On the same day that Emperor Longqing decreed the marriage, the Bowenhou Mansion and the Yinghou Mansion were finally completed.
Emperor Longqing symbolically gave two servants, and Xue Hong took care of the rest. Emperor Longqing is now in good health, and Houjin, one of the major problems at the border, has also been abolished. At present, Emperor Longqing is still concerned about Xue Hong.
Very trustworthy.
Therefore, there is no need to make the entire Bowenhou Mansion except Xue Hong and his wife belong to Emperor Longqing. Even the two maids given to them are just a formality.
There is a saying that the royal guards during the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang's time were a bit scary. They could even tell you what color pajamas the ministers wore to bed at home!
At the entrance of the Bo Wen Hou Mansion, there are two lifelike stone lions, a red lacquered door, and copper nails the size of cup mouths on the door shine brightly.
The gold plaque reads: Bo Wen Hou Mansion, with four gilded Chinese characters. After entering the mansion, you will see a majestic pavilion with high floors, carved beams and painted buildings, intrigues, and palaces surrounding each other. Every building is exquisite.
Xue Hong didn't have too many things of his own. In addition to some books, clothes and some things given by Emperor Longqing, he also had an alchemy furnace (for refining gunpowder).
Since Xue Hong basically didn't have any maids, the Hou's mansion seemed empty for the time being.
There was no other way, so Xue Hong completely handed over the housekeeping rights to Baochai and asked her to recruit and buy some servants. It doesn't have to be too many, just enough.
The housekeeper temporarily hired a retired old shopkeeper of Xue Family Store.
With the imperial edict of marriage, Xue Hong and Baochai's identities are basically sealed.
According to the imperial edict, Baochai is already the wife of a super-class learned scholar, but the imperial edict does not stipulate when the man and woman should get married.
After the three books and six rites, Xue Hong and Baochai's wedding date was set for two years later. Baochai was just over sixteen at that time, and Xue Hong also wanted Baochai to enjoy a few more years of being a girl.
After Baochai took over the warehouse and account books of the Hou Mansion, she realized how rich her eldest brother Hong was. Even the Xue family's accumulated fortune for hundreds of years might not be half as rich as Xue Hong's.
After all, when a mortar goes off, there is a thousand taels of gold!
Xue Hong bought two more farms and dozens of acres of land near the capital for experimental crops. Xue Hong did not buy too much land because it was not necessary.
After all, the food provided by a village every year is enough for the Houfu to use for a year, not to mention that in addition to several ordinary villages owned by Xue Hong, Baochai also has two imperial villages.
Of course, the prerequisite for a village to provide enough food for a year is that the Hou Mansion does not waste money. If it is like the Jia Mansion, even if there is a lot of food, it is not enough to squander, and the servants all eat rouge rice, what kind of family is that?
At the same time, Xue Hong bought several cloth shops, restaurants and other properties as annual income for the Hou Mansion.
There are also many jades, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. in the warehouse of the Hou Mansion.
Moreover, there are only two members of Xue Hong's clan including Baochai, so there is no need to engage in clan studies, purchase sacrificial fields and other messy things.
On the night when Emperor Longqing issued the decree, Xue Pan rushed back. Xue Pan supported Xue Hong and Baochai by 10,000 people in getting married.
However...some things are still controversial.
Xue Pan: "Hehehe! What is that? Brother, since you are engaged to our girl, shouldn't you change your title?"
Xue Hong was reading a copy of "Tao Zang". When he heard Xue Pan's words, he put down the book and nodded in agreement: "It's really time to change the title."
Xue Pan was overjoyed: "Then..."
Xue Hong: "Brother Pan, let's call you Sister-in-law Baochai from now on. How about that?"
Xue Pan: “Can I say that’s not what I meant??(ó﹏ò??)
What I mean is, how about you call me from now on..."
Xue Hong took out a golden nugget from his sleeve and squeezed it with his fingers so hard that it deformed. After placing the golden nudist on the table, he raised his head and looked at Xue Pan kindly: "Oh, by the way, Brother Pan, what do you want?
