Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 407 Gong Wei
Seeing this, Zhu Youjian said: "Jade, no matter how much it is buried in the ground or how many years it has passed, its essence will not be affected in any way. When it is seen in the sun, it is warm and moist without front, but its quality is pure, just like the righteousness of the universe. Change, never leave. Duke Xingguo is using jade to encourage you."

After a pause, Zhu Youjian continued: "In addition, Duke Xingguo gave you the jade, which means he promised you to be his son-in-law."

Li Jing laughed loudly when he heard the words: "Your Majesty, this is too straightforward."

Zhu Youjian smiled: "I also learned this from you. It's rare for you to speak implicitly once. Unfortunately, the child doesn't understand. If I don't speak more bluntly, how can he understand the meaning of the jade you gave him?"

Li Jing smiled, and patted the crown prince's head again: "I'm so good at studying, after a while, I'll find you some children to play with."

Empress Zhou said happily after hearing the words: "Duke Xingguo wants to bring Aimee and the others to the capital?"

Li Jing nodded lightly: "Mother, it's Li Jing's fault that separated your mother and child all these years. Today, I apologize to you as well."

When Queen Zhou heard this, she covered her face and wept and said: "My lord, I met Aimee when I came to Pingyang Mansion. The child is very good, and much more lively than the children in the palace. I don't blame you, but I often miss the child. .”

Li Jing sighed softly: "My mother is worried when my son travels thousands of miles. There is no mother in the world who does not miss her children. After a while, I will bring them here and let you mother and daughter reunite."

After finishing speaking, Li Jing cupped his hands: "Your Majesty, empress, Li Jing will take his leave now."

Zhu Youjian hurriedly said: "I asked Cheng En to lead you the way."

Li Jing smiled: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Youjian immediately ordered someone to call Wang Chengen.

When Wang Chengen came in, Zhu Youjian said with a smile: "Cheng'en, it's rare that the Duke of the State wants to drink with you. You have to serve the Duke well."

Wang Cheng'en didn't understand what it meant, but he still bowed and said: "This old slave understands."

After leaving the Kunning Palace, Li Jing called Xiao Wu and other guards who were guarding the door, and Wang Chengen ordered the young eunuchs to go to the imperial dining room to send orders to make some snacks and dishes with wine, and then ordered several young eunuchs to hold lamps and lead the way.

After finishing the order, Wang Cheng'en said with a smile: "Why is the commander-in-chief interested in drinking with this old slave?"

Li Jing smiled and patted Wang Chengen's shoulder lightly: "Brother Wang, there are no outsiders here. Don't call yourself an old slave. You are older than me, so it makes sense to call me brother."

Wang Chengen was moved when he heard this, but he said: "Marshal, how dare this old slave be?"

Li Jing waved his hand: "Brother Wang, I need your great help to carry out the New Deal. I remember it in my heart. When I came to Beijing, I said that I would never treat you badly. I will always remember this sentence. I can't help you personally." What's the matter, if there is anyone in your family who can do it, tell me, I will ask Hengchen to send someone to investigate and arrange a suitable position for him."

"Marshal, you take care of everything, and you still miss Cheng En's relatives. How can Cheng En repay you?" Wang Chengen choked up.

Li Jing patted Wang Chengen's shoulder lightly: "If it was before, why would you need me to arrange for your family members? You are very measured. After I came to power, you let your relatives resign from office, so sensible , Don’t I know? The so-called external actions don’t avoid enemies, and internal actions don’t avoid relatives, and I can’t let a loyal and reasonable person like you suffer.”

Wang Chengen nodded emphatically after hearing this: "Don't worry, Commander, Cheng En will tell relatives not to violate Commander's orders."

Li Jing nodded slightly, looked at Wang Chengen and said suddenly: "Chengen, you are not young anymore. Although you have relatives, you are not your own children after all. If you think you have a good child, you can adopt one as an adopted child. Treat like this." After a hundred years, you will have a descendant to die, right?"

Wang Chengen nodded silently, feeling inexplicable for a moment.

Turning his head to look at the Kunning Palace behind him, Li Jing continued: "I said before that the number of eunuchs and maids in the palace will be reduced in the future. In fact, I am planning to cancel the eunuchs. After all, it is a serious matter to castrate men. Very cruel thing."

"What about the chores in the palace? There are some jobs that women can't do? If men are allowed to do them, they will inevitably have to enter and leave the palace. If the palace is dirty, what should we do?" Wang Chengen said after a moment of pondering.

Li Jing shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not as serious as you imagined. In fact, the main reason for the messy palace is the emperor. Think about it, the emperor has so many concubines, it's hard to get even rain and dew. .Unsatisfied with desires, it is natural for people to mess up the palace.

In the future, the number of concubines of the emperor will be greatly reduced. If there are only five or six concubines, the situation will be very different.Although they can't fully meet their needs, it won't be as it is now. Many concubines can't see the emperor all the year round. To be honest, I don't know what is the purpose of conferring these concubines. Could it be that they are only made in the name of the emperor's women?
As the number of concubines decreases, things like filth and disorder in the palace will naturally decrease.

