"In the past year, Kyoto seems to have gained a lot of new atmosphere." Sheng Xin said hello and asked the boy to run errands to reward him with money. Then he took a sip of tea and sighed slowly.
"No!" Sheng Yuan was lying on the railing, applauding and nodding. Just as he was about to detail the recent changes in Kyoto, he noticed that there seemed to be a familiar figure among the crowd watching the acrobatics.
Hearing her "Huh" sound, Sheng Xin walked over curiously: "What's wrong?"
"I see someone who looks familiar!"
She pointed to the young man in brocade clothes who had thrown his purse into the reward plate, and introduced him to her brother: "Here he is, Yang Pangui, the only son of Lord Protector."
Sheng Xin heard this and looked down curiously.
But I saw the young man my sister was talking about walking out of the crowd waving his fan as soon as he finished paying the reward, and he didn't show any nostalgia at all.
"It's quite generous to take action, but he doesn't seem to like looking at it that much."
"Is this called generosity?" Sheng Yuan thought about the size of the purse and figured that it contained at most a dozen taels of silver.
"It's not more than a dozen taels? It's enough for an average family in the suburbs of Beijing to chew for a year!" Sheng Xin shook her head and knocked her head gently, "Why don't you always laugh at your classmates for not eating minced meat? Why do you say such words now that you don't know the pain? Come."
He knew that his sister's treasury was extremely rich.
Not to mention the profits of her own Zhuangzi shop, there are countless rewards from the palace and good things given by the old man.
Since she was a child, she has used pearls to play slingshots and gems to play with canes, and she has always been good at eating and drinking. She can use thousands of taels of loose silver every year. Naturally, she does not think that a reward of more than a dozen taels is very generous. .
"My brother's criticism of me must be based on the context! The person I'm talking about came from the Duke Protector's Palace that has been passed down from the Chen Dynasty to the present!" Sheng Yuan felt that she was being realistic, "Their family was a prominent local family during the Yan Dynasty. Later, In the Chen Dynasty, another wealthy lady appeared who was good at business affairs.
The aunt returned to Ning because she had no heirs, so she lived in the Protector's Mansion for a long time. Later, her huge wealth naturally belonged to the Duke's Mansion. There are rumors that with that wealth, it will be no problem to support his family for more than ten generations.
When it came to Da Chu, the Empress of the Yuan Dynasty was born in their family. The emperor loved Wu Ji Wu and was extremely kind to her. He always rewarded her. Everyone says that the Duke Protector's Palace is the richest among the nobles in Beijing!
This Yang Pangui was the only son of the Duke, so it was not unusual for him to be wealthy. But his little reward is nothing compared to the dude who often spends money and money in the theater! "
Seeing her plausibility, Sheng Xin couldn't help but nodded: "You are right to say that, but the question is...how did you find out so clearly about other people's affairs?"
Sheng Yuan immediately raised her head proudly: "This is called professionalism! Since I aspire to be in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, I must develop my ability as a censor as early as possible."
"..." Does the censor need such ability? Isn't this the ability that an inside detective should have? !
Just as Sheng Xin was about to tease her, she heard another burst of lively music and cheers outside.
The brother and sister immediately stretched their necks together.
I saw a group of dancers on the main street outside, dancing and dancing from a distance.
These dancers have shimmering veils, bracelets with bells, and glittering gems inlaid on the danko.
They might hold a pipa and a yueqin, or hold a guzheng, a konghou, or a flute, or play a shakuhata jade flute, or dance a tambourine and ring a bell, or play a big ruan and a small ruan.
Musical sounds of different styles hovered over Kyoto like flying phoenixes, attracting pedestrians on the street to gradually gather into a wall to watch.
"Is there another band here?" Sheng Yuan stood on tiptoe and looked over. She could only feel the vastness of the team and couldn't help but marvel, "I have never seen Kyoto being so lively."
"Me too!"
The brother and sister looked at each other, they were extremely curious.
When they returned home and introduced themselves to their parents, the brother and sister were greeted with ridicule from their father.
"You two brothers, one claims to be well-informed, and the other often goes in and out of the palace, but you don't know that this is the year of returning to the vassal state? Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the princes and princesses who have returned to the vassal state will return to the capital to live permanently, and the princes and princesses will return to the vassal state. I have been sealed for nearly twenty years, and when I return, I will do my best to show off my achievements."
Hearing what dad said, Sheng Yuan
I remembered the relevant knowledge points.
Since Emperor Chengyuan came to the throne, the vassal policy developed by the Yan and Chen dynasties has been regarded by him as a serious problem.
It took him nearly twenty years to integrate dozens of vassal lands into five through various operations. Two pieces of it were awarded to his underage son, and the other three pieces were given to Wang Wang, who was still loyal to him and joined forces with him.
Afterwards, he granted fiefdoms to the princesses who had become talents under his own tutelage, and then married them off in the name of the fiefdoms.
And these three princesses did not live up to Emperor Chengyuan's teachings. After giving birth to the heirs of the royal palace, they began their road to power step by step.
It is said that before she was born, these princesses held the three major vassals in their hands.
"After the vassal returns to the court this time, the prince, the princess, and the heir apparent born to the princess will only have a small town without a real title." Mr. Sheng said, looking at the two brothers and sisters, "In the future, there will be more powerful people in Kyoto. There are a lot of them. If you like to play outside, don’t mess with them."
"When the vassal king returns, will he not be replaced by hereditary officials?" Sheng Xin made a casual joke.
"Otherwise, why do you think the Zheng, Cheng, and Luo families acquiesced in allowing the princess to take power?" Sheng Xiangxun asked back, "Maybe each of their families will produce one or two more dukes."
"Although the title of duke or earl is high, if there are too many, it will be worthless." Sheng Yuan had a feeling that Emperor Chengyuan felt that there were too many honors and wanted to reduce the value of the honors through quantity, and then looked for opportunities. Please give it a try!
Of course, the task should probably be left to the prince.
"It's worthless." Sheng Xiangxun nodded in agreement, "Nowadays, only having a title but no actual position means that you can't go to court or listen to politics. Even if your children join the army, they have to start as soldiers.
Normally, the salary is only a small amount, and everyone is not allowed to do business. The only special treatment is the direct recruitment quota for studying.
If this continues, a few hereditary families may still be able to maintain their appearance, but the rest will probably disappear into oblivion in a few generations. "
"Every time one goes down, another one comes up. The imperial court allocates so much salary to the nobles every year. It may not even cover the expenses of a room in each mansion, but it is a heavy burden for the imperial court. There is also the land issue that cannot be ignored.
Nobles, aristocratic families, and powerful officials are all keen on annexing land. As time goes by, the land becomes scarce and the people have no land to cultivate, fearing that trouble will occur. "
When Sheng Yuan said this, Sheng Xin and Sheng Xiangxun couldn't help but look at her in surprise.
"Little sister, you really don't shy away from relatives. We come from the Duke's family, and my maternal ancestors are from a noble family... You don't want to take advantage of the distinguished family!"
The imperial power and the aristocratic families have been in a game since ancient times. During this period, the old aristocratic families fell into despair, and new aristocratic families rose up, going round and round without stopping.
Sheng Xin didn't think the younger sister's idea was wrong, but the problem was that since ancient times, ministers who had risen to prominence rarely died well, let alone girls?
"Who said we need to take advantage of our relatives? We can think of a way to benefit others and ourselves, so that those nobles who are gradually becoming sluggish can become active."
Sheng Yuan rolled his eyes, and another idea came to his mind.
