Su Ze and the others kept vigil for Xiong Yue in the mourning hall, and the next day they met the lawyer who came from the county, Chen Chaoyuan's brother Chen Chaoyu.
Chen Chaoyu is a middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar. He wears a bright blue Confucian shirt. He looks similar to Chen Chaoyuan, but is more rounded than Chen Chaoyuan, but looks more vicissitudes of life.
Chen Chaoyu also failed in the imperial examinations for many years, so he simply gave up studying and became a litigator in the county by studying "Da Ming Law".
Fujian itself has a tradition of litigiousness, and there are many litigation matters. Moreover, Nanping's prosperous business has also led to the drafting of various contracts, so the business of litigants is not bad.
Chen Chaoyu is not the most powerful litigator in the county, but he has been a litigator in the county for ten years, and he can be regarded as a scholar who leads a good life in the county.
Starting from the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many scholars began to engage in careers other than the imperial examination. In places with a strong commercial atmosphere such as Guangzhou and Jiangnan in Fujian, there was also a trend of focusing on money.
Being rich will naturally lead to respect. Studying for the imperial examination is one way, but being able to make money is another way.
However, these are also the majority of scholars who are unable to participate in the imperial examination or who are not talented. After all, in our society where "excellence in learning leads to official service", becoming an official is still the first choice of all scholars.
"I've met Xianggong Su."
Chen Chaoyu was not very familiar with Su Ze because of the relationship between Su Ze and Chen Chaoyuan, but he greeted Su Ze politely.
Su Ze also raised his hand in response, and then asked: "Chen Zhuang, if we file another lawsuit in the name of Mrs. Xiong, are there any chances of winning?"
Chen Chaoyu shook his head and said: "This case has been settled happily. It is not easy to reverse the case."
Chen Chaoyu said: "I have also inquired about this case with Sun Dianshi. Behind the Flying Tiger Gambling House is Yuan Wai Cai. The shopkeeper of the gambling house, Cai Bangzhuang, is a branch of the Cai family. Su Xianggong must know the power of the Cai family in the county."
"When Cai Yuanwai was dividing the tribute money, why did Cai Yuanwai file a lawsuit for pretending to be in need of money?"
Chen Chaoyu shook his head again and said: "I also found other tea farmers who participated in the tribute silver distribution, but they were unwilling to testify."
"The Xiong family received fifty taels of tribute silver, and the other families also received less tribute silver. If it is proven that Cai Yuanwai used deception to get Father Xiong to sign the deed, then the tribute deed will be invalidated.
, everyone’s interests will be harmed.”
Now Su Ze understood the cleverness of Cai Yuanwai. This was the power of the Ming Dynasty squires, and it was also the method they often used to exploit the people, which was through the sword and pen.
The sword and pen official is the clerk who drafts documents and contracts.
The Cai family is not a sharp-edged official, but the Cai family is also proficient in legal documents and government procedures. The Cai family relied on various literary traps and process flaws to set up such a situation.
The squire and landlords were encircling the land and taking it by force. This was already a thing during the Han Dynasty.
Terms such as "heroic" and "bad tyrant" often appeared in the history books of the Western Han Dynasty, but by the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the descriptive words for powerful people had become more positive.
Naturally, powerful people and officials joined forces, and the people who wrote the history books changed their butts.
Another point is that the crude way of governing the people in the Western Han Dynasty has changed. The powerful landlords have begun to worry about their reputation and no longer directly use violent means to seize land.
By the Ming Dynasty, a more covert and more legitimate method of grabbing land had already been developed.
This is naturally related to the continuous peasant uprisings in history. The powerful landlords and gentry are also afraid that the common people will blame them, in which case they will suffer the greatest losses.
In addition, when facing the government, the powerful are not willing to make matters bigger and let the government intervene in grassroots affairs.
In short, there are not many things like directly killing people and grabbing land.
Chen Chaoyu said: "Xiong Yue is dead, and Xiong's father has already signed and pledged his signature on the county government document. It will be difficult to overturn this case."
"The issue of tribute sharing concerns the interests of many families, and no one is willing to testify against the Xiong family."
Su Ze clenched his fists and said, "In other words, if you take the government road, it will be difficult to seek justice for the Xiong family?"
Chen Chaoyu nodded feebly. He had been a lawyer for many years and had also helped powerful families fight lawsuits.
He is well aware of the darkness in society. Ordinary people have no room to resist when faced with the local tyrannical gentry.
Not only did Cai Yuanwai and the others have connections up and down the county, but they also acted in compliance with the yamen regulations and Ming Dynasty laws. You would have no chance to sue them.
After fighting against these wealthy gentry for a period of time, Chen Chaoyu stopped taking business from local wealthy people because he could not stand the dark world.
