Xie Ming

Chapter 415: The System of Selecting Concubines
On July 27, three days after the palace meeting, Zhu Cilang's cough and asthma still showed no obvious improvement!
Inside the Daming Palace, during the court meeting, the officials had another request!
It is said that Your Majesty has been in mourning for 27 days and it is over. In order to consolidate the foundation of the country and benefit the country, and at this time of quelling the rebellion and to prolong the succession of the Ming Dynasty, you should obey the will of heaven, win the hearts of the people, choose an auspicious day as soon as possible, hold the wedding, and enthrone the empress. The six palaces are vacant and cannot be delayed any longer!
Zhu Cilang initially felt disdainful of this and rejected the request several times in a row!
However, due to internal and external difficulties, the advice of the censors and the upright officials is mostly based on the examples that can calm people's hearts and stabilize the country!
After another two days of tug-of-war between the emperor and his ministers, Zhu Cilang finally gave in!

At this point, more than a month after the establishment of the Hongguang Dynasty, the selection of empresses and concubines was officially brought to the forefront. There was a lot of clamor and debate in the court and the public, and it was quite a commotion!

If we want to explain why the appointment of the queen and concubines caused controversy in the court and the country, we have to say a few more words and explain in detail this unique system of selecting the queen and concubines since the Ming Dynasty!
As everyone knows, when the Ming Dynasty was first established, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was a typical commoner emperor!

So after the Ming Dynasty was officially established, during the Hongwu period, Taizu set the rules!
All the wives, consorts, and imperial concubines of the emperor and princes shall be carefully selected from good families, and those who are not good will not be accepted.

And this is the famous Ming-style selection rule in history!

So, when it comes to specific matters, how do we choose?
In the 14th year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang also gave a clear selection method!
That is: "All women in the common people, aged 13 and above and under 19, and women aged 30 and above and under 40, who are unmarried, and who are willing to enter the palace as servants, will be given money as travel expenses and sent to the capital."

The meaning is that unmarried women are selected as candidates for the harem, while married women are selected as the six ladies (female officials in the harem)!

Actually!

This method of selecting concubines from the people was not originally invented by Zhu Yuanzhang!
This kind of practice actually existed during the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties!

However, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's method of folk selection was inconsistent with that of previous dynasties and was not in line with the trend.

The scope of selection for concubines was uniquely limited to low-ranking officials, military households and even civilian families.

Therefore, there is a comment in the History of Ming Dynasty that "except Empress Wen, most of the women came from Confucian families to enter the imperial court." This is exactly the case!
From this we can see that even the Empress, who was the mother of the country, came from ordinary families, let alone concubines? !

Therefore, you can see that throughout the Ming Dynasty, almost all the people in the harem were not of any noble or powerful status!
The only exception is Empress Xu of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di. She was the eldest daughter of Xu Da, a famous general who founded the dynasty. However, it can only be attributed to accidental events!

And if we talk about it, why did the Ming court choose it this way? !

This is all thanks to Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who successfully learned the lesson of the Yuan Dynasty where "palace concubines had secret dealings with foreign officials, and wives of ministers also had visits to the palace"!

You know, in the late Yuan Dynasty, the concubines' interference in government affairs happened frequently and was very serious!

Therefore, in order to curb this hidden danger, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to choose concubines from commoner families. This would prevent the concubines' maternal families from becoming too powerful, leading to political chaos and national disasters!
And in fact, everyone can see the effectiveness!
This method of selecting concubines has indeed benefited the Ming court for at least a hundred years!

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there was never a case of empresses interfering in state affairs, let alone the monopoly of power by foreign relatives as in the Han Dynasty.

Not only that, the Ming court was a dynasty where virtuous empresses were produced frequently!

Empress Ma of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Qian of Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty, Empress Wang of Emperor Shenzong of Ming Dynasty, Empress Zhang of Emperor Xizong of Ming Dynasty, and even Empress Zhou of Emperor Chongzhen, were all known for their integrity and deep sense of justice!

