A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 330 Xiangdu, the old government

25th
Bai Wangxi wrote a letter agreeing to build a temple for the late emperor and sent an envoy to attend the temple erection ceremony in Luoyang. At the same time, a memorial tablet was set up for Emperor Shun in the Han Temple outside the White Temple.

Unlike other princes and kings with the surname Liu who only have one ancestral temple, the Bai Kingdom has two ancestral temples. One is the ancestor of the Bai family in the Bai Kingdom, which is called the Bai Temple.

There are a total of forty-three ancestors enshrined in it, starting from the ancestor Bai Wuzi Bai Zhi. They are protected by a special tribe of the Bai Kingdom's temple-protecting army with 300 soldiers. The Bai Kingdom holds sacrifices every year and is located in the east of the city.

The other is called the Han Temple, which honors the nine Han emperors who established temples since Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty. It is worth mentioning that during the Pre-Han Dynasty, because the standards for establishing temple names were extremely high, there were only four Han emperors: Emperor Gao, Emperor Ren, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Wu.

After Emperor Guangwu, the standard was lowered, almost as long as he did not act randomly, die young, or offend the world. For example, Emperor Shang and Emperor An all had temple names. In the Bai Kingdom, the Han Temple held a festival every three years and was protected by the palace guards. It was located in the west of the city.

In addition, there are several special temples in Bai Kingdom, but their status is lower than that of Bai Temple and Han Temple.

There is an ancestral temple located in Bai Mansion, which worships the ancestors of the Bai family in the past generations. As long as they are famous in the genealogy, they have a small tablet, while the past family heads have a large tablet. The Bai family ancestral temple is guarded by Bai family soldiers.

There is the Confucius Temple located in the north of Bai Xue Zhong, which is dedicated to the Confucius recognized by all generations of Bai Xue. It has been around since the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Confucian Confucius Meng, Xun Fuzi, etc., and Confucius was also awarded posthumously. There are also masters from several other schools of thought, but compared to Confucianism, the incense is really scarce.

The rest of the Confucius are worshiped with portraits, and only the founders of each family will be worshiped with statues. For example, as soon as you enter the Confucius Temple, you will see the ancestors of hundreds of schools, starting with the three sages of Confucianism, Taoism, and Mo, and the other hundreds of schools in sequence. , until the novelist.

The three saints recognized by Confucius Temple are Confucian Confucius, Taoist Li Er and Mozi, and Mohist Mo Zhai. These three schools also have the most complete inheritance in Bai Xue and have the largest number of disciples.

There is also the Yingling Temple located in the northern suburbs of the city. It is dedicated to the soldiers who shed blood and sacrificed for the Bai Kingdom and the Bai family in the past dynasties. Because there are too many names, there are many anecdotal names that were not engraved, so only in the middle of the Yingling Temple, a A huge stone tablet with the word "heroic spirit" written on it, for unified worship.

In addition to these three relatively large temples, there are also countless small temples, large and small. They may be large-scale or intermittent, but they all exist.

For example, each family built an ancestral hall to worship their ancestors based on the Bai family's ancestral temple; in order to seek psychological comfort, wild temples such as mountain gods and river gods were built in various rural mountains and forests; the Haoling Temple in the north of the city worshiped the gods; The Liuli Temple is home to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats. These are all large-scale temples.

However, according to the regulations of the Bai Kingdom, blood sacrifices are not allowed. The Bai Kingdom will not care what temple you build or who you worship, but it cannot be conditional on harming people's bodies.

Once you violate this iron law, you will be officially labeled as a cult or obscene priest. Will suffer the most severe blow from the White Kingdom.

If the matter is not serious or dangerous, officials will be sent to strictly supervise, destroy the dens, and ban them. The mastermind will be imprisoned and the believers will be fined heavily, and they will be guided to believe in the true God.

If the matter is serious, and someone even dies because of it, once it is determined, the army will be sent to attack the mountain and destroy the temple. The mastermind will be beheaded on the spot, and all the believers will be sent to serve in the mines and converted humanely.

After all, the Bai family is a descendant of heaven, and there is nothing more noble than their status. Maybe it's just the emperor and the royal family at the moment, but this is what the people think. As for what Bai Shizi thinks in his heart, no one knows.

