Chapter 2499 Dowry

The reason why the Ministry of Rites hinted like this, in addition to the reason for regulation, there is another reason is the emperor's hint.

The emperor prepared a lot of dowry for the two princesses. No matter how much dowry the Bai family prepared, it would be converted into a dowry.

The reason why he is so guilty is naturally because Wei Zhi was scolded by Wei Zhi for marrying his daughter a few years ago. Of course, he admitted his mistake, but he didn't change it.

This time, marrying two daughters in a row, the emperor asked the treasury to prepare a lot of dowry, stepping on the online and offline list of the ritual system, and then he gave a little more privately, and the queen also divided her dowry, which accidentally exceeded a little more.

Wei Zhi had already given advice last time, and the emperor didn't want to see him very much during this period of time.

Old Zhoutou didn't understand this very much, "Why does this Lord Wei have so many things, what is there to say about this father's dowry for his daughter, this is the emperor's money, and whoever he loves to give it to, why should he listen to an outsider? the words said?"

Man Baodao: "It can't be said that, the Heavenly Family is selfless, not to mention that this matter involves the ritual system, it is not the matter of His Majesty, let alone the matter of the royal family, Mingda has already rejected such a high dowry twice, but it is this Her Majesty and the Empress love her, and she can't be too tough, otherwise it will hurt His Majesty's heart."

Old Zhoutou didn't understand, "Isn't it my own business to marry my daughter?"

Man Bao shook his head, and Bai Shan also shook his head, saying: "The ritual system is to regulate people's identity and social relations. Your Majesty has sisters. According to the ritual, the princesses of the late emperor are more valuable than your majesty's princesses. Dowry beyond the ritual system will not only break this kind of relationship, and will leave bad examples for future generations, what should someone do in the future?"

Bai Shandao: "Your Majesty's love for her daughter is understandable, but Mr. Wei is even more right. He looks at the matter from the overall situation. Now His Majesty is just stepping on the line of the ritual system to let the treasury prepare the gift list, and the rest is subsidized by himself. But what if there is an emperor in the future who is unwilling to take money from the private treasury, or has no money in the private treasury, but wants to give the princess the honor of marrying?"

Old Zhoutou: "What should I do?"

"He will pass it on to the national treasury, and the bottom line will be stepped down bit by bit," Bai Shan said, "What's more, His Majesty's private treasury does not belong to him alone. Besides him, it also involves other royal children. , not to mention, the Imperial Physician Office and Taichang Temple, which are often subsidized by the emperor, have given more dowries to the princess, so there will inevitably be less for the Imperial Physician Office and Taichang Temple."

At present, 40% of the expenses of the Imperial Physician's Office are still taken from the emperor's private treasury. It should take a long time for the national treasury to fully cover its expenses.

Not to mention Taichang Temple.

Taichang Temple is responsible for the construction of the imperial mausoleum, which is a large part of the expenditure. Of course, this money comes from the treasury, but today, in order to relieve the pressure on the treasury, it has been independently paying part of the expenditure. Otherwise, why is the emperor so poor?

Marrying a daughter-in-law to a son year after year is one aspect, and such a fixed expenditure is also a big reason.

Looking at the Daming Palace, it has been built for 20 years and half of it is wasteland to know how poor the emperor is.

So it's really not the emperor's business alone.

But the emperor was also tough. Wei Zhi and others scolded him, so he listened honestly, and turned around to prepare for his daughter, but he didn't change it.

Wei Zhi was helpless, the Chinese New Year was about to come, all kinds of taxes had to be consolidated, and plans for where to spend money in the coming year had to be planned, and this year was the year of the Ministry of Personnel Inspection. Two months ago, it was warned that the cold weather will arrive early this year, and there may be snow disasters in the Central Plains and the South.

That's right, the snow disaster is not in the north, but in the Central Plains and the south, which happen to be large grain-producing regions, which is really a headache.

So there are a lot of things to do, and Wei Zhi doesn't want to get too stiff with the emperor over such trivial matters, especially when the two of them are about to become in-laws.

Therefore, I wrote twice and persuaded him twice in person. When he found that the emperor was admitting his mistake in person, he turned a blind eye and ignored it.

The emperor felt guilty for a few days, and found that Wei Zhi really didn't ask questions. He was instantly overjoyed, so he became more comfortable, and even asked about the courtier's dowry when preparing the dowry for his daughter.

It was mainly because Zhou Man came to ask the empress to ask for the Ping An pulse. They were all children who were about to get married. The emperor asked one more question, "Have your parents prepared a dowry for you?"

Man Bao nodded, "I've prepared a lot."

The emperor smiled and asked, "I heard that you made a lot of money yourself, will you put it on your dowry?"

Man Bao shook his head.

The emperor frowned, "Why, do you want to leave your money to your parents and family?"

As a father, how can you ask for the hard-earned money of your daughter?

Man Bao said: "No, my father didn't let me put the money in the dowry, he told me to keep it secretly, saying that it was a private house, if it was put on the dowry, it would be public, and there should still be some private houses on the body, like this Make it easy, no one knows how much money I have."

In fact, if she hadn't read the ledger, she herself wouldn't know how much money she had. "

As soon as the emperor heard this, he thought about it and said to Mingda afterwards, "It's a pity that our family's things are all on the account books, and it's impossible to secretly leave it to you as a private house, but Zhou Man's father said it well, you still There should be some private houses, I will look for an excuse and ask for some money from the private treasury, and you secretly take it to make a private house."

Mingda: "...Father, didn't you and your mother prepare money for your son? That's enough."

"That's for crossing the road, not a private house."

Mingda felt that Bai Erlang would not remember these things, and it might embarrass him a bit, but the emperor insisted that she had no choice but to say: "My daughter doesn't cost much, I can give some to my sister, and I will use less."

The emperor nodded, reached out and touched her head and said, "You are weak, and when the time comes, I will ask someone to prepare more medicinal materials for you to bring, and you will live in the princess's house in the future. If the medicine is not enough, I will send someone back. Say, I'll have someone find it for you."

Mingda nodded with a smile. Her father's mood has been a little fluctuating recently. Forget it, Fan should talk about it beforehand.

The emperor was overjoyed, grabbed his daughter's hand and sighed, "Unconsciously, you are going to get married, especially remember that a few years ago you were still so small, your hair was dry and sparse, no matter how much you ate, it was useless. Your mother and I were worried to death. The Taiyuan Hospital said that you were deficient and had a weak spleen and stomach. You were not like your sister at all. You would eat like a kitten. I didn’t expect you to be so big now. "

The emperor looked at Ming Da's hair that was only slightly yellow at the tip, and reached out and touched it with satisfaction. His daughter's body was getting better, and you could tell by looking at her hair.

Mingda doesn't want to talk to her father anymore. She looks good everywhere, but her hair is not very good, but her father even mentioned it.

See you at 6 pm