Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1185 Postscript 41 · Who is the prey of whom?

Since the Tang Dynasty, princesses and their husbands have often lived in separate houses, but it was not completely institutionalized until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

At least it was not like this in the Song Dynasty, because the princesses in the Song Dynasty often did not have their own exclusive princess mansions, and they had to live with their husbands according to the etiquette.

The specific operation is as follows:

After selecting the husband, the husband is given clothes, belts, silver saddles, silk and other items. When the marriage is approaching, the husband is given a million taels of floating wealth.

Before the princess gets married, a house is given to the princess and the husband to live in. In principle, the property rights of the house belong to the royal family, and the right to use it belongs to the princess and the husband. Generally, it is taken back by the royal family after the death of the couple. But in actual operation, it is often not taken back, or it is directly taken back when the princess dies.

The house where the husband and the princess live together cannot even be called a "house", but can only be called a "house".

The so-called Prince Consort's Mansion in the Song Dynasty was built by the Prince Consort himself, and he only dared to call it "Prince Consort's Mansion" in the capital.

But if it is far away from the capital, it doesn't matter. It can be built in a place far away from the emperor. For example, Xu Jue, the Prince Consort during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Song, built the "Prince Consort's Mansion" in his hometown of Chaozhou.

There are exceptions to everything.

Song Renzong had only one daughter, and he loved her very much.

He disregarded the opposition of all ministers, demolished a large area of ​​Kaifeng residential houses, spent 700,000 strings of cash to build a princess's mansion for his daughter, and gave his daughter an extra 1,000 strings of cash pocket money every month.

Song Renzong took the lead in seriously violating the rules, which had a very bad impact on the atmosphere at that time.

The royal family and civil and military ministers naturally followed suit, and the people also began to violate the rules on a large scale.

In addition, starting from the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, the Prince Consort was no longer "promoted". When the princess met the parents of the Prince Consort, she had to greet them as uncles and aunts (father-in-law and mother-in-law), and the status of the princess in the Song Dynasty was further reduced.

It was also during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song that the princesses had to call themselves "concubines" in their petitions, in contrast to the princes calling themselves "ministers". It was not a derogatory title, but purely for the sake of retro etiquette. In the pre-Qin era, "ministers" and "concubines" were synonyms.

Today's Ming Dynasty basically inherits the Song system.

For example, a house is granted to the princess and her husband to live together, and it is not called "Princess Mansion" but "Princess Residence". In principle, the court can take back the property.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the husband still needed to be promoted, but it was no longer promoted in the middle of Zhu Ming's reign. That is, the princess is a junior rather than a peer to the parents of the husband, which is based on common sense.

But Zhu Ming's grandson did something. He prohibited the husband and the common people from taking concubines (those over 40 and childless were exceptions), and at the same time stipulated the number of concubines that officials at all levels could take.

This is obviously an invalid decree, because it cannot be effectively enforced at all, and it was abolished less than 20 years after its implementation.

It must be abolished, because it has become a tool for some people to seize and rob!

For example, local dignitaries set their sights on a rich man's property, so they teamed up with officials to arrest people for taking concubines. Although this crime was not serious, it could be accompanied by other operations, and finally forced the rich to sell their property at a low price.

The side effect of the ban on concubines was that the princes-in-law were more keen to build their own prince-in-law's residence. Then, in their own prince-in-law's residence, they secretly took in a large number of concubines in the name of keeping singing girls, and often separated from the princess.

…

Early in the morning, Xie Yan took a carriage into the city.

The magnificent princess's residence in front of him was once the private residence of Zhang Guangdao.

The main ancestor of the Zhang family was exiled by Emperor Dingtai, and his property was confiscated. The largest house and a manor outside the city were given to his daughter by Emperor Dingtai.

The plaque on the gate was very long, with eight characters engraved on it: Qin Guo Jing Da Chang Princess's Residence.

Qin Guo Da Chang Princess was the title of princess given by the young emperor.

Jing was the emblem of the princess given by the young emperor.

Generally speaking, princesses do not have titles.

Now that they have titles, they are naturally more beautiful. So much so that when people mention the eldest princess, they automatically identify her as the Princess of Qin, not the other eldest princesses.

The reason for such an honor is very simple.

