Chapter 143 The Fusang Bride of the Dragon Boat Festival

In an environment where immigration policies are constantly being optimized, the entire island of Taiwan is immersed in the influence of Chinese culture.

Due to the largest number of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, the customs of Keelung and Hsinchu are similar to those in the mainland to a large extent. They also celebrate Tomb-Sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Hungry Ghost Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, etc.

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of May every year. Customs such as eating rice dumplings, racing dragon boats, and tying red ropes were all brought to Keelung by the people of the Ming Dynasty. They merged with local customs from many places and formed a unique Dragon Boat Festival atmosphere in Taiwan.

The annual Dragon Boat Festival is also a day for family sacrifices of the surname Qu. The reason why it is placed on the Dragon Boat Festival instead of the Qingming Festival is really the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Qu Yuan is the ancestor of the family named Qu.

The Dragon Boat Festival has naturally become a unique day for family sacrifices and don’t forget to tell Nai Weng.

The young Qu Song, the eldest son of the Qu family, tidied up his red tuanhu robe under the care of his attendants. He wore a golden crown on his head and bowed very devoutly to the shrine enshrining the ancestors of the Qu family. On the altar, I present a lush green leaf just picked from the temple, dedicating this gift that symbolizes the blessings bestowed by heaven and earth to the ancestors.

After respectfully performing three bows and nine kowtows on the brocade mat, Qu Song stood up and then stepped forward to offer libations to his ancestors.

Holding a glass flask inlaid with gold wire and tiger patterns, he gently filled and swung the wine into the glass wine glass in his hand, then raised it high above his head and sprinkled it on the ground reverently. If so, the libation ceremony would be complete. It's complete.

This is an ancestor worship ceremony that the Qu family must perform every year, and it is also performed by almost every decent and powerful family.

Of course, under Qin Hao's good governance of the people, such clan rituals have gradually declined. Most of the young people of the clan have chosen the most fashionable ancestor worship ritual promoted by Keelung officials.

Also due to the migration of several large Ming Dynasty families, Keelung paid more attention to ancestor worship, and gradually formed the Dragon Boat Festival and Qingming Festival, double ancestor worship model.

Qu Wan, a member of the Qu family, is such a young man. He never thought that one day he would bring his newly married daughter-in-law to this hometown to offer incense to his ancestors.

Over the past few years, especially since Qin Hao intentionally or unintentionally restricted the construction of ancestral halls for various surnames, Xianggui Temple has become the common ancestral hall for the residents of Taiwan, especially Keelung.

Whenever there is an important event or solar term, people will first go to the seaside of Keelung Pier to burn incense to the gods and pray for good weather, and then come here to pray for the blessings of their ancestors.

As soon as we entered the courtyard, there were crowds of people. The more festive it was, the more lively it became. The people who were performing important events of ancestor worship, from the sacrifices to ancestors to the changes in personnel, were filled with the laughter and harmony of the people of Keelung. Life smiles.

Those who offered sacrifices with three whole cows, sheep, pigs and Gao Yiyi's honey should be the first group of people surnamed Li and Chen to enjoy the lord's benevolent government of allocating fields and land. The treatment they enjoyed was as follows: Keelung as a whole is undoubtedly one of the best. Of course, they also have the most children sent into the army.

No effort, no return!

This is what Qin Hao has said most often in the military.

"I will continue to sacrifice to my ancestors like this in the future! Then let the new people eat the sacrifices that I, Qu Wan, sacrificed to accumulate merit!" Qu Wan vowed silently in his heart.

According to the agreement between Qin Hao and the elders, these sacrifices will be sent to areas where new immigrants gather to improve food for these people after the sacrifices are completed. Qin Hao euphemistically called it, "Accumulate merit for everyone and bring blessings to our descendants!"

The main reason was not to waste food. When he had just started his family business, he felt distressed when he saw the people throwing away good sacrifices.

If you are not a householder, you don’t know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive!

Since then, it has been spread in Jiangjun Mansion that newlyweds eat sacrifices to symbolize blessings from their ancestors, and it has gradually become an ancestor worship custom among the people of Keelung.

"Yuriko! Hurry up!"

"Oh! Hai! My husband is here!"

With a sweet reply, Lily Zi behind Qu Wan quickened his pace.

She is from the Saga family, to be precise, she is the first batch of brides since the Saga Dynasty started trading with Keelung.

Qu Wan, the newly appointed commander of the new battalion of Shuntian Camp, used the military pay he accumulated during his journey north to Japan and the silver reward for killing three rebel samurai alone to buy, oh, no, marry such a wife. .

Also, in order to kill those three dwarfs, he had to pay the price of three broken ribs. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured and was able to bounce around again after more than a month of recuperation.

In addition, it is rare to be promoted to an official position.

