The queen is the master of the harem, and it is natural for her to appear anywhere in the harem. However, the reality is often not consistent with the theory or the name. Not only can the queen not do whatever she wants in the harem, but she is even restricted everywhere.
Her daily life was extremely regular. She was exactly where she was at what time and what she was doing. There was rarely anything out of the ordinary - of course, the other concubines in the harem were no exception, including the two The same goes for the Queen Mother.
Why is this so? Of course it's because of the ancestral system.
For the emperor's wives and concubines - of course, including the former emperor's wives and concubines, they nominally enjoy the most prominent status among women in the world, but as the saying goes, if you gain something, you must lose something, and they also have to pay for it.
Of course, the most important thing about this kind of sacrifice is not to give birth to children for the emperor - women who are traffickers and lackeys also have to give birth to children. Everyone gives birth to children. What makes you special? In fact, the most important thing for the emperor's women is to show the rules to everyone in the world, and by extension, the seriousness of strictly maintaining the rules.
Yes, all the shackles faced by the emperor and his entire family ultimately stem from the fact that they need to show the world the rules all the time, and at the same time show how they abide by the rules.
No matter what social structure it is, the reason why it is stable is that everyone in this organizational structure has a set of rules that they need to follow, and the vast majority of people do act in accordance with this set of rules.
In the era of feudal imperial power, the emperor at the top of the pyramid and the people around him were also restricted by rules. The reason was that they were watched by countless people, and every move they made was regarded as some kind of yardstick.
Therefore, people with higher status need to abide by the rules more, otherwise once they are exposed, it will have extremely negative effects: If you don't abide by the rules even if you have such a high status, why should I abide by them?
Therefore, abiding by the rules is essentially about maintaining imperial power. Not only the emperor himself was like this, but also the concubines in the harem.
The Empress has always been very strict with rules. For example, she must go to Ciqing Palace and Cining Palace to pay her respects to the Queen Mother of the two palaces every day, even when she is several months pregnant. But there was something unusual about today—it was the wrong time. In the past, the queen would pay her respects to the empress dowagers of the two palaces in the morning and in the evening. But this morning she had come as usual, but now it was almost noon. Why did she come at this time again? So it is obvious that the Queen must have other things to do here.
Empress Dowager Li was very satisfied with her daughter-in-law. When she heard that the queen had arrived, she immediately ordered: "Since the queen is here, invite her in quickly. It's still cold now, so don't freeze." The maid in Cining Palace Hearing this, he quickly made arrangements to welcome him. Not long after, Queen Wang came in from outside the palace.
At this time, Queen Mother Li was naturally still sitting upright, while Princess Yongning had already stood up to greet her, with a friendly smile on her face. Her Royal Highness the Princess has been on good terms with the Queen for many years, and this smile is not ceremonial.
After the Queen entered the room, she also saw Princess Yongning at the first sight. She also smiled and even nodded to her gently while walking, and then stepped forward to greet Queen Mother Li.
Empress Dowager Li said: "Queen, you should take more rest soon after giving birth. Why did you come here just this morning and now again? What do you want to say?"
The queen's face became solemn, and she suddenly knelt down respectfully and said, "I heard something unexpectedly today. After thinking about it over and over again, I finally decided that it is important and I must inform the Queen Mother."
Queen Mother Li opened her eyes wide, sat up straight, and said in great surprise: "Ah, what happened?"
The Queen Mother asked this question because the Queen's behavior was too formal. Although the Queen is a junior in front of the Queen Mother, because she is the master of the middle palace, generally speaking she does not need to be too restrained. In terms of self-proclaiming, you can call yourself "daughter-in-law" in casual conversation, or "my palace" in a more formal manner, but generally speaking, you will not call yourself "son-in-law."
Erchen, this self-proclaimed title directly refers to the emperor, that is, it refers to itself according to the standard of "the queen is the emperor's enemy". Generally speaking, it is only used in this way on extremely important occasions or events.
The Queen said sternly: "I have heard that the Emperor has allowed the great scholar Shen Yiguan to go south to Mount Tai and Nanjing today to prepare for the conferment of Zen and to pay homage to Taizu. I wonder if the Queen Mother has ever heard of it?"
Li Taihou was indeed surprised, but after thinking about it, she said: "The Ai family has never heard of it. However, this matter is a matter of government affairs. If there is anything wrong, the courtiers must give advice. You are here... "
Could it be that you didn’t know this was interfering in politics when you came here?
The queen always abides by the rules and will not interfere in politics randomly, so she immediately responded: "I have been serving the emperor for twenty-four years. Don't you know that the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics? I don't have any objection to this decision, but I have a problem." I have to ask about something related.”
It turns out that it’s not against the court’s decision, so that’s good, then it’ll be fine. Queen Mother Li breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said, "Then please tell me."
