
Xu Yihua naturally understood what this little girl was thinking and asked, "When my grandson chooses his concubine, do you also want to participate?"
"I also know some things about you, but His Highness the Grand Sun may not necessarily mean this. It's just that when it comes to choosing a concubine, you don't have any rivals in this area."
Xu Miaojin undoubtedly meets the standards of the current concubine. However, in this regard, it depends on the wishes of His Highness.
Even though Xu Miaojin is not very old now, it can be seen that she already has the feeling of a beautiful woman.
In a few years, when it fully blooms, it will surely overwhelm the country and the city.
After listening to the eldest sister's words, Xu Miaojin made up her mind and said, "I'm going to choose a concubine."
Xu Yihua thought for a moment and said: "You are the daughter of my Xu family. We can see that when His Majesty the Grand Sun chooses a concubine, there will definitely be no woman with your status."
"It's just that as the daughter of my Xu family, it would be too simple to participate in the step-by-step process of selecting a concubine. I just went to talk to my second brother and ask him to go to His Highness Taisun or His Majesty to find out what's going on. .”
"I think it shouldn't be a big problem."
The second brother Xu Yihua mentioned is the current Duke of Wei, Xu Huizu.
Xu Huizu was born in the first year of Hongwu and is now twenty-six years old.
As the eldest son of Xu Da, Xu Huizu also inherited excellent military talents and gained Zhu Yuanzhang's trust.
At first, his name was Xu Yungong. He was eight feet five inches tall, handsome and talented. He worked in the Governor's Mansion of the Left Army of the Xunwei Department.
Xu Da inherited the title after his death.
Because the name of the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunwen was taboo, he was given the name Xu Huizu.
He conducted military training in Shaanxi, Peiping, Shandong and Henan several times. Aru Timur of Prince Yan's Mansion had other agendas and was captured and executed by him.
After returning, he took charge of the Central Military Governor's Mansion.
Hearing that the eldest sister said that the younger sister Xu Miaojin wanted to become the concubine of His Royal Highness, Xu Huizu still chose to support her after a slight hesitation.
"I'll go talk to His Majesty then."
Xu Huizu thought for a moment and decided.
The younger sister Xu Miaojin likes His Highness Taisun. Xu Huizu has also known for a long time that the Xu family is now the top nobles of the Ming Dynasty and does not need to marry His Highness Taisun to maintain it.
Regarding the younger sister's personal thoughts, both Xu Huizu and Xu Yihua are relatively supportive.
Xu Huizu was also more straightforward and went directly to the palace and found Zhu Yuanzhang.
"We didn't expect that you, the boy, would like to propose to your little sister. There is no problem with this matter. When the time comes, we will greet the eldest grandson and then we will not go through the rules of choosing a concubine. We will find an auspicious day. Let’s just make her the grandson’s concubine.”
Zhu Yuanzhang was also very happy. As for Xu Miaojin's status, indeed in the Ming Dynasty, there was no woman of the same age who could compare with him.
Coupled with Xu Da's relationship, Zhu Yuanzhang still trusts Xu Da's descendants, and Xu Da is not around, so he doesn't have to worry about any interference with the imperial power.
Xu Huizu of the new generation can be regarded as the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
After getting Zhu Yuanzhang's approval, Xu Huizu directly told Xu Miaojin the good news.
Xu Miaojin's face turned red immediately, filled with anticipation.
Zhu Ying didn't feel much about concubines.
Although she is the eldest daughter now, Zhu Ying will definitely give priority to Ye Yueqing in the future.
If Ye Yueqing gives birth to a boy and confirms his legitimate son, then the other matters need not be so particular.
In addition to accompanying Ye Yueqing during confinement, Zhu Ying was also trying to figure out how to study the future economic trends of the entire Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang deeply hated corruption and vigorously eradicated it to maintain clean politics in the Ming Dynasty. He carried out large-scale farmland water conservancy construction and promoted the cultivation of mulberry, linen and cotton to provide raw materials for the handicraft industry. He saved a lot of money and grain.
Even if the Ministry of Household Affairs is in deficit every year, there are still some reserves in many rice warehouses, coupled with the self-sufficiency of the military households in the guard posts, and the reduction of official salaries, in fact, the foundation of the Ming Dynasty is still very strong. .
Historically, after Zhu Di became emperor, all the expenses he used were basically the foundation left by Zhu Yuanzhang.
In addition to building a new capital and dredging the Grand Canal, Zhang Fu was required to pacify Annan and personally conquer Mobei Mongolia five times.
Hu Ying's "search for immortals", Xie Jin's repair of the Yongle Grand Ceremony, Zheng He's voyages to the West, Zhu Di's expenditures are endless.
Although the economy was developed during the Zhu Di period, the country was peaceful and the people were peaceful, and the country became the most powerful country in the world. However, after twenty-two years of vigorous spending, the price of rice and a stone has risen from the same price in the early years of Hongwu to fifty dollars.
High-yielding crops can indeed solve many of the current problems of the Ming Dynasty. Strictly speaking, the current registered population of the Ming Dynasty is more than 60 million, which also makes the pressure on food rations not so great.
However, in the coming years, due to the improvement of high-yielding crops and economic level, the Ming Dynasty will surely usher in a period of population explosion.
The world's food rations are limited. With a larger population, we can only continue to cultivate new fields.
Therefore, in terms of agriculture and business, this balance is very important to Zhu Ying.
