Chronicle of Emperor Jing

Enjoy the wealth and honor of the world, but don't know the sufferings of the people?

Wei Yan was dumbfounded by the emperor's evaluation of him.

It turns out that in the emperor's mind, he has always been such an ignorant dude who doesn't know the sufferings of the people. Is this the real reason why the emperor humiliated and despised him so much?

It's just that anyone in this world can say that about him, and this person should not be His Majesty the Emperor.

If it is said to enjoy the wealth and honor of the world, who else in this world can afford such a description except the emperor?

If you don't know the sufferings of the people, Wei Yan doesn't think that His Majesty the Emperor, who is better than the women in the deep palace, will understand the sufferings of the people better than him.

However, the emperor is a king, and he is a minister. If the king says something to him, as a minister, he should naturally change it if he has something, and encourage him if he doesn't.Moreover, it also depends on the occasion to fight for reason. The consequences of making the emperor unable to step down in public are usually very serious.

After serving the emperor for more than ten years, Wei Yan is not ignorant of the emperor's temper. At this moment, no matter how much injustice and dissatisfaction he has in his heart, he can only swallow it obediently, bowing his head should be:

"Young Master's words are very true, and this subordinate will definitely learn more about it in the future."

"Wei Yan, you should say so, but you must be unconvinced in your heart." Emperor Jing didn't think his evaluation of Wei Yan was biased. Suffering is not a big mistake.

However, if Wei Yan has never been ignorant of the sufferings of the people, how can he let Wei Yan know that the people are afraid of the royal family's large number of chosen women to fill the harem, and how can he make Wei Yan obediently admit that it is wrong for him to support the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Yes, how could Wei Yan find out that the reason why he supports the Ministry of Internal Affairs actually stems from the sinister purpose deep in his heart?

Frankly speaking, no matter how many people are instigating behind it, there is nothing wrong with the Ministry of Internal Affairs' insistence on selection, as far as its own responsibilities are concerned, and there is nothing wrong with Wei Yan's support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but Emperor Jing can completely Changing positions, accusing Wei Yan of "his heart can be punished", naturally, right can become wrong.

Emperor Jing raised the teacup, took a sip, savored the bitterness and sweetness between his teeth, then put down the teacup, and began to challenge Wei Yan in his spare time:

"Wei Yan, let me ask you, if someone puts the people in the world in trouble because of his own selfishness, is this person's actions right or wrong?"

"Of course it's wrong." Wei Yan didn't know what he meant by asking, so he answered seriously.

"Since it is wrong, shouldn't it be punished?"

"This is natural."

"Okay. I hope you will firmly remember what you said today, and don't go back on your word and avoid punishment." After hearing Wei Yan's answer, Emperor Jing continued to drink tea and listen to gossip contentedly.

A few days ago, Emperor Jing received a secret letter from the secret guard, knowing that a businessman from the south of the Yangtze River came here at random, and that businessman liked to tell an interesting story called "La Lang Pei".

Sure enough, after sitting for a short time, I heard someone not far away start talking about getting up. In order to be more effective, Emperor Jing specially asked someone to invite that person to their table to listen to the interesting story told by him.

The funny thing is this:

There is a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. On a certain night, some officials returned to the city at night, and the sound of mighty men and women opening the way was heard from time to time in the streets.There was a wealthy family in the city who happened to hire a craftsman to make wooden utensils at home. He heard the sound of gongs in the middle of the night, and thought it was the arrival of the officials who picked women.

There is a daughter in the rich family, who has not had time to get married, and he dare not go out to find someone at night.When he was in a panic, he suddenly thought of the craftsman employed by his family. In desperation, he chose this craftsman as his son-in-law.

When the rich family went to ask the craftsman to get married, the craftsman was still swimming in his dreams, not knowing anything. When he woke up, he found that the master's house had already arranged the wedding hall, and the master's lady also wore clothes. In the wedding dress and the red hijab, she was waiting to marry him.

In this way, because the wealthy household was so terrified about the matter of picking that the wind would rain, a craftsman somehow married a young lady as his wife.

After finishing this interesting story, the businessman began to talk about other interesting things.

Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs' announcement was rejected by the emperor, the common people did not believe that the emperor would really give up the power to choose beauties from all over the world to fill the harem. Play again, and the emperor will probably take advantage of the situation and agree to come down.

At that time, the emperor will not only gain the reputation of loving the people like a son, but also choose affairs by mistake. It is really suitable for fame and beauty.

