Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 400: The Crown Prince Selects a Concubine (Special thanks to my friend Wanderer Bookworm for his 2 monthly tickets!)

At noon on October 6, the 30th year of Kaixi, Chai Zongxun, accompanied by Empress Dowager Fu, Empress Shengci, Empress Shengyi and Crown Prince Chai Jiyu, went to Chuxiu Palace to select a concubine for the crown prince.

The thousand beauties who entered the final selection were all beautiful women. After paying homage to the emperor, they all stood respectfully in the hall holding small wooden signs in their hands.

Nine out of ten of these beauties were daughters of Han families, and nearly ten out of ten were blonde-haired, blue-eyed white women from Central and West Asia.

There were also a very small number of more than ten beautiful girls, selected from the ethnic minorities in the Liaodong grasslands and the Beiming.

After more than an hour of selection, the imperial family had chosen more than 20 beauties to be the Crown Princess.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Chai Zongxun immediately ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to set up a banquet in the Huangji Hall and invited the thousand beautiful ladies to have lunch with the imperial family.

The beauties who made it to the final selection not only met the emperor, the empress dowager, the two queens and the crown prince, but were also able to have lunch with the imperial family, which made them feel honored.

During the banquet, Chai Zongxun raised his glass from time to time to invite everyone present to drink together, and asked some questions about the beautiful girls' hometowns.

Chai Zongxun said:

"My dear ministers, did you have smooth registration in your hometown for the selection of girls? Did anyone embarrass you with money during your promotion?"

All the ladies said:
"Your Majesty, there has never been any difficulty.

During the initial selection by local government offices, several officials, eunuchs, and palace maids selected the common women anonymously. "

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said:

“That’s good.

This time, I am selecting a concubine for the Crown Prince. It is a matter of concern to the country, so I must choose a virtuous woman as the Crown Prince's consort."

After lunch, Empress Dowager Fu and Queen Fu asked Chai Zongxun to take leave and return to the palace on the grounds that they felt tired, and Chai Zongxun agreed.

After the two left, Empress Shengyi Diwu Chaolu and Crown Prince Chai Jiyu were obviously much more relaxed.

Chai Zongxun asked his mother and cousin to come together to select a concubine for the prince, originally to express his recognition of the prince's status, and immediately said with a smile:
"Chaolu, Yu'er, you can choose any of the beauties in this palace that you like.

Then we will select one of them to be the Crown Princess."

The Fifth Chaolu smiled and said:

"Your Majesty, can you choose this blond and blue-eyed beauty in this palace as your concubine?
I think all these ladies are good and can serve the prince in his mansion."

Chai Zongxun said:

“Now the Ghaznavid Empire has been conquered by my Longxiang Army, and these blond-haired, blue-eyed white people are also children of the Great Zhou.

Yuer can of course pick a white woman he likes, but he just doesn't need to make her his principal wife. This will also appease the people in the newly conquered territories in Central Asia."

After selecting for more than an hour in the afternoon, including those selected in the morning, a total of fifty were selected from the thousand beauties. When Chai Zongxun and Chai Jiyu were still waiting for more selections, Diwu Chaolu said:
"Your Majesty, Yu'er has just gotten married, so these fifty concubines are enough, right? Too many people would be bad."

Chai Zongxun thought that Diwu Chaolu had the same concerns as his cousin Fu Zhenzhen when she was choosing a concubine for Prince Song last year. She was afraid that her son was young and had no self-control, and that his body would be harmed by women.

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Queen. I will teach Yu'er the health-preserving method that the old ancestor Chen Tuan taught me. With so many concubines, it won't hurt your body."

Diwu Zhaolu hesitated for a moment and said:

"Your Majesty, last year, Prince Song only selected fifty-one concubines. Prince Song is the eldest son of the emperor. I think it is not appropriate for Yu'er to select more concubines than his brother, so as to avoid displeasing the Queen Mother and Empress Shengci."