"Since the emperor inherited the throne, he has been diligent and conscientious, and his virtues and achievements have been outstanding. The whole court is generally very supportive of the matter of granting Zen. He has many sons and daughters, and he dare not say anything different. However, I heard that the matter of granting Zen will be completed in only one or two years at most. , so there is a problem - if the emperor leaves the capital and goes south, who can stay and guard it?"
After hearing this, Queen Mother Li suddenly realized that this was what happened.
Jushou means to stay and guard, especially when the emperor goes on an expedition or patrol, the prince, prince or important ministers are responsible for guarding the capital or traveling around, which is basically equivalent to supervising the country.
According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor travels far away, the person in charge of the country is basically the prince. In very rare periods, because there is no crown prince, the prince may supervise the country. As for the supervision of the country by important ministers, this has not happened yet, but it is theoretically possible.
The queen raised this question, and Queen Mother Li immediately understood what she meant: There is no prince yet. If the emperor goes south to Fengchan Taishan and visit Xiaoling, who will he look for to supervise the country?
You must know that there is not only no prince, but also no ready-made prince in the capital - the emperor's only younger brother is King Lu Zhu Yili, and according to general principles, only King Lu can supervise the country as a prince. However, we can't just call Prince Lu to the capital for this, right?
Besides, the power of the Ming Dynasty to supervise the country is very great, and King Lu's reputation in the feudal country is not very good. If he is really allowed to supervise the country, who will be responsible if something goes wrong?
The supervision system of the Ming Dynasty was first proposed by Zhu Yuanzhang, but because the prince Zhu Biao died young, it actually never appeared. Zhu Yuanzhang did not spend much effort on it, and the system was not complete. Later, when Zhu Di was in trouble, the system of supervising the country truly emerged and was gradually improved.
At that time, the King of Yan, Zhu Di, raised troops to suppress Jingnan on the grounds that the Qing emperor was sidelined. The crown prince of Yan, Zhu Gaochi, stayed in Peiping on Zhu Di's orders.
In this war, Zhu Gaochi used more than 10,000 horse power to block many fierce attacks by Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen who mobilized surrounding armies, making Zhu Di's worries disappear invisible.
When Zhu Di successfully invaded Nanjing and ascended the throne, he still ordered Zhu Gaochi to stay in Peiping. This not only exercised Zhu Gaochi's political and military talents, but also made Zhu Di's base camp Peiping as impregnable and stable as Mount Tai, providing a steady stream of reserve force support.
When Zhu Di ascended the throne, he did not immediately confer the title of crown prince, and only in the spring of the second year after he ascended the throne did he confer the crown prince Zhu Gaochi, the Crown Prince of Yan. Zhu Gaochi played an indispensable role in helping Zhu Di seize power in the Jingnan Campaign, but his process of being canonized as prince was quite tortuous.
Zhu Gaochi's biggest rival for the throne of prince was the Han king Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu was strong, proficient in riding and archery. He had been fighting in the army all year round. He had experienced hundreds of battles and won Zhu Di's favor.
Zhu Di was hesitant between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi. In the end, in order to stabilize the country's political power and gather people's support as soon as possible, he appointed Zhu Gaochi, who had been personally named the Crown Prince of Yan by Taizu as early as when he was King of Yan, as the crown prince.
The center of Zhu Di's sphere of power was Beiping Prefecture, so after Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, he had the idea of moving the capital to Beiping Prefecture. In the agricultural era, relocating the capital was a huge project that was very time-consuming and labor-intensive. In order to move the capital smoothly and train Prince Zhu Gaochi's ability to manage the country, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di decided to let Zhu Gaochi supervise the country on his behalf.
It is recorded in the history book: "I am patrolling Beijing today and order you to supervise the country. The affairs of the world are very important."
In the seventh year of Yongle, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the prince to supervise the country for the first time. He had great expectations for the prince to supervise the country. He also gave the superintendent considerable power and ordered the ministers to assist him, check for deficiencies and fill in the gaps, so as to govern the world. Things.
Regarding the various etiquette and scope of powers of the prince to supervise the country, further supplements and regulations were made in the 12th and 13th years of Yongle respectively, which clarified the difference between the power of the prince to supervise the country and the imperial power. It is known in history as the "Three Periods of Decision" rule".
During the reign of Chengzu Zhu Di, there were a total of six princes' supervision of the country, three before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, five of which were due to Zhu Di's personal expedition and one was a northern patrol. The longest one lasted three years and seven months, and the shortest one lasted only four months.
When Zhu Gaochi supervises the country on his behalf, he holds great power and has the right to appoint and remove state officials. Except for officials from the six central ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, local envoys and the royal palace, the prince can promote, demote, appoint or remove them according to laws and regulations. These are only personnel powers. Others, such as judicial powers, need not even be mentioned. They are basically "as if I were here in person".
