The emperor came to Kunning Palace without informing the palace servants. The palace servants were used to it, so they bowed and knelt silently and let the emperor go straight into the bedroom.
Queen Zhang Yan was already pregnant, but she was quite orthodox. If she knew that the emperor was coming, she would definitely come to greet him.
Female doctor Yang Hanyi served as a dedicated physician for the empress and other pregnant concubines, providing routine medical consultations every ten days, and she always reported good news to the emperor that they were all safe.
Although the emperor had made up his mind to prioritize the virtuous and talented, regardless of whether they were legitimate or illegitimate, he did not tell anyone about this idea.
Moreover, if the empress gave birth to a boy, whether he would meet the emperor's requirements when he grew up was completely uncertain. Therefore, the emperor did not need to say anything.
As he entered the hall, the emperor lowered his footsteps, and his stern gaze gave the palace maids a clear signal to keep quiet.
After staying in the outer room for a while to let the coldness dissipate, the emperor took off his cloak and walked into the inner room.
The Empress was napping on the couch, veiled by the curtains, making it difficult to see clearly. The heating in the palace was mostly done with fire walls and kangs, completely separated from the fire room, so there was no smell of smoke at all.
Burning charcoal braziers is both dangerous and expensive, so I simply switched to burning coal and saved a lot of money this winter.
Coal was also becoming common practice not only in the imperial palace but also in the capital. Even if one didn't use a kang or a fire wall, an iron stove was still much better than a charcoal brazier.
The emperor walked over quietly, gently lifted the curtain, and seeing that the queen was sleeping soundly, he did not disturb her. He lay down beside her with his clothes on and closed his eyes.
There was a warm fragrance within the curtains, the empress beside him was breathing softly, and the surrounding silence was soothing. After just a moment, the emperor drifted off to sleep.
It was unknown how long the emperor slept before he woke up. He was covered with a quilt, and next to him was the queen's smiling face.
"Baozhu." The emperor called softly and reached out to touch the queen's face.
Zhang Yan held the emperor's hand and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, why don't you let the palace servants inform you again?"
The emperor kneaded and caressed the empress's soft hands, feeling as comfortable as a baby's, and said with a smile, "I told you that you didn't need to receive me with full ceremony, but you didn't obey my order."
"Etiquette cannot be abolished." Zhang Yan paused and added, "Your Majesty, please consider me. From now on, I will receive you with half the ceremony, okay?"
The emperor knew that Zhang Yan didn't want to continue to contradict him, and also wanted to put him in a good mood, so he nodded in agreement.
After lying down and chatting for a while, Zhang Yan suddenly said, "His Royal Highness Prince Xin is getting older. Concubine Liu told me a few days ago that it's time to choose a concubine for him."
The emperor was stunned for a moment, then thought, it was already the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, and according to history, Zhu Youjian should indeed have taken in a princess. Even if it was done now, it would be quite late.
Concubine Liu was in charge of the empress dowager's seal, and Empress Zhang Yan was the sister-in-law of Prince Xin. An elder sister-in-law is like a mother, so it was legitimate for her to arrange the marriage for her younger brother-in-law.
But when he thought of Zhu Youjian's marriage, the emperor frowned slightly and remembered Empress Zhou of Chongzhen in history.
Queen Zhou seemed to be very virtuous in historical records, but her father was really unbearable, which made the emperor feel very uncomfortable.
Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, was originally a fortune teller on the streets of the capital. Because of his daughter, he became the father-in-law of the emperor.
Although his daughter is well-educated and has a strong sense of justice, Zhou Kui is extremely stingy, short-sighted, and has no idea of the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold."
In history, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian was extremely poor. In desperation, he issued an edict asking the royal family and princes and ministers to donate money and property as military expenses.
But Zhou Kui did not give his daughter and son-in-law any face, saying that the family had no extra money and was poorer than Emperor Chongzhen.
Empress Zhou knew that Zhou Kui was very thrifty, but she did not expect him to be so stingy. She summoned Zhou Kui into the palace and scolded him. Zhou Kui had no choice but to contribute 5,000 taels of silver to the military expenses.
Queen Zhou secretly sold her gold and silver jewelry in exchange for 5,000 taels of silver, which she used to raise 10,000 taels for Zhou Kui to avoid being laughed at by other princes and ministers.
But Zhou Kui received the silver, deducted 2,000 taels from it, and only donated 8,000 taels. In other words, he only got 3,000 taels in the end.
In order to get away with it, Zhou Kui even made the roof of his house look dilapidated and wore patched clothes to court. But everyone knew who he was, and when the ministers saw that the emperor's father-in-law was acting like this, they followed suit and used some money to deal with Chongzhen.
When Li Zicheng entered Beijing, Zhou Kui offered his three princes (the Crown Prince, Prince Yong, and Prince Ding) and the injured Princess Changping in exchange for his own wealth and glory.
But Li Zicheng was also short of money, and after a brutal torture, Zhou Kui's wife and daughter-in-law committed suicide, and his son was also severely tortured. Zhou Kui was almost beaten to death before he finally gave in and handed over his hidden property.
The silver alone amounted to more than 500,000 taels, and there were also "hundreds of thousands of rare coins." With his family wealth wiped out, Zhou Kui, a stingy man, was filled with anger and soon died, leaving behind only the reputation of being shameless and greedy.
For Zhou Kui, money was everything to him. The country, the court, his daughter, his grandson, all of them could be discarded.
As for the emperor, how could he give such a shameless bastard the opportunity to rise to prominence?
"Your Majesty..." Zhang Yan was a little confused. Why did the emperor frown and look unhappy? Didn't he want to find a wife for his brother?
The emperor's eyes rolled, and he came out of his thoughts. He uttered an "oh" and said, "There is no rush for Youjian's marriage. You are in poor health, so don't overwork yourself."
Zhang Yan blinked her eyes, feeling that the emperor was not only worried about her hard work with a big belly, but also seemed to have other ideas about her brother's marriage.
The emperor didn't want to say more, saying that he had government affairs to deal with, and left Kunning Palace.
The sky was gloomy when we came, but now there are sporadic snowflakes falling.
The emperor's face was also very gloomy. He had decided to intervene to prevent Zhu Youjian from having such a shameless father-in-law.
…………………….
The snow fell heavier and the north wind became stronger.
Nuk, the young chief of the Zarut tribe, was riding on his horse and looking up. The city wall in the distance was already dimly visible, and he felt a little uneasy.
Lin Danhan sent troops to attack the Inner Khalkha Alliance, forcing the troops of the Five Tribes Alliance to withdraw halfway and unable to continue to join forces with the Ming army to attack the Jiannu.
After the five troops returned quickly, although they fought with all their might, they were still unable to withstand the fierce attack of the Chahar tribe.
Although they did not suffer genocide, the five Inner Khalkha tribes suffered many casualties, and the Chahar tribe robbed many of their people and a large number of livestock, which greatly damaged their strength.
Due to weather and other reasons, the Chahar army withdrew. However, the cold weather and heavy losses of the Inner Khalkha Alliance made it an imminent crisis as to how to survive the winter.
Nuk had a pretty good relationship with the Ming army, and Man Gui and Ma Chengfei also agreed that the Zalantu tribe could take refuge in Ming territory in times of crisis.
But Nuk's trip was not just for the Zalantu tribe, but also to buy respite for other tribes, or to get help from the Ming court to overcome the difficulties.
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