If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 256 Wedding Discussion
With the emperor's strict order, the arrests in Beijing became more severe, especially as Ji Gang, the leader of the Jinyiwei, returned to the capital early with a large number of Jinyiwei elites. Under the massive manhunt, many people were thrown into the Jinyiwei's prison. middle.

After being severely tortured and beaten into a crime, they were then implicated in a big way. Although it was true that all the people behind the scenes were found out in the shortest possible time as requested by the emperor, a large number of innocent people were also thrown into the imperial prison, and even beaten into a crime and bitten randomly. , which made everyone in the court feel in danger for a while.

"This Ji Gang is so outrageous. He actually arrested all the people in the East Palace!" Crown Princess Zhang complained to Zhu Gaochi. Previously, the Jin Yiwei came directly to the East Palace in order to arrest an official of the East Palace. Mrs. Zhang was very angry.

Although Ji Gang did not dare to act arrogantly in the East Palace, coming directly to the East Palace to arrest people was already a very excessive act.

If the emperor personally issued the order, there would naturally be nothing to say. However, Ji Gang did not come to the East Palace to arrest people in compliance with the emperor's order. Instead, he involved a subordinate official of the East Palace in a massive conspiracy, so he came directly to the East Palace to arrest people.

This would be too disrespectful to the East Palace and the Crown Prince, especially since the person who came was not Ji Gang himself, but just one of the thousand households of Jin Yiwei under him.

Obviously, Ji Gang didn't think there was anything special about the Crown Prince and Donggong. He didn't need to come in person. He only needed a thousand households under his command to solve the problem.

Although an official with a thousand households is considered a big shot in Jinyiwei, there is no doubt that a mere official with a thousand households is still not respectful enough to the East Palace.

Zhu Gaochi may have maintained his reputation and persona as a good man over the years and didn't care much if he was bullied, but Ji Gang's unscrupulous arrests still touched his bottom line.

"Although we are working for the emperor, those behind the scenes should indeed be arrested, but it is indeed too much for Ji Gang to be so involved." Zhu Gaochi frowned, pondered for a while and said: "I think it is better to send someone to tell the old man that we can't Let Ji Gang be arrested like this, otherwise there will be no one in the court to work!"

Zhang did not raise any objections to this. Although she was dissatisfied with this matter, she strictly adhered to her bottom line and would not interfere in political affairs.

However, she did not interfere in political affairs, but Zhang was not polite at all in private matters. She told Zhu Gaochi: "When you send people to see the old man, you also go to see the girl brought back by the second brother. I heard that she is Mongolian Wengji The noble daughter of Labu.

During the reign of Emperor Hongwu, there was also a concubine in the palace who came from the Wengji tribe. It is said that in the Yuan Dynasty, most of the queens and concubines came from this tribe. They must have been well-educated, but they didn't know that they were different from our Han family's rules. There is greatness in many.

Although she is only the concubine of the second son, I, as a mother, cannot lack etiquette. If you ask someone to ask her what her hobbies are and what habits she has in daily life, it will be easy for me to arrange it here, so that others will not say that we are missing out. Out of etiquette, I, a mother-in-law, treat my daughter-in-law harshly. "

For Ms. Zhang, she actually didn't care about the affairs of the court. In the past, when Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu competed for the reserve position, it was related to the life and death of everyone in the East Palace, so Ms. Zhang had to care.

Now that Zhu Gaochi's throne has been secured, and his two sons are promising, an emperor's grandson and the most powerful vassal king in the Ming Dynasty, the Zhang family no longer has anything to worry about, and everyone seems to have a son and everything is ready. appearance.

But just like all mothers worry about the marriage of their children, what Zhang is most worried about now is the marriage of two brothers, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhancheng.

As for the younger ones in the East Palace... they haven't needed Zhang to worry about this matter yet.

Zhu Zhanji is easy to talk about. He has already met the Japanese Queen Zhang who Zhu Zhankui brought back from the Japanese Kingdom for marriage. Although she is not tall, her etiquette and upbringing are still good. It is not enough to be a grandson's concubine, but to be a grandson. But the concubine had no problem.

Although Zhu Zhanji's concubine has not yet been found, marrying his concubine can at least solve a major life event. As long as he has a son and a half in the future, Zhu Zhanji will have nothing to worry about. .

As for the question of who is the eldest son, she is the queen of Japan and has a share of the family business to inherit. Naturally, the son she gives birth to will return to Japan and become the king of Japan, instead of staying in the Ming Dynasty and worrying about the throne of the Ming Dynasty.

