Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 298 The Crown Prince’s Harem Level
Capital.

The sunset is all over the sky, gorgeous and colorful.

The flowers in the imperial garden are in full bloom, and the fragrance is charming.

Zhu Gaoxu, Emperor Qianxi of the Ming Dynasty, walked in the garden along the path paved with bluestone slabs, hands behind his back.

Crown Prince Zhu Zhanyu deliberately slowed down and followed Zhu Gaoxu.

"Prince, who do you think is qualified to take the earl's legitimate daughter as a concubine?"

Suddenly, Zhu Gaoxu asked without looking back.

Zhu Zhanyu just took in a concubine last month, who was Wu Zhilan, the legitimate daughter of the contemporary obedient uncle Wu Kezhong.

After listening to Zhu Gaoxu's question, he instantly remembered the "Order on Marrying Wife and Taking Concubines" issued by the court half a month ago.

"Back to my father, I believe that this person must be at least an earl."

Zhu Zhanyu thought for a moment and then answered.

"According to you, who is qualified to take the duke's daughter as a concubine?"

Zhu Gaoxu stopped and looked at the blooming peach blossoms in the garden, stroking his beard and asked.

Zhu Zhanyu also stopped quickly, stood three steps away from Zhu Gaoxu, and said hesitantly: "Duke, prince, or prince are all welcome."

"Reason?" Zhu Gaoxu said lightly.

Zhu Zhanyu replied honestly: "If the viscount or baron wants to take the earl's daughter as a concubine, it will definitely make people laugh. This is a deep-rooted sectarian opinion."

Zhu Gaoxu asked: "According to what you say, common people cannot accept the legitimate daughter of an honorable noble as a concubine?"

"I am not afraid of my father's jokes. I think that for common people to take the daughter of a distinguished person as a concubine is like a toad eating swan meat."

Zhu Zhanyu went on to explain: "Our royal princess can be married to honorable officials, civil servants and even scholars. Naturally, the legitimate daughter of an honorable noble can be married to a commoner, but there is absolutely no reason for her to be a concubine."

"In the final analysis, the concubine's status is lower than that of the head wife. This is the ancestral law and no one can shake it."

Zhu Gaoxu turned to look at Zhu Zhanyu and said solemnly: "Prince, I have decided to take advantage of the promulgation of the "Order on Marrying Wife and Accepting Concubines" to re-establish the number and status of concubines in the East Palace."

"Father, you want to divide the wives and concubines of the East Palace into customized ones?"

Zhu Zhanyu said slightly surprised.

"Not only that, I also plan to change the hierarchical system of concubines in the harem."

Zhu Gaoxu said bluntly: "After the concubinage order is promulgated, everyone from the prince to the concubine must act in accordance with the order. The number of concubines must not exceed the specified number, and concubines are not allowed to be donated or bought or sold. Otherwise, they will commit the crime of disobeying the order." It is a capital crime. Therefore, we, father and son, should set an example and set an example for the world."

"How do you plan to change it?" Zhu Zhanyu couldn't help but ask.

"There are two options. The first one is based on the Tang Dynasty system. In addition to his wife and princess, the crown prince can also have 58 concubines, namely two Liangdi, six Liangyuan, ten Chenghui, Zhao 16 people were trained and 24 people were honored.”

Zhu Gaoxu had already considered this matter and had a plan in mind, so he said unhurriedly: "What do you think of this plan?"

"Father, are 58 concubines too many?"

Zhu Zhanyu thought: "According to the Tang system, a prince can have 12 concubines, and a county prince can have ten concubines. The number of concubines for a prince in the Tang Dynasty was almost five times that of his prince, but there was no difference between the prince and the prince. Big, this is not the same as our Ming Dynasty ancestral system."

"Second type, in addition to his main wife being a princess, the prince is allowed to have two concubines who are lower in rank than the main concubine, eight talented people who are lower in rank than the side concubines, and ten selected attendants who are lower in rank than the talented ones. .”

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "As for the prince's eldest son being the same as the prince, and the remaining son being the same as the county prince, what do you think of this plan?"

According to the "Concubinage Order", the concubines of princes and princes are also concubines.

Therefore, a prince can have one wife and ten concubines, that is, one main concubine, two side concubines, and eight beauties, and a county prince can have one wife and four concubines, that is, one main concubine, two side concubines, and two beauties.

If we follow what Zhu Gaoxu just said, from now on, the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty can have one wife and twenty concubines, that is, one principal concubine, two concubines, eight talented people, and ten selected attendants. The number of concubines he can have is It is twice that of a prince and five times that of a county king.

It stands to reason that such a specification is not too high!

But after Zhu Zhanyu heard this, he didn't speak.Although he did not object, his silent gesture was a tactful expression of dissent.

Zhu Gaoxu saw Zhu Zhanyu's silence in his eyes and was not angry. He seemed to expect that the other party would react like this, so he deliberately changed the subject and said, "After you took in the Wu family's legitimate daughter, you seem to have distanced yourself from Ning Ning."