In addition, many maids in the palace have lived in the palace for many years, and some court ladies have never seen a man until their death. If a man is suddenly arranged to work in the palace, the situation you are worried about will also appear.

In fact, this is not difficult to solve. I plan to gradually reduce the number of court ladies. At the same time, it is stipulated that after a few years of service in the palace, the court ladies must be released from the palace to marry.

In this way, the maids are equivalent to working in the palace for a few years, and naturally they will not do things that humiliate the family. Otherwise, how will she marry in the future? "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "Of course, if young men and women have been in contact for a long time, they will inevitably have an affair. This is also unavoidable, but we don't need to make a fuss about it. We just need to set strict rules, I think They won't give up their errands in the palace for personal reasons, right?"

Wang Chengen nodded silently upon hearing this.

Although Wang Cheng'en is an eunuch, it doesn't mean he doesn't know about men and women. He knows very well that things like dirty palaces don't depend on whether there are men in the palace.

In the past dynasties, is it rare for eunuchs to bring men into the palace to satisfy the selfish desires of nobles?Using eunuchs can't solve any problems at all.Only by starting from the root cause, as Li Jing said, can the scandals in the palace be reduced.

Wang Chengen pondered for a while and said: "However, there are many servants and maids in the palace who are old, and many of them are alone and have no relatives. If these people are expelled from the palace now, I am afraid that these people will only be hungry. If you die, I'm afraid it will damage the reputation of the Marshal."

Li Jingjing nodded: "This matter is not a one-day achievement, and it may not be completely resolved in ten or eight years. What we have to do now is to first count the number of people in the palace, and then divide it into several categories according to age.

For servants over the age of 45 and palace maids over the age of 35, if they have relatives at home and are willing to take them home, we will send them some money to settle down and send them home.If there are no relatives or no one is willing to take them in, or if they don't want to leave the palace, they should be left in the palace for the elderly and do some errands within their ability.

In addition, don't we still have several factories?A lot of people are needed to work there, and many of these people can still work for a few years, so they can be assigned to the factory.

The palace maids in the age group of 25 to 35 are actually the most difficult to deal with. Marrying at this age, it is difficult to find a good family, so I have to wrong them. I plan to find some of their age in the army, even if they are As a concubine, they have to be accommodated.If it really doesn't work, they will be placed in the factory.

As for the servants under the age of 45, they will be retained for the time being. If there are those who are willing to leave the palace, they will be given Anjia money. Don't force them to stay.

All the court ladies aged 20 to 25 were sent out to marry.Women of this age are easier to marry, and they have learned all kinds of etiquette and rules in the palace. Just seeing this is far beyond the reach of women from ordinary families.

The last is those under 20 years old. The maids of this age will continue to work in the palace and wait until they are 20 years old before they are issued a palace marriage.

In this way, the number of people in the palace will be reduced by a large number, and the burden on the court will also be reduced accordingly.After a few years, those old people die, and the number of people in the palace will decrease again.

During this period, let's control the number of people entering the palace again. I think that after a few years, the number of people in the palace can be controlled within the required range.

Actually, I originally wanted to wait for a while before doing this, lest the emperor have other thoughts, but I'm afraid I won't be able to focus on these things in the future, so I have to hurry up and do this while I still have energy up.

Just now I finalized the marriage of my children with the emperor, just to let the emperor know that I will not covet the throne in any way, and the emperor should be able to understand my intentions.

Cheng En, I don't feel at ease if someone else does it, and it's inconvenient for people outside the palace, so I can only leave it to you.

Work harder, count all the people in the palace these days, and then divide them according to the several files I just mentioned, and I will tell the emperor later that I will start doing this in the next year. "

Wang Chengen nodded: "Marshal, I will count the number of people in the palace first, and then calculate how many people are needed in the palace, and then decide how many people should be retained in the palace according to the needs.

However, I estimate that the number of people needed now will not be too small. After all, the emperor still has many concubines, and these people cannot be left alone.In addition, there are the concubines of the first emperor, they can't ignore them, and with those miscellaneous things, I estimate that thousands of people will be needed anyway.

You also read it just now, there are hundreds of people in Kunning Palace right now.Those who didn't come, and those who couldn't get on the stage, were even more.There are also those outsiders, odd jobs, etc., without a few thousand people, they can't do so many things. "

Li Jing smiled and said: "Why don't I say that it takes at least ten years to see the merits? Don't worry, let's take our time. I still understand the principle of haste makes waste.

Ten years from now, I will be satisfied if the number of people in the palace can be reduced to 5000. In a few years, everything that needs to be left will be gone. I think it should be possible to reduce the number of people in the palace to 3000.When the prince succeeds to the throne, if the number of people in the palace can be reduced to 2000, the matter will be considered a success. "

(End of this chapter)