Jiapingguan Chronicle

"Although she is an aunt in name, she is just older. The age difference is not that big. Her appearance, conduct, and knowledge are more in line with the requirements of the previous royal family and those aristocratic families for a crown princess than Queen Kangshun. It is okay. Be a mother who honors the world."

"Actually, I have a question. Why should the Crown Princess be chosen from the Zhou family in Yongzhou?" Shen Cha thought for a while, "Is this also a condition of exchange?"

"Indeed." Mr. Jiang nodded, "He said he wanted to choose a crown princess himself, but it seemed that he had to choose from the prescribed candidates. Although the Zhou family was not among them, I don't know why they were selected later."

"The Zhou family should also be one of those powerful families in Xijing City. Why aren't they among them?"

"You don't know this." Xue Ruitian patted Shen Cha, "The Zhou family in Yongzhou was originally an imperial merchant. Later, a great scholar came out and trained many students, and then he barely stepped into the clan's threshold. But unlike other clans In comparison, it is still far behind. In addition, because his family is a businessman, his family is not taken into consideration every time when selecting people for the royal family."

"Why?" Jin Miaomiao looked at Xue Ruitian curiously, "Can't a businessman have a backup plan?"

"It should be that the descendants of the royal family have inherited the talent for doing business. If the royal family does not indulge in fun and starts doing serious things, the clan will not be able to control the government." Shen Cha sighed softly, "Although those powerful families preach every day When it comes to scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, merchants rank at the bottom, but without merchants, each family cannot accumulate wealth. Without enough silver and gold, there is no way to grow your family. You have heard Mrs. Ning say it before, she My natal family is the Wang family that is responsible for business, including my master, whose family is also the Qin family who is responsible for business. These people have to be firmly controlled by the powerful family. Even if the girls in the family want to marry, they will do business with the same family. Everyone will get married, so that their respective businesses will prosper and become bigger, so it is absolutely impossible to send them to the palace."

"Cha'er is right." Shen Haolin nodded lightly, "Actually, the people from these wealthy families who do business, both men and women, are good at doing business, just like the Zhou family in Yongzhou, there are several girls in their family who are very good at doing business. A famous wealthy businessman.”

"So that's it." Jin Miaomiao nodded, "If it weren't for chance, I'm afraid Emperor Yongjia and Queen Kangshun wouldn't have any intersection, let alone any feelings."

"Yes, that's why no matter how good the relationship between Emperor Yongjia and Queen Kangshun is, he can only canonize her as a side concubine, and the position of the principal concubine has always been vacant. Emperor Yongjia probably also knows that his position as the principal concubine is Someone else."

"But why was the Zhou family able to enter this time's selection? Was it because of Emperor Yongjia's insistence, or was there some other reason?"

"One is Emperor Yongjia's insistence. He insists on a girl who knows her roots and does not accept girls from other families. His reason is very simple. He hopes that Queen Kangshun will not be depressed because of the arrival of this concubine, but Xijing City's Those girls are aggressive and he doesn't like them. If they don't agree, he won't go to Beijing. Anyway, he is not the one who is anxious to find a prince."

"Good guy." Merlin opened his eyes wide in surprise, "This Emperor Yongjia is really stupid. He doesn't look like a member of the royal family, but more like a gangster wandering around in the market. He looks like he is carefree and shakes his legs. I just won’t do it, so what can you do to me?”

"The description is so apt, so good!" Qi Bo nodded, "The image that just appeared in my mind was the image you mentioned, Xiao Linzi." He looked at Mr. Jiang, "It can't really be like this, right?"

"Even if it is true, it is impossible to record it like this in the archives, and it is impossible for Emperor Yongjia's own handwriting to write like this." "That's true." Qi Bo nodded, "The court in Xijing City needs such a prince. , so he can make any request, right?"

"That's right." Second Master Jiang looked at everyone and continued, "Of course, the reason why he agreed to his conditions is that there is another more important point, which is that the wealthy families in Xijing City no longer want to send their own girls to The fire pit in the palace is because many of them actually have a vague sense of danger."

"Danger?" Shen Haolin thought for a moment, "It should feel like the previous dynasty has come to an end and will be destroyed sooner or later, right?"

"That's right." Mr. Jiang nodded, "So, they are not willing to find a princess who meets the requirements from their own family. Sending her in is nothing more than a sacrifice. There is no need for this, even if many girls in their family are They were trained according to this standard.”

"So the Yongzhou Zhou family has legitimately entered the core of Xijing City's powerful families?"

"The core is not bad. The Zhou family is also clever. They just sent their girls to the palace. The family did not come to Xijing City at all, but stayed in Yongzhou. This was also what they had discussed with Emperor Yongjia in advance. If he does this in the future The prince has been deposed, but he still has to go back to Yongzhou to live freely. The Zhou family must take good care of the family and cannot lose it."

"This leaves a way out for him. If he fails to become the emperor, there is still Yongzhou where he can live freely. If the Zhou family goes to Xijing City with him, Yongzhou might become someone else's territory, right?"

"That's right." Xue Ruitian thought for a while, "This means that after several rounds of games, Emperor Yongjia was satisfied and canonized Queen Kangshun's aunt as the crown prince, but he still doted on Queen Kangshun? What about those subsequent concubines? , where did they come from? Are they all from good families?"

"Yes!" Mr. Jiang nodded, "Queen Kangshun's aunt passed away due to illness in the fifth or sixth year after marrying Emperor Yongjia. In this fleeting time, the responsibility of urging Emperor Yongkang to have a child fell on her. The Crown Princess shouldered the burden. Later, several small families could not resist the temptation and sent their own girls to the East Palace. The children born to them were all recorded in the Crown Princess's name and were counted as the Crown Princess's children. .”

"What about the child's mother?"

"Leave the mother and keep the son." Second Master Jiang sighed, "Emperor Yongjia said it himself, the only one he likes most is Queen Kangshun, and the other concubines are just tools. Since his father asked him to spread his branches and so on, , then he will do it and leave a lot of children, so that the royal family will not wither. "

"He is also a very cruel person. Aren't you afraid of retribution for doing this?"

"Retribution will come soon." Jiang Erye sneered, "In the third year of Emperor Yongjia's accession to the throne, Queen Kangshun, who had become the queen, welcomed her first and only child in her life, that is, Master Fa Lian.”