Time flies quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it is the fifteenth year of Hongzhi - 1502 AD, which was supposed to be the death of Hongji in three more years in history, but now it is basically impossible.

Since the delegation returned to the palace two years ago, Hongzhi has taken medicine on time according to Li Ziyu's prescription, although his face is still a little pale, but it can also be said that his waist is not sore, his back does not hurt, and he is not so panting from Qianqing Palace to Kunning Palace in one breath, and it is no problem to live for a few more years.

Empress Zhang is the same age as Hongzhi, 33 this year, but her appearance has not changed much compared with when she just gave birth to Zhu Houwei, and at most she feels more mature in temperament.

The youngest daughter is also 6 years old this year, named Zhu Xiuning, nicknamed Er'er, which is Hongzhi and the queen hope that she will be as strong as a cow. The little girl also lived up to the expectations of her parents, her health was very good, it is estimated that the queen fed Zhu Houwei deer milk, and she felt that the effect was good, so she used it on the little girl, and the effect was good. The little girl is more spoiled, after all, she is such a daughter, and now when the two brothers get out of school, she will run behind the buttocks of the two of them with "brother, brother".

As a princess of the Ming Dynasty, there is an advantage - you don't have to be close. Although the Ming Dynasty was not necessarily better than the Tang and Song dynasties, the strategy of "no harmony, no compensation, no land, and no tribute" he implemented also created the bloody nature of the Ming emperor. Take the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen, for example, Li Zicheng broke through Beijing, he did not surrender, but directly hanged himself, with the whole solar term. He had the opportunity to move the capital before, but no matter whether he was shaken in his heart or not, at least he stayed in the capital in the end, and he did it "the Son of Heaven guards the country".

The little girl looks cute and cute, and in the palace, she has to be windy and rainy. Not only is her parents pampered, but her two brothers are also very obedient to her.

As for the two brothers, Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Houwei, their parents have never ordered to beat, and it is estimated that the two are reluctant, so they are simply sent to Teacher Yang to be beaten, and they are out of sight. Of course, Mr. Yang is playing Zhu Houzhao, as a master's student in later generations, Zhu Houwei said that there is not much pressure to study now.

After school today, Zhu Houzhao immediately changed from a "good student" to an ordinary third teenager (12 years old this year, not a child) in addition to literature and art, jumping out of the classroom after the teacher left, without any demeanor and etiquette as a prince, and his left hand was not obviously swollen. Zhu Houwei, who was followed by Youzai, looked indifferent, which was very incongruous with his identity as an 8-year-old child. The two walked towards Kunning Palace together, preparing to pick up their sister and go crazy together.

Halfway through, Zhu Houwei said mysteriously to Zhu Houzhao, "I have something to do, do you want to be together?" ”

"What's fun, let's hear it" Zhu Houzhao was obviously also interested.

"Keju" Zhu Houwei seemed to be very excited.

"What's that, it's boring" Zhu Houzhao's interest disappeared

"Don't you listen to what kind of gameplay" Zhu Houwei smiled and seemed to be very treacherous

"Love to say it or not, anyway, you want me to ask my father for something" Zhu Houzhao obviously knows this younger brother very well, and this is not the first time.

"I said, I said," Zhu Houwei said helplessly, and then told his brother about the rules of football in the future. Football in the Ming Dynasty originated from the Keju of the Song Dynasty, and even after these hundreds of years, there has not changed much.

"Really fun?" Zhu Houzhao asked uncertainly

Zhu Houwei said with a little unhappiness after listening to the little face, "I can deceive you?" ”

As an 8-year-old child, it seems normal to not be able to pit a 12-year-old boy, but this child has the soul of an uncle, and he is over 40 in his two lives combined. Before Zhu Houzhao was 10 years old, he could still be pitted, and after he was 10 years old, the two were inseparable, and this year, Zhu Houwei basically ended in a fiasco, which also made his younger brother quite depressed.

"That's right," Zhu Houzhao replied quite proudly, "Let's go, let's go to the guards to organize the team."

Zhu Houwei said very firmly, "No, you can't find a guard, they are all adults, we can't play with them, are you going to be a coach on the sidelines?" ”

"There is no one of the same age as us in the palace, you mean to look for it outside the palace?" In addition to reading, Zhu Houzhao is very smart in other aspects.

"Just find some orphans, find a big courtyard next to the palace, not only to live in, but also to play, and then you will have the opportunity to leave the palace in the future." Zhu Houwei's tail was finally revealed

"Okay, what's the excuse for this time?" Zhu Houzhao's eyes have already begun to shine

"Strengthening the body, the way of civil and martial arts, one by one." Zhu Houwei began to shake his head, pretending to be a reader

"It's a little bit reluctant, but there is still a possibility of success." Zhu Houzhao thought about it carefully and said, "Reading is still useful, I must study hard in the future."

