Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 704
"Vice Zhao Shao isn't married yet, is he?"

"Well, I've been so busy fighting the war that I don't even have family leave, so there's nothing I can do."

In the township office, Yue Gui kindly took Zhao Xiaolou's hand and asked courteously.Hearing that he was not married yet, his attitude became even more enthusiastic, "Deputy Zhao is so young and already holds an important position in the imperial camp. His future is boundless. Isn't it more demanding?"

"I don't dare to ask too much. I am also from a poor background. My hometown is Yanzhou in the east of Zhejiang Province. Just like here, it is also a place in the mountains, with eight mountains, one water and one field. My family used to be a tenant tenant with a large population but no land. Relying on renting and farming for others, going to the mountains to collect herbs and hunt in their free time, and even burning charcoal and mining, it is still rare to have enough food and clothing.

It was also because my family was poor that I joined the army later. I only wanted to have enough food to eat, but I didn’t expect to be lucky. Following the Long Live Lord changed my destiny all of a sudden. Now my family has also bought a field and bought land. A new house was built, and my brother also joined the army to get paid, and life became easier. "

"Deputy Zhao Shao, if you don't dislike me, I do have two daughters, one fourteen and one sixteen, and they are pretty good-looking. These years of turmoil have also delayed marriage. Now I'm still in my boudoir. I don't know Zhao Shao. Would you like to meet and have a look?"

Yue Gui claimed to be the descendant of Yue Fei. The Yue family had settled in Nanzhao for many years, and there were many people. They even built two Yue family villages before.

The Yue family used to have thousands of acres of land, lead mines, iron mines, money houses, pawnshops, grain shops, cloth shops, etc. They were well-known tycoons in Cuizhuang, a town of ten miles and eight towns.

In normal years, the Yue family is so powerful, they wouldn't look down on a small deputy.

But now, Yue Gui is very happy to marry a daughter to Zhao Xiaolou. She is young and has a bright future. As an officer of the imperial camp, that is even more of a guarantee of safety.

Before Zhao Xiaolou had time to agree, Yue Gui proposed again, saying that if he could fancy one, the Yue family would give Fenghou a dowry at that time, saying that he had already prepared a dowry for his daughter.

Yue Gui directly mentioned the dowry he bought for his daughter. The cash money is 18 taels of gold and 88 taels of silver. In addition, jewelry, clothing rewards, and furniture are worth more than 800 taels, and there are even [-] acres of land, with a total value of no less than [-] taels of silver. .

During the Wanli period, this dowry was considered relatively wealthy among the powerful local gentry. Generally, the dowry of rich families is only one or two hundred.

Since the late Ming Dynasty, in the custom of marriage, the man gave the bride a dowry, and the woman's dowry basically had to be accompanied by a dowry, or even double the compensation.

Even later, there are more and more dowries.

The daughter is a good companion for money.

Many places marry daughters and even go bankrupt, especially in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

With less dowry, one would be neglected or even bullied when marrying into her husband's family.

Therefore, the rich often marry more dowries, even several times more than Pingli, which even leads to the serious phenomenon of drowning female babies in Fujian and Zhejiang.

Ordinary people’s families usually pay a couple of taels to more than a dozen taels, and the wedding banquet and other expenses are calculated separately. However, for rich families, the gift is often tens of taels or even 200 taels, and the dowry is doubled.

After the late Ming Dynasty, the burden of dowry in marriage was a big burden for the family.

At the beginning, the imperial camp helped pay the dowry for the soldiers when they married their wives, and they didn't even need the dowry. Fewer poor people marry daughters to reduce the burden.

At the beginning, many soldiers recruited in the east and west of Zhejiang were all poor people, so there is nothing to be picky about being able to send a wife.However, many people were affected by the turmoil of the war, and they were also precarious. They could marry their daughters without a dowry, and they could even receive pens and gifts. Even their daughters were extremely willing to marry the imperial soldiers.

"Yue Gong, I have been a soldier for several years. Although the military salary is generous, it was not long before I was promoted to the post of sentry officer. Most of the previous salary was used to buy land and build a house. I don't have much left." He said a little embarrassed.

