We have watched "Dream of Red Mansions", and of course we know that Jiafu is very wealthy. In other words, Jia Fu is rich. But where does Jiafu's economic income come from? Relying on Jia Zheng's salary, or the emperor's reward for the New Year's holidays, is not enough to support the operation of Jiafu. From the matter of Wu Jinxiao paying rent to Jiafu, we can probably know seven, seven, eight or eight. Who is Wu Jinxiao? As a large landlord class, Jiafu has a large amount of land in its hands, and it is impossible for the people of Jiafu to sit on the land and manage these lands in person, so what should I do? Only contract out and find someone**. Wu Jinxiao plays the role of a ** person, and his duty is to supervise the production of tenants, collect land rent, and apportion labor. If you compare Apple with Apple, Jiafu is the headquarters of Silicon Valley, and Wujin Xiao is a foundry like Foxconn.
We know that Chinese New Year is a festival that costs a lot of money. As ordinary people, we still have to buy some things, not to mention the Jia Mansion at that time. Therefore, Wu Jinxiao will hand over the rent to Jiafu before the year. And rent is not only about money, but also about a lot of physical goods. This is also an important reason why the rent is paid at the end of the year. Because there are so many objects, they are very complex, and they are very heavy. In the old days, the traffic was very inconvenient, and through the conversation between Jia Zhen and Wu Jinxiao in the text, we can basically judge that the Zhuangzi of Jiafu is in the northeast of today's Hebei or Liaoning, which is very far away from Beijing. Most of the trucks that pull goods are open carts pulled by mules, and a cart can only hold three to five thousand catties of goods. From Zhuangzi to the gate of Jiafu, it is less than a month, but more than fifty or sixty days. At that time, there were no hardened roads, and the roads were cloudy and sunny, and if it rained, the roads would be extremely muddy and almost impossible to walk. So when does it not rain in the north? Winter! Therefore, in ancient times, long-distance freight transportation was generally carried out in winter. In winter, the weather is cold, and the road surface is very cold, which is very conducive to transportation. In fact, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when encountering large-scale projects such as building palaces, many huge stone transportation was carried out in the 39-day season, and the road to the mining site to the capital was continuously sprinkled with water in sections to make it freeze, and then dragged to the construction site by dozens of mules. In addition, some furs that need to be paid are only laid in autumn and winter, so paying rent at the end of the year is the most scientific choice. Let's take a look at what the rent Wu Jinxiao paid to Jiafu is:
There are 30 deer, 50 roe deer, 50 roe deer, 20 Siamese pigs, 20 soup pigs, 20 dragon pigs, 20 wild boars, 20 domestic pigs, 20 wild sheep, 20 green sheep, 20 soup sheep, 200 catties of domestic wind sheep, 20 sturgeon fish, 200 catties of miscellaneous fish, 200 live chickens, ducks and geese, 200 pairs of wind chickens, ducks and geese, 200 pairs of pheasants and rabbits, 20 pairs of bear's paws, 20 catties of deer tendons, 50 catties of sea cucumbers, 50 deer tongues, 50 cats of ox tongues, 200 catties of dried clams (chēng), Hazel, pine, peach, apricot two pockets, 50 pairs of large prawns, 200 catties of dried shrimp, 1,000 catties of silver frost charcoal, 2,000 catties of medium flour, 30,000 catties of charcoal, two stones of rouge rice in Yutian, 50 pieces of blue glutinous rice, 50 pieces of white glutinous rice, 50 pieces of powdered japonica, 50 pieces of variegated sorghum grains, 1,000 stones of common rice, a cart of dried vegetables of various colors, and a total of 2,500 taels of silver for take-out grains and livestock. Filial piety to brothers and sisters under the outer door: two pairs of live deer, four pairs of live white rabbits, four pairs of black rabbits, two pairs of live golden chickens, and two pairs of Western ducks.
The information contained in this list is so extensive! When I first read "Dream of Red Mansions", I chose not to read such a list, but later I read some books about the customs of the Qing Dynasty, and realized that this list was too particular. For example, if I ask a random question, why do you list "deer" in the first item? Because venison is so precious, it reflects our identity as a big family. Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing emperors still regarded venison as an important grace to their ministers. In addition, it is also an extremely important point, "deer" and "Lu" homonym, Wu Jinxiao as Party B is too good at pleasing Party A, what he means is to wish Jia Zhen to add an official into "Lu", he will never list "pig" in the first item. It's all knowledge, it's all culture. Many people say that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, which is reflected in these details.