Because there are too many temples and the practice of worship is prevalent, in addition to the two titles of Wendu and Shangdu, Chaoge is also called "Xiangdu", or some people call it temple capital, but it is still the most popular name. Guangzhi.

The origin of "Xiangdu" is that the air in Chaoge often contains the smell of incense. This is completely different from the cruel human sacrifice style of Chaoge and the bloody smell of the city during the ancient Yin and Shang Dynasties.

Chaoge, after a thousand years, has regained its unique New Year.

It is precisely for this reason that merchants in Chaoge often say that in Chaoge, apart from books, which are difficult to make and have small quantities and high prices, selling incense is the most profitable business.

Because the temples of the Bai Kingdom are spread all over the country and the number is large, the demand for incense is extremely high. Although the price is low, the quantity is large, and the incense merchants have become the richest businessmen in the Bai Kingdom after booksellers and grain merchants. These three industries are called "gold industry" in Belarus.

And because of the prosperous incense industry, the group of incense makers has also been extended, and various kinds of incense have appeared, such as incense to repel snakes, rats, insects and ants, incense to add flavor, spices added to meals, etc. .

In Chaoge, in addition to bookstores, wine shops, jade shops, and medicine shops, the most popular shops are incense shops. In addition to selling incense for sacrifices, they also sell sachets, incense, spices and other incense-related items. .

The Zhang family of the Bai Kingdom also started out as an incense shop. They are the largest incense dealer in the Bai Kingdom and one of the owners of the Bai family business.

Bai's firm is one of the subsidiaries of Baiguo Commercial Bank. Together with Baiguo Bank and Baiguo Grain Company, they are collectively known as the three major banks of Baiguo.

This was also one of the results of the Bai Kingdom's New Deal. In order to return the country's land to the imperial court, during the Bai royal family's period, they redeemed it with copper coins and business licenses, and successfully collected the country's land.

By the time of Bai Wangxu, local tycoons had basically turned into local big businessmen. Since the Bai Kingdom did not prohibit Bai people with business backgrounds from taking the exams to become officials, the tycoons did not resist becoming businessmen.

It is just a matter of changing the foundation of the clan from land to assets. Some people will say that doing business is too risky and there is a risk of bankruptcy. But after the persuasion of the redemption officers sent by the Bai Kingdom, those powerful people have understood that there are risks in cultivating the land?

The risk of doing business is only a matter of one's own ability, while cultivating the land depends entirely on the weather. Moreover, with the Bai family entrenched in the Bai Kingdom, who dares to say that there is a powerful person who can surpass the Bai family. Even the five major clans of the Bai Kingdom have relied on thousands of years to achieve their current status. Now that the upper limit has been set, is there any need to resist? Now that the Bai family is telling you that you don't want to listen, don't blame them for going to war with you. Those powerful people are just greedy, not stupid.

The Bai Kingdom solved the local tycoons, so it focused its attention on the commercial banks. Because the joining of many powerful tycoons greatly increased the strength of the commercial banks, it also led to a chaotic situation with confusing accounts and unclear responsibilities and authorities.

If it weren't for the five major clans who were suppressing those below, someone might have gathered a group of people to protest in front of Bai Mansion.

So Bai Xu's main task after taking office was to solve the company's problems. It was precisely because of the problem of the Bai Kingdom that Bai Xu's energy was drawn away. The Bai family of Luoyang could only control the trends of the Han Dynasty.

Fortunately, the Bai Kingdom had already made arrangements for the separation of families, allowing the Luoyang Bai clan and the Xiuwu Bai clan to share the pressure of the Bai clan in the military and political circles of the Han Dynasty. Otherwise, the Bai kings in the past dynasties would have lost at least ten or twenty years of their lives. .

Using the power of Bai Xue and Bai Yuan, a large temporary advisory board was formed to analyze the company's affairs for him and provide him with solutions.

Only the Bai Kingdom has such a huge talent pool.

So after three years of investigation and discussion, in the fifth year of Emperor Han's reign, the Advisory Council finally discussed a charter.

Then Bai Xu selected capable soldiers from various places and filled them into the trading house. As the head of the Bai family and the big owner of the Baiguo trading house, he presided over the reform of the Bai's trading house.

