Yun Xi then stayed in Hangzhou for a few days, and on October 18, when everything had been ordered, he said goodbye to Yun Xi and the others and set off to return to the capital. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The day before Yun Xi left Hangzhou, he sent someone to deliver a message to the capital: there is no need to send the song to Xingzai, and I will dispose of it after I return to Beijing; Matters of general practice are still handled by the four auxiliary officers.

The messenger hurried up, and arrived in the capital after only two days and two nights from Hangzhou, and informed the fourth auxiliary officer of Yunxi's imminent return to Beijing. Of course, the harem also received this news.

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"Your Majesty is back." Xiyi said happily.

"Yes, Your Majesty is finally coming back." Xi Yao also let out a sigh of relief.

Concubine An and Concubine Ye's delivery date is approaching, if Your Majesty is not there, she is unwilling to bear what happened to them when they gave birth. Xiyi is simply happy because of joy.

Xi Yao instructed Shi again: "You go and tell King Heng and the two princesses who are still living in the palace about this." The poem promised to step back.

Xiyi said again: "Your Majesty came from Hangzhou, and if you don't stop along the way, six days will be enough to return to the capital." I hope that these six days can pass peacefully, and nothing will happen to Concubine An and Concubine Ye. ”

"Yes, it's best to have a peaceful past few days." Xi Yao said. But her expression changed slightly in an instant, and she said, "But I don't know how to tell Your Majesty about that matter." When it comes to royal secrets, I don't know what His Majesty will do. ”

Xiyi also knew what she was talking about, and suddenly her face became sad.

The two of them chatted a few more words, and then returned to Kunning Palace. Xi Yao saw that her face was a little wrong, and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Waiting for the poem said with some trepidation: "Queen, Niangniang, Her Royal Highness Princess Zhongshan ......"

Xi Yao listened to her words, and after asking a few more words to confirm the doubt, although her face was still normal, she said to Xi Yi: "It's another troublesome thing that I don't know how to talk to him when His Majesty comes back!" ”

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Seven days later, on October 25, Yun Xi's car drove back to the capital. He didn't do any ceremonies and drove the carriage directly into the capital. Fortunately, at this time, the Ming Dynasty did not have strict etiquette for the emperor to go on patrol, so he didn't have to worry about breaking the rules.

Yun Xi ordered the carriage and horses to be parked outside the Chengtian Gate, and he got out of the carriage and walked towards the palace.

Although there was no welcoming ceremony in the outer court, Ke Xiyao led the concubines, eunuchs, and female officials of the inner palace to greet her at Qianqing Gate, despite the fact that she was also seven months pregnant.

When Yun Xi saw Xi Yao, he immediately stretched out his hand to pull her up, and reproached: "You are still pregnant, why did you still come out to greet me?" Just let Xiyi come. ”

"Your Majesty, the concubine is fine, and the concubine should be like this as the queen." Xi Yao smiled.

"You, you," Yun Xi didn't know what to say about Xi Yao, and finally could only say: "Don't do this in the future." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xi Yao explained: "Your Majesty, the concubine is not ignorant. If the concubine is eight or nine months pregnant and about to give birth, she will not come out to greet His Majesty. Today's concubine did not let Concubine Ming (Ye Baoqin) and Concubine An come over. ”

Then everyone dispersed, and Yun Xi also asked Yun Zhi and others, who came back with him, to go back to each palace to find their own mothers, and he and the Xiyao sisters came to Kunning Palace.

Sister Xi Yao first talked about what happened in the palace recently, and then Xi Yao looked at one of Yun Xi's personal palace maids who was standing under the palace, and said to Yun Xi: "This palace maid is very good, is it the palace maid that His Majesty received during the Eastern Tour?" ”

Yun Xi said with a little embarrassment: "This is the new concubine I took on the Eastern Tour. Faced with his wife's mention of the concubine, he still felt a little embarrassed.

On the contrary, Xi Yao is more adaptable to this. In this era, except for horses and honor guests, how can a powerful man not take a concubine, although Xiyao doesn't like this kind of thing, she can only accept it. She said, "Your Majesty is going to give you a name?" ”

"Naturally, I want to give a name, and I am ready to seal a concubine." Yun Xi said.

"In that case, the concubine remembers that Concubine An and Concubine Liu's Zhongcui Palace still have a vacant place, so place her in Zhongcui Palace?" Xi Yao asked tentatively.

"Well, let's do it." Yun Xi said.

The two said a few more words, and after lunch, Yun Xi went to the Qianqing Palace.

During this period of time, nothing major happened in Daming, Yun Xi listened to their rough report, and flipped through the notes of the answers, just knowing what happened.

After that, Yun Xi dealt with the compendiums accumulated in the palace for four or five days that the ministers could not answer, and he was busy until around dark, and finally completed all of them.

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In the next few days, there was no change in the foreign court, except that the emperor changed from criticizing and answering in the field to criticizing and answering in the palace, and the early dynasty began again. Countless officials who suffered from the previous dynasty privately felt that it was better for the emperor to be in the field.

But the inner palace has a great influence. The emperor added another concubine, which was both happy and sad for the palace maids who pursued 'progress'; Baoqing, Yunzhi, and Xianqin brought back a bunch of new gadgets, which made the princesses and county lords who stayed in the palace very jealous, so Min'er made a fuss in front of Yunxi that she must go with her next time she went out of Beijing; However, the biggest impact is Yunxi's reform of the harem system.

Yunxi formulated a more rigorous system of concubines, referring to the system of the Zhou, Han and Tang dynasties, stipulating that the emperor's harem: one queen, four concubines, nine concubines, no quota for nobles, no quota for talented people, and no quota for women.

And there are also new regulations on the concubine system of the prince and the prince: the system of second concubines will be abolished forever, and the prince and prince will have one main concubine, two side concubines, four concubines, and the rest are undetermined; Unless the concubine is seriously immoral, it is strictly forbidden to abolish the position of the concubine, and the abolition of the concubine must be passed by the Zongren Palace, and the prince has no right to abolish it privately.

The number of concubines and princesses of various levels has also been strictly restricted, and a system has been set up, palace maids and palace maids who are willing to leave the palace when they reach the age of 20 after entering the palace are allowed to leave the palace; Don't drag them all out of the palace until they are old and old.

Yun Xi's reform of the harem aroused praise from foreign officials, and the strict system of concubines was highly approved by Confucian scholars of all factions, and the system of palace maids being released from the palace when they reached the age of 20 was considered a great benevolent government.

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Then Yunxi broke the peace of the outer court. He announced the establishment of the Maritime Affairs Institute and the Bao'an City Shipping Division, and appointed Zhang Yanfang as the Maritime Affairs Academy's envoy and the temporary promotion of the Bao'an City Shipping Division; Yang Ren, the former right attendant of the household department, served as the political envoy of the left cloth in Guangdong. At the same time, it was announced that the city department would be completely separated from the local yamen.

While some officials raised objections, most of those involved did not move. Although Zhang Yanfang was promoted from the fifth grade to the third grade in one fell swoop, he has made a lot of contributions to presiding over the Shanghai market in the past two years, and it is not a lucky advance. It is also the prestige of Yunxi, and everyone will not touch the mold.

Later, news came from Liujiagang: the northbound exploration fleet led by Fang Mingqian himself had returned, and the expeditionary sailors sent to the South Seas were also about to return.

Yun Xi was about to summon Fang Mingqian, but the news from the palace made him forget about it for the time being.