Chapter 198 Chickens and dogs ascend to heaven (2)
"Wang's old mother, please raise money for me, send your son to send me off, and prepare sweet and sweet wine."
This is a sentence narrated by the old man himself and placed on the imperial mausoleum stele in the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum.
In the over 1,000-word inscription on the imperial mausoleum, the old man mentioned three people.
"The landowner has no regard for my morality and shouts loudly. He has no regard for the land, and the neighbors are miserable. Brother Yi's generosity has benefited this yellow soil."
The first thing mentioned was the landowner of the Zhu family at that time, Liu De, the owner of the land that the Zhu family farmed. Regardless of the misery of the old man and the two brothers, he not only did not lend a hand to help, but also scolded the old man.
The second one is the mentioned brother Yi, Liu Jizu, the elder brother of the landlord Liu De. Seeing that the old man was miserable, he gave him a cemetery so that his parents and brothers could be buried.
Liu Jizu was the Marquis of Yihui, and the old man not only did not blame Liu De for speaking harshly to the old man, but he generously gave him thirty acres of land.
Someone once petitioned the old man to punish Liu De for the crime of disrespect he committed back then.
But the old man said, "There is no need to ask about the love of this world. When I was poor, how did he know that I am the emperor today?"
However, these two people were only vaguely mentioned by name, without surnames.
On the inscription, there is only one person whose name is solemnly stated, Wang’s mother.
Seeing that the old man was really miserable, the old woman took out her coffin book, helped the old man buy incense and candles in memory of his parents, and asked her son to escort the old man to the temple, so that the old man could temporarily settle down after his death at home.
.
Before he became rich, the old man did indeed call Mrs. Wang his godmother! The Wang family was indeed kind to the old man.
After she became successful, the old woman passed away long ago, and the old man passed on his gratitude to the old woman to her descendants. The old lady was awarded the posthumous title of Mrs. Taigong, which was equivalent to a fourth-grade official, and her descendants inherited the title of Mingwei General Qian and commanded the verger.
This is a fourth-grade hereditary official position. You must know that even the sons of the noble marquises who founded Huaixi are no more than this. For example, the son of Cao Zhen, Marquis of Jingchuan, was only a hereditary official with a thousand households at the beginning.
"Wang family? Wang family? So arrogant and domineering, arrogant!" The old man pursed his lips and muttered twice.
Then he asked loudly, "What other bad things have they done? Can you tell me one by one?"
"Bullying men and dominating women..."
The man in Tianzhong was about to speak, but was suddenly stopped by the old man. Then the old man said to the Zhu family, "Besides this member, we have to do farm work, so we don't need to accompany you!"
He didn't want to be busy with farm work, but he didn't want to talk too much.
The old man stamped his foot fiercely, "How far is it from Zhuangzi?"
"Liu Li Di!" Li Jinglong finished in a low voice and glanced at Zhu Yunxi carefully.
"Let's go!" The old man waved his hand and got directly into the carriage, then became sulky and silent.
According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, letting a horse destroy a farmland is a serious crime for a man with a hundred men to travel three thousand miles. Not to mention the Ming Dynasty, it has been like this in all dynasties. On that day, Emperor Wu of the Wei Dynasty, Cao Cao, issued an edict that anyone who trampled on good farmland would die. Then his horse was frightened and trampled on the farmland, and he became angry.
Then he killed his beloved horse.
The people regard food as their heaven, and the country regards food as its life.
But in the implicit meaning of the villagers' words, this kind of thing is not a big deal in the eyes of these relatives and neighbors of the emperor and me.
Six miles of land is only a snap of the finger, and the official road outside Guzhuang Village is flat and wide. It doesn't look like a country road at all, but is comparable to the capital city.
Because the old man Jinkou sealed more than 20 families of tomb-keepers, the village was full of vermilion gates, and all the tomb-keepers lived there.
Looking from a distance, the dilapidated countryside in the past is now filled with Dougong mansions, which are of extraordinary grandeur.
In this village there is also the ancestral home of Tang He, the Duke of the Confucius, and Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing. However, these two people have not lived here at all due to their transgressions over the years. The old home is only used to worship incense, and it is not very luxurious.
grand.
I think this was one of the reasons why there was no trouble between these two people in the last years of the old man's reign. I think of Jiangxia Hou Zhou Dexing, who was a good friend who lived across the street from the old man. Although in the end he was killed because he got involved in the competition between Zhu Yunxi and Zhu Yunwen.
, but when he was in his hometown, the old house was comparable to the palace.
Even if there was no collusion with the Lu family, the outcome would not be good.
~~
Zhuangzi is not big, but it is extremely prosperous. There are restaurants and shops outside Zhuangzi.
Without him, Zhuangzi would be rich.
The carriage of the two men stopped outside the village, in front of a small restaurant. There were no customers in the restaurant, and the waiter was lying on the table and taking a nap. When he saw the carriage stopping, he quickly came out to greet it.
"Guys, you guys look unfamiliar? But I'm passing by here? What can I use?" the waiter asked with an enthusiastic smile.