So during this period of time, there are countless interesting things like this among the people. As long as the common people have daughters of the right age at home, they are rushing to marry off their daughters before the emperor chooses them. want to.

Emperor Jing had to admit that the common people had their own wisdom to survive. If it wasn't for some other reason, he would most likely agree to it after some excuses as the common people expected.

The businessman had traveled all the way from the south of the Yangtze River. He was well-informed and eloquent. He told these things vividly, making people feel like they were there.

It's just that everyone at this table didn't join in, and their smiles were even more forced.Everyone eats royal meals, works as royal servants, and people are neither stupid nor stupid. On the surface, these funny stories are laughing at the ignorance of the people, but it is self-evident who is really mocking behind the scenes.

But the emperor himself was laughing, and everyone dared not stop laughing, but they really didn't want to laugh. In the end, they had to force their faces and pretended to smile or not, which really made people panic.

Everyone was laughing, but Wei Yan didn't laugh.Several times he tried to ask a question, but he opened his mouth and closed it quickly because he didn't know what to ask.

"Why don't the common people want to send their daughters to the palace? Once they enter the palace, when they are elected to the king's side, the glory and wealth will be just around the corner?" Wei Yan didn't ask, and Emperor Jing naturally asked for him.

Although he is not a roundworm in Wei Yan's belly, with Wei Yan's morality, Emperor Jing only needs to look at Wei Yan's current expression and make a random guess to know what Wei Yan wants to ask.

"The young master is still young, and he ascended the throne at a young age. The court has not had a general election for more than ten years. You probably don't understand what the court's selection is all about? The court's rule is three years. A small election every year. In the year of the general election, regardless of whether the daughters of officials or civil servants are selected, as long as they are 15 to 20-year-old women of the right age, all of them will be selected, and there will be a total of [-] people. In the year of the minor election, only There is no fixed quota for the daughters of officials, usually around ten or twenty."

The businessman took a sip of tea, and continued to say: "After entering the palace, from the thousand women, one with outstanding appearance and character will be selected to fill the emperor's harem, and the women who are not selected will serve as court ladies. It's fine if you are a court lady, and you will be released from the palace at the age of 25. If you are unfortunately selected as the emperor's concubine, you will be lonely and old in the palace, and you will never be able to see your parents and relatives. This is the worst in the world. As for There are so many women in the emperor's harem, and how many of them can be favored. Most of the women are able to meet the king, which is already a blessing from heaven. They can only wait for Yunhua's death for the rest of their lives. You probably don’t have any heirs yet, so you can’t understand the painstaking efforts of being a parent. For ordinary people like me, if we don’t want our children to honor our ancestors, we only want our children to be happy and safe, and we are satisfied.”

"So that's how it is. I've been taught. But I heard that this time, today, I resolutely rejected the papers that were requested to be selected."

"It's just a show, it can't be taken seriously. Even if the present has no intention, the ancestral practice is there, and it is not up to the present. And what about the empress, the empress dowager, and the courtiers, what do they think? When the time comes Many people are forcing Jinshang to choose, how long can Jinshang last? In my opinion, it is only a matter of time." The businessman was not optimistic about this matter.

And so on, and said some gossip.Emperor Jing and the businessman were both in high spirits, and the two talked nonsense about each other, and it seemed like they hated seeing each other later.

Wei Yan just drank his tea and didn't speak. He seemed to be thinking about something, but he just didn't want to talk.Even when he saw Qi Yuanheng coming later, his smile was forced.As for the snacks that the emperor admired and specially ordered for him, he also didn't know how to taste them.

After Wei Yan returned to the palace with the emperor that day, he did not stay in the palace.His family sent someone to bring him a message, telling him to go home and discuss something.

Now when he went to ask the emperor for leave, he thought he would have to talk for a long time before he could get permission, but he didn't expect that the emperor was still as easy to talk as the previous few times, and he was allowed to go home soon.

After Wei Yan got home, he realized that what was going to be discussed turned out to be his marriage.

Wei Yan is twenty-five this year, and he has already reached the age of starting a family.

The descendants of the aristocratic clans in the Jing Dynasty generally get married relatively early, around the age of seventeen or eighteen.

The Wei family's children are a little later, getting married in their early twenties. Most of his brothers are at his age, and they have already been the fathers of several children.But he is the youngest son in the family, frail since he was a child, and was pampered by everyone.And as the youngest son, he will always feel that he is still young. Many times, he never thinks that this smallness is only relative. In fact, he is really not young anymore.

