King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 778 Women's Affairs
Afterwards, Zhu Jinghong tried on the crown and imperial robes. These two pieces would be worn when he ascended the throne and held grand court meetings, so he had to make sure there were no mistakes.

During the fitting, Zhu Jinghong asked, "Have all the concubines in the harem moved out?"

"The late emperor's concubines, a total of 28 in total, have almost all moved and are now properly settled in the West Four Palaces!"

The so-called "Four Western Palaces" are the Changle, Yongkang and other palaces, which were specially used to house the concubines of previous emperors.

The reason why they are called previous emperors is that in addition to Zhu Xianming's concubines, there are also some concubines of Kangzong Zhu Xinkan.

It was only after the report to the Shangyi Bureau that Baochai learned that there were still concubines of Emperor Taizu alive. The young girls back then were now nearly seventy years old.

"Yeah!" Zhu Jinghong responded.

He was not at all touched by this matter, while Daiyu and Xiangyun, who were standing by, only felt sorry for these people after hearing it. After all, although those living in the West Four Palaces had no worries about food and clothing, their lives were rather miserable without any hope.

At this time, Baochai said again: "There are two things I need your advice on!"

"you say!"

"After my mother passed away, Concubine Jia assisted in managing the six palaces and took care of my father's daily life meticulously. She must have made great contributions!"

"So... to show the royal filial piety, I think... maybe we can confer the title of Consort Dowager!"

It is not the case that when the emperor dies, his concubines will automatically be promoted to the rank of dowager concubine. This requires formal canonization.

This Concubine Jia had only one daughter, Princess Changqing Zhu Yunmei, whom Zhu Jinghong should call his elder sister.

Not only was Concubine Jia very kind to Baochai, but Princess Changqing Zhu Yunmei also often interacted with her and was even closer to her than her biological sister Zhu Yunsheng.

That's why Baochai made this suggestion. Of course, this can be considered as going with the flow. Conferring higher titles on the concubines of the previous emperor to show filial piety and brotherhood is what should be done.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Jinghong said: "You just need to think about this matter carefully. Treating the concubines of the late emperor well is a major matter and there must be no mistakes!"

Zhu Jinghong was really too busy. The military and political affairs of various provinces and vassal states across the country had already kept him busy and overwhelmed, and he had no time to take care of the affairs of the harem.

Then Baochai asked, "So... is this matter settled?"

"Ok!"

While Zhu Jinghong was trying on clothes, the news that the six ministries and nine officials had been fined their salaries today had gradually spread among the officials.

"This is a very harsh punishment!"

"Your Majesty has been in the military for a long time, so it's not surprising that he has the spirit of commanding his subordinates!"

"We have to be careful from now on!"

Similar statements as above exist in almost all ministries and agencies. Although they sound harmless, they do contain attitudes when you think about them carefully.

It was afternoon, and after a busy day, Jia Yucun said goodbye to his colleagues and returned home by car.

Although the country is still in mourning, officials have basically returned to normal work and rest schedules except for showing mourning through their clothing.

After returning to the mansion, Jia Yucun entered the study. At this moment, he was a little hesitant.

Logically speaking, he has been promoted to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice when he is not even fifty years old. The most important thing is that it took him less than ten years to move from being a prefect to the Minister of Justice.

This is already beyond the vast majority of officials. After all, if he goes one step further, he can be ranked among the Nine Ministers.

And now, he has set his sights on the position of Nine Ministers and is planning to enter the cabinet and become prime minister.

Today, the officials of the six ministries were reprimanded and fined, which made him realize that the opportunity to make further progress had come, so he felt that he should do something.

After carefully thinking about the situation in the court, Jia Yucun made up his mind: "I can't stay in this position in the Ministry of Justice. Cui Yu, the Minister of Rites, is planning to retire, so I should take this position!"

Although they have the same rank, the Vice Minister of Rites is much more noble, and the probability of being promoted to Shangshu in the future is higher, and then he will enter the cabinet.

While he was thinking, his wife Jiao Xing came into the study and reminded him softly, "Master, someone from Jinling came and wanted to see you. He also brought something with him!"

Jia Yucun asked, "Who's coming?"

"Gao family!"

"Which Gao family?"

"Master, you actually forgot that it was Gao Han, the current deputy envoy of the Censorate, the Gao Xuezheng who is the superintendent of education!"

"It turned out to be him!" Jia Yucun nodded slightly.

Jia Yucun started his career in Jinling. Most of the Jinling Provincial Government, the Censorate, and the officials of various prefectures and counties had dealings with him, and some of them could even be called his disciples.

For example, Gao Xuezheng was promoted by Jia Yucun and was promoted to Deputy Censor less than a year ago.

"Who's coming to his house?"

"He came here in person, saying he was in Beijing to report on his work. Tea is being served in the front hall now!"

When Jia Yucun heard the word "report on work", he knew it was nonsense. Generally, reports on work are made in spring, and the chief of the provincial governor would come alone, so it was impossible for him to send a deputy envoy.

