back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 441 The Restless Night

In the imperial palace of Chang'an City, in the Hall of Renming.

As night fell, the ladies of the palace held up the ever-burning lanterns, illuminating the entire Renming Hall brilliantly.After the time of Xu, according to the practice in the palace, except for the servants on duty, any maid who entered the palace where the emperor lived without being summoned would be arrested and sent to prison.Dashun Palace has many rules and a sound system.In addition to the concubines and empresses who belonged to the leadership class, there was also the introspection of the Shangshu who commanded all the court ladies.These court ladies who were sealed as female officials became deacons and service personnel of the emperor and concubines, and took on a relatively large number of court labor tasks.

For example, the maid who serves people is called Shiyu; the one who is in charge of the emperor's clothes is called Siyi, the one who helps the emperor and queen comb the grate is called Sishi, the one who is in charge of the bed and pillow is called Sibu, the one who serves soup and medicine is called Siyao, and the one who is in charge of musical instruments is called Siyao. , deputy envoys are called Xianshao envoys, deputy envoys... There are so many people, they have been planned for you one by one anyway, you can't walk around indiscriminately, and you have to stick to your post.Most of them can't rest until the emperor, empress and concubines are asleep.Some have to keep watch at night and take charge of candles.If you walk around indiscriminately, and the waist card does not match, you will probably be told by the inspecting imperial guards to the Minister for introspection. After finding out your identity, if you are a spy, you will be arrested and sent to prison immediately; A meal of flesh and blood, and even be expelled from the palace wall.

Fortunately, both the empress Zhou Zhiruo and the little emperor Lu Chengqi are good people.Some small mistakes don't linger in my arms, and I let them go generously.What's more, when it was found out that Qu You had an affair with a certain imperial guard, under the hint of the little emperor, Empress Zhou Zhiruo's solution was to expel both of them from the palace wall at the same time.According to the old court rules, such a bold person would be imprisoned in the cold palace until he died of old age.The imperial guards will also be given dove wine to die. After all, in the eyes of the world, the empress and palace beauties are all forbidden by the emperor. How can they be blasphemed by others?
Zhou Zhiruo also had some criticisms about this matter, while Lu Chengqi enlightened him: "There are so many servants and talented people, how many of them can become concubines? Could it be that Zitong, you have the heart to watch them die in the palace one by one, never marrying for the rest of their lives?" ?”

Zhou Zhiruo couldn't argue with Lu Chengqi, so she let him go.Later, Lu Chengqi felt that this could not go on like this, the inner court of the palace still had to have rules.So Lu Chengqi added: "From now on, anyone who is in love with each other must report it to Zi Tong first, and Zi Tong will allow it... As for the imperial guards, only those who have not married a wife can be released. After marrying a wife, they cannot continue. Serve as the imperial guards, and all of them will be transferred to the City Defense Department..."

In this way, the maids breathed a sigh of relief.Those who can be selected as court ladies are either beautiful or talented, so how can they look at rude men like imperial guards from the frontier army?It's just that seeing the decline of his appearance, he has no choice but to do it.Given a choice, who wouldn't want to fly on a branch and become a phoenix?Seeing that the queen didn't pursue it, some court ladies who were already in their twenties became more alert.They have been in the palace for a long time, and their ability to perceive words and emotions is not bad, so they all ran to beg Zhou Zhiruo, wanting to get rid of their status as palace maids.People are not for themselves, heaven and earth will perish, Zhou Zhiruo has a soft heart and can't help but grind, most of them agree.

No, Zhou Zhiruo was complaining to Lu Chengqi: "Your Majesty, it's what you said. It's only natural for two people to be happy. Now, just today, there are already more than ten court ladies who came to courtiers and concubines to beg to leave the palace. If things go on like this, most of the maids are gone, who will supervise the affairs of the palace?"

When Lu Chengqi heard this, he was shocked.Apart from the eunuchs, most of the palace ladies are maids. If there were all eunuchs, wouldn't they suffocate themselves to death?After pondering for a while, he said, "At what age does this court lady usually enter the palace?"

Zhou Zhiruo said, "Most are fourteen or five years old, and some are sixteen."

Lu Chengqi smiled and said: "This is easy to handle. It's not like we don't pay wages when we come to the palace to do things. All maids and servants are paid, aren't they? Well, let's trouble Zitong to make sure that the palace servants are over [-] years old. The six maids, note that only those who are more than twenty to six can leave the palace. As for the new maids, you can continue to choose, right?"

Lu Chengqi knew about the selection of court ladies, but he didn't know that the selection of court ladies was actually to choose a concubine for him.According to the rules of the Dashun Dynasty, the palace people would choose officials and women from good families to enter the empress and palace, so that they could be selected as royal servants or concubines.Palace people are palace ladies without taste.If you want to have a level, you have to go up step by step, just like being an official.At least one must have the status of a talented person before he can hope to be included in the curtain of the emperor.Of course, there will be a time when you reach the sky in one step, that is, the emperor has taken a fancy to you and wants you to sleep in bed.After serving the bedtime, at least the identity of Jieyu will be given.If the emperor likes it tightly, it is also possible to make her a concubine directly.If she is pregnant with a dragon fetus, it will be even more serious. It is also possible for a mother to directly become a noble concubine based on her son.

But Lu Chengqi didn't know that choosing a palace lady was choosing a concubine for himself, this is really throwing a stone at his own foot!The selection of court ladies is based on the concubine system.It is divided into talent selection and appearance selection. Most of the talent selections are not good in appearance; while the appearance selection has good looks, but they can only serve as servants.And concubines often stand out from talents with both talent and appearance, so the competition for talents is very fierce.

Zhou Zhiruo thought that Lu Chengqi was tired of looking at herself and was about to start choosing concubines to fill the empress and palace, and her heart ached.But before she entered the palace, she knew that the emperor could not belong to her alone.It's just that Lu Chengqi was so used to her that he couldn't accept it for a while.

Seeing that Zhou Zhiruo's eyes were red, Lu Chengqi was startled: "What happened to Zitong?"

"It's nothing, it's just a moment of emotion when I saw His Majesty asking about the affairs of the palace people." Zhou Zhiruo said in a concealed manner.

Lu Chengqi held her hand and said: "These maids from good families have given us ten years of time, how can we be evil people and ask her for another ten years? How many years can a woman have to waste! Think about it At the time of Taizu, there were only two or three hundred court ladies. They once asked, "Is there anyone who is willing to pass?" They went to a quarter. Thousands, really ashamed."

Zhou Zhiruo burst into laughter when she heard the words, and said, "How could Your Majesty not have known about the expansion of the number of people in the palace during the reign of the late emperor? Is the arrangement of the late emperor a man's son?"

Lu Chengqi was choked speechless by her, and it took a long time before he said: "I'm wronged, I just don't want to see so many court ladies, and I have never married and had children in my life, I feel ashamed! If Zi Tong wants to say that I am a fool, how can I be a fool?" Can only the queen have one ear?"

Zhou Zhiruo pursed her lips and said, "Look, the fox's tail is exposed, right?"

Wanting to do good things, but being slandered as a "faint king" is really worse than Dou E: "I am determined to catch up with Wen Zong, how dare I be dragged down by my son and daughter's personal relationship? If I am impatient, I will definitely put the Zi Tong, a gentle and virtuous queen who knows both books and rituals, will buy it..."

(End of this chapter)