Leave no chickens or dogs behind

Author: Xingyun Luoyanyu

Leave no chickens or dogs behind

It is not easy to find all the families that have appeared in the vast sea of ​​scattered historical materials.

At best, these families can only be regarded as rural tycoons, far from enough to leave their names in official history, or have someone specially write a biography for them.

To collect them, you can only collect them from the list of benefactors who built bridges and repaired roads in XX, the temple donation list, or if there is any famous person, mention the XX squire casually when introducing the person, for example, the XX person is in

When a Jinshi, an official to a magistrate, introduced him, he said that his family was poor when he was a child, and he received help from XX good people, etc. Only in these places can he find scraps of information, and then sort it out.

During this process, because he could not leave the field hospital area and had nothing else to do, Lu Ming also participated in this matter. He was with Huang Weimin all day long, immersed in a sea of ​​books.

The investigation of Organization

It's just that Lu Ming didn't provide any help in this process.

There are too many historical materials and too many ancient books. Just reading them makes Lu Ming dizzy all day long, let alone collecting any useful information.

In addition to Lu Ming, Lu Qingliang and He Wei returned to Woye County again and began to cooperate with Huang Weimin's data collection work with actual investigations. The two of them were on the road all day long, busy visiting the elderly and visiting historical sites, such as a certain

A stone tablet, a stone carving somewhere, etc., took a photo of it and sent it to Huang Weimin.

Some officially collected books and materials, which Huang Weimin had never had the opportunity to see in the past, were all opened to Huang Weimin under the coordination of the two.

Seeing the ancient books delivered almost box by box, and the electronic documents one after another, Lu Ming's head swelled a few times. On the other hand, Huang Weimin was full of excitement, and his eyes almost glowed.

During this period, Huang Weimin's life could be described as extremely happy.

Without the noise of my wife, there are dedicated people to take care of food, clothing and accommodation. There is an unlimited supply of good wine and food. I can immerse myself in ancient books every day without worrying about anything else. In the evening, I can also listen to opera and drink a few glasses of wine.

, shaking his head and singing a few lines, especially since all this was done with money, and there was a lot of money, it was like a day in heaven.

Lu Ming, on the other hand, not only felt dizzy from reading every day, but also had to be dragged by Huang Weimin to accompany him for drinks at night. He wanted to stop drinking, but was afraid that it would affect Huang Weimin's work, so he had to drink cup after cup of wine, which was painful.

Unspeakable.

Fortunately, the delicious fried duck that He Wei brought over was frozen. I ate a little every day, which was a little comfort. But later, I even got tired of eating fried duck, and life was completely no longer fun.

But Lu Ming still gritted his teeth and persisted.

Time slowly slipped away in this state. About half a month after Huang Weimin started working, the task finally had preliminary results.

From the Wanli Year of the Ming Dynasty to modern times, for a total of hundreds of years, with the full cooperation of the second action team, Huang Weimin combined these numerous historical materials with the memories in his head and decades of research,

Finally, a list of hundreds of families within Woye County, or not far away, that could be called country squires was compiled.

After this, the task of collecting information will continue and become more arduous than before. Because Huang Weimin needs to find out further detailed information about each squire family on the list.

Only in this way can we finally judge whether they meet our screening conditions and whether they are suspicious enough to warrant in-depth investigation.

"The Hong family of Mazhuang lived around the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Historical records say that at the peak of the family, the family's farmland reached more than 600 acres. There are children in the family who work as clerks in the county government, and they are famous local tyrants in eight towns.

"

Most of Woye County is mountainous. In a place like this, having more than 600 acres of land is not very rich.

"It cannot be verified how the family started, nor how it died. However, another historical record records that in the last years of Qianlong, a 'big epidemic' occurred in the Woye County area. The patient suffered from vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, and died within ten days. At that time,

Almost every household in this place wore linen and mourning. Originally, the Hong family of Mazhuang was mentioned from time to time by other historical materials when describing other events, but after this great epidemic, it was never mentioned again.

It is speculated that the family fell into decline during this great epidemic, or perhaps the entire family died."

This obviously does not meet the screening conditions. After all, if you can steadily obtain benefits from the mountain god, it is just some infectious diseases and it is unlikely to have a big impact on the family.

In the past, there was an example of a poor boy asking for three doses of medicine from the mountain god and curing his son.

The Hong family of Mazhuang was excluded.

"The Zhang family of Sanliuzhuang. During the Tianqi period in the late Ming Dynasty, the family was engaged in lumber business. They served as county magistrates twice. The family owned more than a thousand acres of land. Well, let me look for it, here.