What are you talking about?"
Xue Pan: "It's nothing. I said it's easy to call her sister-in-law Baochai (??_??), so let's call her that."
I thought it was just my old brother who had turned around and started singing, but now it's better. I used to have a younger sister, and now I'm a younger brother.
Baochai came in with two bowls of white fungus soup. Seeing Xue Pan's listless look, he asked, "Brother Hong, what's wrong with my eldest brother?"
Xue Hong: "It's nothing. Brother Pan, the title will remain the same from now on, everyone can discuss it separately, how about it?"
Xue Pan raised his head suddenly: "Just listen to the big brother, let's discuss it ourselves."
Baochai handed the white fungus soup to Xue Hong and Xue Pan, and then sat down on the chair to Xue Hong's right.
After Xue Hong took a bite of the white fungus soup, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, what's going on with Houjin and the two Mongolian tribes now?"
When this was mentioned, Xue Pan became more energetic: "Brother, no wonder you asked me to study more, you are doing such a disservice!"
Xue Hong: "Huh?"
Baochai: "(??^??ω^??｀)"
Xue Pan: "No, I mean, brother, you really have a way. The two major tribes and the Houjin Tribe don't like each other, and the people over there are now engaged in wool, beef and mutton.
Selling.
As long as there is money to take it, or food to exchange for good behavior."
Especially the nobles were all fascinated by Ming Dynasty's various luxuries, and they all rushed to get the things Xue Pan offered at a discount of more than 30%.
However, Xue Pan is not a profiteer. After all, the freight and costs, if he saves some money in the restaurant and throws a few banknotes in the arms of the brothel girl, are not all losses, he will not make any money at all.
Since Xue Hong's massive equipment of mortars and new firearms, basically the Mongolian tribes and khanates in the north of Jiubian no longer pose a threat.
Now Emperor Longqing has quietly allocated money to improve the pay and strengthen training for Jiubian soldiers. After all, Emperor Longqing has been bullied by Mongolian tribes for more than ten years since he ascended the throne, so he must be very angry.
Now that he has received the friendly sponsorship from a certain prince, he is immediately busy rectifying the border troops and is always ready to repay all the bullying he has suffered.
As for the unknown master, since the defeat of Japan, Emperor Longqing has completely looked away from this matter and completely let himself go.
Isn’t there a common reason for beating you? That is to say, Emperor Longqing was a reasonable emperor. If it were an unreasonable emperor, maybe because I am better than you, I would kill you out of boredom.
For example, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was sitting in the Jinluan Palace one day bragging to his ministers, but he suddenly felt bored. In addition, his wife Jia Luo had been taking care of him recently, so he felt very unhappy.
Therefore, in 604 AD, a group of ministers of the Sui Dynasty felt that the world was peaceful and they were really idle, so they jointly wrote to Emperor Yang Jian:
"I am also idle. I heard that there are many treasures in Linyi (now Vietnam). How about we send some troops to destroy this country? (When the world is peaceful, the ministers say that Linyi has many rare treasures)
"
When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty heard this, he said: "Hit him! Get him!"
Then he sent General Liu Fang to lead more than 10,000 people, plus several thousand criminals, to attack Vietnam.
He directly attacked the Royal City of Vietnam, packed back all the ancestral tablets of the Vietnamese royal family (gold ones), and returned with a great victory.
So, the weak will not necessarily be beaten, but that's just because I don't want to hit you yet!
Fights between countries never need a reason. What does destroying you have to do with you?
However, Xue Hong estimated that Emperor Longqing would not take direct action in the past two or three years, so he would still have to focus on food.
For example, research on simple chemical fertilizers, find ways to optimize seeds, etc.
After Jiangnan was cleaned up by Emperor Longqing, the land returned to the hands of the state again. Emperor Longqing redistributed the land, which made the emotions of the people in Jiangnan unprecedentedly high.
As a result, it is difficult for the White Lotus Sect to recruit people during this period.