My father is Jiajing

Chapter 229: Lord, is this true?

Zhu Zaigui listened to Zhang Juzheng's words and laughed again, "Mr. Zhang, please don't joke like that. According to the rules of this dynasty, no matter if it is the emperor or the princes, the concubines they take are just girls from small families. To say they are ladies from wealthy families may be a bit too much."

When Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong heard what Zhu Zaigui said, they both smiled awkwardly. What Zhu Zaigui said was indeed correct.

Our dynasty is different from previous dynasties. The system established by Emperor Taizu Gao was designed to prevent the emergence of powerful ministers and relatives of the emperor.

Moreover, since the Song Dynasty, emperors and literati of successive dynasties have been consciously wary of and restrictive towards relatives by marriage. Any scholar with lofty ideals would not degenerate to the point of sending his daughter to the palace.

Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, those who were willing to send their daughters to the palace for selection were either minor officials with no hope of a career in politics, or small families of second-rate gentry.

It can be said that under the influence of such a family background, even if there were one or two concubines in the harem who wanted to interfere in political affairs, they were like trees without roots and could not stir up any waves or affect any major political affairs of the court.

On the contrary, once they have such actions or thoughts, they will be subjected to hostile attacks from court officials and people all over the world.

Just like the mother of Bao Zong, Empress Dowager Sun, because she failed to educate Bao Zong well and acquiesced in Bao Zong's restoration, Yu Qian and a group of ministers who made great contributions to the defense of the capital were slaughtered by Bao Zong. Therefore, in later folk legends, Empress Dowager Sun became a generation of evil concubine, almost synonymous with bringing disaster to the country and the people.

From this we can see that in the Ming Dynasty, it was simply impossible for the concubines in the harem to achieve the same success as the female politicians in the previous dynasties. Anyone who dared to think about it would become the target of public criticism.

Even though Empress Ma was touted as the only virtuous empress in the world, she actually did not make any political achievements. The only thing that made her praised by the world was probably that she came from a humble background, yet was able to accomplish great things together with Emperor Taizu Gao.

Apart from this, it is ridiculous to praise Empress Ma for her political achievements. How could she have any political achievements when she had never governed a country or made any political speeches?
Therefore, it can be said that except for a few virtuous concubines, most of the concubines in the Ming Dynasty were actually vases used by the emperor to put flowers. If he was in a good mood, he would put flowers in them a few more times; if he was in a bad mood or did not like the emperor, he might not put flowers in them even once.

Zhang Juzheng replied with a slight embarrassment: "Your Highness cannot say that. Before and after the concubines are selected to enter the palace, there will be special female officials to educate them on etiquette. After being educated by these female officials, the concubines' manners are much better than those of ordinary ladies."

Zhu Zaiqi laughed again when he heard this, "What's the point of being a woman like this? She doesn't even dare to do it herself. She has to be careful everywhere and observe etiquette like a maid. It's meaningless."

Zhu Zaigui's words immediately made Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng stunned. What did this mean?
Does the prince like interesting women?

But what kind of woman is considered an interesting woman?

Looking at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng's reactions, Zhu Zaigui regretted what he said. How could he talk about these topics with them?
Then Zhu Zaigui quickly changed the subject and asked, "What do you think about the recent expansion of the capital?"

When Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng heard Zhu Zaigui asking about current affairs, they immediately returned to their previous serious state.

Gao Gong said, "A few days ago, I heard that His Majesty summoned Minister of Works Ouyang Bijin and Vice Minister of Works Yan Shifan. It seems that he severely reprimanded Minister Ouyang, saying that the expansion plan presented by Minister Ouyang was not good and lacked the dignity of the Celestial Empire."

Zhang Juzheng also said, "At the same time, His Majesty also praised Yan Shifan and affirmed Yan Shifan's contribution in recommending Yan Maoqing. And this Yan Maoqing is indeed quite capable. He is much more capable than the previous salt officials in charge of the salt administration these days. In a short period of time, he has already transported dozens of taels of silver back to the capital. If he continues like this, he may really achieve the promise of a million taels of salt administration revenue within a year."

After listening to Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, Zhu Zaigui said, "I have also heard about these things. As for Minister Ouyang, I don't really know him, so I have no way to comment on his plan to expand the capital. But there is one thing I am sure of, that His Majesty will probably let me assist brother Prince Jing in the expansion of the capital in the near future." "So I have to pay attention to this matter from time to time and understand its current status."

When Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng heard what Zhu Zaigui said, they both showed a thoughtful look at the same time. They were a little puzzled as to why Emperor Jiajing would do such a thing?

The expansion of the capital city seems to be a success.

But in the eyes of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, this is a sinkhole!
Although neither of them worked in the Ministry of Revenue and they didn't know how much silver the Ministry had, based on their experiences in the capital over the years, they could still guess that the Ming Dynasty's finances were extremely tight.

This is an expansion of the capital, which is inevitable, but the problem is that it is very expensive. Whoever gets involved in this matter will be held responsible if the expansion of the capital is left unfinished.

Therefore, after thinking for a while, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng bowed to Zhu Zaigui and said, "Your Majesty, please do not accept this mission. At worst, you can just claim to be sick and stay at home to get through this period."

After hearing what Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng said, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head, saying, "It's too late. I can't escape this matter. Don't you know about the Shunyi Industrial Park in the suburbs of Beijing? That industrial park is the product of my cooperation with the palace. I was able to build such a large industrial park in Shunyi, and His Majesty will definitely not let me go, so I can't escape this matter."

Zhu Zaigui's words shocked Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng again.

Who doesn’t know the name of Shunyi Industrial Park?

If it was before the Tatars invaded the capital, everyone would at most think that it was just a manufacturing workshop with a palace sign.

But after experiencing the defense battle in the suburbs of Beijing, everyone suddenly realized that the industrial park could also be used as a rear military supply base, providing a steady supply of supplies to the front line, and at the same time receiving and treating meritorious soldiers returning from the front line with injuries.

Therefore, in the eyes of the world, the Shunyi Industrial Park is no longer a simple manufacturing workshop, but a miracle!
Now Prince Yu actually said that this place was the product of his cooperation with the palace, which overturned the cognition of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

They both originally thought that Zhu Zaigui was just a nominal presence here to cover up the palace's tracks.

But they never expected that this place was the place where Zhu Zaigui and the palace cooperated. The information contained in it was so explosive that both of them could not digest it for a while.

"My Lord, is this true?"

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Please vote for me... Starting today, I will resume the 9:30 update schedule and the previous extra update schedule, but the extra updates will be in the second half of the month. I have too much farm work to do recently... I can't handle it.

(End of this chapter)