Han official!

Chapter 148 Wedding Ceremony
Yao from Beidao had a house in Chang'an and lived in Dachangli near Beidi. He had twenty slaves worth 300,000 yuan, ten maids worth 200,000 yuan, and six carriages worth 60,000 yuan. Not counting the market value of the house, the slaves, maids, carriages and horses alone cost nearly 600,000 yuan.

Guo Jie personally introduced his disciple Su Jia as a matchmaker. The matchmaker was a clerk of the Right Internal Affairs Bureau, which surprised the Internal Affairs Bureau and caused them to inquire about the relationship between Su Jia and Guo Shangji.

When the officials learned that it was their mentor whom they had knelt down to worship, they immediately prepared a gift of money and went to the neighborhood where Su Jian's family lived to celebrate the marriage of Su Jia and Yao Ji.

It was not for Su Jian's sake, but for the sake of the chief accountant Guo Jie.

Su Jian stood at the door of his house, watching the officials in black robes coming to celebrate with him. Even though he was a steady person, his face couldn't help but blush.

The eldest son Su Jia's marriage was very grand.

The neighborhood where Su Jian lives has never been so lively, attracting the envy of the surrounding neighbors.

The neighbors all said that Su Jian's family was really rich.

What made the neighbors even more envious was that according to custom, government officials could not come empty-handed as guests, but had to bring some gift money. The gift money each official brought was more than a hundred coins.

On the wedding day, Su Jia had to dress as gorgeously as possible, wearing red raccoon fur and elaborate jewelry.

Guo Jie found Chong Huangrou and borrowed a sable robe commonly worn by young men from Wuling, and gave it to Su Jia to wear. Su Jia looked quite noble, like the son of a powerful nobleman.

Su Jia was also a young man. All the young men in Chang'an envied the young men from Wuling who rode horses on the streets.

I never thought that there would be a day when Su Jia would wear a mink robe.

Su Jia touched the precious leather of the mink robe, looked left and right, with a look of joy on his face, but he didn't know how to repay his mentor's kindness.

"It's almost time."

Guo Jie stood at the gate of Lumen, followed by ten carriages for the next step of welcoming the bride.

The welcoming ceremony of the bride by powerful nobles was grand in scale to show off their wealth and status.

There were usually 'ten carriages in a row, with riding slaves and servants, flanking the wheels and pulling the strings'.

Su Jian used to be worried about the wedding of his eldest son Su Jia. With his family's property of barely 100,000 coins, it was not easy to get three carriages, let alone ten.

He also didn't want Su Jia to be looked down upon by the Yao family of Beidao.

I have been worrying about the carriage and horses to welcome the bride.

A chariot is just a light vehicle that can carry one or two people, but it costs ten thousand yuan, which is not affordable for ordinary middle-class families.

At Guo Jie's words, the thief catchers and prison clerks immediately gathered ten carriages and rushed to send them over, rushing to send the carriages as if it were their own son's wedding.

"I'll go get Su Jia."

Anguo Shaoji walked into the gate and looked at Su Jia standing at the door to greet the guests, his face full of envy: "Alas, I don't know when I can get married like Su Jia. Every time I find a woman who suits my heart, we are very loving at the time, but after that, she returns to her family and never wants to see me again."

An Guo Shao Ji could only envy.

Every time he found a lady who was compatible with him and paid a ransom, the lady would return to her family.

Unable to get married.

"call--"

When Su Jia heard him say that the time was up, he became nervous, took a deep breath, and prepared to go to Dachangli with a goose in his hand.

Welcome.

Su Jian stood at the gate of Hongmen, watching the ten carriages participating in the wedding procession leave, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His son's wedding was finally a grand one, and he did not let his son down.

The wedding has begun.

Su Jian brought many guests to a small Su family temple in the neighborhood and took their seats in advance, intending to entertain the guests when he returned.

The Han people’s wedding banquets were not held at home, nor were they held in restaurants.

Placed in the ancestral temple.

Su Jian held a military rank and was a member of the scholar class. According to the ritual system, the emperor established seven temples, princes established five temples, officials established three temples, and scholars established one temple. Common people had no temples, but they could build one ancestral temple.

Common people had no temples, so they could only set up ancestral shrines next to the kitchen in their bedrooms and offer sacrifices.

If a commoner gets married, the banquet can only be placed next to the kitchen.

Guo Jie sat in a carriage and did not forget to check the letters and documents. He thought the wooden tablets were too heavy, so he asked Su Jia to use hemp paper to copy the documents.

Anyway, ever since the property of a powerful family was confiscated, Guo Jie had more than enough hemp paper in his hands.

In order to copy documents, the government and temples had to give Guo Jie money to buy paper according to regulations.

The extra paper in Guo Jie's hands could also be exchanged for some money.

Su Jia's hand-copied documents not only allowed him to practice calligraphy on the hemp paper provided by the government, but also allowed him to become familiar with the village's household registration, finances, lawsuits, military affairs, industry and commerce, and other situations, thus cultivating him into a Zilu who was both capable of martial arts and literature.

