Beside the head of the stream in the south of Xiangxiang County, many dilapidated wooden boats from the countryside are moored. Different from previous years, these open wooden boats are not loaded with newly harvested rice, but large and small boxes. There were baskets of copper plates, and landlords and wives who came from various towns and villages in Xiangxiang County.
Because there were so many open-top boats arriving in such a hurry, they were all blocked outside the small stream pier, so we had to queue up to wait for the boats to be unloaded. I don’t know how long we waited. The gap between the ship’s side and the side of the ship was filled with white bean bags. Vegetable leaves and garbage were surrounded by greasy foam, emitting an unpleasant smell.
On the head of the river port, a group of old men and women wearing melon skin hats and long gowns. The young men also put down their usual airs and took the initiative to express their condolences to the workers at the port with their smiling faces. They poured handfuls of copper coins into their dirty shorts. I just asked them to be faster and more careful.
But those picks are all lean and lean, and they don't look very energetic. They work from morning to night for ten days and a half, and they can't do much, no matter how much they stuff into their pockets. The copper coins were just carried slowly. Besides, the longer these gentlemen hiding from the Taiping Army were blocked, the more copper coins they gave out.
It's rare to have such an opportunity, why are you so anxious?
Liu Shiba, the talkative owner of Tiandihuixiang here in Xiangxiang Pier, is even more noble. He is half sitting and half lying in a pergola next to the Pier. While smoking foreign cigarettes, he is having sex with a woman with a bulging front and back. chat.
This woman claimed that her surname was Xu, and that she had escaped from Hengzhou Prefecture to hide from Shaggy. She said she had come to seek refuge with her distant cousin Zeng Zhuting, Mr. Zeng. She went to the county town to try her luck, and she brought along a skinny monkey-like little boy named Zeng Shijiu, who was held by a stout maid and stayed aside.
The dark and thin Liu Shiba swallowed a few mouthfuls of cloud, and looked at the bulge on the woman's body with a pair of triangular eyes, and then glanced at the little Zeng Shijiu, and thought to himself: "Looking at the charlatanism you have, you are definitely not a serious woman. Could it be that you were an angry person in Hengyang Mansion and was kept outside by Master Zeng? Now that I heard that Master Zeng's wife passed away, I came to find someone to fill the house. Chance?
The little boy's triangular eyes look a bit like Master Zeng... Could he be the son that Master Zeng raised outside?
I think you are overthinking it. Mr. Zeng’s son Zeng Disheng is a dignified minister. Even if Mr. Zeng wants to continue his marriage, he still has to marry a noble lady. Where will you get your turn? You, who was born in a kiln, become stepmother to Zeng Disheng? Is that ridiculous? But this girl has such a sweet mouth, she screamed like Brother Liu, and stuffed a heavy bag of foreign money into me. Forget it, let’s help a few... maybe with some luck, she will become Zeng Disheng’s little girl. Where is mom?"
After some random thoughts, Liu Shiba finally put down his beloved smoking gun and said to the woman named Xu with a smile: "Sister Xu, your cousin Zeng Zhuting is indeed in Xiangxiang City. He arrived more than a month ago. With a large group of children and grandchildren, he lives in the big house of the Zeng family in the city. However, his eldest son is Shilang Zeng, a high-ranking official that even the county magistrate would kneel down when he sees him... You have to think clearly!"
When the woman surnamed Xu heard the words "Shilang Zeng", she was immediately overjoyed. She took out a large bag of cigarettes from a servant beside her and stuffed it into Liu Shiba. She said with a smile: "Brother Liu, thank you very much. I I brought a lot of things this time, and the boat was blocked outside. Can you help me?"
Seeing her reaction, Liu Shiba thought: "It turns out that she is not Zeng Zhuting's woman, but Zeng Disheng's concubine. This is even more difficult! Zeng Disheng is observing filial piety now. According to the rules, he cannot take concubines!"
However, he still accepted the smoke, and then called over a disciple to help this generous and good-looking woman arrange a queue. He also asked his disciple to help the woman named Xu rent a house in the narrow and crowded county town. A small yard. No matter what, you always have to settle down first...
Xiangxiang County, the Zeng family house.
