Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 374 New Year's Eve of the 2019th Year of Kaixi (Special thanks to the book friend 1925…2 for the monthly tickets!)

Chai Zongxun immediately told Zhou Nuying the story of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The most famous conflict between a princess and her husband in history that caused a big incident was that between Princess Liyi Liu Shou, the daughter of Emperor Guangwu of Han.

Yin Lihua's father was named Yin Lu, a wealthy man in Nanyang. He "became extremely rich overnight, with more than 700 hectares of land, and chariots, horses, and servants, comparable to those of the kings of other states."

Yin Lu had four sons and one daughter, namely Yin Shi, Yin Lihua, Yin Xin, Yin Xing, and Yin Jiu. The Yin family was not only the foreign relatives of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also the founding heroes, so there were four people in the family who were conferred the title of marquis.

Yin is Yin Lihua's younger brother. "He is good at talking and no other court official can match him. However, he has a stubborn and arrogant personality and is not well-received by the public."

Princess Liyi married Yin Jiu's son Yin Feng, which strengthened the relationship between the two families.

However, this political marriage was not happy, for a simple reason: the two people's personalities were incompatible. Princess Liyi was a princess of the emperor, arrogant and domineering, and did not take her husband Yin Feng seriously at all. And the husband Yin Feng was the cousin of Emperor Ming of Han, and he was also extraordinary and had a bad temper.

The conflict finally broke out in 59 AD. During another quarrel between the two, the hot-tempered Yin Feng impulsively picked up a knife and killed the spoiled Princess Liyi on the spot.

How dare they kill a princess? Emperor Ming of Han, who had been on the throne for only two years, was looking for an opportunity to intimidate the nobles and old ministers in the court and establish his own imperial power, so he investigated the matter strictly.

Emperor Ming of Han Dynasty finally ruled that although Yin Feng, the consort of the emperor, was the nephew of the empress dowager and his cousin, he was guilty of killing the princess and was sentenced to death. According to the laws of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yin Feng's parents were also jointly liable and were also executed.

Emperor Ming of Han was determined to intimidate his ministers, and initially issued an order to kill all members of the Yin family.

In the end, it was Yin Lihua who came forward to persuade the emperor, and Emperor Ming of Han finally showed mercy outside the law and sentenced his uncle Yin Jiu and aunt to death. "The emperor did not carry out the extreme punishment because of his uncle's family background," and did not involve other members of the Yin clan.

After hearing this, Zhou Nuying showed worry on her face and said:

"Your Majesty, Dan'er grew up in the palace and has never suffered any injustice. How can she bear the slightest bit of bullying from others after marrying into the prince consort's family?!"

Chai Zongxun said with a sigh:

“In view of this, I want to establish a new marriage system for princesses:
Get married, but don't marry into the husband's family, and start a family independently with the husband's wife!"

Chai Zongxun paused and continued:
"After Dan'er selects a prince consort through the audition, I will grant the princess a mansion and a place for her and her prince consort to live together.

Grant the son-in-law a sixth-rank official position and enter the government, with the highest rank being the third rank. "

Zhou Nuying thought for a moment and felt that Chai Zongxun's method would allow her daughter to live near Bian Jing, under the protection of her father and mother, which made her feel much more at ease. She immediately expressed her agreement.

After the royal wedding of Chai Zongxun and Princess Anna, the New Year's Eve soon arrived.

This winter is colder and it is a year of abundant snow.

While Chai Zongxun and other members of the imperial family were celebrating the New Year in the imperial palace and Bianliang, wearing sable and fox fur cloaks, the people in all parts of the Great Zhou also put on thick cotton clothes for the winter.

Cotton was introduced to China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but it was only planted in some border areas at that time, and there was no large-scale planting across the country. Therefore, the cotton production was very low and the price was high. Only some nobles could afford to buy quilts and cotton clothes. Du Fu has a poem that says: "The cloth quilt has been cold for many years and is as cold as iron. The naughty child stepped on it and tore it." The quilt mentioned in the poem is made of cloth and paper.

During the Tang Dynasty, in order to meet the winter needs of most civilians, a kind of cheap and warm cold-proof clothing was created, that is, "paper clothes".

During the production process, merchants will add some other cold-resistant materials, such as tree bark, to make it warmer. Because of this, it also has another name "paper fur".

The emergence of "paper fur coat" changed the way ordinary people kept warm and greatly improved people's lives in winter. The high quality and low price of "paper fur coat" also made most ordinary people very satisfied and it became widely known among the people.

This kind of "paper clothing" is not literally paper clothing. It is different from the ordinary paper used for writing. It is made of paper mulberry resin.

Of course, the warmth retention performance of paper clothes is still far behind that of cotton clothes, but the price of a few dozen or even a few coins per piece made it a must-have item for the people to keep warm in winter during the Tang Dynasty and the Four Dynasties before Chai Zongxun.

After Chai Zongxun ascended the throne and conquered various places and unified the country, the commodity economy of the Great Zhou developed rapidly under the national policy of "focusing on industry and commerce".

Many of the newly incorporated territories, such as Liugufan, the Hexi Corridor, and Central Asia, are vast and rich in resources, and are suitable for growing cash crops such as cotton.

As the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty generally solved the problem of food and clothing and entered a well-off life under benevolent and prosperous policies, the number of people who could afford cotton also increased greatly, which greatly promoted the cultivation of cotton in border states.

During the Tang Dynasty, a cotton coat cost about five hundred coins, while the average annual income of the common people was only one thousand coins. Cotton coats were a luxury that only high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen could afford.

With the great development of the social economy of the Great Zhou Dynasty over the past twenty years of the "Kaixi Prosperity", the area for growing cotton was much larger than that in the Tang Dynasty.

At this time, Chai Zongxun, on the one hand, cotton production increased hundreds and thousands of times compared with the Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, under the vigorous promotion of the national commodity economy and maritime trade development and the weakening of the official-centered system, the income of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty also increased nearly seven times compared with the Tang Dynasty. The minimum annual income of adult laborers was more than 7 wen, and the average annual income of the nation was between and wen.

The price of cotton clothes has dropped compared to the Tang Dynasty as cotton production has increased and supply has become sufficient, and now costs roughly four hundred to five hundred coins per piece.

Therefore, especially in the past ten years, cotton-padded clothes have quickly entered the homes of ordinary people in Da Zhou and have become a warm winter clothing that almost everyone owns.

According to Chai Zongxun's conservative estimate, the annual output value of the cotton industry in the Great Zhou Dynasty was more than 50 million taels, which would at least rank among the top ten industries in the country in terms of output value.

Another industry that has grown extremely fast in the past two decades is the clothing manufacturing industry, which has grown at least a hundredfold in size.

Before Chai Zongxun ascended the throne, there was no clothing manufacturing industry in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who were struggling to make ends meet, were all wearing tattered clothes.

In the traditional small peasant economy of "men farming and women weaving", clothes for the whole family were all made by the hostess with hard work using cloth.

The starting point for the rise of the Zhou Dynasty's clothing manufacturing industry was in the 1th year of Kaixi, when Chai Zongxun issued an imperial decree that the minimum monthly salary for employees across the country was tael and coins.

After ensuring the rationality of the social distribution system, people's income and life are guaranteed. After just one or two years, every household will have surplus money.

In the first few years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, people bought new cloth to make clothes for their families. As their families became more prosperous, they had the need to buy nice clothes, and thus the clothing industry began to take off.

(End of this chapter)