The hemp paper account book in Guo Jie's hand was full of information about the household registration, money and grain of Pingshan Township, and he found where the Yao family in Beidao had violated the Han law.

The Yao family of Beidao will be exterminated!

Dare to eat the entire family of Guo Jie's disciples.

Guo Jie made the Yao family in Beidao truly extinct!
In the Han Dynasty, there was a pavilion every ten miles and one township every ten pavilions. According to the records in the Yinwan Han bamboo slips "Ji Bu", Donghai County had jurisdiction over 38 counties and 170 townships, with an average of 4.47 townships under one county.

According to the Han Dynasty bamboo slips "Ji Bu", it can be inferred that a county governs four or five townships, and a township governs hundreds of villages.

Guo Jie knew that these were just data estimates, just like some provinces had only seven or eight cities, while some provinces had more than twenty cities.

Pingshan Township is a large township, administering dozens of villages. There is a lot of data on household registration, land registration, tax collection, etc., which needs to be checked bit by bit.

In order to find evidence that the Yao family in Beidao had committed a crime, Guo Jie had to take the account books sent by various villages and pavilions and compare them with the data in the account books of Pingshan Township.

There is also an advantage to the complexity of the data. It is impossible for Pingshan Township to cover up all the data, and there will always be errors and omissions.

Guo Jie wanted to take advantage of the mistake to confiscate the property of Pingshan Township.

The hundreds of acres of land that Yao Ji should have brought to her husband's house as dowry were returned to his disciple Su Jia, so that the couple could live a good life.

After Su Jia got married, the family was going to separate, and Su Jian began to worry about the marriage of his second son, Su Wu.

"arrive."

An Guo Shao Ji drove the first carriage and stopped at the gate of the neighborhood. His pair of cunning eyes scanned among the female members of the Yao family.

His eyes passed over the young girl who had just reached marriageable age and looked at the middle-aged woman who was over forty years old.

Guo Jie looked helpless.

In his mind, the best candidate to drive the first car was Wei Guang, who was tall and handsome.

Unfortunately, in order to help Guo Jie withstand the relocation to Maoling, Wei Guang asked to be the Wei Hou Sima of Maoling Town, which was equivalent to a regimental commander of the capital's garrison. He could not leave the station without the emperor's order.

Any unusual movement of the garrisons in local counties and prefectures could wake the emperor from his bed, let alone the garrisons in the capital, which were right next to his bed.

Wei Guang can't come.

The only choice is An Guo Shao Ji, who is also handsome.

However, as soon as An Guo Shao Ji arrived at Dachangli in his carriage, his old habit came back and he kept staring at his lady who was over 40 years old.

Before Guo Jie could warn him, Su Jia should be a little more restrained on the day of his wedding, and when he started to confiscate the property of Yao family in Beidao, he could go and find the wives of Yao family at will.

When Guo Jie saw the situation of the Yao clan ancestral temple, his face darkened and he couldn't help but look a little ugly.

According to the customs of the Western Han Dynasty, the wedding procession went to the bride's home. The bride's parents set up a banquet in the temple and greeted the groom outside the door.

The groom enters holding the goose, bows and offers his respects to the bride, then bows again to offer the goose, completing the ceremony of welcoming the bride.

The Yao family is also a family of one temple, which means that only the ancestors of the clan leader can be worshipped.

The number of temples means how many generations can be worshipped.

Until the Ming Dynasty, there were strict restrictions on the number of emperors who could be worshipped in ancestral temples. Even Emperor Jiajing had to hold a grand ceremony to worship his biological father.

Finally, the temple name of Ming Taizong Zhu Di was changed to Chengzu, which squeezed out a place for Jiajing to worship his biological father. Only a few Yao clan members were in front of the Yao family temple, and no banquet was held in the temple.

The Yao family of Beidao, whose assets exceeded five million, obviously did not take Su Jia, whose assets exceeded one hundred thousand, seriously.

He didn't take Guo Jiefang seriously either.

Everyone knows that Guo Jie is Su Jia's mentor.

"coming?"

Yao Luren and several of his cousins stood at the door, glancing at Su Jia with disdain: "Have you brought the betrothal money? My father said that in order to prevent my cousin from living a hard life with you, we need to see the betrothal money first. Only if you bring enough betrothal money can you take Yao Ji away. Otherwise, don't even think about taking Yao Ji away today."

As Su Jia's wedding day was approaching, they had no choice but to release Yao Ji's cousin first.

Yao Luren has suffered a lot these days, and when Yao Ji's wedding day comes, he finds an opportunity to make things difficult for Su Jia.

It doesn’t matter that there is no banquet in the ancestral temple.

Yao Lu Ren directly blocked the entrance of the ancestral temple and demanded a betrothal gift, refusing to take the woman away unless she was paid.

Su Jia was furious, but in order to bring Yao Ji back, he had to ask someone to bring out the betrothal money.

Two servants brought over several boxes, opened the lids, and found that they were full of brand new three-zhu coins.

Guo Jie was only a mentor after all. When Su Jia's father Su Jian was still alive, it was impossible for him to take care of all the marriage matters. The betrothal money was discussed privately between Su Jian and Yao from Beidao. When he saw several boxes of three-zhu coins, he couldn't help but be surprised.

