Chapter 1036 Wedding
Chapter 1036 Wedding
The most eye-catching event in the capital in October was probably the marriage of the King of Chu.
The princess was the daughter of Zu Yingzu Shining, a Palace Attendant. She was born into the Zu family of Qiuren. Her family had been officials of the rank of two thousand stone for generations. Although they were not as powerful as those families with three dukes in four generations or three dukes in two generations, they had been able to maintain their status for a long time, which was not easy.
Now, in the tenth generation, there seems to be the possibility of further progress and it can be said to be extremely prosperous.
The newly appointed General Guangwei (fourth rank) Zu Yue returned from Huainan and presented a huge gift: many rare items from the southeast, worth millions of coins.
Many clan members and princesses also arrived.
Shao Shen, the general of the Left Cavalry Guard, gave his cousin a pair of jade disks, fifty fine horses, and some gold and silver items.
Princess Chengyang and her husband came from Yangxia with their son and daughter and presented a gift worth one million.
The King of Qi and his wife also arrived. Princess Liu was already pregnant. She held Zu's hand and talked for a long time.
It seemed like King Shao Gui of Chu was forcing a smile.
His wife was beautiful and talented, but she was not what he wanted.
The emperor and empress also sent gifts, but they were before the wedding and were taken out today to entertain the guests: hundreds of kilograms of tea produced in Yiyang County.
After decades of spread, more and more scholars in the world began to drink tea.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin, it was still popular only among the wealthy and famous people.
In the late Jin Dynasty, this trend became more and more prevalent, and more and more officials and ministers drank tea.
The emperor was also a tea lover, and he would always treat his guests with tea and wine no matter what occasion they were in. Thanks to his efforts, the tea drinking community expanded again.
At this time, even prefects and county magistrates liked to buy this product, either to cook and drink it themselves or to entertain guests.
After the guests gave their gifts, most of them were not eligible to stay and had to leave. Of course, there were some who could stay but found it too boring and decided to slip away, such as Shao Du.
He was the eldest son of Julu Prince Shao Shen, and his mother was Du.
The fifteen-year-old boy was already tall and strong, almost as tall as his father.
This is also normal.
Although Shao Shen benefited from his uncle Shao Xun, he still suffered for more than ten years. Shao Du, who was born in the Yongjia period, had a life of luxury since childhood and also liked to wield spears and sticks, so he was naturally strong.
Shao Du was surrounded by a few followers who were mostly nephews and nieces of the gang of bad boys that his father had fought against in Ganchengwu. After the Zhongwu Army was disbanded, most of those people became officers of the palace soldiers.
Seeing Yuan Dan at this moment, he laughed and asked, "When will Yan Dao go south?"
"I want to accompany you." Yuan Dan bowed and said, "It depends on when Your Highness leaves. Maybe in the beginning of winter."
"I can't leave at the beginning of the winter month." Shao Du said, "My uncle wants to make pickled mustard, and he can't leave until he finishes making three large jars of it."
When Yuan Dan heard this, his face almost twitched.
This bastard, why do you say anything? A founding emperor is trapped in the palace making pickles. Do you still want to say that his horse lance is full of pickles to dry?
"What's the matter?" Yuan Dan asked after calming down.
"Take me to play some Chupu." Shao Du said with a smile.
Yuan Dan turned and left.
"Hey, don't be impatient." Shao Du caught up and said helplessly: "I will go to the Shaofu to take up a post in a few days. If I continue to gamble then, I'm afraid that my grandfather will break my legs."
"Other people gamble for money, what about you?" Yuan Dan stopped and asked.
Shao Du was a little embarrassed and said, "It's quite interesting to play the game in the house."
Yuan Dan smiled and said, "When I win all your money, you will find it boring."
Shao Du was stunned at first, then he sighed: "That's right, and I don't have much money either."
"What position will you hold in the Shaofu?" Yuan Dan asked.
"Be a clerk and be in charge of a few coin-minting furnaces." Shao Du replied.
"What kind of money?"
"Do you know about Emperor Wu of Han's 'Platinum Third Grade'?" Shao Du asked.
