Liu Mingzhi finalized the matter of the Ministry of War recruiting another hundred thousand recruits, and then turned his attention to Qin Ziying, the Minister of Rites.
"Ministry of Rites."
"The old minister is here."
"How is your etiquette department preparing for the wedding of the second prince and Yunchang Princess Li Jingyao?
Seeing that the auspicious day is approaching day by day, your etiquette department must not make mistakes at the critical moment."
"Reporting to your majesty, the wedding ceremony between the second prince and Princess Yunchang has been completed for more than half of the time. I promise with my life that there will be no problems. I will definitely let the two princes get married at the auspicious time of August 20th.
The prince and Princess Yunchang got married on time."
"I am reassured by what I said to you. By the way, has your etiquette department calculated how much money the wedding will cost? Do you have an approximate amount?"
"Back to Your Majesty, a few months ago, I and Mr. Jiang, the Minister of Household Affairs, have roughly calculated the amount of silver needed for the wedding. It will cost about 2.1 million taels of silver."
Young Master Liu picked up the tea cup and intended to drink the tea. He suddenly paused and looked at Qin Ziying who looked calm and calm with his mouth trembling.
"How much? Two million one million taels of silver? Why is it so much?"
Qin Ziying looked at Liu Mingzhi's slightly stunned reaction and bowed respectfully.
"Your Majesty, this is the result of the veteran minister and the Minister of Household Affairs repeatedly deleting some unnecessary expenses.
If calculated according to conventional customization, the prince's marriage would require at least 2.8 million taels of silver.
Especially if the future princess has a distinguished status like Her Royal Highness Princess Yunchang, the required silver consumption is much more than the conventional custom-made silver consumption.
The ministers knew very well that His Majesty has disliked extravagance since he ascended the throne, and did not want to waste the money in the treasury, so after several discussions, the money was reduced to about 2.1 million taels.
This is already an extremely low amount of expenditure. If it is reduced further, it will no longer meet the specifications of the prince's wedding."
Liu Mingzhi glanced under the dragon platform with a slight frown, and looked at his son Liu Chengzhi, who was sitting there and scratching his head with a troubled expression, and sighed silently.
Good guy, getting married will cost a year's tax revenue from a top-tier wealthy state!
"Old dear, can't we really reduce it some more? Two million one hundred thousand taels is too much, right? You must know that I only spent more than 300,000 taels of silver when I married the queen!
"
"Your Majesty, we really cannot reduce it any further. If we reduce it any further, it will not meet the standards of the royal family.
When His Majesty was the Left Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he had a clear understanding of the income and expenditure of the national treasury at that time.
When the late Emperor Wuzong of Daxing was still the crown prince, just marrying Empress Dowager Chen and Concubine He spent more than three million taels of silver.
When the late Emperor Chengzong was appointed empress, he consumed more than 6.3 million taels of silver.
In comparison, the expenses for the wedding of the Second Prince and Princess Yunchang have been saved to the point where they cannot be less.
If I hadn't known that Your Majesty doesn't like extravagance and waste, I would have spent three million taels of silver as usual to prepare for His Royal Highness the Prince's state wedding."
Liu Mingzhi looked at Qin Ziying, the Minister of Rites, who spoke earnestly and thoughtfully, and recalled in his mind the amount of silver that Li Baiyu, Li Ye and his son spent when they got married, and compared it with them to compare the silver consumption of the two children Liu Chengzhi and Li Jingyao's wedding.
It's really rare.
But now there are so many ways to spend money in the world. More than two million taels are just for getting married. Isn’t it a bit of a waste?
Young Master Liu was silent for a while as his mind was racing, and then he looked at Lao Jiang, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance.
"Jiang Aiqing, don't you say something?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I second my opinion. The prince's wedding is a matter of concern for the face of the Celestial Empire. How can we just deal with it?
The expenditure of 2.1 million taels is already the minimum and cannot be reduced any further."
"I second the proposal. It is related to the majesty of our Great Dragon Heavenly Dynasty. How can we be negligent? I ask for your Majesty's permission.
"I second the proposal. It is related to the majesty of our Great Dragon Heavenly Dynasty. How can we be negligent? Please give your Majesty's permission."
"I second the proposal. It is related to the majesty of our Great Dragon Heavenly Dynasty. How can we be negligent? Please give your Majesty's permission."
Young Master Liu saw that even Xia Gongming, the chief minister of the cabinet, an evergreen figure in the officialdom who was always scrupulous about everything he did, came forward to support the matter with a chaohu, he rubbed his forehead and nodded helplessly.
