There is still a month to the New Year, but everyone has no New Year's thoughts, the New Year is approaching, which means that the new emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's enthronement period is approaching step by step, and the entire Yingtianfu is full of lights, and everywhere is busy and festive.

Everyone is preparing for Zhu Yuanzhang's accession to the throne. The minister sang the praises of Zhu Yuanzhang's great achievements one by one, the Ministry of Rites drew up the steps of the enthronement ceremony, the Internal Affairs Bureau was busy buying supplies in the palace, the Weaving Department rushed to make new clothes day and night, the altar built in the southern suburbs was almost completed, and nearly 100,000 people were building the palace......

The palace was not built "in the middle of the world", but was built in the eastern corner of the city.

At that time, it was rumored among the people: buy a house to buy the south and not the north, and buy the east but not the west, because there is a bad saying that the north house is yin and the west is not good, so Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build the palace in the east.

Liu Ji pondered the holy will and said: "The highest mountain in Yingtianfu is the Purple Mountain, standing in the east of the city, looking from a distance, the Purple Mountain is like a creeping dragon, and the dragon's head is in Yanque Lake. From the perspective of gossip, the east of Tianfu City belongs to the direction of the earthquake hexagram, and the emperor's residence is in the east of the "Zhou Yi", which means that the emperor is out of the earthquake. And the three mountains in the south of the city, looking down from above, look like a squatting tiger. The emperor will be able to occupy the dragon head and be contaminated with dragon energy, so that I will be able to live for thousands of generations. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy when he heard this, so he ordered to mobilize the people to fill the lake and build a palace.

There are many people and great strength, and soon the Fengtian Palace, Huagai Palace, Jinshen Palace, and the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace, and some palaces where the concubines and heirs live have been repaired, and other side halls are also being built one after another.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a group of family members to live in the palace in advance. According to the system of the previous dynasty, the titles and ranks of queens, imperial concubines, concubines, concubines, concubines, talents, Jieyu, Zhaoyi, beauty, Zhaorong, maids, and ladies were formulated. Among the concubines, the imperial concubine is the highest, second only to the queen, the concubine is the third, and the other ranks are ranked lower.

The imperial concubine and the concubine are temporarily vacant, and the women who have given birth to the prince are all concubines, and those who have given birth to princesses are concubines. Guo Ninglian and Guo Hui are two exceptions, although they only gave birth to princesses, they were still named Concubine Ning and Concubine Hui who were second only to Ma Xiuying. Other women who have not given birth are named Cairen, Jieyu, Zhaoyi, Beauty, Zhaorong, and a few women who have just become Zhu Yuanzhang women have also been given titles such as Elector and Lady.

Ma Xiuying lived in Kunning Palace, Guo Ninglian and Guo Hui chose Jingren Palace and Jingyang Palace respectively, and the other concubines lived in Chenggan Palace, Zhongcui Palace, Yanxi Palace, Yonghe Palace, Tonghe Zhai, Gujian Zhai, Jingguanzhai and other palaces according to their ranks.

Each palace arranges several to dozens of palace maids and internal supervisors according to seniority. In addition to the palace maids beside Ma Xiuying, there are also four first-class Shangyi such as Fan Lotus, Bai Ling, Zijuan, and Green Willow, as well as some little palace maids who take care of their daily lives. The inner eunuch has a chief eunuch, two chief eunuchs and a dozen or so serving eunuchs.

The chief eunuch Fushun, who followed the eunuchs Fu'an and Fude from Yingwei, was injured and disabled in the war, and Ma Xiuying considered that they had left their original organizational life and had no place to live, so they asked Zhu Yuanzhang to come over and continue to serve themselves. These people originally followed Ma Xiuying, but this time they were reused by Ma Xiuying, and they became more and more grateful to Dade and tried their best to be loyal.

At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet ascended the throne, the affairs of the palace had been carried out in accordance with the royal rules. There are many of these rules, such as the emperor's etiquette, the emperor's living ceremony, royal life, court sacrifices, court meetings with the emperor, court banquets and meals, royal family avoidance, eunuchs and palace maid systems, and so on. Even the titles of the people were changed to "I, the main palace, the concubine, the concubine ......" and so on.

As the hostess of the harem, Ma Xiuying has also become a part of the busy army. I was tired and exhausted every day, and the first thing I did when I woke up was to accept the invitations of the concubines and princes and princesses in the Kunning Palace.

At the end of the day, Ma Xiuying often has back pain and can't even open her eyes, if it weren't for the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang might come over when he went to court, she would definitely send the palace people back to the room and fall asleep.

The corners of the palace were filled with small red stoves, the faint smell of dragon incense mixed with charcoal burning filled the hall, and the afterglow shone through the hollowed out carved window lattices on the heavy cold curtains. In such a warm environment, Ma Xiuying became more and more drowsy, and her head tapped slightly.

Xun Ying massaged her shoulders while motioning to the palace maid and the inner supervisor to light the candle and present dinner.

The room is filled with candlelight, and the fragrant meals look even more exquisite and delicious. Helplessly, Ma Xiuying's strength to speak was almost gone, and she collapsed on the chair and couldn't swallow the delicacies on the table.

Xun Ying carried silver chopsticks and cloth vegetables, and persuaded: "The master eats a little more, otherwise he will be hungry and panic in the middle of the night." ”

Ma Xiuying weakly moved her fingers in her skirt and complained, "I don't have an appetite." In the past, I was tired from managing dozens of people in the house, but now I am extremely emaciated from managing hundreds of people in the harem. Alas, when will these days come to an end?"

Xun Ying covered his mouth and smiled: "Master, don't be anxious, the rules in the palace have just been established, so you have to worry about it, and you will be able to relax when everything is logical in the future." And in the future, the master can not be called 'I' in front of people, but must be called 'Bengong'. ”

"I've been trained by those palace ladies for a day, and you're still nagging in my ear. Ma Xiuying couldn't help but roll her eyes, but still accepted Xun Ying's advice, "In the future, if there are outsiders, I will call myself this palace,"

"But Concubine Hui has long claimed to be the palace in front of people, every time they enter and leave the palace or come to you to ask for peace, they are followed by a large group of palace people, the momentum is more than yours, and the slaves and maids really don't want to ......"

Ma Xiuying frowned and interrupted Xun Ying's words, "It is also a rule for them to call themselves the palace in front of people, as long as they don't claim to be in front of the palace, it is not considered trespassing, and there is no need to tell the palace about these things in the future." ”

Xun Ying suppressed her smile, knelt down and said, "The slave knows her mistakes, please ask the master to forgive the slave and the maid for talking too much." ”

Ma Xiuying's brows furrowed even tighter, and she glanced at the palace people standing silently in the hall, and warned meaningfully: "Get up, don't kneel without moving." I know you're looking out for me, but I don't like this nonsense. I still say the same thing, as long as they don't harm the interests of the emperor and the royal family, they will toss with them. Your vision should be long-term, you must know that this is not the past, the affairs of the heavenly family is a state affair, the harem is the epitome of the court, every word and deed must be cautious, a slight accident may mislead others to the direction of the wind and plant trouble, remember to be cautious in the future. ”

"Thank you for the master's teachings, and the slave and maid will keep it in mind. Xun Ying, Fu Shun and the others hurriedly responded.