Forbidden City, Palace of Heavenly Purity.
Zhu Youxiao stood up and stretched, his face showing a relaxed look. There really wasn't anything going on these days, which made Zhu Youxiao feel much better.
The post-selection process was going smoothly, and it seemed like the first four rounds had already been completed. Remember, over 5,000 people were selected during the auditions. It probably wouldn't be long before the results were out.
The so-called "open selection" is to select concubines, because the empress of the Ming Dynasty was chosen from common people. Of course, the so-called common people refer to real common people, and nobles are naturally not allowed.
The five thousand people selected were chosen from many people, and it can be said that most of them are rare beauties.
I don’t know if it was to show off her status, but Concubine Li, who lived in the Cining Palace, put a lot of effort into the selection of the queen this time.
After entering the fifth round, Concubine Li went to personally supervise it. You know, according to the Ming Dynasty's empress selection process, there is no need for this.
This was not the first time that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty chose a queen. There were fixed rules and procedures for each selection.
The first step is the "open audition". When the emperor reaches the age of marriage, the palace will send eunuchs to all parts of the country to select girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. Five thousand of them will be selected, and their travel expenses will be paid by the royal family. Their parents will send them to the capital for the second round of selection within the specified time.
In the second round of selection, the eunuchs chose a larger venue and arranged the girls in rows of 100 each, sorting them by age. After a thorough inspection, they eliminated those who were too tall, short, fat or thin. This round eliminated about one-fifth of the girls.
On the second day of the preliminary selection, the third round of selection was held. The eunuchs used the same method as on the first day to line up and carefully examine each person's facial features, hair, skin, voice, and demeanor. If any one of them did not meet the requirements, they would be eliminated. This round would eliminate half of the remaining candidates.
The remaining approximately 2,000 women would then undergo a fourth round of selection. In this round, the eunuchs would not only carefully measure the women's hands and feet with a ruler, but would also examine their gait and grace. This step would eliminate another 1,000 women.
The last 1,000 beauties left were summoned to the palace to continue the selection process.
Zhu Youxiao heard that the thousand beauties had entered the palace the day before yesterday, and he really wanted to go and see them. Not to mention choosing a queen for himself, even if it was a beauty pageant, the scale would be incredible!
But it's a bit early to go now, as it's not his turn yet. If Zhu Youxiao wants to go, he has to wait until the third round of selection.
The so-called selection of three was actually the final round of the selection of the queen. After these one thousand beauties entered the palace, they also had to go through a selection process. After entering the palace, the palace maids led each of them into a secret room to "explore their breasts, smell their armpits, touch their skin, and examine their chastity."
There cannot be a single scar on the body, and the skin must be delicate and shiny. Three hundred people will be selected from these one thousand people to be the head maids.
The fifth stage was for the eunuchs sent by the emperor to observe the 300 beauties staying in the palace in detail for a month, and judge whether they had gentle and honest personalities, and whether they were wise and virtuous based on their temperament and words.
Based on this, another 250 people were screened out, and the remaining 50 were automatically promoted to concubines.
The penultimate round is "Select Three", in which the Empress Dowager or the Concubine Dowager selects three from fifty people for the Emperor to choose.
Finally, the emperor would appoint a queen. Generally, the two beauties selected after the "selection of three" would be named imperial concubines.
All Zhu Youxiao had to do was to be selected as the third. Apart from that, he was not qualified to participate in such a large beauty pageant.
"Do you want to go and take a look?" Zhu Youxiao muttered, touching his chin.
As for whether he would be remonstrated with others, Zhu Youxiao didn't care. He would soon become a new tyrant, and his reputation would plummet. Even if he gained a reputation for being a playboy, that didn't matter. These people were good at making up stories anyway. For example, the story about the Zhengde Emperor sleeping with someone else's wife was used to highlight his debauchery and immorality.
That’s not all. It was also said that Emperor Zhengde did this not to actually sleep with her, but to prove that he was not impotent because he had no children.
It is true that scholars kill without using a knife. These people also made up a lot of stories about Zhang Juzheng, such as Zhang Juzheng and Empress Dowager Li having an affair.
Anyway, for an emperor who was defined as a tyrant, it was impossible not to have some scandals. In that case, I simply didn't think about avoiding it. It was unavoidable anyway, so I might as well live my life according to my own ideas.
"Let's go and see those showgirls."
Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood and was ready to go see his future women. He extended his hand to invite Chen Hong to accompany him.
At this moment, Chen Hong was in a state of anguish. Going to see the concubines? What did he mean? This was against the rules! Besides, these concubines hadn't been selected yet. Was he going to see them now?
But Chen Hong didn't dare to advise him. It was very difficult to persuade the emperor on such matters. If he made the emperor tired of him, he would be doomed.
Chen Hong had no choice but to lead the way, fearing that his emperor would misunderstand him.
In later generations, many people thought that Xiu Nu lived in Chu Xiu Palace, but it was not the case. Although the name Chu Xiu Palace sounds like that, Chu Xiu Palace has nothing to do with Xiu Nu.
Chuxiu Palace is actually one of the six western palaces in the Forbidden City. It is located to the east of Xianfu Palace and north of Yiku Palace. It is where concubines live, not for concubines.
Although one of these concubines will become a queen and two imperial concubines in the future, they are just concubines now. How can they be qualified to live in the Chuxiu Palace, which is only for concubines?
You have to know that in the imperial palace, to be the master of a palace, that is, to live alone in a palace, one must at least be a concubine.
So where do the concubines live?
They lived in the side halls and some wing rooms. It was impossible for them to live in Chuxiu Palace.
Zhu Youxiao only learned about these things in this life.
Under the guidance of Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao strolled around the palace, and naturally came to the place where the concubines lived.
Then Zhu Youxiao saw a large group of beautiful girls. Yes, girls, extremely beautiful girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen.
Of course, he was also suitable for Zhu Youxiao because he was only sixteen years old.
However, Zhu Youxiao soon became dazzled by the large number of people, all of whom were young women.
Moreover, Zhu Youxiao was not wearing eunuch clothes.
The result was obvious for a man who did not wear eunuch's clothes in the palace, that is, Zhu Youxiao almost became the fat meat to be swallowed.
Everyone wanted to fall into Zhu Youxiao's arms and be slept with directly, so that they could become his majesty's concubine with full legitimacy.
As for the situation where a concubine is unwilling to be one as shown in the hypocritical TV dramas of later generations, it will never happen.
That's the position of the Queen! What do you mean you lose your freedom once you enter the palace? This is the Ming Dynasty. If you're not the Queen, where can you go? Just because you're married, you can wander the streets and be free?
Besides, if he didn't want to enter the palace, he could have retreated a long time ago with some small moves. Why would he stay until this round?
Under such a complex attack, Zhu Youxiao decisively chose to retreat.
ps: I recommend a book "The Immortals in the Universe", which is about the theme of the universe, and the most important thing is to survive!
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