A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 142 Concubinage
After the excitement,

Return to peace.

Li Yi also changed from a happy bachelor Viscount to a man with a wife and concubines.

Well, one wife and two concubines.

Common people live together as a couple and are called "one man and one wife". Scholars and officials above the rank of scholar-official have concubines.

As a county magistrate of the fifth rank, Li Yi also held a seventh rank official position and a ninth-level honor, which made him eligible to take a concubine. However, he did not need to go through the three books and six ceremonies or marry her in a formal ceremony.

If your parents are present, you need the consent of both your parents and your wife. If your parents are not present, you only need the consent of your wife.

Shi Niang took the initiative to arrange for her husband to take concubines, and took Ji and Yu Shu as concubines to give them a legitimate status.

You can buy a concubine by giving her a betrothal gift.

However, one of them was from Silla, and although the other still had family, he had already drawn a clear line with his family, so he didn't even need to pay for the concubine.
On the second night after the wedding, Li Yi invited several acquaintances in Chang'an, including his senior brother Sun Fujia, Li Jing and Li Erlang, Wang Lingshi, Wang Fazuo, Qiu Shenyan and others.
Under their witness,
Li Yina took the two of them as concubines.

The Tang Dynasty had neither concubines nor mistresses, but it had concubines. Officials of the fifth rank and above had the privilege of having concubines.

Those above the fifth rank have concubines, and those above the commoner rank have concubines.

A concubine is actually very different from a concubine. Originally, a concubine was a concubine who was married off. In ancient times, when a girl was married off, she had to have a niece as her dowry. This meant that when the bride got married, she would also bring her cousins or nieces from the same clan as her as a dowry.

In the earliest times, although a concubine was not a wife, the son she gave birth to was also a legitimate son. However, nowadays, the custom of marrying a younger sister as a concubine is no longer in use.

The concubines of today's princes and high-ranking officials are often noble concubines of higher birth, and the children born to them are still illegitimate.

The princes of the Tang Dynasty were allowed to take ten concubines; the third-rank and dukes were allowed to take six concubines; the fifth-rank was allowed to take three concubines.

These concubines also have ranks. The concubine of the fifth rank is regarded as the eighth rank, the concubine of the prince is regarded as the fifth rank, and the concubine of the duke is regarded as the seventh rank.

But in the Tang Dynasty, concubines were not eligible to be promoted to the main wife even if the main wife died.

Therefore, people also call these concubines noble concubines.

Aside from concubines, the Tang Dynasty only had noble concubines, not lowly concubines. The Tang Dynasty explicitly stipulated that lowly women, including slaves and prostitutes, were not allowed to be concubines, and those who did would be severely punished.

Maids and prostitutes can only be qualified to become concubines after they are freed and become good men.

Of course, the status of a concubine and a wife was too different. If a wife beat a concubine, the punishment would be two levels lower than if she beat an ordinary person. However, if a concubine beat a wife, it was the same crime as a concubine beating her husband, and the punishment was severe.

Senior brother Sun Fujia helped Li Yi write two concubine contracts, which were signed and sealed by Li Yi, Ji and Jin.

This is also the difference between a wife and a concubine. A wife is married with three books and six ceremonies, but a concubine only needs to sign a contract.

No need for any etiquette,
Invite a few relatives and friends, prepare one or two tables of banquet, and have everyone witness the event.

Li Yi felt that it was a bit hasty and simple.
But Yu Shu and Su Jun were very grateful to Shi Niang and accepted it with pleasure.

Li Yi, a county magistrate of the fifth rank, did not hold a fifth rank official position, so he was only qualified to take a concubine, but not to take a maid. Both of them were concubines.

After signing the concubine contract, he went to the Wannian County Government Office the next day to correct the household registration.

Three new names were added to his household registration book: his wife Du Li, concubine Ji Lingyi, and concubine Jin Yusu.

