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

Chapter 844 Balance of All Parties
Zhu Shenzhui had a very appropriate reason for taking a Mongolian woman as his concubine. Because of the war in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty needed more allies, especially to ensure the security of the north and the peace among the Mongolian tribes.

The Tumed tribe is the most powerful tribe in Mongolia now. Tana and Tenger, who control the Tumed, are both loyal to the Ming Dynasty. They came to the Ming Dynasty to watch the coronation ceremony not long ago and even brought the long-lost imperial seal.

From this we can see the reliability and trust of the Tumed tribe. The Ming Dynasty also reciprocated by giving Tana and her son generous rewards. This is something everyone knows. However, it is far from enough for the Tumed to be close to the Ming Dynasty. You must know that Mongolia's territory is not small, and Mongolia is different from the Ming Dynasty. The Tumed is only one of the Mongolian tribes and cannot represent the entire Mongolia. Therefore, from this point of view, it is also necessary to properly win over other Mongolian tribes.

In this way, Naren Tuoya became the best candidate. Don't forget that Naren Tuoya was the daughter of Lingdan Khan. Although Lingdan Khan was dead and his subordinates were divided, Lingdan Khan was the Great Khan of Mongolia after all. As the leader of Mongolia at that time, he had a great influence on the Mongolian grasslands.

Even though Lindan Khan is no longer with us, many Mongolians still remember this former Khan. Therefore, Narentuya is an excellent choice as Lindan Khan's daughter, both in terms of status and position, or in terms of using her to win over the Mongolian tribes.

Besides, there was a precedent for Ming emperors to marry Mongolian women. Among the concubines of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, there were several Mongolian noble ladies. Even the wife of Zhu Yuanzhang's second legitimate son, Prince of Qin Zhu Chong, was also a Mongolian woman. This Qin Wangfei was Guanyinnu, the sister of Wang Baobao. Her Mongolian name was Minmin Temur. Yes! She was the prototype of Zhao Min in Jin Yong's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

There are even rumors that the biological mother of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di was not Empress Ma, but a Mongolian, so the Ming royal family had Mongolian blood. However, because the rule was stable later, the Ming army's northern expedition completely defeated the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Buir Lake, and subsequent emperors never married Mongolia again.

But this is a different time. Now the Jiannu in Liaodong is rampant, and the Ming Dynasty must maintain good relations with Mongolia. This policy has been in place since the Wanli period. In order to deal with the Jiannu in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty and Ligdan Khan formed an alliance to fight against Nurhaci. Although this alliance ultimately did not work due to Ligdan Khan's short-sightedness, there was no problem from the overall perspective.

Therefore, from a political perspective, Zhu Shenzhui had no problem marrying a Mongolian noblewoman (princess), and the daughter of Ligdan Khan. Even the most picky ministers could not think of a reason to object. After all, this marriage was not about the Ming Dynasty sending a princess to Mongolia for marriage, but about Mongolia sending a woman to the Ming emperor as a concubine. It was not humiliating, but even represented that the Ming Dynasty was far superior to Mongolia in status.

After Naren Tuoya arrived in the capital, she was soon taken into the palace. Zhu Shenzhui officially announced at the court meeting that he would take her as his concubine and conferred the title of Consort Xian on her. Everyone was shocked at first, and then helpless. Zhu Shenzhui not only found a suitable reason, but also resolved the issue of the emperor taking a concubine that had been under debate for many days, leaving them speechless.

The so-called three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines of the Ming imperial family are of course nonsense. The emperor has limited energy, how can he take care of so many women? There are dozens of women in the harem. Even if the emperor only visits one every day, it will take two and a half months. The emperor is not a mule, but a human being. No one can stand this.

The Ming Dynasty's harem system was established as early as the Zhu Yuanzhang period. According to the system set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor's harem consisted of one empress and one imperial concubine. These two were the most honorable in the Ming Dynasty's harem, with the empress being the principal and the imperial concubine being the deputy. However, the rank of imperial concubine was rarely set up. The first imperial concubine in the entire Ming Dynasty was Wan Zhen'er during the reign of Emperor Xianzong. That was because Emperor Xianzong originally wanted to make Wan Zhen'er the empress but was strongly opposed by all officials. He had no choice but to give her the title of imperial concubine as a concession.

Apart from the empress and the imperial concubine, the next concubines below her were the noble concubine, the virtuous concubine, the virtuous concubine, the virtuous concubine, the respectful concubine, the wise concubine, the shun concubine, the Kang concubine, the Ning concubine, etc. After that came the concubines and palace maids of the rank below concubines.

Generally speaking, the Ming emperors did not have many concubines, with only a few at the least and no more than ten at the most. The so-called seventy-two concubines were just a rumor and did not conform to the facts at all.

Zhu Shenzhui cut the Gordian knot, catching everyone off guard, and taking a Mongolian woman as his concubine was beyond everyone's expectation. For a while, the civil service group and the noble group were at a loss, not knowing how to proceed with the matter. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui announced something. He told everyone that since Narentuoya had been taken as a concubine for the sake of state affairs, it was a bit inappropriate to take only one Mongolian woman. Considering everyone's advice and good intentions, and for the continuation of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shenzhui decided to take two more women as concubines. These two women will be selected from the women recommended by the civil service group and the noble group. One each, in this way, everyone will not fight over who will be the concubine, and the bowl of water will be evenly balanced, and no one will suffer.

Faced with this result, the civil service group and the noble group were helpless. Zhu Shenzhui's move hit their soft spot directly. If they opposed it, the other side would certainly agree. Moreover, the emperor was not allowed to take concubines without limit. Generally speaking, taking one or two concubines at a time was normal, and taking three at once was the limit. Since you have used the reason that there was no one in the emperor's harem except the empress, and let the emperor take concubines under the banner of the stability of the Ming Dynasty and the prosperity of his offspring, now that the emperor has taken a concubine, it would be a great respect to select one each from the civil service group and the noble group to include in the harem. If you continue to argue about this matter, it would be a bit too much. The other party would refute it with this reason without the emperor having to take any action.

