Zhu Cixiang was still smiling, not to cover up the fear in his heart, but to leave a good impression on his future father-in-law...
Since Wu Xiang has a daughter who has not left the court, what else can Zhu Cixi be polite about? Of course she has to be taken into the harem. Not only will Wu Xiang’s daughter be taken away, but if she encounters Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Zuo Liangyu, Zheng Zhilong, etc. in the future, she will not let them go. They will all become their own father-in-law, Lao Taishan!
Who left Zhu Cixi without money, soldiers or strength? Apart from his righteousness, he could only sell his body!
Fortunately, Zhu Cixi's body was still very valuable. Not only was he good-looking, but he was also the heir to the Ming Dynasty.
Even if several military leaders want to be Cao Cao, they still have to give their daughters to Zhu Cixiang to sleep with! Didn’t Cao Cao’s three daughters all give to the Han Emperor?
"Your Highness is not afraid, so why should you be afraid of the people who have fought with me and my son?" Wu Xiang answered respectfully, "My father and my son have been servants for decades, and they are both heroes who have been fighting with the captives for half their lives. They can be used for this purpose. Protect His Highness and the Holy One from the capital!"
Wu Sanfu also said: "Your Highness, please rest assured. I am willing to protect Your Highness and protect His Majesty's safety no matter what."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and smiled approvingly: "With the presence of the Admiral and his son, I will feel relieved. Wang Banban, what did the Queen Mother ask you to tell Admiral Wu?"
Wang Chengen immediately took over the topic and said with a smile: "The Queen heard that Admiral Wu has a daughter who has not yet been betrothed to another family. She is sixteen years old this year, right?"
Wu Xiang was stunned again and again. What does it mean? Why are you asking about your daughter? Is it possible to protect the matchmaker for the third sister? Who to marry? The son of Zhou’s father-in-law’s family?
"Yes, yes... the younger sister, the third sister, is sixteen years old this year. She had been engaged to be married before, but unfortunately her fiancé was killed in Liaodong."
Wu Xiang lied. Wu Sanmei's fiancé was a son of the ancestral family who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty after the Songjin War.
"What a pity," Wang Chengen sighed, "But it doesn't matter, as long as you haven't married, you are not considered a widow."
Wu Sanmei is considered to be an outcast. If you are born into a very old-fashioned scholar-bureaucrat's family, you sometimes have to observe the rules, but Wu Xiang's family doesn't talk about this.
"That's natural." Wu Xiang responded.
Wang Chengen glanced at Zhu Cihong, who nodded heavily at him. The honest eunuch gritted his teeth and said, "So the queen wants the third sister of the admiral's family to enter the palace and serve the prince... as a talented person!"
Why is he a talented person? Zhu Cixiang frowned. Of course, you have to work hard to use the beauty trick. Although there is only one level difference between the crown prince and the crown prince, their treatment is very different.
The princess will be the queen in the future, and if she gives birth to a son, she will be the prince, and Wu Xiang will be the prince's maternal ancestor... So when Zhu Cixiang and Wang Chengen discussed it, they wanted Wu Sanmei to be the princess.
However, Wang Chengen thought about it and felt it was inappropriate. He was afraid that he would not be able to pass the civil and military tests of Chongzhen and the Manchu Dynasty, so he demoted Wu Sanmei by one level.
Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu over there were still dumbfounded.
Wu Sanmei is just a girl from the general family. She grew up outside the customs. She is proficient in riding horses, archery, dancing, spears, and sticks, but she doesn't know how to read or be polite. She was made to be a general's wife. She could draw her bow and go into battle when the enemy attacked her, and she could also ride a horse to break out of the encirclement.
But how could such a girl enter the palace and serve the prince?
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had its own ancestral system and did not choose the daughters of high-ranking officials as concubines.
"Gong Du, I have the title of Zuo Dudu. Can my daughter enter the palace?" Wu Xiang asked, while looking at the prince, and saw that Zhu Cixiang still had a gentle smile on his face, and a sense of confidence that he could overcome all difficulties. To be honest, I'm really excited.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looks like the king of Ming Dynasty and ZTE!
His daughter has followed him, and she will at least be a concubine in the future... She is the head of the country, and she has thousands of servants. She is not a person walking around in Jiangnan? Maybe they can even let their grandson become the prince, then it will really be Wu and Zhu, sharing the south of the Yangtze River!
Thinking of this, Wu Xiang complained a little bit about Chongzhen again. With such good conditions, why didn’t you mention them when we were summoned in February? If the third sister entered the palace in February, the second brother's army would have arrived in Beijing long ago...
"Admiral, these are extraordinary times!" Zhu Cixiang interjected, "The Zhu and Wu families should work together to overcome the difficulties."