Chai Jiyu also said:
"Father, what mother said is right. I dare not compete with my brother for the first place. Fifty concubines are more than enough." Chai Zongxun's heart moved. He knew that his cousin was fine, but his mother could not completely forget that Zhou'er lost the position of crown prince for a long time.

After Diwu Chaolu was made queen and her son was made crown prince, she remained clear-headed and respectful, always yielding to Empress Dowager Fu and Queen Fu, and was extremely steady.

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly, thinking that his two queens were both his beloved ones chosen through "free love", so this time when choosing a crown princess, he should also give Yu'er some space to make his own choice.

Chai Zongxun said:

"That's fine. Then let's choose the Crown Princess from among these fifty beauties.

Yu'er, your father will give you the opportunity to choose. You can talk to these fifty beauties and choose one to be your crown princess."

Chai Zongxun waved his hand lightly, and the eunuchs and palace maids took out the 950 beauties who were not selected and placed them in several halls in the front yard of the imperial palace.

Chai Jiyu was overjoyed and thanked the emperor. He immediately followed the emperor's order and went into the side hall, where he summoned the fifty selected beauties one by one to talk.

As Chai Zongxun and Diwu Zhaolu were sitting in the Huangji Palace waiting, Diwu Zhaolu smiled and said:

“Thank you, Your Majesty! The selection of a concubine for Yu’er is such a grand event.

I believe Yuer will be able to pick a virtuous princess consort."

Chai Zongxun held Diwu Zhaolu's hand and said with a smile:

"It must be so. After all, people get along with each other based on feelings.

A relationship like the one between me and the Queen, where we have been childhood sweethearts, is something that can only be encountered by chance.

Whenever I see the Queen, my heart is filled with joy.

However, after Yuer's wedding, they will be a young couple, so I believe their relationship will be able to develop quickly."

The fifth Chaolu nodded in agreement.

In Chai Zongxun's view, the princes and princesses of all dynasties were confined in the deep palace and raised by eunuchs and women, which easily led to the formation of unhealthy and rebellious personalities:
Either they are timid and cowardly, or they are arrogant and rude, or they are perverted and ruthless, or they are cruel and bloodthirsty.

Therefore, since he had princes and princesses, Chai Zongxun tried to relax his control over them as much as possible, and arranged for four teachers to provide them with enlightenment education at the age of three.

He also tried his best to take time to tour with members of the imperial family, so that they could see the mountains, rivers, and the sufferings of the people, so as to help cultivate the healthy and cheerful personalities of the princes and princesses.

And when it comes to the important matter of marriage, which is related to lifelong happiness, the emperor tries his best to give the princes and princesses space to make their own choices.

Nearly an hour later, Chai Jiyu came from the side hall to report to his father, the emperor and his mother: a seventeen-year-old beauty named Sun Tong had been selected.

Sun Tong is the eldest granddaughter of Sun Shoubin, a big wine merchant in Bian Jing. She has been outstanding in appearance since childhood, and is proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. She is humble and quiet.

Sun Shoubin's father was named Sun Hui. He was an old friend of Zhou Taizu Guo Wei. He had donated money and grain to Taizu many times and was deeply trusted by Taizu.

After his death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Zuojianmenwei Ratefuwei (third rank) by Emperor Taizu of Zhou. A commoner was posthumously awarded a high-ranking military officer by the emperor, which shows that the friendship between the two was indeed deep.

As the son of Sun Hui, Sun Shoubin naturally knew Zhou Taizu Guo Wei and Zhou Taizong Guo Rong.

After Chai Zongxun opened up private commerce, Sun Shoubin ran the wine business for decades and became one of the largest businessmen in the country. What's more rare is that he never evaded taxes and was kind and generous, donating to many students and orphans.

The Crown Princess chose the daughter of a model merchant family, which could consolidate and enhance the status of the merchant class among the subjects of the Great Zhou. This was exactly what Chai Zongxun wanted to see, so he agreed immediately.

(End of this chapter)