On the surface of the Yangtze River, hundreds of boats competed, and countless steamships emitting thick smoke were shuttled back and forth on the river. Fang Xuanling, who was sitting by the window in a restaurant in Linjiang, looked at a giant python on the river, and couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

The giant python is a floating bridge of the Yangtze River, spanning both sides of the river, connecting Hankou on the north bank (the mouth of the Han River) and Xiakou on the south bank.

This Yangtze River pontoon bridge is a magnificent large-scale project that allows carriages to pass opposite directions and has three navigation holes, which facilitates steamships to cross the pontoon bridge and travel to and from all over the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Fang Xuanling knew that it was not easy to build the floating bridge. Last year, the water level in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River rose sharply, and the river flow rate increased sharply, almost tore off the floating bridge. Fortunately, the Ezhou government made a quick decision and dismantled the floating bridge according to the emergency plan, avoiding the flood peak, and then "assembled" the floating bridge.

With the Yangtze River Floating Bridge, Xiakou Port, which is overloaded, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Xiakou, as the key to the Yangtze River, has developed very rapidly. He was ordered by the prince to go to Xiakou for business. Now that the official business is completed, I have taken the time to walk around the city and take a look.

Let’s see what Xiakou has developed into.

He traveled in casual clothes, so no one knew his identity. The restaurant staff only thought he was an ordinary guest and took a few plates of snacks as required, but did not disturb him.

Fang Xuanling looked at the river view, looked at the steamship on the river like a crossing the river, and listened to the words coming from his ears.

It was another window not far away, where two men were chatting, and the content of the chat was a marriage at his acquaintance's family.

This matter has nothing to do with Fang Xuanling, but it doesn't matter if you listen.

In this marriage, the groom was the general of the Zhechong Mansion and the bride was the daughter of a merchant. The two parties got married, and the betrothal gifts and dowry were amazing.

I won’t talk about the circulation coupons, there are countless gold, silver, and gemstone jewelry, especially the red and sapphire jewelry from the Lion Kingdom, which are dazzling and extremely gorgeous.

The wedding banquet is also amazing.

The seafood mat in Yishui, all kinds of expensive seafood seem to be expensive, and there are even delicious dishes made from fresh sea fish, which will make guests who come to congratulate you with a feast.

Fang Xuanling just listened a little, then estimated the roughness in his heart, and couldn't help but feel moved: This is much more dowry than the betrothal gifts and geniuses that were given to the marriage between Shandong gentry!

In this marriage, both men and women are from humble origins and are not even commoners. The woman's family is a merchant and is understandable to be rich and wealthy. However, the groom is just a minor general of the Zhechong Mansion. Why is the father-in-law so generous to his son-in-law?

After listening for a while, it turned out that the groom's brother and brother had a bright future and passed the Jinshi in the palace examination not long ago. The groom was about to go to the military academy for further studies because of his outstanding performance.

In this way, things are obvious: get married (in-law) and each person gets what he needs.

The man has a bright future and the woman is rich and powerful, so she hit it off.

From Fang Xuanling's point of view, this kind of extremely utilitarian marriage is full of the smell of money, but isn't this the marriage of ordinary people?

Not only that, the man is actually not poor, he has a workshop at home and supplies goods to the Liangyang Trading Company. With the prosperity of the sea trade, he has made a lot of money.

Therefore, the man can afford a generous betrothal gift, and even if he meets his wealthy father-in-law, he will not be at a disadvantage.

However, the home industry of both men and women is not a famous business or factory.

Even so, the "luxury" level of this marriage is still beyond the wedding show between the Shandong gentry as Fang Xuanling knows, which shows from one aspect how strong the financial resources of the emerging major families in Jingxiang, Lianghu and Lianghuai are.

Many common people in Jingxiang, Lianghu, and Huaihe River do business or open workshops and workshops, so their economic strength grows rapidly. Many people from humble origins join the army, and become juren through military merits or by studying or imperial examinations. So these people get married to each other and gradually "form their own system".

These emerging big families have the financial resources to support their children, and their clan members studied and entered the government through the imperial examination. They have a stable upward path, so they began to admire the gentry in their words and deeds.

Promising and rich marriages are normal.

In marriages between gentry, the most important thing is to be a family of equality. Shandong gentry is still married, and in-laws may not be officials, but they must be children of gentry with equality.

Therefore, marriages between gentry should not be affected by too much money, but it is absolutely necessary to have no money.

Fang Xuanling knew that in recent years, some high-ranking gentry members have also begun to marry second- and third-rate gentry members, provided that the man has to take out enough "supporting wealth".

What is "accompanying the family wealth"?

