"Your Majesty thinks twice. Emperor Taizu compiled the "Women's Training". All the emperor, princes, concubines, palace concubines, and concubines should be careful to choose good daughters for them. Those who advance will not accept it. Although Shen's family is from a clean and honest background, their parents are not complete after all. I beg Your Majesty to choose another good partner to be the rule of the world." The censor Wu Bei set an example with righteousness and stern words, kneeling in front of Emperor Chongzhen with his tablet in his arms.

The system of selecting concubines in the Ming Dynasty was very standardized, and the process was roughly divided into "eight levels", and the primary candidates were screened and eliminated.

For example, when Emperor Tianqi chose a concubine, the first level was auditions. When the emperor reached the age of marriage, he sent eunuchs from the palace to select beautiful girls from thirteen to sixteen all over the country, and strictly selected five thousand beauties from all over the world.

These five thousand people were equivalent to getting a beauty pageant "admission ticket", while the royal family paid several silver coins as betrothal fees and travel expenses, allowing the parents of the selected girls to send their daughters to Beijing according to the prescribed time limit.

Just imagine, only five thousand people were selected in the whole world. These five thousand beauties are naturally all beautiful.

However, the cruel selection is called the primary election. All the beautiful women are gathered together. The eunuchs sort these girls in a row, sorting them by age, and checking them one by one. Those who are slightly taller, shorter, slightly fat, or slightly thinner will be eliminated, and one thousand people will be eliminated.

Then there is the third level of election. On the second day of the primary election, these beauties who passed the qualifications continued to line up, while the eunuchs would be extremely strict and picky standards, carefully checking the character of each woman, their facial features, hair, fair skin, whether their body size and proportion are even, etc. Of course, it also includes the "measures". As long as there is one that does not meet the regulations, they will not be eliminated.

Immediately afterwards, these women were asked to claim their family background, names, ages, etc., and listen to their voices and demeanors. For those who have thick voices, unclear speech, and poor manners, they will eliminate 2,000 people.

At this step, the remaining women are even more harsh. If you are not careful, you will easily be eliminated.

When the fourth level is the selection, the eunuchs will use a ruler to measure the girls' hands and feet, and then let them take dozens of "stage steps" to see their stance and charm. So those who have big feet, thick wrists, and misbehavior will be directly brushed down.

In the end, there were only one thousand people who could directly enter the palace, and all of these thousand women were all beautiful and they were all taken into their pockets when they met a fool.

Zhu Cilang had thought that if he was born in a prosperous era, he would naturally live and wait for death and be free. Nothing else, just for this gentle land among the flowers.

For these thousand people, those who have been selected from all over the country who have passed five levels and defeated six generals, have to continue to take the "grading exam". However, the next selection has nothing to do with the eunuchs.

In order to prevent eunuchs from committing illegitimate fraud or being in a mess, the fifth level is to stay in the palace. The old palace maids in the palace were arranged separately, and the beauties were "guided to the secret room, explored them, smelled their armpits, and smeared their texture" for physical examinations, smelled their odors, whether there were invisible infectious diseases, etc. Finally, it was determined that 300 of them became palace maids selected to stay in the palace.

The latter was still quite harsh. The sixth level was Jinpin. The emperor's special mission was to observe these 300 beauties who stayed in the palace for a detailed month. Based on their temperament and words, they judged whether they were gentle and honest, and whether they were wise and virtuous. Based on this, another 250 people were screened out, and the remaining fifty people were automatically promoted to concubines.

Generally, the remaining fifty people will stay in the palace and become the emperor's concubines. This means that these ordinary women can reach the sky in one step and enjoy wealth and glory.

The seventh level is "choose three", and the empress dowager or the concubine selects three out of fifty people for the emperor to choose. This is similar to the "one-one three" list after the imperial examination.

This was the case with Emperor Tianqi. At that time, the concubine Liu personally summoned fifty people, "to talk to him, try to use calligraphy to calculate poetry and painting skills", and then selected three people, namely the queen Zhang Yan, the imperial concubine Wang, and Duan.

The last level was the imperial decree. Concubine Liu first told the emperor about Zhang Yan and the other three people's beauty, and Emperor Tianqi then summoned the three people in person and conducted an interview directly.

The top three beauties selected from the country were naturally fascinated by the Emperor Tianqi. Seeing three beautiful beauties, Emperor Tianqi was really embarrassed and was undecided, so he asked Zhao Xuanshi to decide. In the end, Zhao Xuanshi suggested that Zhang Yan be appointed as the queen of the central palace, Wang was named Liang Concubine, and Duan was named Chun Concubine. That year, Zhang Yan was only fifteen years old.

Later, Zhang Yan was the queen. She was smart and alert. In the era when Wei Zhongxian monopolized power, she finally had the last laugh.

Generally, the two beauties who were selected by "selecting three" will be named imperial concubines, and some were given gold, silver and silver to return home. For example, when Emperor Guangzong of Ming was the crown prince, Liu Dagu and Guo sisters entered the last round of competition, Guo eldest son was elected as the crown princess, and her sister and Liu Dagu were defeated, and they were given gold and silver to return home.

The ministers collectively advised him, and Emperor Chongzhen was persuaded. After all, choosing a concubine is a big deal, and Zhu Cilang cannot be fooled by his nature.

"Since all my dear friends think so, I will discuss this matter carefully."

"Your Majesty, I and others did not deliberately obstruct it. Although Shen cannot be the choice of the crown princess, he can be the choice of talented people."

Under the Crown Princess of the Ming Dynasty, talented people, select servants, and ladies. In other words, although Xiao Shishi cannot be the Crown Princess, she can be selected as talented people. This is also a concession for civil officials led by Wu Bei.

Everyone knows that this prince is obedient and domineering. Don’t really annoy him and you can’t afford to take advantage of it.

If it were before, Emperor Chongzhen might have agreed immediately. At that time, Chongzhen's ears were soft and could not withstand the soft and hard work of his ministers.

However, after Chongzhen was cheated by his ministers again and again, Emperor Chongzhen became cunning.

Emperor Chongzhen did not directly refuse, but expressed his intention to consider it first. He knew that Zhu Cilang's character would definitely not agree to this matter.

But he thought that the country was the most important, and in front of the country, the relationship between children was not worth mentioning at all. What he was afraid of was that even if his son surrendered and pressured, he chose to endure. Once he ascended the throne in the future, he would promote Shen Shishi to queen again. In this way, another storm was inevitably caused in the court.

There are countless examples of this kind in history. When young emperors or princes are forced to accept that they are chosen by the empress dowager or the emperor, the woman they do not like is the main wife. Once they monopolize the imperial power in the future, they will immediately abolish the main wife and then choose the woman they like as the main wife.
Chapter completed!