Chapter 56 The new emperor did indeed want to bestow a marquisate upon Qin Ren...
The new emperor did indeed want to grant Qin Ren a marquisate.
He would want to confer a marquisate upon Qin Ren not only because Qin Ren's achievements were worthy of such a title, but also because Qin Ren's background was very simple.
Regardless of Qin Ren's status in other countries, he is now all alone in Da Yong.
If the Liu family hadn't fallen into decline, Qin Ren would have married the son of Minister Liu.
Considering the Liu family's former immense power and their deeply entrenched network of connections in the court, the new emperor might not be willing to grant Qin Ren a marquisate.
To be granted a title of nobility, one must be granted a fiefdom. A local nobility with a fiefdom could be described as a local emperor.
If possible, emperors would not be willing to grant titles of nobility.
Unless the other party's achievements are so great that he must grant them a title, the emperor will not casually confer a title of nobility.
Most of the current marquises of Dayong were ennobled for their military achievements, and all of them were ennobled by the late emperor.
Although these marquises are still considered loyal.
During the previous struggle for the throne, few people came out to cause trouble.
But that doesn't mean they will always be loyal to him.
The new emperor wanted more of his own people, and Qin Ren's background just happened to be very simple.
Qin Ren did indeed provide a lot of help after he ascended the throne.
Whether it's alcohol, sweet potatoes, or medicine, these are all real achievements.
The new emperor wanted to give him some real power and then cultivate him into his right-hand man.
Now he treats Wen Lingzheng well and wants to bestow the title of Marquis upon Qin Ren.
When Wen Lingzheng inherited the title, they were indeed his right-hand men.
Of course, Qin Ren had no friends in the court, being a merchant of humble origins.
The new emperor will certainly face great obstacles if he wants to grant him a title.
However, people are inherently rebellious, and emperors are no exception.
The more the senior officials in the court forbade the new emperor from doing what he wanted to do, the more he felt his power was threatened, and the more determined he became to achieve his goals.
Since none of them would allow the new emperor to bestow the title of marquis upon Qin Ren, it means that Qin Ren had no faction in the court.
Those who openly obstruct Qin Ren will become his enemies.
After Qin Ren was granted the title of Marquis, regardless of his true feelings, he could only ultimately stand with the Emperor.
...
On the eve of the Lunar New Year in the north that year, the new emperor still insisted on bestowing a marquisate upon Qin Ren.
The ceremony for bestowing the title of marquis was not held in a grand manner. Qin Ren felt that instead of spending money on an extravagant ceremony, it would be better to save the money and reward him with it.
Of course, he would never say that to the emperor's face.
He said he wanted the ceremony to be simple to show respect for the late emperor who had passed away not long ago.
As it happened, the emperor didn't have that much money at the moment, so he naturally agreed to Qin Ren's request.
Qin Ren was granted the title of Marquis, and his fiefdom was in the south.
The rubber trees he wanted happened to be located on his fiefdom.
The emperor probably granted him such a fiefdom in the hope that he would produce more good things in the future.
The fiefdoms of Dayong were granted by counties. Qin Ren's fiefdom consisted of five counties, roughly the size of a prefecture.
For example, Yuyang Prefecture only has four counties.
Qin Ren's fiefdom is not in the South China Sea, but in the area near Qiu Chuan.
The fiefdom was in his name, and he was the highest ruler in that area.
He had the power to appoint prefects and magistrates, and could even arbitrarily replace officials.
Not only that, he also received all the tax revenue from these five counties.
He only needed to hand over a small portion of the tax revenue to the emperor each year, and all the remaining taxes were his own.
What does this mean?
This means that as the number of people in his fiefdom increases and their lives become more prosperous, they will be able to pay him more taxes.
There are many taxes in Da Yong: land tax, house tax, commercial tax, population tax, and various kinds of corvée labor...
These taxes are quite heavy, and coupled with the fact that agriculture is not very developed, many people still starve to death in many places every year.
Qin Ren never imagined that he could be granted a title of nobility based on a sweet potato.
Others are ennobled based on their military achievements, so wouldn't you say his title is like that of a sweet potato marquis?
Sweet Potato Marquis plans to move his entire family to his fiefdom after the New Year.
Now that the sweet potatoes have been harvested, the agricultural officials will handle the remaining promotion, so Qin Ren has nothing to do.
He didn't need to stay in the capital forever. Even if he was just a lowly Marquis in the capital, he would still be under the control of the emperor, princes, and some dukes.
But once he arrived in his fiefdom, he was essentially the local tyrant.
From now on, his word will carry the brunt, and he will feel more at ease in his own fiefdom.
The news of Qin Ren being granted a marquisate has been making headlines throughout the capital recently.
