Chapter 236 Life in the Inner Court
Warm spring has arrived, and the milky fragrance of the Royal Garden is beginning to overflow.
Zhu Houzhao's wife, Xia, the current empress of the Ming Dynasty, was taking out bottles of yogurt packed in glass bottles from the icehouse.
Ice is made using the principle that calcium nitrate cools down when dissolved in water.
The Ming Dynasty is now able to produce nitric acid and has a dedicated government-run nitric acid factory. Therefore, it is not difficult to produce calcium nitrate.
The purpose of using calcium nitrate to make ice storage is naturally to provide a low-temperature storage environment for yogurt.
Yogurt was made by the queen herself. It was fermented using a group of symbiotic bacteria isolated from Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus. It was then mixed with fresh fruits such as strawberries. It is now a nutritional supplement that the Ming Dynasty palace has begun to consume. cheese, and has been officially promoted to the public.
Han people have always eaten grains, and their spleen and stomach cannot tolerate large fish and meat. The appearance of yogurt can greatly improve the digestion ability and nutrient absorption of Han people.
Queen Xia gave the yogurt to the young prince Zhu Zailei: "After eating, go to school. Don't fail in arithmetic and make your father angry."
"Thank you, Queen Mother, but Queen Mother, the equation is really difficult."
Prince Zhu Zailei pouted and said something, and couldn't help but glance at Zhu Houzhao in the room, fearing that Zhu Houzhao would hear him.
"No matter how difficult it is, you have to learn it!"
Queen Xia walked into the palace with a bottle of yogurt and told the palace maid to remember to send the young prince Zhu Zailei to palace school. Then she walked to the place where Zhu Houzhao was resting. However, when she was about to call her Majesty, Queen Xia I heard Gu Dayong, the eunuch of Xichang, replying to Emperor Zhu Houzhao:
"Your Majesty, nowadays there are many slanderous opinions against the Queen. It is said that the Queen is unworthy and has long feet, so she is jealous of the women in the world who have bound feet. Therefore, they are slandering Your Majesty. You have banned foot binding in the world, and even the former Minister Zuo Shilang. Zhaoji slanders the Queen as unworthy, Your Majesty, you don’t know.”
"These people are still dishonest after resigning. Xichang continues to keep an eye on them. If there is any crime, it must be exposed!"
After Zhu Houzhao said this, he asked Gu Dayong to retreat.
Queen Xia couldn't help but frown slightly, walked in, and asked:
"Your Majesty, can you tell me how to be a virtuous queen?"
Although she was an empress, Xia Xiang'er entered the palace at the age of fourteen, but she had never experienced the wind and rain outside. Zhu Houzhao also gave her enough tolerance and freedom, and did not impose the etiquette of this era on her. As a young lady from a good family, she gradually forgot to pay attention to the queen's reputation, so that now when she heard Gu Da said in his mouth that outsiders said that she was not a virtuous queen, her simple and peaceful heart began to worry. I felt a little insecure, so I had to ask.
"The queen with salt," Zhu Houzhao said smoothly with a smile, and asked Queen Xia to sit next to him.
Now Queen Xia is twenty-four years old and has been with Zhu Houzhao for ten years. She has grown from a shy and silent cardamom girl to a soft and plump mature young woman. As soon as she sat next to Zhu Houzhao, her mature charm was revealed. In front of Zhu Houzhao, his pink face was slightly angry and his eyebrows were furrowed. Obviously Zhu Houzhao's answer made her feel that His Majesty the Emperor did not answer her words very seriously, but she did not dare to get angry with Zhu Houzhao, so she had to put aside her doubts about the empress's wisdom for the time being, handed the yogurt to Zhu Houzhao, and said with a smile like a flower: "Your Majesty, please use it!"
Zhu Houzhao had just finished breakfast, and it was warm in spring. After taking the yogurt, he said, "I want to eat it in a different way," and immediately told Queen Xia.
Queen Xia's pretty face turned red, and she began to squirm: "Your Majesty, this is even more unkind!"
"Sweetness is the best taste between you and me, no matter how salty or salty it is in other people's mouths," Zhu Houzhao said with a smile and winked at the female officer. The female officer understood and closed the door and window.
……
After leaving the inner court, Zhu Houzhao still licked his lips. He only felt that the smell of yogurt was still there, and even mixed with a hint of strawberry aroma and woman's body fragrance. No matter how the outside world viewed himself and his queen, in Zhu Houzhao's view, his queen Whether you are satisfied or dissatisfied, only you know whether you are virtuous or not. There are some things about civil servants. They require their wives to be disciplined and polite, and they also require their concubines to be dissolute. In the end, either their wives kill their concubines based on etiquette, or they are soft-hearted and believe the concubine's slanders. Divorcing a good wife, no matter what happens, will only lead to disharmony between husband and wife and unrest in the family home.
But Zhu Houzhao could not allow the literati and officials to slander himself and the queen so unscrupulously behind their backs. Zhu Houzhao felt that he had to let the literati and officials feel the feeling of being slandered and viciously evaluated.
then. Zhu Houzhao summoned Tang Bohu again and asked Tang Bohu to organize people to comment on today's corporal officials and try to expose their ugly faces.
As long as there are rulers, there are not many who are clean. The emperor may not dare to act recklessly because he is the master of the world and is easy to be stared at. However, officials, especially the literati and officials who have always been romantic, only It will be even dirtier and worse.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao believed that it would not be difficult for Tang Bohu and others to blacken these intellectuals and officials.
