Chastity Layman

  Chapter 919 Changle dowry

  Chang'an.

  In the Taiji Palace, Li Shimin was drinking tea with the empress's eldest grandson, the uncle's eldest grandson Wuji, and his uncle Gao Shilian.

  The tea is Yixing purple bamboo shoots, and the tea set used is also a purple sand pot from Yixing, Changzhou, the east of the Yangtze River. Yixing Zisun is different from Gu Zhuzisun in Huzhou. Although it is the same kind of tea, Gu Zhusun uses traditional steamed thin sliced ​​tea, while Yixing Zisun is a new style of loose fried tea.

This is the queen's favorite tea. Although it is not as famous as Mengdingshihua in Jiannan, it is not as popular as West Lake Longjing, Wuyi Mountain Dahongpao, Quanzhou Anxi Tieguanyin, Yunnan Pu'er, etc., but the empress Changsun prefers Yixing purple bamboo shoots. I also like Yixing's purple clay tea set.

   "The girl was not allowed to stay. I invite Wuji and Uncle to come today. I also invite you two elders of Wu Niang to discuss the matter of Wu Niang's dowry."

  Li Shimin held the small and exquisite purple sand teacup and took a sip, but he didn't like this kind of tea that was too light.

"Princess Changle is the eldest daughter of His Majesty and the Empress, and she is married to the son of Taiwei Qin Qiong. Qin Lang is still the prime minister of the court. Naturally, this dowry should be added." Changsun Wuji said proudly, "I Uncle can't be stingy either, I'm willing to add 800,000 guan to the princess, and have a hundred hectares of land and 80 shops."

  Li Shimin couldn't help being surprised when he heard this, "Auxiliary machine, you are going to bleed a lot!"

"I have also set up some family businesses in the past few years, and I have made a lot of money. Your Majesty also knows that many of them were brought by Qin Lang with my family. Such as frosted sugar, white wine, celadon, fried tea, cotton, book printing, shipbuilding, etc. Haimao and others all follow the Qin family." Changsun told the truth, Henan Changsun's family is the clan of the Northern Wei Dynasty, a famous family that has gone through several dynasties, of course it is powerful.

  Although they are Xianbei people, since the Northern Dynasties, Hu and Han have merged. In fact, Xianbei people have already been Sinicized. When the eldest Sun Sheng died, the eldest Sun Wuji was young and was kicked out of the house by his half-brothers. His mother took him and his younger sister to live with his uncle Gao Shilian. At that time, his uncle was also demoted to Annan. They lived in Chang'an for several years. Hard days.

But soon the eldest grandson married Li Shimin, and the eldest grandson Wuji also followed Li Shimin. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the eldest grandson's family turned around again. Elder brother, I have to come back and beg for their forgiveness. Changsun Wuji not only regained his own family business, but also became the head of the Henan Changsun family.

   Uncle Sun Shunde, elder brother Sun Anye committed crimes several times, and they were all saved by him.

  As the uncle of the country and the prime minister, the eldest grandson's family, which has been famous for hundreds of years, is naturally more prosperous. Even without Qin Lang's leadership, how many businessmen want to join the family, begging to donate their property? This is also the secret of the rich and powerful. They joined forces with merchants and powerful people. Those people voted under the door to share the benefits. They protected them with power and shared the benefits.

  In these years, the eldest grandson’s family has raced to enclose land, buying fields and land everywhere, setting up countless manors in the Central Plains, not to mention buying a large number of slaves in the border areas, and even hiring barbarians to reclaim wasteland and establish commercial settlements. On the other hand, there are many hot-selling commodity trades, most of which are still monopoly operations, and the profits here are astonishing.

  In more than ten years, the wealth of the eldest grandson's family has doubled.

   Just the fields alone cover several thousand hectares, so taking out a hundred hectares of land is really nothing.

  800,000 guan is just a lottery.

  Thinking about the offshoots of the seven families with five surnames in Shandong, who sold their marriages for profit after they broke down, they often sold them for only 800,000 yuan or a million yuan. The difference is huge.

  However, with the salary of Changsun Wuji, it is not easy to save 800,000 guan. Since Zhenguan, the salary of officials has been continuously improved, but a prime minister is only a few hundred guan in a month.

