Chapter 447 Marriage

At this moment, Zhao Xing's warship slowly started to anchor at Quanzhou Port. He looked at the lychees in the cabin, and while tasting them one by one, he muttered to the guards beside him: "Lan Jiahong, Chen Zi, Jiang Lu, Fang Hong, You Jiazi, Xiao Chen Zi... Do you know why these lychees are named after their names?"

Shi Wenguan, a son of the Shi family, replied: "This is the merit of the Taishi. Since the Taishi advocated copyright law, merchants in the Song Dynasty liked to name their own creations by their own names, so these famous lychees were found."

Zhao Xing chuckled and refuted: "Bold words, these names have existed before I was born. Without me, they still exist. These lychees named after their own surnames reflect the trademark awareness and reputation awareness of my Song Dynasty merchants. As for prohibiting others from using other people's product names, this is my credit... You see, should we issue a trademark law?"

Shi Wenguan replied: "Isn't Master Taiwei formulating industry rules? Just let them add trademark-related content."

"It makes sense!" Zhao Xing exclaimed.

At this moment, the pioneer boat sounded a cannon, which informed the subsequent ships that the fleet had reached the edge of the port, and further forward was the vast sea.

When Zhao Xing heard the cannon sound, he looked outside the cabin and said thoughtfully: "That was twenty years ago. I set sail from Quanzhou and entered the South China Sea. In the blink of an eye, the Song Dynasty was already another world. How long can the prosperity in front of me last?"

Zhao Xing sighed that things change, and in the blink of an eye, the pattern of the whole world changed.

Before Zhao Xing went to sea, the Arabs monopolized the entire Mediterranean, and even Spain was occupied by Arabs at this time. Therefore, the Arabs learned from the Romans and called the Mediterranean "our sea".

Not only that, the Arabs also penetrated most of the Indian Ocean, reaching the Quanzhou of the Song Dynasty. Because of the aggressive attitude of the Arabs, Europe, which had to retreat to a complete agricultural society, had no commercial input.

But in the blink of an eye, the world changed, and the Europeans' offensives finally opened up the East-West trade routes. Because of the large amount of goods circulation, Europe quickly got rid of the self-sufficient small peasant economy, accompanied by cross-sea exchanges between the East and the West. The Renaissance also began, and Europeans naturally entered the industrial era.

Originally, if there were no foreign invasion, the Chinese civilization, which was at the forefront of this era and the entire earth, should have entered the modern civilization world first than Europe. However, two consecutive barbarian invasions have led China to enter the "Mongolian Belt" and become an undeveloped country that is still backward thousands of years later.

This is a deep sorrow. Zhao Xing is now trying his best to defeat the heavens and wants to save this tragedy, but no matter how outstanding he did in Nanyang, he would not be able to sleep or eat until he eliminated the northern barbarians.

Shi Wenguan didn't know what Zhao Xing was thinking. He didn't know what he was saying about slapping the horse: "The Great Song Dynasty's Incident started because of the Taiwei. What the Taiwei did today will inevitably be a special book in history books."

Zhao Xing laughed, and he stared at them. He answered absent-mindedly: "It is certain that the big book is a special book, but I don't know what it will write me as, a powerful minister, a treacherous minister, or a great warlord?"

At this time, Yizhangqing and Qiuri were walking out of the cabin door. When Zhao Xing spoke, Yizhangqing replied with a crisp voice: "Meritorious officials, wise ministers, capable officials, famous generals, and Taiwei can count them. Taiwei supports half of the wealth of the Song Dynasty. Can such a person be on the same list as Cai Jing? Can Wang Jinggong? Can Dou Rong?"

Following Yi Zhangqing out of the cabin was a young man dressed in Europeans. He was blonde and blue-eyed, holding a six-stringed zither in his hand. He was eagerly staring at Qiu Ri swaying his waist, twidthing the strings while walking. Zhao Xing glanced at the blonde young man, and waved his hand to move the other person to lean over. He said indifferently: "Maybe he is the same as Dou Rong. Am I almost a deposed emperor?"

