History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 31 Bedside Politics 4
Prince Consort is the "decoration" of the royal family

The greatest wish of scholars in ancient times was to be the number one scholar in the examination. If the emperor favored him and was chosen as his son-in-law, that would be the rarest thing in the world.Being able to become the son-in-law of the emperor, the husband of the princess, and the son-in-law will naturally have a smooth official career and enjoy endless glory and wealth.

In fact, it is a big mistake to think this way. In fact, being a son-in-law is not so beautiful, and being a son-in-law is not a good job. This can be seen from the origin of the word "consort".

After Qin Shihuang unified China, he often went on tours, and every time he went on tours, he shouted and hugged, with a great momentum.

Once, when his convoy was passing through Bolangsha (now Yuanyang, Henan), it was attacked by a big iron cone. Fortunately, only the auxiliary car was hit.This surprised Qin Shihuang a lot.Therefore, in the subsequent cruises, the vehicle he took was often changed, and many auxiliary vehicles were arranged at the same time.He also specially set up a substitute to deceive people. From then on, when the emperors of all dynasties went on tour, they followed Qin Shihuang's practice and personally selected a substitute, and most of the substitutes were his son-in-law.The reason for choosing the son-in-law is because the son-in-law is a member of the royal family and will not damage the majesty and dignity of the emperor. In case of an accident, the son-in-law has a different surname, and he is just a victim when he dies, and the royal family will not take the "secondary car".In this way, because the emperor's son-in-law served as a substitute and rode in the auxiliary car, and followed the emperor to tour various places, people later called the emperor's son-in-law "son-in-law".Passed down from generation to generation.

Therefore, although the son-in-law can climb up to the royal family, he can't get rid of the fate of "stand-in", and even has a much lower status than the princess.The princess is pampered and pampered, she is the proud daughter of heaven, and most of the sons-in-law are from commoner background, even if they are the sons of high-ranking officials, they are not as noble as the royal family.

When the princess gets married, the emperor will definitely build a new house for the princess. Some of these new houses are found for land and new ones are built, and some of them are completely demolished and rebuilt.When the princess gets married, the dowry is very rich.She will bring a large amount of property to enter the door together with officials, government offices, and servants, so the house where the son-in-law lives lives in the princess mansion. All the wealth, officials, and servants of the princess mansion belong to the princess and are directly controlled by the princess. , the status of the son-in-law in the princess mansion is similar to that of a vassal, without sovereignty at all.Everything must be obeyed by the princess.

In a male-centered feudal society, life is not easy for a son-in-law who lacks dignity.You have to live a life without a right to speak at home, and outside, the son-in-law can't show his strength. Looking through the history of the son-in-law, you will find that the number of son-in-laws who have held important official positions is very small, and they are not politically successful. too smooth.Because according to the custom, concubines are generally designated as false titles outside the control at first. During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang further stipulated that concubines should not be officials in the court for life.

It turned out that the son-in-law was not a good job. Not only was his official career limited, but he was also cautious and submissive in front of his wife, which was far from being as beautiful as people imagined.If the wife is not happy, she may even be divorced. In the end, the son-in-law is just an ornament of the royal family, which the princesses can fiddle with.

(End of this chapter)