Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 843 Mongolian Princess
It has to be said that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had given this aspect very thorough considerations, and there had never been any incidents of external relatives interfering in politics throughout the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the system implemented starting from Emperor Xuanzong did play a certain role.

But the problem is that the absence of foreign relatives' disorder in politics does not mean that everything is fine. Although the royal family never married nobles again, the status of the noble class has been declining since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, especially after the Battle of Tumu, the backbone of the nobles was broken at once, which caused the original situation of the royal family, nobles, and civil officials that had been gradually formed since Zhu Di to be completely destroyed. As the civil officials became stronger and stronger, the nobles were no longer able to be reused. The emperor had no choice but to support the eunuch group through the Silijian, and the secret agencies such as Jinyiwei, Dongchang, Xichang and even Neihangchang competed with the civil officials for power, creating a new political structure after the Ming Dynasty.

It cannot be said that this system is better than the powerful relatives of the emperor, at least it avoids the possibility of the emperor's power being overthrown by relatives of the emperor. But it also formed the source of the powerful power of the civil service group. In particular, although the concubines of the Ming emperors in later generations were from small families, the nature of the civil service group and gentry group behind them would not change, which further contributed to the increasing power of the civil service group.

This situation also meant that when the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty changed, the new emperor often lacked strong external support and could only rely on ministers in the court.

Let's not talk about other distant ones for now, let's just talk about Emperor Tianqi. If Emperor Tianqi had a powerful maternal relative in the outer court to rely on, then the palace relocation case would never have happened. The prince who had not yet ascended the throne was snatched away from the Qianqing Palace by a few low-level civil servants, and his adoptive mother, Li Xianshi, the concubine of the previous emperor, was forced to leave the Qianqing Palace and almost lost her life. This is extremely rare in previous dynasties.

Zhu Shenzhui is now the emperor, and his queen Xu Jingqiu is also from a humble family, but their natures are different. You should know that when they got married, Zhu Shenzhui was still a small member of the royal family. The two families can be considered to be well matched, neither marrying up nor marrying down. As for the fact that they later became emperors and queens, that is now.

But Zhu Minlan is different. Zhu Minlan is now the prince, and Zhu Shencui must carefully consider how to arrange his marriage. Zhu Minlan is not Zhu Shencui. Although he is smart, he has not experienced the world. If he is calculated in this matter, the subsequent troubles will be great. Zhu Shencui absolutely does not want his son to fall into these troubles in the future.

In addition to Zhu Minlan, there is also Zhu Mincheng. When Zhu Minlan was named the crown prince, Zhu Mincheng was also named a king. His title was King of Song. There was no King of Song in the Ming Dynasty, only Duke of Song. Duke of Song Feng Sheng was one of the six founding dukes, but was later involved in the Lan Yu case and was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang. After Feng Sheng's death, he had no sons left, and Duke of Song was stripped of his title. Therefore, there was no problem in Zhu Mincheng being named King of Song. Moreover, Song was one of the great powers, and as a legitimate son, it was reasonable for him to be named a duke of Song.

After the prince's wedding, it will be the turn of Song Wang Zhu Mincheng in a few years, so Zhu Shenzhu must be cautious in choosing the person for the royal family's marriage. In addition, since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the Ming Dynasty has been strong in civil affairs and weak in military affairs. This situation must be changed. In Zhu Shenzhu's view, compared with the civil service group, the noble group that lives and dies with the country is more reliable than the civil service group. Perhaps starting from him, changing the choice of royal family marriage, from the rules set by Emperor Xuanzong to the choice at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, changing the selection of royal family marriage partners from civil servants of small families to selection from noble families, may be a way to break the deadlock.

Of course, this is not a perfect solution. After all, the reason why they considered choosing small families back then was to avoid threats posed by powerful external relatives interfering in politics to the royal family. Now, the same concern exists when choosing the noble group again.

But it is impossible for something to be perfect. Can we be foolproof just because we are afraid of choking? This is too absurd. We cannot ignore the disadvantages of something just because it has advantages, nor can we give up all its advantages just because it has disadvantages. It is most important to grasp the balance between them. In other words, as an emperor, he relies on his civil and military officials to govern the world, and how to use these civil and military officials depends on power and balance. As long as the civil officials are in power, he will support the nobles. When the nobles are strong, he will use the civil officials to suppress them. Isn't this what the emperor does?
Zhu Shenzhui's guess was correct. Not long after he ascended the throne, someone in the court suggested that the emperor had no one in the harem and advised Zhu Shenzhui to take a concubine. And this suggestion won the approval of almost everyone as soon as it was proposed. Although Xu Jingqiu, as the queen, had given birth to two sons, and the crown prince Zhu Minlan and the prince of Song Zhu Mincheng were almost adults, it was inappropriate for the emperor to have no one in the harem, and two princes were far from enough. For the long-term security and bloodline of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor taking more concubines was not only the emperor's own business, but also the state affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

Faced with such a situation, it was impossible for Zhu Shencui to delay any longer. He could only go with the flow and agree. Right after he agreed, someone couldn't wait to send him a list of candidates for concubines, along with the list there was also an album made by painters. Looking at these things, Zhu Shencui understood that these people had already made up their minds and were eager to send the suitable candidates they had selected into the palace.

Looking through these books, Zhu Shenzhui felt amused. He was not the Emperor Tianqi, nor the Emperor Chongzhen. Even if they stuffed these people into the palace, did they really think they could influence him? It was a pity that Tana could not stay in the capital. If Tana stayed in the capital, she would definitely have no problem becoming an imperial concubine if she could not become the queen. Moreover, with Tana, she could help him to avoid these troubles.