Because of this, when the prince supervises the country, the emperor often leaves some close associates to assist the government - it is true that they are assistants, but they obviously also have the responsibility to supervise the prince. After all, with such a huge power, it is not particularly safe to hand it over to his own son, let alone a brother from another country?
Queen Mother Li is old, but she is not confused. Although she understood the meaning of the queen's words, she had already had a serious talk with the emperor not long ago. If she discussed government affairs with the emperor again so soon... she did not hope that she would make any obvious political interference. In the future, Qingshi leave a stigma.
"Well, this matter is indeed not a small matter, but our ancestors have their own way of doing things. There must be someone in the outer court who understands, right?" Queen Mother Li replied somewhat vaguely.
The queen was somewhat embarrassed after hearing this. There are some things that cannot be said, but it is best not for her to say them herself. Thinking of this, she seemed to be pondering, but she quietly glanced at Princess Yongning, with some hint of asking for help in her eyes.
Her Royal Highness the Princess has already completely guessed why the Queen arrived at such a good time. Obviously, he has long been an ally in the Queen's mind - whether he only represents himself, or represents a high-ranking elder, in short, he is an ally and a support that the Queen can rely on.
No wonder Gao Lang hurriedly asked me to enter the palace... Who is as talented as Gao Lang in the world?
Thinking of this, Princess Yongning, who had always been a little in love, even felt hot all over her body. She immediately made up her mind to fulfill Gao Lang's instructions beautifully and not to delay his important event.
"Oh, Queen Mother! What a coincidence, even my daughter heard what you said. The problem now is that once the emperor goes south, there will be no suitable person in Beijing who can supervise the country!"
Although Princess Yongning is already in her early thirties, how can her children grow up in the eyes of their mother? Let alone thirty, it is not against the rules for an eighty-year-old daughter to behave like a child to her hundred-year-old mother.
At this time, the secret message was pointed out by the eldest princess, and Queen Mother Li could no longer pretend to be dumb, so she could only say as if she had a "sudden realization": "Oh, it turns out to be a problem with the prison country! This is really important, but fortunately the same This is not the first time that this happened... As the Ai family watches, just follow the story of Shimiao."
The queen breathed a sigh of relief, but still glanced at Princess Yongning again. The eldest princess smiled slightly and said: "What the mother said is that in my daughter's opinion, this thing is really a coincidence, even the age difference seems to be there."
This requires an explanation of the so-called "Shimiao Story" - it refers to Emperor Jiajing's southern tour, which was also the last Ming Dynasty emperor to go out to Beijing for a hunting tour in original history.
History books have different evaluations of the tours of different emperors. For example, the tours of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty were described in history books with derogatory connotations. However, the tours of Kangxi were rarely described in history books with such derogatory connotations. The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty alone visited the south of the Yangtze River six times. In comparison, the number of visits by the Ming Dynasty emperors was undoubtedly less.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle and Emperor Xuande visited the north, which was regarded by later generations as necessary to protect the north and was highly praised. However, the Yingzong wanted to imitate his ancestors and lead the expedition himself, but he fell into a tragic fate and became a prisoner of the Mongols. His face was disgraced. Most of them are blamed for future generations.
It is indeed inappropriate to rush to conquer personally. However, based on the current situation, we can find that Mongolia at that time was composed of Oara and Tatar. Mongolia had achieved formal unity, and the hero also had the ambition to recover. It can be said that what Yingzong faced was The most powerful Mongolia since the late Yuan Dynasty.
When Emperor Yongle personally conquered Mobei and attacked the Oara in the west, he also fought against the Oara and Tatar tribes, unwilling to make them enemies at the same time. When Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty personally conquered Galdan, he only fought against the Oara tribe. When Qianlong pacified Mongolia, he only defeated the Wala of the original Ming Dynasty. At that time, Moxi Mongolia was experiencing serious civil strife.
It can be seen that although Ming Yingzong's subjective mistakes were on one side, the objective situation at that time was also on the other side. The Ming army of the Yingzong Dynasty could barely defend and had no spare power to attack.
But in any case, because the Ming Dynasty almost fell due to the Yingzong's personal conquest, later court officials were very wary of the Ming Emperor staying away from the capital, fearing that their failure to persuade them would delay the country. For this reason, the ministers of the Ming Dynasty were very resistant to the emperor's hunting tours in the capital. Even if the weather in the Forbidden City was hot and the emperor went to Xiyuan and other places to cool off, the ministers felt that they could not stay there for a long time.