In desperation, both sides could only agree, and the two sides who had been fighting for many days over the issue of taking concubines stopped fighting. Thus, Zhu Shenzhu achieved his goal, completely solved the problem and balanced the two sides. In the end, he took a girl with a clean family background from the civil service group as Huifei, and took the younger sister of Chang Yanling, the Marquis of Huaiyuan, as Shufei.

Let's not talk about Concubine Hui for now. Her family background is very simple. Her father is just an ordinary man with a low official position of only sixth rank. Although he is a genuine Jinshi, his family is not a noble family, let alone a local powerful family. Although her father has daily contacts with the Donglin Party and his political views tend to be towards the Donglin Party, it can't be said that he is a member of the Donglin Party. At best, he is just a junior official who leans towards the Donglin Party. Moreover, according to the investigation of the Jinyiwei, he is an upright person. His daughter has a good family education, has read books and can read. Although she is not as talented as Xu Jingqiu, she is also considered to be both talented and beautiful among women.

But it was different for the younger sister of Chang Yanling, Marquis of Huaiyuan. The lineage of Marquis of Huaiyuan was not simple. The ancestor of Marquis of Huaiyuan was Chang Sheng, the second son of Chang Yuchun, King of Kaiping. After Chang Yuchun's death, the title was originally inherited by Chang Mao, but because Chang Mao was convicted, in the 21st year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang let his brother Chang Sheng inherit Chang Yuchun's title instead of Chang Mao, and changed it to hereditary founding duke.

But later, Chang Sheng was unlucky enough to be involved in the Lan Yu case, which implicated more than 15,000 people. The Chang family was originally related to Lan Yu. In addition, the crown prince Zhu Yunwen at that time was not the son of the original crown princess Chang. In order to ensure that Zhu Yunwen would succeed to the throne smoothly, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his butcher knife and killed many people. Chang Sheng, who had just inherited the title, also died in this major case.

After Chang Sheng's death, although his family was not destroyed, his title was lost. Chang Sheng's seven-year-old son Chang Jizu was settled in Yunnan by the court and was taken care of by the Mu family. It was not until the reign of Emperor Xiaozong that the descendants of the Chang family were recalled to the capital. At this time, Chang Jizu's grandson Chang Fu was already alive. In recognition of his grandfather's merits, Emperor Xiaozong gave Chang Fu a hereditary title of commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. This position did not have any real power and was merely a nominal position. Moreover, Emperor Xiaozong did not restore the Chang family's title.

It was not until the reign of Emperor Shizong, in the 11th year of Jiajing, that Chang Fu's great-grandson Chang Xuanzhen was given the title of Marquis of Huaiyuan. The title of Marquis of Huaiyuan was passed down from then on. Previously, the Marquis of Huaiyuan was Chang Yanling's father Chang Yinxu. Chang Yinxu died of illness more than a year ago, and his son Chang Yanling inherited the title and took charge of the Nanjing Military Headquarters.

Although the Chang family had fallen into decline, they were still descendants of the founding heroes, descendants of the famous Chang Yuchun. Their status among the nobles was not low, but they lost their title due to the involvement in the Lan Yu case, and it was only a hundred years later that they regained the hereditary title of Huaiyuan Hou.

Although Chang Yanling was the Marquis of Huaiyuan and the commander of the Nanjing Military Office, he had no real power. The so-called commander of the Nanjing Military Office did not mean the supreme commander of the Nanjing army. You should know that the military power of Nanjing was in the hands of the Nanjing Military Department and the local guards. The commander of the Nanjing Military Office was just a position of the Five Military Commander's Office. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's system, the Left Military Commander's Office originally governed Yingtian, Liaodong, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but now it has long lost the power to command troops. Therefore, although this official rank is not low, it is also a nominal position. In other words, it is an official position for the retirement of meritorious officials.

But even so, Chang Yanling is still a member of the top noble family in the Ming Dynasty. He is the current Marquis of Huaiyuan and has considerable influence in the noble group. Moreover, the families in the noble group have been intermarrying for generations, and everyone is connected by blood. If you really count, they are all relatives.

Taking the sister of Marquis Huaiyuan as a concubine was a move to win over the nobles. Zhu Shenzhu chose the family of Marquis Huaiyuan because of his ancestors and because of Marquis Huaiyuan Chang Yanling.

It was a memorial that Chang Yanling had submitted to Zhu Shenzhui before. This memorial was submitted when Chang Yanling had just inherited the title of Marquis of Huaiyuan. Although Chang Yanling was a noble, he was a rare sober person among the nobles. He submitted a memorial to express his gratitude at the beginning of inheriting the title. At the same time, he wrote twelve proposals on current affairs in the memorial. These proposals all hit the nail on the head. Although he did not propose specific measures to change them, his talent can be seen from this.

Since that time, Chang Yanling has caught Zhu Shenzhu's attention, and he has been planning to use him someday. Although Zhu Shenzhu had long planned to support the nobles to form a balance with the civil service group, he did so in the past two years. He not only changed the generals of the Han Dynasty into imperial guards, recruited the sons of the nobles as guards, opened a way for them to advance, but also took advantage of the reform of the Beijing camp to expand the new army, and opened up a path for the sons of the nobles to join the army and command the troops.

But it takes time to achieve results, it is a long process. Moreover, there are not many promising children among the nobles, and it is just a stretch to pick the tallest among the short ones. Maybe after ten or twenty years, when the older generation gradually grows up, this situation will change completely.

(End of this chapter)