Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

"But words are not enough; their bodies must be inspected before they can be officially registered."

"Very well, Official Zhang, please proceed."

After receiving Zhang Wenshao's permission, Zhang Cai nodded slightly to a female official in her thirties behind him.

"Madam Sun, I'm troubling you."

Madam Sun nodded, unsmiling: "We are all serving His Majesty; there's no trouble to speak of."

Each team sent to select potential concubines from the people had a female official from the Palace of Gathering Beauty accompanying them, precisely to verify the women's purity.

The imperial selection was a matter of utmost importance, and no woman who had lost her virginity could be allowed to enter the palace.

Otherwise, the entire selection team would face execution.

Madam Sun was particularly experienced in this matter, with extremely discerning eyes.

Just by observing the way a woman walked and her usual movements, she could determine if she was still a maiden.

Madam Sun had been standing aside, observing these eight women.

She could tell at a glance that all eight women were virgins.

However, the selection could not have any negligence, so Madam Sun still led the eight women into a secret room.

After completing the inspection according to the procedure, she confidently gave her conclusion.

"Official Zhang, the governor is right; these eight are all virgins."

"Excellent, excellent!"

Zhang Cai smiled, clapped his hands, and immediately ordered people to register the eight women.

"Do you all have names?" the official in charge of registration asked.

"Yes, we do."

"Gu Hengbo, Dong Xiaowan, Bian Yujing, Li Xiangjun, Kou Baimen, Ma Xianglan, Liu Rushi, Chen Yuanyuan."

The eight women spoke timidly.

Zhang Wenshao was overjoyed to see that the 'slender horses' he had carefully cultivated had indeed been successfully selected.

"Official Zhang, today this official is hosting a banquet; please do me the honor of attending."

"Haha, easy to say, easy to say."

Zhang Cai was also extremely excited, but his excitement was not because Zhu You樘 had selected eight concubines with both beauty and talent.

But because he had found eight beautiful concubines for himself.

From the moment Zhang Cai saw these eight beauties, he was deeply attracted to them.

Where had he ever seen such beautiful and gentle women?

Immediately, a bold idea arose in his mind.

That was to secretly keep the selected women!

Of course, secretly keeping the selected women was a capital crime, but the risk of being discovered was actually very low.

In previous selections, officials often secretly hid the selected women in their own residences.

Then they would report a death from illness or an escape.

Or simply erase the women's names from the register, and no one would know.

Ji Gang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard during the Yongle reign, had done this before.

In the fifth year of Yongle, Emperor Taizong ordered the nationwide selection of concubines, and Ji Gang secretly kept the women selected for Emperor Taizong.

This matter was not revealed until the fourteenth year of Yongle when Ji Gang was executed by Emperor Taizong for treason.

It can be seen that the risk of being discovered for secretly keeping the selected women was actually not high.

It should be known that the Ming Dynasty imperial palace's nationwide selection of concubines selected more than five thousand women at a time.

And only about fifty women could successfully stay in the harem.

Among these fifty women, no more than ten would actually become the emperor's women.

Most of the remaining women would only become ordinary palace maids.

In that case, why couldn't Zhang Cai benefit from it?

Zhang Cai was not very interested in silver, but he loved beautiful women.

Zhang Cai felt that the beauty of these eight Yangzhou 'slender horses' was worth him taking the risk!

The same selection scenes were also taking place in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

The local governors, merchants, gentry, and nobles all showed their abilities and racked their brains to send their own women into the palace.

And the real target of the selection, the good women from ordinary families, were unwilling to send their own women into the palace.

The entire selection process was not very smooth, but it was still proceeding in an orderly manner.

But what they didn't know was that since Zhu You樘 started the nationwide selection of concubines.

Each selection team had Embroidered Uniform Guard members secretly monitoring them!

Anyone who tried to play tricks or make small moves in the selection would not succeed, and would only bring disaster to themselves and their families!

...

Five days later.

The capital.

In the middle of the night, officials were already dressed neatly and leaving their homes to go to the imperial palace to attend court.

Those with sedan chairs took sedan chairs, and those without walked. Before dawn, most of the officials had arrived at the waiting room.

Xie Qian saw Li Dongyang and quickly greeted him: "Binzhi, how have you been lately?"

Li Dongyang knew what Xie Qian was asking and sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm doing well, but I can't sleep a bit."

"As soon as I close my eyes, I seem to hear someone crying and begging for mercy in my ear."

Xie Qian and Li Dongyang smiled at each other, their mouths full of bitterness.

The West Depot had been like crazy for the past five days.

Constantly confiscating homes day and night, making officials tremble with fear and the people applaud.

And Zhu You樘 also specifically issued an order to suspend court for five days.

This made the officials both happy and scared.

Happy that they didn't have to face the emperor in court, with Zhu You樘's capricious nature and tendency to confiscate homes at the drop of a hat.

They were really afraid that they would have the life to attend court but not the life to leave.

They were also afraid that they didn't have to face the emperor in court. Since the eunuchs and palace maids in the imperial palace had undergone a major cleansing, they couldn't get any information from the harem.

They didn't know when Zhu You樘 would be unhappy and launch another major cleansing that would affect hundreds of officials.

Then they wouldn't even know how they died.

The civil and military officials in the capital were all suffering in silence.

I don't know why, but being an official in the Ming Dynasty has become a high-risk profession with one's head hanging on one's belt.

At a quarter past dawn, the gates of the imperial palace opened, and the civil and military officials entered the imperial palace in an orderly manner.

Three sounds of the whip rang out, and the officials stepped over the Jinshui Bridge and found their respective positions on the Fengtian Hall Square.

They stood with their hands hanging down and their waists bent, respectfully waiting for the Ming Emperor Zhu You樘 to attend court.

Qianqing Palace.

Zhu You樘 had already put on his court clothes, put on his winged hat, and was sitting on the dragon chair, looking through the inventory brought by Wang Zhi.

"Good, really good."

"My beloved ministers are really all good officials."

Zhu You樘 slammed the inventory in his hand to the ground.

"A mere one hundred and seventy-six officials can actually confiscate one million eight hundred thousand taels of silver for me!"

"And two hundred and seventy thousand mu of farmland in various places, and three hundred boxes of other antiques, calligraphy, gold, silver, and jewelry!"

"My Ming Dynasty has really raised a group of good officials!"

Wang Zhi bent down to pick up the account book and stood respectfully by the side.

Huai En held a warm fish soup and whispered to comfort him: "Your Majesty, please calm down and don't let these dog officials ruin your dragon body."

"Your Majesty, have some fish soup, it's still hot."

"I won't eat it!"

Zhu You樘 waved his hand and turned to look at Wang Zhi and Mu Bin.

"Have the family members of Ma Wensheng and Qiu Yue been brought to the capital?"

Wang Zhi lowered his head slightly: "Your Majesty, the Ma family of Junzhou, all three clans, have all been imprisoned in the West Depot Prison."

Mu Bin cupped his hands and saluted: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Qiu family of Pingliang, all nine clans, have all been imprisoned in the Embroidered Uniform Guard Prison."

"Good, bring Ma Wensheng, Qiu Yue, and their family members to the court!"

"And bring all one hundred and seventy-six officials from the West Depot to the court!"

"Wan An, Liu Xu, and Liu Ji, bring them all up, I will execute them all today!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Zhi, Huai En, and Mu Bin cupped their hands and accepted the order.