Chapter 557 The Dowry That Shocked the Government and the Public!
Luo Qi understood what was said, but the scholars all over the world did not agree with it.
Wang Mang himself was helpless. He had to make unprecedented reforms in order to appease the people of the world. He prospered with the help of the powerful force of Confucianism, but now he had to bear the backlash.
Countless people are pushing him forward. It's like a campaign promise. He said it well at the beginning, and if he doesn't do it after taking office, he can just give it a try.
But Wang Mang thought again about what Luo Qi had said just now out of concern.
Luo Qi's influence on Wang Mang is still very strong. In Wang Mang's plan, Luo Qi is his first ally, because Luo Qi is both moral and capable, and is someone he can completely trust.
Wang Mang pondered for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "But Wenqi, what you just said makes a lot of sense.
If no noticeable changes are made for a long time, it can create a feeling of being cheated.
The most crucial part of our reform is the change of the land system, which is the most difficult to achieve.
The people of the world should be able to see the immediate results of the new world. Calling on the officials to advocate simplicity and abolish slavery may be the easiest way to do this.
In the past, Emperor Xiaohui and Emperor Xiaowen practiced frugality, and the whole nation followed suit. But in today's world, extravagance has become a trend among the nobles, and they are extremely licentious. One day's food costs as much as the common people's family spends in a year.
This is how money and goods work in the world. If the powerful and wealthy have one more, the common people will have one less. If the powerful and wealthy swallow all the money, the common people will die of hunger.
King Su said, people are not troubled by poverty but by inequality.
The common people work hard all day long but live in poverty, and the dogs of the powerful and wealthy eat meat every day. If they do not have the courage to rise up in rebellion, they would be unworthy of being the subjects of the Emperor.
When I read history books, I often lamented that the king of Luo State was rich but did not own a palace or wear fancy clothes. For thousands of years, there has been no change. Isn't this the reason why the people of Luo State and Zhaocheng lived in harmony?
Abolish the slave system and make all people subject to the government. No matter what happens to the people of Zhuxia in the future, they cannot be deprived of everything from birth. "
In Wang Mang's moral view, as long as the ruler sets an example, the world will follow. He was able to hold a high position and even rule the world without making any achievements because of his noble morals.
This sounds a little incredible, but it is very consistent with human psychology.
Although there are always people who say that as long as you can get the job done, a few mistakes don't matter.
But if you really put an official who lives a simple life and an official who lives an extravagant life in front of you, 90 percent of the people will choose the official who lives a simple life.
A morally perfect person may not be a good official, but he is not that bad either.
Although Luo does not agree with averageness because averageness is inherently unfair, he also disagrees with excessive gaps.
Even though Emperor Xiaowen was as frugal as he was, he never lacked meat, fine wine, etc., which was already very good. But some powerful people were extravagant to an unimaginable degree. How can people believe what such rulers say?
Although completely abolishing slavery and calling for frugality are equally difficult, they are at least much easier than what has been proposed previously.
Luo Qi thought it was impossible to call on the nobles to be frugal. It was impossible to prevent people from spending money.
Moreover, even if it was really achieved, it would not necessarily be a good thing. If the nobles were not allowed to spend money, wouldn't they have more and more money in their hands?
However, Luo Qi thought that it was feasible to completely abolish the slave system, and that this policy could be used to disintegrate the powerful.
The Luo family didn't care about this because they didn't have any slaves, and those female officials were all relatives, so ordinary people couldn't come.
Especially the female officials around Luo Shizi, it was like a horde of thousands crossing a single-plank bridge, because the data showed that Luo Shizi's wives were basically the female officials around him.
Even if they don’t marry Luo’s son, these female officials still hold great power and act as the chief stewards, which can make their small families more prestigious, no less than brave warriors!
As for abolishing it completely, Luo Qi still found it difficult, because the existence of the slave system was not just a matter of law. It was not a simple matter of issuing an imperial decree and the powerful would do as the decree said.
There are countless struggles involved, and even Luo Qi can guess now that some slaves themselves will oppose this decree.
Luo Qi is now extremely grateful that he decisively came to Chang'an after receiving Wang Mang's letter. Otherwise, with these few people making such a mess, it would be worse than no reform at all.
It's really too idealistic.
