Chapter 1308 Greed for Money
Even if the couple is a princess or a county lady, the marriage proposal still requires the opinion of the man's family. The marriage will only be granted after both parties have no problem. Otherwise, if the marriage is granted arbitrarily and the other party is unhappy, what's the point of getting married and causing resentment?
The Queen Mother nodded and said, "Their family agreed."
The emperor had no objection when he heard this. He smiled and asked, "Mother, do you want me to grant you the marriage, or do you want me to grant you the marriage?"
"Grant it." This is also an attitude that can appease the Sun family, but this time the Queen Mother asked the Emperor to talk about it not mainly about granting marriage, but...
She looked up at the emperor with a kind expression, "Your Majesty, Yunfeng's marriage to Weizhou is already a low marriage. I've checked, and no one from the Sun family's eldest branch is currently serving as an official in the court. No matter what Wulang has done, Yunfeng is the emperor's grandson. She has already been wronged in this regard, so the dowry cannot be too unfair."
emperor:……
It was impossible to ask the national treasury for money. Even when his daughters got married, if the dowries he listed were too large, they would be rejected by court officials. In the end, if he wanted a larger dowry, he had to pay from his private treasury.
Originally, if nothing had happened to the King of Yizhou, when Li Yunfeng got married, the Emperor would have given her some dowry, and the treasury would have paid for it. But now...
The Ministry of Revenue would not give the money, and the Empress Dowager obviously knew this, so she asked the Emperor directly.
The emperor naturally would not go to the Ministry of Revenue to waste time, so in the end he had to pay from his private treasury.
He felt that today's dinner was very unsatisfactory. If he had known earlier, he would have gone to the Queen for dinner.
Although we are both thinking about his private library, the feeling is different.
The emperor was upset, but he nodded with a smile on his face and agreed, saying, "After your majesty makes her decision, I will have the inner treasury prepare a generous dowry for Yunfeng."
The Queen Mother smiled and looked sideways at the palace maid beside her, who immediately presented her with a memorial.
She took it and handed it to the emperor, saying with a smile, "This is my rough draft of the dowry. Take a look at it first, and then add to it if you think it's missing."
The emperor hadn't expected the empress dowager to prepare even this. When he unfolded it and took a look, his heart was filled with thunder and lightning. He scanned it at a glance and couldn't help but frowned, "Mother, is this dowry too generous?"
The Queen Mother sighed and said, "It wouldn't have had to be so generous. If we had chosen a family like the Wang, Cui, or Wei families, a smaller dowry would have been fine. But now we're marrying her off to a remote place like Weizhou, and the Sun family doesn't even have any reputation. I can't rest easy if I don't give her more."
The Queen Mother pressed her eyes and said sadly, "Your brother only has this one son and one daughter left now. I just hope they can live a peaceful and prosperous life."
The emperor was silent.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, the Queen Mother took his hand and said, "Mao Nu, do you still remember when you were little, the four of you brothers played together. Sanlang and Wulang were naughty, and your eldest brother was serious and had to discipline them. It was you who led them to avoid your eldest brother, and you were always the first to take the lead when things got into trouble. How good were you brothers back then?"
"You did something wrong and were caught by your father, but you still patted your chest and said you would protect Sanlang and Wulang. Your eldest brother also protected you in return, but in the end, your eldest brother was beaten by your father..."
The emperor's face was somewhat moved. After a moment of silence, he said, "Don't worry, mother. I will not treat Yunfeng unfairly in terms of dowry. Please give me the memorial and I will take it back to the empress to arrange it."
The Queen Mother was finally satisfied. She smiled and pushed the soup bowl aside, saying, "This is the old duck soup I asked the kitchen to make. It's cold out, so you should have some to keep warm."
The emperor smiled and felt that this bowl of old duck soup was made of gold.
After the emperor finished his meal, he chatted with the empress dowager for a while before taking the memorial and leaving.
Seeing the emperor standing still outside the palace, Gu Zhong stepped forward and asked nervously, "Your Majesty, which lady's palace do you want to visit?"