However, Tana herself refused to stay, and if Tana really entered the palace as a concubine, then the identities of Tengger and Agudamu would be somewhat embarrassing. Although many people in the Ming Dynasty already knew the true identities of the Tengger brothers and understood that they were actually the sons of Zhu Shenzhui and Tana, as long as Zhu Shenzhui did not officially announce it, everyone would naturally pretend to be deaf and dumb. After all, the leaders of the Mongolian Tumed tribe, the Shunyi King and Shunning King of the Ming Dynasty were actually members of the Ming royal family and illegitimate sons of the Ming emperor. It would not be good for the Ming Dynasty if this matter was publicized, and the same was true in Mongolia.

To solve this problem, Zhu Shenzhui did not immediately select someone from the list, but secretly let someone spread the word. Soon, the news spread in the capital that the emperor intended to take a concubine from among the nobles. When this news spread, the nobles could not sit still. You know, for so many years, the nobles had long wanted to send their own women to the palace to get closer to the royal family and consolidate their status. Now the opportunity has finally come. Zhu Shenzhui actually intends to select from among the nobles. Isn't this what they have been looking for?
So a few days later, several old nobles said in the court that since the emperor wanted to take concubines, he should treat everyone equally. There were also good women among the nobles who could enrich the emperor's harem. This statement was immediately opposed by the civil officials. In the eyes of the civil officials, isn't the entry of noble women into the palace the root of the power of foreign relatives? Since Emperor Xuanzong, the royal family no longer took noble women as concubines. How could this rule be changed now?
However, the nobles said that the Ming Dynasty had never had such a rule, and successive Ming emperors had never announced this statement. Moreover, according to ancestral rules, there were countless cases of royal family marrying noble women at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. How could such a statement come about?
The two sides debated fiercely over this issue, and the verbal battle was extremely lively for a while. Zhu Shencui was not in a hurry, but just watched coldly from the side. From time to time, he would secretly fan the flames of the two factions fighting each other. When the two sides were fighting fiercely, suddenly a piece of news came, which made the civil service group and the nobles dumbfounded, because the first candidate for concubine selected by Zhu Shencui was neither any of the people on the list submitted by the civil servants, nor a woman selected from the nobles, but a Mongolian woman from the grassland.

This Mongolian woman has a famous background. She is Narentuya, the daughter of Borjigit Batmalia, the fourth wife of Lingdan Khan. After Lingdan Khan's death, his tribe split up. Batmalia took control of the Doutumen Wanhu Oerduo and established herself as an independent tribe. But unlike Namu Zhong and Su Tai, although Batmalia ranked fourth among Lingdan Khan's eight wives, she did not give birth to a son for Lingdan Khan, only a daughter. Therefore, her status was very embarrassing after her tribe split up. Without a son by her side, even though she occupied a grassland and tribesmen, she was like a rootless duckweed.

Previously, Chao Ketu Taiji of the Mobei grassland led his troops south to attack the western desert. Although Batmanai’s tribe was not the first to bear the brunt of the attack, it also suffered considerable losses. Although the battle in the western desert ended with Chao Ketu Taiji’s defeat and death, after the war, Batmanai’s territory was not only destroyed, but his people also suffered heavy losses.

Under such circumstances, it was difficult for Batmarou's wife to continue to maintain the independence of the tribe. She had only two options. One option was to seek refuge with Namujong or Sutai and get their protection. But this option was not reliable. Batmarou's wife, who was also the wife of Ligdan Khan, knew the two sisters too well. They were not easy to get along with. There was no problem in seeking refuge with them for a short period of peace, but they would inevitably be annexed by them in the long run. Once they lost their tribe, she and her daughter would have no place to live and could only live under someone else's roof and be bullied by others.

Another way is to join the Tumed tribe in the east, that is, Tana and Tengger mother and son in Guihua City. But let's not talk about whether they will accept me. Even if they accept me, there is still a possibility of being annexed in the future, and the outcome may not be better than joining Namu Zhong and Su Tailai.

Just when Batmalia's wife was in a dilemma, an envoy suddenly came from Guihua City. The envoy was sent by Tana. At first, Batmalia's wife thought that Tumed wanted to take advantage of the situation to attack her tribe, but she didn't expect that Tana sent someone to bring her an unexpected news.

Tana told Batmalia's wife that the Ming emperor was interested in taking a concubine. She knew that Batmalia's daughter, Narentuoya, was fifteen years old, beautiful and had not yet been betrothed. If Batmalia's wife was willing, she could send her daughter to the Ming palace to be the emperor's concubine.

When Mrs. Batma was informed of the news, she was stunned for a moment, and then she was overjoyed. She was worried about the future of her tribe, and now a pie had fallen from the sky. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually planned to take his daughter, Narentuoya, as his concubine? Isn't this a great thing?

The Ming Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world, and the Ming Emperor was the most noble and powerful person in the world. If Naren Tuoya became the emperor's concubine, wouldn't she be a family member with the Ming Emperor? With the Ming Emperor as her son-in-law, how could Namu Zhong and Su Tai dare to disrespect her? If her daughter could give birth to a son or daughter for the emperor, maybe she could inherit the throne of the Ming Dynasty in the future. It would be absolutely no problem for her to become a prince of the Ming Dynasty. How could she refuse such a good thing?

Just like that, Batmali's wife agreed without hesitation, and hurriedly sent her daughter Narentuya to Guihua City. She also sent a generous gift and asked Tana to help take care of her and facilitate the marriage.

In this regard, Tana met with Narentuya after she arrived in Guihua City, and then sent someone to send her to the capital. After arriving in the capital, Zhu Shencui announced the news that Narentuya would be his concubine without waiting for the debate between the civil service group and the noble group to end. After the news was announced, everyone was stunned. No one expected that Zhu Shencui would do such a thing.

(End of this chapter)