bestfiction Chapter 355 The Big Wedding
Chapter 355 The Big Wedding
In ancient times, marriage was always decided by parents. Meng Jun was considered very old in that era, but he still had only one daughter and no sons. Old Madam Zhou was anxious to have a grandson, but the protagonist was running around every day and had almost no time to go home. The daughter of the Zhang family was crying out for marriage. On the day Meng Jun returned to the Jinling mansion, Old Madam Zhou strictly ordered Meng Jun: "If you don't have a son, you are not allowed to leave Jinling!"
Now that Meng Jun has risen to power, no one dares to underestimate his reputation, not only in Jiangnan but also in the whole world. However, in the eyes of the shogunate officials, the power of Meng Zhou, who has no offspring, is like a house built on a pile of sand. Once there is a change, it will immediately collapse.
The situation was critical in the past. Meng Jun had been fighting with the army all year round, and his only daughter was born in his spare time. Now that the war has come to a temporary end, the issue of the king's successor has become the most important issue in the Meng Zhou forces.
Zhang almost watched Meng Jun start an uprising with only a few hundred people, and now grow to an army of hundreds of thousands. In this chessboard called the world, Meng Jun has become the most important player. For the sake of the family, Zhang can't wait for this wedding.
However, in this heroic era when the country is still unsettled and wars are being fought on all sides, it may not be appropriate to hold a grand wedding banquet. Therefore, Meng Jun rejected the expenses planned for the wedding by the shogunate on the spot.
Meng Jun rejected the shogunate's proposal with some dissatisfaction, saying: "It's just a wedding, why do we need to spend 100,000 taels of silver? You should know that the cost of ordinary people's wedding is no more than 10 taels of silver, why would the shogunate plan to spend 10,000 times that? Now is the time to use troops, it is more important to save some money to support the army!"
Yang En replied, "Your Majesty is now a noble, and your wedding is not just a matter for one person, but a major event for the shogunate. How can we be careless? If it is too shabby, it will be a laughing stock. Besides, the 100,000 taels will be used for betrothal, clothing, banquets, and rituals. I have already calculated it three times. There is no room for saving any more, and there is no place to save!"
Seeing that Meng Jun was still unhappy, Yang En advised: "The king is newly married, and the child born will be a legitimate son. If it is too shabby, there may be unscrupulous people who want to guess the king's intentions!"
Meng Jun didn't quite believe that just because the wedding wasn't grand enough, some people would suspect that the unborn child was not loved.
But Mrs. Zhou also wanted to make the wedding a grand one, saying, "If not, how can we show the current status of the Meng family?"
In the end, Meng Jun's own marriage could only be integrated into the characteristics of this era, and the wedding was held in a high-profile and grand manner.
Since the position of the queen had already been decided, there was no need to repeat the procedures of accepting the marriage proposal, asking for the name, and accepting the good news. One only had to pay the betrothal gift, ask for a date, inform the temple (tell the ancestors that he was getting married), and then welcome the bride.
The betrothal gifts were given and April 26th was set as the wedding date.
As the wedding date approached, the atmosphere in Jinling City seemed to become more and more lively. Merchants in the city hung red silk on their store doors one after another, and the whole city seemed to have turned red.
April 26th, sunny.
Along the way, gongs and drums were beating loudly, and a large group of people marched towards Zhang's house in a mighty manner. They had luxurious carriages, fine horses, colorful sedans, and all kinds of drums and music. There were more than a thousand people accompanying them, and Gao Yi's heavy armored troops were personally guarding along the way to prevent any accidents.
There were many ceremonies involved in welcoming the bride. Even though Meng Jun had already ascended the throne, he still had to receive instructions from all parties. The master of the wedding said, "Be diligent and conscientious day and night, and do not disobey orders." The bride's parents said, "Your father has given you instructions, so you must obey them."
After a day of hard work, Meng Jun was exhausted. He even felt that this day was no less exhausting than fighting in the army.
After a series of procedures, in the evening, naturally, both the Meng and Zhang families held a grand banquet with rich dishes, and both the guests and the hosts were delighted.
In the huge palace, civil and military officials gathered together and drank happily, but as the world had not yet been completely pacified, there seemed to be an implicit dividing line between civil and military officials.
Except for Yang En, Wu Tai and other very early veteran civil officials, there were also civil officials like Gu Yanwu and Shen Congwen who followed the army in almost every battle and could chat and laugh with the military men. The rest, like the Jiangnan scholars recruited by the shogunate, the old officials of Longwu, the surrendered people, etc., had almost no communication with the military generals.
Qian Biao pulled Bai Yongfu, holding a large bowl in his hand, and sneered at Bai Yongfu: "What the king and that old man said last time was not what you meant at all."
Bai Yongfu was exposed, but he remained calm and retorted: "You didn't understand the flowery words. I just listened to the general idea. I think that's what the king meant. I still think that's what he meant."
"You..." Qian Biao was furious and was about to accuse him, but he heard Bai Yongfu accuse him first: "How dare you say that to me? Who cheated and won three months' salary from me?"
Qian Biao was stunned. He didn't expect Bai Yongfu to bring up this matter. However, Qian Biao still stiffened his neck and said stubbornly, "No, how can I cheat on whether God decides whether it will rain or not? I'm not the Dragon King who can call the wind and rain. I don't have that ability."
Bai Yongfu sneered, pointed at Li Wendao who was not far away, and said to Qian Biao: "Master Li is over there, do you want to go and confront him together?"
Qian Biao rolled his eyes, loosened his hand that was holding onto his robe, and said, "Forget it, we're even!"
"OK"
"Let's bet on who drinks the most and three months' military pay. Do you dare?"
"I dare you, why not? But you have to swear before you bet. Whoever cheats is a dog!"
"Look at you, you don't trust me, Old Qian, so how can you cheat when drinking? You're overthinking it."
"If you don't swear, then I won't bet with you."
"Send, send, send, send, send is not enough, just like a little girl, dithering."
………………
When Meng Jun entered the bridal chamber, he gently lifted the bride's veil and quietly looked at the bride underneath the veil. Her face was an oval face with exquisite classical beauty, long eyelashes, her eyes were lowered, and there was a faint blush on her jade-like cheeks.
Zhang Shu said shyly, "Please drink this wedding wine, my husband!"
After they finished drinking the wedding wine, Meng Jun gently took her into his arms. He smelled the fragrance of her hair and said softly, "People say that it takes a hundred years to be able to ride the same boat and a thousand years to sleep on the same pillow. We are already husband and wife, so we should be of one mind and one heart from now on, okay?"
The beauty in his arms shrugged her shoulders gently and whispered, "Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog; that's a woman's fate!"
"Hahaha, your husband is a king, not a chicken or a dog."
The four greatest joys in life are rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a foreign land, the wedding night, and getting one’s name on the list of successful candidates.
………………