So what does this have to do with Tang Renxian's generosity?

This is going to talk about the customs of the Great Song Dynasty - marrying a daughter is much more expensive than marrying a daughter-in-law.

The marriage law of the Great Song Dynasty stipulated that women's property rights were sacrosanct, but in turn, women were not allowed to touch their husbands' property.

You must know that women in ancient times did not produce anything, and if they did not produce, they would not have new wealth, so the property that really belonged to women for a lifetime was only the dowry that came over before marriage. The woman's parents were afraid that their daughter would be bullied when she went to her in-law's house, or that the dowry would be less and she would have no status among her sisters-in-law, so they desperately increased their dowry, so girls in the Song Dynasty often took a lot of land and houses with them when they got married.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty married a lot of daughters, compared with the previous dynasties, the wealth of the Song Dynasty was relatively rich, so the Song Dynasty people were very face-saving, and they talked about pomp and circumstance in everything they did. From the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, women's dowries became more and more, not only furniture, jewelry, copper coins, but also land and houses, sometimes frighteningly large. Especially when a rich family marries a daughter, the dowry is definitely the standard of the "rich second generation", and it is how many rooms and acres of land there are at every turn.

From this point of view, it is no wonder that Mr. Su Zhe, who is one of the eight masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, is about to go bankrupt when he marries a daughter, after all, Mr. Su is a cultural person, and naturally he is not as good as those second generations of officials and rich second generations.

Such a large amount of wealth circulation has naturally attracted widespread attention from all walks of life, so the ownership of premarital property was finally officially promulgated by the state in an ancient version of the "Judicial Interpretation of the Marriage Law", and the legal system of premarital property notarization was established very early.

This is also the earliest prenuptial property notarization in China.

And marrying is more cost-effective than marrying, it is necessary to say that another character who is still alive now, Fan Zhongyan.

Fan Zhongyan, a famous politician, thinker, military strategist and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, once served as a high-ranking official like the prime minister, so he naturally accumulated a lot of savings. After Fan Zhongyan made a fortune, he raised the whole family by himself, and no matter who in the family held a happy event, Fan Zhongyan paid for it. In order to be impartial, Fan Zhongyan set a rule: all boys in the clan should marry each other, and the bride price should be given according to the standard of 20 yuan, and all girls in the clan should marry according to the standard of 30 yuan. It is clear that the dowry for girls is heavier than for boys.

According to the purchasing power at that time, Fan Zhongyan's 1 guan is roughly equivalent to 4,000 yuan now, 20 guan is 80,000 yuan, and 30 guan is 120,000 yuan. In other words, in Fan Zhongyan's family, a boy needs to give a bride price of 80,000 yuan when he marries, and a girl needs to bring a dowry of 120,000 yuan when she marries.

It can be said that marrying a daughter is much more expensive than marrying a daughter-in-law, and such a huge contrast in cost performance has added a market to the doctrine of preference for sons. It can even be said that it triggered the idea that her daughter was a loser.

When these people have established such customs, others will naturally follow suit.

Therefore, Yuan Cai of the Southern Song Dynasty said in the volume of "Yuan's Shifan": "There is a person who gives birth to a daughter and plants cedar ten thousand roots, and when the woman grows, he thinks that the fir is a dowry." "If you don't plant a cedar tree to prepare for the birth of a daughter in the family, when the daughter grows up, she will either be in debt or miss the time to marry the daughter. This is also one of the reasons why the Song Dynasty was rich in "leftover women". At that time, I was really rich with a group of sons-in-law and a group of poor fathers-in-law.

So in this case, is it okay for the woman to marry without a dowry?

Hehe, it really doesn't work.

Without a dowry, the average family would not agree to marry.

In the pen of the Song Dynasty Liu Fu, the story of Wang Qiongnu, the daughter of an official, was recorded. She was a well-dressed embroiderer, skilled in poetry, and her father was dismissed from her post as a teenager, and both of them died on the way home. Joannu's brother and sister-in-law owned most of the family property, and her fiancé refused to marry her because she had no dowry. Eventually, an old servant who stayed with Joannu persuaded her to make a concubine for a wealthy official. Liu Fu described the tragic situation of Qiongnu at this time, who was often beaten by the wife of the rich official.

With such a social background, it can be seen that Tang Renxian is fake and generous, and he is really calculating.

A horse that has broken its hooves, but gives it to his sweetheart as a good horse. It looks very generous, but such a good horse is really a lot of 800 guan, not too much 2,000.

Shen Yuejiao was happy, thinking that her sweetheart loved her, but on the day she got married, her father had to let this horse die of sorrow.

It's definitely going to happen, not a joke. Don't talk about a petty official like Shen Renfu. It's the royal family, and it is written in the history books that they have to follow it.

In other words, the more the man gives. When the time comes, the woman will have to marry more.

If the son-in-law wants to kill his father-in-law, then just try to give money and things. When the time comes, the old man will have to smash the pot and sell iron.

"Yue'e, you went over to persuade Yuejiao, but don't accept the horse. She is a woman, and she doesn't need such a good horse. Shen Ancai frowned.

The children of the poor have long been in charge, and Shen Ancai is a scholar, and there are many people he knows who have become rich from poor scholars.

After all, in the market of the Great Song Dynasty, scholars are the standard for "good sons-in-law".

And their own home. Don't say that Shen Ren's rich family, even the Shen family's Bianjing family, they can't get such a good horse. What better dowry than this horse...... How?

He made up his mind and asked his sister to persuade her cousin not to accept it. Because it's not my cousin's business alone. When the Shen family marries a daughter, the dowry is not thick, and it is not even as good as the husband's family. It will not be Shen Renfu who will be embarrassed, but the entire Shen family will be embarrassed.

"Brother. I'm just afraid my cousin won't listen. Shen Yue'e also understood her brother's thoughts.

In fact, Shen Yue'e will go to the cave to make money, and she has no plans to buy a dowry for herself.

Da Song's ethos is like this, she understands, but she is worried that her cousin will not understand.

Sure enough, Shen Yuejiao didn't think about it so much. Seeing such a good horse to herself, her smiling eyes were gone.

"Brother Renxian, you are so good to me. It's just that I'm still young, and I'm afraid I won't be able to ride such a good horse. Shen Yuejiao wanted it from her sweetheart, but she still pretended to postpone it.

Shen Yue'e was ordered by her brother, and just came over and said: "Yes, Tang Gongzi, such a northland horse, only men ride it, and girls are not easy to ride." ”

I can't say it's good, but it's definitely not too bad. Shen Yue's refusal was very comfortable, and it didn't hurt the feelings of both parties at all.

"What's this, it's just a horse. If you want my family more. Tang Renxian pretended to be forced.

Tang Renxian secretly looked at Zhao Zhen's faces, and seeing that they had not changed much, he scolded in his heart: Tubaozi!

He hinted at the people around him, and after being together for a long time, he immediately understood, and said deliberately: "Tang Gongzi is really generous, such a good horse is worth two thousand yuan, right?"

"No, I can't. At that time, I just gave the Khitans 800 guan. "He's showing his strengths again.

The triumphant look seemed to be waiting for Shen Shi and them to be scared by themselves.