It is very simple. The Gao family gentry married their daughter to the second and third-rate gentry children, which is considered "indignant" and therefore the man took a big advantage and had to give a lot of money as compensation, which is called "accompanying the family wealth".

To put it bluntly, the Gao family's gentry was tight, so they could only marry the daughter of a family of equal status, and had to "marry" the children of the gentry who were inferior to their own.

A penny stumped the heroes. Because the price of grain and cloth prices continued to fall for more than ten years, the income of the gentry's manors decreased greatly. Because the family was tight, the original arrogance had to be appropriately "retained" and reaped a lot of "family wealth" by marrying their daughters to subsidize their family income.

This is a helpless fact. The proud gentry once lived in a large manor that was closed for the city, but now their financial resources are gradually being short of money.

If this continues, perhaps one day in the future, the children of the common people can marry a well-educated and reasonable aristocratic girl with generous betrothal gifts.

This kind of scene just thought made Fang Xuanling a little lost. As a child of the Fang family in Qinghe, it was difficult for him to accept the difference between scholars and commoners, so he disappeared.

However, if the world continues to evolve like this, this day may come sooner or later.

Since the implementation of the imperial examination system, the preferential treatment that the gentry had gradually decreased has ceased to exist. The privilege of the gentry's children entering the government with their family's support has been completely abolished by the emperor. If the gentry's children want to enter the government, they have no choice but to participate in the imperial examination except for the slim hope of recruiting.

The children of the gentry are not afraid of exams. However, the schools and clans that sprouted like mushrooms after a rain in various places are crowded with countless common people who are studying hard. As time goes by, the competition for the future imperial examination will become increasingly fierce.

A gentry candidate may face the challenges of ten or even twenty common people taking the imperial examination.

The large number of books sold in various types and the growing academic and political education have gradually weakened the advantages of family education among the children of the gentry. The common people who studied for the imperial examinations are relying on hard study and "the tactics of the sea of ​​questions" to quickly shorten the academic gap with the children of the gentry.

Fang Xuanling was thinking, in another ten or twenty years, what should the children of the gentry fail even the children of the common people in the exam?

If the gentry who have not been able to serve as an official in several generations, cannot hold on to the manor, lose their political status, and economic status, how can they live by relying solely on fame?

Could it be that you can only rely on marrying a daughter to collect "family money" to subsidize your family income?

Fang Xuanling dared not think about such a future. He knew that once he stayed away from the power center for too long, for example, if two generations of people did not serve as officials, most families would lose their families.

How long does it take for two generations? Forty to fifty years.

The decline of the Jiangnan gentry spans lasted for more than fifty years.

The gentry in Jiangnan was composed of the surname Qiao and Wu. After the Yongjia Rebellion, the gentry in the Central Plains moved south to the south. Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xiao were the major, while the original gentry in Jiangzuo was called the "Secret of Wu", and Zhu, Zhang, Gu, and Lu were the major.

However, after the Hou Jing Rebellion and the destruction of Jiangling, by the time the Chen State was destroyed, the Jiangnan gentry had been greatly damaged.

The Xie family of Chen County and Zhu family of Wu County suffered a great disaster in the Hou Jing Rebellion, and their descendants declined. It is now difficult to find their characters and deeds.

The Gu family of Wujun had no children and officials after the fall of Chen.

After the fall of Chen, there were only a few children and officials who served as officials, and their positions were not much higher.

The Xiao family in Lanling was slightly better. After the fall of Liang State, the Xiaoliang royal family served as officials in the court, while the emperor's concubine Xiao was the princess of Liang State. His brother Xiao Yu was highly valued, but that's all.

The eight major surnames of the Jiangnan gentry are no longer as famous as the heyday before the Hou Jing Rebellion. The time span is more than forty years (two generations), and the reason is war.

This is the situation in the south, what about the north?

When Qi was destroyed, the Shandong gentry was rejected by the Chang'an court. He finally had the opportunity to turn the tables (Yuchi's Yecheng court), but this opportunity disappeared with the destruction of the Yecheng court.

The Shandong gentry was squeezed out of the center of power because of the war. The destruction of the two Yecheng courts left them without support.

It has been more than twenty years since the Yuchi family was defeated, and in another twenty years, fifty years later. Fang Xuanling felt that the Shandong gentry, who were politically excluded and economically hit, would no longer find a way, and sooner or later follow in the footsteps of the Jiangnan gentry.

Perhaps, if the new monarch succeeds to the throne in the future, his hostility towards the gentry will be reduced?

But today, when Zi is young and strong, the prince and the princes seem to have no admiration for the gentry.

Fang Xuanling, as the assistant to the crown prince, knew this very well.

It is unlikely that the world will be in chaos again, and there will be no third Yecheng court again.
Chapter completed!