Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 512: Going out to sea
Lu Kang's retirement and the King of Chu's marriage can be said to be two major events in the State of Chu in May.
At a time when people's livelihood is in decline and all princes are advocating frugality, even Liu Xie would try to keep a low profile on matters like taking concubines - he still has to take one, after all, it is related to "expanding branches and leaves". In today's world, even the ruler is no exception. The more children one has, the more at ease his subordinates will be...but he cannot arouse hatred!
According to the etiquette, there is no need for any ceremony to marry a concubine, just bring her into the palace...
However, because Xu Rong had all the Jiangdong nobles behind her, and Bai Tu didn't want Xu Rong to suffer for having taken so many blames for him, he was very extravagant in the presentation of betrothal gifts and dowry.
And just as Lu Bu instructed, it was for publicity to the outside world, and Queen Lu presided over and arranged all of this.
Looking at the long queues of carts of dowries and betrothal gifts lined up in the streets, the foreign scholars in Jinling keenly sensed that something was "wrong".
Is now the time to show off?
It's not a time of peace and prosperity, where you can't use beauty and wealth to show your strength. Now it's too extravagant to take concubines, I'm afraid...
How could the King of Chu be so careless?
"The Xu family is going to be prosperous. Although the sons are not very capable, Grand Historian Xu is not only a scholar, but also a virtuous woman. She is now the Princess of Chu... Tsk tsk."
"It's not just the Xu family that has a princess, it's our Jiangdong that has a princess!"
"Wow, this convoy is really long. As expected of the Xu family and the king..."
"Haha, did you see those screens? They're the orders we received!"
"No, it's just an order from the workshop where you work part-time..."
"You know nothing, this is called ownership!"
Many of the people in Jinling were enjoying the melons, and there was no resentment as might be imagined.
After all, the Chu State had a population of only more than 10 million. After the rise of industrialization, the benefits could easily be passed down to the entire population - even ordinary people who were not considered wealthy could buy one or two Jiangdong brocade coats, but the embroidery was not very good and might just be patchwork.
Therefore, for the people of Chu, their food, clothing, housing and transportation had changed so much in a few years, so it was completely acceptable for Bai Tu to be a little extravagant when taking a concubine.
The only complaint is that for men in the State of Chu, "taking a concubine" has become more difficult. Ordinary wealthy families basically can't even think about it. Some entry-level wealthy families who own thousands of acres of land may not be able to take a concubine!
After all, in the early days of industrialization, the value of women's labor grew explosively. The contrast was even more obvious when many men were still tied to the land.
The status of an ordinary person's "concubine" is already low. Who would be willing to be a concubine when the value she creates by working in a workshop is not much lower than that of men?
Of course someone would like to...
However, the cost has increased a lot, the threshold for marrying a concubine has also become much higher, and the improvement in status has naturally brought about a gradual change in thinking.
Although there were a large number of wealthy families in Chu State who became rich through hard work, they could not take concubines like the rich families in the past!
…
The news of the King of Chu taking a concubine, coupled with Xu Rong's identity, caused a sensation in the State of Chu, but compared to the academic examination, it was still quickly covered up.
On the sixth day of June, the three-day academic examination officially begins.
Unlike the imperial examinations, not only are there more people involved, but the examination also does not need to be conducted in a completely closed manner like during the imperial examinations.
The academic examinations are much shorter, with each subject lasting only an hour and a half. There is no limit on the breaks between examinations and students can leave the examination room, so there is no need to prepare a full set of food, drink, and toilet supplies like in the imperial examinations.
This time, Bai Tu did not attend the examination in person, but simply published his blessings to all the candidates in the official gazette - the original manuscript was naturally drafted by Zhang Chunhua.
Three days later, the academic examination officially ended. After only one day of rest, the "application form" had to be submitted on the tenth day of June. Each person could apply for up to two universities.
In fact...on average, there are less than two universities you can apply to for each question!
The reason for going through this process is just to explore the way for future academic examinations...
After the academic examination, candidates had very different moods. Some were full of confidence and just waiting for admission, some forced themselves to smile, but... the vast majority of candidates were nervous.
However, just as no one paid attention to the King of Chu taking a concubine after the exams began, soon after mid-June, everyone's attention, especially the main focus of the court, shifted to another matter - the navy, sailing again!
This move also attracted the attention of many foreign scholars . After all, many of them had direct connections with other princes.
When the State of Chu sold a batch of warships to the State of Wei, many people had already guessed that the warships of Chu would undergo major "updates"!
Although many princes, even the State of Wei, have not yet accurately recognized the importance of naval warfare, they have already understood the importance of the ocean and ships.
Because they would encourage the surrounding people and the families of the sailors to see them off, and as the port had not been blocked this time, many scholars from outside Chu also came to "see them off".
You don't know until you come and experience it yourself. I found that from Jinling to the port of Piling, not only can you see workshops and people from time to time along the way, but the whole way is flat concrete road. You don't need a fast horse, even with a public tram, you can reach the destination of 300 miles in just one and a half days!
And just by looking at the number of caravans carrying goods encountered along the way, you can tell how prosperous this place is.
However, many foreign scholars who had managed to squeeze into Piling were disappointed this time...
The navy's ships don't seem to have changed much from before. Even though there are some differences in the models, being wider here and sharper there, it doesn't seem to be any groundbreaking progress!
In comparison, considering the imitation and improvement capabilities of Wei's craftsmen camp, I am afraid that when Wei launches new ships again, they will be much stronger than those of Chu.
Of course, rather than being a "disappointment" with the Chu warships, it was more of a disappointment with this "observation opportunity".
Considering that Chu had previously sold a large number of warships, including the "newest" ones, to Wei, Chu's warships now are definitely not limited to these.
The reason why it looks ordinary is probably because it is not the latest warship of Chu State...
This is indeed the case.
The armored cruiser had not yet been completed, not to mention that even the iron-clad wooden cruiser and many wooden Qi ships were still in the shipyard in Yizhou...
After setting off from the port, the navy will first go to Yizhou. After changing ships, they will go to "Liuqiu" which was recently opened up by the navy stationed in Danzhou for inspection, and then go to Danzhou to join another batch of Qi ships, and then... continue to the east!
"Liuqiu" is the result of the garrison navy of Danzhou continuing to explore the sea area to the south. It is an archipelago with a total area of one county. Because it looks like a dragon entwined on the sea from a distance, it is named "Liuqiu".
Because no indigenous inhabitants were found yet, it was directly placed under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office of the East Road of Tanzhou and incorporated into the overseas territory of the Chu State.
The governor of the East Road of Danzhou is Jiang Wan. Because there are very few native Yamato tribes in Danzhou within the area under his jurisdiction, the governor's office is mainly focused on land reclamation and exploration!
This time, Gan Ning came to confirm the location of Liuqiu first, and then it will be officially developed as part of the East Road of Tanzhou...