  Of course Li Shimin is aware of his brother-in-law's net worth, and knows that he has not been corrupted, nor does he need to be corrupted.

  Gao Shilian, the uncle of the princess, of course, can't be stingy, so he also expressed his willingness to add makeup to the marriage, "I will add 900,000 yuan, nine farms, eighteen shops, and one hundred and twenty hectares of land."

  His seniority is higher than Changsun Wuji, and he is the uncle of the princess, so he specially added some makeup.

  Finally, he said, "I would like to marry my niece Qiniang as my concubine."

Gao Qiniang is Gao Shilian's concubine's daughter, and she also used it as a dowry, which is touching, but dowry is also an ancient etiquette of the family. Dowry system. For example, if the suzerain's family marries a daughter, the Xiaozong will send the daughter as a dowry, and if she is married, she will be a concubine!

  During the Spring and Autumn Period, when a court official married a daughter, there would usually be several concubines from the same family as dowry, usually cousins ​​or something.

  The eldest grandson Wuji immediately stated his position, saying that his brother's eldest grandson Anye and several other families also have daughters of the right age, and the emperor and princess can choose two dowries as concubines.

   "Then I'll pick another niece from my own family to marry as a dowry. It's a good thing." Gao Shilian said.

  Empress Changsun poured tea for her uncle and brother, "Actually, there is no need to be so grand."

  In the ancient concubine dowry system, the highest standard was the dowry of sisters, followed by the dowry of clan sisters, and the third was the dowry of maids.

  Nowadays, maids are generally used as dowry, and there are not many sisters and cousins.

   "Be more grand!"

   "That's right, we watched Changle grow up, and this child has always been obedient and filial."

  Changsun Wuji even said that if he and Qin Lang hadn't married their sons and daughters a long time ago, they would have chosen a daughter to marry as a dowry this time.

  Although princes and aristocrats marry each other and their generations are often confused, it is always bad for two older sisters to marry father and son. Just like Gao Shilian is the uncle of the eldest grandson empress, but Gao Shilian's eldest son Gao Shizhen is still in favor of Li Shimin's daughter Dongyang princess, which is a generation behind.

  Princess Dongyang called Gao to fulfill her uncle's duty.

However, there are many such things, such as Fang Xuanling's sons, one is still Li Shimin's daughter, Princess Gaoyang, and the other is married to Gaozu Li Yuan's son Jing Wang Yuanjing's daughter, these two brothers married cousins, but their younger sister married After giving Gaozu's son King Han as his concubine, the younger sister suddenly became the wife and aunt of the two brothers.

   Chengqian is seeking a meeting outside.

"I heard that the sage and the queen invited uncle and uncle to discuss the dowry of the younger sister. As the elder brother of the same mother, of course I have to participate. My son, Donggong Neifang, has also accumulated some money over the years and is willing to add a hundred Thousands of dollars."

  Li Shimin stroked his beard.

   "Your uncle added nine hundred thousand, and your uncle added eight hundred thousand. How can you, a junior, have more than your elders? You should add six hundred thousand. It's a little bit of your kindness."

   "Yes, my son is willing to be responsible for buying jewelry, furniture, etc. for the wedding."

   "How much do you plan to buy?"

  Li Chengqian thought for a while, "Let's take one million."

What are gold, wheat and silver rice, pearl tents strung together with pearls, cold curtains made of bird bones, falcon doves made of seven treasures, Shensi embroidered quilts embroidered with three thousand mandarin ducks, emerald boxes decorated with feathers, and the Tiaozhi Kingdom. The five-color jade assortment box, the round table with hundreds of treasures, the glazed crystal tortoise shell bed and so on are presented.

  There are many good things in Prince Neifang.

   It is said that it is a million hits, but it is definitely far more than that.

Li Shimin loves Changle the most. Now that he is going to get married, he can't wait to have the most grand wedding in the world. Although Wei Zheng has been criticizing the emperor, he said that the dowry of the eldest prince is much higher than that of their aunts and princesses, and also that of his sisters. Tall, impolite.

   But Li Shimin won't listen to it, as long as I don't use the money from the national treasury and use the money from the internal treasury, you can control it?

  Common people have to pay attention to grandeur when marrying a daughter, but I can’t do it?