Zhu Houzhao not only asked Tang Bohu and others to expose the ugly faces of these literati and officials and blacken them by manipulating public opinion, but he also wanted to make the most authentic evaluation of the character of these people in official historical materials.
"Lin Hanlin, what happened to the "Records of Jinshi of the Xiaozong Dynasty" that I asked you to compile?"
On this day, Zhu Houzhao summoned Lin Kui, a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy, and asked.
Lin Kui reported back: "Your Majesty, 80% of it has been compiled, and it can be completed in the next year."
"You can read out the names of some Jinshi to me," Zhu Houzhao ordered.
Lin Kui received the order and began to read: "Yu Tai, the 114th one of the top three in the Renxu Palace Examination in the 15th year of Hongzhi, was born with the same Jinshi. He was from Wuxi, South Zhili, with the courtesy name Guochang and the name Zhengzhai. Chu. When he was an official in Shandong Province, he returned to the south of the city and lived in seclusion in Fangzhou. He was good at painting and liked the poem "Youfangzhou Manxing Collection".
"Wait a minute! I remember very clearly that this Yu Tai was dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown because he was involved in a corruption case. At that time, the Kao Cheng Law was first implemented. The 300,000 taels originally allocated to Shandong to buy grain because of the Huaiyang famine. I just bought the disaster relief money back He bought 100,000 stones, even half of which was sand and stone, and all the chief ministers on the left and right were cut in half. Yu Tai was also dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown. Three years later, evidence of embezzlement of disaster relief funds was found in his mansion, and he was re-detained and executed.
Why don't you record the corruption of such a corrupt official's moral character? You only remember that he went home to build a private garden, what collection of poems he left behind, and his seclusion in Suzhou. If future generations look back, wouldn't they think that Yu Tai was a romantic scholar who did not conform to the popular trend, so he just returned to his hometown to live in seclusion, and even made outstanding contributions to the history of Chinese architecture? ! ”
Zhu Houzhao asked seriously.
"Your Majesty, calm down. History has always been recorded in this way. The merits and demerits are left to future generations to comment on. However, in order to take into account the reputation of this dynasty, basically all the scholars and officials of this dynasty record their merits and deeds and do not record their cunning, so as not to let future generations know. You are not ashamed of this dynasty. Moreover, Lu Xueshi (Lu Zhaoji), who was in charge of the Hanlin Academy, also specifically asked that since Yu Tai was his nephew, his corruption of ink should not be remembered. I thought, since all officials have never been accused of being greedy of ink, there is no need to remember his corruption of ink. "Things," Hanlin Linkui replied.
"Absurd! The monarch's daily life is actually recorded. Why are the affairs of the civil servants not recorded accurately? Isn't this intentional to mislead future generations? I am not afraid of what future generations will think of this dynasty. If the historical materials of this dynasty are full of loyal ministers and good generals, then why? Die?
Could it be possible that the king can be blamed for this? How can one king cause the world to fall? Give me a true record! There can’t be any mistakes! Corruption of ink, seizing people's land, and killing soldiers and civilians. All civil servants who have committed these crimes will be recorded by me. They must be reviewed by this dynasty and must be detailed. Otherwise, future generations will think that I am too cruel and think that all civil servants in the world are the same. Moral gentlemen, how could they not know that it was these corrupt officials who harmed the people who were so cruel that they forced the emperor to be cruel! ”
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao noticed Yu Tai's record again. Remembering that Lin Hanlin mentioned Lu Zhaoji just now, he snorted:
"It's Lu Zhaoji again! If it's his nephew, he should keep a good record of the major corruption case in Shandong. He should write clearly in the records of his nephew Yu Tai, and how his nephew participated in colluding with Huaiyang in Shandong. The corruption of people’s wealth and anointment by officials in both places should be clearly stated. Don’t let any corrupt officials be mistaken by future generations as good officials. Let them You will be infamy for thousands of years! This is a warning to the people of the world. I always thought that you were an upright and honest person, and the historical events you recorded would not be biased. But I didn't expect that you would remember the good but not the evil. I am very disappointed! I will ask the officials to demote you to one level. If you listen to other powerful people and tamper with official historical materials next time, I will deal with you severely.”
"I obey the decree! I obey the decree!"
Hanlin Linkui did not expect that His Majesty would be so dissatisfied with the list of Jinshi that he was responsible for compiling, and even reprimanded himself. Naturally, he became a little frightened and responded quickly.
Zhu Houzhao knew that Lin Kui was honest, cowardly and abiding by the rules, so he could understand Lin Kui's behavior of recording civil servants' deeds according to tradition, so he did not punish him severely, but still reprimanded him. At the same time, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but think of Lin Kui was also the recorder of his daily life, so he couldn't help but ask: "How do you record my daily life? Let me read what you have written today."
"Obey!"
Lin Kui responded and started to read: "Bingyin, the emperor is too greedy to sleep, and the emperor's eldest son can't get up even after greeting him. Later, he presented freshly made yogurt to the emperor. When he met the governor of the West Factory, the governor of the west factory came out. After the emperor performed, Yu Nuange said that yogurt is fragrant and people are fragrant..."
"That's enough!" Zhu Houzhao shouted.
Although Zhu Houzhao didn't like people to record his and the queen's private life in this way, the author still risked angering Long Yan and chose the title this way
(End of chapter)