In this family, Li Yi is the male owner, Du Li is the female owner, and Ji and Yu Shu are half owners.

Sometimes Li Yi looked at how well Du Shiniang got along with Ji and Jin, and felt a little lost. Shouldn't one wife and two concubines be jealous and incompatible?

How come they are as close as sisters? Are they just saying one thing on the surface and another behind the scenes?
He was really troubled by this matter.
If there is unrest in the harem and his wives and concubines are scheming against each other all the time, he will be in a difficult position being caught in the middle.

In the past, his wife and his mother had a not-so-harmonious relationship, and he had to suffer a lot being caught in the middle.

However, when drinking and chatting with Li Dejiang, Li Erlang told him the reason for this. To put it bluntly, the status of these three people was too different.

There might be jealousy and competition between the two concubines, Ji and Jin, for favor, but they would never dare to compete with the wife.

"What?"

"Don't you really know the difference between the status of a wife and a concubine? Even though this concubine seems to be half the master, she is still a concubine."

Li Dejiang explained the difference to him in detail. After listening for a while, Li Yi found that the status of concubines in the Tang Dynasty was not very low. They were still well protected by law. They were also family members. In any case, they could not be sold or given away by their husbands or wives at any time.
You can't beat or scold them at will,

Those who were given away or sold were not real concubines, they were slaves or domestic prostitutes. Once they were formally taken as concubines, such treatment was not allowed, as they were good people.

Since he is a good man, he has no right to be sold at will.

Those concubines who he thought could be sold at will were actually not concubines from the Tang Dynasty, but from after the Tang Dynasty. They were called lowly concubines.

The so-called three wives and four concubines are noble concubine, good concubine, concubine, and lowly concubine.

Of course, the male masters of the Tang Dynasty could favor slaves and maids, and even have children with them, but this did not change their status and they would not automatically become concubines.

If a slave wanted to become a concubine, she had to be freed and then allowed to be taken as a concubine. Once she was freed and taken as a concubine, she was no longer a slave and could not be bought or sold at will.

However, the fact that they are not allowed to be bought, sold or given away does not mean that the status of these concubines is very high. When facing the wife, it is not challenging at all.

"In the future, when your concubine gives birth to a child, the child is not allowed to call me mother. They can only call me aunt. The mother can only be your legal wife, although the child is still born out of wedlock." "Some families don't even allow concubines to raise children personally," said Li Dejiang.

This again touched upon Li Yi's blind spot in knowledge.

"Besides, the laws of the country prohibit taking maids as concubines, and concubines as wives. No matter how much you like your concubines, they will never be qualified to be your wives, and you can't marry them again."

"Your two concubines are also smart people. If the wife treats them well, they will naturally treat them well in return."

"Brother Dejiang, how do you know so much?"

Li Dejiang laughed heartily. "I'm already in my twenties. Although I haven't found a suitable wife yet, I have many concubines and maids, and I have several children."

"what?"

"What's so strange about this? You're only sixteen and already have a wife and two concubines. I also took a concubine when I was your age, and then took another one every two or three years. Isn't it normal to have several concubines and children now?"

Li Yi was speechless. He thought you were a wealthy bachelor, but unexpectedly you already have several children.

But he still shamelessly says that he is single every day.

"You're single, haha,"

Li Dejiang was unhappy. This was the case for most of the children of noble families. It was not easy to find a wife who was of equal social status and good in all aspects, but it was not easy to take a concubine or a maid.

"Your Highness, the current Crown Prince, married the daughter of Zheng from Xingyang when he was twenty-six. Do you really think the Crown Prince was single before the age of twenty-six?"

"And the Second Prince, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, got married when he was sixteen, and his wife was only thirteen at the time. I heard that the Princess of Qin is pregnant with her first child this year, but the Prince of Qin's eldest illegitimate daughter is already several years old."

It is not easy for sons of noble families to marry a wife who is suitable in all aspects, so sometimes many of them marry at the age of 36, not to mention 26. However, this does not prevent them from having maids serving them at the age of 15 or 16, or even taking concubines and having children at an early age.

