Why didn't the nobles in the Tang Dynasty want to be Xu? There is a unique phenomenon in the Tang Dynasty, that is, gentry and nobles are unwilling to marry princesses. Chen Shimei's case happened in the Song Dynasty. He risked his life, and in order to get the position of Ma Xu, he really paid the price. But this kind of thing could not have happened in the Tang Dynasty, because people in the Tang Dynasty not only did not envy it, but also mostly rejected it. The Book of the Old Tang Dynasty (volume 147) and Du Youchuan attached Du Youchuan: "(Xian Zong chose Xu for the eldest daughter Princess Qiyang) so that the minister could choose an elegant gentleman and live in the Qing Dynasty. If you choose from backward literature from the beginning, you should not quit the disease. " Xian zong chose Shang princess, and the children of the gentry "should not quit their illness"; Bai Minzhong chose Zheng Hao, the son of Xiangmen, as his master. As a result, Zheng Hao, who was "dissatisfied with the national marriage", hated Bai Minzhong, from which we can clearly see the attitude of the aristocratic families in the Tang Dynasty towards being masters of the country.

In the 11th year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 857), he asked the prime minister to choose one of the new scholars in that year, so someone recommended a new Wang Jinshi Hui to Emperor Xuanzong. However, after hearing the news, Wang Hui rushed to the Prime Minister Liu, crying and pleading: "My Wang Hui is over forty this year, and she is too old and weak to be a princess. Please explain to me in front of the emperor and don't take me as a husband. " This seems to be the opposite of Chen Shimei in the Song Dynasty. Chen Shimei desperately wanted to be Xu, but Wang Hui of the Tang Dynasty heard that he wanted to be Xu, so he went to the Prime Minister to cry and pray for his help, but he just didn't want to be Xu. It can be seen that most scholars in the Tang Dynasty didn't want to be Xu, and at that time many officials or ministers were afraid to marry the princess and the royal family.

Not only do novice scholars dislike marrying princesses, but even hermits refuse to marry princesses. According to Ming Taizu's Miscellaneous Notes, as early as Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzong wanted to betrothed his sister princess to the alchemist (that is, Zhang, one of the "Eight Immortals" in folklore), and said to his two friends and Xiao Hua, "Marry a woman and get a princess. It's terrible to be born in a flat land." It means: marrying a princess is equivalent to giving birth to an official to take care of you for no reason. How terrible is this? Zhang Guo said this, just as the angel sent by the emperor came, saying that Princess Yu Zhen would be betrothed to Zhang Guo. Zhang Guo laughed and refused to accept it. The alchemist did not actually have a high social status in the Tang Dynasty. Even a mere alchemist refused to marry the princess, which shows that people had a bad impression of the princess at that time.

Scholar-officials and aristocratic families were unwilling to marry princesses, which caused difficulties in the marriage of princesses in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, most of the objects that the princess can marry are concentrated in the families of heroes, especially those who are not hereditary families or aristocratic families. Because these people are not as expensive as aristocratic families, and because their status comes from the official names given by the court, the meritorious ministers have to accept the princess as their wife or daughter-in-law in order to maintain their official titles. Once a family accepts the first princess, it often accepts the second and third princesses to marry other members of the family. This is what we in China call the concept of "marriage plus husband". So we can see that there are several families in Li Tang that have a very close marriage relationship with the royal family:

First, Yang Guifei's family background: Yang Guifei married herself, and her cousin Yang also married Princess Taihua; Her other cousin, Yang, also accepted Princess Wan Chun and Princess Yanhe as his wife. Yang Guifei also has a cousin, Yang Jian, who also married Rong Chenggong.

Secondly, the same is true of the Guo Ziyi family who helped the imperial court to quell the Anshi Rebellion in the middle Tang Dynasty: Ai Guo, the son of Guo Ziyi, married Princess Zhaoyi (that is, Princess Shengping) of Qi; My daughter, my granddaughter, married back to the royal family, my wife, Queen Guo; His other two sons, Guo Waiwai and Guo also married Princess Hanyang and Princess Xihe respectively.

Third, the Wu Zetian family: Wu Zetian is the wife and queen of Tang Gaozong, and Wu Jiyou, the nephew of Wuhou, also married his daughter Princess Taiping; The daughter of Wu Youzhi, Wu's younger brother, married back to the royal family, which was the favorite in the first half of her life; The other three nephews of Wuhou, Wu Sansi, Wu and Wu, also married Princess Anle, Princess Yongtai and Princess Xindu respectively.

Fourth, in addition, like the family in which Empress Wei intervened in state affairs in the prosperous Tang Dynasty: Empress Wei was the wife and her sister married Li Yong, the heir to the royal family; Wei Ruyun's cousin Zhuo Wei also married Princess Anding. Zhuo Wei's granddaughter married back to the royal family, that is, Wei Xianfei of Tang Dezong; Wei Ruyun's nephew Wei Jie married Princess Cheng 'an.

One feature of this family that has been married to the royal family of Li Tang for generations is that almost all of them are not hereditary families with high social prestige. Therefore, if we want to maintain the source of power through official positions, we must continue to marry the royal family to increase the political status of the family.