At least 60,000 to 70,000 coins.

The bride price is too high.

The Zhong family's property is only 100,000 coins.

If Su Jian had not stayed with Guo Jie and received a share of the 100,000 coins, the betrothal gift for just one marriage would have emptied the entire family.

Su Jia said with a sullen face, "This is the betrothal gift we agreed on, a total of 70,000 coins. If you don't trust me, you can take out the three baht coins and have them counted. I'll take Yao Ji back after the count is finished."

Yao Ji's parents have passed away, and she has been living under the care of her uncle.

The uncle took away Yao Ji's property without hesitation, so he did not prepare a dowry for Yao Ji.

Instead, my uncle treated Yao Ji as a tool to make money.

By asking for a large amount of betrothal money, she would leave it for her son to use when he gets married in the future.

The Su Jia family knew that when Yao Ji came back, she would not have any dowry, but they did not care.

I only want Yao Ji as a person.

Yao Ji was bright and beautiful, had grown up in hardship, and was very virtuous, making her a rare and perfect match.

"Crash-"

Yao Lu Ren grabbed the edge of the box and poured all the three-zhu coins directly onto the ground, greedily counting the three-zhu coins scattered on the rammed earth ground.

It delayed the wedding time.

Su Jia came to pick up Yao Ji at dusk (15:45-16:30), intending to bring her back to his neighborhood to get married. However, due to Yao Luren's delay, he was unable to bring her back.

It was already dusk (18:45-19:30), and it was almost dark. Su Jia's face showed a bit of impatience.

Guo Jie frowned.

If the bride is picked up in the morning, no matter how Yao Lu Ren does, it will not delay the wedding.

However, the time for welcoming the bride in the Western Han Dynasty was different from that in later generations.

The time for welcoming the bride in the Western Han Dynasty was generally to welcome the bride at dusk.

The earliest book that records the six wedding rituals can be found in "Liji Hunyi".

Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, weddings were called "hunli".

Because it is held at dusk, the wedding is called a wedding ceremony.

Later, the character "hun" was added with the character "nu" and gradually became "wedding".

"Mr. Guo."

The delay was too long, and Su Jian, who was calm and composed, could not wait any longer. Worried that something might go wrong, he hurried over in a government official's carriage.

Su Jian looked anxious. "What on earth has happened? The evening meal (19:30 PM - 20:15 PM) is almost here, and why hasn't Jia'er brought Yao Ji back yet? Could it be that the Yao family in Beidao is dissatisfied with the betrothal money and thinks it's too little?"

After falling asleep, it is time to eat at night.

Even in summer, it’s dark before nighttime meals.

As a result, Su Jia had not yet brought his new bride Yao Ji back to get married.

Guo Jie hasn't spoken yet.

Yao Lu Ren suddenly asked for more money: "You were just a thief before, and the most you could offer was 70,000 coins. But now it's different. You are an assistant official of the Shangji Yuanshi. The betrothal fee is at least 300,000 coins. Not a single three-zhu coin less will do. Don't even think about taking me away from my sister."

Three hundred thousand coins?

Better to go grab it!

"Little brat!"

Su Jia was furious: "We agreed on 70,000 coins long ago, how can you add more at the last minute? If you had agreed in advance, I would have accepted even 400,000, not to mention 300,000. But you have to add more on the day of the wedding? How shameless!"

Additional money will be charged on the wedding day.

I have never seen such a shameless family.

Su Jian's face was filled with anger, but in order not to delay the wedding, he could only endure it with frustration: "More money is fine. My family can't come up with 300,000 yuan for the time being. My family will take Yao Ji back to get married first, and then send someone to deliver the money tomorrow."

All the relatives and friends came.

Everyone is waiting for Su Jia and Yao Ji to get married.

Su Jia can't go back alone.

"no!"

Yao Lu Ren glanced at Su Jian and said disdainfully, "Do you think I'm stupid? Yao Ji left with Su Jia and there's no way she'll ever come back. If you don't admit it, who are you going to ask for money?"

He shouted, "If you are short of a three-zhu coin, don't even think about taking Yao Ji away!"

"Little brat!"

Su Jia was so angry that he drew the dagger from his waist and stabbed at Yao Luren.

"I'll kill you!"

Su Jian was shocked: "No, he is your wife's brother!"

Before Su Jian could stop his son Su Jia.

Guo Jie reached out a hand and grabbed Su Jian's black robe, saying in support, "Kill him! Kill this gang of extortionists!"

Su Jia suddenly kills people, which is a capital crime.

If the people he killed were a group of thieves who were robbing money.

Not only will Su Jia be innocent, he will also be rewarded by the government and the temple.

As for how Yao Luren went from being Su Jia's brother-in-law to a group of thieves who robbed money.

Guo Jie sneered, "The 70,000 coins were given to you by me. I have the right to take them back, and I'm taking them back today. By taking the 70,000 coins, Yao Luren has robbed the Right Internal Affairs official of his 70,000 coins! Kill these thieves!"

(End of this chapter)