Zhu Houwei didn't answer directly, because he knew that this was just a casual statement, so he would just listen to it casually. Some of the words are boring when they are true.

The two of them came to Kunning Palace much earlier than usual, after all, when the two of them came over before, they would still play on the road, such as snatching the dust in the hands of the eunuchs they met on the road, seeing that they were standing motionless at the door of the palace, the guards on duty went to pluck their beards, and hit the buttocks of the passing palace maids with slingshots, Zhu Houwei once again found the joy of childhood that had no memory. In the eyes of the victims, these two bear children should be spanked with a board every day, but their status is noble, and they dare not speak out.

The two of them first said goodbye to the queen, and then told them about it. Zhu Houzhao is responsible for teasing, Zhu Houwei is responsible for teasing, although the technology is not very good, put it on the streets of Yanjing, it is a penny that can listen to eight paragraphs, but after listening to it, the queen felt that the child just lacked playmates of the same age and a curiosity about the world outside the palace, this matter is not a big deal, how much can it cost to raise a few orphans, raise him thirty or fifty, it is estimated that one hundred taels is about the same, as for this courtyard, there are just the houses of corrupt officials who have been raided before, and some of them are in the inner treasury, and the queen keeps them, and they are idle. It's okay to play with two children.

The two brothers have any requirements to tell their mother first, it is easier to be accepted, and when they mention it to their father, they can also have someone to help, "unite all the forces that can be united" You must know that Zhu Houwei was a lecturer who taught horsehair in his previous life, not to mention that he could memorize it backwards, but it was still no problem to memorize it.

Empress Zhang is not a mediocre and incompetent person. can make an emperor have only one woman in his life, which is the only one in Chinese history, which shows her ability. However, as a woman, she also has weaknesses. She couldn't stand the hard begging of her two younger brothers, so she asked the emperor for the title for them, posthumously conferred her father Zhang Luan as the Duke of Changguo, and her younger brother Zhang Heling as the Marquis of Shouning and Zhang Yanling as the Marquis of Jianchang. This was controversial among the ministers, since her father and younger brother had little credit for the country, and her two younger brothers were uneducated.

Now, the queen agreed, and the two accompanied their sister Zhu Xiuning to play in the palace, and did not run outside as usual. In the evening, Hongji rested and went to Kunning Palace to have dinner with his family. During the meal, Hongzhi and the queen also chatted, and then Zhu Houzhao also told him about it. Although there is a rule of "don't say anything when you eat, don't say anything when you sleep", but not every household will really do this.

After listening to this, Hongji pondered for a while before he spoke, "When you leave the palace, go to the courtyard to play, and you can't show off the market, otherwise it will be invalid." ”

"Yes, boy," the two of them were so happy that they laughed with their sister, who didn't understand much.

Hongji and the queen looked at the three children so happy, and the two looked at each other and smiled, and the matter was settled.

The matter was handled very quickly, only one day, this matter was done, it was ordered by the great eunuch He Ding to do it, the yard was cleaned up, and the football also made the palace maid work overtime to do 10, the pig's bladder was full of air, and the outside was sewn on the outer layer with cowhide, and the ball was done. The field is OK, the football is OK, it's just the personnel. He Ding specially came to ask the prince, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, I don't know how many orphans you are looking for, how old do you want to be?" "How much?" Zhu Houzhao turned his head and asked Zhu Houwei. "There are 30 men and 10 women, aged 8 to 15." Zhu Houwei said directly to He Ding. As soon as the words fell, He Ding and Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhu Houwei suspiciously. Zhu Houwei knew what they wanted to ask, "women want to play with their sisters". Zhu Houzhao thought about it and didn't say anything, He Ding suddenly realized "obey orders".

After another three days, when the two brothers arrived at Kunning Palace after school, He Ding came over to reply, "Your Royal Highness, the matter has been done, I wonder where the two Highnesses are going to check?" As soon as the two of them heard this, they immediately came to their senses, said hello to the queen, and left the palace under the escort of the guards.

The courtyard is on the street west of the palace, not far from the Xihua Gate, He Ding led the way in front of the head, and heard He Ding say that the original owner of this mansion was surnamed Du, the official to the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry, a high-ranking official of the third grade, the mansion at home is very large, just the rockery pond, the garden adds up to the size of 2 football fields, originally filled in and prepared to be divided into three properties, and sold it, but now it is just cheaper for their two brothers.

