I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 8: Royal Palace Official

It is said that the officials in the royal palace and the princes were both imprisoned in the same palace. They share the same suffering and should love each other!
But the fact is that the officials in the royal palace have the power to supervise the princes. To be more precise, the civil officials, military officials and eunuchs in the royal palace all have the power to supervise the princes.

This is an important part of the Ming Dynasty's feudal system.

Moreover, although Zhu Houxuan was a prince, he did not have the power to inspect, administer justice, or appoint personnel to the palace officials. The palace officials were directly responsible to the emperor, and these powers belonged to the emperor. The princes only had the right to make suggestions.

This resulted in the princes having no real power over the officials in the palace, but the officials in the palace were able to monitor the princes and were encouraged to report on and suppress the princes. This resulted in the officials in the palace being nominally subordinates of the princes, but their actual status being above that of the princes, creating a situation where the name did not match the reality.

This also led to the officials in the royal palace often "bullying" the princes.

Therefore, Zhu Houxuan's feeling that Shi Changshi wanted to control him was not groundless. When he was studying the official system of the royal palace some time ago, he found many examples of princes being held hostage by officials in the royal palace.

The most famous of these was that Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji's younger brother, Prince of Liang Zhu Zhanji, was held hostage by Kong Qin, a servant of the Prince of Liang's mansion. Kong Qin was disrespectful to the Prince of Liang and often cursed him. Once, Kong Qin kicked down the Hu bed that the Prince of Liang was sitting on, causing the Prince of Liang to fall directly to the ground. The Prince of Liang was so humiliated that he did not think of resisting. Instead, he became more and more angry and wanted to commit suicide with a knife.

Xuanzong soon learned that his younger brother was going to commit suicide with a knife. He was furious and ordered his men to arrest Kong Qin.

What is dramatic is that King Liang later petitioned for pardon for Kong Qin's crime, which shows how King Liang was PUA'd.

This made Xuanzong very angry, but he finally insisted on punishing Kong Qin.

The current emperor's own brother was bullied like this by the officials in the palace, which shows how perverted the Ming Dynasty's feudal system was.

When Zhu Houxuan read this story, he almost thought it was fabricated. It was simply too unbelievable, but when he thought about it carefully, it made sense.

Because each prince was born in the deep palace, raised by women, and their mothers came from civilian families, they had very limited knowledge, and were confined to a mansion during their growth. They only learned to enjoy themselves, had no experience, and had no social experience. In today's words, they are a group of "naive people". It is not impossible for them to be PUA-ed and controlled by the officials in the palace.

Just when Zhu Houxuan was lost in thought, Jin Tong, who was kneeling on the ground beside him, crawled to him on his knees.

"Your Highness, please have mercy and let us go back. We are all rough people. There are many rules in this mansion. We always cause trouble for Your Highness in this mansion. Why don't you let us go back!" After saying this, Jin Tong kowtowed hard.

Several of his disciples also knelt behind him and kowtowed.

"Master Jin, don't panic. Just stay in the mansion with peace of mind. I will need Master Jin and several of his disciples' help in many places in the future. I have also sent people to invite other masters from Daye Iron Mine. Master Jin will definitely not be alone then. As for Shi Changshi, who do you think is the most powerful person in such a big mansion?" Zhu Houxuan said gently.

"Who is the biggest?" Jin Tong murmured, and for a moment he couldn't answer.

His disciple Wang Xiaowu was anxious and whispered behind him: "The prince is definitely the greatest, it's all said in the opera."

Wang Xiaowu's little action amused Zhu Houxuan, "Look, even your apprentice knows about it, so you should just stay in the mansion. I will definitely protect you."

"Then I'll listen to the prince." Zhu Houxuan's words made Jin Tong feel a lot more at ease.

"Rest today, I'll come back tomorrow to work with you!" Zhu Houxuan said this and then left, leaving Master Jin Tong and his apprentice in shock. Hou Sen quickly followed Zhu Houxuan's footsteps, "Your Highness, the sedan chair is right behind us, why don't you take it back?"

Zhu Houxuan didn't even look at the sedan chair, "No need, let's just walk back. I need to exercise my body."

"Slave, you obey!"

"Hou Banban, I'm sorry to have implicated you today, but I'm now a prince of the Ming Dynasty, and I will definitely protect you in the future. The incident where you got beaten for me when you were studying as a child will never happen again." Zhu Houxuan said in a low voice.

He integrated the original owner's unremarkable memories of more than ten years, and knew that Hou Sen, as his study partner, had been beaten for him when he made mistakes while studying as a child.

"I didn't expect that Your Highness still remembered this. I will serve you loyally." Hou Sen said with emotion on his face. He really felt that the prince was different from before.

"Okay, I just happen to have a few things for you to do. Go to Daye Iron Mine and hire a few masters who are good at iron smelting. Then go find a few skilled carpenters. Also, pay attention to any skilled craftsmen in Qizhou City."

"Go find a craftsman!" Hou Sen suddenly turned bitter.
In fact, Zhu Houxuan had anticipated what would happen today, but he didn't expect that this day would come so early. However, there was nothing he could do. Technology and craftsmanship require solid research to make progress, and during this period he would have to work with the craftsmen.

The status of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty was still relatively low, and it would definitely cause discussion from all sides if a prince of such a noble status as him stayed with craftsmen all day.
On the other side, after Shi Changshi left Gongzheng Institute, he thought all the way and was extremely angry about his performance just now.

"I was actually intimidated by a young boy." Shi Changshi thought angrily in his heart.

"Brother Shi, why did you come back just now? Come and have a drink with me!"

Shi Changshi suddenly realized that he had unknowingly returned to the Changshi Office, which was where he usually worked and rested. Zhan Bin, the right Changshi of the Jingwang Mansion, was sticking his head out of the side room and shaking the wine jug in his hand at him. On the table in front of him were several dishes of side dishes.

"That's what I wish for, but I dare not ask for it." Shi Changshi adjusted his expression, restrained his emotions and said.

After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere between the two became heated.

Shi Changshi's eyes casually swept across the room and suddenly found several collections of essays on the table beside him. He picked them up and took a look, and found that they were all collections of model essays for the imperial examinations.

"Brother Zhan, why do you suddenly start to delve into the art of writing eight-legged essays? Are you preparing to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination?" Shi Changshi asked, shaking the collection of essays in his hand.

"I am already over 40 years old, and my body can't stand the hard work. Besides, I have long abandoned my eight-part essays. These collections of model essays are prepared for my nephews and nieces. You know my family lives in the wild land of Guizhou, and it is difficult to buy these collections."

"Besides, as a juren, I can achieve the fifth rank. When I retire in old age, I can probably be promoted one level. In this lifetime, I can achieve the fourth rank. What else can I be dissatisfied with?" Zhan Bin took a sip of wine and said very open-mindedly.

Upon hearing this, Shi Changshi remained silent and drank a glass of wine. He felt extremely bitter from his mouth to his heart.

(End of this chapter)