The Princess of Qin was the only one who ran to remind Emperor Dingtai to be careful during the planning of the coup. She was also the only one who ran to the palace to inform the emperor before the coup, but she was caught by Prince Yong and the son-in-law halfway.

Xie Yan bypassed the main gate and came to the side door to hand in a visiting card: "Please inform that Xie Yan is visiting."

The doorman had been told long ago that he was very enthusiastic when he saw Xie Yan, and he opened the door very respectfully and bowed: "Xie Xueshi, please come in!"

Not only was Xie Yan led into the inner courtyard with courtesy, but even the two followers he brought with him were arranged in a small hall to drink tea and eat cakes.

He met many servants along the way, and they all looked at Xie Yan curiously and vigilantly.

When the son-in-law was still alive, he also brought his own servants to live in. He didn't dare to do anything to the princess, but he often lost his temper with the princess's servants.

At first, the princess would protect the servants and even quarrel with the prince consort.

Gradually, the princess became a licker and always let her servants tolerate.

This led to the prince consort's servants becoming arrogant and making things difficult for the princess' servants. Even some of the princess's servants completely sided with the prince consort.

After the prince consort was executed, the servants loyal to the princess cheered.

Now it seems that another prince consort is coming, and those servants are happy for the princess, but also deeply worried.

What if Xie Yan also treats the princess badly?

"Hello, Mr. Xie!" The chief maid Qingluan came to the outside of the courtyard to greet him in person.

The eldest princess must be reserved.

Xie Yan bowed and said, "Sister, you are polite."

Compared to the late consort who had a gloomy face all day, Qingluan particularly liked the young scholar Xie. The young scholar Xie loved to laugh, giving people a very sunny feeling, and his mouth was also pleasing.

Qingluan said: "My name is Qingluan."

Xie Yan immediately said: "Sister Qingluan is a good name, it sounds like a fairy."

Qingluan was even happier to be called, and smiled and said: "My dear, please follow me in, the princess is in the garden."

This house is so big, Xie Yan walked from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard, passing through two corridors on the way, passing through the door and turning to another long corridor. Further inside is the wall and the moon arch, passing through the moon arch, it suddenly opens up, and it turns out to be an exquisite garden.

In the garden, there are pavilions, towers, flowers and trees, rockery and lotus ponds, and gurgling water.

The private house that Zhu Ming gave to Zhang Guangdao was not so big, and his descendants expanded it, forcing all the nearby merchants and civilians away.

Xie Yan was admiring the garden scenery at this moment, with only one thought in his mind: I have a bad stomach and want to eat free food!

He didn't know that the property rights of this house belonged to the royal family, and the eldest princess only had the right to use it.

"Dongdong... Dong..."

A burst of guqin sounded from the inside.

There were walls and doorways in front, and the garden was actually divided into several areas.

If it weren't for Qingluan leading him, Xie Yan would probably have lost his way.

The eldest princess pretended to play the guqin in the pavilion, and pricked up her ears to listen to the footsteps outside.

A maid trotted over and whispered: "Here they come, here they come!"

Several maids surrounded the princess, standing straight ahead, but their eyes couldn't help but glance over there.

Qingluan led Xie Yan to the outside of the pavilion, bowed and saluted, and said: "Your Highness, Xie Xueshi is here."

The eldest princess stretched out her hand and gently pressed the still vibrating strings of the guqin, nodded and smiled at Xie Yan, and then slowly stood up.

Xie Yan stepped forward and bowed: "Greetings, Princess."

The eldest princess bowed in return, invited Xie Yan to sit in the pavilion, and asked: "What kind of music does Xie Liulang like?"

Xie Yan didn't know any guqin repertoire, so he could only hide his incompetence and avoid it: "As long as it is played by Your Highness, I like any song."

The eldest princess was teased without any warning, and her heart was pounding. She glanced at him and complained: "Xie Liulang is a young and romantic man. Does he usually talk to girls like this?"

Xie Yan had no experience in dealing with such a life-threatening question.

He thought quickly and said, "I am only familiar with two women, and I haven't talked much with other women."

The eldest princess was indeed diverted: "I wonder which two ladies are they?"

