Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

Chapter 200 Yongxiang Gong'e
Yongxiang is a narrow and long alley in the palace. It was originally the place where the palace maids and concubines lived.

Later, with the deepening of the palace war, Yongxiang became a prison for female criminals in the palace.

During the period of King Xuan of Zhou, Yongxiang became the historical pronoun of Lenggong, and all the countries in the world followed the example of the Zhou royal family and set up "Yongxiang" in the palace.

Wu State also has such a Yongxiang.

The people living in Yongxiang in Wu State are all elderly or criminal court ladies. They all do rough work in Yongxiang, such as washing, drying clothes, boiling water, mending clothes and so on.

It is worth mentioning that the rough work they do is quite heavy.

Because the clothes they have to mend to dry are all clothes of the eunuch Gong'e in the palace, and the workload is quite large!

At this time, under the begging of Queen Ji Kou, Qing Ji rarely took time out of his busy schedule to go out for a walk with Ji Kou who was pregnant and about to give birth, and walked to the vicinity of Yongxiang without knowing it.

Basking in the bright sunshine, Ji Kou's charming face couldn't help but feel very comfortable, especially being supported and cared for by Qing Ji, which greatly satisfied Ji Kou's heart.

"King, queen, this is Yongxiang..."

At the gate of Yongxiang, when Qingji and Ji Kou were about to walk in, the waiter on the side, Gian Hua, couldn't help reminding him.

After all, Yongxiang is a cold palace, noble people like Qingji and Ji Kou should enter with caution!
Especially when Ji Kou is pregnant, it is even more inappropriate to enter Yongxiang!

However, Ji Kou didn't take it seriously, waved his hands and said, "I know."

"My lord, shall we go in and have a look?"

"it is good."

Qingji nodded slightly, and immediately helped Ji Kou across the threshold of Yongxiang.

"Slaves see the king, see the queen!"

Seeing that Qingji and Ji Kou actually came, Gong'e in Yong Lane hurriedly knelt down and paid homage to them.

Qingji just glanced around, and saw court ladies of different ages wearing various kinds of coarse cloth, drying their clothes or washing the clothes in the tub, few of them were idle.

"No gift, flat body."

"Thank you King (Queen)!"

All the court ladies stood up flattered.

At this moment, Ji Kou suddenly turned his eyes on Qingji, and asked softly, "Has your lord heard the story about Empress Jiang taking off her hairpin?"

"Slightly heard."

Qingji smiled slightly.

The allusion of Jiang Hou taking off her hairpin is not very famous in history.

In modern times, if you ask a few people on the street, no one will know.

Even Qing Ji, who graduated from a military academy and has been a general for generations, has never heard of the allusion of Jiang Hou taking off her hairpin.

However, Qingji's predecessor was the son of Wu, so how could he not know the story of Empress Jiang taking off her hairpin?
In ancient times, when a concubine made a major mistake and pleaded guilty, the etiquette was to remove the hairpin and pearl ornaments, let her hair loose, take off her luxurious clothes and change into plain clothes, and kneel down to beg for forgiveness.

The most serious thing is to go barefoot, because ancient women valued that their feet should not be exposed at will, so it is an insulting punishment.

It is equivalent to pleading guilty!
"Queen Jiang is the queen of King Xuan of Zhou, the daughter of Marquis Qi."

"The widow heard that in the past King Zhou Xuan often went to bed early and woke up late, neglecting government affairs. Empress Jiang then took off her earrings and hairpins and came to Yongxiang to plead guilty, and asked Fu's mother to tell King Zhou Xuan that it was she who made King Zhou Xuan feel slutty. Make the king neglect the government."

"The king's good looks will inevitably lead to extravagance and waste. If things go on like this, the world will be in chaos. That's why she pleaded guilty to Empress Jiang. King Xuan of Zhou was very moved after hearing this, and he has been diligent in government affairs since then."

After saying that, Qingji couldn't help but have a strange look on his face, and asked: "Queen, are you going to follow the example of Queen Jiang today, admonishing others to be diligent in government affairs?"

"The concubines don't dare."

Ji Kou pursed his lips and smiled, and said, "Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and manages every day. In terms of diligence, how many monarchs in the world can match your Majesty?"

"King Xuan of Zhou can't compare with the King, and his concubines can't compare with Empress Jiang!"

"The concubine entered Yongxiang with the king today, just to let the king show mercy once, which is also considered admonishment."

Ji Kou actually wants to admonish?
Qingji became interested, so he inquired: "How can I be kind to you? The queen said it's okay."

"Your Majesty, please take a closer look. How different is the palace lady in Yongxiang from the palace maidens in other palaces?"

Hearing this, Qingji immediately glanced at the maids present, and saw that they were all wearing rough Gebu clothes, and many of them were old and pale, with gray temples, and wrinkles like ruts on their faces.

As for their hands, they are even more slender and weak than the maids in the rest of the palace, and they look rougher!
This is the reason for doing too much rough work, which is not surprising.

"If you say the biggest difference, it should be that there is a big difference between the two."

"Your Majesty is truly astute!"

Ji Kou patted Qingji's flattery again at the right time, and said with a sweet smile: "Your Majesty, most of the maids in Yongxiang are old. According to the harem system of my Wu Kingdom, the palace maids are over forty years old. Those who have no name will live in Yongxiang, or if there is a palace lady who commits a crime, they will also be demoted to Yongxiang."

"Yongxiang is like a cage, just like the prison outside, which confines all these maids."

"Many maids are doing menial work in Yongxiang, wasting their years until they die of old age, how sad is it?"

After a pause, Ji Kou said rather sentimentally: "If the maids who committed crimes were imprisoned to death, there might be no serious problem. It's just that the maids are only older, and they are sent to Yongxiang to suffer and suffer. How innocent are they? "

"Not long ago, there were even a few maids of the right age who came to courtiers and concubines, and would rather die than enter Yongxiang."

"That's why, the ministers and concubines ask the king to show mercy and allow the harem to be restructured. Those who are over [-] years old and have no status will be sent out of the palace with discretionary compensation."

"One is humane, and the other is that they can marry a good man and have children. Wouldn't it be beautiful?"

What Ji Kou said is reasonable.

Qingji also agrees in his heart!

If it weren't for Ji Kou's reminder, the typical Qingji who was dark under the lamp would not have noticed this.

A court lady who is over [-] years old still has the ability to bear children, so it is best to marry and obey her husband.

This is in line with Wu's current national policy of encouraging births!
In Wu's harem, although there were not many maids in their thirties, they were also in the minority. Keeping them would not be beneficial for Qing Ji.

Dismissing them would actually increase the population of the Wu Kingdom, and at the same time allow Qingji to reduce some of the unnecessary expenses of the harem!
Of course, after dismissing some older maids, Qingji could still recruit some young girls into the palace.

This forms a virtuous circle!
"good!"

Qingji nodded, agreed and said: "Queen, you are really a good wife of the widow, and a generation of good queens in my country of Wu!"

"Your Majesty's praise."

Ji Kou immediately beamed with joy and said, "My lord, my concubine thanked you for those poor ladies!"

Qingji immediately issued an edict that in the harem, all palace maids over the age of [-] will be dismissed, and the government will provide compensation and property as appropriate.

The old maids who are already in Yongxiang will be properly supported by the harem.

In a few days, the Wu Palace will also recruit some young and beautiful girls into the palace to act as maids of honor.

This demonstrates Qingji's name of enlightenment and benevolence, which is of great benefit to the country. Therefore, once Qingji's edict is promulgated, no one dares to have any objections!
(End of this chapter)