Yue Gui prepared a dowry worth 800 taels, even if he took half of it as a gift, he would still have to pay 400 taels, how could he afford it.

Even now that he has been promoted to the deputy of the sentry post, the salary is not much. The monthly salary of the post chief is nine yuan, that of the post deputy is six yuan, that of the first-class soldier is four and five yuan, and that of the platoon leader is four and eight yuan.

He is only one yuan and five more than the first class soldier in one month. His daily salary is two coins and silver, and he has six buckets of monthly rations in another month.

As a deputy sentry, there is still some salary, and some envoy money. If there is any surplus for public use, it can be regarded as their subsidy. However, under the imperial camp system, the income below the camp officer is actually not high.

You have to start from a battalion officer to be considered as having a relatively good income. A battalion officer pays 50 taels a month, while he only has [-] taels a month, which is many times the difference.

However, Yuying actually only pays nine months a year, and he has to save it for three months. Therefore, his basic salary is only 54 yuan a year, and he has to send it home.

400 yuan, how many years does he have to save.

Yue Gui smiled and waved his hands.

"I understand the rules of the imperial camp. Let's follow the rules of the imperial camp. If you look good at the little girl, you can give ten silver dollars as a gift. How much dowry I will give is my own business."

"I value Deputy Zhao Shao more. I think you are young, motivated and promising. I also hope that my daughter can live a good life with you in the future. In the future, Deputy Zhao Shao will become a general and seal his wife and son, so my daughter can also have a good life." Order."

Seeing Zhao Xiaolou stunned, Yue Gui clapped his hands, and then two young girls came in.

"Deputy Zhao Shao, please drink tea!"

Two girls came in, graceful and graceful.

Zhao Xiaolou didn't come back to his senses at first, but when the crisp voice rang in his ears, he looked up, and then he suddenly realized that these two girls looked a bit like Yue Gui between their eyebrows, and they were quite upright. The temperament and the voice are also nice, it should be the two daughters that Yue Gui mentioned.

"Thank you, Miss Xie." Zhao Xiaolou panicked for a moment, even his ears turned red.

This is a beautiful lady, he really has never been in contact with it.

Although he was an eye-opener in the army, and he read books and characters with Deputy Liu Dui, but he considers himself a local dog, and he really stuttered with this girl in silk and satin.

Yue Gui coughed, and the two girls bowed and left again.

"Deputy Zhao Shao, what do you think of my two little girls, which one catches your eye more?"

"It's all good," Zhao Xiaolou replied in a panic, and then saw Yue Gui laughing, and quickly explained, "I didn't mean that, I, I, I, I will follow Yue Gong's arrangement."

"Hahaha, please sit down for a while, Deputy Zhao Shao."

Yue Gui turned and left, Zhao Xiaolou sat there, his mind was full of the appearance of the two girls just now, but he started to giggle thinking about it.

"Deputy Zhao Shao?"

Zhao Xiaolou came back to his senses and saw Yue Gui came back, "Yue Gong."

"I went in and asked the two little girls just now, and they also had a good impression of Deputy Zhao Shao, and thought that Deputy Zhao Shao was simple and honest, and he was a person who could be trusted for life.

If Deputy Zhao Shao doesn't dislike it, how about Qiniang Xiangping? "

Qiniang is that elder sister, she is the seventh in the family, and she is sixteen this year.

Zhao Xiaolou couldn't be unwilling, he nodded foolishly.

Yue Gui smiled and said that it was an agreement, and then asked Zhao Xiaolou about Nian Geng.

When Zhao Xiaolou left, Yue Gui asked Qiniang to see him off at the door, and Miss Qi gave Zhao Xiaolou a sachet, which made Zhao Xiaolou dizzy, and he was still giggling when he walked out the door.

The soldiers led the horses and waited there, but he turned a blind eye and walked over. The soldiers caught up, "What's the happy event for the deputy sentinel?"

"I'm going to marry a wife."

The soldier smiled and said, "I want to marry a wife too,"

There were nearly 200 auxiliary soldiers for this sentry battle, more than half of them were unmarried. Originally, according to the rules of the imperial camp, only the first-class soldiers were eligible to marry a wife in the imperial camp, and they had to line up.

