Chapter 37 Section thirty-seven

This matter is the "picking of beautiful women"-whether the officials of the Eight Banners have daughters, whether they are Manchurian, Mongolian, or Han soldiers, they cannot marry in private, and they must prepare for the selection of beautiful women in the palace.According to the rules, there are two types, one is once a year, and the daughter of the "coated coat" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is selected as a palace maid, and the other is once every three years, the eight banners are selected. , Anyone who has reached the age of thirteen must apply for candidates, and if they are selected, they will wait to assign the children of the prince's clan as wives.

This time it was the Eight Banners Show Girls, and it was also the first time since the Empress Dowagers of the Two Palaces were in charge of the government behind the curtain. The previous two times were canceled because of Hong and Yang Weiping, and the road was not stable.So this time, the empress dowagers of the two palaces attached great importance to the selection of beautiful women. As early as October last year, the Ministry of Household Affairs issued a letter to the banner officials of each province, listing their names and ages. The girls are all here. Together with those in Beijing, there are a total of more than 120 people, all of whom are between thirteen and fourteen years old.The Ministry of Household Affairs has already given instructions to ask for the date of selection, but because of the rampant western twisting, it has been postponed. Since the situation has been stabilized, it should be selected as soon as possible, so that the talented women who are not selected can go back to their original places. It is also a kind of sympathy.

It was the fourth day of February. In front of Shenwu Gate, there were officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs on duty early in the morning. There were more eunuchs. The candidates for the show are all little girls with cardamom tips. In the scissor-like spring breeze, the tips of their noses are red with cold and shivering.Some want to be pretty and refuse to wear more clothes because of the cold; some are deeply afraid that "one dynasty will be elected to the king's side" and will be locked in an empty and deep palace from then on, feeling fearful; Being able to be assigned to the son of the prince, he was so excited that he couldn't help himself; moreover, he had never experienced such a scene, and when he thought of Tian Yan, he was afraid of losing his appearance, and couldn't help but tremble with nervousness.

I reported to Shenwumen before dawn, and until noon, there was no news of "leading to watch", and each other asked: "When will I see?" "Soon, soon!" the official of the household department comforted them in this way, but he was not sure, "Anyway, I will definitely watch it today, and I will definitely finish it." That's all he could say. Although the girls under the flag have big feet, it is not a good crime to stand for several hours on the "flower pot bottom" on the small center of the sole of the foot.At this time, it is good to have acquaintances in the palace, lead them to a secluded place, find a place to sit and rest, but there are only a few of them, most of them just stand upright, some have a bad temper, and complain in their mouths, father and brother comfort Stopping, chattering everywhere, frowning, making the "happy event" once every three years, making people feel sad and unhappy.

The primaries of the show girls are not selected one by one, ten in a row, led by the officials of the household department to salute upwards.If you don't like it, you don't say anything, and the show girls are "brushed" before they can even see the face of the queen mother and emperor clearly. This kind of selection is in name only, even though it looks as beautiful as a flower, it is still in bud, and only seven points of its color are exposed.The sky is cold, the emerald sleeves are cold, and the expression is shrunken. If you look at the sky, your behavior is stiff and timid, and you lose your natural style. Another point will be subtracted, and the palace is far away, like looking at flowers through fog The remaining five-point color has to be discounted again, so I took a quick look and didn't pay attention.I saw the green-headed lottery with the name of the beautiful girl, the year of birth, and the names of her father and brother, one by one, all put on the silver plate held by An Dehai.

The emperor sitting on it, after experiencing the incident for the first time, seemed to be dazed and unable to distinguish.Even if he can distinguish, he can't make any claims. His seat is only to introduce the ministers and complete the ceremonies.The one chosen by the host was the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, and the one on the east side wanted to pick it out, but her mind was too slow, and she thought that one was good, and when she wanted to take another look, the person had already passed by.She also doesn't want to leave a "signboard" at will, because if she leaves a signboard, it means leaving someone to wait for her return. , the expenses in Beijing are high, and if you stay for one more day, you will be tired for one more day.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was a little distracted, looking at His Highness, her heart flew back to seventeen years ago.The winter of the first year of Xianfeng.She remembered that the weather was so cold that her teeth would shake. The location was not in the Imperial Garden, but in the Shoukang Palace to the west of the Palace of Compassion and Peace. The only thing that concerned her was that the family owed an "Old Xier" thirty taels of silver, and she had to pay it back on this day. Her other memories were blurred, and it was hard to remember no matter how hard she searched for it. .

