After nearly two months of repair work by the engineering team of the Ordnance Division, the weather of the Forbidden City is now better than before, even if it is not a new look, but it is more worthy of the word imperial city than the original.

The palaces in the Forbidden City have not been moved, only the dormitories of the Queen Mother and the Empress Dowager - Cining Palace and Renshou Palace, and the Changchun Palace of Princess Yongfu, these palaces have been renovated from the inside to the outside. Most of the other places are just superficial articles, but from a distance, these places are also a lot more glamorous.

In addition, in addition to the main gate from the Chengtian Gate, several other old palace gates have also been replaced, and the new gates are made of fine wood with iron nails embedded in them, and when the sun shines on them, they reflect a shining light, which looks very noble.

There are also places that have not started construction at all, that is, the Wenyuan Pavilion and the Liuke Corridor around the noon gate.

The ministers and officials are all opponents of Xie Hong, and of course they will not have a good face for the engineering team of the Ordnance Division. Since the construction of the Forbidden City began, the two pavilion elders have been calm, but the officials are in a raging mood, and many people are holding back their strength, ready to give each other a dismount when the engineering team comes.

These people even thought about their words, thinking that while rejecting each other, they should also raise themselves well, so as to show the difference between the gentlemen of the court and the short-sighted businessmen and untouchables outside who only know how to pursue profits.

You must know that the engineering team of Zhenbao Zhai has now been praised to the sky, and it may not be possible to invite someone to come to the door just because there are too many projects, so it is necessary to queue up! Especially since the launch of the Forbidden City's large-scale project, the project department of Zhenbaozhai has put up a sign, saying that it is temporarily closed to the public.

Rare things are expensive, and if this thing is good and rare, it will be even more incredible. Therefore, the pursuit of Zhenbao Zhai outside is better than before, and several places that were originally built have become feng shui treasures, and there is an endless stream of people who go to observe and appreciate every day.

Under such circumstances, if the engineering team sent by the emperor is rejected with righteous words, how can there be no reason to clear the name? So, everyone was gearing up and waiting for the other party to come to the door to behave well.

However, to their disappointment, the engineering team completely ignored these two places, as if the Cabinet and the Six Corridors were not part of the Forbidden City.

Those craftsmen even went to repair the quarters of the twenty-four eunuchs, eunuchs, and palace maids, but on the cabinet side, there was not even a single person to explore or ask for instructions, which was really too inattentive to people.

Therefore, the anger of disappointment and contempt is mixed together, even the dovish Li Dongyang's resentment towards Xie Hong has increased even more, and the emotions of others can be imagined.

Fortunately, there are pros and cons to everything, and although the renovation of the Forbidden City has brought a lot of resentment to the adults, it has also brought corresponding benefits, that is, the emperor's wedding has been promoted more easily.

In addition to the reluctance of the party Zhengde, others, including the two queen mothers, strongly supported this. The common people all know that they have to build a house before marrying a daughter-in-law, how can the queen mother of the two palaces not understand this truth?

In addition to being grateful for Zhengde's filial piety, the two queen mothers also decided to hold a wedding for Zhengde, even if he was very resistant, both women felt that Zhengde was shy, if they were not in a hurry to get married, what house should they repair? I don't know if this is a cocoon of righteousness.

Of course, the more important reason is that what the ministers of the foreign court said is very reasonable, although the emperor is still a little childish, but after the wedding, he must be mature. In addition, since the Chenghua year, the Heavenly Family has not been prosperous, if you don't establish the queen as soon as possible, and establish the heir as soon as possible, I am afraid that it will be difficult for people in the world to feel at ease.

What's more, the big wedding has been planned a long time ago, and now it is just implemented in accordance with the regulations.

Therefore, although the emperor's wedding has just been proposed at today's court meeting, it has immediately entered the stage of making the actual surname, and the palace maids and eunuchs in the Forbidden City are busy, either practicing ceremonial music, or preparing gifts for the next appointment, and the celebrant is even more busy, drafting all kinds of edicts, from going to the Xia family to ask for names to amnesty the world, rewarding border soldiers, and so on.

