Chapter 449: Nobles

The aristocracy was a social class with a specific legal significance. In England, nobility refers to the nobility of the House of Lords, and the English aristocracy, which has a complete legal meaning, was finally formed in the 16th century. Titles and privileges are the two basic conditions that distinguish the nobility from other social classes, and they are also two important signs of nobility. Although the privileges of the English nobility were not many, the existence of these privileges was sufficient to give a legal meaning to the status of nobility. The aristocracy and the gentry were two social classes with completely different legal meanings, and it is not in line with historical facts to confuse the two. This period was a period when the number of British nobles increased rapidly. Demographic factors, marriage customs, knighthood policies, and primogeniture are the four most important factors restricting the change in the number of nobles. The king's favor and marriage are two important factors affecting the mobility of noble members. The openness of the movement of members of the British aristocracy was not as high as one might think, and for a long period of time, the movement of members of the nobility was not a movement across class boundaries, but only a change in the status of the rising and falling noble families. The British aristocracy was a closed social class, not an "open aristocracy". During this period, many changes took place in the marital life of the English aristocracy, however, these changes were quite slow. Patriarchy, patriarchy, and primogeniture are still the three major elements that constrain the life of aristocratic families. The concept of family, parental arrangement, and endogamy dominated the married life of the aristocracy. The cultural and educational life of the aristocracy changed greatly. The purpose, content, and method of aristocratic education were very different from those of knightly education in the Middle Ages. The cultural level of the aristocracy has improved, and the cultural life of the aristocracy has become richer and more colorful. Whether it is family and marital life, or cultural education, it is a reflection of the aristocratic lifestyle, and it is also the embodiment of the social characteristics of the aristocracy. In order to show off their status and authority, the nobles also built mansions, hired a large number of attendants and servants, bought expensive luxuries, and spent extravagance on weddings and funerals. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, social life in England underwent profound changes. In the face of many changes, the aristocracy is not as helpless and at a loss as some people think. On the contrary, they actively adjusted and adapted, and during these three hundred years, they still firmly occupied a dominant position in society and held the power of socio-economic, political and cultural life. Economically, the aristocracy remained the wealthiest class in England as their economic activities diversified, their sources of income broadened, and their income levels continued to rise. The large estates and economic resources they control, the state power in their hands, their social influence, their consumption needs and spending power, and their adventurous spirit determine their important position in economic life. Politically, they use the upper house of parliament as a base to control the lower house of parliament through elections and other means, and in turn, they strengthen their rule through parliamentary legislation; They hold important official positions at all levels, from the central to the local, and firmly grasp the state power; They occupy high-ranking positions in the army and hold military power; They also manipulate local political life through various means. Culturally, they were connoisseurs and collectors of cultural creations, they were patrons of cultural activities, and their cultural tastes greatly influenced the cultural life of Britain, and their influence on British culture was maintained until the 19th century. Based on the above analysis, the position of the aristocracy in English society in the 16th and 18th centuries was solid and important, and they were the masters of this society, and no social force could compete with them before the bourgeoisie grew in the 19th century.

Wan Qiyang has been in Cambridgeshire for three days, after acquiring a declining aristocratic manor, he found that the workers working in his manor, including some slaves, suddenly felt that the sky was falling, those pitiful eyes made Wan Qiyang very deeply touched, because in the 16th century, the enclosure movement, the price revolution, population growth, the dissolution of monasteries, the dissolution of feudal retainers, plague and agricultural harvest failure, etc., the most important of which is that the relationship between the enclosure movement has increased the number of displaced people in the society, and this situation is more serious than the society of the Ming DynastyIn the Ming Dynasty, most of the phenomenon of displaced people was caused by natural disasters, but in this England, the displaced people were because of man-made disasters, either because of the plague or the upper echelons of the social aristocracy, so that the commoners lost the land to live and had to wander around.

Wan Qiyang looted a large amount of treasure from the pirates, and as a result, the gold and silver currency alone reached nearly 300,000 pounds, not including those jewels. And Wan Qiyang himself also brought tens of thousands of pounds of gold coins from the Ming Dynasty, so Wan Qiyang can now be said to be a very rich aristocrat, for which Wan Qiyang also deliberately paid attention to the life and diet of the nobles at this time, and found that the staple food is still flour, while the commoners eat low-quality flour, probably because of dietary habits, rice and corn are eaten quite rarely.

And yesterday afternoon, a Dutch trader sent someone to pick up the heir of the family who was rescued by Wan Qianyang, and knew about his family business, to Wan Qianyang's surprise is that their family is also one of the 17 shareholders of the Dutch East India Company, mainly importing porcelain from the Ming Dynasty to Europe, but also grain exports, this time because of the news that he was diverted to England halfway, of course, Wan Qianyang signed a cooperative trade agreement, that is, porcelain was purchased from the Jingdezhen Zhengyang Chamber of Commerce, and the price was cheaper. And there are special styles for them to buy, and what Wan Qiyang asks is that they can directly trade grain. The main reason why he did this was not because of the relationship between saving their heirs, but because of a series of trade terms proposed by Wan Qianyang, which directly reduced the cost of their trade by at least two to three percent. The fact that the deal was made in such close proximity, and that the direct cash transaction, even at half price, brought back a more cost-effective deal, made the person in charge who came to pick it up simply ecstatic.

The happiest of all was Wan and the inclusion of the Oliver family, who was planning to move the family from Huntingdonshire to Cambridgeshire at Oliver Cromwell's suggestion. With this large amount of grain, Wan Qiyang also began to expand the territory, whether it was to buy or rent, anyway, he just enclosed the land first, and then took in a large number of orphans and homeless, among which the slaves who originally stayed in the manor from the time of buying the land and renting the land reached nearly a thousand, and at the same time, when Jack announced Wan Qianyang's regulations, that is, the freedom to return the slaves after ten years, this step completely brought Wan Qiyang a passionate and high-spirited work attitude and enthusiastic drive. This has more than doubled the efficiency of work and doubled the speed of infrastructure construction in Wan Qianyang.

There is another person who is the most satisfied, that is Jack, I didn't expect to become Wan Qianyang's butler now, because Wan Qianyang not only gave him enough rights and trust, but also his subordinates are in charge of the lives of thousands of people, and he has gradually learned about Wan Qianyang's character and temper, and the most important point is that now he has jumped from a pirate to a noble butler, which is a respected profession. All this is a messenger sent by God, no, it should be the mysterious oriental god who rescued him.

But there is still one person who is particularly distressed, is it Zhuang Yang? Because there are people everywhere who can't listen to the language, he can only find Wan Qiyang Gongzi if he has something. No! Zhuang Yang at least followed Wan Qianyang, and Wan Qiyang gave him absolute freedom and rights, and also gave Jack a task, that is, to let Jack learn Chinese, and let him be responsible for teaching Zhuang Yang to learn English after learning Chinese.