"Your Majesty, this is the memorial sent by His Royal Highness Prince Fu from Guangzhou." Huang Xiaobao, the eunuch of the Chief of Ceremonies, stood behind Zhu Cihong and handed a memorial that had been sent to the East Lake Palace early this morning to Zhu Cihong who was having breakfast.
Opposite the dining table sits Queen Wu Sanmei. Emperor Zhu spent the night in Wu Sanmei's Kunning Hall last night. Now the couple is having breakfast together in the restaurant of Kunning Hall. Wu Sanmei, who is 38 years old this year and has given birth to two sons and three daughters for Zhu Cixiang, still has a status that no one can shake in the harem and in the hearts of her husband. Although Zhu Cixiang is a little dissatisfied with her "Silly Baitian", there are also many lovable things about "Silly Baitian". For example, after giving birth to five children, you can still maintain the body of a mature woman with infinite charm... This is the result of long-term exercise. Wu Sanmei doesn't know how much she sweated and suffered!
For another example, she is not very jealous. Except for her cold relationship with Zheng Chagu, the other concubines have a good relationship with her.
Another example is that Wu Sanmei rarely expressed opinions on government affairs unless she served as regent. Unlike the emperors before the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang did not object to the harem's participation in politics. He allowed his concubines to express their opinions on government affairs, and even actively solicited their opinions under certain circumstances.
Of course, these "certain situations" are usually a bit special. For example, Zhu Cixiang will seek the advice of Tokugawa Takako when dealing with Japan-related affairs, and will seek the advice of Zheng Chagu when dealing with Nanyang and maritime affairs. , will seek Kim Dongzhu's opinion on matters related to North Korea and Manchuria...and Wu Sanmei, as the queen, can make suggestions to Zhu Cixiang on all issues!
But Wu Sanmei can do it, but it doesn't mean what Zhu Cixiang really wants her to do.
This is actually a "convention" prepared by Zhu Cixi for future generations of monarchs. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the monarch of the pro-vassal state (vassal state) need one or several spouses who can participate in politics (limited to the queen, the prince's biological mother and the mother of the pro-vassal state leader) , in order to assume the responsibility of regent when the monarch dies young.
Therefore, in Zhu Cihong's harem, the concubines who were allowed to participate in politics to a certain extent were all women who had the opportunity to become regents. If Zhu Cixiang died prematurely, his Ming Empire and the vassal states where his sons should be kings would need these women to take power.
If Zhu Cixiang could live until his sons grew up, then this system of harem participation in politics would also be passed down, and it would come into play sooner or later. Taking into account the speed of human medical progress and the number of crowns owned by the Zhu Ming Dynasty, the situation of being crowned at a young age will definitely occur, and it is not a small probability event!
Zhu Cihong was very satisfied with Wu Sanmei's performance on the issue of political participation. She always asked questions and rarely expressed opinions, just like an open-minded student.
Another aspect that satisfied Emperor Zhu was that Wu Sanmei never sought financial benefits for her brothers who had little financial sense...
While Emperor Zhu lowered his head to read the memorial, Wu Sanmei took a newspaper clipping from Huang Xiaobao's hand and began to read. This newspaper clipping was sent by someone from the Hanlin Academy. It collects important news published in the local newspapers of Wuhan Prefecture and foreign newspapers (the foreign newspapers are not from that day) that were sent this morning.
Zhu Cixiang, who has many things to do, usually does not read the newspaper clippings in person. Instead, the woman who sleeps with him reads them to him while he is having breakfast. Sometimes Zhu Cixi would multitask, listening to newspaper clippings, eating breakfast, and reading memorials - being an emperor was still very hard, twelve hours a day, except when he fell asleep, it was basically working time, Lian He The concubines held hands to create a successor for Ming Dynasty!
But Zhu Cixiang never complained...No one in his line of work is afraid of hard work. They are all people who truly regard working day and night as a blessing.
That lucky king Zhu Cixi was also a younger brother who didn't understand his brother's hard work, and added a little more work pressure to the already busy Zhu Cixi - an Indian princess with both beauty and wisdom!
Princess Nisha has followed Zhu Cibing to Guangzhou and is now on her way north to Wuhan.
In addition, the dowry brought by Princess Nisha and the cash portion of her personal property have now been deposited in two branches in Guangzhou... which is about a few million taels of silver!
