The reason why the Ministry of Rites hinted in this way was not only the reason of regulations, but also the hint of the emperor.
The emperor prepared a lot of dowry for the two princesses, no matter how much the dowry the Bai family prepared would be turned into a dowry, it would be too much beyond the etiquette system, and the emperor felt that this was not good.
The reason why he is so guilty is naturally because Wei Zhi beat him up for marrying his daughter a few years ago. Of course, he admitted his mistake, but he didn't change it.
This time to marry two daughters in a row, the emperor asked the treasury to prepare a lot of dowry, following the ritual system of online and offline orders, and then he gave a little more from his private house, and the queen also divided her own dowry. There are a little too many.
Wei Zhi had already remonstrated last time, and the emperor didn't want to see him very much during this period of time. Every time he saw him, he had to say it once, feeling guilty.
Old Zhoutou didn't understand this very much, "Why is this Mr. Wei so busy? What is there to say about the dowry that the father gave to his daughter? This is the emperor's money. He gives it to whomever he likes, so why should he listen to an outsider?" the words said?"
Man Baodao: "You can't say that, the Tian family has no personal affairs, not to mention that this matter involves etiquette, it is not a matter of His Majesty, not only a matter of the royal family, Ming Da has already rejected such a high dowry twice, but this is Her Majesty and the Empress love her so much, she can't be too tough, or it will hurt His Majesty's heart."
Old Zhou Tou didn't understand, "Isn't it my family's business to marry a daughter?"
Man Bao shook his head, and Bai Shan also shook his head, saying: "The etiquette system is to regulate people's identity and social relations. Your Majesty also has sisters. According to etiquette, the princesses of the late emperor are more expensive than your majesty's princesses. A dowry that exceeds the etiquette system will not only break this relationship, and will leave a bad example for future generations, what should someone do in the future if they follow suit?"
Bai Shandao: "Your Majesty's love for daughters is understandable, but Mr. Wei is not wrong. He is looking at this matter from the perspective of the overall situation. Now His Majesty is just stepping on the upper line of the ritual system to let the treasury prepare the gift list, and subsidize the rest by himself. But what if there is an emperor in the future who is unwilling to take money from the private treasury, or has no money in the private treasury, but wants to give the married princess a share of dignity?"
Old Zhou: "What should I do?"
"He will pass it on to the state treasury, and the bottom line is stepping down bit by bit," Bai Shan said: "Besides, His Majesty's private treasury does not belong to him alone, besides him, other princes and children are also involved. Not to mention, the Imperial Medical Office, Taichang Temple and other departments that often need subsidies from the emperor, if he gives more dowry to the princess, then there will be less things for the Imperial Medical Office and Taichang Temple."
Forty percent of the Imperial Medical Administration's expenditures still come from the emperor's private treasury, and it will take a long time for the treasury to fully cover its expenditures.
Let alone Taichang Temple.
Taichang Temple is responsible for the construction of the imperial mausoleum, which is a large part of the expenditure. Of course, the money comes from the treasury, but in order to relieve the pressure on the treasury, it has been independently responsible for part of the expenditure. Otherwise, why is the emperor so poor
Year after year, marrying a daughter-in-law to a son and marrying a daughter is one aspect, and such a fixed expenditure is also a big reason.
Looking at the Daming Palace, it has been repaired for 20 years and half of it is wasteland, so you can see how poor the emperor is.
So this is really not the emperor's business alone.
But the emperor also had a headache, Wei Zhi and others scolded him, he just listened obediently, turned around and prepared for his daughter, but did not change.
Wei Zhi is helpless, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, all kinds of taxes need to be consolidated, and the places where the money will be spent in the coming year have to start preparing plans, and this year is the year of the Ministry of Officials, and important officials from all over the country will return to Beijing to report on their duties. The warning was issued two months earlier, saying that the cold weather will arrive early this year, and there may be snow disasters in the Central Plains and the South.
That's right, it's not the north that has snowstorms, but the Central Plains area and the south, which happen to be major grain-producing areas. What a headache.
So there are a lot of things to do, Wei Zhi doesn't want to quarrel too much with the emperor over such trivial matters, especially when the two of them are about to become in-laws.
Therefore, he submitted the letter twice, and persuaded him twice in person, and found that the emperor admitted his mistake in person, and what he should do behind the scenes, so he just turned a blind eye and closed his eyes and skipped it.
The emperor felt guilty for a few days, and found that Wei Zhi really didn't ask any more. He was overjoyed instantly, so he became at ease, and asked his courtiers about the dowry when preparing the dowry for his daughter.
The main reason was that Zhou Man came to ask the empress for peace of mind. They were all children who were about to get married, so the emperor asked one more question, "Have your parents prepared a dowry for you?"
Man Bao nodded, "I have prepared a lot."
The emperor smiled and asked, "I heard that you earn a lot yourself, will you put it in the dowry?"
Man Bao shook his head.
The emperor frowned, "Why, you want to leave your money to your parents and family?"
As a father, how can you ask your daughter's hard-earned money
Man Bao said: "No, my father didn't let me put the money in the dowry and told me to keep it secretly, saying that it was a private house. If it was put in the dowry, it would be public, and I should still put some private houses on me. It's easier to do things, no one knows how much money I have."
In fact, if she didn't look at the account book, she wouldn't even know how much money she had. "
When the emperor heard this, he became thoughtful, and said to Mingda afterwards, "It's a pity that our family's things are all in the account books, and it's impossible to secretly leave them to you as a private house, but Zhou Man's father is right, you still There should be some private houses, I will find excuses and ask for some money from the private treasury later, and you secretly take it to build a private house."
Mingda: "...Royal father, didn't you and the queen mother prepare a box of silver for your son? That's enough."
"It's from a clear road, not a private house."
Mingda felt that Bai Erlang would not remember these things, and might embarrass him a bit, but the emperor insisted, and she had no choice but to say: "My daughter doesn't spend much, so I can give some to my sister, and I will spend less."
The emperor nodded, stretched out his hand to touch her head and said, "You are weak, I will ask people to prepare more medicinal materials for you to take with you, and you will live in the princess mansion from now on. If the medicine is not enough, I will send someone back Say, I will send someone to find it for you."
Mingda smiled and nodded, her father has been a bit emotional recently, forget it, let's talk about it first.
The emperor was overjoyed, and he held his daughter's hand and sighed, "Before you know it, you are going to get married, especially remembering that a few years ago, you were still so small, with yellow and loose hair, no matter how much you ate, it was useless. Your mother and I were so worried. The Tai Hospital said that you are weak and have a weak spleen and stomach. You are not like your sister at all. You eat like a kitten. I didn’t expect you to be so big now. "
The emperor looked at Mingda's yellowish hair, and reached out to touch it with satisfaction. His daughter's body was getting better and better, just by looking at her hair.
Mingda doesn't really want to talk to her father anymore, she looks good everywhere, but her hair is not so good, so her father brought it up on purpose.