"What?" Yuan Dan was shocked. "This Emperor Wu of Han plundered the people's property and was abolished after more than a year. Could it be that -"
"Don't be alarmed, Yan Dao." Shao Du said, "Your Majesty is not so greedy for money, it's just similar to this thing."
The so-called "three grades of platinum" is a currency issued by Emperor Wu of Han - it can be considered as legal tender.
The material is said to be silver-tin alloy, but in fact it is mainly tin or lead, with very little silver.
This kind of "silver" coin has three denominations. The first one is called "Bai Zhuan", which is worth three thousand coins; the second and third ones have no names, and are worth five hundred coins and three hundred coins respectively.
People at that time commonly called them dragon coins, horse coins, and turtle coins. There was no hole in the middle and could not be pierced with a rope. There were patterns of dragons, horses, and turtles on each coin. There was also a circle of foreign characters on the outer edge of the back of the dragon coin, but no one knew which country it was.
Emperor Wu of Han also knew that issuing this kind of currency was tantamount to robbery, so he first arranged auspicious events, first discovering a white deer in the garden, and then finding a horned beast during a suburban visit...
Simply put, people artificially created the sacredness of the new currency, believing that "the best thing for heaven is the dragon, the best thing for earth is the horse, and the best thing for people is the turtle". There are three coins in a set, so it is called "three platinum coins".
But the world is material, and the common people found that the three grades of platinum were almost all lead, with very little silver, so they minted them privately.
For a time, the whole country was counterfeiting money, and the whole country was in an uproar. "There were countless officials and people who counterfeited platinum" - in the end, there were hundreds of thousands of counterfeiters released from prison, and more than one million people who surrendered were pardoned.
There was only one reason for the failure of issuing the third-grade platinum legal tender: Emperor Wu of Han was too greedy.
You issue legal tender and collect some seigniorage, 5%, 10% or something like that, no problem. There is no need to risk the death penalty for this little bit of profit. There are countless businesses in the world that can earn more than %.
But you used eight ounces of lead to cheat everyone out of three thousand five hundred baht coins. Isn't that too much?
You forcibly stipulate that one dragon coin is worth three thousand coins. Okay, I don’t object, I will also mint this coin. How should you respond?
So, when minting a silver coin, you can play with the weight and make some profit but you can't deviate too far - this is what Yuan Dan is worried about.
"Shaofu originally wanted to mint three coins with the patterns of dragon, horse and turtle, but they were discredited by Emperor Wu of Han..." Shao Du took out a round silver coin from his pocket and said, "So Shaofu only minted dragon coins, nine red silver coins and one tin coin, weighing four taels (less than 56 grams), and worth ten thousand coins." Yuan Dan took the silver coin and took a closer look. There was a dragon pattern on the front and two "Shao" stamps on the back.
Then he silently calculated in his mind that if it was four taels of pure Zhuti silver, it would be worth about nine thousand six hundred Kaiping Tongbao coins.
Today, this dragon coin weighs four taels, and is nine parts silver and one part tin. It is also forcibly stipulated that it is worth ten thousand coins. The court has indeed made a profit, but not much. It is not worth risking death to privately mint it unless you have direct access to the silver mine.
But there is still a problem now. Zhuti silver had been exhausted at the end of the Han Dynasty. There may still be some small silver mines in various places today, but none of them can compare to the prosperity of Zhuti silver in the past.
Therefore, even though this kind of dragon coin could be accepted by people all over the world, not many could be minted, and it was completely insufficient for use. At most, it could only be given to officials as a reward.
In the past, Guo Xiu, a surrendered general of Cao Wei, assassinated Fei Yi. After his death, he was posthumously named Marquis of Changle Township. His son inherited the title and was given a thousand pieces of silk and a thousand cakes of silver.
This silver cake is the reward.
Of course, strictly speaking, there is a difference. The silver cakes awarded by Cao Wei were not coins, unlike the "three white gold coins" of Emperor Wu of Han and the "dragon coins" of the current emperor, which were clearly stipulated as coins and those who counterfeited them would be put to death.
Yuan Dan stuffed the dragon coin back into Shao Du's hand and said with a smile, "It's only ten thousand coins, just enough for a day's meal."