However, among the ancestors of the Wei family, there were many self-willed people who insisted on establishing a career before starting a family. Several of them delayed their wives until they were [-] years old, so Wei Yan did not marry a wife for a long time. , although outsiders find it strange, they can understand it.This is a century-old tradition in the Weifu. Every generation will produce a few willful descendants that make the parents feel bad. If this generation does not have it, it will be even more strange.

For example, Wei Yan's father, Wei Lao Hou Ye Wei Jing, was quite a willful person back then, and his marriage was delayed until his [-]s, and he couldn't go on, so his parents forced him to settle down.

Of course, Wei Yan is not such a capricious character. The reason why he didn't get married early is that he was weak since he was a child, and it is not suitable for him to marry early. Anyway, the family didn't mention this matter, so he was not in a hurry and was happy to be at ease. In the past, he would hang out with Meng Jiu and the others in his free time, but after that incident happened, he walked all the way in fear, without any time to think about other things, so the days passed in such a daze.

Now that the family suddenly mentioned his marriage at this time, he felt a little surprised.

"Which lady do Yan'er think is better?" The Da Furen mentioned a few families and asked him which lady he likes.

"But it's up to the mother." Wei Yan's "mother" was calling the eldest lady.

In the big family of the Jing Dynasty, the heirs of concubines generally called the main wife in the mansion "mother", while their biological mother was called "mother". However, in the Wei family, Wei Yan's mother, the Liu family, had a very special status.It is said that the Liu family was originally from a famous family, but due to various chances and coincidences, he entered the Weifu.Therefore, Wei Yan has treated the two of them regardless of their closeness since childhood, calling them "mother" together.

Since ancient times, the marriage of children has always been the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker.An aristocratic family like the Weifu has to consider the interests of all aspects. This marriage has never been chosen by the children.Da Furen's question was just asking, and she didn't really want to listen to Wei Yan's opinion.

If it is up to Wei Yan to choose, he hopes that his future wife will be as beautiful and bright as Miss Luzhu. Unfortunately, after Miss Luzhu disappeared on the pier of Qiyang Mansion, there has been no news so far. He sent someone to look for it. But it has always been fruitless, probably because of fate.

"Then let's go to the Han family." The eldest lady quickly made a decision.The Han family is the family of Han Shilang from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and they are well-matched with the Wei family.They had discussed this marriage a long time ago, and asking Wei Yan to come back was just to inform him, "The sixth day of June is an auspicious day, and we are starting to prepare now, and we should be able to welcome the bride then."

"Is it in time?" Wei Yan felt a little strange, why his marriage was not moving at all at the beginning, and suddenly it was decided immediately.

In the Jing Dynasty, officials of the aristocratic family had to perform three letters and six rituals when they married a wife. The whole ceremony was complicated and cumbersome.Their family planned to complete the three books and six rituals within a month, no wonder Wei Yan was surprised.

"Things happen for a reason, keep everything simple. The Han family also agrees."

"What happened?"

"It's not that the emperor wanted to make a fuss about the selection. The Miss Han family is also included in the selection. The Han family naturally hopes to get married as soon as possible."

"Isn't even the Han family willing to send their daughters into the palace?" Wei Yan really didn't understand that the common people were unwilling to send their daughters into the palace and were eager to marry their daughters. He seemed to understand why even the daughters of officials were so busy looking for them. What about the in-laws?

"Yan'er, you have been working in the palace for so many years, and you still don't understand? No matter how luxurious and rich this palace is, what can it do? Behind those noble women, there are all unspeakable sorrows and pains. If you really love yourself Daughter, who is willing to send their daughter to the palace? If anyone thinks that by entering the palace, he will be treated with sincerity by that person... Whoever is so overconfident is stupid." Wei Yan's mother, Liu Shi, took over topic.

There was something in her words, but unfortunately her son didn't understand what she meant.

"Don't be in such a hurry, His Majesty will not agree to this selection."

"Stupid boy, what's the use of your majesty's disapproval? If the courtiers beg, if the empress persuades, if the empress dowager speaks, can your majesty really persist?"

Wei Yan was speechless.This matter is obviously not over yet. When the courtiers get rid of the shadow of the thorough investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more people should persuade the emperor. Even he himself has persuaded the emperor, hasn't he?

What was he thinking when he persuaded the emperor?Could it be that he really wanted to trap all women in the world just for his own selfishness, as His Majesty the Emperor said in the random residence at that time?