This big house is actually not big at all. It is much smaller than the Zeng family's house in Baiyangping, Heyetang, their hometown. It is also old and dilapidated. I don't know how many years it has been built?
Although Zeng Guofan was very proud of his official career, he became an official in the 18th year of Daoguang's reign. In the 26th year of Daoguang's reign, he became a bachelor of the Cabinet and the title of minister of the Ministry of Rites - eight years! From being admitted to becoming a deputy minister, only It took just eight years! And he didn't spend much money on the way. He got here thanks to the emperor's grace.
Although he did not rank high in the imperial examination and imperial examination, he did well in the imperial examination and the article was written in Daoguang's heart. His appearance also pleased Emperor Daoguang, so Daoguang personally ranked second in the imperial examination and ordered Hanlin. That is, Hanlin Academy, chief examiner of rural examinations, minister of lectures, ministers of reading, concubine, daily official, all the way up, and became "deputy minister" in eight years.
This official luck cannot be said to be bad, but this financial luck is not so good... On the way, all the "officers" are "removed". How to make money by serving as "lecturers and attendants" for the emperor and princes? Charge tuition fees? Compile daily life notes for the emperor. There is no way to make money! In other words, you can make a little money by going down to work as an examiner.
Being an official in Beijing is expensive. The rent alone is enough for Zeng Guofan to have a headache - he is already a "deputy minister" and does not have a house! Therefore, the Zeng family, the so-called big bureaucratic landowner, is not actually rich.
And the two brothers Zeng Guofan and Zeng Guohua are now married to Dingyou together. According to the Manchu system, when a Han official dies, his parents must return home and Dingyou will be a dutiful son. However, during the period of being a dutiful son, the court does not pay any salary... So for example, Zeng Guofan , Zeng Guohua, two filial sons who originally had official positions and could use their salaries to honor their parents, now because their mother is dead, they can only go home and eat their father's old age!
It’s so “filial piety”!
As for the Zeng brothers, they have been unable to take up their old filial piety policy recently!
Because just now, several tribesmen who were guarding the Baiyangping property in Heyetang for the Zeng family ran to Xiangxiang and told the Zeng family and his son a piece of news that was like a bolt from the blue. The only source of income for the Zeng family, father and son was Baiyangping in Heyetang. All the land in the area was given to the poor local people by Changmao!
"Old Master, First Master, Fourth Master, Fifth Master, Ninth Master... Three or four thousand Changmao came to Baiyang Ping in Lotus Leaf Pond a few days ago. They are all elites. They are equipped with thousands of shotguns alone. There are more than a dozen cannons, and what kind of King of the West is the leader!" In the big house of the Zeng family, the old man Zeng Linshu, the eldest filial son Zeng Guofan, the fourth filial son Zeng Guohuang, the fifth filial son Zeng Guohua, and the ninth filial son Zeng Guoquan were all surprised.
"King of the West? Xiao Nichaogui? Why did he lead three or four thousand people to Baiyangping in Lotus Leaf Pond?" Zeng Guofan's second younger brother, Zeng Guofan, who was an expert in the family and had been in charge of the family, looked at a member of the Zeng family in front of him, With a look of surprise on his face, the Zeng family member replied: "They... they seem to be here to divide your family's land!"
"Ah?" Zeng Guohuang, who had the same bad look on his face as his brothers, opened his mouth wide, looking like an old wealthy landowner in the late Qing Dynasty, "This... Xiao Chaogui left Changsha alone and brought thousands of troops with him. Go all the way to the countryside in Xiangxiang just to share my family's land?"
"Yes, yes..." The family nodded, "That's what they said... they divided your family's land and left the Hosoda fields in the next few villages untouched... The eldest master, the fifth master, you are out there. Did you ever offend this woman when you were an official?" "What are you talking nonsense about?"
"Second brother, stop talking."
Zeng Guohuang wanted to say a few more words, but Zeng Guofan stopped his brother and waved his hand to tell the man to go down. "Guofan, what do you think?"
As soon as the Zeng family left, Mr. Zeng Linshu looked at his most outstanding son, Zeng Guofan, and asked.
Chapter completed!