That position can only be reserved for the legitimate son of Zhu Zhanji's concubine. Even if he cannot be born, it will be inherited by Zhu Zhanji's other brothers or nephews.

To put it more bluntly, even if the Queen of Japan gives birth to more than a dozen sons in the future, as long as none of Zhu Zhanji is the son of a Han concubine or another Han concubine, he will be considered an heir, and the throne needs to be passed on to other brothers or their son.

On the contrary, Zhu Zhanquan didn't have this problem, as long as he married a wife and had a son.

Of course, the serious heir must also be of Han family blood, so this noblewoman from Mongolia can only be a concubine.

However, although these two marriages are considered marriages, as a mother, Ms. Zhang still hopes to see what her future daughter-in-law is like, and at least understand her character and personality, so as not to marry some shrewd, jealous woman. Woman, even if she is a royal family, her family will be restless.

Zhu Gaochi naturally understood why Mr. Zhang said this. Although he felt that Zhu Zhanquan would definitely not find him an undesirable wife, it was still good to send someone to take a look.

So he nodded and said: "You prepare a gift, and I will have someone send it to the Mongolian noblewoman later. After all, she is the future daughter-in-law. It would be outrageous to send someone there empty-handed."

"Okay, then I'll go back and pick a suitable one." Ms. Zhang had no objections to this, and nodded and agreed.

Although she is usually a bit stingy, Mrs. Zhang is still generous when it comes to her son's marriage.

But thinking of this, she asked Zhu Gaochi: "This time when Zhanji and Zhanyun come back, it's time to arrange a wedding for them, right? Although it is a concubine, we can't do anything short. Expenses, what are the rules for this prince?
Zhan Yun is the prince, and Zhan Ji is the grandson of the emperor. How much money can the court pay for their wedding?How much will our East Palace pay for, what standards of etiquette should be used for the wedding, and who will host the wedding... You, the crown prince, need to come up with an idea for these. "

Hearing what Zhang said, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but have a headache, but he still replied to Zhang: "Let's put these things aside for now. I will discuss it with him when the old man returns to Beijing.

And you have seen what the court is like now. You have to wait until things are over before talking about the wedding. "

"Although I say that, Zhan Ji and Zhan Yun are back. The wedding should be arranged, especially since they are both getting married this time. There must be an explanation whether to arrange it together or separately. ?" Although Mrs. Zhang was not reluctant, she also asked Zhu Gaochi to come up with an explanation.

"Speak slowly, speak slowly!" It's not that Zhu Gaochi is unwilling to answer this question, it's just that he has been involved in a lawsuit over the rumor case and really doesn't have enough energy to deal with this matter. Shi was so entangled that he had no choice but to say: "You can handle this matter! As long as it conforms to the court etiquette, whatever you say will be whatever. I have no objection. There are still things in the court, so I'll leave first!"

After saying that, Zhu Gaochi moved his fat body as if running for his life and quickly left the East Palace.Seeing Zhu Gaochi running out, Mrs. Zhang couldn't help complaining with some dissatisfaction: "You ran very fast, but thanks to the martial arts training that Zhan Yun taught you to strengthen your body! Now you are not even willing to spend money on your son's wedding!"

However, although Mrs. Zhang complained, she didn't say anything more. This matter was indeed her responsibility.

After all, since Queen Xu's death, she has been in charge of all matters in the palace, and the wedding of the two emperors and grandsons is indeed her responsibility.

You must know that when Queen Xu was alive, Zhu Di did not canonize any concubines. It was not until the death of Queen Xu that Zhu Di began to canonize concubines in the harem. But even so, Zhu Di's three sons were all the children of Queen Xu. In Xu After the queen's death, there was no one left in the palace.

Zhu Di did not leave matters in the harem to his concubine, but left them all to Zhang, his daughter-in-law.

Zhang was in charge of all the ceremonies and expenses in the palace over the years. This was also the reason why Zhang was stingy in the past.

After all, the money for the East Palace and the Harem is in her hands. If the expenses of the East Palace are too high, others will naturally gossip about it.

She would rather be called stingy than let people say how much money Donggong embezzled. That would bring disaster to Zhu Gaochi and the family.

But now that Zhu Zhankui has moved back from Japan to the Jinshan Yinshan, the East Palace is finally a lot more luxurious, which also makes Zhang want to take care of the marriage of her two sons this time.

Originally she wanted to discuss it with Zhu Gaochi, but now she can only make her own decision.

