The chips are staggered, and the clothes are fragrant and the sideburns are shadowed.

This is the Ming Yongkang Marquis Mansion, a descendant of Cai Guogong Xu Zhong, since the beginning of the ancestors, passed down to the present, the standard princely family.

Xu Yingyuan, the Marquis of Yongkang of this generation, was originally the second son of the family, and it was not his turn to inherit the marquis. But people's luck is so hard to say - the eldest brother Xu Yingkun and his sister-in-law Xu Xiyin passed away one after another, leaving no other descendants, so the title fell to their second house.

Therefore, Xu Yingyuan himself does not attach much importance to the distinction between concubines and concubines, and the treatment of a concubine daughter in his family since she was a child is no different from that of a concubine, and her upbringing is excellent. Of course, the same treatment is given in terms of contributing to the family - the Xu family has several in-laws who are not bad, and the little marquis Xu Xiyin in front of him is married to the daughter of Zhu Chunchen, the prince of Chengguo, so in Xu Yingyuan's opinion, the relationship network formed by the family in the traditional noble forces is dense enough, and it can be appropriately expanded in other directions.

Therefore, the Xu family was the first to put forward the idea of marrying short hair, and of course it also occupies a dominant position in the specific operation. This time, the first large-scale meeting between the nobles of the capital and the short-haired people who entered Beijing was naturally placed in the Xu family garden of the Yongkang Marquis Mansion.

The reason for the treat is ready--now it is the time of the Chinese New Year, and the people in the capital are not limited to rich and poor, as long as they still have some family resources, they must at least put one or two tables of wine on the table, and invite a few groups of guests - if you can't even do this, it means that your family is completely ruined, and the next year you often don't even refuse to give credit to the store, and life will be even more sad.

Small families are still like this, and the Hou family, which claims to be retired with the country, of course, can't fall down. Since the Spring Festival and Chinese New Year's Eve to the period before the 15th Lantern Festival of the first month, the Xu family has been setting up banquets every day. Even if sometimes the old lady and the young master and young lady in the family ...... The whole family went out to the banquet of other relatives and nobles, and the banquet in the house still had to be set up - the housekeeper would come forward to entertain the neighbors and go to and from the merchants. This is the grandeur of the dignified mansion!

Of course, on this day, most of the nobles in the capital gathered at the Xu family, and even the court officials who usually didn't deal with the nobles came a lot - others don't mention it, just the officials of the ministry, when the appearance of the first assistant Zhou Yanru and Master Zhou, it was enough to make everyone in the capital drop their eyes.

You must know that in the Ming Dynasty. Honors and civil officials have always been two lines, and each has rarely intersected. The civil officials and courtiers held great power and had a huge income, but they were also prone to ups and downs. During the Wanli period, the first assistant Zhang Juzheng was so prominent! It's effortless to kill a prince, but once it falls, it's also tragic, and the family is surrounded and starved to death...... Of course, this is an extreme situation, but it is an indisputable fact that the Wenchen who climbed up through the imperial examination rose and fell quickly.

The bigwigs on the stage are constantly changing like marquees. Most of the nobles live on the land and shops left by their ancestors, and those who have outstanding children often take military positions, helping the royal family to hold the military power seal, as long as they do not get involved in the political struggle and find their own death, they can generally pass on the title and wealth smoothly. The most recent negative example in this regard is Li Chengzuo, the Marquis of Fengcheng, who is obviously the same as the Xu family, a veteran nobleman who was enshrined in the Chengzu period, and has land and property. But I don't know what fainted, but in the year of the apocalypse, I ran to attach the rebel eunuchs. Unexpectedly, Tian shamelessly asked for Jiuxi for Wei Zhongxian and begged for the title of King of Wei! At that time, it was hot, but what was the use of that - as soon as the emperor came to power, he first removed the lord and then beheaded him, and the whole family died, not to mention Chengzuo, and even the incense was cut off.

And on the other hand. Most of the civil servants don't like to deal with the nobles. There is no waste that can be spelled out from the scientific research field, all of them are human spirits, and in their eyes, most of the nobles who rely on their ancestors to get high positions are naturally wastewood. What's more, if Wenchen and Xungui get too close, it is easy to attract the taboo of the Son of Heaven, so in most cases. The two are as irreconcilable as water and oil.

In the past, when the Xu family held a banquet, it was just a polite post to the important ministers of the court, which showed that the Xu family respected you court bigwigs very much, and it was enough. Both sides knew in their hearts that Wenchen would definitely not participate in the banquet of the nobles, and they would not consider this group when arranging it. But this year, it was a sudden change - the housekeeper who sent the post to the door was personally received by Zhou Shoufu, and after asking about the identity of the guests of the Hou Mansion, he immediately made it clear that he would go to the banquet, and almost didn't scare the housekeeper stupidly.

