When the pigeon letter arrived in Beijing, Zhang Jun, who had been looking forward to a reply, was heartbroken. At this time, there were still five days before the New Year. After the last negotiation, the two sides finally reached an agreement.
Chen Qing was decreed by the emperor to be the envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi, but the formal canonization would not come until next year.
Chen Qing obtained the garrison rights, security rights, defense rights, and militia rights among the military rights, as well as the transportation rights, salt and iron rights, and mining rights among the financial rights.
The two parties agreed that, except for the income from the rental of official fields and official houses, all other fiscal and tax revenue in Sichuan would be used to support the Western Army, and the salaries of state and county officials and the daily expenses of government offices would be allocated by the transfer envoy in real terms.
The imperial court obtained the governance power, personnel power, criminal law power, taxation power and other dozens of powers in Bashu and Hanzhong. At the same time, Chen Qing also promised to restrain military discipline and strictly prohibit garrison troops from harassing the people.
As for Xiazhou, both sides have not mentioned it, and it must remain the same and be controlled by the Western Army.
Zhang Jun signed the settlement document on behalf of the court, and Chen Qing also signed his name and stamped his seal.
Zhang Jun and others were eager to return home. On the second day after signing the agreement, which was the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, the group bid farewell to Jingzhao and returned to Lin'an.
Chen Qing led the officials to send Zhang Jun and others away. At the city gate, Zhang Jun once again told Chen Qing, "Don't forget to send 30,000 barrels of kerosene to Lin'an as soon as possible!"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhang, I have ordered the Sichuan army to transport 30,000 barrels of kerosene to Lin'an. Maybe the kerosene will arrive first."
"Thank you so much. I believe that the court will not treat you badly and will not let the empty ship return. In addition, Liu Guangshi is too ambitious. You must not have anything to do with him. It will ruin your reputation. Remember! Remember!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang. The Lu family, please ask Mr. Zhang to intercede in front of the emperor."
"I will definitely do it. Okay, I'm leaving now, Chen Dutong. We'll see you later!"
“See you later!”
Chen Qing and Zhang Jun said goodbye reluctantly, watching Zhang Jun and his party go away.
The New Year is approaching, and every household is busy decorating with lanterns, putting up peach charms, erecting poles, making new clothes, giving out new year's money, brewing Tusu wine, preparing sacrifices, etc.
Chen Qing's house is also decorated with lights and colorful decorations, and the decoration is extremely festive. This year's New Year is particularly meaningful to Chen Qing's house. Not only is there an extra little baby, but there are also three more mistresses at the same time...
The Yu sisters have long been regarded as half-mistresses by everyone in the house. This time it was just a matter of title. However, Zhao Qiaoyun becoming the second wife of the master surprised many people. Everyone regarded her as the mistress' junior sister.
I didn't expect that I would also marry the master.
New Year's Eve is also a day that the domestic servants and maids are looking forward to. In the afternoon, the mistress Lu Xiu and the Yu sisters distributed annual money to more than a hundred domestic servants, maids and guards. The annual money is lucky money for the children.
, but for adults, it is a year-end bonus.
Everyone has been looking forward to it for a year and sat down on stools early in the small square of Narcissus Pavilion.
The guards moved several large tables. The tables were filled with small cloth bags. The cloth bags were filled with silver coins. One silver coin was worth five hundred coins. This was a rare silver coin in the market. Most of them were collected.
On the black market, one silver coin can even be exchanged for six hundred copper coins.
Today Yu Ying and Yu Lian are going to be brides, but they still don't see anything special about them, and they follow the mistress as usual.
Lu Xiu waved his hand and everyone became quiet. Lu Xiu laughed loudly and said: "Another year is about to pass. This year has been very hard for everyone. We came to Jingzhao from Chengji County, and there are also new people joining in, but whether they are new people or Old people, everyone is a member of the family.
According to the rules, I will give everyone the annual salary today, and then everyone will have a happy dinner together. Starting tomorrow, everyone will have a five-day holiday. If you want to go home, just go home and rest. If you are willing to stay, I will pay three times the salary. Everything is voluntary, and the annual payment will start from now on. Let me add that this year will increase by 20% compared to last year."
Everyone cheered, and Lu Xiu sat aside. Steward Tian called out names one by one, and the names were written on each cloth bag.
"The first one, Sister Tao Qi!"
I saw a burly woman standing up with a face full of surprise, "Who am I first? Do I have the most money per year?"
Gu Kai
Everyone burst into laughter, and she quickly stepped forward to take the bag, counted it, jumped up with joy, and ran away like a gust of wind. Halfway through, she suddenly remembered something, and ran back to salute and thank her mistress.
Everyone saw how funny she was and couldn't help but laugh again.