He now only litigates ordinary economic and civil disputes in the county, so he is still a relatively unknown lawyer in the county after many years of practice, and cannot be compared with those well-known lawyers wearing silk and satin.
Su Ze thought for a moment and realized that he wanted to keep things simple.
It seems that Cai Yuanwai had already planned to deceive the Xiong family. Maybe Cai Yuanwai arranged for Xiong's father to become addicted to gambling.
Xiong Yue's death may have been an accident in the execution process, but the Cai family quickly canceled the incident with an IOU and asked Xiong's father to sign the Ganjie document, closing this loophole.
Considering that the Cai family has been operating in the county for many years and has high-level relationships, it may be impossible for Su Ze to overturn the case through litigation.
Su Ze sneered in his heart, since the Cai family was not outspoken and insisted on doing these dark things, then they might as well overturn the table and have fun with him.
Su Ze is not a lawyer. Compared with off-the-table tricks, is there anyone in Nanping County who can compare with him?
Su Ze already had a plan in mind to deal with squires like the Cai family who were all-powerful. Since they themselves were unreasonable, Su Ze didn't need to be unreasonable and go through any legal procedures.
Su Ze said coldly: "Thank you Chen Zhuang for your advice."
When Chen Chaoyu saw that Su Ze did not mention the matter of continuing to complain, he thought that Su Ze had given up on helping Xiong Yue seek revenge, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"Xiangong Su, you are a scholar favored by the two lords in the county. Don't ruin your career because of impulsiveness. If you can win the imperial examination in the future, you will naturally have a way to deal with the Cai family."
Su Ze said in his heart that he had a way to deal with the Cai family now, but he still said gratefully to Chen Chaoyu: "Thank you Chen Zhuang."
Chen Chaoyu handed over his hand, saying that all this was a small effort, and left money for condolence with Mother Bear, and returned to the city.
Su Ze said to Lin Qingcai: "No more suing."
Lin Qingcai thought that Su Ze had given up avenging Xiong Yue. He was relieved and sad at the same time. Even a capable person like Su Ze could not avenge Xiong Yue. The darkness of this world was evident.
After bidding farewell to Mother Xiong and returning to Changning County, Su Ze did not return to Changning Guard immediately.
He found Xiong Wu who was working in the county.
Xiong Wu spent this time teaching the children in the almshouse various tips on how to live on the streets.
In his opinion, it is impossible for these children to live in almshouses forever, and being a low-income person is also a means of survival.
Naturally, there are many unspoken rules for survival on the streets. As the former leader of Luohanjiao, Xiong Wu taught these children a lot.
He just came back from another county a few days ago, where he trained a group of book boys from "The Surprise" and taught them how to unite to deal with street gangsters. As soon as he returned to Changning County, Su Ze called him over.
"How much do you know about Flying Tiger Casino?"
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze and said quickly: "Flying Tiger Gambling House is the gambling house of the Cai family. The Cai family is a wealthy family in Nanping. You know this well, Mr. Cai."
Su Ze nodded and signaled Xiong Wu to continue.
Xiong Wu continued: "It will not be easy for Mr. Su to deal with the Cai family."
"This Feihu Gambling House is not just a gambling house. The Cai family also lends money in the gambling house. On weekdays, people from the Bawang Club are there to protect you. If there is a need to collect debts, people from the Bawang Club will also come to visit."
Hearing the name of Bawang Society again, Su Ze asked: "Is there such a deep connection between Bawang Society and the Cai family?"
"Such a low-level club naturally has some relationship with the big families in the city. Isn't this normal?"
These days, the squires are all black and white, and they have armed servants. It is not normal to have some collusion with the club and gangs.
Su Ze had met before. The Lin Qingcai family was a newly moved family and there was no official in the family.
The Chen Chaoyuan family was just a poor scholar, and the Xiong family was the first generation to start studying.
The Chen family of Beishan Village has not even started studying yet, and the Changning Guards are just military guards of the Hundred Households.
The only one who is a bit more classy is Jiang Men Yujia, who is not popular among scholars.
Su Ze's impression of these squires still rested on people like Chen Moqun, the head of the Academy, and He Liangjun, Mr. Tuohu. Little did he know that they were celebrities themselves and leaders of wealthy families, and their morals were naturally higher than those of Cai Yuanwai.
The person is much taller.
Su Ze still underestimated the moral limits of the local tycoons.
Su Ze said to Xiong Wu: "Take me to Feihu Casino."
"Ms. Su, you?"
"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and lead the way."
The Flying Tiger Gambling House is not in the city, so gambling is naturally prohibited in Hongwu training. However, with the gradual development of business in the Ming Dynasty, gambling houses have become a semi-gray industry.