Qin Ren's title was Yu Ling. Yu came from the name of a county in his fiefdom, and Ling in Dayong had the auspicious meaning of divine blessing.
The fact that the emperor gave him these two characters as a title shows that he really valued him.
It is also clear that the emperor had high hopes for him, hoping that he could bring more and better things.
If it were someone else, they might feel pressured.
Qin Ren, however, felt no pressure. He had a passage to cross it, and he was very confident in himself.
As long as His Majesty treats him well, he is naturally willing to serve him diligently.
That afternoon, Qin Ren returned from outside with his attendants.
When Liu Qingyue heard that he had returned, she immediately came out to greet him with great joy.
Seeing that he was in a good mood today, Qin Ren asked, "What's wrong? Did something good happen?"
Liu Qingyue: "We're about to leave the capital. Today I finally convinced my mother to come with us."
Qin Ren was somewhat helpless upon hearing this, "If you take her away, what will happen to your older brother?"
Generally speaking, mothers prefer to stay with their eldest son.
Liu Qingyue: "Doesn't Big Brother have Ke'er? And Uncle and the others are all in the capital. Big Brother will never lack people around him."
But he was different; he had only been back in the capital for a short time before he was about to leave with Qin Ren.
He only had Qin Ren by his side, and Qin Ren was a very busy person, so he felt a little uneasy.
Hearing that her mother was willing to go with him, Liu Qingyue was naturally very happy.
Upon hearing Liu Qingyue's words, Qin Ren asked somewhat blankly, "Ke'er... are you going to marry your elder brother?"
Liu Qingyue was taken aback upon hearing this, and looked up at him with some confusion.
"Of course, I thought you already knew about this."
“I know Ke’er is your cousin. When my mother brought him to our house, I thought it was just a casual visit.”
At this point, Qin Ren couldn't help but sigh.
He was a man, and Ke'er was a boy, so he didn't pay much attention to him.
Neither Qi nor Liu Qingyue had deliberately discussed the relationship between Ke'er and Liu Yuze with him, so Qin Ren treated Ke'er as an ordinary relative of their family.
In addition, their house is very big, and Qin Ren is usually either out running around or back in the modern world busy with other things.
He and Ke'er hadn't met much, so naturally he hadn't talked to Liu Qingyue about him.
Upon suddenly hearing that Ke'er might marry Liu Yuze, Qin Ren's expression became quite complex.
Liu Qingyue: "What's wrong? Isn't Ke'er good? I think he's great. He's well-behaved and handsome. He's a good match for my brother."
Qin Ren hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said as he led him toward the main courtyard, "This isn't a question of whether it's appropriate or not."
"What's the problem?"
"Come back to the room with me first, and I'll show you a science video."
Qin Ren took Liu Qingyue's hand, and the two returned to the bedroom.
Qin Ren went back to the modern era and showed the cached video to Liu Qingyue.
After watching the video, Liu Qingyue was completely distraught.
So there are so many drawbacks to marriage between close relatives?
"Then, what should we do? Ke'er, he... he's loved his brother since he was little. If we tell him now, will he think... his brother has been reinstated and doesn't want him anymore?"
In Nanning, consanguineous marriage is still quite common.
The current Emperor and Empress are cousins.
If everyone is allowed to get married, but Liu Qingyue refuses to allow Ke'er to marry her brother, Ke'er will definitely feel that Liu Qingyue is looking down on him.
Now Liu Yuze has been reinstated to his original position, and Qin Ren has been ennobled.
Both the Liu family and the Qin family seem to have a bright future.
They didn't mention it before, but they brought it up now, so Ke'er will definitely overthink it.
Qin Ren: "Some couples who marry close relatives are even unable to conceive. In addition, Ke'er really likes her brother, so it's a very difficult situation for us now."
Liu Qingyue: "Otherwise, let me talk to my brother first and see what his attitude is?"
Of course, he couldn't reveal the science video to anyone; he could only subtly express the negative aspects of close marriage.
Ideally, Liu Yuze should tell Ke'er about it. If they can accept the fact that they cannot have children, or that their children are weak and sickly, then Liu Qingyue will have no way to force them to get married.
Liu Qingyue was someone who couldn't keep things to himself. After learning about this matter, he immediately took a sedan chair to see Liu Yuze.
There was no one else on Liu Yuze's side. Liu Qingyue had always had a close relationship with him, so there wasn't much beating around the bush.
Liu Qingyue: "Brother, my husband said that in their area, children born from consanguineous marriages are more likely to be weak."
Upon hearing this, Liu Yu smiled gently, "You suddenly came all this way just to tell me this?"
"Yes, couples who marry close relatives may not be able to have children."
"so what?"