The reason is that when the emperor went on hunting tours or went to the suburbs to recuperate, he ultimately left the Forbidden City, the center of power. Chang Chao and others were inevitably affected, and it was more difficult for the emperor's words and deeds to be seen by the courtiers, making the ministers uneasy!
By the time of Zhengde, Wu Zong was famous for his hunting tours, including many southern, northern and western tours. However, historians often derogatory evaluations of him, thinking that he loved to play and that his tours were purely a waste of people and money. This evaluation is obviously biased. .
The word "hunting" was originally created for emperors. There is nothing wrong with hunting in itself. The key depends on what the emperor did during the patrol. It cannot be said that Wu Zong's northern patrol was not helpful to the defense of the north. At least the emperor's personal visit to the front line certainly caused harassment, but it also must have given great encouragement to the soldiers in the north.
During the reign of Emperor Zhengde, the Ming Dynasty faced Dayan Khan, the leader of the Mongol resurgence. Dayan Khan unified Eastern Mongolia and comprehensively oppressed the northern Ming Dynasty. Historical sources often call Dayan Khan the "little prince." When Emperor Zhengde visited the nine borders in the north, was he not worried about the situation in the north? Playing may be one side, but thinking about the country must also be one side.
If the emperor only went to Xiyuan and Xishan on the outskirts of Beijing to escape the summer heat, or went to Changping to pay a visit to the mausoleum, then it could not be regarded as a hunting tour. After all, he did not even go out of the capital, and there was no talk of inspecting civilian and military affairs. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty left Beijing for a hunting tour, which was Emperor Jiajing's southern tour in the 18th year of Jiajing's reign. After that, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, and Tianqi did not leave Beijing for inspection, and at most they went to Xiachangping.
Emperor Longqing had no time to move, because in the early days of his rule, Anda Khan broke through the border frequently and went to Shanxi and other places to plunder. In the later period, although Anda paid tribute, his body collapsed and he did not have the strength to move even if he wanted to. .
Emperor Wanli didn't like to move. After the Anda tribute occurred in the original history, the relationship between Ming and Mongolia was relatively harmonious, but Emperor Wanli went as far as Changping to visit the ancestral mausoleum. Later, a cold war broke out with hundreds of officials because of the dispute over the country's origins, so naturally he had no intention of leaving Beijing.
Emperor Taichang didn't have time to do anything, because his reign was too short, so I won't talk about it. During the reign of Emperor Tianqi, Houjin had already risen and lacked the external conditions for a tour. During the Chongzhen period, the Hou Jin and Mongolian coalition forces visited the Ming Dynasty's capital every few years, and even went as far as Jinan, Shandong to capture King De. Emperor Chongzhen did not dare to move.
In fact, in the last years of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen once had the idea of hunting in the south. However, the situation developed too quickly. The Dashun Army defeated Shanxi, Datong, Xuanfu, and Juyongguan with lightning speed. He was also worried that his southern tour would be embarrassing. After hesitation, the southern tour was hopeless in the end, and Ming's death was not far away!
Everyone is familiar with the story of Emperor Jiajing's rise from vassal to emperor, so I won't go into details. In short, during the Qingming Festival when people worshiped their ancestors, Jiajing could not visit the Xianling Mausoleum in person because it was too far away. Now that he was already the emperor, Emperor Jiajing thought to himself: Wouldn't it be enough to move his biological father's mausoleum to Beijing?
He asked the ministers to discuss the matter of moving the mausoleum. Xia Yan, who was the Minister of Rites at the time, said: "Emperor Xingxian's body has been buried for a long time. If we open the mausoleum rashly, we are afraid that the aura of the mausoleum will be released, and Emperor Xingxian will not be willing to do so." That's it!" Emperor Jiajing was afraid that his good intentions would be branded as unfilial, so he temporarily gave up moving the mausoleum.
At the end of the 17th year of Jiajing, the Empress Dowager Jiang, the biological mother of Emperor Jiajing, passed away. The Queen Mother said before her death: "Son, please be sure to bury me and your father together." Emperor Jiajing remembered his will and wanted to move the Xianling Mausoleum to Dayu Mountain in Beijing. However, a report came from Chengtian Mansion saying that the Xianlingxuan Palace was flooded due to water seepage and it might be difficult to relocate.
Jiajing was shocked when he heard this. Chengtian was the place where he made his fortune, and Xianling was the tomb of his biological father. He couldn't let his old father feel uneasy when he was in hell! So regardless of the objections of the ministers, in the 18th year of Jiajing's reign, he led Xia Yan, Yan Song and other civil and military officials to visit Tianfu in Huguang City south to inspect the situation of Mingming Tomb.
This southern tour was not only the last hunting tour of Emperor Ming, but also the story of a young prince taking over the country. Princess Yongning just said that "even the age difference seems to be different", which is what she said: the prince that year was only Four years old.
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