On that day, Qu Wan, who had just become a commander, asked for leave from the officer on duty in the camp, planning to go shopping in the city and use his silver reward to have a good meal in a restaurant.

Although the food in the army is good, it is a big pot of rice after all, and the taste is not good.

After having enough wine and food, but not wanting to trust the horse, we arrived at the commercial port in the city.

He stopped in front of a newly opened commercial port by the Japanese.

"Xihe Pavilion? Is it a teahouse or a tavern? Who cares, straight lady! Anyway, I have money and money in my pocket, so just go!" He burped from wine, thinking about finding something to quench his thirst. Qu Wan looked at the curtain at the entrance of Xihe Hall.

Looking at the shopkeeper who kept bowing and had a wretched face but shrewd eyes, Qu Wan felt as if he had walked into a dark shop.

It seems that if I don't give some money to this little dwarf today, I'm afraid he won't be able to leave the house. After all, the money is all earned from Fuso, so I don't feel bad about giving it away.

"What!" After listening to the shopkeeper's introduction to the store's business scope and business, the alcohol in Qu Wan's body turned into cold sweat and was expelled from his body in an instant.

"Looking for death!"

"How dare you be so presumptuous under my Keelung rule!?" Qu Wan scolded the Fusang shopkeeper loudly while reaching for the green steel waist knife at his waist.

"Blatant human trafficking?!"

"Sir! Sir!" Speaking in a half-baked Keelung Mandarin, the Fusang shopkeeper kept bowing and kowtowed, "We are not lawless people! You see, the ones hanging on the wall are our dental certificates, and we also have to pay taxes! We are a legally registered marriage agency in Hufang!"

"What is a marriage agency?" Hearing that it was registered in the General's Mansion and had to pay taxes, Qu Wan put away the green steel waist knife in dismay.

"Tell me what you are talking about. If I find out that you dare to lie to me, you will be sentenced to serve as an official today. I advise you to tell the truth." Qu Wan glared at the shopkeeper fiercely, "Leniency for confession, severity for resistance!"

"Sir, I know the rules. According to the customs of the upper country, our shop is a kind of brokerage, specializing in introducing wives or concubines to young men in the upper country."

"Oh?! Introducing wives? Then aren't you matchmakers?" Qu Wan sat on the chair and took a sip of the teacup. Well, the temperature of the tea is good, and it is thirst-quenching.

"No, it should be Mou Gong!" Qu Wan sneered at the shopkeeper. Now he is basically sure that this guy is not a criminal.

"Sir, can I introduce you? All the girls here are from famous families, good-looking, and guaranteed to be perfect." The shopkeeper really wants to use Qu Wan to open a shop.

Otherwise, there will be dozens of people every day, and they will eat several large pots of white rice alone!

These foodies!

They all claimed to be the daughters of samurai and village heads. Seeing white rice, they were just like a group of starving ghosts!

No wonder the samurai sent them out!

Nanako, the daughter of the foot soldier captain, could eat a big bowl of rice without eating vegetables. When she learned that there were fish, meat and vegetables to go with the rice, she ate another big bowl!

Eating is a small matter. Anyway, the rice here is free.

"Oh? Do you also need three matchmakers and six certificates? Ask for the name?" Hearing that this is about marrying a wife, Qu Wan clearly felt that his body had some special reactions.

He is also in his twenties. If he was asked to marry a wife in his previous family, he would never dare to think about it.

Whose daughter would be willing to marry a poor family? Although his family is a big family, the family has long been in decline.

Before coming to Keelung to serve in the army, his family had a mud house and the whole family worked for the big family of the same surname to make a living.

However, since he came to Keelung, thanks to his military exploits, his family in the countryside of Keelung built three brick houses for his parents and several younger brothers to live in. There is also a house in the city where Qu Wan lives alone.

With a better life, his parents began to urge him to get married, but there were mostly men on the island and a shortage of women of marriageable age, so he kept delaying.

"No need! No need! As long as you have a household registration here and can come up with a suitable betrothal gift, you can choose a girl from the girls here who you think is destined to go back. Of course, you have to go to the household registration office of the general's mansion to handle the formalities."

"That's easier!" Qu Wan was alone anyway, and just wanted a woman to warm his bed. "How much betrothal gift do you want?"

"Sir!" Seeing that the first business was about to be completed, the shopkeeper was also very excited.

"I dare not ask you for more betrothal gifts, but my country is poor and it is not easy to raise a daughter, so you have to pay some betrothal gifts to your father-in-law's family. In addition, my company will also charge some brokerage fees. Not much."

"Stop talking nonsense! Don't beat around the bush!" Qu Wan now only wants to marry a wife. As for the price, he doesn't care. He just put down the money bill and has a lot in his pocket.