Xie Yan said, "One is my mother, and the other is my sister. I am never polite when talking to my sister, and I especially like to tease her. But when talking to my mother, I have to be careful, just like talking to Your Highness just now."

The eldest princess didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and continued to ask a fatal question: "So in Xie Liulang's eyes, I am an elder like your mother?"

Xie Yan pretended to think: "Your Highness is like my mother, majestic and kind, which makes me feel afraid, but I can't help but want to get closer. But there are some differences. My mother is an elder after all, and Your Highness is like a big sister of the same generation."

The eldest princess frowned suddenly.

What is a big sister of the same generation? After all this time, you actually regarded me as a sister, so why are you flirting with me when you are showing off your balance!

As a steel straight man, Xie Yan didn't know where he said it wrong.

He hurriedly sat over and carefully tried to test: "Is the princess angry? I'm not very good at speaking, I just say whatever I think."

There are stone tables and stone benches in the pavilion, all made of white marble, which are quite cool to sit on in summer.

The stone bench is long, but not very long, and can barely squeeze two people.

The princess sat in the middle of the stone bench, with only a small part of the bench surface on both sides exposed. Xie Yan sat over at this time, and could only sit half of his buttocks, and his body was already close to the eldest princess.

Words are wrong, and the body is close.

The eldest princess hasn't touched a man for many years. She blushed at this action and subconsciously moved her buttocks half a foot away. She said with shame and anger: "You are so rude. Don't you know the difference between men and women?"

Xie Yan was dejected and sat back in a hurry.

He really has never been in love. He has learned a lot of theories, but he has never practiced it.

He can only substitute the game he has played.

If it is a love game in the computer, it should be that the intimacy value is not enough, so the overly close action has the opposite effect. What should I do next to make amends?

The princess did not refuse me to use my hair to weigh it, and also allowed me to keep my hair as a souvenir. The gossip was known to the whole city, but the princess did not come out to clarify it. Instead, she invited me to the polo match.

So, the princess should also have a good impression of me, right?

Xie Yan suddenly gave it his all. Since his love skills were not good, he might as well go straight to the point. He pretended to be depressed: "I'm sorry, I was abrupt. I like the princess sister, and I also thought that the sister liked me. I don't know how to talk to girls..."

The handsome and talented young man pretended to be pitiful, which was very lethal to the big sister.

Just like a little milk dog that was stepped on and whined, it could make a woman's maternal love overflow instantly, and she couldn't help wanting to hold him in her arms and comfort him. (Damn, so disgusting. Yue!)

The eldest princess really fell for this. She was quite fond of Xie Yan.

The reason why she was angry just now was simply because Xie Yan claimed to regard her as a sister, and she thought Xie Yan was deceiving her feelings - this was purely a difference in concepts between two time and space. Xie Yan thought he was saying love words, but to the princess it didn't seem like that.

Hearing Xie Yan say that he liked her, the eldest princess was happy again, and the crying little puppy was so adorable.

The eldest princess began to attack herself, thinking: Alas, he is too young, although he is talented, but he doesn't know how to get along with others. When I was his age, wasn't I also willful and capricious? This will be a disadvantage in the future, and I need to teach him more.

The eldest princess even thought of her past self, and a sense of responsibility arose spontaneously. She couldn't let Xie Liulang repeat her mistakes. She should teach him more and teach him how to deal with people.

"Okay, you are also a man, don't act like a woman." The eldest princess said.

The little puppy raised his head happily and asked, "Sister, are you not angry anymore?"

The eldest princess asked back, "When was I angry? You can be more casual in front of me in the future, but you must be careful when you meet others."

Xie Yan took the opportunity to hit the snake with a stick: "I treat my sister as my own, so I say whatever I want. If it were an outsider, I would not be like this, I am usually smart."

The eldest princess was even happier, and her eyes narrowed into two crescents with a smile: "When did we become our own people?"

"Not yet?" Xie Yan had a confused expression.

The eldest princess was fucking fooled by this, and it felt particularly exciting. She felt that Xie Yan was very lacking in other aspects except for his outstanding knowledge, and it was particularly rewarding to slowly guide and correct him.

Xie Yan trained the two little girls.

The eldest princess also wanted to train Xie Yan.

Both of them were experiencing the fun of a cultivation game.