"Zeng Zishao spent 20,000 coins a day on food, and I don't know how he managed to eat it." Shao Du sighed, "Last time I wanted to eat deer tail, my mother told me to wait half a month before buying it."
"Mrs. Du is a virtuous woman who has a lot of money but does not waste it." Yuan Dan sighed and then asked, "How much money was minted?"
"Only a thousand." Shao Du said, "After I take up my post, I will ask whether they will be minted."
"What's the use of that?" Yuan Dan asked in surprise, "A game of Chupu can win or lose millions. Which wealthy merchant with a greater reputation doesn't carry goods worth thousands or tens of thousands of strings of cash? One thousand dragon coins is only ten thousand strings of cash. If you let Wen Qinzhou take it to the gambling table, he would lose it all in one day."
Shao Du couldn't help laughing, and could only say: "I don't know either, I was just following orders."
Yuan Dan stood there silently, thinking carefully.
To be honest, he was quite interested, more interested than winning a big prize.
Why did they mint dragon coins when they knew there wouldn't be enough? These 1,000 coins were gone in the blink of an eye, without even a splash, and they may not appear on the market again from now on.
In fact, Yuan Dan was not the only one who did not understand. Yu Hua, the Supervisor of the Imperial Household, who was having a banquet in the Prince of Chu's Palace, also did not quite understand.
The emperor thought he was greedy and stupid, and most of the time he was unwilling to talk more, leaving him confused.
After drinking until he was blackout, Yu Hua was helped back home.
The next morning, Shao Xun and Yu Wenjun were already sitting in the main hall.
The newlyweds came together to pay their respects.
Shao Xun observed and found that his second son Shao Gui, who had been forcing a smile yesterday, looked much better, while his daughter-in-law Zu had a shy look on her face and was more beautiful than a flower.
Shao Xun felt a little emotional.
Before he knew it, he had reached this age.
In a few months, my first grandchild will be born. It seems like a dream just thinking about it.
Yu Wenjun gently held his hand.
Shao Xun came back to his senses, looked at the newlyweds, and said, "It is a great honor to have such a beautiful couple. You two should support each other and grow old together."
The two of them responded in unison.
Shao Xun looked at his second son and said, "Since you are newly married, you should stay in Luojing for the next month."
"Father." Upon hearing this, Shao Gui immediately said, "I am willing to accompany you on your journey south to share your worries."
Shao Xun was speechless.
I want to give you a day off, but you're not willing to do it.
"Well." He stood up and said, "It's not far, just go. Go see your mother later. She has been waiting for you for a long time. She cried last night."
After breakfast, Shao Xun got on the sedan chair.
"Your Majesty..." Yu Wenjun said softly.
"Call me husband."
"Husband, won't you accompany me to see Sister Liang?" Yu Wenjun asked.
"If we go, people might gossip about us," Shao Xun said.
Yu Wenjun said, "Last time my husband said that my sister's child was only eight months old, but that's not true. I sent someone to ask, and it turns out that the child was born at full term."
Shao Xun said helplessly: "You women are concerned about these trivial matters all day long. I don't have the leisure time for this. I have to deal with Liu Lugu's matter after returning to the palace."
After saying that, he shook his head and laughed, as if he was speechless.
"Your Majesty is capable of great things..." Yu Wenjun said softly, looking ahead.
The imperial carriage moved slowly forward and soon entered the palace.
At this time, news came from the north: Wang Feng, Liu Runzhong, Wang Que'er and others joined forces and defeated the brothers Liu Lugu and Liu Hu at Gaoque.
Liu Hu led his people to surrender. Lu Gu was wounded and fled with only a few hundred cavalrymen. He was later captured by the Zheju tribe of the Hexi Xianbei and was being sent to Luoyang.
At the same time, Duke Dai Tuoba Shiyijian and his wife Wang led Liu Lugu's family and more than a thousand of his followers south to pay their respects.
The situation in the north has been settled temporarily, and now we can concentrate on dealing with the south.
(The third chapter is here, please give me a monthly ticket.)
(End of this chapter)