There was a hint of joking in these words, and Zhu Qiyu could tell that Wu was trying his best to ease the heavy atmosphere brought about by the previous topic.
However, there was no joke on his face, and he asked instead: "If the draft can allow the Supreme Emperor to stay in Nangong peacefully, why not?"
Queen Mother Wu was stunned, but she didn't expect that Zhu Qiyu would nod after casually speaking.
In surprise, she said, somewhat dumbfounded.
"How is this possible? Not to mention that he has returned from the north. At this moment, the draft will definitely be reviled. Even if he is selected, how can a few women make him feel at ease?"
"The Ai family remembers that you once said that there are many people in the court waiting for him to come back. How can they sit back and watch the Supreme Emperor stay peacefully in Nangong?"
Human desires are endless. The so-called lying drunk on the knees of a beautiful woman and waking up to dominate the world is a man's ambition.
The reason why people in both the government and the public have been agitating for public opinion that Zhu Qiyu does not want the Supreme Emperor to return to the court is because this kind of public opinion has room for growth.
The Ming Dynasty had never had an emperor, so there was no precedent to follow.
Although there is superiority and inferiority in etiquette and law, there is nothing in the specific regulations, and everyone can only feel their way forward.
Blank space means ambiguity, which means that, without violating the basic principles of etiquette and law, many things have great room for maneuver.
Take this welcome ceremony as an example. Since there is no precedent, it is understandable that the emperor welcomes the emperor in the palace. It is also necessary to make a big fanfare and to offer sacrifices to heaven in the suburbs of Beijing. It is not inappropriate to be extremely grand.
In other words, even if it is as simple as taking a small sedan chair and sending it directly to the Nangong Palace, the most it will do is be scolded for disrespecting the emperor. If you want to come up with concrete examples and regulations to refute, there is no way.
This is just the beginning, there will definitely be more things like this in the future.
After the Supreme Emperor returns to the court, during the New Year and festivals, will all the officials have to pay homage and pay homage, and will the emperor have to pay his respects at dawn and dusk?
When the government encounters undecided matters, does the Supreme Emperor have the qualifications to participate? If the Supreme Emperor issues a decree to the emperor or courtiers, must it be obeyed, or can the six subjects also refute it.
All of this was blank before.
Only when they encounter each other, the courtiers quarrel, discuss, and argue, can they eventually form a routine and follow the rules.
Therefore, the return of the Supreme Emperor to the dynasty will inevitably conflict with the current political situation. There is no doubt about this, and it is not even decided by the Supreme Emperor himself.
As Empress Dowager Wu said, there are many people in the court who want to make profits, and they will not let the Supreme Emperor really stay in Nangong peacefully.
Hearing this, Zhu Qiyu sighed, which was quite a pity, and said.
"Actually, it would be a good thing if the Supreme Emperor understood the truth and agreed to the draft. But then again, it doesn't really matter whether you choose or not. What is supposed to come will eventually come."
Queen Mother Wu frowned and asked with some confusion: "Then you still..."
Zhu Qiyu obviously knew what Empress Dowager Wu was wondering about, so he smiled gently and said.
"The draft for the Supreme Emperor is my wish. If the Empress Dowager Sun refuses on behalf of the Supreme Emperor, just refuse. However, there are some things that Sun will not be able to stop if she wants to."
As he spoke, Zhu Qiyu looked at Queen Mother Wu with an inexplicable expression and continued.
"My mother-in-law was worried just now that the Emperor is about to return. Yun Niang cannot arrange the service, sweeping, and decoration in various places in the Nangong. In fact, she does not need to arrange it. I have already ordered the many maids who will accompany the Emperor in the Nangong."
Now, Queen Mother Wu was really interested.
She had previously wanted Hang to assist in palace affairs. Of course she wanted to promote Hang, but even if she wanted to promote her, she needed an opportunity.
The return of the Supreme Emperor to the dynasty was actually an opportunity.
Nangong may sound obscure, but in fact, it is a huge palace complex that was originally built by Emperor Taizong for Emperor Xuanzong, who was still the grandson of the emperor at the time.
Therefore, all the corresponding specifications are based on the East Palace. After that, Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, it was renovated and expanded, and its area was half the size of the harem.
Such a place has not been inhabited for a long time, and all of a sudden it has to be renovated, cleaned, decorated, and arranged to serve. The affairs are naturally complicated.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Wu asked Hang to be the co-manager because she was indeed worried that the Empress would be too busy.
However, she did not expect that the emperor would personally intervene in the matter.
After all, during this period, Zhu Qiyu's energy was always focused on the outer court, and he basically never participated in the affairs of the harem.
More importantly, Empress Dowager Wu had previously purged Empress Dowager Sun's staff in the palace, and naturally she had to replace them with a group of her own personnel, intentionally or unintentionally.
Therefore, she cannot be said to be fully aware of all the goings-on in the inner palace, but she can get the general news immediately.
Before today, she only knew that the queen had been busy arranging servants and eunuchs to serve in the Nangong, but she had never heard that the emperor also selected people in the inner palace.
You know, Nangong is so big and requires a lot of manpower. If the emperor's concubine moves there, at most he will take his personal maid with him. It is impossible to move the entire palace.
Even an ordinary concubine, as long as she can occupy the position of the master of a palace, there will be no less than a hundred palace maids and eunuchs serving her.
However, most of these people are on rotating duty and belong to the twenty-four yamen of the inner palace and are under the jurisdiction of the queen.
Every once in a while, these internal eunuchs would be adjusted back and forth in various palaces and yamen according to the situation.
Those who are really fixed in each palace are only a dozen or so who serve personally.
Queen Mother Sun said that she would arrange the people to serve, which actually means these people.
No matter how many people there are, there is no point in arranging them because they may be transferred away at any time.
Besides, she couldn't find so many confidants.
This is what Queen Mother Wu is most confused about. Even if it is only to arrange the manpower to serve the Supreme Emperor, apart from the personal servants hired by Queen Mother Sun, there will be hundreds of people left.
But the problem is...
"When did you appoint the person? If this matter is to be taken care of, there will be a lot of noise. Why hasn't the Ai family heard anything about it?"
Seeing Empress Dowager Wu's confused look, Zhu Qiyu did not continue to show off and said.
"It's normal for the concubine not to get wind of it, because these people are not ordered from the inner palace."
Queen Mother Wu's face darkened and her voice became a little unhappy as she asked.
"Is it possible that because of the Nangong incident, you ordered people to recruit palace maids outside again?"
This is not a good thing.
Not to mention that repeatedly expanding the number of people in the harem would lead to impeachment by the courtiers, the mere selection of maids into the palace itself was an easy matter to be scolded.
Except for a few of the eunuchs and maids serving in the palace who were imprisoned due to crimes, the greater part were selected from civilian families.
In principle, there is no force, but in fact, when many officials do it, it can easily turn into raping women.
These bad reputations will only feed back to the emperor in the end.
At the end of the last draft, Empress Dowager Wu specially issued an order to give money to all the show girls who participated in the draft, and send them home properly for remarriage, just to avoid having a bad impact on Zhu Qiyu's reputation.
Faced with Empress Dowager Wu's sinking expression, Zhu Qiyu said calmly.
"Mother and concubine, don't worry. It's true that people are not recruited in the palace, but they are not recruited separately either."
Empress Dowager Wu was not in the mood to joke anymore and asked directly.
"Then tell the Ai family, where do people come from? They can't just be conjured out of thin air?"
Zhu Qiyu's expression remained calm and he softly uttered a few words.
"Jiaofang Secretary."
