Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 833: Goryeo Tribute Girl
Goryeo tribute girl?
Zhang Shou wanted to check the almanac to confirm whether it was the Yongren and Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty. Because as far as he knew, that period was the period when Goryeo tribute girls were most frequent. Throughout the Ming Dynasty harem, there were many Goryeo concubines represented by Consort Quanxian, and even two Goryeo sisters entered the palace, and then they were unlucky enough to encounter the emperor's death and were forced to be buried alive.
On the one hand, the Age of Exploration had already begun, and a lot of Latin Western documents were brought back from overseas, probably including a lot of science books, while on the other hand, the imperial court issued an edict to Goryeo, asking them to send Goryeo's huge amount of gold as tribute? It felt like two completely incompatible styles were mixed together, so much so that Zhang Shou, who had clearly met the Goryeo delegation today, was a little shocked.
After a long while, he finally noticed that Zhu Ying's expression seemed a little strange. After a moment's hesitation, he asked , "Why? Could it be that this so-called imperial edict... is actually problematic?"
"Of course there is a problem!" Zhu Ying was so angry that her eyebrows were raised. "Goryeo has beautiful women. Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Sejong really liked them in the past, so they often issued edicts to request tribute girls from Goryeo, but only one or two of them were made concubines, and the others died in the palace with only a low-level title, or even no title. But since Emperor Yingzong, they have stopped doing this! Emperor Ruizong also said..."
Speaking of Emperor Ruizong, who might be her grandfather, Zhu Ying seemed full of energy and spirit: "Emperor Ruizong said that it is fine to choose concubines from the countrymen, because they can still have the opportunity to see their families in the future. But if they are foreign women, their families will be separated forever and will never see each other again. So, why do such a sin? Besides, it's not like we don't have beauties in the Ming Dynasty!"
She paused and said unhappily, "This is what the emperor told me, so the emperor would definitely not issue such an order! So I'm wondering, what went wrong? Why did Goryeo suddenly obey the order to send a tribute girl again?"
Zhang Shou thought of the scene when he met Zheshanjun on the way into the city. He also seemed to have seen a few inconspicuous black oil carriages, the kind that ordinary people and even businessmen often ride in. He had thought that these carriages were carrying tributes, but now he thought that this might not be the case.
Sure enough, the next moment he heard Zhu Ying say, "Moreover, the Goryeo royal family is very afraid of death. Because the sea route is prone to capsizing, they usually bring tribute all the way to Tianjin. If something happens, they will cry and wail, and the court will not care because of their obedience. They themselves travel by land, which is farther and harder, but at least it is safe."
"Besides, the wealth is all on the sea, and these people don't have much money. In addition, there are always 100 to 200 people escorting along the way, so there is no need to worry about encountering bandits. These guys are as shrewd as ghosts. In the past, in order to sell their Korean ginseng at a high price, they also spread the word that their Korean ginseng is more effective than the ginseng from Liaodong!"
It was originally a serious topic, but it went completely off track. Zhang Shou didn't care. He thought it was just a joke behind the back. Did it have to be elevated to the level of discussing state affairs?
Fortunately, Zhu Ying realized that she had gone off topic while she was talking, and immediately coughed and turned back to the original topic: "If I hadn't happened to meet the people from the Ministry of Hosts and Guests taking the Korean envoys to the South Pavilion, and one of the carriages suddenly fell apart on the spot, and three girls fell out of it, and they were holding a long dress on their heads in a panic."
"This custom of seeing ghosts is only practiced by the so-called noble women of Goryeo, so of course I went straight to ask. When I heard the word 'tribute girl', I knew something was wrong, and I immediately went to the palace to ask the emperor about it. But when I arrived at Donghua Gate, I heard that you had taken the fourth prince to Ciqing Palace. After thinking it over, I decided to wait for you to come over first."
"If the emperor is in a good mood, since I have seen it, I will do a good deed and go to the palace to report the matter. If he is in a bad mood, forget it. Anyway, the people from the Guest and Guest Department will report it later, so I won't take the blame for them!"
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned, and then he noticed that the carriage had not moved since he got on it! He couldn't help but laugh, and shrugged his shoulders and said, "The emperor should be in a good mood after meeting the fourth prince, but he randomly arranged a match and urged Zhang Chen to go to the Ye family to propose marriage. I sent Zhang Chen away with a few words, and then said something a little too much, which seemed to have angered the emperor."
Zhu Ying couldn't help but widen her eyes slightly. The next moment, she immediately drew up the curtains and said, "Ah Liu, give the order. Let's go home first!"
