Father can be an enemy to the country

Guizhou Xuanwei Department, in the upper room.

Not to mention Mu Ying, even Hu Xian was shocked.

Could it be that His Highness really fell in love with one of those two little widows? Otherwise, how could he have such a weird idea?

"What's your expression?" Zhu Zhen touched his face strangely. "Are there flowers on my face?"

"No, no." Hu Xian shook his head and quickly stepped out of the way. "I'm going to give His Highness some water to soak his feet."

"Brother Wenying, do you think it's inappropriate?" Zhu Zhen asked Mu Yingdao.

"Well, that's a bit..." Mu Ying said humbly: "In normal times, His Highness can arrange whatever he wants. But right now, the army is still waiting for us to clear the way. Should we change to a more realistic candidate?"

"Hahaha, don't worry." Zhu Zhen laughed when he heard this: "Mrs. Shexiang and Mrs. Liu are the most realistic candidates. You think...the leaders have their own agendas. How can we tell who is close to Ming Dynasty at the moment? Who will marry Prince Liang? If we choose someone from the opposite side and we find something is wrong, we will be in trouble if we try to replace him."

"That's true." Mu Ying nodded, he also had the same concerns. "People's hearts are separated from each other. It's useless to show loyalty alone. It takes time to see people's hearts."

"Right, but I don't have such worries when choosing those two widows." Zhu Zhen said seriously: "I think of them as orphans and widowed mothers. If you want to stabilize the situation after taking office, do you have to inherit the legacy of your late husband and embrace it?" To cling to the imperial court’s thighs, the Third Chief is at odds with Prince Liang?”

"Yes." Mu Ying nodded and said, "Only in this way can we be justified."

"Right." Zhu Zhen smiled and took a sip of strong tea.

"But Your Highness, they are women." Mu Ying was still unconvinced: "After observing them in the past few days, I think that the status of women here is not high, and the people who are in charge are men. She is two weak women. How to convince the public?”

"I think it's okay." Zhu Zhen couldn't say that my confidence came from a song. He couldn't explain it clearly. "And I heard that there have been some female chieftains in their history. If there is a precedent, we can follow it."

"That's it..." Mu Ying nodded, but she didn't agree in her heart. The Han people still have Wu Zetian as a precedent, so why have they never seen the female emperor again?

"No matter what, let's talk to them first." Zhu Zhen actually didn't know much. Apart from Mrs. Shexiang, he only knew Qin Liangyu. Naturally, he couldn't name Ding Mao. He had to learn more about the situation before talking about it.

~~

Early the next morning, His Royal Highness the King of Chu got up, played a few sets of boxing in the yard, then went back to the house for a hearty meal, and finally regained his energy.

"Your Highness, that old Bimo wants to see you." At this time, Hu Xian came in to report.

"Forget about looking for him, just ask him to come in." Zhu Zhen put down his rice bowl, rinsed his mouth, and came to the main room to meet his guests.

"Yes." Hu Xian responded and brought in the old Bimo Longzan Anuo.

"How did your Highness sleep last night?" Old Bimo asked with an apologetic smile after saluting.

"Thank you for always thinking about me. I slept soundly." Zhu Zhen said with a smile.

"That's fine, that's fine. You two, Noye, are afraid that your highnesses won't be used to our remote country." Old Bimo added, "It would be rude to neglect our distinguished guest."

"Haha, don't worry. Guizhou is a good place with beautiful mountains and clear waters. I fell in love with it as soon as I came here." Zhu Zhen laughed and said, "Tell the two ladies to get down to business first and don't worry about me."

Seeing that he was so reasonable, Longzan Anuo breathed a sigh of relief, and his smile became more respectful and said: "Your Highness is really considerate, no matter how big the matter is, it is not as important as entertaining the distinguished guests. In fact, the two Noye originally planned to come to greet them in person, but they were worried that they would make a mistake. Since His Highness has taboos, I will order this old man to come first and wait for His Highness to send you."