It was not only the housekeeper who was frightened, but Yongkang Hou's entire family was shocked - sent out on the same day, and the invitation post that I thought was just a formality was replied to in the affirmative. Since the surrender of Zhou Yanru below, the military department is still the secretary, the Ministry of Industry is still the book, and the household department is still the book...... These high-powered bigwigs all showed surprisingly cheerfulness, and promised that they would definitely come when the time came. Xu Yingyuan himself was so scared that he was sweating - because the housekeeper was old, he was serious, and the invitation posts were not sent out all at once. The top high-ranking officials who were sent first, and the lower level of the squire, Hanlin, Yushi, etc., have not had time to send them, so they should be stopped quickly - otherwise, if they are really sent out, everyone agrees to come down, then when the day comes, their Yongkang Hou Mansion will not entertain relatives and friends, and they can directly hold a court meeting.

But Rao is like this, and in the next few days, Yongkang Hou's family has been tossed and turned, and the house is restless - just how to arrange the seats at that time is enough to make Xu Yingyuan and his Qingke friends not sleep well for several nights. And the wife of the back house, who is in charge of specific affairs, is even more troubled by this--no matter what others, when the time comes, several families who plan to marry short-haired will definitely come, and most of them will come with their daughters--it is also human nature for girls and their parents to find an opportunity to take a look at their future aunt before they get married. Besides, this time it's just decided to marry Shorthair, and the specific who and who hasn't been confirmed yet, so this first impression is even more important.

Therefore, it is expected that there will be a lot of guests invited this time, and the appearance of several senior cabinet officials has greatly exacerbated this situation. Originally, he was only going to have an exchange meeting within the Xungui group, but now he has joined the civil official group - they are all big guys, and of course those who are good at drilling camps in the civil official group want to join in as much as possible. Will the nobles who have nothing to do with this matter give up their positions - must not! Such a good opportunity to expand our network, our two usually move around well, but this critical moment excludes us? Are you embarrassed by the Xu family?

Therefore, it can only increase the seats, and the Yongkang Marquis Mansion was originally the regulatory foundation of the Guogong Mansion, and it is second only to the prince level in the Ming system, which is considered a first-class mansion. Now that the year is not good, the wife of the Xu family has complained many times in the past that the house is too big and the expenses are too big, and how much money it costs to burn wax every day. But in the past few days, all her complaints have been changed to that the place is too small, and the yard is too narrow to be arranged—this is not to say that adding more stools and more pairs of chopsticks will do. The inside and outside should be separated, men and women should be separated, and opportunities should be found so that the relevant female guests can take a look at their future uncle...... Not to mention the dishes, dishes, utensils, and furnishings, all kinds of troubles emerge in an endless stream, and the time is particularly rushed, and even the gray hair has been boiled out of several roots.

Of course, no matter what happens in private, when it comes to the right day, everything seems smooth and glamorous. After working all morning, it was almost noon, and Xu Cheng, the chief steward of the Yongkang Hou Mansion, who had just taken a breath, came to the gate again, and glanced at the queue of cars lined up in the entire alley outside, as if he saw an old farmer with a bumper harvest of wheat, and an indescribable sense of pride emerged in his heart.

How many years has it been since our house has been so lively? He stood at the door early in the morning to accompany his master to greet guests, and watched a sedan chair landing in front of the house, that one of the famous and powerful people who controlled the government and government, and in the past, he did not disdain to the Yongkang Hou Mansion and this kind of outdated family to pretend to be a high-ranking official, but at this time they all smiled and came over to greet their own master, it was really an unprecedented glory!

It's all because of the arrival of those guests...... The archsteward's gaze fell unconsciously on a row of seven or eight richly decorated four-wheeled carriages parked in the best position. That group of Qiongzhou short-haired people is really as extravagant as the legend, and even more so, which is not bad, although it is a bit of the coarseness of the nouveau riche, but at least the young lady will not suffer if she marries.

When he thought of this, he couldn't help but admire his master's foresight again. When the Marquis of Yongkang put forward the idea of marrying the Qiongzhou people, not to mention the outside, there were really many people who opposed it at home. Regardless of others, Miss Guang's mother-in-law, that aunt and wife have been making trouble several times, and it is inconvenient for Mrs. to talk more about this kind of thing, so it is all up to the master's persistence to suppress it. And today, the aunt is full of red faces, dressed up, and almost too proud to cover her wife, which is completely opposite to her previous attitude, and in the mouths of the people in the house, it is not too big or too small to make a joke.

…… Just thinking about these haves and nots, Xu Cheng suddenly noticed that there was some noise at the mouth of the alley, could it be that there were guests coming? But it's noon, and the main table inside is almost over, and today is all nobles, who would be so late and late?

The answer soon appeared - there were many idlers gathered at the mouth of the alley, but at this time, they ran away like a swarm of ants splashed with hot water, and some people even let out screams, and even fell to the ground and quickly climbed away with their hands and feet, not daring to stand in the way.

The only thing that can make them so nervous and scared is obviously the army: a group of sturdy men wearing green military uniforms and carrying rifles ran into the alley of the Hou Mansion in Yongkang, and quickly assembled in front of the gate of the Hou Mansion. (To be continued.) )