On February 13, these more than 300 palace maids entered the sixth level of Jin concubines, and the palace sent special personnel to observe them for a month, according to their temperament and words, to judge whether they were gentle and generous, wise and virtuous. Accordingly, another two hundred and fifty people were screened out.

So by March 13, Zhu Youxiao had fifty concubines. At this time, he entered the seventh level and chose three, and at this time, Concubine Liu Zhao went out in person. She summoned these fifty concubines one by one, talked to them, asked about the situation at home, their usual hobbies, and asked them to show their talents, mainly in calligraphy, poetry, painting, etc., the process was very long, and the Hakka asked Zhu Youxiao if he wanted to go and see it now, but now there are only fifty people, and all of them are high-quality products. Zhu Youxiao's heart was moved, oh, it's not the heart of color, it's the heart of beauty, and he decided to disguise himself to see these fifty beauties on March 14.

However, on the morning of the 14th, an urgent report from Liaodong knocked his love of beauty to the ground, and Nurhachi attacked Shenyang. Zhu Youxiao had no interest in seeing beautiful women, and instructed the Ke family to pay close attention not to let Zhang Yan lose the election, and then eagerly waited for the follow-up Liaodong information.

After a long conversation and talent show, Concubine Liu Zhao finally selected three ladies on the first day of the fourth lunar month, Zhang from Xiangfu County, Henan, Wang from Daxing County, Shuntianfu, and Duan from Yingyangwei, Nanjing.

The Hakka family reported that neither she nor Li Xuanzhi had said anything tendentious to Concubine Liu Zhao during the whole process, and it was all chosen by Concubine Liu Zhao herself, which made Zhu Youxiao's vision and luck again. But when he thought of Liaodong, he couldn't help it, because Shenyang had fallen.

On the second day of the fourth month, Concubine Liu Zhao reported the final results to the emperor, and the emperor was going to determine the queen at the last level. Zhu Youxiao thought about it for a while and decided to summon these three ladies in the third year of junior high school.

Originally, I wanted to have some flirtation with Zhang Yan and tease this jewel, but the matter in Liaodong made him a little unhappy, but when he saw the three ladies the next day, he was still shocked by the beauty in front of him.

I haven't seen Zhang Yan for more than a year, this little lady has grown a little taller, I used to just think she was beautiful, that was the overall feeling, but now if you look carefully, she is really beautiful and plump, her face is like Guanyin, her eyes are like autumn waves, her mouth is like a cherry blossom, her nose is like a hanging gall, and her teeth are fine. It can be seen that Zhu Youxiao is heart is excited.

Ignoring her surprised expression, he looked at the Duan family, the Duan family is naturally extremely beautiful, and she even has a little bit of heroic spirit, as for the Wang family, it is a typical gentle beauty, Zhu Youxiao thought to himself, these three people with different styles can look so beautiful, it can be seen that natural creation is really magical.

After the third girl withdrew, he made a decision and asked Zhao Xuanzhi: "I don't know which one Niangniang thinks is suitable for the queen?" ”

"Your Majesty, the concubine thinks that the Zhang family is generous and has a graceful and luxurious bearing, which is suitable for the queen."

"That's good, pass the decree, seal the Zhang family as the queen, the Duan family as the pure concubine, and the Wang family as the good concubine. The rest were rewarded and sent to their naturalization. ”

"Your Majesty must not send you back to your hometown, these fifty should all be Your Majesty's concubines." Zhao Xuanzhi hurriedly stopped.

"But when the first emperor chose the crown princess, didn't he even send the beauties of the third time to his hometown?" When his father was the crown prince, he chose the crown princess, and finally selected three people, his father chose the Guo family, and the other two who were not selected as the crown princess were rewarded and sent back to their hometowns, which he heard the old people in the palace say.

"That's the crown princess, Your Majesty's first choice of concubines, of course you have to choose more, you have to consider the royal heirs, and the people also think that more sons can be more blessed."

Zhu Youxiao felt that he didn't come to the Ming Dynasty to be a stallion, so he felt that three women were enough. But Concubine Liu Zhao and Zhao Xuanzhi Li Xuan's guest family didn't think so, the two parties couldn't hold each other, and then Zhao Xuanzhi said that he would discuss it with the outer court, so even Zhu Youxiao knew what the result would be, so he compromised, except for these three ladies, the rest were temporarily used as palace maids, and they would be canonized later.

So the emperor decreed that Zhang of Xiangfu County, Kaifeng Prefecture was the queen, his father Zhang Guoji was Honglu Siqing, and his brother Zhang Cheng was the Jinyi Wei Qianhu.

The emperor is finally getting married. After the procedures of Nacai, asking for names, Najib, applying, and applying, on the second day of the fifth month, it was finally the last personal greeting. Although it is called personal welcome, it is naturally impossible for the emperor to welcome the bride in person, and he should let a minister with both children welcome the bride on his behalf, which is a rare honor, Zhu Youxiao chose Xu Guangqi, and Xu Guangqi was moved to tears.

In the afternoon of this day, he took the greeting team to the Guozhang Mansion, which was not Shajia Hutong, but the Guozhang Mansion located on Qipan Street. After entering the house, the sedan chair man in brocade carried the queen's rites and dragon pavilions to the front yard, and the eunuchs were carried to the front of the embroidery building in the backyard, and parked in the direction prescribed by the eunuchs of Qin Tian. The bride puts on the queen's dress, puts on the phoenix crown, accepts the queen's gold book and gold treasure, and then returns to the embroidery building to wait for the auspicious time.

As soon as the auspicious time arrives, the bride boarded the ceremony, and the welcoming procession marched through the city to enter the Chengtianmen (Tiananmen in later generations), enter the Forbidden City from the middle of the noon gate, and arrive at the Qianqing Gate. The bride entered the Kunning Palace under the guidance, here, Zhu Youxiao was wrapped like a zongzi, with a sense of urgency, like a puppet to follow the Si Li to do all kinds of actions, and finally waited for the sound of the Si Li into the cave room, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The door of the cave room is pasted with red happy characters and couplets, the bed is hung with a hundred child tents, the bed is covered with a hundred child quilts, and the bed head is also hung with a big red embroidered dragon and phoenix double happiness curtain. After entering the cave room, you must first worship heaven and earth and ancestors, and then perform a joint ceremony, that is, drink a glass of wine.

Zhang Yan poured a glass of wine and handed it to Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao took a sip and handed it to Zhang Yan, who drank it all. Then Zhu Youxiao poured a glass of wine and handed it to Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan took a sip, returned it to Zhu Youxiao, and Zhu Youxiao drank it dry again.

drank the wine, which made the fire in Zhu Youxiao's heart burn even more. At this time, the eunuch led him out, entered the warm pavilion next to him, and finally took off the zongzi auspicious clothes and changed them into regular clothes.

Zhang Yan also changed into regular clothes, with a goose-yellow jacket skirt, which set off her figure more attractively. Zhu Youxiao said hurriedly: "Queen, let's go to bed." At this time, the palace maid next to her drove the eunuch out, and then came back to stand beside him. Zhu Youxiao said: "You guys should go out too." A palace maid knelt down and replied, "Your Majesty, we are serving the emperor and the queen." This is the rule, but Zhu Youxiao didn't know it, and waved his hand and said, "You don't need to wait, you can put down your things and go out." ”