Since Zhu Yuanzhang punished Yang Jieyu and Concubine Hui in succession, and even executed a group of palace people from Jingyang Palace, the harem has become much more honest, and many concubines have seen that Concubine Hui, who is favored by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Yang Jieyu, who has the support of her father and brother, can't escape punishment, where do you dare to make a mistake. All kinds of rumors and rumors disappeared suddenly, and the deaths of Green Willow and Li Meiren also disappeared. For a time, everyone in the harem kept to themselves and worked diligently, which was a thriving, harmonious and happy scene in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

However, this scene is only a superficial calm, and the undercurrent of private water never stops. Ma Xiuying also knew that this kind of calm was only temporary, and she never gave up her vigilance against the envoys in her palace, after all, if the spy was not found out for a day, she would not be at ease for a day.

A few months have passed in a blink of an eye, and Ma Xiuying and Xunying have found nothing.

Xun Ying watched the behavior of Bai Ling, Pink Lotus, and Zijuan coldly, but the spy didn't know whether she was aware of their intentions or woke up, in short, she no longer had any unusual movements, nor did she contact anyone outside the palace. Looking at the cautious and cautious attitude of the three of them, Xun Ying really couldn't find out the real spy from it.

If according to Zhu Yuanzhang's character of "I'd rather kill 3,000 by mistake than let go of one", he would arrest and torture all three palace maids or execute them directly, but Ma Xiuying was unwilling to do so. In her previous life, she was deeply affected by the law, and she couldn't even accept the crime of "Zhulian", let alone dealing with innocent and loyal slaves and maids for no reason, so she still asked Xunying to stand still, wait and see, closely monitor, and carefully eliminate ......

After several years of construction, the construction of the palace is basically completed, and the large and small palaces are located on Yanque Lake in turn, like bright pearls. The filled-in Yanque Lake retains some trickles as a moat, and the clear river reflects the towering vermilion city walls.

Standing on the top of the Purple Mountain and looking at it, the red walls and yellow tiles, the height is scattered, all kinds of palaces are in full view, and the architectural layout of the entire imperial city is rigorous and orderly, and it is magnificent.

When you enter the palace, you will see the palaces everywhere towering, with heavy eaves and palaces, glazed gold tiles, and doors and windows with vermilion lacquer and gold carvings shining in the sun. Even every stone component on the base of the palace and every golden silk nanmu wooden pillar that supports the temple are carved with patterns, and these patterns are not only exquisitely carved, but also have a variety of patterns, which are simply dazzling.

This is the most palatial and splendid place in the world, but it is also the most impersonal place. Ma Xiuying even felt that these palaces became eerie and terrifying at night, like huge monsters devouring the women's youth year after year. Sadly, there are still countless women who are willing to rush into the mouth of this monster, even if it is covered in bruises. As one sentence describes, "A gold-lacquered birdcage, the birds outside the cage want to live in, and the birds inside the cage want to fly out." ”

No matter how much sorrow and boredom there are, life still has to go on step by step. Ma Xiuying's daily life is to go to the East Palace to see the crown princess, care about her son's study, and then deal with some trivial matters in the harem.

On this day, the eunuch told Lu Shi, the wife of Shen Wansan, a wealthy merchant in Jiangnan, to see the queen.

"Summon." Ma Xiuying was overjoyed when she heard this, a few years ago, Lu Xiaoqian presented a gift to Zhu Yuanzhang on behalf of Shen Wansan, and the two had met once, but unfortunately because of Guo Hui's provocation that time, Lu Xiaoqian didn't dare to stay longer, so she hurriedly gave a gift and left quickly. This time, Guo Hui was punished that the crown princess could not leave Jingyang Palace before giving birth, and no one should come to make trouble again.

"The folk woman Lu family sees the queen mother, the queen mother is a thousand years old! Chitose! Chichitose! Lu Xiaoqian leaned down and bowed, and a set of etiquette was completed in a decent manner.

Ma Xiuying was about to step forward to help each other, "Sister Lu, get up quickly." ”

Xun Ying coughed and whispered, "Master, your identity is different from what you used to ...... before."

"Get up and sit down." Ma Xiuying smiled stiffly and sat back in her chair.

She is now a queen, and her every move is watched sideways, and she will be impeached by the official if she is not careful. Last time, she was accused of bad manners when she walked like a fly in the palace, and if she helped Lu Xiaoqian up this time, she would definitely be said to have no courtesy from a monarch and a minister. She doesn't care, if Lu Xiaoqian is implicated because of this, it will be troublesome.

Ma Xiuying can't wait to draw a circle and curse the evil feudal social system. Alas, it's really troublesome to be a queen, you can't speak out loud, laugh out loud, eat like you eat, sit like you sit, and even when you talk to Zhu Yuanzhang, you can no longer call yourself "I", you have to call yourself "concubine", and when you call Zhu Yuanzhang, you can't call "starling", you have to shout "emperor". Holding the queen's shelf in front of outsiders all day long, and only in front of Xun Ying can she be a little casual, I thought I could get along with my childhood playmates at ease, but I ended up staring at this side with countless pairs of eyes......

After a set of courtesies for monarchs and ministers, Ma Xiuying waved away from the palace people, her straight back finally relaxed, and said with a smile: "Sister Lu is doing lately?" ”

Lu Xiaoqian's buttocks were not yet hot, so she immediately stood up and replied respectfully: "Thank you for the queen's concern, everything is okay for the women." When the emperor ascended the throne, the women and husbands should come to congratulate. However, at that time, there was some turmoil in Suzhou, and the husband appeased the merchants and couldn't get out, which delayed many days, and asked the queen to forgive her sins. ”

Ma Xiuying knew about the turmoil in Suzhou Mansion.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang have always been controlled by Zhang Shicheng, he has been in Suzhou for more than ten years, protecting the territory and the people, lightly dispensing with meager endowments, and doing a lot of good things for the people. Later, although the peasant regime he established was destroyed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang was also changed to Suzhou Mansion by Zhu Yuanzhang, the local people have always remembered his kindness, and spontaneously donated money to build Zhang Wang Temple, build Zhang Wang Palace, and sculpt the statue of King Wu, which is permanently worshiped and sacrificed every year.

This incident angered Zhu Yuanzhang, and the people did not respect him, the emperor, but went to respect a dead salt dealer, is it really that he is an ornament? If you dare to do anything with him, then don't blame him for being ruthless!

So he imposed heavy taxes on the people of Suzhou, who needed to pay 2.5 stone of grain per household a year, and the people of Suzhou were 30 times the national average.

In order to ensure the stability of the regime, he also took three measures in the local area: first, he moved out the rich households, only let people take away the money, and the land had to be kept; the second is to directly confiscate the property of wealthy families and wealthy households, as state property; The third is to reduce the number of places to enter the imperial examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially to cancel the qualifications of those literati who have praised Zhang Shicheng.

The disadvantages brought by these measures to the people of Suzhou can be imagined, and people have complained of misery and have left their hometowns. The people's livelihood economy once stagnated, and the phenomenon of store closures and merchant bankruptcies was not uncommon.

Shen Wansan's business was also affected by these measures, but fortunately, he surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang early. Zhu Yuanzhang did not let him move or confiscate his land. Seeing that the situation was a little out of control, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked him to contact Shangjia to stabilize the local economy.

Therefore, Shen Wansan only freed his hands until today and rushed to the capital to meet Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying.