The relationship between the Ming officialdom is complicated, and there are many marriages.

For example, Huang Degong's righteous son Li Yu married Li Tingbiao's daughter.

Li Tingbiao's son, Li Hu, married Zhou Yuji's daughter.

Cao Minghao, Cao Bianjiao's son, married Yang Tinglin's youngest daughter.

Zhu Cihong's brother-in-law and Empress Xu Chenyun's younger brother Xu Bohan married Fang Yu, the daughter of Fang Yizhi, the governor of Zhejiang.

At this time, the most important thing is to pay attention to the right people, whether it is in the army or in the officialdom, they are marrying each other.

As a member of the imperial party, the new aristocracy of the Ming Dynasty, who followed Zhu Cihong to fight the world, regarded the civil and military officials more seriously, and married in the circle headed by Zhu Cihong, forming a rather solid interest group.

This kind of political marriage is not a party, just like Huaiyuan Marquis Chang Yanling and the Duke of Wei married each other.

Even so, at the critical moment, Huaiyuanhou did not help Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, who took the initiative to go to a dead end, at most, when the Xu family was raided, he paid for some packages and saved a few people.

Zhu Cihong accompanied his children to play in the snow for a while, and he personally built a few snowmen, and then the princes and princesses added ears, noses, hats and other things to the snowmen.

It wasn't until it was close to the banquet time that Zhu Cihong took the little hand of the crown prince Zhu He and went to the Qianqing Palace.

Queen Xu Chenyun took the concubines to the Rouyi Palace.

In the splendid Qianqing Palace, there are mighty imperial forest troops standing outside the hall, and groups of eunuchs and palace maids are standing in the palace.

The hall is full of flowers, and there are plates and bowls of dazzling imperial banquet delicacies.

"Your Majesty has arrived!"

The noble ministers who had been waiting in the hall all saluted and congratulated.

Zhu Cihong took a look and saw Sun Yingyuan, Li Tingbiao, Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, Cao Bianjiao, Yang Tinglin, Yang Shicong, Li Yan and others, all of whom were old ministers who had followed him to fight the world.

"Flat!"

After Zhu Cihong sat down, he glanced at everyone again, but he didn't see Cheng Guoxiang, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance.

He asked Wu Zhongdao, "Why didn't Cheng Ge come?" ”

Wu Zhong said: "Back to the emperor's words, Cheng Ge is sick, and he said that he was afraid of rushing the emperor's joy......"

Zhu Cihong nodded slightly, and said, "Go to the Tai Hospital to spread the word, and let the envoy and judge of the Tai Hospital personally go to the old mansion of Cheng Ge." ”

The hospital envoy and the court judge are the presidents and vice presidents of the Tai Hospital, and they are also the highest in medical skills.

Zhu Cihong held a banquet similar to a family banquet in the Qianqing Palace every year, in order to call the old ministers together, catch up with the old days, chat, and talk about common things.

As the place occupied by the Ming Dynasty gets bigger and bigger, some veterans need to guard the border, and they may not come back once in a few years, and the time to get together is getting less and less.

There are also dying old people, such as Cheng Guoxiang, who is already in his seventies, and began to take frequent leave last year and write to resign.

The imperial court is strictly hierarchical, the emperor has absolute authority, and everyone is even more respectful and awe-inspiring to Zhu Cihong, only in the annual palace family banquet, it seems more relaxed.

This year is the first time that Zhu Cihong has brought the crown prince Zhu He to a family banquet.

At his request, the nobles also brought the eldest sons and eldest grandsons of each family, and those over the age of four who could speak and walk and be sensible.

Among them are Sun Yingyuan's son Sun Zhiyuan (ten years old), Xu Sheng's son Xu Zhanpeng (seven years old), Zhu Chenggong's eldest son Zhu Jing (Zheng Jing), and Li Tingbiao's eldest grandson Li Zheng (six years old......

After everyone sat down, Zhu Cihong looked at the children happily, and finally fixed his eyes on the children sitting next to Sun Yingyuan.

This child is in his teens and looks dignified, and the other children are a little nervous, but he is as calm as water, and there is no trace of timidity on his face.

Zhu Cihong smiled and asked, "Qin Guogong, is this your son?" What is your name? ”

Sun Yingyuan got up and replied: "It is the eldest son of the minister, whose name is Sun Zhiyuan." ”

Zhu Cihong beckoned to Sun Zhiyuan and said, "Come here, come to my side, let me take a good look!" ”

"Yes!"

