If not abolished

Chapter 98 Marriage Grant (2)

"It's too noisy. What if we disturb His Majesty?"

The palace servant immediately understood, stuffed Sun Ruoji's mouth, and quickly took him away.

The next day, Zhu Di was in a very bad mood because of what happened last night. If it weren't for the envoys from various countries, he would have prepared to return to the palace early in the morning.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report." Concubine Wang was still dressing Zhu Di when she heard Wang Jinghong reporting from outside.

After a while, Wang Jinghong heard Zhu Di's voice, "Come in."

Only then did Wang Jinghong walk in carefully.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Di was still angry, so his tone was naturally not very good.

"Your Majesty, just now the envoys from Ryukyu and Sumatra countries came to ask me for permission to ask the Celestial Empire to marry their princes to noble ladies from the Celestial Empire," said Wang Jinghong.

"It's not even spring, why are everyone in heat?" When Zhu Di heard this kind of thing, he felt like he had a heart attack and a headache. Everyone wanted to find a wife, and Zhu Zhanqi was even more so. He found Agui to be the one looking for a wife. He really had no respect for hierarchy.

"Your Majesty, you can't vent your anger on others because of what happened to Xiaoqi last night. Since ancient times, when countries came to the court, in addition to paying tribute, another important task was to consolidate relations. It is reasonable for the envoys to want to marry. Don't you often ask Korea to pay tribute to your noble ladies?"

"How are they the same? Those are vassal states paying tribute to the Celestial Empire, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is guarding the national border. We are not like those previous dynasties that engaged in marriages and tributes." Zhu Di immediately retorted.

"Yes, yes, we don't want a marriage, but the other person is asking for marriage. We can't just reject him directly, right?" Concubine Wang persuaded.

"No, there is another problem. The late emperor has an ancestral precept that princesses in our dynasty do not marry princes and nobles. Their husbands-in-law are all chosen from the common people." Zhu Di cited the ancestral precepts.

"The envoys said they wanted the royal princesses and princesses?" Concubine Wang turned and asked Wang Jinghong.

"No, just say you want to marry a girl from our dynasty."

"Your Majesty, you see, they don't want our princess either."

"What's wrong with you today, my beloved concubine? Do you seem to really want to make this happen?" Zhu Di rarely saw her speak so clearly about something.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten something?" asked Concubine Wang.

"What's the matter?" There are so many things happening every day, and this sudden question did not give any clues. Zhu Di really did not know and could not remember.

"In order to select a concubine for Agui, many beautiful girls were brought into the palace. It has been such a long time, and the candidates should have come out. However, Agui suddenly fell ill, and it seems that the selection of a concubine will be shelved again this year. Your Majesty, you have forgotten that it was postponed once last time. What is the reason this time? If this gets out, it will ruin Agui's reputation, and it will be difficult for him to find a concubine in the future." Seeing that Zhu Di didn't care at all, Concubine Wang simply expressed her thoughts.

"That's true. Those concubines can't stay in the palace for so long, but sending them back home... So what you mean is..." Zhu Di was also suddenly shocked.

"It's just right. We can take this opportunity to pick out one or two outstanding ones and grant them to the vassal states. It won't be considered a marriage alliance. Then pick one or two to keep them in the palace as female officials. It won't be a problem to send the others out of the palace." Concubine Wang said about her arrangements.

"That makes sense. My beloved concubine is the one who thinks things through." Zhu Di praised.

"Your Majesty, is there something else more difficult than this right now?"

"Ah. What is it?"

"Fortunately, you can take this opportunity to give the concubine to the vassal state, and also make arrangements for Zhanqi and Sun."

"Originally, they were going to choose a concubine for Agui, but in the end, she was given to someone else. This arrangement is quite suspicious, isn't it?" Zhu Di thought.

"That's fine too. We can just tell the public that the purpose of selecting concubines for the children is to let Zhanhe choose one as well. As for Zhanji, we can also choose one or two to serve him. Don't decide on their status yet. Let's talk about it after this year. What do you think, Your Majesty?" Concubine Wang suggested again.

"This is the best plan at the moment, otherwise it would be unreasonable." Zhu Di couldn't think of a better way than this.

"That's how it is arranged, Aguinaldo. Do you go and make the decision or do I go?" Concubine Wang gave a multiple-choice question.

"This... Agui usually listens to you, why don't you go and talk to him, my dear concubine?" Zhu Di thought about how his grandson had suffered such a big blow last night, and he, a grown man, didn't know how to comfort him, so he let Concubine Wang go, "My dear concubine, remember to comfort Agui and let him think more positively. There are fish in water everywhere, right?"

"I will. Your Majesty, please go and talk to the King of Han about the matter of Zhanqi and Sun."

"Ah, I'll talk to him, otherwise my beloved concubine will..." Zhu Di felt upset when he thought of those two troublesome things, mainly because he might have to see his second son, that fool, cry again.

"I have to comfort Agui and arrange for the concubines. I am too busy. I will trouble your majesty."

"No, all right, then my beloved concubine will definitely comfort Agui." Zhu Di still felt sorry for Zhu Zhanji the most. This time his good grandson suffered a great injustice.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Concubine Wang thought to herself, Zhu Zhanji probably doesn't need any comfort at all, because he was the one who arranged the whole thing.