These situations were not seen by Xie Hong with his own eyes, but what Gu Dayong told him.

The first thing the imperial city completed was the project of the West Garden, and then the interior of the Forbidden City, when the West Garden was not completed, Zhengde had been soaking in Jiaziyuan all day, and after the leopard house of the West Garden was completed, he immediately officially moved out of the Qianqing Palace and moved into a new residence. The name of the leopard room was heard by Gu Dayong from Xie Hong's mouth, and Zhengde thought it sounded good, so he named it after it.

Since Zhengde has moved, Xie Hong is also happy to save trouble, and now he enters and exits the palace through Xi'an Gate, directly into Xiyuan, instead of going around the Forbidden City as before. Although this is a longer distance, it is more secure in terms of safety.

Although the Forbidden City is heavily guarded, but those forbidden troops are all under the orders of the celebrant and supervisor, when walking in the Forbidden City in the past, Xie Hong often felt those malicious eyes, all of them were as sharp as knives, full of murderous aura.

Strictly speaking, the division between Xiyuan and the Forbidden City is bounded by Xihua Gate and Wansui Mountain, but in fact, it may be more appropriate to say that it is bounded by Daming Lake. At least Zhengde's Leopard House and Jiaziyuan are on the west side of Daming Lake, connected to the Forbidden City by a bridge.

This Sihai Bridge is also one of the projects of Jumbo Zhai, using the same technology as the bridge in the Royal Park, although it is straight across the lake, but it does not affect the passing ships in the slightest, even the big ones.

When he entered Xi'an Gate, Xie Hong's mood was no longer relaxed and ridiculous at the beginning, but a little dignified.

On the way, they passed through Koshien, and the Young Guards were still training in full swing, but Xie Hong did not stop as usual, and watched with a smile, but his feet were faster, and he was very anxious.

Gu Dayong's eloquence is good, and today he also followed the court, and he has been by Zhengde's side since then, so the fat man's narration is very detailed, and he shows the whole thing to Xie Hong completely.

And although Xie Hong couldn't guess the true purpose of the foreign dynasty for a while, he still smelled an unusual smell from it, which was completely different from the previous many attacks, this time the outer dynasty moved extremely fast, leaving almost no time for his own side to react.

Although Zhengde summoned himself to discuss countermeasures as soon as possible, it was obvious that he still didn't have time. At least, it's too late to stop the actions of the foreign court, unless he plans to turn his face with the Queen Mother.

However, Xie Hong still couldn't figure it out, what was the plot of the foreign dynasty to spend so much effort to let Zhengde get married?

He couldn't guess it, and Zhengde couldn't guess it.

What's more, classmate Zhu Houzhao, who is about to get married, doesn't have time to think about these irrelevant trivial things, for him, marrying three women inexplicably is a big trouble.

When Xie Hong entered the leopard room, Zhengde was spinning all over the ground, and he kept muttering something, as soon as he saw Xie Hong, he seemed to see a big savior, his eyes lit up, and he screamed a sad voice: "Big brother, you must help me this time." ”

"Uh......" Xie Hong hesitated slightly, in fact, along the way, he also thought of many ways, but none of them could solve the current problem.

The outer court obviously didn't want to leave any flaws on his side, and at this time the news of the emperor's wedding had spread to the capital, and with the messengers hurrying up, they were spreading the news to all parts of the world, and it was not so easy to regret it. The kidnapping of public opinion was originally the specialty of the scholars, and this action was also a big violation of the style of procrastination, and there was a sense of being resolute and resolute.

"Big brother, can't you help it? Otherwise, let's go to Xuanfu again, well, the baseball team has to be carried, and billiards must also be carried, and ......" Zhengde is obviously not in a hurry, and has also planned corresponding countermeasures, but this countermeasure is adhering to his consistent style, as always, unreliable.

"By the way, the Ordnance Division also has to take it, let's make Xuanfu a playground like the capital." Today's Zhengde is not like when he ran away for the first time, at that time he was still carefree, but now the capital has too many things for him to worry about. Just as Xie Hong promised him, the capital has become a big playground.