Do you want to solve the problem?
think.
Do you know where the problem lies?
Know.
How to solve it?
He issued an imperial decree calling on the powerful and wealthy to give concessions to the people.
Two words: outrageous.
Wang Mang's life was too smooth. The setbacks he had experienced could not even be called setbacks because he did not suffer any losses.
Wang Mang felt that since he was young, he had said that he would survey all the land in the world, be frugal, treat slaves equally, and ensure that prices in the world would be consistent. He had clearly stated almost everything he wanted to do.
When everyone in the world knows his thoughts, and countless people have pushed him to this position, they must support him. Since they all support him, why don’t you support me now that I am implementing the law?
If those powerful people who supported Wang Mang knew what he was thinking, they would be so angry that they would vomit blood.
Who dares not to support you?
If we don't support you, those scholars will eat us alive. Will the Empress Dowager let us go?
Moreover, you only said to survey all the land in the world, you didn't say to confiscate all the land and then redistribute it!
You only said that you want to stabilize prices, but you didn't say that the government should monopolize all industries and then set prices itself!
You are frugal yourself and you treat your slaves equally. We admire your virtues, but that doesn't mean we want to be frugal ourselves, and it doesn't mean we don't want to use slaves!
We were just talking helplessly, why are you taking it so seriously?
Wang Mang has always relied on morality to reach the pinnacle of his life, so he really thinks this is a panacea for governing the world.
Luo Qi left Wang Mang's mansion with great worry. He absolutely did not want Wang Mang to fall into failure.
The role of morality in bringing together a society is no less than that of law.
Wang Mang is a benchmark and he represents a trend of thought. If Wang Mang had failed, it would have dealt a huge blow to the spirit of the people of the world and they might even fall into confusion.
…
Zhao Hede entered Chang'an City and moved directly into the palace to accompany her sister who was at the peak of power.
Luo Qi had never seen his fiancée, but people who had heard her said that she looked exactly like the Empress Dowager, or even better.
Since the Empress Dowager was unwilling to let him meet Zhao Hede directly, Luo Qi put aside his curiosity and began to think about the next strategy to abolish slavery, which Luo Qi thought was the simplest thing.
He wanted to use this incident to pry open the airtight fortress of the world's powerful and wealthy, and then kill those powerful and wealthy people.
The city of Chang'an and the whole world were waiting for the first decree after the Grand Marshal took office. The Imperial Academy and all the scholars in the world were staring at Wang Mang, the saint in the eyes of countless people.
It carries with it countless expectations and infinite longings, as if the chaos in the world today is about to disappear.
The Han Dynasty will return to the era of peace and prosperity, full granaries, and submissive rule by the barbarians.
In this atmosphere, the marriage proposal delegation from Zhaocheng entered Chang'an City. The Luo family's delegation never made a lavish appearance; a simple word "Luo" and the Phoenix King flag were enough.
The warriors' attire was also extremely obvious, and they rode on horses brought back from the Western Regions of Wusun and Dayuan, each of which was worth a thousand gold coins.
After receiving Zhao Feiyan's oral instructions, the marriage envoys carried the gifts into the palace.
In Zhao Feiyan's bedroom stood people from the Zhao family. With the rise of Zhao Feiyan, the Zhao family has become quite prominent. Apart from the Wang family, they are the family with the highest status. There are three marquises alone, as well as a high-ranking official like the Grand Marshal.
However, he was not arrogant at all when facing the Luo family. He was even a little complacent, as if he would be a relative of the Luo family in the future.
The Luo family's envoys carried several large boxes into the hall. Everyone in the hall began to whisper to each other. People's curiosity about the Luo family could not be stopped. Although they knew that the Luo family had always been frugal, they still speculated about what the gifts would be.
"May your Majesty the Empress Dowager be well. The head of the family has sent a foreign minister to bring you a message. The two families are getting married and becoming one family. This is a great joy. May the King of Su be with you."
"May the King of Su be with you!"
Dozens of Luo clan members in the hall knelt on one knee, raised their hands above their heads, and spoke in a deep and solemn voice.
The Zhao family members in the hall were stunned when they saw this, and instantly recalled the etiquette they had learned. They all knelt on one knee on the ground and said in unison: "The spirit of King Su is in heaven, and his glorious name will last forever!"