"Qin Qiong asked Daozong to send a list a few days ago. It is a gift of preparation, a thousand hectares of land, three hundred shops in Chang'an and Luoyang, a merchant fleet of ten large ships on the southeast sea, and ten mines. Looks like it's worth at least five million guan!"

  Changsun Wuji smiled and said, "Shubao is really rich, and he spent a lot of money to marry his daughter-in-law."

"Yeah, Shubao is so generous, so naturally I can't be stingy. I plan to marry five million as a dowry. In addition, I will allocate a hundred miles to Changle in Liuqiu Island, and allocate three thousand households to make soup and food for her. .”

  Even though the queen was very happy to be on the side, she still reminded her husband, "Will it be too ostentatious and extravagant? I'm afraid it will bring a bad atmosphere of luxury. Although the Tang Dynasty is peaceful now, the king should still take the lead in thrift."

   "I'm just such a beloved daughter, why can't I show off a bit?"

   "Pay attention to the impact!" the Queen said.

The royal family can indeed spend so much money, and the eldest grandson family, the Gao family, and the prince can easily add millions of makeup, but the problem is that in the future, those wealthy families with honor and relatives will all talk about ostentation like this, and it will form Very bad atmosphere.

"Courts and concubines often heard in the palace that nowadays the dowry is expensive in folk marriages, and the ceremony for marrying wives is high. Originally, marriage and marriage, and dowry, were just a kind of etiquette, and it did not depend on the number of high or low, but now it is slow. Slowly, the quality changed. Many people asked for high dowry, and if they couldn't get it, they couldn't get married. There were also some people who disliked that the woman's family couldn't come up with a valuable dowry. It's a very bad atmosphere.

  The concubine thinks that to change this kind of atmosphere, it should start with the royal family. If the emperor can't take the lead, how can the common people in this world change it? "

  Li Shimin blew on his beard, "My in-laws, Qin Qiong, already paid five million yuan, so I want to be poor as a dowry? Wouldn't it make people laugh, especially those Shandong gentry, who don't know how to make fun of me!"

"The sage summoned Qin Taiwei to come, and explained to his face that we promised Changle to Huailiang, and it was not for the sake of wealth and honor. Now that the ten-year marriage contract is approaching, Huailiang has also become an important minister of Tang Zhenguan, Pingkangfang The Qin family is also a well-known and wealthy family in the world, so those superficial ostentations are not necessary at all, the concubine thinks that the Taiwei can understand, and Huailiang can understand even more."

   "This is not a faux pas."

  Li Shimin was not very happy. He looked at Changsun Wuji, then at Gao Shilian, and then at Crown Prince Chengqian.

   "I'm just such an eldest daughter, the wedding is grand."

"Saint, grandness does not mean that the more dowry, the grander it is. Besides, the saint does not have only one daughter in Changle. There are twenty-one daughters under the saint's knees. Could it be that all of them will be so ostentatious in the future? I am afraid that the money in the saint's inner treasury will not be extravagant." Let’s get up, isn’t this treating one person more favorably than another?”

  In addition to a dozen unmarried daughters, the emperor also has a bunch of unmarried eldest princess sisters. Let alone a five million crown, even a one million crown would not be able to marry.

   "Then how much do you think is appropriate?"

"I heard that the two taxes in a county in Guanzhong are about 200,000 guan a year. Why not limit it to 200,000 guan? In fact, even so, I thought it was a bit of a waste. It's too extravagant to hold a wedding with the amount of taxes for a county in a year."

  Li Shimin groaned, "Qin Lang set up a Foshan iron town in Guangzhou, and now the annual tax payment is far more than 200,000 guan."

"Your Majesty, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. When you have money, you think you have no money. In today's Tang Dynasty, there are still many people who don't even have enough food and clothing. Use this extravagant and wasted money Wouldn't it be better to go to those poor people and provide them with food and clothing?"

   These words made Li Shimin speechless for a moment.

After a long time, he sighed with some embarrassment, "I was confused for a while, thank you Queen for reminding me, Auxiliary Machine and Cheng Qian will accompany me to Qinrenfang to explain clearly to Shu Bao in person, this marriage should not be too extravagant and wasteful. The Queen said Yes, I have saved some money in the past few years, and I have become a little bit smug, forgetting that there are hundreds of millions of people in the Tang Dynasty, and now there are still many thirsts that have not been solved, I am confused!"

  (end of this chapter)