But this time, the local people all wanted to marry their daughters to the imperial soldiers. Faced with the enthusiasm of the people and the expectations of the soldiers, Li Baoquan and Guo Baoqing finally decided to give girls to all those who were not married after several discussions.

The common people don't want dowry gifts, but the sentry and the village will give ten silver dollars to the girl's family as a gift, and then give five silver dollars to the girl's family as a dowry.

Mass weddings were also held for soldiers.

A new couple needs to give them a gift and dowry of 15 yuan, and more than 100 couples will get about [-] yuan.

Li Baoquan said he wanted to report to his superiors, but Guo Baoqing and Yue Gui Chengsheng said that the money was not much, and it was a good thing for the marriage between the military and the people, and the local gentry were willing to pay the money.

The more than a hundred gentry families in the town donated generously and quickly raised enough money.

These people are very active, anyway, the family can't spend a few dollars.

They are all very positive about this marriage. For example, Yue Gui, both daughters successfully married officers in the imperial camp, Qiniang married Zhao Xiaolou, the deputy sentry officer, and Jiuniang married Song En, the platoon leader. All of a sudden, he robbed two officers' sons-in-law.

Others, such as Guo Baoqing and Cheng Sheng, also acted quickly, grabbing the son-in-law of the officer they liked.

Most of the more than 100 places have been seized by these tyrants. Ordinary girls still have a chance. These gentry tyrants are not interested in the ten silver dollar gifts. They each have a dowry, as many as Yuegui. The dowry of a daughter in the family is worth 800 taels, the others are as much as 500 taels, and the less are as much as 200 taels.

Many soldiers in the imperial camp were hit by the pies that fell from the world, and they didn't have to pay a penny themselves to marry a young and beautiful daughter-in-law for nothing. The military camp subsidized five dowry, and the girl's family brought back a generous dowry.

Even if she married a girl from an ordinary family, she would still get a wife for nothing.

Everyone was very happy.

Li Baoquan and the others typed up the report, but when Zhu Yihai of Luyangguan heard about it, he just smiled.

"Although what they did was somewhat unruly, it's not a big deal. It's not forced, it's all voluntary. It's not worth encouraging but there's no need to oppose it."

Shen Youlong, Minister of the Ministry of War, reminded, "It still violates the regulations of the army. Soldiers in the imperial camp have to meet the conditions to marry wives, and they have to line up. Otherwise, they have to marry wives, and the army can't afford it. Now they do this. , all married at once, what about the other troops?"

Wen Anzhi smiled and said, "I don't think this is a bad thing, but it is indeed against the rules. In this way, the imperial camp will only pay half of the 15 yuan dowry gift, grooming ceremony and wedding expenses for the soldiers who married their wives this time." , the rest shall be borne by the soldiers themselves, and if money is tight for a while, they can be repaid in installments."

Zhu Yihai thought for a while, "It's fine, there is no rule without rules, you can add this in the future, soldiers from the imperial battalion who meet the requirements can line up and wait for the imperial battalion to help marry wives; Half of it can be reimbursed according to the normal standard."

"This time, Li Baoquan and Zhao Xiaolou don't need to be punished. It's not a big deal. Besides, after they leave the customs, they have made great achievements in regaining Cuizhuang Township and restoring the place. They should give a reward to all the sentry officers and soldiers."

"Your Majesty is going to make up half of the unreimbursed part for them." Wen Anzhi said with a smile.

"It is a good thing for the soldiers to fight for the country. It is a good thing that they can get married as soon as possible. Tell the generals of the towns that after fighting, they must actively consider the matter of getting married for the soldiers. During the march and garrison, if conditions permit, It should be actively facilitated, so that soldiers can feel more at ease when they have wives, children, and families."

Zhu Yihai has always been kind to the soldiers, especially the soldiers in the imperial camp. This is his foundation, and he does not hesitate to reward them. The imperial camp group is his most solid support, and he must give priority to ensuring the security of the soldiers in the imperial camp. treatment.

(End of this chapter)