Two million and one million taels, let’s just say two million and one million taels. All civil and military officials of the court have already approved it. It would be inappropriate for a father like me to be a petty person.
"Accurate performance."
"Long live your majesty, your holy majesty."
"My dear friends, do you have any other books that you would like to write?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have no intention of reporting."
"Then retreat."
"I respectfully send you off to Your Majesty. Long live, long live."
After Young Master Liu stood up and left, all the officials also left the Qinzheng Hall in groups.
Liu Mingzhi, who returned to the harem and changed into loose clothes, still had the matter of getting married with two million taels of silver in his mind. He agreed to the matter, but it was inevitable that he still felt a little distressed.
After leaving the palace, Young Master Liu went straight to the Gua stall outside Penglai Restaurant. No matter what happened, he still had to live his small life.
"Master, have you finished your business?"
"Well, I'm done. How's business today? How many books have you sold?"
"Seven copies have been sold, all bought by old customers."
"Not bad, not bad. I've earned another few hundred taels of silver. At least it's not a big problem to support my family."
Young Master Liu was quite satisfied with the income reported by Liu Song. He nodded with a pleased expression and walked towards his Gua stall.
"Xiaosong, go to the restaurant and ask the waiter to bring you a pot of herbal tea. The weather is getting hotter and hotter. If you don't drink more tea, my body will really be unbearable."
"Okay, little one will be there right away."
"I can tell the world's affairs with an iron mouth. I know my fortune and misfortune.
Don’t miss it when you pass by, take a look.”
Before he went to lie down, Mr. Liu shouted at the top of his lungs at the pedestrians walking on the street. He smiled helplessly at the embarrassing scene where no one paid attention to him.
He casually picked up the books on the low table and fell asleep on the recliner. Liu Mingzhi gently shook his folding fan and silently read the contents of the book.
Liu Mingzhi had just finished reading a page of the book, and when he was about to turn the page, he suddenly felt that the light in front of his eyes dimmed.
Liu Mingzhi raised his eyebrows, hurriedly put down his book and sat upright with a smile on his face: "This guest, are you seeking marriage or... Chengzhi? Why are you the kid?
The court just ended and you were not waiting in the Ten Kings Palace to deal with the business in your hands, why did you come to me here?"
Liu Chengzhi looked at his surprised father and bowed and saluted: "My child has met my father. In reply to my father, there are no documents or memorials in the Palace of Ten Kings that need to be processed and verified by my child today. My child plans to go to Jingyao's place after he leaves the palace.
, I turned to dad’s place on the way."
"Okay, okay, people coming and going on the street don't need to be so polite. Sit down."
"Hey, thank you dad."
Liu Mingzhi knocked the book in his hand on the low table and silently shook the Wanli Jiangshan engraved jade fan in his hand while sleeping on the recliner.
"It seems like only a blink of an eye has passed, but today it's already early April, and your wedding date with Jingyao is getting closer and closer.
I roughly estimate that in three or four months, you two will be newlyweds and become a couple who will help each other.
How about it, you are about to start a family of your own, how do you feel now?"
Liu Chengzhi scratched his head and thought for a while, then glanced at his father with a slightly embarrassed look.
"Yes... I'm a little looking forward to it and a little nervous. Before the date of marriage was not set, Hao'er and Jingyao had been looking forward to this day coming soon. Now that the date has been set, Hao'er is a little nervous.
The closer the day gets to August 20th, the more nervous the child becomes. It's not the nervousness of being afraid of marrying Jingyao, but an indescribable feeling of nervousness.
As for what you are nervous about, if you let the child talk, the child won’t be able to say it.”
Young Master Liu looked at his son's embarrassed face and couldn't help but chuckle. Liu Chengzhi's current mood was exactly the same as before he was about to get married to Qi Yun.
My appearance back then was not much better than my son's now. I couldn't say I was nervous, but I was looking forward to it and secretly praying that that day wouldn't come so soon.
I didn't understand it before, but now I understand the reason for that mood.
Responsibility, a responsibility that must be shouldered by someone who is about to become the head of the family.
"When you reach the age of becoming a father, you will naturally understand. Stop thinking nonsense, let alone any psychological pressure. You will always have to start a family and start a career in life."
"Yes, my child knows."
"Have you finished reading the book that your father asked you to take away from the study a few months ago?"
"My child... my child..."
Young Master Liu frowned as he looked at Liu Chengzhi who was hesitant to speak, and his movement of swinging the folding fan slowed down a bit.
"You don't want to tell your father that you didn't even watch it, do you?"