But here, Jia Yucun was really wrong. Gao Han came to Beijing to report on his work, which was about the cases in the first half of the year.

When the Jinling Qingli Division of the Ministry of Justice was reviewing the files, it found that there were incomplete and incomplete parts in the Jinling files, so it asked the Jinling Censorate to give an explanation of the situation, and then sent Gao Han over.

The reason why someone was sent here was because the matter could not be explained clearly, so Gao Han was asked to come to "coordinate" the relationship. So when this guy arrived in Beijing, he came to find Jia Yucun first, after all, the latter was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

What is interesting here is that Jia Yucun was in charge of the land survey case, but he was unaware of the problems with the files.

There are not many people with such ability in the Ministry of Justice. Either they are the Minister of Justice Yan Lin or the Left Vice Minister of Justice Zhao Jingzhong.

At this time, Jia Yucun didn't know the inside story, so after muttering a few words, he got up and went to the front hall.

Of course, if he just asked a little, he would understand what was going on.

Back on the streets of South City, Li Ziheng, who had just finished his shift at the Censorate, returned home and learned that an old friend had come. His originally depressed mood immediately improved.

Although the houses in the south city were cheaper, Li Ziheng could only afford to rent a small courtyard with his salary, where he, a concubine and three servants lived.

His wife, on the other hand, stayed at home to take care of her parents-in-law and raise their children.

"Brother Feng, why are you here? I remember you went back to Jinling half a month ago!"

Although the two had only parted for half a month, Li Ziheng was still happy to meet Feng Yuan again.

Feng Yuan, holding the food box, replied, "When I reached Yingzhou, I learned that the late emperor had passed away, so I turned back!"

"Why?"

"According to the rules, the new emperor will hold an imperial examination... So I won't leave. I'll just wait until next spring!"

It was almost September, and Feng Yuan had arrived in Jinling in October. He could not stay for more than two months before having to set off again. It would be better for him to stay in the capital to prepare for the exam.

After entering the courtyard, Feng Yuan continued, "I brought some wine and food today, shall we have a drink?"

"This...drinking alcohol during the national mourning period is probably inappropriate!"

"I know you can't drink it, I was just joking with you... I brought some good tea, let's have a good chat today!"

Hearing this, Li Ziheng breathed a sigh of relief: "In that case...thank you very much!"

When the two entered the house, Li Ziheng's concubine took the tea leaves and went to the kitchen to boil water and make tea.

His concubine was bought by his wife because she was worried that he would not be able to take good care of his food and drink in the capital, so she spent a "large sum of money" to buy a maid to serve him.

Li Ziheng was a sincere and honest man, so he gave the girl a status. After all, he couldn't give her anything else.

To be honest, a second-class Jinshi like him was extremely rare in the Ming Dynasty over the past 300 years. "Brother Ziheng, why are you so sad?"

"Today, the court discussed the posthumous title and the emperor was furious and reprimanded them. He also fined three university scholars and nine ministers of the six ministries for three months' salary!"

"Oh I got it!"

After nodding, Feng Yuan said, "They don't need these salaries, so don't worry about them!"

In Feng Yuan's opinion, Li Ziheng treated others the same as himself and thought that three months' salary was a big deal.

At this time, Li Ziheng sighed, "Everyone expresses his own opinions, and it is inevitable that there will be differences in superiority and inferiority. It is not a good thing for the emperor to punish you for your words!"

Hearing this, Feng Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then he felt ashamed. After all, he had just judged others by his own standards.

So Feng Yuan asked about the details. The tea had been served while the two were talking, and Feng Yuan poured tea for Li Ziheng while listening.

Just as he raised the teacup and motioned Li Ziheng to taste it, the latter said, "I intend to make a memorial to persuade His Majesty to be open-minded and accept advice!"

Feng Yuan was drinking tea. When he heard this, he was stunned and actually got his tongue burned by the tea.

"What? What did you say?" Feng Yuan asked.

"I would like to submit a letter of advice!" Li Ziheng answered very seriously.

If someone else said this, Feng Yuan would just think they were talking nonsense, and even if they really did it, it would just be for fame and reputation. But he didn't think so about Li Ziheng.

So he knew that if this person made a memorial, he would really stick to the facts and would not save face for the new emperor.

"Brother Ziheng, you have just arrived at the Censorate. You still have a long way to go. You should be cautious in everything you do!"

After a brief thought, Feng Yuan added: "The Ming Dynasty does not lack an imperial censor, but it lacks honest officials who can do practical things. If you don't think about yourself, you should think about the people!"

Feng Yuan's words were sincere and heartfelt. With so many officials in the Ming Dynasty, he would not be sad if anyone died. People like Li Ziheng deserved to live a good life.

"Even if you want to make suggestions, you have to choose the right time. The emperor is about to ascend the throne. If you jump out at this time... wouldn't that be courting death?"

