When the time entered October of the fourth year of Wanli, the second batch of crops of the first batch of immigrants from the Northeast had been harvested and all dried. Huolin of Huojiabao held the first wedding among Northeastern immigrants on September 20th. Less than half a month after the wedding, the bride Yu'er was deftly breaking off the corn in the large courtyard covering an area of two and a half acres with a belly that did not need to be concealed.
Old Mrs. Huo was wearing a wolf-skin coat and was sitting on a wooden bench at the edge of the yard, watching a group of strong men and village women slapping the beans on the flat ground with grain lids. The rotating wooden shaft on the top of the grain cover was made by a carpenter, and the work of braiding the racket with wooden sticks and leather ropes must be done by Huo Laosi's handiwork.
The racket rotates according to a unique rhythm at the front end of the long pole, and with the sound of trumpets, it hits the dry bean pole neatly and powerfully. The plump pods that have been sun-dried and broken at the touch of a touch are shaken open with just the right force, and the soybeans are He jumped out in a hurry.
Old Mrs. Huo felt that he could never see enough of such a scene in his seventy-three years of life. The noise in the courtyard, the late autumn wind that already had a hint of chill, and the infinitely satisfying fragrance of the food all made him intoxicated.
At Huo Lin's wedding, the old man drank wine brewed by the Huo family for the first time in his life. Wang Peng bought the wine starter as a gift to Huojiabao, saying that if there was more food, it would be good to make some wine to keep out the cold. In order to introduce this wine, Huo Da and his family also went to learn how to brew local wine.
Huojiabao, who had never had a large vat to display the results of Huo Da's studies, finally replaced dozens of pottery vats in Daning with a whole truckload of last year's old grain in July of the fourth year of Wanli.
After learning the result of the transaction, Huo Laoshuan and others who went out to buy a tank cried stupidly and scolded them for being prodigal. Huo Laoshuan argued that the potter's door was crowded with people, all of whom were bringing grain to exchange for big vats - why was this the only one selling vats in Daning! There is little food in Daning now in July. If the autumn harvest happens, it will be good if one cart of food can replace two tanks!
When he learned that those large tanks had become the scarcest resource in the entire Daning, Old Madam Huo suddenly had an idea. Then he ordered every household not to use large tanks to hold water for the time being, but to use wooden barrels brought from Shandong. These large vats will be used to make wine, and Huojiabao will be able to make money during his second winter in the Northeast!
He was inspired by the six Huo men who were left in the Northeast to look after grain last year. They almost froze to death in their three-story adobe thatched house. Fortunately, Huolin's father-in-law dug out a pile of wolf and fox skins and saved their lives, otherwise these few would never see the spring sun.
The old lady who had moved all her belongings from Shandong for the second time had heard the blood and tearful accusations of these men.
Because of their inexperience, the six men living in one house failed to clean up the first heavy snow in time. As a result, they did not open the door after getting up in the morning, and the wooden windows were frozen. They were unable to get food from the granary, and the firewood burned out quickly. Just when they were forced to break out of the window due to cold and hunger, Tong Chunqing, who came to visit, opened the snow and rescued them.
The old lady thought at that time that these fools had nothing to say. I, an old man, have lived for more than seventy years and have never encountered snow that prevents me from opening the door. Is the Northeast so evil? Later, when it was confirmed by Yu'er that it was indeed true, the old lady took a sharp breath of cold air in the spring. ——The idea of making wine and selling it for money was born from this.
Huo Da received the old lady's instructions. After making more than a dozen jars of vinegar, he finally mastered the trick - corn wine cannot be brewed in summer. Therefore, on Huolin's wedding day, he scooped out the first ladle of yellow turbid wine from the vat. The old man tasted it first, and then drank a large bowl. The result was tragic. The old man fell ill on the second day of the wedding and almost became the first Huo family member to be buried in the Northeast.
