Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 297 Master, I want to take a concubine!

Time flies.

More than a month later.

The sun is shining brightly and the temperature in Guangxi in early March is moderate, making it a good time for an outing.

Guilin Prefecture, Lingui County.

On the edge of the most prosperous area in the county, there is a residential complex that stretches for several miles. The homes of Guangxi's chief envoys, inspectors and other high-ranking officials are all here.

The house of Zhu Zuomin, the younger brother of the contemporary Jingjiang King Zhu Zuojing, is located in this residential complex.

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty·Yu Fu Zhi": "The vassal king calls the mansion, the officials call the house, and the common people call the home."

On this day, after having breakfast, Zhu Zuomin found that the weather was nice and decided to take his wife Liu out for an outing.

Suddenly, a servant with a happy face came to report: "Sir, I just bought a copy of the "Beijing Xun Bao" half a month ago in front of the county government office. Please take a look."

Thanks to the construction of fourth-class roads, the normal speed at which newspapers were transmitted from the capital to Guangxi was more than twice as fast as in history.

But even so, it would take half a month for the "Beijing Xunbao" to be transported from the capital to Guilin through normal channels.

Zhu Zuomin took the newspaper and quickly read it.

After a while, he put away the newspaper, threw a ten-coin coin to the servant who bought the newspaper, and said with a smile: "It's for you."

"Thank you for the reward, little one!"

The servant bowed and stepped back wisely.

Mrs. Liu saw her husband's face beaming with joy and couldn't help but ask: "My husband is so happy. Could it be that there is some funny story published in the Xun newspaper?"

Zhu Zuomin is not a "harsh wife", but a powerful head of the family. In this family, he has the final say.

When he heard Mrs. Liu's question, he did not conceal his inner joy and said bluntly: "Hey, the court has allowed us to take concubines!"

Mrs. Liu was stunned at first, then happy, but then became a little disappointed.

Five years ago, when she was 15 years old, she married 16-year-old Zhu Zuomin and moved to this house.

Now five years have passed. Although she has given birth to two children for Zhu Zuomin, they are both daughters.

Because the imperial court strictly managed the Jingjiang clan, Zhu Zuomin did not dare to take concubines in violation of regulations. Over the years, the Liu family always felt sorry for Zhu Zuomin.

Now Zhu Zuomin said that the imperial court allowed him to take concubines, which meant that the imperial court had changed the previous regulations on concubines in the clan.

"Look at it."

Zhu Zuojing handed the newspaper to Mrs. Liu, then grinned and said: "We can take two concubines! The matter of taking concubines must be done immediately, before my brother does!"

The first generation of Jingjiang King Zhu Shouqian and his father Zhu Wenzheng were both directly imprisoned until their death for violating laws and disciplines.

The second generation of Jingjiang King Zhu Zanyi was a wise king who was prudent and law-abiding, eager to learn and good at books. Unfortunately, his life was short and he only lived 27 years old.

Zhu Zanyi left only two sons, both of whom were concubines, the eldest son Zhu Zuojing and the second son Zhu Zuomin.

According to the rule set by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, "If there is a direct descendant, there will be no direct descendant." The second generation Jingjiang King Zhu Zanyi had no legitimate son, so his eldest son Zhu Zuojing inherited the throne.

Under normal circumstances, Zhu Zuojing would succeed as the county king, and his younger brother Zhu Zuomin should be named the general of the country after the county king.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang had previously stipulated that "Jingjiang Prince's Palace is one rank lower than Zhengzhi County Prince", so Zhu Zuomin could only follow the "Ancestral Instructions" revised by Zhu Yuanzhang in his later years and be awarded the title of Fuguo Xiaowei, second only to the Zhenguo General.

In the 13th year of Yongle, when Zhu Zuojing attacked and granted the title of King Jingjiang, Zhu Di considered that King Jingjiang was not a direct bloodline of Taizu, and other than the heirs of the king's title, others should not enjoy the same treatment as those of Taizu's direct clan, so he gave Zhu Zuomin's title to Zhu Zuomin. The title was reduced by one level.

It is said that before Zhu Yuanzhang revised the "Ancestral Instructions" in his later years, there were six titles under the county king: General Zhenguo, General Fuguo, General Fengguo, Lieutenant Zhenguo, Lieutenant Fuguo, and Lieutenant Fengguo. All titles are hereditary and will always be different. to civilians.

After the revision, only the third-class titles of General Zhenguo, Lieutenant Fuguo, and Lieutenant Fengguo remained under the county king.

Specifically, the eldest son of the county king is granted the title of eldest son, who can be hereditary king of the county. The other legitimate sons are granted the title of general of the town. The sons of the prince's concubine are demoted to the second rank and become the auxiliary school captain.The eldest son of the Zhenguo general was demoted to the first rank and was granted the title of Lieutenant of the Fuguo Kingdom. The remaining sons were all demoted to the second rank and were granted the title of Lieutenant of the Fengguo State.

The eldest son of the auxiliary school captain was demoted to the first rank and granted the title of lieutenant of Fengguo. The remaining sons were all removed from the clan and returned to civilian status.

The eldest son of Lieutenant Fengguo inherited the title of Lieutenant Fengguo, and all his remaining sons were expelled from the clan and returned to civilian status.

