The atmosphere in the palace is good these days, especially the mood of Queen Zhou is particularly happy - according to the tradition of the Ming family and the male protagonist and the female protagonist, the part of the Yuntai Gate, that is, the inner court of the harem, is under the control of Queen Zhou. Theoretically speaking, the population of this generation of the royal family itself is not large, there is only one emperor, one imperial sister-in-law, three concubines, several young masters and princesses...... But the number of people who need to worry about Queen Zhou is far more than these, not to mention as many as tens of thousands of palace maids and eunuchs and other subordinate servants, there are dozens of them at the master level alone, most of them are palace concubines left by the previous dynasties. There are even old people in the Longqing era at the farthest, and there are also a lot of Wanli and Taichang left behind - don't look at Emperor Taichang's reign for only one month, but before this emperor ascended the throne, he had a nickname called "Little Bee", and the number of palace concubines left behind was not less than that of his father. On the contrary, Tianqi was obsessed with the carpenter's career before his death, and he didn't care about the joy of the palace, but he didn't leave a big harem.

The status of these people is not high, and it is not low to say that it is low, although they can't speak in front of the emperor, their food and clothing are not too bad. Usually, it is nothing more than a customary supply, and whatever is given in the palace, under normal circumstances, no one will deliberately deduct them, and of course they will not deliberately raise the level of supply.

However, in recent days, Queen Zhou has received a lot of thanks one after another, some have sent exquisite gifts, some have written posts and even come to pay their respects in person, at first she was a little surprised, she didn't seem to have deliberately arranged anything? Why did you suddenly form so many good karma all at once? Later, in the conversation, I learned that the food level sent from the imperial dining room to various palaces in the past few days has suddenly improved a lot, and many fresh vegetables and vegetables that are impossible to see at this time in previous years have appeared on the recipe water card, and the imperial dining room has also distributed a batch of fruit baskets to various palace rooms for the first time. It is made of a variety of different melons and fruits, which is both beautiful and delicious, and is also very popular.

The Ming court is a small society, and the warmth and coldness of people are all reflected in this kind of small place of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and the sudden change in the living conditions in the past can only show one thing - a certain master is going to be favored. Start enjoying special treatment. But for those concubines of the former dynasty and the white-haired palace people, there is no such possibility as zài at all, and the scope of special offerings cannot be so large. Therefore, after discussing it, everyone felt that the gratitude should be counted on the queen's mother, because only Queen Zhou, who commanded the harem, had the power and courage. Universally, the standard of food for all has been greatly improved.

was mentioned by them like this, and Empress Zhou noticed that the variety of meals in the past few days was indeed a lot richer, and even the emperor, who had always been thoughtful, would move a few more chopsticks when dining with her. In addition, the seasonal furnishings in this house today. It's not just the daffodils and plum that are traditional winter flowers. In addition to the floral aroma, there is also a fruity aroma - on the table is a large Khotanese jade fruit plate: red apples, yellow bananas, and a few strings of crystal clear purple grapes...... As a bonsai, it is not bad at all. Not to mention that it can still be eaten, so that every time the four or five-year-old prince Cilang comes over to ask for peace, he always stares at it with burning eyes, and refuses to leave without taking one. If it weren't for the imperial doctor saying that this kind of unseasonal fruit should not be eaten more, as a mother who loves her son, Queen Zhou would have rewarded the pot a long time ago, and there will be new ones every day anyway.

These are all different changes from the past. However, Queen Zhou didn't care too much about it before, and she didn't bother to ask, after all, as the master of the world. She has long been accustomed to enjoying the best treatment, and she has been enjoying the good things from the southern shorthair tribute in the past few years, and it would be too embarrassing to yell at them because of these small improvements in life.

But now that even those ordinary palace people can get their hands on it, this movement is obviously a bit big, and it is worth her to spend a little effort to ask. Thereupon. After some inquiries and inquiries, Wang Chengen, who was specifically responsible for handling the matter, was called to the queen. Tsai carefully reported the results of this trip to the shorthair......

“…… So to speak, these things are piled up in their place. Not unusual at all? ”

Empress Zhou listened with great interest to Wang Chengen's fierce description of how rich all kinds of commodities were in the Qionghai market that had not yet opened, and how terrifying the material transportation capacity of short hair was, and then naturally asked:

"Then whatever you need in the harem, you can go there and buy it?"

"Yes, Niangniang Shengming, the slave maid also estimated that after the shop was opened, the southern goods in the capital would probably not be too rare. That's why fruits and vegetables that are perishable and difficult to store are distributed. ”

As one of the major stewards and eunuchs, Wang Chengen's reputation in the palace has always been good, because he is still kind - of course, relatively. This time I asked Shorthair to ask for a large number of fruits and vegetables, if it was only for the emperor's family, it would be broken for a long time, so it was convenient for people to give the palace a "rain and dew".