Before the reform, Bai Guo Trading Company was developed from Bai's Trading Company. Bai's Trading Company is the oldest time-honored brand in the world. It has existed for thousands of years. It has been traveling around the world since the Spring and Autumn Period. It has semicolons and semicolons in all major cities. shop.

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the Bai Dukedom and the Bai Kingdom were established one after another. In order to win over the Bai Kingdom courtiers and various forces, they continued to invite others to join the Bai family business and share the pie with the Bai family.

At first, there were only four Bai's firms: Bai's, Su's, Yuan's, and Quan's. Bai's was the main one and the other three were supplementary.

Later, the Sun family and the Hei family were added. The Sun family rebelled and was kicked out of the company. The Wang family took advantage of the situation and formed a pattern of one master and four auxiliaries, which was basically the same political situation as the Bai Kingdom.

To win over heroes, the Han Dynasty gave them land, titles, and official positions. The Bai Kingdom is different. Except for official positions and titles, land is not given. Officials who have made great contributions to the Bai Kingdom will, in addition to official positions and titles, be converted into money, food, and even business access qualifications.

The official positions in the Bai Kingdom are the same as those in the Han Dynasty. They are not allowed to be hereditary. They can only start from the bottom officials. However, unlike the Han Dynasty, the Bai Kingdom includes officials in the promotion scope of officials.

In the Han Dynasty, officials were officials and officials were officials. To become an official, one could only become an official through official channels and could not be promoted based on merit.

In the Bai Kingdom, if you have outstanding political achievements, you can be recommended by the local government office and participate in the official examination held by the Bai Mansion in Chaoge. If you pass the examination, you can become the lowest official, wear a seal, and receive a salary.

Because officials were just employees of the imperial court, strictly speaking, they were not part of the salary system. It's just that Bai Guoli's salary is very high and he has signed a contract, which is equivalent to a small official in the Han Dynasty.

The titles of the Bai Kingdom are similar to those of the Han Dynasty, but there are differences. Except for the Marquis of Guannei and the Marquises of Lieutenant, which can only be awarded by the Han Dynasty, there are only eighteen ranks of titles, up to the great concubine.

Moreover, inheritance and power are also different. The high-ranking nobles of the Han Dynasty can have the right to obtain fiefs. However, lower titles can only exempt part or all of taxes and labor, reduce sentences, give priority to official positions, etc., and are only valid for the current generation.

But so far, in order to collect more taxes, the Han Dynasty often expropriated people with titles for various reasons and imposed various other burdens in lieu of tax corvee, which made many people not buy titles.

The title of Bai Guo is more like an honor. In addition to receiving a small portion of the title issued by Bai Guo, it can also be exempted from tuition fees. And the title is passed down to three generations according to the descending system.

However, there is a special title in the Bai Kingdom, which is a monarch. It is an honorary title and can be hereditary. Most of them are passed down through the family. Currently, there are only seven clans in the Bai Kingdom that have inherited monarch titles, which were conferred by King Bai Guangcheng when he inherited the title.

Su's Su lord, Yuan's Yuan lord, Quan's Quan lord, Wang's Qiyuan lord, Hei's Yinshan lord, Zhang's Daode lord, and Bai's Zhongfu lord.

In addition, the money rewarded by the White Kingdom is very rich. Basically, you will have no worries about food and clothing in this life.

If you have made great achievements and obtained the qualification to enter the firm, it means that you can invest money in the firm. If the firm needs it, you can join any branch and receive a single salary. If there is no need, you can just sit back and collect the money. At least within two or three generations, there is no need to worry about food and clothing.

After you have enough food and clothing, your children and grandchildren can receive a better education. With poems and books passed down to your family, at least someone will serve as an official in every generation. Having an official position means that your family will be stable. As long as the Bai family does not fall, you will Just don't worry. Even if the Bai Kingdom is gone, there is still a chance of revival if there are poems and books in the family.
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【Descent】

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Xuan Yingzu (93 years old): His surname was Bai Shiqi. [Last words]: Use heaven and earth as a chess game, and have no regrets about your moves.

Ancestor of Heshun (90 years old): Si's surname was Bai Shixu [last words]: Bai was different from Han, the country was small but business was not suppressed.

(End of this chapter)