In Kunning Palace, the little prince was asleep in the inner room, and Zhu Cihong and Xu Chenyun sat opposite each other in the hall and had a royal meal together.

After a while, the thick curtain was lifted, and the eunuch who was carrying the food entered the palace gate, bringing a gust of cold wind to pour in.

The two little eunuchs who held the door hurriedly moved the temple door slowly with both hands, and the two doors closed again silently.

The dinner of the Lantern Festival is very rich, in addition to whitebait, pigeon eggs, roast goose, roast chicken, roast duck, live shrimp under ice, spicy live rabbit, steamed cakes with paste oil, quiches, mutton buns, rice rotten soup, eight treasures soup and other meals, the most important thing is the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival in the palace is almost the same as the glutinous rice balls in the south of the Yangtze River, all of which are made of glutinous rice and fine noodles, and the only difference is the Lantern Festival of the imperial meal, which is filled with white sugar and filled with walnuts and roses, which is quite exquisite.

The eunuch, the leader of Shang Shan Jian, said a bunch of festive words, and he was verbose for a long time before retreating to the side to watch and eat.

Zhu Cihong's appetite is still good, he poked a crispy bear paw with a spoon, slowly filled it into his mouth, closed his eyes and tasted this luxurious delicacy in the world.

After a while, he swallowed it and praised, "This dish is good!" ”

The chef who made this dish, the original nervous face showed a happy smile, which was praised by the Son of Heaven, and his skills were considered to have been certified at the diamond level.

As one of the eight treasures and a royal dish, not all chefs can do this dish well, and this thing has a very strong smell.

If the chef can't reach a certain level, the smell can't be covered, it is difficult to eat, and the vomiting is light, which is also the reason why the chef is proud.

Queen Xu Chenyun looked at Zhu Cihong happily, served him a bowl of Lantern Festival, and personally brought it to her mouth, smiling and feeding it with a spoon.

Since Empress Xu was pregnant with Liujia to the birth of the fourth prince, the emperor and queen have not had sex together for a year, and last night's passion made Xu Chenyun greatly satisfied, and the slight depression caused by the postpartum period was also thoroughly treated.

Zhu Cihong was not hypocritical, he smiled and took it with his mouth, and threw a handsome wink at her.

The two of them forgot that you eat me and feed me, Xu Chenyun seemed to hear the dog barking, she suddenly remembered something, quickly put down the spoon, and looked to the side shyly.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids were very interested, either looking away with their eyes or turning their heads, pretending not to see it.

"Your Majesty, the concubine has something to tell you." Xu Chenyun said softly.

Zhu Cihong took a sip of porridge with a soup spoon and said, "You say." ”

Xu Chenyun said: "There are too many eunuchs and palace maids in the palace now, and the concubines think that they should be reduced." ”

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids were all shocked, especially the eunuchs, who were even more thunderous, and their backs were cold.

According to the rules of the palace, as long as the eunuchs and palace maids who enter the palace have to stay in the palace for the rest of their lives, they are not allowed to leave, and retirement does not exist.

When the palace maid is old, she will be arranged to spend her old age in a royal temple or Taoist temple, and the eunuch is not much better.

Like Moqin, who was specially given to Xu Sheng by Zhu Cihong, it can be said that the ancestors have accumulated virtue for eight lifetimes, and the ancestral tomb is on fire.

The eunuchs and palace maids don't know whether the reduction that the queen mother said is to be driven out of the palace or to retire early for the elderly.

But either way, it's a bad thing! Therefore, they all panicked.

The young palace maid, if she is released from the palace, can she still find someone to marry, what about the old palace maid? Who wants?

Not to mention eunuchs, what can you do without a handful?

Neither can marry a wife, have children and reproduce, nor can they do heavy work, and those with a poor mentality can only fend for themselves.

Zhu Cihong took another sip of porridge and asked, "How many eunuchs and palace maids are there in the palace now?" ”

This sentence was asked to Han San, the eunuch in charge of the eunuch in charge of the inner official supervisor, who was in charge of all the eunuchs in the imperial city, and only he could say the specific number of eunuchs.

Han San stood with his head bowed and said: "Emperor Qi, in the first year of Tianwu, 3,000 pure men were selected to enter the palace, and because there were as many as 20,000 people in the people's election, another 1,500 people were accepted;

In the sixth year of Tianwu, 2,000 pure men were selected to fill the sea household, plus the part of the Chongzhen Dynasty that went south, there were a total of 9,832 people, and a total of 6,592 palace maids......." (The data refers to the data of the Apocalypse year, and the following data is recorded)

"So much?" Zhu Cihong frowned.