"What taboo?" Zhu Zhen was stunned.

"A newly widowed woman must be on guard against both men and women." Longzan Anuo is really proficient in Sinology, even the dregs.

"You Shuidong and Shuixi also talk about this?" Zhu Zhen was even more surprised.

"We won't talk about it, but don't the Han people care about this the most?" Longzan Anuo said.

"Hahaha, you have read too many books about the Southern Song Dynasty." Zhu Zhen couldn't help laughing and said: "We really don't care about these."

In the early Ming Dynasty, the custom was inherited from the Meng Yuan Dynasty, and the relationship between men and women was still very unrestrained. It was only later that with the revival of Neo-Confucianism, it became more conservative...that would be decades later.

"That's it." Longzan Anuo smiled sheepishly and thought to himself, "How about I go away and ask them to come?"

Pretending to be confused, he bowed and said, "If Your Highness doesn't mind, I will be with you during this period of time in Guizhou."

"Yes, you are knowledgeable and speak Chinese so well." Zhu Zhen nodded and asked again: "But Old Bimo must be very busy, and you don't have to accompany me all day long."

"I was very busy before, but now I'm free." Longzan Anuo said with a wry smile, "I can stay with you from morning to night all day long."

"What, you retired?" Zhu Zhen pressed his hand and asked him to sit down and chat slowly. "Retirement means becoming an official."

After Lao Bimo thanked his father and sat down, he sighed and said: "We in Shuidong and Shuixi have no official career. No matter what profession we do, we will do it for a lifetime. The reason why I was so busy in the past was because the two Ju Mu relied on me and recommended me to be the official of Xuan Dynasty. To comfort Si Qianshi, I will entrust all matters dealing with the imperial court to the old man."

"Now that the two Ju Mu are gone, I have nothing to do." Longzan Anuo said lonely again.

"The two Ju Mu are gone, but the Xuanwei Division is still there. At this time, you should be even busier, right?" Zhu Zhen asked strangely.

"It's supposed to be like this..." Old Bimo said with a look of embarrassment on his face: "But those Mu Kui gang together removed the old man from his official position."

"They are so courageous. Can they get rid of the fifth rank official appointed by the imperial court?!" Zhu Zhen said displeased: "Have you reported to the imperial court for approval?"

What he said was not making trouble out of nothing, because the Xuanwei Department, Xuanfu Department and the like were administrative agencies specially set up by the imperial court for ethnic minorities. But it does not mean that the court will just leave it alone after it is established, but it must be managed.

The appointment and dismissal of officials was the most important means of management of these chieftains by the imperial court. Although officials such as the Xuanwei envoy and the Xuanfu envoy are hereditary from the local chieftains, a considerable number of the assistant officials such as the deputy envoy Qianshi, the experience, the governor, and the governor are Official appointed by the imperial court.

In terms of status, the second-ranking officer and the chief officer must obey the orders of the superior, so the rank-and-file officials should obey the chieftain. But the system originally designed by Boss Zhu was to use officials to supervise the chieftains, so the chieftains never dared to look down upon these representatives of the imperial court.

Moreover, most native officials are not proficient in Chinese and Chinese characters, and are very unfamiliar with government affairs. Therefore, in actual administration, it is often the floating officials who dominate the operations of the Xuanfu Department and the Xuanwei Department.

Although due to the special role of the Guizhou Xuanwei Department, Zhu Yuanzhang never sent out official officials. Instead, he asked Aicui and Song Qin to recommend the second assistant official and the chief official, who would be appointed by the court.

But this is just an expedient measure to win over Shuidong and Shuixi. In the future, the national policy of soil flow and participation must still be implemented. Otherwise, why would the imperial court still manage Guizhou Xuanwei Division?

These guys are so good, they actually dare to bypass the court and remove the fifth-rank official Zuo Er on their own. If this matter is more serious, it can be considered as conspiracy...

But obviously, we can't follow the old routine this time, because they will really rebel.