Yu Ying and Yu Lian stood behind Lu Xiu, and Yu Lian whispered: "I remember that the seventh sister seemed to have forty silver coins!"
"No, the seventh sister is sixty, and the eighth sister is forty. The two wild dogs from Chengji County came in and almost bit the young master. The seventh sister saved the young master at the critical moment, so the lady specially rewarded her. Twenty pieces of silver."
The housekeeper called out names one by one very quickly. Everyone received the money and bowed to the mistress Lu Xiu to thank them. Then they went away happily. Everyone had gained a lot.
The person with the highest annual income is not the housekeeper or the guard, but Chen Ji's nurse Wang. She works very hard and is dedicated to taking care of the young master. Lu Xiu gave her a reward of one hundred silver coins, which was also fifty thousand coins. .
This reward is probably the highest in Jingzhao Mansion.
Seeing that the table was empty, Yu Lian couldn't help but murmured in a low voice: "We don't get a share every year?"
Yu Ying was so frightened that she quickly touched her. Lu Xiu turned around and said with a smile: "Don't tell me, you are really rich today. I will give it to you, but not now!"
Yu Lian smiled and said: "Madam, how many are there?"
"Just wait! It's time to have New Year's Eve dinner, so hurry up and put on your makeup. Tonight is a good day for you. If you don't want to, you can give up!"
"Let's go now!"
The two of them hurriedly ran to put on makeup. A special Xi Niang did their makeup for them. Lu Xiu smiled and told the housekeeper: "Everyone can leave. There are old rules for the New Year's Eve dinner. The place is Hongxi Hall. In addition, Uncle Tian, please prepare the sacrifices and sacrificial robes."
"Don't worry, madam, I have made arrangements."
Lu Xiu got up and, surrounded by a group of maids, went back to the house to see her daughter.
Even concubines have hierarchical distinctions. First of all, according to etiquette, there are concubines and concubines. This mainly depends on the family background of the other party. If the other party has a family background, you must give the other party enough face. Even if you are a concubine, you must make sure that the matchmaker is marrying you. Beat the gongs and drums. , the bride is brought to the door in all splendor, and there is also a wedding ceremony that worships the heaven and the earth, but there is no such ceremony as tying the hair and drinking wine, which is only done by the head wives.
If you marry a concubine, your status in the family will be higher than that of ordinary concubines and concubines. There are so-called equal wives and second wives. This mainly depends on the status of your natal family. Of course, if your natal family has a high status, they will generally not go there. Be a concubine.
Taking a concubine often happens when a woman is extremely beautiful, and although her family is an ordinary commoner, in order to marry her, she will agree to many conditions, and there are requirements for entry and family status in taking a concubine.
But even taking a concubine has certain rules and rituals. Generally, the marriage is not done in such a grand way. Instead, it is quietly sent to the man's house in a small sedan or a small boat, and then he worships the heaven and the earth and offers tea to the mistress.
, the ceremony of giving tea to parents-in-law is relatively simple.
The one with the lowest status is the concubine. It is mainly the promotion of a maid. There is no ceremony. You can directly upgrade from a maid to a concubine.
Hongxi Hall is the main hall of the back house, a small hall in the palace, and is divided into an inner hall and an outer hall. There are more than a dozen banquets in the outer hall, and the servants and maids gather together to eat New Year's Eve dinner, while the inner hall
Then a green house was set up, wedding candles were placed, 囍 characters were hung, and the table was filled with melons, fruits and wedding candies.
Everyone knows that there is a happy event in the house tonight, so no one dares to drink too much at the New Year's Eve dinner. Even Sister Tao Qi and Sister Tao Ba, who drink fiercely, have become very quiet. I don't know if they are sentimental about the scene or they don't dare to offend them.
The mistress, since she was sitting there quietly eating meat and drinking wine, she didn't dare to pinch the necks of the male servants and pour wine into her mouth like in previous years.
This time, the concubinage was very quiet. No guests were invited, and everyone attended. However, Chen Qing still invited two couples to watch the ceremony. One was Zheng Ping and his wife Yang Liu, the other was Lu Wei and his wife Li Mei, and then
Li Qingzhao, she was the witness, and of course, the mistress Lu Xiu, who was holding her daughter Chen Xue, and the wet nurse who was holding her son Chen Ji, they were sitting at the front of the table.
It was rare that Chen Xue, who was almost three months old, didn't sleep either. She was holding a big apple and was made to giggle by Li Mei.
At this time, the lobby became quiet, and melodious music came from the lake. A group of musical girls came gracefully like fairies, playing musical instruments in their hands. Behind them were twelve palace guards dressed as sedan bearers.
Carrying three sedan chairs, they slowly walked towards the inner hall.
"The auspicious day has arrived, and the newlyweds are ready to enter!" the master of ceremonies shouted loudly.