Sun Zhiyuan got up straight, bowed his head slightly, and walked in front of Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong asked gently: "Are you studying at the official school?" ”

Sun Zhiyuan said loudly: "Back to Your Majesty's words, the students are studying in the lecture hall!" ”

The so-called lecture hall was set up by Zhu Cihong alone, which was specially used for the children of the generals to study, enlighten the military, and learn some cultural knowledge in peacetime.

Because the enrollment age of the Huangming Military Academy is 16 years old, many generals want their sons to inherit their father's business and join the army, and are unwilling to enter ordinary official schools.

Zhu Cihong smiled: "Why do you call yourself a student? ”

I saw Sun Zhiyuan salute a military salute, and said loudly: "Back to Your Majesty, the martial arts hall belongs to the Huangming Military Academy, and you are the principal of the Huangming Military Academy, all the students of the Huangming Military Academy and the martial arts hall are protégés of the Son of Heaven!" ”

Zhu Cihong was quite surprised, this child was like his father at a young age, calm and quiet, and his speech was so clever.

Subsequently, Zhu Cihong conducted a simple military knowledge test on Sun Zhiyuan.

As a result, the child's answers were very standard, and he even made extended explanations on some questions.

Everyone present was also surprised, the secret old grandson unknowingly cultivated his son so well, it's amazing, he has to hurry up and cultivate his descendants!

Sure enough, Zhu Cihong laughed, admired Sun Zhiyuan, and said: "I like this kid, wait for the prince to come out of the pavilion to study in two years, let him enter the palace to read to the prince as a companion!" ”

Sun Yingyuan couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy in his heart, and hurriedly left his seat to salute: "Accompanying the prince to study, it is the great creation of the dog, and I would like to thank Your Majesty for your grace!" ”

Suddenly, the crown prince Zhu and His Majesty beside Zhu Cihong spoke: "Father, can the emperor choose another companion to read?" ”

Zhu Cihong was surprised, he didn't expect the little guy to take the initiative to make a request, he was curious: "Who do you want to choose?" ”

Zhu He Majesty looked at Xu Sheng and said, "The emperor wants Xu Zhanpeng to be his companion!" ”

Xu Zhanpeng is Xu Sheng's eldest son, seven years old this year, because the child's mother was Zhu Cihong's former personal palace maid, so he often goes in and out of the palace.

Zhu Cihong had long intended to let Xu Sheng's son serve as a companion, but he still asked the reason: "Why did the emperor choose him?" ”

I saw that the crown prince Zhu and His Majesty suddenly laughed, and replied: "He is very obedient, last time I asked him to touch the palace maid's buttocks, he really touched ......"

Everyone at the banquet was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

Zhu Cihong was speechless for a while, but seeing the laughter of everyone, he didn't continue to ask, and began to change the topic, chatting while eating.

Before I knew it, the topic of the banquet was getting married.

During this period, there were several nobles, intentionally or unintentionally, who were tempted to marry the imperial family, marry their children to the prince, or marry the princess.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the marriage between the noble and the royal family was very common, and during the Hongwu Dynasty, the marriage between the children of the meritorious heroes and the princes and daughters accounted for eighty percent of the royal marriages, of which the nobles' families accounted for sixty percent.

During the Yongle Dynasty, the marriage between the nobles and the royal family was normalized, and the proportion of the marriage between the children of Zhu Di and the nobles reached 100%.

Such a high proportion has a lot to do with the "Battle of Jingyan", Zhu Di not only has to rely on the heroes of Jingnan to maintain the order of the Quartet, but also to win over the old ministers of Hongwu to maintain the stability of the court.

It was not until the twelfth year of Yongle that a new clan wedding banquet system was introduced, in order to restrain the vassal kings, it was stipulated that the royal clan could only marry the daughters of commoners, and princesses and county lords could only marry commoners.

By the time of Renzong and Xuanzong, there was no longer an important marriage between the family of meritorious heroes and the royal family, and the marriage between meritorious persons and the royal family gradually disappeared.

Regarding the question of the marriage between Xungui and the imperial family, Zhu Cihong didn't say much, but replied: "In the future, when the princess chooses a son-in-law, she can choose Xungui's sons." ”

The princess is not like the prince, and the descendants can continue the title for several generations, the prince's daughter is called the county lord, and the daughter of the county king is called the county lord.

After the princess marries, she follows her husband's family, and her children do not have titles, unless the emperor gives them titles.

Zhu Cihong let go of the conditions for princesses to choose sons-in-law, but also to let their descendants have more protection and not affect the political pattern.

As for the political marriage after the prince marries the noble, forget it.

......