Wu Xiang was still a little embarrassed, "Your Highness, it's just that the little girl lacks discipline. I'm afraid she will break the rules after entering the palace."
"It doesn't matter," Zhu Cixi said with a smile, "I will discipline my third sister for my father-in-law, Lao Taishan."
They all called him father-in-law... Wu Xiang was really embarrassed to refuse. After all, Zhu Cixiang is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty!
Wu Xiang finally nodded, "If His Highness likes my daughter, I will dedicate her to the palace... It's just that the Tian family has its own rules for taking concubines. Now that the matter is urgent, what should we do?"
Wang Chengen said: "As long as the admiral agrees, the edict will be issued. Now that the matter is urgent, I should keep it simple. When the car arrives at the capital, I will make up for the edict."
The so-called "central edict" refers to an edict issued directly from the palace without being drafted by the cabinet or approved by the emperor. From a legal perspective, there is a problem. It can even be said to be an illegal decree!
Moreover, using Zhongzhi to recruit talents for the prince also violates the rules and will most likely be protested by the cabinet.
It is precisely for this reason that Wang Chengen did not dare to promise the princess to Wu Sanmei, but only dared to find a talented person.
However, even if you are a talented person, it is against the rules to accept it privately. Not to mention talented people, even palace maids must be ordered by the emperor to the cabinet, and then drafted by the cabinet, approved by the emperor, and handled by the Ministry of Rites.
Of course, the situation now is special! Beijing is about to lose its defense. The emperor said it was Nanxing, but in fact he was fleeing. It’s hard to say how many people from the Cabinet and the Sixth Ministry can escape. It would probably not be appropriate to issue an edict using the method of cabinet vote and emperor's approval.
However, it was impossible for Wu Xiang to send his daughter up just based on Zhu Cixiang's words... At least it was impossible under the current circumstances. If he escaped from Beijing, there would be no problem.
So Zhu Cixiang decided to make a time lag, first recognize Wu Xiang as his father-in-law, and then go through the formalities after leaving the city - as long as he caught Wu Xiang and controlled the soldiers and horses escorting him to escape, Zhu Cixiang could choose the courtiers to follow.
In other words, if the few bachelors in the cabinet are not obedient, they can be replaced by officials from the East Palace system, and then they can naturally order concubines.
Wu Xiang didn't know that Zhu Cixiang was making the decision without authorization. He thought Emperor Chongzhen wanted to win over him, so he asked the prince to accept Wu Sanmei as a talented person. Although it is against the rules, the escort is about to escape, so why are there so many rules?
When Li Zicheng breaks through the city of Beijing, does he still need the emperor to issue an edict, the cabinet votes to be drafted, and the emperor to approve before he can escape? Will we still be able to find those people in the cabinet by then? If you can't find it, why don't you just run away?
"Okay!" Wu Xiang said with a smile, "It's a deal! Now is an extraordinary period, and the official will not talk about any red tape. As soon as the decree comes, the little girl will be allowed to enter the palace to serve."
"It's great!" Zhu Cixiang clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Old Taishan is really bold. Although my son-in-law grew up in a palace, he likes bold people most in his life. If my daughter's temperament follows that of her father-in-law, she and my son-in-law will definitely get along. When we get to Jiangnan, my son-in-law will straighten up his daughter, and we will be a family from now on."
Straightened up...she is the queen!
Wu Xiang laughed so hard that he couldn't even close his mouth. This is heaven-shaking wealth! The daughter is the queen, and the son is in charge of the military. The Wu family will be half of the masters of Jiangnan's colorful world in the future.
However, while Wu Xiang was ecstatic, he also knew what was going on. What His Highness the Crown Prince is interested in is not his daughter's bold temperament... She hasn't even met her in person, so how can she say she will get along or not?
Isn’t it the Wu family’s military power that the prince is interested in?
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a great reputation, but he does not have a good army at hand. It is inevitable that he will be bullied by Xiaoxiao when he arrives in the south of the Yangtze River. The Wu family has 3,000 servants, which cannot be used to fight against the captives. They should be able to deal with the bandits for a while, and deal with several general soldiers in the south... Maybe Huang Degong's Yongwei Battalion can compete with their own. No one else is a problem!
And Yongweiying is a direct descendant of the royal family, so naturally he listens to the prince and the emperor. Also protected by the Wu family and the Yongwei camp, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains may be difficult. But there shouldn’t be any problem if we divide the river to govern it, right?
After all, Lu Chou doesn’t have any naval forces. Otherwise, how could Ningyuan Town’s food and wages be transported by sea?
As for the rogue bandits, they all wandered around the Central Plains and the northwest, but they could not go south of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, escorting Nan Xing is the best way out for the Wu family. If they can still make their daughter the future queen, then the Wu family will make a lot of money.