Empress Zhou didn't have any opinion on this, after all, it was better to be grateful than to be hated. It's just that as a housekeeper, she quickly thought of the cost:

"I just don't know what the price is, those southern goods from Qiongzhou all the way to Beijing, it must be quite expensive, if it is too extravagant, I am afraid it will go against the emperor's thrift for the country."

"Shengming is no more than a mother, and the slave is also worried about this. It's just that the people of Naqiong Town are still knowledgeable, and they are willing to repay the palace a sum of money every month, and in the future, the palace will buy goods from them, as long as it does not exceed 1,000 taels per month, and they do not need to pay cash. ”

Hearing Wang Chengen's words, Queen Zhou did not show a reassuring expression, but looked at the eunuch in front of her with a rather strange eye - what kind of virtue are these eunuchs after all these years, and Queen Zhou has more or less points.

"You're not blackmailing them, are you? Right now, the emperor is about to use the power of the south to deal with the northern captives, but don't offend them because of these little things. ”

As soon as he heard this, Wang Chengen immediately fell to his knees like a stake, and shouted at the sky:

"Hey, mother, where does the slave have the guts! Who in the whole world doesn't know that those short-haired thieves are from a group of anti-thieves, who have not taken off their bones, and have always been arrogant and domineering, even the old gentlemen in the court and the middle of the country do not let go of them, let alone us slaves. They really came up with it themselves......"

-- Wang Chengen is still more careful in doing things, his last visit was only a rough look at the flowers under the leadership of Chen Tao, but after going back, he did not sit stupidly, but immediately arranged for his subordinates to go to buy again, including the shopping coupons that Chen Tao gave him, as well as the so-called "free quota", all of which were tried again, and basically figured out the operation mode and spirit of the big market of short hair.

So by now, he had found that his previous vision was a little low, and the tribute of a few hundred catties of fruits and vegetables to the royal family was indeed nothing to those people, and the real benefits they gave to the royal family should be regarded as the "free quota" of one thousand taels per month.

The purchasing power of silver was quite high in those days, even for royalty. Compared with the internal affairs office of the Qing Dynasty in later generations, the court internal supervisors of the Ming Dynasty were quite incorruptible, at least they never made such nonsense accounts as five taels of silver for an egg. Emperor Wanli's monthly food expenses were four hundred and eighty taels, which is clearly recorded. The newly opened market in Qionghai Town promised to provide the palace with goods worth 1,000 taels free of charge every month, and it was settled at the price of the southern origin, so for the Ming court, it could really offset a large amount of expenses. In particular, the Qionghai market provided high-end goods that could directly supply the emperor's family, and such things were often priceless, and there was nowhere to buy them with silver. In the past, the so-called inability to eat rare things for the Son of Heaven in the palace was due to safety considerations on the one hand, but on the other hand, the most important thing was that the source of supply could not be stable - the superior would never think about the people below, and the good things were eaten and used and felt good and then wanted, but the servants ran to say that they were gone, even if the boss did not blame them, at least they would leave a bad impression of "ineffective work". So more is better than less.

But the things provided by Qionghai Town, Wang Chengen specially asked clearly--they can be supplied for a long time, otherwise they would not dare to open a market in the capital. In this way, there is no shortage of materials. Then why don't you hurry up and offer it to please you? Keep this Qiaozong to take advantage of others? You must know that the servants of the emperor and the royal family are not easy to be these years, there are only a few heads and faces in the palace, one climbs up, and the other few will definitely fall behind, and the competition is fierce!

Of course, with this benefit alone, if Wang Chengen, one of the governors of the Ouchi, wants to recognize the favor of Qionghai Town, it is not enough, but in the future, as long as he wants to get such high-end materials from Qiongzhen, he will definitely not let that market have problems. At the very least, as the most powerful and highest-ranking representative of the court in the Jingshi, he would not take the initiative to cause trouble for that market. Some of the conveniences that can be given within the scope of authority will be given easily.

And this is exactly what Julie and others wanted to achieve when they made their business plans - for a long time, the Qiong Navy had been following the path of "holding swords and doing business". Relying on the powerful force of the Qiong navy, he protected his own business and forged ahead in East Asia in the 17th century. However, now, the ambitious Julie and others could not wait, they were no longer satisfied with the territory occupied by the Joan navy itself, but began to try to get the trading company out of the protection of the Joan navy, and play a role in those places where their own military forces could not be directly invested, which was determined by the instinct of capital to pursue profits, unless it was really blocked by the frontal resistance of state violence, otherwise, the characteristics of capital flowing in a profitable direction were inevitable.

And the Ming inland, which has the same culture and has established a relative cooperative relationship with the Qiong Navy, is undoubtedly the best practical area for the trading company to take the first step out of the protection circle of its own army. But if you want to enter the mainland market of the Ming Dynasty, it is unrealistic to have no power to escort it. And in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, what could be more effective than imperial power? (To be continued)