"Besides, His Majesty's admonition to important officials is not necessarily for punishment. His Majesty is now 25 years old, and it is inevitable that he will be looked down upon by a group of old officials. It is reasonable for him to use this to establish his authority!"

Feng Yuan's words triggered Li Ziheng's thinking, which made him start to re-examine today's events.

There was silence in the room for a while, then Li Ziheng bowed and said, "Brother Feng, thank you for your guidance!"

Feng Yuan replied: "You... are too straightforward. You need to change these things and learn more from Lord Wang!"

In the blink of an eye, another seven or eight days passed and it was August 20th.

The late emperor's body needs to be kept in state for twenty-seven days, and there are four days left before the deadline expires. By then, everything inside and outside the palace will return to normal.

Inside the prince's chamber, the eunuchs and maids were busy because they were going to move into the palace today.

The ladies in the palace had mixed feelings about entering the palace.

The happiest person was Zhen Qin. The noble concubine was about to come to the Forbidden City, and she felt excited just thinking about it.

In Lanyue Garden, Zhen Qin pulled Yinglian and said, "We are the wives of the emperor's concubines. This time we can at least get the title of concubine. After that, we will spend some time seeking the title of noble concubine, and then try to get the title of imperial concubine..."

"Sister Qin, but I remember that the title of Imperial Concubine is usually not given!"

Only when there is no queen and no queen is expected to be appointed in the short term, can a concubine be canonized as an imperial concubine.

During the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, almost all those who served as imperial concubines during their lifetime were canonized as empresses in the later period.

The Queen is still here, and you are not particularly favored, but you still want to be named Imperial Noble Consort. This is too unrealistic!

Yinglian was a kind person, so she only said half of the words.

Zhen Qin replied: "Don't I know? Everything depends on human effort. Now that I have a son, as long as I can give birth to more children for the royal family, there may be opportunities!"

On the other side, in the Yin'an Hall, Xichun and Park Jinying were also busy.

They were maids in Yin'an Palace, serving Zhu Jinghong personally. These days, Zhu Jinghong went to the palace, and they were even more bored.

They chat when they are free and now they have become familiar with each other.

Xichun always felt that she was miserable before, but after hearing about Park Jin-young’s life story, she found that she was still happy.

After all, she had never been hungry, had never experienced war, had never been separated from her family, and had never wandered thousands of miles alone in a foreign land.

With their hands supporting their faces, the two girls lay on the windowsill of the study on the east side of Yin'an Palace, watching the eunuchs busy coming and going outside.

After a long while, Xichun sighed and said, "After a few days, he will enter the palace... We don't even know where he is!"

She thought the palace was not a good place, so she was very worried about the future.

"Whether it's working in the Qianqing Palace or doing laundry in the laundry department, I can go!"

Hearing what Park Jin-young said, Xichun smiled and said, "Don't say that. Your sister Li will definitely take you with her. She will never let you go to the laundry!"

Park Jin Young then smiled and said, "Since I don't have to worry, you don't have to worry either!"

"The queen and the concubines are all related to you. What else... I won't say more. You are much better than me!"

The so-called "what else" actually refers to Yingchun and Tanchun. Now that these two are appearing in public, they will also have official status if nothing unexpected happens.

Pu Zhenying stood up, looked at Xichun beside him, and said with a smile: "There is an old saying in the Ming Dynasty, if you become rich and powerful, don't forget your friends... In the future, I hope Sister Xichun will support you more!"

Although this was just a joke, it was also what Park Jin-young really thought. After all, she knew how dangerous the palace was. Doing more favors would mean more ways out, which might save her life.

Xichun smiled and replied, "That's easy, but I have a condition!"

"you say!"

"I started moving things this morning. I'm really tired. If I can pick up the things on the bookshelf on the left by myself..."

Of course, they both have their own tasks to do, and now is the halftime break.

Park Jin Young was very generous and said, "Sister... I thought we were like sisters, but I didn't expect that we were just like sisters!"

"Never mind, since you call me sister, it doesn't matter if I suffer a little more!"

Xichun stood up and said with a pout, "I haven't even asked you to do anything big yet, but you're already saying these things to frame me. You're such a heartless sister!"

"Who has no conscience? A few days ago, you were afraid of ghosts. Who accompanied you to sleep and comforted you?"

"The day before yesterday, I couldn't find the thing. Who helped you find it?"

"And yesterday afternoon..."

With the scandal exposed, Xichun would never let Pu Zhenying continue talking, so she walked to the desk and said, "It's time to get to work, or we'll be late for lunch!"

"You really know how to pick the right time to do something now!"

No matter how much fun they have, they still have to do their work, so they chatted and started to work. Today was another pretty good day.

After finishing their work in advance, the two went to wander around in the back garden. It was normal for young girls to like to play.

But as soon as they arrived at the back garden, a maid came to look for Xichun.

It turned out that Tanchun and the other person were looking for her. Xichun had no choice but to say goodbye to Park Jinying and rush towards the bamboo garden in the east.

(End of this chapter)