"Just get some food and drinks!" Li Jinglong walked at the front and threw two silver dollars over, "There's no need to change the rest as reward!"
The waiter immediately beamed. His wages for most of half a year were not that much.
Zhu Yunxi looked at the restaurant. It wasn't very good but not bad either. He said, "Why are there no customers?"
The waiter wiped the table with a smile, then pulled out the chair, "Our small shop is close to this village. We usually host banquets, but there are not many individual customers!"
The old man sat down and asked, "Are there many banquets held in the village on weekdays?"
"More!" the waiter said with a smile, "This Zhuangzi is owned by the emperor. Now every household has money, and weddings and weddings cannot be ruined."
"Are the emperor's relatives rich?" Zhu Yunxi said with a knowing smile, "They used to be farmers, where did they get the money?"
"You don't know this. Each family has hundreds of acres of land and hills in their name. They don't have to pay food and taxes, so they will be rich!" The young waiter was a chatterbox and said with a smile, "Besides, they are not just...
Farming, every family has planted hundreds of acres of mulberry trees, why don’t they have any money?”
Mulberry is much more valuable than fields.
Zhuge Liang once said to the Queen of the Shu Han Dynasty, "There are 800 mulberry trees in Chengdu and 15 hectares of thin fields. My children will have enough food and clothing!"
Mulberry trees are full of treasures. Not only can they weave cloth and make clothes, their roots, stems and leaves are also excellent medicinal materials. Moreover, the mulberry wood itself becomes more valuable the older it gets. It can be used to make musical instruments, furniture, carriages, and even good bows.
"Besides, people don't pay taxes or corvee!" The waiter continued to laugh, "Many big households in the surrounding counties and towns have their fields in their names..." After saying that, he gave it to Zhu Yunxi
A meaningful look.
Anyone who is not a fool understands this.
To put it simply, it is affiliation. By being affiliated with the names of these tomb guardians, the grain tax that should be paid to the court is saved. Then, everyone can divide it how they want.
It is impossible that the local officials didn't know about this kind of thing. Presumably it was because the old man said the word "neighbor" personally and gave him many privileges, so he closed his eyes and pretended not to see it.
"Who is the richest family in this village?" the old man asked with a smile, "Is it the Liu family of Yihui Hou?"
"Well... no!" The waiter thought for a while, "Their family doesn't live in the village, they live in the city!"
Zhu Yunxi of the Liu family of the Marquis of Yihui knew something about it when he arrived, because Liu Nianen, a descendant of the Liu family, had participated in the imperial examination, and because all the people admitted in the imperial examination were southerners, he took the lead in making trouble and even found Guo Yingna.
The Liu family has a good reputation in Fengyang. There has been no bad news over the years, and they are not arrogant because they are the benefactors of the Zhu family. Instead, they wholeheartedly train their children to study, and they are considered a good family by the government.
"I heard that the Liu family is the benefactor of the royal family, but their family is not the richest?" Zhu Yunxi continued to ask with a smile.
Then I saw that the waiter seemed to feel that he had said too much, and he didn't want to speak anymore and continued to laugh, "We were passing by here and had nothing to do to chat. If you want to talk, little brother, we will treat it as a joke!"
Perhaps because of the two silver dollars, the waiter thought about it and whispered, "If you want to say that the richest and most prosperous family is the Wang family?"
"Oh? Never heard of it!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile, "Don't talk nonsense just because you think I'm a foreigner!"
"What nonsense?" the waiter said anxiously, "The ancestor of the Wang family was the godmother of Mr. Hongwu, and there are many hereditary official positions among the descendants of the family." He then lowered his voice, "Did you know last year?
How much money did his family get just by using other people’s land for tax exemption?”
Then, hold out three fingers.
Zhu Yunxi deliberately made a false statement, opening his mouth wide in a gesture of surprise, "Thirty?"
"Tsk..." The waiter curled his lips.
"Then, three hundred?" Zhu Yunxi stared in disbelief.
"Three thousand!" said the waiter, "a full three thousand silver dollars!"
"Good guy!" Zhu Yunxi was really shocked this time.
"Who told you?" the old man said next to him.
"The young master of the Wang family often comes here to drink. I heard it when I was waiting next to him!" the waiter said seriously, "Tsk tsk, it's not just money, people want money and people. Last year, the young master of the Wang family was in a brothel in the city.
If you compete with someone for a girl, you will break the other person's legs!"
"The person who was beaten was also a young man from a rich family, and he complained to the officials without mercy, but guess what?" The waiter pretended, "The commander of the army was stunned when he heard that he was a young man from the Wang family, and he had the official title of General Mingwei.
I didn't dare to come and arrest him! In the end, the prefect came forward and asked Master Wang to accompany him with three melons and two dates, and settled the matter!"
"Hmph!" The old man snorted heavily, "Old Mrs. Wang is such a kind person, how come she gave birth to such a bunch of descendants who don't know how to live or die!"
At this moment, there was a sudden sound outside the door.
Immediately afterwards, several slaves came in surrounded by a dissolute young man wearing furs.
"Where are the people? They are all dead? Hurry up and take care of us!"