Li Jiancheng was the eldest son of the Duke of Tang, but in order to find a good match, he had to wait until he was 26 years old before he married a woman from one of the five surnames.

But as Li Shimin was the second legitimate son, he chose the daughter of the Changsun family in the Guanlong Group, so the engagement was early.

"You don't have to worry about a fire in your backyard. To be frank, your two concubines have also suffered hardships and must cherish their current lives.
A Silla maid was abducted from Haidong and sold to the Central Plains. She had several buyers over the years and was even implicated and imprisoned. How could she not cherish the present? She has such a good man and a wife who treats them very well. She would wake up smiling in her dreams.

There is also Ji Shi. Although her family was originally a famous family and she married into a famous family, her husband's family was ruined, she did not stay in the imperial court for five years, and her family also cut off ties with her.
Now that she has finally met you and the kindhearted mistress of the house, she must be very foolish to act like a demon."

Li Yi also used some of the concepts of later generations to look at the problems of the Tang people. For example, the mistresses and third wives of later generations could threaten the status of the wife.

But it was impossible in the Tang Dynasty.
There were also mistresses in the Tang Dynasty, known as "biezhaifu". This kind of mistress was not recognized by the law, and the children born to them were considered illegitimate. Not only were they not registered in the household registration book, they were also not included in the family tree, so naturally they could not threaten the wife.

But the wife of the Tang Dynasty hated these concubines. Once they found out, they would bring concubines and servants to the door to beat them up.
The reason for her disgust was naturally that these concubines would spend the family's money to buy her a house and property and provide her with financial support. Moreover, these vixens were outside and were not under the control and management of the first wife.

The concubines are all under the control of the eldest wife and cannot escape her control. There is no possibility of a mother gaining status through her son. Regardless of whether the eldest wife gives birth to a son or not, the children of the concubines are the eldest wife's children and can only call the eldest wife mother, and the concubines' biological mother can only be called aunt.

Since both of them have sons, it is even less likely that a concubine's son will threaten the legitimate son. This is guaranteed by the court laws and the patriarchal system.

After drinking with Li Dejiang, Li Yi gained a lot of knowledge and felt more at ease about his future family life.

at night,

Li Yi mentioned to Shi Niang the matter of returning home to visit his relatives.

In the Tang Dynasty, a bride had to return to her parents' home three days after her wedding.

When it comes to the Du family,

Shi Niang became depressed.

It has been three days since my marriage, and no one from my parents' home has come. My second brother Du Ruhui and his wife have gone to Puzhou. Although Guo lives in Anminfang, she has not paid any attention to me. My third uncle and aunt, with whom I used to have a good relationship, have not come either.

Only the married Sixth Aunt came to the wedding with Guo Cunzheng.

"I don't want to go back,"

Du Shiniang leaned on his arms and said, "If we go back, no one will greet us, and we may not even be able to enter the house. I don't want you to suffer this with me."

Li Yi said calmly, "It's not far anyway. Let's prepare some gifts and return home with due courtesy. As for whether they will entertain us or let us in, that's their business. The worst that can happen is we can just go back the same way."

"Alang, don't go."

Li Yi patted Shi Niang, "I'm thinking about you. Maybe the old lady's anger has subsided. If you go back this time, you can reconcile. If you don't go back, you will miss the opportunity."

"Can,"

"You don't have to worry about that for me. I just don't want you to have any regrets. Even if I really suffer a little injustice, it doesn't matter."

"Thank you, Alang."

"By the way, why don't you write a letter to your father and mother in Luoyang? Now that you're married, you should tell them about this."

When mentioning her father and mother in Luoyang, Du Shiniang was a little hesitant.

She was already married, but she still didn't know how to tell her parents about this. She could imagine how angry her parents would be after receiving the news, especially her father.

(End of this chapter)