Shi Wenguan turned his face to the side and pretended not to hear Zhao Xing's words against him.

The blonde young man was the accompanying bard of the European mission, Victor Bifuo. Zhao Xing called the other party to sit next to him and asked, "What kind of ships are popular in Europa now? Is it a Kirk boat with a round belly?"

Victor bowed: "No one can compare to your wisdom as Marshal, but the Kirk ship is not as huge as your warship, and its sails are not as flexible as you... Oh, the monsoon is rising!"

When Victor talked about the sails, he couldn't help but look at the sails and found that the monsoon on the sea had appeared, and he couldn't help but cheer.

Yizhangqing glanced at Victor with a squint eyes, Qiu Ri giggled and asked in a sweet and silly: "Mr., don't you say that the European mission is full of people with great knowledge, why is there a poet? Does their country also advocate poetry and prose? Even the follower of the delegation has to follow a poet? But this person is fluent in Song Yu, where can I learn it?"

Victor bowed: "Dear Madam, let's go all the way, and Mr. Deng (Deng Yufu) was teaching me your language. When I arrived in Sri Lanka, my language was already fluent."

Zhao Xing explained: "The literacy rate in Europe is generally not as good as that in my Song Dynasty. Many nobles there are illiterate, so they will bring a priest and a minstrel with them. The priests treat them with illness and have the obligation to write family tree for them, and the minstrels are responsible for writing articles for them."

Qiuri smiled: "It turns out that country called the 'secution secretary' 'poet'!"

Zhao Xing turned to Victor: "Mr. Deng Yufu, Lord Deng, recommended you to me. I heard that you are a minstrel in the mission and I was also very interested, so I specially called you to accompany you. That's right, you just saw the monsoon rising, and your mission has begun to go back to China at this moment, but whether you can return to China depends on my permission. My little Victor, I heard that you have a good memory and can learn our language in a short time. What I want to know is that there are several minstrels in your mission."

Victor rolled his eyes and bowed to answer, "Marson, our cabin is very tight, it is impossible to bring extra idle people. I am the only bard in the group."

Zhao Xing stared at the other party and smiled honestly: "So, you must have recited a recipe. There must be saltpeter and sulfur in the recipe. Can you tell me what their ratio is?"

Victor's legs were weak and he collapsed on the deck immediately. Zhao Xing leaned over and looked at him warmly. He continued, "I know there is a bard in your mission - it must be like this. Maybe the poet has already taken a boat to return home, but what does it matter? I don't mind that he stole our recipe, but I'm sure he may not be able to return home this year. It's a long, war-torn journey."

Victor breathed a little slow and asked in fear: "Dear Marshal, what you mean is that you will let me go home and return to my hometown."

Zhao Xing nodded: "Yes, we have established a deadline for ten years! I don't know if your companion can successfully return home, but I can promise that if you are willing to serve me for ten years, I will send someone to escort you to that continent."

Victor immediately stood up and bowed and saluted: "My Master. You have received my allegiance. I will serve you with all my heart for the next ten years, and everything I have given you..."

"Okay, okay, put away your knight's declaration. You are just a poor man, and it's not your turn to send the knight's oath... What kind of songs are popular in Europe now? Sing me a song."

Victor played the six-stringed lyrics and said diligently: "The Marshal is a hero. I, the Marshal, chanted a hymn of heroes, France's "Song of Roland".

This long narrative poem cannot be translated into Chinese, nor can it be finished in one day. Victor sang a paragraph, stopped the piano, and stammered in Song language to translate the meaning in Song language. Hearing that there were poems praising heroes in the barbarian land, Yizhangqing and Qiuri were very interested, and they really listened to it. The sailors in the cabin also tried to work as lightly as possible, and at the same time listened to Victor's chant.

