Chapter 2500 Dowry
The reason why the Ministry of Rites made such a suggestion was not only for regulatory reasons, but also because of the emperor's suggestion.
The emperor prepared a lot of dowry for the two princesses. No matter how much betrothal gifts the Bai family prepared, they would have to be converted into dowry, which would be far beyond the etiquette. The emperor thought this was not good.
The reason why he felt so guilty was naturally because he was criticized by Wei Zhi for marrying off his daughter a few years ago. Of course, he admitted his mistake, but he just didn't change.
This time, the emperor married off two daughters in a row, and asked the national treasury to prepare a lot of dowries. The list was within the upper limit of the etiquette, and then he gave a little privately. The queen also divided her own dowry, and this time the excess was a bit too much.
Wei Zhi had already made a remonstration last time, and the emperor didn't want to see him much recently. Every time he saw him, he would complain about it, feeling guilty.
Old Zhou was very confused by this. "Why is Lord Wei so picky? What's there to say about a father giving his daughter a dowry? This is the emperor's money. He can give it to whoever he wants. Why does he have to listen to what an outsider says?"
Manbao said, "You can't say that. There are no private matters in the royal family. Moreover, this matter involves etiquette and is not just a matter for Your Majesty, let alone the royal family. Mingda has already refused such a high dowry twice. It is just that Your Majesty and the Queen love her. She can't be too forceful, otherwise it will hurt Your Majesty's feelings."
Old Zhou didn't understand, "Isn't marrying off a daughter a family matter?"
Manbao shook his head, and Baishan also shook his head. "Ritual etiquette is used to regulate people's status and social relationships. Your Majesty has sisters. According to etiquette, the princesses of the previous emperor are more important than yours. A dowry that exceeds the etiquette will not only break this relationship, but also leave a bad example for future generations. What if someone follows suit in the future?"
Bai Shan said, "Your Majesty's love for your daughter is understandable, but Lord Wei is also not wrong. He is looking at this matter from the perspective of the greater good. Right now, Your Majesty is only stepping on the upper limit of etiquette and asking the national treasury to prepare the gift list, and subsidizing the rest himself. But what if a future emperor is unwilling to use money from the private treasury, or has no money in the private treasury, but still wants to give this honor to the princess when she gets married?"
Old Zhou: "What should we do?"
"He will pass it on to the national treasury. The bottom line is being pushed down bit by bit," Bai Shan said. "Besides, His Majesty's private treasury doesn't belong to him alone. Besides him, it also involves other imperial children, not to mention the Imperial Medical Bureau and the Imperial Rites Temple, which often need subsidies from the emperor. If he gives more dowry to the princess, then there will inevitably be less for the Imperial Medical Bureau and the Imperial Rites Temple."
Forty percent of the Imperial Medical Bureau's expenditures still come from the emperor's private treasury. It will probably take a long time for the national treasury to fully cover its expenses.
Not to mention the Taichang Temple.
The Taichang Temple is responsible for the construction of the imperial mausoleum, which accounts for a large part of the expenditure. Of course, this money comes from the national treasury, but in order to ease the pressure on the national treasury, it has been independently bearing part of the expenditure. Otherwise, why is the emperor so poor?
Marrying off sons and daughters year after year is one factor, but such fixed expenses are also a major reason.
Just look at the Daming Palace. It took twenty years to build, but half of it is still wasteland. You can tell how poor the emperor was.
So this is not just the emperor's business.
But the emperor was also stubborn. When Wei Zhi and others scolded him, he just listened obediently and turned around to prepare what he should prepare for his daughter. He refused to change.
Wei Zhi was helpless. The New Year was approaching, and various taxes had to be consolidated. Plans had to be made for spending money for next year. Moreover, this year was the year for the Ministry of Personnel to conduct a major inspection, and important officials from all over the country had to return to Beijing to report on their work. The Imperial Astronomical Observatory had warned two months ago that the cold weather would arrive early this year, and there might be snowstorms in the Central Plains and the south.
That’s right, the snow disaster is not happening in the north, but probably in the Central Plains and the south, which happen to be major grain-producing areas. It’s really a headache.
So there are a lot of things to do, and Wei Zhi doesn't want to make things too awkward with the emperor over such a small matter, especially when they are about to become in-laws.
Therefore, he wrote two letters to the emperor and advised him in person twice. He found that the emperor would admit his mistakes in person, but would do the same thing behind his back, so he turned a blind eye to it.
The emperor felt guilty for a few days, but when he found out that Wei Zhi really didn't ask anymore, he was instantly overjoyed. He then felt relieved and even asked about his ministers' dowries while preparing theirs for his daughter.
The main reason was that Zhou Man had just come to check on the Empress's pulse. Since both of them were about to get married, the Emperor asked, "Have your parents prepared your dowry?"
Manbao nodded, "I've prepared quite a lot."
The emperor smiled and asked, "I heard that you have made a lot of money yourself. Will you put it into your dowry?"
Manbao shook his head.
The emperor frowned and asked, "Why, you want to leave your money to your parents and family?"
As a father, how can you ask for the money your daughter has worked hard to earn?
Manbao said: "No, my father didn't let me put the money in the dowry, saying that I should keep it secretly, saying that it is private money. If I put it in the dowry, it will be public. I should still carry some private money with me. This way it will be more convenient and no one will know how much money I have."
In fact, if she hadn’t looked at the account book, she wouldn’t have known how much money she had.
The emperor became thoughtful upon hearing this, and later said to Mingda, "It's a pity that everything in our family is in the account books. I can't even secretly give it to you for your own use. But Zhou Man's father is right. You should still have some for yourself. I'll find an excuse to ask for some money from the private treasury, and you can secretly use it for your own use."
Mingda: "...Father, didn't you and Mother prepare a box of silver for your son? That's more than enough."
"That's a public road, not a private house."
Mingda felt that Bai Erlang would not remember these things and might be a little embarrassed about them, but the emperor insisted, and she had no choice but to say, "My daughter's expenses are not big, so you can give some to your sister, and I will give less."
The emperor nodded, reached out and touched her head, saying, "You are weak. I will have someone prepare some more medicinal herbs for you to take with you. You will live in the princess's mansion from now on. If you run out of medicine, send someone back and tell me, and I will have someone find some for you."
Mingda smiled and nodded. Her father had been having a lot of mood swings lately. Never mind, she would just agree to everything first.
The emperor was overjoyed. He clutched his daughter's hand and sighed, "Unconsciously, you're getting married. I still remember a few years ago when you were still this small, with dry, yellow, and thinning hair. No matter how much you ate, it was useless. Your mother and I were terribly worried back then. The Imperial Hospital said you were too weak to take supplements, and your spleen and stomach were weak. You're nothing like your sister. You ate like a kitten. I never thought you'd grown up so big now."
The emperor looked at Mingda's hair, which was only slightly yellow at the tips, and touched it with satisfaction. His daughter's health was getting better and better, which could be seen from her hair.
Mingda didn't want to talk to her father anymore. She was pretty in every way except her hair, and her father even brought it up.
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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