Just when Zhu Cixiang wanted to discuss with Wu Sanmei about holding a wedding for himself and Nisha, and building two Indian-style mansions for Princess Nisha, located in East Lake Palace and Laoshan Palace, he saw the head guard Wu Yingxiong hurriedly appeared. At the door of the restaurant.
In addition to being Zhu Cihong's guard, the foreman guard is also one of his military adjutants, responsible for the liaison between the Grand Marshal's Mansion and the Jinyi Guards and Zhu Cihong.
Zhu Cixiang quickly waved to Wu Yingxiong, who immediately walked quickly to him, bowed to him, and then reported: "Your Majesty, please see Zhu Weishuai of the Imperial Guard."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and ordered: "Make arrangements to meet him before noon."
"I accept the order." Wu Yingxiong handed another wax-sealed envelope to Huang Xiaobao, then turned and left.
Huang Xiaobao immediately tore off the wax seal, took out the memorial inside, and handed it to Zhu Cihong with both hands. This memorial is Zhu Chunjie's secret memorial, and it reports what he will say when he is summoned later.
Zhu Cihong opened the memorial and started to read it, his brows gradually furrowed. After reading for a while, he closed the memorial, handed it to Huang Xiaobao, and ordered: "Keep the secret file... and then go to Xuan Yuchen, the admiral of Dongchang." Meet with Zhu Chunjie."
"Your servant accepts the decree." Huang Xiaobao put away the memorial, responded, and turned around to deliver Emperor Zhu's oral instructions.
The East Police Agency was once reduced to Zhu Cihong's internal bodyguard. However, after the older generation of eunuchs who had overcome difficulties gradually aged and could no longer take on the work of internal security, they began to transform into a secret service agency again. It has now become a small secret service agency directly under the palace. It cannot be compared with the huge Jin Yiwei, but it is also very important. Moreover, this agency and the Jinyiwei are two lines that do not intersect with each other. The Jinyiwei belongs to the Generalissimo's Office and is a military department. Its members are basically from the army. It is mainly responsible for the collection of military intelligence and the elimination of unrest within the army.
The members of the East Police Factory are all from the private sector, that is, Jianghu, and are mainly responsible for catching rebels among the private sector - the focus of the work is Yingtian Mansion and Wuhan Mansion!
On the morning of September 28, the leaders of the two major spy agencies appeared in a large study room on the second floor of Qinzheng Hall at the same time - this is Zhu Cixang's office.
"Your Majesty, there were White Lotus sect activities in Hanzhong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Yunyang, Huguang. During the chaos in the Chongzhen year, many White Lotus sect demons there also followed suit and joined the bandits. Therefore, when the bandits stole Sichuan and Shaanxi, After Hanzhong, Gongchang, Yunyang in Hubei and other places, some White Lotus sect demons in Sichuan, Huguang, and southern Shaanxi received rewards and became pseudo-officials of rogue bandits. As a result, the White Lotus Sect was able to spread openly in the areas under the jurisdiction of rogue bandits. There are also more and more believers. However, there are few followers who believe in the White Lotus Sect, and most of them are poor lower-class Sichuan people..."
The person who was introducing the development of the White Lotus Sect in Dashun to Zhu Cihong was Zhu Chunjie who took the initiative to invite him.
"Why do so few soldiers believe in the White Lotus Sect?" Zhu Cixiang asked, "Isn't the White Lotus Sect in Shanshan and Shaanxi also causing trouble?"
"Your Majesty," Zhu Chunjie said, "the teachings of the White Lotus Sect have little meaning to the people at the top, but they can easily attract the poor people at the bottom. Therefore, most of the soldiers on the rogue side do not believe in the White Lotus Sect, but the poor Sichuan people dream about Maitreya. Going down to earth, all people can turn over... There is almost no way for the poor people on the bandits to turn over. In addition, the orthodox Confucianism has declined, so there are particularly many people who believe in the White Lotus Sect. In recent years, there have been White Lotus followers from time to time. Gathering people to make trouble. Therefore, the White Lotus Sect is becoming more and more miserable among the rogue bandits, and is almost on the verge of being banned. If the imperial court can give appropriate support to the White Lotus Sect within the rogue bandits, maybe they can cause a big fuss."