After thinking about it, Mrs. Zhang called her personal maid and told her to contact the businessmen affiliated with the East Palace. She decided to ask about the prices of various things first so as to estimate the approximate cost.

Speaking of which, these businessmen were introduced to the East Palace by Zhu Zhanqun. Thinking of this, Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but feel that her second son was considerate in every aspect. Since he woke up, her life had become more and more comfortable, which also made Mrs. Zhang think about it. Let Zhu Zhanchen have a beautiful wedding this time.

However, in the final analysis, Zhu Zhanjun is only the prince, and Zhu Zhanji is the grandson. There must always be a difference in the specifications of the wedding. After all, the grandson's wedding can be held according to the prince's etiquette, while the prince's wedding can only go ahead. The prince's regulations are gone.

That's why Mrs. Zhang just told Zhu Gaochi that she wanted to do it together, so that the two brothers could blur the issue of etiquette together and allow Zhu Zhanyu to get married using a higher level of regulations.

But Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but hesitate a little. After all, it was just her two sons marrying side concubines. If it was too grand, what would happen to the concubines in the future?
Moreover, the issue of etiquette is a very troublesome matter, not only how much money it costs, but also the issue of etiquette. The Ministry of Rites and the court are very strict in this regard.

In fact, Zhang didn't worry about money at all. Thanks to Zhu Zhanquan's efforts in the past few years, there were many businessmen affiliated with the East Palace. In addition to providing the palace with various necessary purchases, they also It is also sending profits to the East Palace.

Of course, this part is not Zhang's plundering, but the normal profits she made by using the money Zhu Zhanquan gave her and a little of her own savings to invest in shares, plus providing the name of Donggong to protect these businessmen.

Zhang will not make mistakes on this point, nor does he dare to make mistakes.

Coupled with the money Zhu Zhanquan brought when he returned from Japan, the East Palace is really rich now, and it is not a problem to hold a luxurious wedding.

The key issue is still the issue of etiquette, and this is what Zhang wanted to discuss with Zhu Gaochi, but who would have thought that Zhu Gaochi turned around and ran away without discussing it with Zhang at all.

This made Mrs. Zhang sigh and complain, but she could only sigh helplessly: "Hey, how come such a big thing happened to the court at this juncture? The old man just defeated the Northern Expedition, so I rushed to give him eye drops! Hope! The marriage between the two of them can be a happy event, so let the old man stop getting entangled in this matter."

The empresses in the early Ming Dynasty were not simple. Not to mention Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Empress Ma, Zhu Di's wife, Empress Xu, was a famous female student at that time. She was a talented woman who wrote "Internal Training", one of the four books on women, and was called a good wife by Zhu Di.

The Zhang family will also become Empress Zhang in the future. She is also a generation of virtuous empresses, and has gone through five generations of emperors including Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, Xuande and Zhengtong. After Xuande, she took control of the state affairs of the Ming Dynasty because of Zhu Zhanji's entrustment.

At that time, Mrs. Zhang did not control the government. Although she was able to control everything, she refused to listen to the government behind the curtain as requested by the courtiers. She did not appoint any of her relatives. She even called Wang Zhen to scold him every two days, which greatly suppressed Wang Zhen. His arrogance stabilized the political situation of the court in the early years of orthodoxy.

Therefore, Zhang did not actually know anything about political affairs. She just abided by Queen Xu's teachings and did not interfere in political affairs.

It's a pity that Zhang did not survive until Zhu Qizhen came of age and died in the eighth year of Zhengtong.

Without Zhang's sea-fixing needle, the government of the Ming Dynasty fell into the hands of Sun, the demon queen, and Wang Zhen, the eunuch, also lost his suppression.

In addition, Zhu Qizhen was just a young emperor, which eventually led to the tragedy of the Tumubao Incident in the 14th year of Zhengtong, which turned the Ming Dynasty from prosperity to decline.

But for now, Mrs. Zhang still has to worry about the marriages of her two sons, and at the same time, she is calculating how much money the East Palace can spend on weddings, and how much the court can provide.

She knew the current situation of the imperial court. The treasury was so clean that it was possible for the rats to escape. Even the Northern Expedition was borrowed by Zhu Zhanquan from businessmen.

Before the summer grain was confiscated, the court could say that its pockets were cleaner than its face.

The reason why Zhu Gaochi did not discuss this matter with Zhang had a lot to do with the fact that the court could not come up with the money.

After all, his son was getting married, but the prince, who was the supervisor of the country, could not use the money from the court's finances to arrange the wedding. This was also a very embarrassing thing for Zhu Gaochi.

(End of this chapter)