Yu Shenxing of the Ming Dynasty also commented in "Gushan Bishu": "Most of the empresses and concubines in this dynasty come from the common people, and no meritorious relatives or ministers are allowed to be appointed. This is due to the situation and is beneficial to the country."

This is evident!
Then, what are the specific selection criteria and requirements for the selection of the empress and concubines? !
In fact, the system for selecting concubines in the Ming Dynasty was quite strict and standardized!

The listed processes can be roughly divided into “eight levels”!
In this way, the shortlisted candidates will be screened and eliminated step by step!
Level 1: Auditions!
When the emperor reached marriageable age, eunuchs would be sent to all parts of the country to select beautiful women from good families between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, and five thousand would be selected from them.

Afterwards, the royal family paid a certain amount of money as betrothal money and travel expenses, and ordered the parents of the selected girl to send her daughter to the capital for selection within the specified time limit.
After all those who have been selected have gathered in Kyoto, the eunuchs will sort them by age, rank the girls one by one, and examine them one by one, eliminating those who are slightly taller, shorter, fatter, or thinner!

During the primary selection process, at least a thousand people will be eliminated!

Level 3: Check!
After the preliminary selection, the women who passed the selection had to continue lining up the next day. The eunuchs would use very picky standards to carefully examine each woman's facial features, hair, skin, etc., and of course the "three measurements". If any one item did not meet the requirements, she would be asked to "stand aside".

Afterwards, each person introduced their family background, name, and age to test their voice and manners, and those with hoarse voices, unclear speech, and unrefined manners were eliminated.

At this point, another batch will be cut.

Level 4: Featured!
The selection was made by measuring the girls' hands and feet with a ruler, and then having them walk a few dozen steps to observe their gait and grace.

Therefore, those with big feet, thick wrists, and improper behavior were eliminated.

In the end, a thousand beauties were summoned into the palace as a precaution.

Level 5: Stay in the palace!

When it came to this, the eunuch finished his inspection and began to arrange for the old palace maids to take the beauties to the secret room one by one, "to feel their breasts, smell their armpits, and touch their skin texture" for physical examinations, and determined that 300 of them would be selected as the maids to stay in the palace.

Level Six: Promotion to Concubine!

These 300 beauties who stay in the palace will be observed in detail for a month by commissioners specially appointed by the emperor, who will judge whether they are gentle and kind, and whether they are wise and virtuous based on their temperament and words.

Based on this, another 250 people were screened out, and the remaining 50 were automatically promoted to concubines.

Level 7: Choose three!

At this point, the Empress Dowager or the Consort Dowager had to come forward and select three from the fifty people for the Emperor to choose.

This is similar to the "first and third place" notice posted after the imperial examination.

Take the selection of the empress by Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty as an example. At that time, the Dowager Concubine Liu personally summoned fifty people, "talked with them, and tested their calligraphy, arithmetic, poetry, painting and other arts." Later, three people were selected, namely Empress Zhang Yan, Imperial Concubine Wang and Imperial Concubine Duan!
It is the actual record of this stage!

Level 8, final level: Imperially appointed!
Just like during the time of Emperor Xizong, Concubine Liu first told the emperor about the beauty of Zhang Yan and the other three, and then Emperor Xizong personally summoned the three to interview them directly.

When Xizong saw the three extremely beautiful women, he was really in a dilemma and could not make up his mind, so he asked Zhao Xuanshi to make the decision. Zhao suggested choosing Zhang Yan, so Zhang Yan was appointed as the Empress of the Central Palace, Wang was named Liang Fei, and Duan was named Chun Fei. That year, Zhang Yan was 15 years old.

Generally, the other two beauties who were selected along with the others after the "selection of three" would also be given the title of imperial concubines, and of course some were also given gold and sent home.

For example, when Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty was the crown prince, he was choosing a crown princess. Liu Dagu and the Guo sisters entered the final round of competition. The eldest sister of the Guo family was chosen as the crown princess, while her younger sister and Liu Dagu lost the election and were given gold to return home.

(End of this chapter)