The emperor glanced at him and said, "When did I ever say we were going to another palace? Go back to Taiji Palace!"
Gu Zhong was silent in his heart, not knowing who had finished his work and said he wanted to take a walk in the harem.
Gu Zhong escorted the emperor back to Taiji Hall. The queen had already changed her clothes and was lying on the bed, holding the memorial written by Manbao in her hand.
In addition to handling palace affairs today, she spent most of her time reading this memorial, and she hasn't finished reading it yet.
The emperor suddenly returned. She was stunned for a moment before she stood up and went to greet him with the memorial. While bowing, she asked with a smile, "Your Majesty, why are you back?"
The emperor took off his coat and threw it to the maid, saying gloomily, "It's almost time to go to bed, so I'll come back naturally."
He glanced at the memorial in the Queen's hand, couldn't help but sigh, and shouted outside: "Gu Zhong, bring the Queen Mother's memorial here."
The emperor motioned the queen to take a look and said, "It's too generous. I have to find an excuse to refuse it."
Even if he was willing to give Li Yunfeng a generous dowry, it didn't have to be so generous. He would definitely have to bargain.
But the Queen Mother suddenly brought up their childhood memories, and he couldn't refuse at that time, so either the Queen or the Supervisor of the Inner Treasury had to do it.
After changing his clothes, he sat cross-legged on the couch and said unhappily, "Mr. Xiao said that the Queen Mother has just recovered from a serious illness and is still in poor health, so she can't be bullied."
The Queen hadn't finished reading the memorial, but after a quick glance, she had an idea of what it meant. She asked, "When does the Queen Mother want to set the wedding date?"
"It's not decided yet, but I estimate it will be next year or the year after next."
The Queen thought for a moment and said, "It should be next year."
Seeing the emperor's distress, she smiled and sat across from him. "Do you know that the Queen Mother is a little unhappy with Yunfeng's meddling in palace affairs?"
The emperor frowned, "What palace affairs did she interfere in?"
"Nothing much. It's just that Zhou Man treated Dalang earlier, and she deliberately had someone pass the news to the Queen Mother, which made the Queen Mother very dissatisfied."
The emperor looked at the memorial and said, "So this..."
"This shouldn't all be for Yunfeng," the Queen said. "Back then, Wei Zhi raided the Yizhou Palace and didn't leave them a penny. Xinqing will definitely have to take some things with him when he goes to his fiefdom."
She said, "Dizhou is poor."
This fiefdom was chosen by the emperor. He coughed awkwardly and said defensively, "It's not that poor actually..."
The Queen smiled and said, "I didn't say this fiefdom is bad, but with Xinqing's status, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works won't give him too much when he goes to the fiefdom. I took a look and found that the things your mother selected are valuable but not easy to cash out. They are all treasures that can be passed down from generation to generation."
The emperor glared, "Are you asking me to agree?"
The Queen said, "It's better than asking you for money, food, and people, right?"
These porcelains, paintings and calligraphy, furniture, and ornaments can all be used to support one's appearance and daily life, but they are difficult to cash in. It is obvious that the empress dowager had selected them carefully and did not touch the sensitive points of court officials and the emperor.
Unfortunately, she didn't know that the emperor also loved money and was unwilling to give her even this little thing.
Seeing his wandering gaze, the Queen couldn't help but frown. "All these things were confiscated from the Yizhou Palace. They were difficult to convert into cash, so they were moved to your private vault. Why, they're gone now?"
The emperor felt a little guilty and whispered, "Didn't Sanlang go to Luozhou? He has nothing in his palace over there, so..."
The next update will be around 9pm
I remember the emperor’s nickname was “Cat Slave”, right?
Coincidentally, Gu Wanyin asked me the name of the cat in her drama "Coroner of the Tang Dynasty" last time, and I blurted out the word "cat slave".
Friends who like crime-solving books can read Gu Wanyin's "The Coroner of the Tang Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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