Three days later, King Jian of the past and King Lu of the present arrived in Hangzhou. Because he wanted to discuss marriage with Zhao Xing's family, he could not live in the Jasmine Garden. Qian Xie's descendants gave up the Qiantang Palace in the past. After receiving the news of King Jian's arrival, the whole Hangzhou was thrilled. Cheng Azhu was also panicked in the Jasmine Garden and stomped her feet and complained: "My husband will not go home to preside over such a big event. It doesn't look like a father."

Chen Yiyi was unwilling to do so. She defended: "My husband said that, the previous agreement was that he would go all the way. It doesn't matter whether he would come out or not. When the gift is given, the husband will definitely come back. Don't worry, aunt, I will do such a small matter for you."

Cheng Azhu was at a loss: "From my sister's perspective, how much should the agreed tribute be?"

The so-called agreement refers to the amount of betrothal gifts and dowry agreed upon by both parties in the marriage. In order to prevent property disputes after marriage, a contract is necessary and the promises of both parties are written on the contract. This is called "If you want to marry a wife, ask how much money you are for; if you want to marry a daughter, ask how much money you are for hiring a daughter", which is the most basic marriage custom at that time.

Chen Yiyi smiled lightly: "What kind of contract do people like us need to make, what kind of makeup and money should be discussed, and just send it to you according to etiquette."

Cheng Azhu asked worriedly: "You have to do what you can!"

What Cheng Azhu said here is "doing according to her ability" refers to "doing according to her ability".

Chen Yiyi rolled up her sleeves and called out to the servant: "Are you ready to bring the glass bottle?"

Cheng Azhu interrupted: "The sixteen bottles are ready, what else do you need, sister?"

The "Agreement Ceremony" stipulated in the Song Dynasty: When the agreement was made, the man's family carried a large glass wine bottle that contained a little wine - yes, it was a glass wine bottle. This was not a history adapted by Zhao Xing. It had existed before Zhao Xing. However, Zhao Xing was in Huangzhou, Huainan, and most of them were Hu people who changed their surnames to the Five Barbarians who later settled in China. He did not know the rules and no one told him. As a result, he achieved a marriage between the Hu people of the semi-Song Dynasty and the semi-Jin Dynasty.

Now, Zhao Xing is considered a person with status, so he naturally has to follow the formal official ceremony. At Chen Yiyi's greeting, the servant brought sixteen glass bottles, Cheng Azhu and Chen Yiyi worked together, inserting a large flower into each bottle, and a total of eight flowers were inserted; the remaining eight bottles were placed, and the bottle was filled with headdresses such as gold hairpins, hairpins, and gold faces, and then tied the red silk to the load.

The gifts of the sixteen bottles were "delegated gifts" by ordinary families stipulated by the Song Xingtong. As an official, this gift was still insufficient. Chen Yiyi quickly greeted the servant: "Prepare a load of pearls and jade, a load of jewelry, a load of gold pleats, a load of satin tea cakes... and also hold two sheep.

But these are all the gifts for ordinary households. Our family is different from other families. We need to add two famous horses and two Indian cattle... Why not add two more sea boats? Do you think this gift is worthy?"

The things that Chen Yiyi added in the last time were not the content stipulated in the Song Xingtong. Cheng Azhu was very satisfied with this: "The people in Liangzhe also had to add four cans of wine bottles, cover them with green gin wine clothes or Luobo Tie Flower wine clothes, and tie the wine bun with red and green satin. Today's maritime merchants have added these different gifts to praise their wealth. Since our family has added cattle and horses, it is better to keep everything in accordance with the share of maritime merchants and take everything into consideration so as not to make fun of the village women."

Chen Yiyi clapped her hands: "What sister wants? Our family can afford it, but this makes the woman's family not know how to take her back."

Cheng Azhu ignored it, and she shouted, "Call Luqiu Guan... Wait, Yang Zuren and his wife came to visit recently. His family has a deep relationship with Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu. Why not ask him to come out and escort the gifts out, which can it be done?"

Chen Yiyi nodded: "Make!"

