The Ming Dynasty was an interesting dynasty, which was different from the previous dynasties in many places, including royal marriages. Other dynasties usually saw marriage as a political tactic, such as marrying a princess to a hero or a courtier, and everyone became a family, and the connection was more consolidated and secure. The Ming Dynasty was the opposite, the princess looked for a horse, looking for someone who could not become an official. This kind of regulation also makes a lot of strange things.
The ming dynasty's horses had a remarkable characteristic, most of them were born in the cold gate and had no official positions. If this donkey's family is good, and someone in the family is an official, it will be easy to handle. The grade of this official was raised one level, which was considered compensation, and then he was sent home to retire. As for the pony itself, whether you have the ability or not, marry a princess, become a relative of the emperor and the state, the degree of eating and wearing is certainly good, but the political career is basically over.
Imagine that a talented man who is full of poetry and books and intends to take the rank of a scholar, in such a social background, will cut off his future in order to marry a princess? Therefore, most of the Ming Dynasty horses are not very talented, and there are two main criteria, one is the innocence of the family, and the other is handsome. If at the foot of Tianzi, you can also add points and give priority to admission (the scope of the selection of horses at the beginning is the capital, if you can't find it, then expand the scope).
In addition to horses, the empresses of the Ming emperors were mostly not of high birth. There are exceptions, of course. For example, Empress Xu, who explains that Chengzu Zhu Di, is the daughter of the famous general Xu Da, and she is properly born into a famous family. But there are two points in this, one is that at that time was the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was not so stable, and at that time, the selection of horses was also the same as the previous dynasty, which was to consolidate political power and appease people's hearts; the second was that Zhu Di's throne was not given by Zhu Yuanzhang, but was taken by himself. Zhu Yuanzhang did not want Zhu Di to be emperor at all. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang could not imagine that Xu Da's daughter would become an empress.
So why did the empress and the horse of the Ming Dynasty choose those who were not born tall? The reason is actually very simple, in order to prevent foreign relatives from interfering in politics. If you look at the history of the previous dynasties, especially the history of the Han Dynasty, it is more prominent, and you often see the phenomenon of foreign relatives interfering in politics. The Ming Dynasty can also be regarded as learning the lessons of the previous dynasty. Another is that Zhu Yuanzhang himself was a person who vigorously grasped the imperial power, and he abolished the beggar system, so how could he tolerate foreign relatives interfering with power?
Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, compared with other dynasties, such things as harems and foreign relatives should cooperate with each other and seize power were almost extinct. Political battles were mostly between civil servants and eunuchs, and the threat to imperial power was extremely small. On the whole, although the Ming Dynasty's way of royal marriage seems strange, it is still very effective.
Reference: "Myo history"