In other words, according to the provisions of the "Ancestral Instructions" revised by Zhu Yuanzhang in his later years, the general of Zhenguo reduced by one rank is the captain of the auxiliary state, and the captain of the auxiliary state is reduced by one rank and becomes the lieutenant of Fengguo.

After all this calculation, Zhu Zuomin was awarded the title of Lieutenant of Fengguo!

Although his title is only three grades lower than that of his brother Zhu Zuojing, the treatment between the two is as different as clouds and mud!
Jingjiang King Zhu Zuojing, as a special Ming Dynasty prince, has the farm, royal city, guards, and long history that only a prince is entitled to, while Zhu Zuomin can only receive two hundred shi of grain as a salary every year, and has no other wealth.

Because of this, after Zhu Zuomin got married, he had to start his own business and moved into his family home in Lingui County.

Although Zhu Di succeeded to the throne as the de facto eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, the eldest brother Zhu Biao, the second child Zhu Xi, and the third child Zhu Fan were no longer alive, but Zhu Di only inherited the throne as a vassal king. The legitimacy of the succession came from Lao Zhu's posthumous edict.

Therefore, Zhu Di wanted to suppress King Jingjiang's lineage in the early Yongle period, so that Jingjiang Fan would be honest and obedient and not be ignorant of good and evil.

Facts have proved that Jingjiang Fan is very aware of current affairs. By the 15th year of Yongle, Zhu Di had already transferred all the princes who could be changed to overseas. At this time, he needed to show his benevolent side and start to win over Wu Fan and Jingjiang Fan.

Zhu Di ordered that the annual salary of King Jingjiang and the clan of the Jingjiang clan should be paid in silver yuan and gold banknotes, and no longer converted in goods.

After that, he ordered people to gradually make up for the salary arrears of King Jingjiang's lineage, and even gave Zhu Zuomin many additional rewards, such as fields and tea farms.

Otherwise, how could Zhu Zuomin, with his salary of two hundred dan per year, be able to support a wife, two daughters, a steward, a stable wife, six maids, and eight servants?
Now, he has come up with the idea of ​​taking a concubine, which is also because his family has money.

According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu in his later years, princes and crown princes can have up to ten concubines, county princes and their eldest sons can have up to four concubines, Zhenguo generals and auxiliary school captains can have up to three concubines, and Fengguo lieutenants can have up to three concubines. You can take two concubines, and ordinary people can take up to one concubine, but there are age restrictions.

For example, the king of a county was allowed to take concubines only if he was 25 years old and had no children, and the common people were 40 years old if they were childless.

However, the "Order on Marrying Wife and Accepting Concubines" published in the newspaper stipulates that anyone from the prince to the concubine can take a concubine after five years of marrying his wife, regardless of whether the wife has given birth to any children, and it is allowed to fulfill the decree in one go. number of concubines, but the vacancies will not be filled after the concubine dies or is expelled.

"A wife is equal to her husband, and they are equal to her husband. From the emperor to the common people, the meaning is the same. In ancient times, princes married nine daughters at a time, so there were no two direct descendants in the temple. Since the Qin Dynasty, there have been remarries, and the former married the successor (stepwife). We are both legitimate, and we have no objections to each other."

The order stipulates that no one can regard concubines as slaves or things, and it is strictly forbidden to transfer, buy or sell them, otherwise they will be punished for violating the order.

Officials of different ranks could have different numbers of concubines: four for first- to third-rank officials, three for fourth- to sixth-rank officials, and two for seventh- to ninth-rank officials.

The number of concubines that nobles of different ranks can have is also different: five dukes, four marquises, three earls, and two viscounts and barons.

In addition to the principal wife being the principal concubine, the prince and the crown prince are allowed to have two concubines, whose status is second to the principal concubine, and eight beauties, whose status is inferior to the concubine.

In addition to the principal wife being the principal concubine, the county prince and the prince's eldest son are allowed to have two concubines whose status is inferior to that of the principal concubine, and two beauties whose status is inferior to that of the concubine.

In addition to their principal wives, the generals of the state and the captains of the auxiliary states are allowed to have one partial wife, whose status is inferior to the principal wife, and two concubines, whose status is inferior to the partial wife.

In addition to his principal wife, Lieutenant Fengguo was allowed to have two concubines, whose status was inferior to that of his principal wife.

The Duke is allowed to have two partial wives whose status is inferior to that of the principal wife, and three concubines whose status is inferior to that of the partial wife.

Officials of the first to third grades and marquises are allowed to have two partial wives whose status is inferior to that of the principal wife, and two concubines whose status is inferior to that of the partial wife.

Officials of the fourth to sixth grades and counts were allowed to have one partial wife whose status was inferior to that of the principal wife, and two concubines whose status was inferior to that of the partial wife.

Officials of the seventh to ninth ranks, as well as viscounts and barons, are allowed to have two concubines whose status is inferior to that of their head wives.

In addition, from the princes down to the common people, anyone over 65 years old or the elderly and infirm is prohibited from taking concubines, otherwise they will be punished for disobeying the edict.

This edict still regards "one husband and one wife" as the basic principle of marriage, and adheres to the principle that "no princes have two direct descendants", that is, the emperor and princes cannot marry two wives at the same time.

"Come on, hurry up and call Mrs. Wang."

Zhu Zuomin couldn't help but walked out the door and shouted: "Master, I want to take a concubine!"

(End of this chapter)