The man's gift was given shortly after. The woman returned the gift very quickly. Song Xingtong stipulated that after receiving the man's gift, the woman could take down the flowers and gold jewelry in the bottle and store them in the girl's dowry, and then use the wine in the bottle to reward the porter. Then, the woman would put fresh water into the delivered wine bottle, put three or five live goldfish in the bottle, and hang a pair of chopsticks on the mouth of the bottle. This is called "returning fish chopsticks" response.

The so-called "returning fish chopsticks" is homophonic to "happy", which means that the woman is "happy and happy" about this marriage.

The gifts given by Zhao Xing's family were heavy, and King Jian also returned the gift according to the best standards. The woman prepared some purple satin, pearls, jade beards, box, shoe saddles, etc. to return the gift. Then she used two empty wine jars, filled them with clear water, put four goldfish, made a pair of fish chopsticks with gold and silver, and used colored silk to make two raw onions, and hung them outside the fish water jar. She was sent to the man's house as "return fish chopsticks".

After receiving the gift from King Jian, Cheng Azhu patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "It can be considered that the 'promise' has been completed."

Chen Yiyi looked at the gift from King Jian to give back and nodded with satisfaction: "The woman's reply was a gift. Hehe, I don't know if the money was paid by King Jian or the official."

After the "Agreement" is over, it means that the marriage has been agreed upon, and the following is the "give gift" to the "give gift". After the money gift, the man and the woman exchanged the Geng letter, which means that the marriage has completely become a "conclusive". Then both the man and the woman have to give all of it.

In the Song Dynasty, rich families gave gifts to "three golds" as fashionable. That is, gold bracelets, gold-headed faces, and golden cloaks. Families who could not afford goldware were replaced by "silver plated". This kind of wealth betrothal gift mainly consisted of gold shining with a good atmosphere of wealth. This kind of marriage betrothal gift was never seen in the Tang Dynasty's marriage betrothal gifts, and it was not achieved after the Yuan Dynasty. It reflects the indisputable dominance of commodity currency economy in urban marriages in the Song Dynasty.

The "three golds" given by ordinary families are already rich. Officials' families also offer gold large sleeves or red suluo large sleeves, yellow silk gold skirts, satin red long skirts, pearl and jade crowns, four-season buns, fine satin silk, flower tea and fruits, reunion cakes, sheep wine... It's like a betrothal gift game, to see who gives more and better gifts.

During marriage, the more the man gave, the more dowry the woman gave. For example, Wang Anshi married his daughter to the Cai family and gave him a pearl mattress, which was worth hundreds of thousands of yuan. During the Jingding period of the Southern Song Dynasty, a small, ninth rank general named Zheng, named Qing Yiniang, was promised to marry the son of the county magistrate Wan. The cost of the 100,500 jin of stagnant was as high as 500 acres of land, and it was not included in the marriage of 500 acres of land...

In the prevalence of this hedonism, the discussion on wealth in marriage in the Song Dynasty has become a common trend, which is obviously different from the huge difference in rank before the Song Dynasty. Under the influence of this trend, the amount of money was lost to the subordinates and the money was broken, and even when the marriage was lost, the land could not be polite. Therefore, "if the secular people give birth to men, they are happy, and if they give birth to women, they are relatives."

According to the history of the Song Dynasty, even the princes in the Song Dynasty were worried about their daughter's dowry, and had to favor their daughters with "princess collectors" who did not care about dowry like Tang Di, or simply became a monk and a nun.

In order to prevent men and women from marrying because they cannot afford betrothal gifts and wealth gifts, the Song Dynasty government specially established the title of hiring wealth. The Song Dynasty stipulated that men's families were mainly divided into upper, middle and lower three grades: "One tael of gold in the upper household, five taels of silver in the upper household, six inside and six inside, and forty pieces of silk in the mixed use; five coins in the middle household, four taels of silver in the middle household, four taels of silver in the middle, and thirty pieces of silk in the mixed use; three taels of silver in the lower household, three taels of silver in the color in the inner household, and fifteen pieces of silk in the mixed use."