Like Zhu Zhanyu, he is a man, so he naturally knows that lusting after beauty is a man's instinct and nature.

Even though Zhu Zhanyu was once unwilling to take a concubine because of his relationship with Yuan Ningning, when he actually took a concubine and tasted the beauty and sweetness of a concubine, how could he fight against his human instincts and immediately become otherworldly? ?

The silence at this time was because he thought twenty concubines were too few.

"My son is at fault."

Zhu Zhanyu was suddenly startled and immediately bowed.

How could he not understand the implication of Zhu Gaoxu's words?
As the saying goes, "A person who is sexually immoral is too much. If he exceeds his limit, it is called adultery." Everyone has a love for beauty, but excessive greed for beauty has become an act that corrupts morality.

Zhu Gaoxu was advising Zhu Zhanyu to know when to stop and not to be too greedy for beauty.

"Son, you have to know that although the Jinling Women's House has been open for more than [-] years and the Jingshi Women's House has been open for more than ten years, how many girls from good families are there in the world who have studied the Four Books for Women?"

Zhu Gaoxu explained patiently.

On the first day of March in the first year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty did something of great concern to women all over the world, especially those living in the royal family. He ordered the great scholar Zhu Sheng to compile the "Women's Commandments" and publish it for nationwide distribution. .

The main content of "Female Commandments" is the glorious deeds of virtuous concubines in the past dynasties.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang opened a lecture hall in the harem, and the editor-in-chief Zhu Sheng gave the lecture in person. All concubines, including the queen, had to attend and study seriously.

The reason why it is said that Zhu Sheng, who is responsible for editing, is the "chief editor" rather than the author is because this "Female Commandments" has a long history. It was first written by the female writer Ban Zhao of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The key reason why Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Sheng to re-compile it was that he hoped that the women of the royal family, especially the concubines, must have an excellent quality, that is, not to interfere in politics without authorization.

And this article was naturally written into the edited version of "Female Commandments" by Zhu Sheng.

Since then, the "Female Commandments" have been the basic code for judging the moral character of women in the Ming Dynasty for a long time. This set of standards was implemented both in the court and among the people.

Under the vigorous promotion of the imperial court, "The Female Commandments" not only became popular across the country, but also produced two "upgraded versions" after Zhu Gaoxu changed the direction of history.

One is "Internal Training" compiled by Xu Miaoyun, the queen of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, and the other is "Nvfan Jielu" written by Li Yao, the crown prince of Yongle Dynasty.

"Internal Training" absorbs the spirit of "concubines not to interfere in politics" in "Female Commandments", refines its theoretical viewpoints, and interprets it in depth in a separate book.

"Nv Fan Jie Lu" inherits and carries forward the various evaluation criteria for good wives in "Nu Fan Commandments". It not only analyzes them in a theoretical form, but also selects the exemplary good people and good deeds that happened in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Hongwu and Yongle years. They are truly Record and sing passionately.

"Internal Training", "Nv Fan Jie Lu", plus "The Analects of Confucius" by Song Ruocui of the Tang Dynasty, and Ban Zhao's original version of "Nu Jie" were collectively called the "Four Books on Women" by scholars all over the world in the late Yongle period.

"Emperor Taizu ordered the great scholar Zhu Sheng to compile the "Female Commandments", your grandmother compiled the "Internal Training", and your mother wrote the "Nv Fan Jie Lu". In addition to educating women in the world, there is another most important reason, that is to ensure The concubines in the harem of future kings, from the queen to the maids, are all good women who will not interfere in politics."

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "In order to achieve this goal, Emperor Taizu took great pains. In addition to ordering people to compile the "Female Commandments", he also specially set the tone for the concubine selection system."

"Although from the surface, the process of selecting concubines in our Ming Dynasty royal family is not that big compared to previous dynasties. They first cast the net in all directions and selected from among the people, and then eliminated them step by step to select the most suitable handful of people. .”

"But in comparison, our imperial family of the Ming Dynasty is the closest to the bottom among all dynasties in selecting concubines. This is because Taizu stipulated: 'Every emperor, prince, concubine, concubine, and concubine should carefully select daughters from good families. The one who brushes it off accepts it.'"

The meaning of this sentence is that the wives of emperors and princes, whether they are the queen or concubine of the main wife, or the concubine or concubine of the side wife, must go through a strict selection process and give priority to "women from good families". As for those who take the initiative to enter All the "beauties" offered by him are not allowed to be accepted.

Zhu Gaoxu is a time traveler. He knows that later generations of scholars have discovered in the edicts and edicts of successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty that the so-called "good families" are the families of low-level officials, unofficial gentry, and Confucian scholars.

"I am telling you this just to let you understand that although there are many women who meet the requirements of our royal family, we must be careful every time we select them."

Zhu Gaoxu finally concluded: "In this way, from now on, the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty can have 36 concubines in addition to his wife and princess, namely, two concubines, eight talents, ten selected attendants, and sixteen ladies."

"My son obeys the order!"

Zhu Zhanyu quickly bowed and accepted the order.

(End of this chapter)