"Tell me how much the betrothal gifts are, and how much is your brokerage fee?!"

"The betrothal gift for a girl is 300 stone of japonica rice, or 10 pieces of dyed cotton cloth. The income for the small company is 30 stone of japonica rice, or one piece of cotton cloth."

"What?!" Qu Wan yelled in his heart.

He was born in a farming family. Even if he served in the army, he had heard about the price of rice in Keelung. In addition, he had a hundred acres of paddy fields under his name, and his family cultivated them, so he had to ask him about the market price.

Think about it, you can marry a wife with less than the price of 30 mu of paddy field for one season, and give birth to a child to continue the family line. Such a good thing, I would rather die than die!

I bought it!

He untied his belt and opened his clothes to make his body less hot.

"Rice and cloth are not a problem, but where are the people?! Call them out and let me see!"

So, one by one, the women dressed in the popular clothes and makeup in Keelung today, led by the shopkeeper, walked out from behind the screen of the shop one by one according to their social status.

They came to Qu Wan in a delicate manner, reported their names, and then the shopkeeper was responsible for introducing the girl's family background, education level, and a certain kind of needlework she was good at, etc.

For these who seemed to be the daughters of Japanese samurai and wealthy families, Qu Wan had no special feelings. He looked at them all with the same standard. He wanted a woman who could warm the bed and give birth to children.

Of course, he had to look at the woman's figure, especially the hips and buttocks.

A big butt is good for childbearing, and as for a big crotch, it is naturally

Finally, when the shopkeeper introduced the sixteenth woman, Qu Wan's eyes lit up. This woman was very much in line with his aesthetic!

"Yuriko, her father is the Ashigaru flag of the Saga family, and she is under the command of the Saga Emperor. She is good at cooking, housekeeping, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement."

"Okay! I want her! Wait a minute, just send someone to go with me to the shop of Qinhan Dyeing House to buy cloth!"

After a lot of running around, Qu Wan bought everything. He even bought a few kilograms of sugar, candied fruits, snacks and the like for the women who were far away from their parents. In exchange for this, he received a lot of sweet exclamations and shouts of surprise. Thank you to this new brother-in-law.

"Lost that mother! If there are so many sisters-in-law, what will happen to me?" Qu Wanwu thought wildly in his mind.

If the shopkeeper hadn't brought out the purchase restriction certificate from the General's Mansion, he would have wanted to buy them all in one go.

"Sir, now you can take these documents and your wife Yuriko to the household room of the General's Mansion to go through the relevant naturalization procedures." After checking the more than ten pieces of cotton cloth, the shopkeeper bowed deeply again.

"Thank you for your consideration! I hope you can promote the store more!"

Walking on the streets of the commercial port, Qu Wan and his Japanese wife seemed to be in a dream.

One is thinking, "Do I have a wife now? I also have a family? It's so damn refreshing!"

The other one opened his beautiful big eyes and looked around at Keelung's bustling streets and shops, as well as the various products in the shops to which women had no immunity.

There seemed to be countless kinds of food everywhere, as well as beautiful silks, cottons, and all kinds of gold and silver jewelry.

"Do you like it?" At the entrance of the silk and satin shop, Qu Wan asked with a deliberately tigerish face, looking at Lily Zi who was a little unable to move.

"Tannasan! Oh, no, sir, I just saw it was too expensive." Yuriko was very scared.

If you are beaten up by your husband because you like such luxury goods, this is completely normal. After all, not everyone can afford luxury goods like silk and satin. Even if they can afford it, it depends on whether their husband is willing to buy it for themselves.

"Come in with me!"

Qu Wan used his injury allowance to buy several clothes and materials for Lily Zi, from the inside to the outside, in spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Watching the seamstress at the silk shop gesturing at her body and taking measurements, Yuriko finally woke up from her dream. She bit her lip. It hurt. This was not a dream. A salty substance surged in her mouth and on the tip of her tongue. move.

"Okay, military lord, this is the receipt for receiving the clothes. In three days, you can ask this young lady to come and pick it up by herself. If there is anything inappropriate, the trumpet can be modified."

When the counter of the silk and satin shop handed the bamboo number plate for picking up clothes to Yuriko, Yuriko finally couldn't control herself.

She walked quickly to Qu Wan with small steps, "My lord husband, you are so kind to Lily Zi!"

Before she finished speaking, Yuriko had already knelt on the ground in the bustling silk and satin shop, her forehead pressed against her hands, and her whole body formed a beautiful arch.

This is already the second time Lilyzi has knelt down and saluted Qu Wan since the two got married today.

The last time was not long ago at a small restaurant on the street. When Lily saw the braised fish, ham, half a cut duck in sauce, roast chicken, and a big goose processed with unknown ingredients on the table, As well as the full rice bucket placed on the corner of the table, I couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Husband! You can't do this! Lilyko is already yours! We will still have a long time to spend together in the future. Treating Lilyko like this will make Lilyko feel very happy and know that her husband is very good to me, but, Such luxury will damage Yuriko’s lifespan!”