Now the courtyard is taken care of by the old palace maids in the palace to take care of the children's daily life. There can be no eunuchs, otherwise it will be easy to expose the identities of the two brothers. No matter how old an official you are, there are no eunuchs in your family, otherwise it will be a violation. The current person in charge, that is, the housekeeper, is a female official in the Xianzong period, surnamed Dou.

After a while, I arrived at the courtyard, and the plaque at the door was also replaced with the word "Zhu Fu". You can see the towering courtyard wall from afar, and it has to be 5 meters in any way. The two doors of the main entrance are very wide, and it is estimated that each is 3,4 meters, and the vermilion one looks very festive. The threshold is also very high, and it can almost block the short legs of eight-year-old Zhu Houwei. This is the real Gaomen compound.

As soon as you enter the gate, there is a wall, and there are many rare beasts carved on the wall, blocking the view of passers-by at the door, so that people cannot see what is happening in this high-gate compound. Bypassed the entrance wall and walked to the main hall. The orphans who were brought with them were separated on both sides of the road, and when the two brothers came over, they all knelt down and bowed their heads and shouted, "Welcome to the eldest young master, the second young master." The two brothers were very excited, and when they reached the door of the main hall, Zhu Houzhao turned around and said, "Get up." "Now Zhu Houzhao is the elder brother in this family, and he still has to say what is on the table." Young Master Xie, Second Young Master. Then they all slowly stood up, but still no one dared to look up at the two young masters, the first time they met, no one knew what temper the two masters had, they tasted the feeling of being full for the first time in the past few days, but they couldn't go back to the days when they couldn't eat enough for a small mistake.

"Two young masters, the slave maid is the housekeeper, I don't know what the two young masters command?" Steward Dou asked

Steward Dou looked 40 years old, wearing a cyan collared skirt, with a simple hairpin on his head, and no powder on his face, but he still retained a little bit of his youthful beauty.

"Steward Dou tell us about the situation in this mansion," Zhu Houzhao kept scanning the team of boys standing on the left side of his eyes and said.

"Yes, there are now 35 family members in the house, 15 people between the ages of 8 and 10, 20 people between the ages of 10 and 15, 24 maids, 5 people between the ages of 8 and 10, 10 people between the ages of 10 and 15, and the other nine people are brought from the 'hometown'. In addition, there are 2 cooks and 1 groom" Steward Dou introduced in detail.

"Very well done," Zhu Houzhao turned to He Ding and said.

"This is the duty of the slave maid, the eldest young master has won the prize." He Ding replied with satisfaction, "Please also ask the eldest young master to give a lecture."

Hearing this, Zhu Houzhao became high-spirited, "Okay, you all listen, everything I tell in the future will be done, and this young master will not hesitate to reward"

"Young Master Xie", "Yes", "I must listen to the young master's words" This time the answer was chaotic, and these 50 or so people gave different answers, and the courtyard suddenly became a noisy vegetable field, and Steward Dou's face began to turn a little black.

"Ahem" This is Zhu Houwei's voice, but she doesn't really want to cough.

The courtyard returned to its former tranquility. Zhu Houwei said to Steward Dou, "Steward Dou, these people have only been in the house for 2 or 3 days, and the rules naturally cannot be learned, so take your time in the future, don't take it to heart." ”

Steward Dou looked at the 8-year-old second young master with some surprise, "What the second young master said is"

"Steward Dou, let them disperse, let them eat something good these days, my brother and I will go to the court behind the hall to have a look" Zhu Houzhao looked a little impatient.

Then under the order of Steward Dou, more than 50 people left the scene in an orderly manner. Zhu Houzhao pulled Zhu Houwei and walked towards the court under the leadership of He Ding.

When I turned around the main hall, I saw a large area of grass about 10 centimeters tall growing on it, and it was green and lush, which made people feel refreshed and happy. There is a wooden door frame at each end of the meadow, which is connected to the fishing net at the entrance of the large hole. There are also lines paved with lime around the pasture, horizontal and vertical, in Zhu Houwei's opinion, basically similar to those of later generations. Zhu Houzhi was even more excited, and he couldn't wait to immediately call those children over to play football together, but fortunately, when he was in the palace, Zhu Houwei told him that he would have to wait a few days for these children to recuperate.

Later, Zhu Houzhao asked someone to take a ball, let the guard be the goalkeeper, and play penalty kicks. Zhu Houwei is too small, and the door frame is too tall and too big for him, otherwise Zhu Houzhao would definitely let Zhu Houwei be the goalkeeper.

Zhu Houwei didn't go to play along, so Zhu Houzhao was there alone. After two hours, the two returned to the palace under the escort of the guards. Today, the two of them are very excited, Zhu Houzhao is because there are new things to play, and Zhu Houwei is thinking, "We finally have a little friend, we can play happily together, hehe." ”