However, why didn't the Tang people dare to marry the princess?

First of all, most princesses in the Tang Dynasty were morally corrupt: I don't know if this is the poor family education of the royal family in Li Tang. Most princesses often show immorality. For example, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to marry Princess Yongfu to Yu Cong. Later, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty found that Princess Yongfu had bad conduct, so he gave up his marriage, and Tang Xuanzong cancelled the engagement. After the princess got married, there were many immoral things. For example, Princess Yongjia, the daughter of Gaozu, married Dou Fengjie, but she had an affair with Yang, a married woman. Princess Hepu, the daughter of Emperor Taizong, married Fang, the son of Fang, an official trusted by Emperor Taizong. Both families were prominent figures at that time, but Princess Hepu secretly had an affair with a monk. Princess Anle, the daughter of Tang Zhongzong, married Wu Chongxun, the son of Wu Sansi, but she and Wu Chongxun's cousin Wu Yanxiu * * *. She also said that she would take off Wu Yanxiu's petticoat in front of Shangguan Waner, and her absurd behavior was extremely exaggerated.

Second, after the princess got married, there was a princess mansion, and Xu was only the vassal of the mansion: generally speaking, in the Tang Dynasty, there were thousands of ordinary princesses, and sometimes Princess Gao Chong could be sealed to 1,400. The so-called number of fiefs is actually that the central government has given the tax of these households to the princess, so the princess has income and she has received generous subsidies. In addition, the princess has a princess mansion, and there are officials in the princess mansion, that is, she has subordinate officials. According to "Six Classics of Tang Dynasty", "One Princess House, from seven products; One person, from eight products; A clerk, ninth grade. The princess's city official is in charge of the entry and exit of the main family's wealth and goods, as well as the collection of the countryside. Their systems have all been transferred to Zong Zheng. " In addition, the emperor will give slaves when the princess gets married, and the number of these slaves is unlimited, so the princess has many servants and goods to marry. Besides, when the princess gets married, the emperor will definitely build her a new mansion. Some of these new mansions are newly built, while others are simply torn down and rebuilt in Ma Xu's old residence, so that the princess gets married and the dowry is very rich. That is to say, when the princess got married, she entered the palace with a lot of property and officials, officials and servants, so Xu lived in the princess's house. All the wealth, officials and slaves in the princess's house belong to the princess, and they are all under the direct command of the princess, so Xu's position in the princess's house is similar to that of a vassal, and there is no * * *. If the princess dies, Xu will have to mourn for the princess for three years. After all, the Tang Dynasty was still a patriarchal society, and Xu seemed to lack male dignity at home. Therefore, most people who make love are unhappy. In this case, which man is willing to be a Xu with great enthusiasm?

Third, it is not easy to be promoted as a husband and wife: in the Tang Dynasty, after a man married a princess, he had the official title of "husband and wife", so he was referred to as husband and wife for short. Generally speaking, after Xu and the princess get married, they will immediately add the title of "three foreign officials". The doctrine is a very high rank in the Tang Dynasty, and the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty is generally a doctrine official, because according to the practice of the Tang Dynasty, unless you really make great contributions like Guo Ziyi, the first and second products of senior officials will not be easily awarded to officials, so it can be said that the doctrine official is already the highest rank in the Tang Dynasty. The so-called "three foreign officials" in the Tang Dynasty refers to officials outside the original vacancy, that is, officials outside the official establishment. It's just a virtual post outside the establishment, not a formal official. After Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, foreign officials were renamed as "proofreaders". Any official position, even if it is a big official who goes to the prime minister, is simply empty as long as the word "proofreading" is added. Even proofreading the prime minister has no real power, no salary and can't go to work in any unit. Therefore, although Xu has an official title, it is only a virtual post, and he is not a formal official at all.

Of course, if the emperor rewarded a Xu or promoted him intentionally, he could still be an official. But if we look at the history of Xu Ma in the Tang Dynasty, we can see that there were 2 10 princesses in the Tang Dynasty, and 130 were all married. Among them, 100 people have only been married once, 27 people have remarried, that is, "second marriage", and 3 people have married, so the total number of Xu-Ma is. However, among the 163 people, only two people can finally become prime ministers; No more than 10 other officials at ministerial level. Most of the rest of Xu have no official positions. Therefore, as Xu in the Tang Dynasty, his political career was not very smooth. The relationship between the emperor and Xu is father-in-law and son-in-law, but this relationship is different from that of the people. In the folk, this relationship is very close, but in the palace, the relationship between the emperor and Xu's husband is very weak, because this relationship is not so much a relationship as a political relationship, so the emperor will not take special care of his son-in-law to be an official, so as not to add political rights and wrongs. In addition, Xu, who is willing to be a princess, is almost all people with low academic qualifications, so their career paths are usually not very good. Therefore, for talented and capable people at that time, Ma Xu was not a shortcut to political promotion, so they also lacked interest in becoming Ma Xu.

With the above factors, the Tang people have no interest in Ma Xu's identity, so they stay away from him.