Even if it was her, she would never rush into the palace when her husband might anger the emperor. Wouldn't that be offering him a chance to vent his anger? However, she was very curious about how Zhang Shou had angered the emperor again, so although she endured it on the way, as soon as she returned to Zhang Garden, she took Zhang Shou all the way to the study and asked him in detail.
When she heard that Zhang Shou had instigated Zhang Chen to make his feelings known to Ye, and even agreed that they could divorce in the future, even she, who was carefree and indifferent to everything, could not help but be dumbfounded. Especially when she heard that Zhang Shou's claim of covering up the truth was not an innuendo, she could not help but laugh out loud after being stunned for a moment.
"Ah Shou, you are so frank!"
"It's just fake frankness. If I were really frank, I would say that marriage is free. If love fades one day, then you can just break it off. The man can marry someone else, and the woman can marry someone else." Zhang Shou laughed, then gradually put away his smile and said lightly, "It's just talk. If it happens to others, then you can do whatever you want. But if it happens to you..."
"That's probably the pain of a broken heart. So, although I don't agree with couples like Liang Hong and Meng Guang, there is a saying that love is always heartless. When love is deep, it is like dying and living, but when love is strong, it turns weak. How many couples who once loved each other eventually broke up? Therefore, since ancient times, there have only been virtuous queens, but no loyal emperors. This is the reason."
"What was once lovely and adorable, becomes willful and ignorant when love fades; what was once innocent and straightforward, becomes pretentious when love fades; what was once a tacit understanding, becomes the same bed with different dreams when love fades."
Zhang Shou said this with deep emotion. Seeing Zhu Ying's subtle expression, he smiled and said, "So, what you said to me at the beginning, even if I was ruthlessly abandoned, I should not be ashamed... Actually, I want to say something else. If one day you think that I am gray-haired and wrinkled, but still speak hatefully and have a weird personality and criticize you , or even others, then don't hesitate, divorce me immediately!"
"Pfft, pfft!" Zhu Ying was feeling sad, but Zhang Shou's last self-deprecating remark succeeded in making her laugh. So, she completely forgot to send someone to find out what happened to Zhang Chen and Ye, and also forgot to find out what kind of chaotic situation would happen after the news of the Goryeo tribute girl spread to the palace.
She just felt that although Zhang Shou was the same age as her, he seemed to have experienced more than others, so he could always say things that no one else could say.
Zhang Shou casually gave the emperor a huge incentive and then slipped away. Thanks to the company of his two sons, the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince, the emperor finally recovered his mood. Then he took the Fourth Prince, who had just returned to the palace, to Yonghe Palace to visit the Fifth Prince.
Seeing that the Fourth Prince was very surprised when he saw his baby brother, he also stretched out his fingers and poked the boy's face like the Third Prince, and poked him again and again, making him cry and still enjoying it. Finally, he couldn't help but stretched out his hands to carry the boy away, and scolded with a smile: "A brother should act like a brother, at least let people call him Mr. Zheng!"
The fourth prince's eyes widened slightly, and then he realized that his father was worried about him being away, so there must be someone nearby to protect him. He smiled awkwardly, then rolled his eyes and made an excuse that he wanted to go and congratulate the imperial concubine on the birth of her son, but the emperor laughed at him.
"When your mother gave birth to you, she also had to stay in confinement. Now the imperial concubine is the same. I can't even see her, let alone you?"
The Fourth Prince knew that he could not escape, so he honestly promised to be a good brother and set a good role model in the future. During this time, he could not help but look at the Third Prince a few more times, as if he was blaming him for not speaking up for him.
The third prince had a silly smile on his face, fearing that the emperor would remember the first time he met his younger brother, and his movements were exactly the same as the fourth prince's at this moment. Such a small child is so fun, he has never experienced it before!
The father and his two sons met the fifth prince in Yonghe Palace. They almost made him cry, so they quickly sent him to the wet nurse to feed him, and then they came out together. At this time, the emperor sent the fourth prince to Concubine Jiang's Changshou Palace, but when he saw the mother and son hugging each other and crying with joy, he quietly left with the third prince.
Of course, he personally sent the third prince to his biological mother and concubine, the Imperial Noble Consort, but he himself did not stay, but went straight back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Since the abolition of the empress, he rarely stayed in the harem, but slept alone in the Palace of Heavenly Purity more and more, so Chen Yongshou was of course very accustomed to him coming back alone.
