West Garden, the Queen's Bedroom.

Zhu Yijun and Queen Du were sitting across from each other across an ice tripod, and they were eating watermelon.

At the same time, both of them were listening carefully to the report of the female official Xu Weizhen, the ninth girl, on the situation of the palace entrance examination.

This Xu Weizhen is after Xu Jie, but because she betrayed the clan, she was no longer tolerated by the outside world, and Zhu Yijun took her into the palace to do things.

Now Xu Weizhen is not only a professor of women's studies, but also the deputy chief examiner of the entire palace entrance examination.

The queen is the examiner.

Therefore, after Yu Bailu asked Huang Min to say that he would not use the exam to choose the new nobleman of the harem, Huang Min first reported it to Xu Weizhen, and Xu Weizhen reported the matter to the emperor and empress.

After hearing this, Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Weizhen: "What do you think about this?" ”

Xu Weizhen was slightly stunned, she didn't expect the emperor to ask herself, and bowed down for a while:

"Back to Your Majesty, in the humble opinion of the ministers, this kind of thing happened, firstly, because a girl like Yu Bailu was persecuted too deeply by the old rites like the ministers back then, so she no longer knew about the harm, but maintained it;"

"The second is that this Yu Bailu himself is not a stupid person, or even a bold person! and also knows that the imperial court now worships the new ceremony and will not kill her because she shows her personality and bluntly says that the new system is wrong, so he dares to say bluntly that it is not right for a girl to enter the palace like this; ”

"The third is that she doesn't know that His Majesty's choice of concubines is to choose people who can enter the palace and do things for the inner court, not just people who serve, so she thinks that her words can enter the emperor's heart."

"At a young age, she is not shallow, but for the sake of her probably not wanting to lag behind her in the exam, let her continue to take the exam, and don't pursue it first."

Zhu Yijun was noncommittal to Xu Weizhen's statement, and only directly issued his own order.

And Xu Weizhen said yes.

At this time, Zhu Yijun looked at Queen Du and said with a smile: "This is the first time to enter the palace, I'm afraid there will be many people who will get zero points." ”

"It's not to blame Your Majesty, you have already been ambushed in such a difficult situation, I don't know how many girls who have been educated by the old rites are going to cry urgently, this Yu Bailu dares to fight."

Empress Du said with a smile at this time.

Zhu Yijun threw the watermelon peel aside at this time and said, "I hope there are a few who are good at the test." ”

"Will there be?"

Empress Du asked.

Zhu Yijun said: "There will be!" ”

As he spoke, Zhu Yijun smiled at Queen Du and said, "Some of them have secretly communicated with me in private letters in advance, and expressed their admiration for Xinli in the letter." ”

After hearing this, Empress Du smiled and asked, "It seems that Your Majesty has already had a few girls?" ”

"I can't talk about the intention, but fortunately, after the new ceremony is implemented from top to bottom, it still has some impact on the people."

"You should know that the real stubbornness of religious customs lies in the people."

"Many people are imperceptibly repulsed by the new, and think that the old is right, after all, even if the old is not good, in the eyes of many people, he is at least traceable, predictable, and well-known, and it will not make them uneasy; But the new things are not only strange to the people, but they also feel farther away from them, and they are more uneasy. ”

"After all, Xinli looks at the world from the perspective of the country and the nation, not from the perspective of human ethics, and the people can understand the monarch and the ministers through the father, the son, and the son, but it is difficult to understand their own attitude and behavior through their own freedom, the country's freedom, and their own strong country's strength, can also affect the country's long-term peace and stability."

"Let them know that this world is not just a matter of the emperor and scholars, how difficult it is!"

"Therefore, this time I ordered to choose another concubine, not to fill the harem, but to have a few more interesting women around, in fact, I am worried about the Holy Mother of the Two Palaces, as well as you, because there are not enough people to serve and be wronged, and I also want to take this opportunity to gather these women from the people together to educate, and strive to influence a few more women, and then influence the boudoir and children through them in the future."

After Zhu Yijun said with a smile, he looked at Queen Du and held Queen Du's hand.

Empress Du smiled at him, and then said, "Your Majesty, the concubine dared to ask, why do you insist on Xingxinli, Your Majesty knows that this road is not easy to walk." ”

"Come with me!"

Zhu Yijun said and took Queen Du to his study, and pointed to a map of the Ming Dynasty, and said: "Look, this is the southern capital, here is Huaiyang, here is Suzhou and Hangzhou, here is Fujian and Guangdong, here is Shudi, here is the northwest, there is a long yellow sand, the desert is lonely, here is the scenery of thousands of miles of ice in Liaodong, and there is Hokkaido, which I let Magui beat not long ago, where the grass is abundant, and it is suitable for watching the sunrise by the sea!" ”

"The concubine understands!"

Queen Du bowed slightly, replied, and then looked at Zhu Yijun:

"Your Majesty thinks that although he is the lord of the world, in fact he seems to be just the lord of a square city, and the world does not seem to belong to him, and he can't even look at the mountains and rivers of the whole world?"

"Of course!"

Zhu Yijun replied directly, then put his hands behind his back, looked at the map he didn't know how many times he had looked at it, and said to the queen:

"Wumiao was discouraged by the cabinet to the Metropolitan Procuratorate because of leaving the palace, and thousands of Beijing officials admonished him, and even his life occurred because of this, so he was able to succeed, and because of this, he was infamous for treating the ancestral foundation as child's play."

"I wondered, if the new rite could not allow me and the queen to see the world hand in hand, and at the same time did not cause the subjects of the world to suffer and even resent, then why should I carry out the new rite?"

"In other words, I am implementing the new rites so that I and the queen are more free and live more like individuals."

After Zhu Yijun said this, he looked at Du Shi and asked:

"The queen has never stepped on anything other than her home and palace in her life, right?"

"Rao is entering Beijing, and he is also taking a chariot and boat."

Du Shi nodded.

Then, Queen Du smiled and said: "If according to the old etiquette, Your Majesty has such an idea, and the concubines are also admonished, since ancient times, the emperor has traveled the world, how can he not tire the people and hurt the money?" ”

"What's more, don't say it's the emperor, as far as the concubines know, even if they press the countryside, they have to mobilize the people, which makes the officials and students uneasy."

Empress Du walked to Zhu Yijun's side at this time, folded her hands in front of her abdomen, looked at Zhu Yijun and said, "But now there is no need for the concubines to advise again, in order to show their virtue." ”

"The reason is that now the royal nobles do not rely on the people's wisdom and people's anointment, but rely more on the benefits of external development, so Your Majesty's travel, as long as you can benefit the people and do not let the people work hard because of Your Majesty's trip to Beijing, the small people will not have any complaints, and will even wholeheartedly welcome Your Majesty."

"That's what the queen said!"

Zhu Yijun replied with a smile, and held Queen Du's hand in his hand again, and whispered to Queen Du's veneer:

"So, the palace maids serving around us must be the palace maids who support the new ceremony!"

"Otherwise, no one knows if there will be any accidents because of going out of Beijing to inspect the world, don't underestimate these palace maids, palace maids are also human beings, and they also have their own thoughts!"

Queen Du bowed: "Hmm! ”

Then, Queen Du said: "Please Your Majesty, don't stick it so close, the concubine's ears are hot." ”

"Is it just hot ears, isn't it hot on the body?"

Zhu Yijun asked with a wicked smile.

Empress Du's face suddenly turned crimson, and she said angrily: "Your Majesty is joking again!" ”

(End of chapter)