Looking back, there are endless emotions.Seventeen years ago, who would have imagined such a day?In a blink of an eye, it was really like a dream. Now that I think about it, I really don’t know why there are so many weird twists and turns in the “dream”, and I don’t understand how I can go through so many weird twists and turns. Is there a day when An Ran sits in the Palace of Qin'an and picks a beautiful girl today? Just like this vaguely reminiscing about the past, she never left a sign, until the Empress Dowager Ci'an spoke, and she was shocked, "It's almost over!"

"Oh," the Empress Dowager Cixi gathered herself together, then turned to An Dehai and asked, "How much more?" "There are more than thirty." I have seen two-thirds of it, and I haven't left a single sign in front of me. When I look at the Empress Dowager Ci'an, there are only a dozen people left.She didn't want people to see that she was absent-minded, so she deliberately asked: "What should I do? There are not many people who are interested!" "I would rather be stricter." The Empress Dowager Ci'an said this, and suddenly pointed to a tall and tall man and said, "How about that?"

"Leave it!" Empress Dowager Cixi left a sign for the first time. From here on, she cheered up and carefully selected, and she picked seven or eight in the first selection, and when the two were combined, it happened to be twenty people. So he summoned Baojun, Shangshu of the household department, to go to the hall, and announced the names of the people who were selected for the first time.Bao Yun asked: "When will the re-election be held? I ask the two empress dowagers to make preparations early." The two empress dowagers discussed and decided to withdraw on the 10th day of the second lunar month. The emperor asked about the time, and still rushed to Hongde Hall to make up for the day's homework. The two empress dowagers browsed freely in the imperial garden After a while, go back to Shufangzhai to chat and rest.

Naturally, the topic of discussion cannot be separated from Xiunu. The empress dowagers of the two palaces lamented that there are no outstanding and well-rounded talents. Fortunately, the children of the princes and ministers who should be married are only about the same age as the emperor. It is okay to wait another three years . "Sister," Empress Dowager Ci'an said suddenly, "I was thinking that it would be better for the children to get married later!" Hearing her words, Empress Dowager Cixi immediately thought of Da Gege, and felt a pain in her heart.Da Gege was assigned to her first cousin Zhiduan the year before last, the eldest son of the sixth son-in-law Jingshou, Zhiduan, who got married soon, the groom was only fifteen years old, he was born thin and weak, and married early, but after more than a year, he made a big hit Trouble, it looks like I'm afraid it won't last forever.Assuming or unfortunately, this marriage that I presided over by myself actually ruined Da Gege's life! "Oh!" She couldn't help sighing, and nodded sincerely: "That's right." "Then, I don't need to be so anxious about the emperor's wedding. Is it two years late?" It turned out that the next year was set, and the emperor was only fifteen years old.Two years late to the age of seventeen is really not too late. The Empress Dowager Cixi agreed, "Two years late is also good." She said, "There is plenty of life, so you can find it slowly." "That's right!" Empress Dowager Ci'an said again, "Let's keep this in our stomachs, so don't say it out loud. It's really good to pay attention in secret." The Empress Dowager Cixi disagreed with this purpose. She thought that the emperor would not worry about finding a beautiful woman when he became a queen. It is being done.But it was still early, and there was no need to argue with her at this moment, so I vaguely agreed, noncommittal. "The emperor looks like an adult." The Empress Dowager Ci'an advised in a gratified voice, "We can't keep treating him like a child. The sixth master mentioned before that every day he summons military planes and asks the emperor to be there to listen. , this matter can be done.” "It's more about the study." The Empress Dowager Cixi disagreed, "You must be able to read the notebooks! Now it's not the same as before. With the development of Westernization, many tricks have been added. The notebooks of Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and Ding Richang have to be carefully read. .If you don’t understand the excerpts, you still don’t understand just listening to the military aircraft.” At this point, she felt that it was inconvenient to completely dismiss the words of the Empress Dowager Ci’an, so she added a paragraph: “Wait a few days, and ask everyone I mean, as well as the masters of Hongde Hall, if everyone thinks that the emperor should summon the military aircraft together, then naturally it is also okay."