Half gray means that gambling houses have to pay taxes.
Every month, house tax collectors would come to collect public security donations. The so-called public security donations were the money donated by gambling houses to help the government maintain public order because they had corrupted the public order atmosphere.
The security donation was not a regular tax of the court, but gambling houses were very happy to pay this tax.
This money is not handed over and is used for the daily expenses of the Yamen.
However, according to court laws, gambling houses are illegal. As long as there are no disputes, the government will not care.
This is also a characteristic of the Ming Dynasty, where the people do not raise officials and do not investigate.
The gambling house is located in the outer square of the city. It is a temporary resting place for merchants entering the city and passing by. Over time, houses were built against the city wall for the merchants to stay. Later, it gradually became a place where all kinds of religions and peoples hang out.
In addition to gambling houses, there are also prostitutes wearing heavy makeup on the streets.
Along the way, Xiong Wu's eyes were darting around, and it took him a long time to bring Su Ze to the entrance of the gambling house.
Feihu Gambling House has a big plaque on it to show off its fear that others will not know that this is a gambling house.
The sounds of various gambling instruments rang out, a lot of shouting, and the unpleasant smell of sweat rushed out the door. Su Ze pinched his nose and walked in.
[I found a gambling shop where I can learn the skill "Gambling Skills". Do you want to learn it? 】
This was what he wanted, so Su Ze directly chose to study.
Xiong Wu hadn't entered a gambling shop for a long time. He took a deep breath and showed a longing look, but he looked at Su Ze and didn't dare to make a mistake.
"What kind of games are there in general?"
"Pai Gow, but most people play dice. There are special places for cockfighting and cricket fighting. People who play those games don't go into the gambling house."
Su Ze took a quick look and found that most of them were playing dice.
Dice is throwing dice. This gambling activity has a long history and is deeply loved by gamblers.
Xiong Wu said: "You can play with the banker, or you can play with other gamblers, but these are senior gamblers, so Xianggong Su should not play with them."
"Those who show one arm are the dealer's people."
Looking along Xiong Wu's hand, it turned out that in addition to ordinary gamblers dressed in rough clothes, there were also some people sitting on the table with bare arms exposed. They were holding dice cups and shaking them. A large group of people gathered around the table.
Gambler.
Su Ze even saw a stout woman shaking dice with one bare arm, which was really eye-catching.
Su Ze turned around and found the doorway as expected.
The dealer who was responsible for playing the dice lost and won, but Su Ze took a look at the statistics and found that the results of the dice did not conform to statistical rules.
Out of a thousand?
Is the Cai family even more rubbish than I thought?
However, for a gambling house of this level, it is not like a big gambling house can make a lot of money just by pumping money. It is normal for the Cai family to spend thousands.
After understanding this, Su Ze smiled. Since you are paying a thousand dollars, you are welcome.
Su Ze pulled the eager Xiong Wu and said, "Let's go."
"Leaving now?"
Xiong Wu was still unfinished, and was finally pulled away by Su Ze.
After returning to the editorial office of "The Surprise", Su Ze said to Xiong Wu: "Go and buy some dice and dice cups."
"?"
"Go as soon as you are told, and come back as soon as possible."
Xiong Wu was kicked out of the editorial office. Could it be that Su Ze wanted to make a bet with himself?
He frowned, then laughed slyly, quickly got into an alley, and soon returned to the editorial office with a few dice and a dice cup.
Chen Chaoyuan and Lin Qingcai watched in confusion as Xiong Wu carried the dice cup upstairs, and then the sound of distant dice clattering could be heard upstairs.
Su Ze is gambling with Xiong Wu?
After the two met Su Ze, they also knew his character very well. Su Ze had almost no bad habits. He was the most talented among the four, but he also studied the hardest.
He would actually bet against Xiong Wu?
[Betting against five bears, gambling skill experience +1, Lv1, 2/100]
Su Ze played a hundred games with Xiong Wu, almost losing more than he won. Finally, when his gambling skills were upgraded to Level 2, Su Ze saw the clues.
"The dice are filled with lead?"
Xiong Wu laughed and then said: "Xianggong Su is really talented and can learn everything at once. This dice is indeed filled with lead."
Su Ze played with it and asked, "Does Feihu Casino also use dice like this?"
"That's not true. The gamblers in the gambling house are not fools. How can they let the banker play tricks on the dice? That is a more advanced gambling technique, which is not something we can learn."
Su Ze nodded, you Xiong Wu can't learn it, but I am a systematic person.
Su Ze believes that as long as he reaches Level 5, he will naturally understand the problems in the gambling techniques of Feihu Casino.