Half a month of planning.
The consort selection craze officially began.
First, the yamen of each state and county would elect a beautiful girl, and then the imperial envoy led by Situ Yuankui would assess her.
There were hundreds of thousands of participants in this consort selection, and the vast majority of them had the idea of flying up to the branches and becoming phoenixes.
The emperor did not care about his background.
It was the same for the position of empress. Didn't you see that the deposed empress, He Rong, the butcher's daughter, could be below one person and above ten thousand people? Why couldn't they?
The first round of assessment.
In the various examination halls.
She's of good age and looks good.
Nearly 90% of the girls between 13 and 16 were filtered out, leaving only 5000.
The second round of examination.
The beautiful girl entered the palace.
The imperial envoys and eunuchs disappeared, and the female officials in the palace appeared. Judging from their appearance, figure, waist circumference, and other aspects, those who were too tall, short, fat, or thin were eliminated.
Another 1,000 beauties were missing.
Three rounds of assessment.
As long as one of his facial features, hair, skin, and tone was not up to standard, he would be eliminated.
Exotic?
Barbarian beast roar!
More than half of the contestants were eliminated, and less than 2000 girls entered the featured selection.
Fourth step.
Hands, feet, posture, charm.
Another 1000 girls were eliminated.
Fifth step.
Chastity.
Not only was she a virgin, but she was also required to have no scars on her body and her skin must be smooth and shiny.
There were less than 300 women.
However, at this point, there was no risk of being eliminated. All of them became palace maids. As for whether they could become concubines, it was all up to their personal efforts.
Fifth step, sixth step.
Practice etiquette and observe character.
Those who could reach here were all great beauties. It was rare to see a beauty that could topple a country. They were also fat and thin, each with their own merits.
250 people were selected, and the remaining 50 people were automatically promoted to concubines.
The final step.
Three people were selected, namely the Empress and the Imperial Concubine.
"Is this the result of the consort selection?"
The Empress Dowager called the new concubines into the palace. With her vicious eyes, the three people she chose were indeed existences that stood out from the new concubines.
"Yuan Yuan!"
"I'm here!"
Hearing the Empress Dowager call out her name, Yuan Yuan, the eldest daughter of the Yuan family, walked out with a smile like a flower. She bowed gracefully, with a hint of seduction.
The daughter of an aristocratic family.
It was like a blooming rose.
"Excellent!"
The empress dowager smiled in satisfaction.
She had already met Yuan Yuan before and was extremely pleased with her. Now, she was just going through the motions.
"Cai Yan!"
"ChenQie is here!"
Cai Yan hugged the charred tail zither, his knees slightly bent, gentle and generous.
The daughter of a great scholar.
It was like an orchid in an empty valley.
"Good!"
The Empress Dowager said indifferently.
She had never seen her before, but she had heard of her many times. She was the daughter of the great scholar Cai Yong. She was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and tea.
She was undoubtedly the number one talented woman in the country.
However, such a woman had her own opinions and was difficult to control. Naturally, she did not match the empress's daughter-in-law in her heart.
"Zhang Ning!"
"ChenQie is here!"
Zhang Ning slowly bowed. Her every movement was filled with frailty. It was as if a gust of wind could blow her away, making one feel pity for her.
The daughter of the common people.
It was like a plum blossom in winter.
"Yes!"
The empress dowager frowned.
She had a kind of disgust towards the daughters of commoners. This had nothing to do with appearance, but purely her personal preference.
Hence, he gave the worst evaluation.
"The Empress Dowager's decree has been issued. Yuan Yuan will be the head of the new consorts, Cai Yan will be the second, and Zhang Ning will be the third.”
The Grand Lord spoke up from the side and said kindly,""The rest of the new concubines, return to your chambers.”
"ChenQie will take her leave!"
The disappointment in the hearts of the forty-seven new concubines was difficult to describe in words. The etiquette that they had learned for many days forced them to bow and leave.
"The rankings will be submitted to Weiyang Palace and handed over to His Majesty for approval. The new Empress will probably be chosen at night. The three Phoenix Maidens, please go to the side hall to rest and wait.”
The Grand Lord looked at the three women who were left behind, and his smile revealed an intimacy as he comforted them.
After all, no matter how low the three of them were, they were still imperial consorts and future important figures in the harem.
"Thank you, Empress Dowager!"
"Thank you, Grand Master!"
The three of them expressed their gratitude.
Then, a female official led the way to the side hall. Yongle Palace fell silent again.
"Grand Lord, do you think the Emperor will acknowledge this one's decree?”
"Old Lady, I'm a princess that was married off to the Imperial Palace. If the consort selection is useful today, I'll go to the Imperial Palace. If it's useless after today, I'll go back to the residence and wait for death.”
"You're too transparent!"
The empress dowager shook her head and refused to give up." Men, hand over the new consort's ranking to Weiyang Palace and invite the emperor to Yongle Palace for a chat!"”
……
"Your Majesty!"
The eunuchs added incense wood to the stove. The flames rose and the atmosphere in Weiyang Palace immediately eased up.
"Did Yongle Palace send the new consort's ranking?”
"Replying to Your Majesty, in this consort selection, Yuan Yuan, the daughter of the Yuan family, is at the top of the list. Cai Yan, the daughter of the great scholar, is at the second place.”
"The Empress Dowager's intention is to let the Yuan Family's Di daughter sit on the throne of Empress, while Cai Yan and Zhang Ning become Imperial Noble Concubines, right?”
"Replying to your majesty, the Empress Dowager didn't say this. She only said that if your majesty has time, go to Yongle Palace to talk about the relationship between mother and son!”
"This is the third time this month, right?"
Liu Hong looked at the list of new concubines and said coldly,""This is putting pressure on me."
"It is decreed that the new Consort Cai Yan will be the Empress!”
"The decree is that the new consort, Zhang Ning, will be the Imperial Noble Consort!”
"It is decreed that the new concubine, Yuan Yuan, will be demoted to an ordinary concubine!”
"The harem originally consisted of one empress and two imperial concubines. Now that we already have the pure imperial concubine Diao Chan, adding one more is enough.”
"This subject obeys the decree!"
The eunuch obeyed and left.
As soon as he left Weiyang Palace, he felt a chill on his forehead. He raised his head and saw snowflakes falling from the sky.
"It's snowing!"
"Your Majesty, it's snowing heavily!"
"Your Majesty, good news. With this heavy snow, the country will definitely have a bumper harvest next year!”
……
Jinyiwei.
"What?"
Commander Jia Xu suddenly stood up and said angrily,""You said that the new concubine Zhang Ning is the Yellow Turban Saintess Zhang Ning?”
"According to the investigation of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the information about the new consort being selected was forged. After many days of investigation and evidence collection, it is basically confirmed that the new consort, Zhang Ning, is Zhang Jiao's daughter!”
"We're finished!"
Jia Xu suddenly felt dizzy. Calculating the time, the new consort's grace and honor had already fallen.
Most importantly, this Yellow Turban Saintess performed extremely well in the selection and even had a chance of becoming the empress.
The Yellow Turban Army was irreconcilable with the royal family.
Zhang Ning's father, Zhang Jiao, had died in the hands of the Emperor's Great General, Huangfu Song. This time, she had entered the palace…to assassinate him!
"Dammit!"
Jia Xu felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He grabbed the brocade robe, draped it over his body, and ran in the direction of the Imperial Palace…
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