Kneeling on the floor of the restaurant, not caring about the greasy floor, Qu Wan's new daughter-in-law Lily Zi cried like pear blossoms with rain, which made Qu Wanjia very embarrassed when facing the questioning looks of others.

He quickly pulled Yuriko away from the silk shop, and told Yuriko not to do this outside in the future. Keelung didn't like this kind of ceremony.

As for the family, there will naturally be times when you have to kneel down.

Hearing this, Bai Hezi blushed with shame, leaned into Qu Wan's arms, and followed him all the way home.

"What did you say?! You married a Fuso girl!"

Qu Wan's old commander, now the new battalion captain Zhao Dahai, was so angry that he slapped the table and stood up. "I gave you a day off and asked you to go out and relax, and you prepared a Fuso girl for me?"

Seeing the officer in front of her eyes staring like bells in front of her husband, Lilyzi was very scared. She was worried that her husband would be ordered to have a caesarean section to apologize for this. She stood behind Qu Wan and held the skirt of Qu Wan's military uniform with her small hands.

Qu Wan, on the other hand, was very calm and looked at the commander and brother in front of him with a smile.

After waiting for a while, Zhao Dahai had finished scolding, and then Qu Wan opened his mouth to explain: "Captain, I'm old now. I want to have a family and someone to miss me. You see, I only have one person in the city." , I can’t even get a warm meal, and the family is busy. I don’t want anything else. I just want to have a woman, raise a few children, and pass on the family legacy. I am the eldest son of the family, and I can’t escape this responsibility. ”

"But now, in Keelung, there are more men than women, and I don't want to marry a white-skinned barbarian back home. But this Fusang woman looks just like us Han women. As long as she speaks well, you won't be able to tell."

"You've said that, what else can I do, can I ask you to send it back? Let the kitchen add some dishes and a bottle of wine for dinner, and I'll call some brothers to celebrate for you."

"Hey! Otherwise, I'd still have to ask the old officer!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Treat me with good wine and delicious food. Don't think you will forget your brothers just because you got married."

"That's for sure! I won't forget you. I'll go to the biggest restaurant in the city and buy some wine and food to have a good time in the evening."

"By the way, there's one more thing." Looking around furtively, Zhao Dahai asked in a low voice, "Can the Xihe Restaurant opened by the Fuso really marry a wife for 300 stone of polished rice? Are you kidding me?"

"My brother! My tender and beautiful daughter-in-law The bride is here, are you still afraid it's fake? "Qu Wan patted his chest, "I'll go with you tomorrow morning!"

"Stop talking nonsense! As if I'm in a hurry to get married!" Zhao Dahai kicked Qu Wan angrily, "Hurry up and buy some wine!"

He threw the purse on his waist to Qu Wan, "Sell some rouge, pollen and so on for my sister-in-law! A bride! She must dress up beautifully!"

The Fusang shopkeeper of Xihe Pavilion was very happy. Since the first business was done, more than a dozen businesses came to the door automatically.

In two days, the warehouse was filled with bundles of cotton cloth, and there were several pieces of silk sent by brides to their families.

The letters in the letter bag were also increasing day by day, all of which were written to report safety to their families and describe their happy life in their husbands' homes.

Some letters were also written by brides to their besties. They had a good life, so they naturally couldn't miss their old friends, and they all advised them to find ways to come to Keelung.

The sisters had a good life with three meals a day and were full every time.

"If all these letters were sent back to Kyushu, the Saga family master would probably argue more fiercely than the distribution of those swords and guns!" The shopkeeper shook his head as he recalled the scene that day when the Saga family master, young master and retainers argued over the distribution of weapons for only a thousand long spear foot soldiers sent from Keelung.

"I don't know how the master will distribute these wealth and how to distribute the next ship!" The shopkeeper stroked the soft cotton cloth in front of him, as if he was stroking the skin of his lover.

"Master, please send more women over. The business here in Keelung is too good!"

In addition to a lot of caring, the most important thing in the letter was this sentence.

Since then, the business of women in Fuso and Keelung has become increasingly popular, and even supply has exceeded demand.

A later scholar wrote a book describing: Qin Hao conquered Japan in order to expand the scope of recruiting women in Fuso. The entire four islands of Japan became the export base for the empire's women in the future, and nurtured hundreds of thousands of excellent warriors for the empire.

"Of course, this is inseparable from Qin Hao's open and equal national concept and his broad mind, which is the key factor that led him to harvest talents from all over the world and dominate the continent." This is the conclusion of the scholar in the last paragraph of the book.

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