This institutionalized management, first of all, is the management of the emperor's sexual life. In the Ming dynasty, the institution that managed the affairs of the emperor's bedroom was called Jingshi, and the highest person in charge was called Jingshi eunuch. Its task is to arrange and record the situation of the emperor's concubines. When the emperor is lucky enough to have a concubine, the eunuch in the imperial palace must record the year, month and day in detail as evidence of pregnancy. Concubines are different from queens. The emperor's favorite concubine, everyone has a green card, which is a green brand at both ends. When serving the emperor for dinner, the eunuchs in the worship room will put a dozen or dozens of famous brands in a big silver plate and bring them to the emperor with the meal. Then, when the emperor was having dinner, the eunuch knelt before the emperor and waited for instructions. If the emperor doesn't want to find any concubines for the night, just say "step down". When the emperor wanted to have sex with his concubine, he turned over her famous brand and put it back in the silver plate.
After the eunuch retired, he handed the famous brand to another eunuch, who informed the selected concubine to bathe in fragrant soup and make all necessary preparations. When the emperor went to sleep, he took off all the clothes of his concubine, wrapped her body in a blanket made of feathers and took her into the emperor's bedroom. This is a safety measure to prevent someone from bringing hidden weapons into the emperor's bedroom.
Then, the eunuchs in the imperial palace and several other eunuchs waited outside the emperor's bedroom, waiting for the end of the emperor's sexual life. If the appointed time is up, the eunuch will shout "Time is up". If the emperor doesn't reply, he will call again. Repeat this three times, and be sure to bring the concubines back on time. At the same time, the eunuchs should record the year, month and day as evidence of future pregnancy. Whether or not to have children has a great influence on the status and living conditions of the concubine in the future.
In the Ming Dynasty, the system that concubines had to be * * * probably began during the Jiajing period, because a maid-in-waiting tried to strangle Emperor Jiajing. It is said that one night in the late spring and early summer of A.D. 1542, the ladies-in-waiting who could not bear the torture of Emperor Jiajing plotted to strangle the cruel Emperor Jiajing.
That night, Emperor Jiajing was sleeping in the Xinuange of Gan Qing Palace. Maid-in-waiting Yang led a dozen little maids to strangle Emperor Jiajing with a rope. However, due to a moment of panic, the rope formed a dead button and could not be tightened, so Emperor Jiajing was able to escape. Since then, emperors have asked concubines to wear clothes before being sent to their bedrooms.
Until the Qing dynasty, this system was still inherited, because the emperor of the Qing dynasty thought that this system had a lot to do with finding out whether the child was definitely from the emperor's lineage, and thus had a lot to do with the succession of the throne, and it could also restrict the indulgence of the emperor in the future.
It is not difficult to see that the eunuchs in the imperial chamber have great power on this issue. Although on the surface, the emperor's sexual life depends on the emperor's will, they can take advantage of the loopholes and cheat in specific links such as brand name placement, preparation, sending concubines, mastering time, and file records. If concubines offend eunuchs in the respect room, it may cause great disaster, so they are very flattering to eunuchs and often give them some.
In fact, the queen also has a say in the harem, and the emperor can't go to the concubines' residence at will. When the emperor wants to enter the concubine's bedroom, he must inform the concubine and queen's documents in advance, and the documents must be stamped with the queen's seal to be effective. Without this document, the emperor could not enter the concubines' room, even if he was outside the concubines' bedroom. In the harem, the queen has a certain veto power over the communication between the emperor and the concubines. However, some emperors are extravagant and do not abide by the harem system, which makes the queen's restraint on the harem concubines useless.