Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

From the perspective of modern people, people in ancient times can marry as many women as they want as long as they are rich and powerful, and no one else cares.

The so-called man is not a man who has three wives and four concubines.Only poor people who can't eat three meals a day can only sleep with one woman in their lives.

Three wives and four concubines, as the name suggests, are three wives and four concubines.

But after traveling to the Ming Dynasty, Su Mu realized that this was nothing but nonsense.

In ancient times, although monogamy was not a system, and a man was not allowed to have many women, but in the legal sense, he could only have one wife. Except for this official wife, other concubines had no status at all and were not protected by law. In terms of status, they are only a little higher than domestic slaves.For concubines, the main wife is their master.

This is the typical ancient marriage system of monogamy and multiple concubines, and it has been thousands of years since ancient times.

This is also the reason why Su Mu has never been able to handle his relationship with Miss Wu and Hu Ying. To him, these two women have a deep friendship with him, and it is not what he would like to see if anyone becomes a concubine.

The status of a concubine in the family is actually similar to that of a girl. The wife is recorded in the government, and the concubine is a contract of sale. If you don't like it, you can buy it.

In ancient times, big families were very taboo about "spoiling concubines and destroying wives". Now, it's the mistress who is righting the righteousness. If this matter is covered by someone with a heart, it will be unbearable, and the reputation and status will be lost.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was clearly stipulated that if your wife is gone, if you want to promote your beloved concubine to wife, you have violated the criminal law. Once the incident happens, the couple will have to serve one and a half years in prison together, and they will still have to divorce.Therefore, when the wife is gone, you should continue to find a matchmaker, and you are looking for a stepmother, not a mistress.

The laws of the Ming Dynasty are somewhat different from those of the Tang Dynasty, but legally they still protect the main wife.Among them, it is stipulated: if the wife is present, if the concubine is the wife, the stick will be ninety, and it will be corrected.

Taking a concubine as a wife has already been punished so severely, let alone stop marrying a wife.

Su Mu's current situation is like marrying another wife, which is a felony!

Ninety sticks, at the thought of this punishment, Su Mu's hairs stood on end, and sweat came out of his forehead.

If he was really beaten with ninety sticks, I'm afraid that his life will be confessed here.

I was even angrier in my heart, and couldn't help but secretly scolded Wu Er Er: I was hurt by you this time, and it was also my Su Mu who suffered for such a useless brother-in-law!

In fact, it is easy to explain this matter clearly. You only need to call Wu's second son and explain in front of everyone that you and Miss Wu are not husband and wife, and everything will be revealed.

But Wu Er Er is a restless person. He should have gone down the Grand Canal to play in Dezhou, Shandong.

It really doesn't work, in order to save my life, I can only move Princess Taikang out. As for the reputation of Queen Mother Zhang and the royal family, ghosts don't care!

Su Mu actually looked up to the sky and sighed.

"Mei Fugui, for the sake of your official position and wealth, you disregarded the fact that you already had a wife at home, coveted the power of the Wu Tui official in Yangzhou, stopped wives and refused to marry, corrupted public morals, disturbed the morals of the world, and regarded rituals as nothing. Sin is unforgivable, what else do you have to say?"

Yang Tongzhi's voice was sharp and the echoes kept ringing.

The crowd outside the audience exploded and began to discuss in low voices.

"I didn't expect Mei Xunjian to be such a person. I originally thought that he was a poet and wine man, a rare man with both civil and military skills, but he did such a scandal for his own wealth."

"Yeah, it's amazing."

"This person is really not a son of man!"

Someone even spat out "Bah!" and cursed, "Chen Shimei!"

……

In the discussion, everyone looked contemptuous.

Su Mu's move can be said to have challenged the entire social order.

Although Guan Zhizhou intended to protect Su Mu, seeing the excitement of the crowd, he shook his head helplessly, thinking: This Mei Fugui is over, his official position comes from that official Wu Tui of Yangzhou.This matter must have reached the ears of Mr. Wu sooner or later. At that time, I don't know how his father-in-law Taishan will deal with him.However, don't even think about getting an official position in the future.

After Yang Tongzhi finished speaking, he asked several witnesses to sign and sign one by one, and took the evidence.

Then, there was one final step to go, which was the testimony of Mei's original partner.

Immediately, Yang Tongzhi shouted: "Mr. Mei Gong."

Mei Niang raised her head and said in a trembling voice, "The women are here."

Yang Tongzhi: "Tang Xia Mei Gong, I want to ask you, are you the wife of Mei Fugui's three matchmakers and six hires?"

But Mei Niang suddenly called out: "Of course the civilian woman is Mei Fugui's wife, but not this villain's wife?"

After finishing speaking, Mei Niang suddenly jumped up, threw her arms open towards Su Mu, and cried out in grief: "Wicked man, pay back my husband's life!"

Her hair was also loose, her face turned white with hatred, she looked like a ghost!

Su Mu was startled, and hurriedly moved away.

"What's going on?" Everyone was unprepared for this sudden scene.

Immediately, a female yamen servant rushed up, hugged Meiniang tightly, and asked sternly.

With tears all over her face, Mei Niang pointed at Su Mu and scolded: "Master Qingtian, Lord Qingtian, the women have been wronged. This villain is not the husband of the women, Mei Fugui, but an impostor!"

This sentence made everyone gasp, even Guan Zhizhou couldn't help asking: "What's the mess, isn't he Mei Fugui?"

Mei Niang gritted her teeth: "Why can't my husband recognize my husband? I got the good news from the court and knew that my husband had made an inspection tour in Cangzhou. It happened that my hometown was hit by a disaster, so I came here to seek refuge. But I didn't think that this Mei Fugui was not my husband at all. .Thinking about it, it must be an impostor, and please ask Master Qingtian to make the decision for me!"

After finishing speaking, she broke away from the hand of the female yamen servant, cried loudly, and kowtowed continuously until blood dripped from her forehead.

This sudden scene made Su Mu stunned.

Not only him, but even Yang Tongzhi and Guan Zhizhou stood up in shock at the same time.

Outside the yamen, there was also a roar at the same time.

No matter how you look at it, killing an official and pretending to be a fake name, and then being caught and exposed by the family is a major case worthy of shocking the world.

Guan Zhizhou also knew the seriousness of the case, so he asked Su Mu: "Who are you, is what Mei Gong said true?"

"Before Su Mu answered, Ma Quan shouted excitedly: "It must be true, the witness is here, and it was Mei Fugui's wife who personally corrected him.Haha, this bird man turned out to be a criminal who killed officials and pretended to be a murderer, and the laws of the country cannot tolerate it.Master Guan, Master Yang, take him down quickly so that he can be interrogated. "

Unlike Ma Quan's excitement, Yang Tongzhi's heart skipped a beat.He called Su Mu over today to charge him with bigamy in order to proceed to the next step.But by mistake, such a strange case came up.Although it was possible to take down Su Mu, it disrupted the overall plan.Immediately, the imperial court will send imperial envoys to Cangzhou to escort the relief money, and I heard that they are already on the way.In other words, the matter must be settled within two or three days, otherwise, all that awaits him, Lord Liu, and Lord Jing is a death sentence.

To be honest, he doesn't want to make extra trouble now.