Zhao Feiyan just felt relaxed all over. She had never thought that one day she would receive such a blessing from the head of the Luo family.
"May the Su King be safe and blessed!
Thank you for the blessing that Zhaogong brought me. I treated Su Wang Shang Huang Tian with respect, far surpassing the heaven. This is probably the reason why I can receive Zhaogong’s blessing today. "
The Luo family envoy stood up and bowed deeply, saying, "Your Majesty the Queen Mother, this is the gift that our family has prepared for Young Master Qi to marry the noble lady of your family.
Ten Ferghana horses from Dayuan.
Three Liaodong divine-winged Gyrfalcons.
One hundred pieces of fine jade from the Western Regions.
Kangju sacred object.
…
A set of extremely western colored glass lamps."
At the beginning, these are extremely precious things, and many of them are difficult to obtain even for the royal family, especially the Saker Falcon. If it were not for the Luo family, it would be very difficult to capture it. The least valuable thing here might be a hundred pieces of top-quality jade.
But the Luo family loves jade, and jade is included in all gift lists. This is something that everyone knows, and it is considered a bonus.
From the specifications of these gifts, one can see how sincere the Luo family is. After all, he is marrying the empress dowager's sister, and it would not be good to give too few things.
The Luo clan envoy ignored the expressions of the people in the hall and continued, "This is a bronze tripod from the Shang Dynasty, which was used by the Shang king to offer sacrifices to the heavens.
A set of wine cups and bamboo slips of imperial edict bestowed by the Zhou emperor.
A set of chime bells presented by Duke Huan of Qi, with an inscription recording their origin.
A volume of interpretation of the Spring and Autumn Annals written by Confucius himself.
boom!
These four items stunned everyone in the hall. Even a woman like Zhao Feiyan, who loved vanity, stood up excitedly.
Each of these items is unique except for the Luo family!
Each piece can be passed down as a family heirloom, adding luster to the family as the noble heritage of the family. Especially for a family that suddenly rose like the Zhao family, they need such objects with historical heritage the most to free themselves from the image of nouveau riche.
At this moment, Zhao Feiyan was even a little jealous of her sister. Not only did she have a good husband, but she also married into such a noble family. She suddenly felt that the position of queen mother was not so attractive.
Everyone in the Zhao family was surprised at first, and then began to worry. Luo's betrothal gift was a bit too heavy. What should they do with the dowry when the time comes?
It would be impossible to come up with such a gift even if the Zhao family was searched thoroughly. Zhao Feiyan knew that she could only look for something in the treasury of the imperial palace.
There are definitely no treasures from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but there are still some relatively precious things in the treasury of the imperial palace. Zhao Feiyan can give them to Zhao first as rewards, and then let Zhao take them to Luo as a dowry.
Zhao Hede, who was hiding behind the curtain, heard the gift list and had a deeper understanding of the Luo family she was marrying. She whispered softly, "This is the unique noble family that my sister mentioned."
She couldn't help but become curious about her future husband. She only heard people say that he was handsome, but she didn't know how handsome he was. She recalled the intimate words her sister had said to her between the curtains, and her face blushed. "I guess he must be very handsome, very handsome."
Luo's gift list was quickly passed around by Zhao Feiyan. The fact that Luo presented such a generous gift list fully demonstrated how much importance she attached to this marriage.
In the eyes of many people, this is a statement. The Luo family hopes that the position of the empress dowager will be stable, which means that they hope the royal family will survive and the Han Dynasty will continue to exist.
————
There are many different opinions about the owner of the ancient tomb unearthed this time. The only thing that can be confirmed is that this should be a noble of the Han Dynasty.
However, among the cultural relics unearthed the day before yesterday, there is a set of chime bells from the Zhou Dynasty. From the inscriptions, we can see that this was a gift from Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, to the monarch of Luo State.
I believe everyone has guessed that there was once a luxurious betrothal gift in history, which appeared in various novels at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. That was the set of chime bells that Luo Qi used when marrying Zhao Hede.
The identity of this Han Dynasty nobleman can be known from this. He should be a marquis of the Zhao family. The most likely possibility is Zhao Feiyan's brother, Grand Marshal Chenlu Marquis. - "Statement on the Identity of the Tomb Owner"
(End of this chapter)
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