"It seems that we still have to take the import route."
After Zhu Ying thought for a moment, he thought in his mind.
The so-called import means importing large amounts of grain from other countries to fill the rising vacancies of the Ming Dynasty.
To put it simply, it is to arrange for powerful businessmen from the Ming Dynasty to become farmers overseas, and then transport food to the Ming Dynasty.
At this point, Zhu Ying is encouraging.
The transportation of natural rice is not valuable, especially when food prices have to be stabilized.
However, Zhu Ying used the escort recruitment and overseas business rights to exchange a certain amount for the maritime merchants.
In other words, Zhu Ying will arrange a certain amount of force to maintain the safety of overseas merchants. In some small places, Ming sergeants can also be hired as maritime merchant guards.
To put it simply, it is to encourage private capital and expand the territory beyond the Ming Dynasty.
Here, the Qunying Chamber of Commerce will naturally be the leader.
Zhu Ying gave the meaning to Uncle Zhang to handle.
After receiving the news, Uncle Zhang immediately left for Jiangnan without any hesitation.
In the current sea trade area, Zhu Ying is vigorously supporting the Jiangnan area. Coastal places such as Fujian and Guangzhou are already very proficient in sea trade. Even if there is no sea ban, there are not a few people involved in smuggling. Now they are just It became standardized.
But Jiangnan is different.
Due to some historical issues in Jiangnan, Zhu Yuanzhang imposed extremely heavy taxes. All areas in Jiangnan increased extremely heavy taxes.
This situation first caused a great degree of disruption to the economy of the Jiangnan region, and secondly caused complaints among the people against the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Ying was naturally aware of the problems that Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about. The root of the problem still lay in the aristocratic families. These families were not greatly affected by the war and did not have a strong sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty.
In their view, only their own family is the key, and the relationship between cliques is particularly strong, which has always been feared by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Including Liu Bowen, he was also influenced by his Jiangnan background to some extent.
Zhu Yuanzhang is constantly losing points.
If there is no other method, Zhu Yuanzhang's current method is actually very consistent with today's Ming Dynasty.
But now that Zhu Ying is here, he has more options.
He wanted the wealthy families in Jiangnan to go out and stop wasting too much energy on fighting inside the house. If they wanted to fight, fight outside.
When the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River tasted the benefits of sea trade, they would naturally put their energy into expanding overseas.
To a certain extent, it is equivalent to transferring the social conflicts in the Ming Dynasty.
The situation in Jiangnan actually also exists in coastal cities such as Fujian and Guangzhou. The key reason why they are not as serious as Jiangnan is that their thoughts have gone overseas.
Zhu Ying might as well use this method to try to control Jiangnan.
Perhaps it is said that distance creates beauty.
People, only when they are in a foreign land, will they say they miss their hometown even more.
In the same way, when people are abroad, they will miss their own country even more.
Often those businessmen who have experienced overseas life cherish Ming Dynasty to a greater extent.
People who have experienced war-torn areas yearn for peace more and more.
Seeing other people's hunger makes them miss the food and clothing of their own country even more.
After Uncle Zhang arrived in Jiangnan, he invited all the famous families nearby, especially those who had shares in Jiangnan Shipyard.
Then he pointed out the meaning of His Highness Taisun.
At this time, many family representatives were immediately unhappy.
"I said, Shopkeeper Zhang, this is too unruly. We are all doing sea trade here. This requires us to bring in some manpower. We also have to go overseas for farming and reclamation. We have to transport a certain amount of food back according to the standard every year. .”
"The manpower is enough, but the price of the food shipped back from overseas must be according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty market. There is no room for making money, and so much food will take up a lot of space in the cabin. Other goods have become less available.”
"This trip overseas is inherently risky. Not only will I not make much money in the end, I might even risk losing money."
With the first one complaining, there will naturally be a second and third one.
As a result, more and more people joined in.
Only a few leading representatives of the wealthy clans had no intention of speaking. They just sat there calmly and watched quietly how Shopkeeper Zhang would answer this question.
Even if it is His Highness Taisun's intention, if one person does not handle it well, it will easily cause trouble.
However, there is also a lot of emphasis on propriety here. If everyone opposes it and His Highness Taisun loses his temper, I am afraid things will not be so easy.
Everyone has learned about His Highness Taisun. Of course, there must be some leeway in this matter.
Although Uncle Zhang was from the Jurchen tribe, he had followed Zhu Ying all over the country for so many years. Whenever he discussed business, he would not avoid him. If he didn't understand anything, Zhu Ying would tell him some truth afterwards.
As time goes by, you will naturally understand more.
At the moment, I was drinking tea lightly, as if I couldn't hear the complaints around me.
When the voice slowly faded away, Uncle Zhang raised his head and looked around, and said slowly: "I mean, your eyes are like mice, and you can only see the immediate interests."
"But I don't think about it carefully, what His Highness Taisun means here."
"That's overseas. You are asked to bring people to buy land and plant it. What does this mean?"
"This means that you will have a large amount of land overseas. The outside world is not the territory of the Ming Dynasty. His Highness Taisun has given you such benefits and asked you to send some food back. What does this mean?"
As soon as these words came out, the surrounding area suddenly fell silent, and it was as if a new world had opened up.
Then the topic of the meeting began to change, and the trend changed drastically. They began to study the standards for delivering food every year, and never mentioned the matter just now.
(End of chapter)
