As soon as she opened the chatterbox, Mrs. Zhuang said more, and she was less restrained just now, like pouring beans into a bamboo tube, crackling and eager to pour out all the brains she knew. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Mrs. Zhuang said, "...... In this Jiangnan, if you want to say that those who wear black gauze hats on their heads have the most money in their houses, it must be Cao Zhifu's house. The mansion of Cao Zhifu occupies a huge area, and even the floor tiles are specially transported from Jingzhou Taihu Lake stone, which is resplendent and brilliant, and the eaves are carved, but the real gold powder is used. The last time the women went to their house, the soybean-sized golden beans were casually given to their little grandson to play with a slingshot. Their family can really be said to be very rich, and it is sad that they have stayed in the position of the prefect for ten years and refused to move their nest. ”

Lin Yan took a sip of tea, and said in a faint voice: "It's unlikely, the prefect's Yulu is two hundred and five taels a year plus one hundred and five Hulu rice." According to you, the prefect's ten-year fortune can't afford to buy the house they live in. ”

Mrs. Zhuang smiled and said, "Niangniang, which of these officials lives on a good fortune." Ordinary ones are like the ice charcoal filial piety offered below, and there are other kinds of livelihoods. ”

Lin Yan said: "Even so, it is impossible for a prefect to be rich enough to use gold to play with a slingshot for children at will." ”

Mrs. Zhuang said: "Although the imperial court said that it was forbidden for the imperial court to order officials to engage in business and compete with the people for profit, where can it be restrained from being an official. If you can't do it often, you can participate in the business under other ideas, saying that it is the wife's dowry, asking relatives to help you hold shares, and so on. For example, in addition to our dealer in Jiangnan now, the Dong family has the largest business, but all the business of the Dong family, the Cao Zhifu family holds 30% of the shares, and one of his cousins came forward to help him take care of the business of the shares. The Dong family relied on the convenience of Cao Zhifu, and now they are also in the overseas treasure business, and they have made a lot of money in recent years. Cao Zhifu had a concubine, surnamed Dong, and helped him give birth to two sons. Now in Cao's house, the concubine surnamed Dong and the two concubines are fighting for the family property with the main house's mother and sister-in-law. ”

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, and after a while, he thought of something again, and continued: "Oh, by the way, because I know that the emperor and Niangniang are coming to Jiangnan, Cao's family has moved out of his big mansion and now lives in an ordinary mansion in the east of the city. ”

Lin Yan asked, "How many concubines and children does the Cao Governor's family have?" ”

Mrs. Zhuang said: "There are more than a dozen of them who have been accepted seriously, and there are still seven of them." As for the children, there is a son and a daughter, and there are nine concubines and six concubines. said and said with a smile: "They have a lot of children and a lot of money, so the children in the family are very noisy regardless of whether they are in or out of the family." ”

said that he knew what Lin Yan wanted to hear, and continued: "But if you want to say that the concubine has the most concubines and children, it is not the Cao Governor's Mansion, but Tao Tiju of the City Bo Division, their family has more than 20 concubines, and the children are also one room by one. Their house couldn't live in, and the concubines were all crammed into one courtyard. ”

Lin Yan couldn't help but shake her head in her heart when she heard this, they all said that the Earth Emperor, the Earth Emperor, the Mountain High Emperor is far away, and the emperor can't control it, these people have really become "emperors".

The imperial court has long had a decree clearly stipulating that officials can only have a maximum of six concubines above the second rank, the prefect is the fourth grade, and the city Bo Si is promoted from the fourth rank, and at most there can only be four concubines. It can be seen that this situation is probably still the norm in the east and the south of the Yangtze River.

Mrs. Zhuang continued: "Tao Tiju's original wife died three or four years ago, and she has not remarried since her death, and now his backyard is headed by the thirteenth aunt. ”

said and sighed again, and said: "There is one thing in Jiangnan that is not good, everyone likes to compare concubines, it is the norm to accept ten or eight concubines, and it is very common to look down on concubines if there are fewer concubines. Bosses give concubines to subordinates, and subordinates give concubines to their superiors, which can be seen everywhere. The trend of officialdom accepting concubines is like this, and the family of merchants is even more so, and some families even have forty or fifty concubines together. Saying that, he smiled awkwardly and said: "Like our uncle, those who only accept two concubines are considered freaks, and they are often teased in diplomatic entertainment, saying that the women in the family are a tigress, and the uncle doesn't care about taking concubines......

Lin Yan just shook her head in her heart, with a worried look on her face.

When the emperor came back in the evening, he asked Lin Yan: "I invited Mrs. Zhuang to come in today, what did she tell you?" ”

Lin Yan told the emperor everything that Mrs. Zhuang told her today, focusing on the emperor about the prevalence of concubines, and said to the emperor with a smile: "The total number of palace concubines in the emperor's harem is less than twenty, and here one is promoted from the city of Sipin, but there are more than 20 concubines. Speaking of which, the concubines are not virtuous, so that the emperor is not as good as being promoted. ”

The emperor's face darkened when he heard this, and his voice was a little angry: "The little four-rank official has raised a dozen or twenty concubines from the four-rank official, and there is a room full of concubines and concubines, where did this silver come from, it was not scraped from the people, or it was obtained by participating in business affairs in violation of the law. Although I know that when the water is clear, there are no fish, and being an emperor is also a little confused, and sometimes I have to turn a blind eye, but these people can't go too far. ”

As he spoke, he threw the towel in his hand on the basin, and the water on the basin splashed with a "bang".

Lin Yan persuaded: "The emperor is angry, is the emperor still afraid that no one will use it?" If these officials don't like it, then change it. ”

The emperor shook his head and said: "If the wind of corruption is not eliminated, the officialdom is not clear, and it is useless to change many officials." ”

Therefore, this also strengthened the emperor's idea of preparing to rectify the officialdom.

The emperor snorted again and said, "I summoned officials of all sizes today, and there was only one time for dinner at noon, but many people had the idea of offering beauty. ”

Lin Yan sat up straight when she heard this, and asked nervously, "Offering beauty again?" "Those girls in Cangzhou still make Lin Yan remember to worry.

Lin Yan said: "These people are really, are they not doing anything else except to offer beauties to the emperor, they have done all my work." ”

The emperor looked at Lin Yan with a hateful look, smiled, and said, "Okay, I didn't see the beauties they offered, I don't know if they are fat or thin." ”

Lin Yan glanced at the emperor and deliberately said sourly: "The concubine is not present, the emperor just looked at it and told the concubine that he didn't see it, and he could only let the emperor say it." Saying that, he sighed again: "Forget it, you are the emperor, even if you fall in love with a woman, the concubine can not stop it." Even your courtiers can accept more than a dozen or twenty concubines, and the concubines are wronged by the emperor and only guards the concubines, so she is really not a good queen. ”

As he spoke, he touched his face again, and said, "The concubine is an old and decrepit face, and the emperor is probably tired of seeing it for a long time, so naturally he should change it to a fresh girl." ”

The emperor smiled and reached out to pinch Lin Yan's face, and said with a shallow smile: "Okay, it's not too sour to eat so much vinegar." As he spoke, he raised her chin and looked at it, and said, "Your face has not yet reached the point of old age and decay, and you can let me look at it for a few more years." ”

Lin Yan sighed in her heart, don't you like to see me jealous. Then he smiled and pulled the emperor's sleeve, making a look of joy at his words. (To be continued.) )