No way? Xie Hong was speechless, this second brother has gone beyond the non-mainstream category, he is simply a crayon Xiaoxin. It's easy to understand Brother Qiaojia in order to fall in love freely, but it's a bit nonsense that Qiaojia still has so many things to carry, right? Especially in the Ordnance Division, those workshops can be moved if they say they can be moved?

"I said second brother, running away is not a way, in the face of difficulties, a good man should move forward bravely, not escape, you must know...... Besides, haven't you seen those three girls yet? Maybe it will meet your standards? "It's a big reason again, and it's a temptation, Xie Hong persuaded hard.

It's definitely not okay to run away, not to mention that you can't run away, even if you really run, what about the foundation of the capital? Without the protection of Zhengde, the school, Huangzhuang, and the Ordnance Department would definitely disappear immediately, these things cost Xie Hong so much effort, how could he just give up?

If you really give up, it will be difficult to rebuild it, and it is completely under the premise that the courtiers did not pay enough attention to it, and it is basically impossible to repeat it if you change it now.

Xie Hong guessed with some surprise, it would not be that the foreign court had calculated Zhengde's reaction, so he made such a play, right? Forced marriage and then forced Zhengde to run away? If this is the case, this person who has a plan is too amazing, even brighter than Zhuge Liang.

"I know without seeing you, I asked...... Dayong, you tell the eldest brother what the rules for choosing a concubine in the palace are. Zhengde also knew that his idea was unreliable, and was poured a basin of cold water in Xie Hong's face, and he confirmed this, he waved his hand weakly, and told Gu Dayong to dispel Xie Hong's unrealistic illusions.

"The slave obeys." Gu Dayong agreed, then turned to Xie Hong and said, "Lord Xie, the rules in the palace are like this......"

According to Xie Hong's understanding, the emperor's selection of concubines should be similar to the beauty pageants of later generations, except that there are more people participating in the election and fewer places, which leads to greater competition, and the quality of the final selected beauties is also higher. But after listening to the fat man's detailed explanation, he began to sympathize with Zhengde again, although there is only one word difference between this concubine and the beauty pageant, the content of the actual surname is too different.

This process can be roughly divided into four stages, where the preliminary audition is three stages, and the final final, uh, well, is the review, which is the last step.

In the first trial, the examiners mainly observed with their eyes, observed their appearance, listened to their voices, and then sent palace maids to carefully check their hair, facial features, and bodies.

The second instance is to be specifically quantified, that is, to measure their arms, waist, legs and figure with a ruler, and all those that are not standard will be eliminated.

At the time of the third trial, the female officials in the palace stripped and checked, what smell, skin, and a scar on the body were not good, and on this basis, the demeanor and demeanor were checked, and the etiquette norms and palace rules were learned in the palace.

Strictness is a good thing, can you keep improving, the key issue is the standard!

Probably in the eyes of different people, the standard of beauty is different, therefore, the standard used when choosing a concubine in the palace is a little strange in Xie Hong's opinion, this standard is not based on whether it is beautiful or not, but whether it is normal or not.

For example, appearance, beautiful or not beautiful are two words, if you want to meet the standard, the facial features on the girl's face must have no special places, the eyes are too small, but too big is not good; It's not okay to have a low nose bridge, but it's not okay to be too high, and so on.

The concubines selected in this way will definitely not be ugly, but they can't be beautiful, that is, they are slightly taller than the posture of the middle.

It doesn't matter if it's just appearance, Zhu Houzhao attaches more importance to the content of the substantive surname, but the requirements for the figure and appearance of the concubine are the same. Tall, short, fat and thin are all to be eliminated, and key parts such as chest, waist, and buttocks are even more so, and too big and too small are among the eliminations.

Therefore, after the audition and review, it is conceivable what kind of figure the rest is. Anyway, Xie Hong knows that no matter whether those girls have a straight body or not, it is certain that there will be no one among them who meets Zhengde's aesthetic standards.

(To be continued)