Huo Taigong recovered from the illness and was lucky to have no sequelae, but his family judged that it would be difficult to work in the future. Today is the fifth day since he recovered. Because he had to beat beans, he put on a thick wolfskin coat and went out to watch the fun.
He knew in his heart that he might not be able to survive this winter in the Northeast where there was a lack of medical treatment. However, looking at Yu'er breaking off the corn, the old man felt very happy. It was he, the old coffin man named Huo Feng, who found a piece of land for the old Huo family in the late autumn, which was enough to settle down and live. ——In this life, he has never been so satisfied as he is today.
If the old man had watched "Faust", he might have shouted today: This moment is so beautiful, please stay forever!
Although the old lady couldn't shout these words, her mood at this time was the same as Faust's.
...
At the end of November, Xiyuan was already covered in silver. In the newly built and beautiful Yiluan Hall, Zhu Yijun's mood was similar to that of Mrs. Huo in October. ——The fifty beauties who finally passed through layers of selection will accept the final round of selection by the Queen Mother and the Emperor of the two palaces today.
In this grand draft, starting from the time when the emperor tied his hair, the two palaces immediately issued an edict banning marriage in the whole country - the date of arrival of the edict shall prevail. After more than four months of grassroots selection, in September, five thousand girls, together with their families who took care of them, arrived in the capital.
After arriving in the capital, they must first go through the body selection test. They should not be too tall, too short, too fat, or too thin. Because the imperial envoys had already passed the test in terms of body shape and appearance during the draft, so this level was regarded as nit-picking - about a thousand people were eliminated.
After passing the figure test, pass the appearance test. A jury composed of the chief ceremonial officer, the imperial eunuch, the queen mother, and the emperor's trusted eunuchs conducted the third round of interviews for the remaining four thousand girls. This level mainly examines the facial features and facial skin, and hair and voice are also included in the assessment. A thousand people will also be wiped out at this level.
After passing the third level, the next level is for the palace maid to take action. They will hold rulers and measure the beautiful women. Originally, the measurements of body measurements, hands, and feet were to be measured accurately and recorded in a book. However, because the emperor issued an edict prohibiting foot binding, all the show girls this time were born with natural feet. In order to encourage women to relax, Zhu Yijun did not measure the show girls this time. foot.
According to the draft system, after the fourth level is passed, the remaining thousand beautiful women will enter the palace. Even if they are eliminated in the next round of the draft, they still have to work as maids. Zhu Yijun originally did not want to include so many people in the palace, but after discussing with the two queen mothers, he changed his mind.
At this time, there are more than 6,000 maids in the palace who have been drafted into the palace through multiple selections by the Jiajing and Longqing monarchs. They serve their masters in the palace. If they are not careful, they will be beaten and their living environment is very bad. And because there were too many people, most of these maids had nothing to do.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the draft this time, Zhu Yijun persuaded the two palaces to set a quota of 3,500 maids, which has remained unchanged since then.
Since the fifth year of Wanli, the royal family has organized a small-scale recruitment similar to a talent show every five years, and at the same time released a group of palace ladies out of the palace - of course, they have to volunteer. If the family has no food and clothing and is willing to stay in the palace to do chores, the royal family will also support them.
As soon as this kind of virtuous policy came out, the whole palace was shocked. Zhu Yijun sent the Buddha to the west. The royal family allowed all the old palace maids to leave the palace this time, and they could choose to work in the royal silk factory. If they do not want to work and choose to return home, each person will be given one hundred taels of silver to familiarize themselves with the environment outside the palace.
After registration, along with the new ladies entering the palace, the royal family selectively released 3,370 old ladies at once. Most of the rest are old palace maids from the Jiajing period. They have lived half their lives in the forbidden palace and are worried that they will not adapt when they go out. Some of them have been unable to find their families, so they voluntarily stay in the palace to die of old age. The last group belongs to the responsible ones. The palace ladies who educate new palace maids and the royal children, the royal family retains them with salary increases and the promise of release after five years.