Woye County Chronicle records that at the end of the Apocalypse, a major corruption case broke out in the county. The county magistrate at that time was detained. The Shangguan who came to handle the case also investigated and found out that several local families were involved, and their homes were all confiscated. One of them was

The family involved in the lumber business - it is not mentioned which family this is, but it is said that approximately one thousand taels of silver were seized from this family. Calculated based on common customs at the time, the family's total assets were around ten thousand taels of silver, which is similar to that of the Sanliuzhuang Zhang family.

The assets roughly match, and it is basically certain that it belongs to that family."

This family perished because their home was confiscated. This shows that the family is not powerful and has no foundation, and it also does not meet the screening conditions.

After all, this incident clearly shows that Shangguan is trying to make money by investigating corruption. If the Zhang family had enough background and information, they would not be taken advantage of.

"Luo Cun Luo, the family has a talented person to make a fortune, so he does not meet the conditions."

"The Tong family in Liuli Town has accumulated more than 200 acres of land for ten generations. It does not meet the requirements."

It is not easy to screen out enough families that meet the criteria. So far, more than 200 of the total 326 families have been excluded, and only more than 30 have been listed as suspected.

These are classified as suspected, and further information needs to be collected to finally determine whether they are or not.

"Tang's family in Shanghe Village...huh?"

According to data, the Tang family in Shanghe Village appeared around the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty. The family owned tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, and the family business involved timber, private salt, winemaking, medicinal materials, etc., and the family had a fortune.

This family has been mentioned in several ancient books, among which the most interesting one among the authors is the family history of the ancestors of the Tang family.

The ancestors of the Tang family originally lived in a poor household, making a living by working as helpers for the official government officials in the county. But later, somehow they got money in their hands, and money opened the way, and they soon became clerks in the county government. And then Guang Luo was a gangster who got involved in the casino and brothel business, and soon became a tyrant in the fertile field.

According to common sense, even if you have money, you will not be able to keep a poor settlement, let alone expand your business. But what amazed the author most is the luck of the ancestors of the Tang family.

His luck always seems to be particularly good. He always gets lucky at critical moments.

For example, one time, he offended a certain wealthy family in the county, and the wealthy family threatened to kill him. But within a few days, the wealthy family seemed to be hit by a plague, and the whole family died inexplicably. From this, he started to make a fortune. The first step was to secure the establishment of official government officials.

After that, he offended the county magistrate once, and the magistrate wanted to beat him to death with a big board. But a few days later, the magistrate also died inexplicably, and he escaped.

Later, he used a dose of medicine to cure a certain high-ranking official in the government, and was appreciated by the official and gained a backer.

Later, the business grew bigger and bigger, buying houses and land, and owning tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, which no one dared to mess with.

According to common sense, such a wealthy person should live in a big place, at least in a county town. But for some reason, the ancestors of the Tang family were very stubborn and wanted to stay in their hometown, Shanghe Village.

There are rumors that Shanghe Village is a blessed place for the Tang family. Only by taking root here can we maintain wealth and wealth for generations. But in Lu Ming's eyes, he felt that the ancestors of the Tang family chose to stick to their hometown instead of going to a bigger place that would be closer to power. The development of central places may be to keep a certain secret and stick to a certain "fundament".

If the ancestors of the Tang family relied on the "Mountain God" to make their fortune, then what is the foundation?

Only the mountain god is the foundation. Therefore, the head of the family must of course be stationed in the place closest to the mountain god.

That was not the only thing that attracted his special attention. Subsequently, the Tang family prospered for a generation in Shanghe Village, surviving the turmoil in the late Ming Dynasty and the massacre by the Qing soldiers. The family has always been rich and noble, which is not easy for a hundred years.

However, no matter how big the family grows, under the strict requirements of the Tang family's ancestral precepts, each generation of Tang family heads must stick to the remote and backward Shanghe Village.

"This Tang family is suspected."

Lu Ming quickly came to a conclusion in his mind.

but……

Huang Weimin soon found more historical materials about the Tang family. The historical materials recorded that from the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty to the Daoguang period in the Qing Dynasty, it had been passed down for more than 200 years and had a population of at least a dozen generations. After that, this family finally ushered in its demise.

But the demise of this family also seems to reveal a strange atmosphere. Historical records say that they died due to an attack by bandits, but it is also recorded that this group of "bandits" were described as skinny and ragged, and there were even women among them. and children.

There are also records from the same period that because the Tang family was so powerful, the surrounding bandits did not dare to invade for many years. This time, for some unknown reason, they actually wiped out the powerful Tang family in one fell swoop.

Historical data also records that after this group of bandits broke into Tangjiazhuangzi, they actually "digged their ancestors' graves", "did not leave any chickens or dogs in their homes", and "divided their bodies and soaked them in the dung cellar", etc. It seems that they were not just trying to He doesn't have wealth, but he has deep hatred.

This is rather strange.
Chapter completed!