blenderwars Chapter 282 Betrothal
Chapter 282 Betrothal
Shen Shixi said, "You don't need to worry about the dowry. All the betrothal gifts that the Emperor sent over have been stored away. I will have someone go to your home to move them later. I will also prepare the dowry and send it directly to your home. You don't need to worry about it."
Old Madam Shen felt extremely guilty. "What should we do? Why do you have to prepare your own dowry? Wouldn't it be embarrassing if word got out?"
Shen Shixi said directly, "Then what should we do? How much money can we get if we sell the entire Shen family? Everyone in the capital knows what kind of family the Shen family is."
The First Madam said, "Xi'er, you're not going to use the Emperor's betrothal gifts as your dowry, are you? That's not appropriate."
Shen Shixi said, "Mother, what are you thinking? How could I do something so degrading? I plan to pick out a few good items to sell later!"
The First Madam thought to herself, "This is even more embarrassing!" and quickly said, "This won't do! Although the Shen family is poor, we can't live on selling betrothal gifts. Your father will be furious if he finds out!"
Shen Shixi said, "Alright, Mother, Grandmother, don't worry about the dowry. There's no need to put on a show. I'll arrange my own affairs, and my third brother will handle it. You can all relax and enjoy the New Year!"
Since she had said that, the Shen family mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stopped insisting, as it was pointless to persist anyway.
The New Year passed rather hastily. As soon as the third day of the Lunar New Year was over, Li Yuanke urged the Ministry of Rites to start arranging his marriage again, acting like a young boy who couldn't wait.
The men of the Shen family even spent New Year's Eve on the road, finally arriving in the first month of the lunar calendar, and the family was bustling with activity.
The grand ceremony will be held on February 20th.
A total of 368 betrothal gifts were carried to the Shen family.
Although the Shen family was poor, back then, Old Master Shen was also a Grand Tutor, and the family's house was a gift from the late emperor. It was located in the inner city and was quite spacious.
The first batch of betrothal gifts entered the Shen family's gate, while the last batch remained inside the palace. People from all over the capital came to witness the ceremony, and the alley in front of the Shen family's gate and the imperial city were packed with people.
It was at this time that the Crown Prince of Xiling and the Wolf King of Beisha entered the capital. Officials from the Court of State Ceremonial came out to greet them, and Prince Li Yuanyun of Yong'an greeted them on behalf of the Emperor.
Logically, Li Yuanyin should have had the most advantage in this kind of public exposure, but who told him to be so foolish as to do such a thing!
The Empress Dowager was quite unhappy, but since her youngest son had just been released, she had to suppress her dissatisfaction. She was well aware that her youngest son had been released because Li Yuanke wanted a respectable wedding.
She felt very sad and upset, and said to Qingruo, "Does he suspect that I have come to this? Back then, when I wanted to marry him a princess, he refused no matter what. Later, he also refused to establish a crown princess. I knew that he wanted to keep the position of the principal wife for someone else!"
He's waited so many years, and I'm his own mother, yet he's afraid I'll cause him trouble.
Qingruo thought to herself, "The birth charter has just been brought back and enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and you, sir, have already started a hunger strike. What else could this be but causing trouble?"
After the Wolf King of Beisha and Crown Prince Yelü Buge of Xiling entered the territory of Da Zhou from Tianfei Pass, they were shocked by what they saw. The road connecting Youzhou City to Shangjing City was paved with an unknown material. It was very hard and there was no mud even in rainy or snowy weather. Walking on it, their shoes remained clean.
The only downside is that it wears out the horseshoes quite a bit.
Now that we've entered the capital, the ground is paved with the same material, and the streets are clean and tidy. It's a world apart from when the Wolf King visited a few years ago.
The Wolf King said to Yelü Buge, "When the Emperor of Great Zhou personally led his troops on the expedition, the person in charge of the court was the current Empress, formerly the Imperial Noble Consort Chenyuan. She was truly an extraordinary woman. If I had such a woman, I would definitely treat her with great respect!"