"I'm worried that if you and Ke'er get married in the future, you might have a child with health problems."
"Are you worried that I'll take my anger out on him because of this?"
"No, it's... it's because you two are very healthy and good people. Because you are so closely related by blood, it's easier for you to give birth to a child with deformities or strange diseases than ordinary people. Some of you are even unable to have children at all, or it may cause the mother to miscarry."
Seemingly worried that he still didn't understand, Liu Qingyue continued, "That's right, your relationship is clearly very good, but even the best relationship can be ruined by the issue of children. It will be difficult for you two to have a healthy child together, and you might even turn against each other because of the child."
Liu Yu lowered her eyelashes and nodded after a long while.
“I know Qin Ren isn’t one to speak without reason; there must be some basis for what he’s saying. But… others won’t believe what you’re saying. And those others include not only Ke’er, but also possibly my mother, and… my uncle’s side. As for me… I promised to marry him before. If I break off the engagement now, Ke’er might not be able to survive.”
"So...brother, are you still going to marry him? What if...what if you can't have a child?"
"If we really don't have children, we'll think of other ways then."
In any case, the marriage cannot be called off, not only because of his promise to Ke'er, but also because he cannot hurt the Qi family's feelings right now.
The Liu family suffered a great calamity, and the Qi family helped them a lot during this time.
Liu Yuze has no other relatives, so she absolutely cannot afford to become estranged from the Qi family now.
Liu Qingyue pouted, "Then, should we tell Ke'er?"
"It's better not to. Telling him this won't do any good. Even if I do, he won't break off the engagement with me. Now, the entire Qi family, including everyone in the capital, knows that he's going to marry me. Telling him will only annoy him and won't do any good."
"So, that's it?"
"Okay, that's settled."
After leaving the Liu family home, Liu Qingyue looked utterly bewildered and confused.
He could sense that his brother probably didn't like Ke'er that much.
Whether you like someone or not is a very obvious thing.
For example, he likes Qin Ren, and he can't help but smile when he sees Qin Ren.
It's the kind of feeling where even if you're in a bad mood, seeing him makes you want to smile.
Qin Ren was the same; he was usually quite serious.
But when facing him, Qin Ren becomes very gentle, and his voice becomes much softer.
Qin Ren said he spoke gently to him because he couldn't help but clench his fists.
Because he liked him, he would add a lisp to his voice when he spoke to him.
Liu Qingyue knew about the "clamping sound"; she had seen it on short videos before.
It's when someone deliberately uses a high-pitched, cute, or gentle voice when speaking.
Liu Qingyue doesn't know how to use consonants, but his voice is already very pleasant, so he doesn't need to go through the trouble of using them.
When Ke'er is facing Liu Yuze, she can't help but speak in a low voice.
However, when Liu Yu faced Ke'er, well, he did seem very gentle, but the way he looked at Ke'er wasn't as gentle as one might imagine.
Liu Qingyue thought that after learning that close relatives could not marry, her brother would take the opportunity to try to break off his engagement with Ke'er.
Unexpectedly, my brother's ideas were always particularly strange.
He didn't seem to like Ke'er that much, but he cared a lot about the promise he made to her.
Of course, it's not that Liu Qingyue dislikes Ke'er.
He quite liked her and wanted his brother and Ke'er to break off their engagement, mainly because he was afraid that they wouldn't have a good life together after marriage due to their close kinship.
Having children isn't considered very important to men.
But for a young man in ancient times, it was a matter of utmost importance.
He wasn't sure if he was right to listen to his brother and not tell Ke'er.
But it doesn't seem like the right thing for him to do to tell Ke'er.
Just as her brother said, even if Ke'er knew, she might not believe it.
Liu Qingyue returned home with a conflicted expression. After thinking it over again and again, she decided to tell her mother what had happened.
My mother has been through more than he has; she has more experience and is older, so she probably knows more than he does.
After hearing his words, Qi Shi made a different choice from Liu Yuze.
She felt that no matter what, she should tell Ke'er.
Ke'er is a person, not a small animal.
Even if he might not believe it, he still has the right to know.
Qi said to Liu Qingyue, "Tomorrow we'll go tell him together. As for whether he believes it or not, and what choices he makes in the future, we shouldn't worry about those things. No matter how close we are to him, we can't make choices for him in many things. After you tell him, you don't need to feel uneasy anymore, because you've done what you should have done."
Liu Qingyue nodded upon hearing this, feeling that his mother's approach was better than his brother's.
His brother is good in every way, except that he can be a bit too cold-hearted towards people at times.
He suddenly realized that a man like his brother wasn't really a good match for him.
Early the next morning, Liu Qingyue and Qi Shi found Ke'er and told him about the drawbacks of consanguineous marriage.