In later generations, he read it in a post, according to Emperor Kangxi, he heard the old eunuch of the late Ming Dynasty say: The internal prison is 100,000 people, and the food cannot be reached, and there are people who starve to death every day.

This number is obviously an exaggeration, the Tatar Qing Dynasty is fighting against the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, but the number of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty is indeed very large, nearly 10,000 is still a little.

Han Sandao, the eunuch of the internal official eunuch, said: "Emperor, the number of eunuchs and palace maids in my dynasty is still small, a total of 13,320 eunuchs were selected in the Wanli Dynasty four times, 7,200 eunuchs were elected in the Tianqi Dynasty, and the ....... eunuchs were elected in the Chongzhen Dynasty."

Listening to the data, Zhu Cihong was stunned.

It turned out that in the first year of Tianwu, when the world was in turmoil, natural disasters and wars continued, and many people who couldn't survive chose to go to the palace, hoping to eat by the emperor's side.

Yes, it was cut by itself, and there were many people who were not admitted because they did not get the "ticket post" issued by the palace, so they went to the Ministry of Rites to petition.

Now the question is, what do you want so many eunuchs and palace maids to do?

The emperor, the queen mother, the emperor, the queen, the concubines, the princes, the princesses, etc., Zhu Cihong calculated, his family is full of 30 people, and no one wants 30 to serve on average, and there are only 1,000 people......

(Not all eunuchs and palace maids lived in the palace, except for those on duty, most of them lived in the imperial city.) ）

"It's still the queen carefully."

Zhu Cihong praised Queen Xu, and said: "How to cut and arrange, does the queen have ideas?" ”

Xu Chenyun said: "The concubine body thinks that the palace maid will be ordered to leave the palace until the age of twenty-five, and the reward will be given silver, and the reward of silver for more than 15 years will be 100 silver dollars, the reward for less than 15 years will be 60 silver dollars, and the reward for less than 10 years will be 40 silver, all of which will be paid by the internal funds. ”

Xu Chenyun said again: "Eunuchs and palace maids, if they are old and frail or unwilling to leave the palace, they can be assigned to serve in various imperial villages, and enjoy their old age with rich treatment, and leave 1,000 eunuchs and 1,000 palace maids in the palace." ”

Hearing this, the eunuchs and palace maids in Kunning Palace immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The queen mother was originally for our good, and sure enough, she is still the mother of the world!

Zhu Cihong thought about it for a while, and finally made a decision: "It is feasible, pass on the decree, implement the plan according to the queen, and add one more!" ”

"All eunuchs and palace maids who have left the palace are not allowed to enter the palace again, are not allowed to divulge everything in the palace, are not allowed to pass on the message on behalf of the head of the palace, and are not allowed to send people to the palace gate to say hello to the master!"

In other words, as long as you leave the palace, you will cut off all relations with the Forbidden City.

Because of the status of the palace maids, even if they miss the best age for marriage, they don't have to worry about getting married after leaving the palace.

Because most of these palace maids are good-looking, and have decent etiquette, plus the rich "pension" issued by the palace, they are Bai Fumei and little rich women when they leave the palace.

Of course, if their vision is too high and too picky, it will be difficult to find the object they like, and it is a high probability that they will always be lonely.

Zhu Cihong is not covered in this regard.

Some time ago, Zhu Cihong saw a piece of information from the folk Dongchang, saying that in the draft of the second year of Tianwu, a show girl who entered the seventh round and was brushed down was deeply attracted by Zhu Cihong's handsomeness because of the appearance of Tianyan.

After returning to her hometown, the show girl became a "fragrant sweet" in ten miles and eight towns, and the threshold of the family was almost broken by those who sought relatives, including not only officials, but also talented people, wealthy businessmen and other well-off people.

The family has chosen a son-in-law for him many times, but the show girl has never married.

Once, the show girl was forced by her parents, and said angrily: "I have also entered the seventh round of the draft, I am in the same hall with the queen, and I have seen the face of heaven, how can those crooked melons and cracked dates be compared with the Son of Heaven?" It's just that the status is not as good, and the appearance is not as handsome as the Son of Heaven, and I won't marry them if I die! ”

In this way, the show girl is now twenty-six years old and has not yet married.

A few years later, according to the records of the wild history, the show girl remained a virgin until she was eighty years old, and finally died alone......