—————
Therefore, the show girls who have passed the fourth level this time cannot go home as Zhu Yijun originally intended. They need to come in to replace the old palace ladies who leave the palace. After the tenth year of Wanli and another round of draft, they can leave the palace. At that time, they were around 20 years old, so it was not too late to get married - and many people would be vying for girls who left the palace at the age of 20.
The royal family's good governance has won praise from both the government and the public. Civil servants and officials found that the emperor's good deeds this time were beyond their imagination - last year, there was no memorial mentioning the dismantling of Dongchang, and the emperor took the initiative to dismantle Dongchang. This year there was no memorial to protest against these old palace maids, and the royal family released them again.
At this time, although Zhu Yijun and the Queen Mother of the two palaces had not reached the level of "Bird Fish Soup", their reputation among the people was almost the same as that of Yao, Shun and Yu Soup. Although this emperor established the Chamber of Attendants and changed the ancestral system, and implemented the imperial examination method more ruthlessly, wasn't this all instigated by Zhang Juzheng?
...
The thousand girls who entered the palace after four rounds of selection still have to go through the fifth round of selection. This round is a physical examination. A thousand people were introduced in batches into the secret rooms of the palace, and the old palace maids "explored their breasts, smelled their armpits, felt their texture, and checked their chastity." There were no scars on their bodies, and their skin had to be smooth and delicate.
After this round of "physical examination", 300 people will be left to enter the final level. These three hundred people are different from other palace ladies who have been assigned jobs. They do not have to work in the palace and only need to be "retained for observation" in the palace.
During their stay in the palace, they were attended by special personnel dispatched by the queen mother and the emperor. These people would record their diet, daily life, temperament and speech, as well as their virtuous and foolish qualities. Those who grind their teeth and click their lips while sleeping, talk in their sleep or sleepwalk with hysteria will not pass the test; in addition, the character test is also required, and only those who are gentle, honest, intelligent and virtuous can enter the small list of fifty people.
Those who enter the small list of fifty people will be automatically upgraded to the leader, and at least they can get the title of lady. The remaining two hundred and fifty people do not need to be palace maids. The royal family will send them home. ——A large number of black box operations occur at this stage.
As reported by Chen Ju who returned to Beijing, the draft imperial envoys from all over the country inevitably accepted bribes and operated in a black box during this national draft, which cost a total of 300,000 taels of internal funds.
The southern part of the empire had rarely participated in royal drafts before - unlike northerners who only resisted early marriages, this time many shrewd southern merchants bribed the draft envoys to have their daughters selected early in the draft. After entering Beijing, he bribed internal officials to remove his daughter at the last level.
As a result, girls who have participated in the talent show are immediately worth a hundred times as much. In the eyes of the people, those who can pass the top five levels are at least on the same level as the emperor's concubines. Using this as capital, a beautiful girl can go back home to choose a son-in-law, and then she can reach high places. Although it is expensive, as long as you join a Jinshi or aristocratic family, your business will be more secure, right?
In addition to this kind of operation, there is also a type of operation in this draft, which is like a bookmaker, aiming directly at the position of the queen and concubines. As long as you are selected as the ninth concubine, it is equivalent to getting married to the emperor. In the future, you will not only be able to protect yourself, but also dominate Blessings are not a problem either.
Despite the black box operation, the last group of girls who entered Xiyuan were all very beautiful. Their ages range from fourteen to sixteen, all of them are well-educated and courteous, and their appearance is outstanding. Although Zhu Yijun is a modern person who has been influenced by later generations' retouching or makeup skills countless times, facing the front of Yiluan Hall When he saw this group of ladies, the heart of the grown-up boy was still beating fast.
The empress dowagers of the two palaces sit in the Yiluan Hall, and Zhu Yijun's throne is located in front of the two palaces. Zhang Hong and other eunuchs held the roster, commanded the palace maids, and introduced the girls who had obtained the title of lady into the palace one by one - and whether Zhuang Jingjia, who was ranked first in the selection process, could be the mother of the world, depended on this.
Bookstore