This rule seems to be modern India. Modern India is often unable to get married because the woman is not inadequate dowry, so the government specially used legal forms to stipulate the hierarchical standards of betrothal gifts and wealth gifts in marriage to avoid legal disputes. This was the only one in ancient China. Before the Tang Dynasty, the law could not control the amount of wealth and bride gifts for marriage. However, after the Song Dynasty, it simply did not stipulate it.

Because of the high cost of marriage in the Song Dynasty, the Song people's "catching son-in-law under the list" trend was so prosperous. Even the Prime Minister's and Prince's family were tempted by this temptation. Because the high amount of marriage required for formal procedures, two or three strong men were hired to the imperial examination list and kidnapped a new Jinshi or even a tribute. It was really cheap, affordable, affordable and durable.

I don’t know who paid for the gift of Chen Yiyi to tease the Princess of Changguo. In fact, even the emperor complained about the high fees for marrying a daughter in the Song Dynasty. For example, Emperor Zhenzong of Song was unable to buy a dowry for his daughter, which led to a daughter having to marry into a nun. Modern people may be deeply shocked to hear that the emperor could not afford a dowry, but it did appear in the Song Dynasty.

The emperor was worried about dowry, and in the Qian Palace, King Jian was also scared by Zhao Xing's gift. After returning the "fish chopsticks", he was restless and wandering around the palace, and said in a frightened voice: "Two giant ships, his family actually took out two 2,000-material giant ships as a congressional gift. God. What kind of gift can match? Sister, I can't afford to toss your brother."

Changguo smiled with his lips, and the customs of the Song Dynasty. The more expensive the agreement is, the more it shows that the man’s family is satisfied with the woman. Therefore, Changguo was satisfied with him. She ignored King Jian’s troubles and said in a quiet voice: “Brother, why are you going to Luzon soon, and you need warships to travel, so my sister will send these two warships to you. If you really can’t afford to marry your sister, you will sell one ship. The merchants on the dock will definitely make up some gifts for you.”

After a little recession, the guards reported that Zhao Xing's family answered very satisfied. King Jian breathed a sigh of relief and paused for a while. He carefully tempted: "Sister, I heard that the Zhao family has family rules. A man will not marry until he is twenty years old. That child of Zhao Yun is only twelve years old. Then you have eight years. Why should you be so anxious?"

Changguo pursed his lips: "Since my sister has left the capital, where have she been going in the past eight years? Do you have to return to the capital and wait? Only by being a daughter-in-law of the Zhao family can you live in Jasmine Garden and stay near Changguo. This is also what the emperor brother means."

King Jian nodded: "I understand, sister, you're fine. Although Hangzhou is not as prosperous as the capital, the land is not inferior to the capital. With this marriage proposal, you can enter and exit like Li Qingzhao, and the emperor must feel relieved."

Changguo chuckled slightly: "The family motto of Taizong said: If you get married, you will be a husband. Since Changguo is a member of the Zhao family in the future, how can you do everything based on the royal family? The emperor's brother is indeed frivolous. Not to mention the ministers of the court, even we brothers and sisters are quite desolate?"

The princess of Changguo said that it was Song Huizong's act of enfeoffing some of his brothers overseas. Originally, the vassal kings of the Song Dynasty did not need to leave the capital to be vassal, but only needed to obtain a fiefdom from afar, and then the officials designated by the housekeeper, or the officials appointed by the Dazai and Zongzheng were managed on their behalf. However, in order to control overseas, Song Huizong made a cruel decision to transfer several brothers overseas and ordered them to leave the capital to be vassal.

In fact, the Princess Changguo's enthronement in Changguo was originally an act of suppressing Zhao Xing. Because Zhoushan Island was exported to Hangzhou Bay and was granted to Changguo, it was possible to take over the military port where Zhao Xing was built. However, the royal family did not expect that Zhao Xing introduced the measure of dock usage fee, and leased the ownership of the port from Changguo by renting the way of renting the port. Moreover, Changguo did not object, so he allocated the wealth to Dazai Zheng Juzhong to control.