As for indirectly reminding the emperor to spend the night with a concubine, that was of course completely impossible. Even the empress dowager didn't care about the emperor's affairs, so why would he, a manager, bother with such empty talk? The emperor now had three sons!
It was still early, so the emperor had to look through the draft documents sent by the cabinet. He was not a hardworking man like Qin Shihuang, so he could not really read every one of them carefully. If he did that, he would probably have to cut down on his sleeping time besides his three meals a day. Therefore, he first glanced at the summary compiled by the Imperial Household Department, and then began to look at the draft documents.
In fact, it is just a quick glance, a circle drawn in red, and in most cases it is just glanced over without any rejection at all.
However, when he scanned one of the memorials and saw the words "Goryeo envoys", he originally thought it was no big deal and was going to skip it, but then he saw that the draft specifically asked when the edict was issued and where the tribute girls came from, he was stunned.
The emperor suddenly remembered that when he sent the third prince back to the imperial concubine, a female official did mention that this New Year's Day court was the second time the prince attended the court after the winter solstice, and there would be many envoys coming to celebrate the New Year, and the Goryeo envoys came as usual. At that time, he didn't take it to heart at all, but now thinking about it, the reminder was probably the word tribute girl.
The former Concubine He, now the Imperial Noble Concubine, is naturally a person who never argues or makes trouble. However, the female officials around her may have a sense of crisis, so they reminded him subtly, but he didn't hear it at all at that time!
Because he had only just heard about the tribute girl from Goryeo! This was simply a huge joke, neither he nor the cabinet minister who wrote the draft knew when the imperial edict was issued to request the tribute girl from Goryeo!
The furious emperor threw the memorial in his hand and then slammed the table in anger. When Chen Yongshou heard the noise and rushed over, he said word by word: "Go and summon the three great scholars Kong, Wu, and Zhang to the Qianqing Palace and tell them about the Korean envoys. I want to discuss this with them!"
If the emperor summoned them without warning them in advance, even the three respected ministers would be somewhat uneasy. But since the eunuch who delivered the message specifically mentioned that it was about the Korean envoys, the three of them naturally knew what was going on. Therefore, when they arrived at the Qianqing Palace and exchanged greetings, Academician Kong spoke directly.
"Your Majesty , the Korean envoys came to pay tribute this time and claimed to be offering tribute girls. This is simply unbelievable. Even if I have a bad memory, I will not forget what was written in the letter to Korea. Moreover, since the time of Emperor Yingzong, our dynasty has never asked for tribute girls from Korea."
"On the contrary, every year when they exchanged Korean ginseng for various silks and satins, the court usually gave them a fair price, which was already very respectful to them. In my opinion, the newly enthroned King of Goryeo must have felt that his position was unstable, so he sent the noble women in the country to the capital to show his goodwill, but pretended that they were tribute girls. This trend should not be encouraged, and an imperial decree must be issued to severely punish them!"
Seeing that Grand Secretary Kong was so tough, Grand Secretary Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, although the King of Goryeo who ascended the throne before is young and may not be able to convince the people, he should indeed be willing to serve our dynasty respectfully. However, the matter of tribute girls is not a trivial matter. If he pretends to be following the imperial edict, once it is exposed, it will be a serious stain on him as the new king."
"At the very least, I will be slandered by the civil and military officials of the country. At the worst... it may cause unrest in the country and the throne may be in jeopardy. I think that the ruler of a country should not be so stupid."
Academician Kong immediately raised his eyebrows and said, "So what you mean is that someone in our dynasty forged an imperial edict to ask Goryeo to pay tribute? This is ridiculous. Let's not talk about whether there are such traitors in the court. What can the tribute girls from Goryeo do? What's the use? Moreover, if the Goryeo king's false claim to obey the imperial edict is exposed, it will be a stain and may even lead to the loss of his throne. If an official in our dynasty does such a thing, isn't it a serious crime of deceiving the emperor?"
Seeing that Grand Secretary Kong and Zhang Yu were confronting each other, Grand Secretary Wu, who had been silent, finally coughed. However, the first sentence he said stunned both Grand Secretary Kong and Zhang Yu.
"Your Majesty, I think that since this incredible thing has happened, then... could it be a misunderstanding?" Elder Wu blinked and looked at the emperor, then said with a pun, "For example, who is now dead and whose heart skipped a beat, whose mouth trembled, or even whose hand trembled when the imperial edict was being passed on, and so he wrote or said an extra word that didn't exist?"
At that moment, the other three emperors and ministers in the Qianqing Palace looked at each other, and all thought of some absurd possibility.