The two of them split into two groups. Zhu Di went to the meeting place in the Western Garden and asked someone to invite the Prince of Han and his family over, while Concubine Wang first called Yan Ru's two aunts over.

Having said that, let's first look at the King of Han who thought he could be compared with Li Shimin.

"Your Majesty." The King of Han and his two sons came over together.

"Get up, everyone." Zhu Di didn't want to ask them to get up, but when he thought that this matter had nothing to do with Zhan He, he let it go.

"I called you here today because I have something to tell you."

"Your Majesty, I still say the same thing. Xiaoqi is also your grandson and you should love him well. If mother were still alive, she would definitely..." Zhu Gaoxu began his crying drama as he spoke.

"How dare you mention your mother? If your mother were still alive, she would definitely slap you twice as she is such a stickler for rules." Zhu Di originally wanted to talk directly about the arranged marriage, but his son was so troublesome that he dared to mention the queen. To be honest, he and the queen were childhood sweethearts, a perfect match made in heaven, so how could she give birth to a brat like him?

"Your son..." Zhu Gaoxu was speechless after being rebuked by Zhu Di.

"Alright, I called you here just to say that after careful consideration, I agree with Zhan Qi and Sun's marriage. I will choose a date to arrange their marriage. For the sake of fairness, so that you don't keep saying that I am partial, I will also arrange Zhan He's marriage."

"Is what my father said true?" Happiness came so suddenly that Zhu Gaoxu was a little bit unable to believe it.

"Of course." Zhu Di felt more and more that his son was a fool. Did he deliberately call them over to give him a beating?

"Thank you, Grandfather Emperor." When Zhu Zhanqi saw that Zhu Di agreed to his marriage with Sun Ruoji, he was as happy as the silly son of a landlord.

"Don't be in a hurry to thank me. I agree that you can marry her, but she cannot be your principal wife. At most, she can be given the position of a concubine. Otherwise, there is no deal." Zhu Di stated his conditions.

"Grandpa Emperor, for..." Zhu Zhanqi wanted to say something.

"Okay, this is already a concession from your grandfather, so stop while you're ahead." Zhu Gaoxu interrupted his son.

"Understood. Grandson, obey your command." Seeing that his father had also spoken, Zhu Zhanqi knew that there was no room for maneuver and could only obey.

"Okay, that's it. If there's nothing else, let's go back." Zhu Di successfully completed the task and was about to send people away.

Okay, now let's look at the other side.

Aunt Yan and Aunt Ru had just listened to what Concubine Wang had said to them.

"Your Majesty, there has been no precedent of giving concubines to other countries since the founding of the dynasty. This..."

"I know, but it is difficult for Your Majesty to refuse the envoy's request this time. The princesses have to respect the ancestral teachings of the late emperor, so they can only choose a consort from the people. Your Majesty is also very troubled, so I came up with this idea."

"Then, how do we choose?" When the two aunts heard Concubine Wang say this, they realized that the matter was probably a done deal.

"The dance they performed yesterday was pretty good, so we'll select two of the best dancers. I guess the envoys came up with this idea after watching the dance last night."

"Okay. The other two who didn't come due to health reasons are not included in this list."

"Since she didn't come, forget it." Concubine Wang vaguely remembered that a concubine had sprained her ankle.

"The servants understand. We will send the list over tomorrow."

"Well, that's great. I don't have anything else to do. The two aunts can go back and make arrangements first."

"Yes, slaves, please leave."

After a while, Concubine Wang asked someone to invite Zhu Zhanji over. After a while, he came, and Zhu Zhanji was also waiting for Concubine Wang to invite him.

"It's coming so fast."

"I'm anxious to know the result." Zhu Zhanji said bluntly.

"I know you're anxious, so I let you come over after I've dealt with the matter."

"It looks like the matter has been taken care of."

"Well, it's a coincidence that several envoys suddenly asked for marriage, so I suggested to His Majesty that it would be a bad idea to release all the concubines in Chuxiu Palace, so it would be logical to agree to Sun's matter as well. His Majesty has already agreed to grant them marriages, but it is not in accordance with the rules to grant marriage to only Zhanqi, so you and Zhanhe have to choose as well."

"I want to choose too." Zhu Zhanji didn't expect that the fire would be directed at him again.

“There’s nothing we can do about this. However, you don’t have to rush into getting married or anything like that. You can wait two years before you get your position…” Concubine Wang explained.

"I have never seen any of those beauties," said Zhu Zhanji.

"That's not right. Didn't you meet Jiaxing secretly once?"

"How do you know?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Just tell me, choose two. Who do you choose?"

"I...I have to give this some time to think about it."

"If you consider it again, there will be no one else." Concubine Wang told her about the envoy's proposal of marriage this morning.

"Then if there is no grandson, then don't give it up." Zhu Zhanji wished that they would all be picked away.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Do you really want to choose?"

"Ah."

"Then let's just go with the two who didn't come." Zhu Zhanji was giving up.

"Are you sure? He didn't come because his foot was injured. If there are any sequelae in the future..."