Now Changguo is going to marry into Zhao Xing's family. Although Changguo moved into Jasmine Garden, he could monitor Zhao Xing's movements and prevent the royal family from being attacked by Zhao Xing's surprise, in this way, Changguo's fiefdom inevitably entered Zhao Xing's bag again. The port usage fee paid to Changguo in the future was to put the money in the left pocket into the right pocket, and the royal family could not take advantage of a copper plate.

Not only that, Chang Guo had made a clear statement just now that she took out Taizong's family precepts and said that she should put the interests of her husband's family first. In this way, Song Huizong was in vain again.

Changguo mentioned that the official family treated his brothers and sisters frivolously, and this word should actually be "meaning". King Jian also felt it. He sighed and said in a depressing voice: "I don't know how Luzon is? I heard that the trade leader was the first to be attacked by Zhao Liren. I hope he built it like Jasmine Garden, but although Liang Garden is good, it is not his hometown. From now on, I don't know if I can see my sister again in this life."

Changguo replied firmly: "If you can see, my little husband likes traveling the most. My sister will ask him to take a boat to see his brother in the future. In addition, the Zhao family said the sea in the South China Sea. If the brother is not used to living in the mud, he can go to Changguo to have fun in his spare time. As long as my Ahon nods, who dares to reveal a few words in Nanyang?"

King Jian’s eyes lit up: “My sister is right. The sea is vast and the people on the boat don’t speak. Who can tell where my brother has been? It’s been a good eight years. My sister’s marriage has not been decided in the past eight years. As the host of the female family, my brother must go to Hangzhou to see it often. Wonderful, really wonderful!”

At this time, Zhao Xing was entering Guangzhou Port. He was grandly welcomed by the people of Guangzhou. The whole of Guangzhou became a sea of ​​jubilant places.

Guangdong people have reason to welcome Zhao Xing. Originally, Guangdong had only one and six million people. After the vigorous development of Zhao Xing, coupled with the natural population growth in recent years, the total population in Guangdong has reached 6 million. This also means that the vast majority of Guangdong's population has been moved by Zhao Xing's favor.

These immigrants settled their homes in Guangdong, and then they felt the happiness of the conquerors. It was the land, the happiness of the conquerors. The entire Nanyang became the footbasin of the Song people. The Song people enjoyed extraterritorial power in Nanyang. An ordinary Song people dared to walk with their heads raised in front of the palace gate of a foreign country. The pride of the superior people was brought to them by Zhao Xing with cannons and muskets.

At the same time, the opening of the Nanyang Sea Channel caused huge amounts of goods to flow out and inflow, and the taxes in Guangdong and Guangxi achieved huge growth. In the "Republic" era of the Song Dynasty, huge taxes mean that the people enjoyed more tax refunds and good benefits. In other words, it is: from Zhao Xing to the transferee of Guangdong and Guangxi, the people in Guangdong and Guangxi did not know what agricultural tax was.

In addition to these tax benefits, Zhao Xing also brought fire of civilization to Guangzhou. With his efforts to demote Yuanyou, the cultural level of Guangdong and Guangxi has risen sharply and its creativity has been greatly stimulated. The practice of protecting patents also began in Guangdong and Guangxi. Therefore, the first thing people in Guangdong and Guangxi feel is Zhao Xing’s protection of them, their culture, and their innovation.

Under such circumstances, when Zhao Xing's warship entered the port, all the idle people in Guangzhou gathered at the dock with nothing at hand. The girl on the dock held fruits in her hands and threw them at the warships with screams while the man waved a folding fan and cheered loudly for the woman's actions.

There were too many fruits, and the sailors on the deck did not dare to show their heads. Zhao Xing wiped his cold sweat and turned his head to the Guangdong Transportation Instructor Zhan Fannian who was on board to greet him: "Ah, if this continues, my warship will become the first gunboat in history to be sunk by fruits, and it was sunk by welcomed fruits. Do you complain or not?"
To be continued...