Yelü Buge smiled. He had met Empress Chenyuan Zhao once before. She was very young then, and very cute. At the time, he only thought that this little girl was interesting. If he had known this would happen, he should not have let her leave Xiling.
Upon seeing the betrothal gifts being carried to the Shen family, the caravan stopped to watch for a while before being led to their lodgings by Li Yuanyun and officials from the Court of State Ceremonial.
People on the street praised Empress Chen Yuanzhao highly, which shows how popular she was.
Since the spring of the seventh year of Yongxi, now it is February of the ninth year of Yongxi. The court has been conscripting manpower to repair roads, exchanging grain for labor and silver for labor. However, the court has severely punished any cases of embezzlement of project funds or mistreatment of laborers.
The imperial court provided numerous job opportunities, and the Ministry of Works sent people to various regions to promote grain crops. Whenever new varieties of crops were planted, if a lack of experience led to a poor harvest, there were also policies to reduce or exempt taxes. The lives of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty have truly improved a great deal.
Shen Shixi also implemented some policies, ordering the Ministry of Revenue to seize a lot of land and put it in the hands of the court. Not to mention anything else, a large number of officials were killed for plotting rebellion and treason, and their land was not a small amount.
Shen Shixi ordered the Ministry of Revenue to rent out these fields to the people for cultivation. Many people now have land, and as long as they are not lazy, they will not starve.
There really aren't many lazy people these days.
Because if they don't work, they will starve to death.
The delegations from Beisha and Xiling saw that everyone on the street was beaming with smiles, their spirits completely different from those in their own country. They were puzzled. Why were they so happy about the emperor's wedding? They weren't going to receive any reward money.
Curious, they asked the question, and an official from the Court of State Ceremonial explained, "The people are overjoyed that His Majesty has appointed Empress Chen Yuanzhao as Empress. From now on, our Great Zhou has a wise ruler and a benevolent empress; who wouldn't be happy?"
After the New Year, Li Yuanke had to attend court. The affairs of the court had been sorted out, and he only needed to do things step by step, which saved him a lot of trouble.
On February 22nd, after the grand ceremony, the spring examination began. This year was the first spring examination after the implementation of the new examination syllabus. There were 38 students from Yongxi Academy who took the exam, and 25 of them passed, which was a very high ratio.
Moreover, all of these people are students from impoverished families.
Nine students from Jinling Academy also made the list.
In the north there is Yongxi, and in the south there is Jinling. The headmaster of Jinling Academy is Xie Zhiwen, who moved his whole family to Jiangnan and now lives in Jinling City.
As a result, rumors began to circulate that the imperial court was biased towards Yongxi Academy and Jinling Academy, and had leaked the exam questions to them, because the main difficulty of this year's imperial examination was mathematics, and many noble children lost a lot of points in mathematics.
The rumors reached the palace, and Chaoyu was very worried, as this would have a very bad impact on the Empress's reputation.
Shen Shixi said, "Order all academies in the capital to place the 'Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art' in the most prominent position in bookstores. Whenever someone enters a bookstore, have the shop assistant tell the customer that all the arithmetic questions in this year's imperial examination are original questions from the 'Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art,' and that families with students should definitely buy a copy."
"yes!"
That day, copies of "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" sold like hotcakes in the capital, and many bookstores rushed to print them overnight. This trend spread from north to south.
The rumors were quickly dispelled.
Shen Shixi asked Chaoyu, "Have you found out who's been stirring things up?"
Admittedly, on the surface, this was aimed at Shen Shixi, but Shen Shixi saw another side to it: it was stirring up a conflict between poor scholars and aristocratic families.
The root cause of the downfall of any dynasty is that class contradictions have reached an irreconcilable point, and that one class overthrows another.
"I heard that the man's surname is Dou. I am incompetent and have been unable to find out his identity." Chao Yu kowtowed and begged for forgiveness.