“I only found out yesterday that my husband’s family doesn’t allow close relatives to marry. It’s my fault, really. If I had told my husband earlier that you and my brother were going to get married, maybe I could have told you sooner.”
Ke'er remained silent for a long time after hearing this before raising her head to look at Madam Qi. "Aunt, if I break off my engagement with my cousin now, it will be difficult for me to get married in the future."
"You... don't want to call off the engagement, do you?"
Ke'er didn't answer the question, but instead cautiously inquired, "What does my cousin mean by that?"
Liu Qingyue: "My brother said they won't call off the engagement."
Ke'er smiled gently, "Then... let's leave it at that."
Liu Qingyue frowned slightly, "But... when you have children in the future..."
Ke'er said very generously, "If we really don't have any children, Ke'er will find a concubine for my cousin. Aunt, Brother Yue, don't worry, Ke'er will not let the Liu family be without an heir."
Seeing this, Liu Qingyue didn't know what to say, and could only leave with a unhappy expression.
Qin Ren and Liu Qingyue were both very busy afterwards. Liu Qingyue was busy handing over the shop and soap workshop to the Qi family for management.
Qin Ren was busy with matters concerning his family's residence, and he planned to hand over the management of his residence in the capital to Liu Yuze.
The other two houses were rented out again, but the house they lived in remained untouched, with Liu Yuze coming to check on it from time to time.
The Liu family's ancestral home is in the capital, as is the Qi family's; they will definitely return frequently in the future.
Qin Ren left the capital after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. On the way, Liu Qingyue couldn't help but sigh, "My shop was just starting to take shape, and I didn't expect that we would leave the capital so soon."
If he had known he would leave so soon, he wouldn't have bothered to set up the shop in the first place.
However, the thought that the shop and workshop could make money for her uncle and the others made Liu Qingyue feel less unhappy than before.
Qin Ren: "It's okay, we'll be back later, and you can continue running your shop then."
Liu Qingyue: "I don't want that. I can't work this hard anymore. If you're going to give me anything else, don't give me the shop. Give me the land and the estate instead. I don't need to do all the work here, and I can get a lot of money every year from those."
Qin Ren nodded. "Alright, once we arrive at our fiefdom, you can choose whatever you want."
Upon hearing Qin Ren's words, Liu Qingyue couldn't help but chuckle and say, "I want my little motorcycle. We're all in your territory now, so you'll be in charge anyway. Could you get my motorcycle over here? I need to find a place to ride it."
Qin Ren thought about it seriously, "It's not impossible. I'll see if I can get you a yard, just for you to use as a car."
The car Qin Ren bought for Liu Qingyue arrived early, and Qin Ren took them all to their new home in the county town.
Liu Qingyue had gone back once before, but hadn't had a chance to bring her out to try it out.
This departure from the capital was quite different from the previous ones.
Previously, we were either fleeing from disaster or transporting people, so we were always in a hurry on the road.
This time they left to go to the fiefdom with Qin Ren.
They walked very slowly, almost playing as they went.
The emperor gave Qin Ren fifty guards, specifically to protect his safety.
In addition to these fifty guards, Qin Ren also brought many attendants with him.
With so many people protecting him, and given that he was the newly appointed Marquis of Yuling in Dayong, no one dared to make things difficult for him on the road.
Once in his fiefdom, Qin Ren could recruit and train soldiers on his own.
Once he has his own army, he will truly be a local tyrant.
Of course, marquises with fiefdoms could have their own armies, but the size of these armies was subject to certain restrictions.
No matter how rich Qin Ren becomes in the future, or how many soldiers he can support, he cannot exceed ten thousand.
Even the Marquis of Zhenbei was ennobled based on his military achievements.
He had a fiefdom, but his Zhenbei Army only numbered 80,000, making him an exception in Da Yong.
Qin Ren is a foreigner, and he has the blood of a foreigner.
The emperor officially allowed him to have an army of 10,000, but in reality, he could not actually have an army of 10,000.
The purpose of allowing the marquises to have their own armies was primarily for the purpose of managing their fiefdoms.
Generally, the size of the fiefdom corresponds to the size of the army.
Qin Ren's fiefdom was not large, consisting of only five counties.
Five counties, five thousand troops would be enough for him.
An army with too many soldiers will not only arouse the ruler's suspicion, but also make the army an easy target for others.
In addition, the army is not so easy to maintain.
Qin Ren had to pay for the army's expenses himself.
Maintaining an army requires not only money and food, but also training, management, and equipment.
A heavily armored army of several hundred men would cost tens of thousands of taels of silver just for equipment.
To support several thousand soldiers would require a considerable sum of money.
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