In addition, we can see that at that time, the farmers raised a wide variety of domestic animals, and hunting and fishing were also an important activity of the farmers. Since we are talking about fishing, let's talk about "sturgeon fish". The text I used above is Gengchen's book, which was written in Dream of Red Mansions published by the People's Literature Publishing House before '82 as "200 sturgeon fish". "Two hundred" is obviously wrong data, the sturgeon is a large fish, if you have seen the Chinese sturgeon **, you know the approximate size of this fish. Let's not say much, there must be 300 catties of fish. If it is 200, it is 60,000 catties and 30 tons, and it will take as many cars as many vehicles to transport this alone, so it is obviously impossible. Therefore, "Dream of Red Mansions" published by the Humanities Society after 82 years changed it to "Two Sturgeon Fish".
Someone has to ask, how can so many animals be transported alive? No, except for "200 live chickens, ducks, and geese" in this list, they will not move. The Siamese pigs, soup pigs, dragon pigs, and all kinds of sheep mentioned here are all killed first, and the internal organs are processed and frozen before they are transported. Siamese pig is what we now call "fragrant pig" and "suckling pig", which was the best meat pig in the past, fed with rice, and ordinary people could not afford to eat it. The dragon pig is a long-haired pig, which can still be seen in the countryside before, but now I don't know if there is one, with more lean meat and less fat. The preserved pig is the whole preserved pork, and we won't talk much about this after we have eaten it. Soup pig and soup sheep are special, why are they called "soup pig, soup sheep"? Quite simply, because they are specifically designed to make soups. After being slaughtered, they are treated only with internal organs and four hooves, and not dehaired. When it's time to make the soup, the chef temporarily dehairs and cooks the skin and meat together. Because the skin contains a lot of collagen, it can be boiled into a thick soup and has an excellent taste.
I made a rough estimate of the weight of all the items on this list, which was at least two hundred tons. According to the carrying capacity of 5,000 catties of a mule cart, there will be as many as 70 or 80 vehicles rented by Wujin Xiaojin, and the row is very tyrant. But Jia Zhen didn't think so, he only paid attention to how much silver Wu Jinxiao brought, and when he saw that it was only 2,500 taels, he immediately frowned:
I've calculated that you'll have at least five thousand taels of silver, which is enough for anything!" Now you only have ** Zhuangzi left, and there are two reports of drought and flood this year, and you are in the ring again, so don't call people for the New Year.
Party A is angry, Party B is nervous. Wu Jinxiao immediately came to a failure analysis report. It is said that this year's weather is not good, not only is it rainy, but also hail, and the harvest is really bad. He also said that the Zhuangzi managed by Rongguo Mansion was several times more than ours, and it was only 5,000 taels. As soon as Jia Zhen heard this, she said that Rongguo Province was about to spend all the money over there when he built the Grand View Garden. Wu Jinxiao was very puzzled when he heard it, didn't the emperor and Niangniang reimburse this money? Jia Rong, who was next to her, immediately said, Niangniang can't give us the emperor's small treasury, even if she has this heart, she can't be the master. A total of 1,000 taels of silver will be rewarded during the festival, which is enough for what to do. Saying that, Jia Zhen ordered someone to bring Wu Jinxiao in, so that he would be entertained, and he ordered Fang Cai to leave everything for the ancestors outside, took some of the samples, and ordered Jia Rong to send them to the Rong Mansion. Then he kept what he used at home, and the rest sent out and piled them up under the platform, and ordered the sons and nephews of the clan to be summoned to them, and they did not mention it.
In a blink of an eye, it was the twenty-ninth of the lunar month, and the two mansions of Rongning changed the door gods, joined pairs, listed, and the new oil peach charm was renewed. In the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, it is time to worship the ancestral hall. Early in the morning of this day, Jia's mother had a seal, all of whom wore court clothes according to their grades, first sat in a sedan chair of eight people, led everyone into the palace to congratulate, and returned after the banquet was completed, and then went to Ningguo Mansion to warm your sedan chair. If there are any children who have not entered the court, they all serve in front of the Ningfu gate, and then introduce the ancestral hall. Sacrificing ancestral halls is a very serious matter, and it also reflects the Chinese tradition of rituals. In the past, many red scholars often talked about "Dream of Red Mansions" as anti-feudal and anti-ritual, but this time, Cao Xueqin's tireless narration of the activities of the ancestral hall is also anti-ritual? Not only is it not reversed, but Cao Xueqin also writes with a gesture of appreciation, and you can feel his emotions between the lines. Personally, I don't agree with the anti-etiquette statement of "Dream of Red Mansions". Let's take a look at the process of the sacrifice:
I saw that the people of Jiafu were divided into Zhaomu and set up a line: Jia Jing was the main priest, Jia pardon accompanied the sacrifice, Jia Zhen offered the knight, Jia Lian Jia Cong offered silk, Baoyu held incense, Jia Jiang and Jia Ling showed worship blankets, and guarded the burning pond. Tsing Yi music, three dedications, worship the end, burn the silk and drink the wine, finish the ceremony, stop the music, and quit. Everyone followed Jia Mu to the main hall, the brocade curtain in front of the shadow was hung high, the color screen was protected, and the incense candles were brilliant. There are portraits of Ning Rong's two ancestors hanging in the center, all of which are python waist jade; There are also several scrolls of ancestral relics on both sides. Jia Xun, Jia Zhi and others stood one after another from the Neiyi Gate until they were under the corridor of the main hall. Outside the threshold are Jia Jing and Jia Amnesty, and inside the threshold are the female dependents. All the family members are outside the Yimen. Every dish arrived, passed to Yimen, Jia Jing, Jia Zhi and others took it, and passed it to Jia Jing on the stairs in order. Jia Rong is the grandson of the eldest house, and he is alone with his daughter. Every time Jia Jing holds a dish, it is passed on to Jia Rong, and Jia Rong is passed on to his wife, and then to Sister Feng and You's people, and it is passed to the front of the offering table, and it is passed to Mrs. Wang. Mrs. Wang passed it to Jia's mother, and Jia's mother held it on the table. Mrs. Xing is in the west of the offering table, standing in the east, and offering to Jia's mother. Until the rice, soup, wine and tea were passed on, Jia Rongfang withdrew from the next rank and was classified as the first of Jia Qin's ranks. Whoever follows the name of the text, Jia Jing is the head, the next is from the jade, Jia Zhen is the head, and then from the grass, Jia Rong is the head, the left Zhao and the right Mu, the male east and the female west, and the Jia mother bows down with incense, and everyone kneels down together, and the five halls, three hugging the building, the inner and outer corridors, the two Dan piers on the upper and lower steps, the flowers are clustered, and there is no gap in the open space. The crows were silent, only listening to the sonorous jingling, the sound of the golden bell and jade pendant swaying slightly, and the sound of kneeling boots.
The process of worshipping ancestors in the text has been clearly explained, and who stands in what position and who should do what is clearly explained. I'm going to do some of the work of explaining terms. The text writes that in the ancestral hall of Jiafu, "there are portraits of Ning Rong's two ancestors hanging in the center, all of which are covered with python waist jade", which seems to be different from the scenes we saw in the TV series of sacrificing ancestors, because we think that the front of the offering table is the "god master", that is, the wooden sign with the name written on it, **What is the posthumous image. Mr. Zhao Gang, a Taiwanese red scholar, also saw this, and took it for granted that Cao Xueqin was describing the sacrificial rituals of the Manchus. First of all, such a judgment is wrong. Mr. Deng Yunxiang pointed out as early as the 80s.
In fact, through the notes of the Ming Dynasty, we can see that the Han people also took out the portraits of their ancestors and hung them in front of the offering table when they sacrificed. The so-called "posthumous image" here does not of course refer to **, but to the painting of the characters. In the old days, if the financial ability of the children allowed, when the parents were getting older, they should find a painter who specialized in painting the statue of the god to draw a portrait of the parents, and frame it into a painting scroll, which was called "Xirong" during his lifetime and "God Shaft" after his death. Parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have seen them before their deaths, can still be recognized when they hang up their posthumous images, and they will not be recognized if they go up. In the big family, in addition to the remains of parents and grandparents, the remains of other great-great-grandparents are miniature on a shaft according to the pedigree, and they should also be placed out during the sacrifice, which is the so-called "there are several axes of ancestors on both sides" in the text. This was not only a Manchu etiquette, it was found all over the country at that time.
In addition, what needs to be explained is the question of "Jia Mu Officiating", which seems to be different from our impression, why do women also participate in the ancestral hall, and also serve as the task of the main priest? Mr. Zhao Gang believes that this is also a Manchu custom. I'm really sorry, Mr. Zhao Gang said the wrong thing again. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. The text has clearly said that "Jia respects the main sacrifice, and Jia pardons the accompanying sacrifice". The reason why Jia's mother seems to be the leader of the sacrifice is because Jia's mother is older and has the highest seniority. Jia's mother's act of serving vegetables and offering incense is not the behavior of the "main sacrifice", but the "recommendation". "Housewife Recommendation" is a completely Han etiquette.
After explaining so much, it seems that it has nothing to do with "Dream of Red Mansions", and in fact it does have little to do with "Dream of Red Mansions", but as a kind of historical common sense, it is also a very pleasant thing to increase knowledge. The Chinese New Year's Eve sacrifice is like this, the next day is the first day of the first lunar month, and the Jia mothers will go to the palace early to congratulate like yesterday, and after returning, they will sacrifice to the ancestral hall again. Of course, Cao Xueqin will definitely not write about the process of sacrifice again, but will pass it off. He will then focus on describing how lively the Lantern Festival is, from the venue to the furniture, from the tables and chairs to the dishes and chopsticks, there is a wave of naturalistic depictions. What kind of lively method is the Lantern Festival, and how does Wang Xifeng make others laugh in it, let's show it next time.