Jiangning, named Jiankang in ancient times, was the capital of the Six Dynasties.
Forty miles long from east to west, from north to south, with three layers of palace walls, and a majestic city, the layout of Chang'an City was all based on Jiangning.
During the Six Dynasties, Jiangning had a population of one million, and its prosperity was no less than that of Chang'an today.
Unfortunately, after several wars, the population of Jiangning has dropped sharply, and the prosperity of the Six Dynasties has long since disappeared.
However, Jiangning City was also the most prosperous city in the south of the Tang Dynasty.
Within the city, there are numerous aristocratic families and numerous wealthy businessmen.
The largest aristocratic family is the Langya Wang family.
Langya Wang family originally originated from Linyi County of Langya Kingdom. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was so powerful that it was praised as "the king and his horse share the world".
However, during the Yongjia Rebellion at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Langya Wang family, like other wealthy northern families, crossed south from Linyi Yiguan and moved their entire family to Jiangning.
However, the Langya Wang family did not decline. Instead, they directly supported Sima Rui to establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Immediately, the Langya Wang family became more powerful, and only the Xie family of Chen County could rival it.
In the Tang Dynasty, even after the wars in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the Langya Wang family was still as strong as ever.
However, the Langya Wang family is not as famous as the Five Surnames and Qiwang.
However, in Jiangning, the Langya Wang family is comparable to the Jiangning king.
For example, just because a village household borrowed 1 guan of money from the Langya Wang family, not only did they not repay the debt in full for a year, but the arrears also changed from 1 guan of money to 5 guan of money.
A steward of the Langya Wang family took several servants directly to the villagers' homes and forced them to pay back the money.
"In charge of money, I really don't have a penny in my family. After the autumn harvest, I will definitely pay back the money owed to the Wang family!"
He Er knelt on the ground with his face covered in bruises, begging bitterly to the strong men in front of him.
"Repay, what do you use to pay back? You have been borrowing the money for two years. Not only have you not repaid it, but it has also increased from one to five. The head of the family is already dissatisfied with me. You want me to be punished by the head of the house?"
Manager Qian snorted coldly, his face full of disdain.
"I'm already here. You have to pay me back today, even if you don't! If you don't have money at home, I heard that you still have a few acres of fertile land at home."
"Steward Qian, have mercy on me, the villain's family only has a few acres of fertile land left. Without those acres of fertile land, the villain's family will not be able to survive!"
He Er's face was full of horror, his eyes flashed, and he quickly said again: "Please ask Steward Qian to extend your grace for a few more days. The villain will go hunting in the mountains and work for others, and try to collect money for Steward Qian!"
"Tsk tsk!"
Manager Qian sneered, "I think you are a three-year-old child. If it were so easy to make money, how could you still delay paying back the money for so long?"
Hearing this, He Er looked desperate.
"But Qian Guanshi, my whole family depends on those acres of land to survive, please Qian Guanshi..."
"Hmph! It's useless no matter how much you beg. Paying back debts is a matter of course. Even if the lawsuit goes to the Yamen, I have no fault at all!"
Manager Qian was unmoved at all. He raised his head and glanced at the family behind He Er, with a trace of sympathy on his face.
"If you think you can't support your family if you sell your land, I have another place to go!"
"Please tell me about the money manager!"
He Er asked hurriedly.
"It just so happens that our Wang family has gained hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land in the past few days. Your whole family will join my Wang family and farm the land for my Wang family. If you do well in farming and the owner of the family is kind, he may be able to reward you with more money. It is better than bringing you with you."
The whole family is suffering outside, suffering from hunger, not being well fed and clothed, and often being bullied!"
Manager Qian said slowly.
"this……"
He Eryi was startled, and then his face became troubled.
I finally understood in my heart why the money manager of the Wang family suddenly asked him for a debt in advance.
It turned out that the Wang family was short of servants.
However, how could he not know that if he became a slave in a big family, he would indeed starve to death.
However, it is definitely not as wonderful as the money manager said.
As long as he enters the Wang family as a slave today, the whole family, including children and grandchildren, and even the children and grandchildren of the future generations will all be slaves and maids in the Wang family. Life and death will be controlled by the Wang family. If the Wang family has any trouble, it is only a trivial matter to beat and scold at will, and all kinds of bullying.
Killing, no one can control it!
Thinking about it, He Er quickly shook his head.
"Excuse me from the money manager, but the villain is selling his land, selling his land!"
"Selling the land?"
Manager Qian sneered, "Since you want to sell the land, I will wait for two days. However, I will only give you two days, and the interest will be increased by the same amount every day during these two days. If you still don't have the seven thousand yuan after two days,
Hum hum…”
"Seven dollars?"
He Er's eyes suddenly widened, his face full of disbelief.
"In charge of money, don't you only have five guan of money?"
"The five strings are the money you owe the Wang family, but the family wants you to pay back the money today. If you don't pay, I will make up for it for you. Why, do you still want me to make up for it for nothing?"
Manager Qian glanced at He Er indifferently and said, "Besides, I might as well tell you that if you don't pay Qiguan in two days, the price will definitely increase. At that time, if you don't join my Wang family, you will have to pay off the debt with your own life."
No more!"
"Manager Qian, I wonder if the Wang family wants the eight acres of fertile land in this villain's home?"
He Er asked softly.
"want!"
Manager Qian glanced at He Er with a strange expression and said: "Eight acres of fertile land, two acres of top-quality paddy fields, cost 500 cash per acre, and the remaining six acres of dry land, cost 300 cash per acre!"
"Manager Qian, have you remembered wrongly? My little man's land is a field, and there are also high-quality paddy fields. How can it be worth such a small amount of money?"
He Er was shocked and asked quickly.
"Now, my Wang family can only pay such a high price to buy land!"
Manager Qian glanced at He Er lightly and said: "In the past two years, the head of the family has purchased vassal cities in Goguryeo and Tubo. The family has spent a lot of money, but the cities purchased include millions of acres of fertile land.
Therefore, for one acre of your high-quality paddy field, my Wang family can pay up to 500 acres. In addition, all the aristocratic families in Jiangning now pay this price!"
He Er, with an earth-colored face, squatted on the ground, filled with despair.
"How could it be like this? That's a high-quality paddy field... five hundred coins, but only five hundred coins can be sold..."
All around, the people watching were full of sympathy.
Even some old men were muttering in a low voice with miserable faces.
"What a sin!"
"What a sin..."
"Okay, He Er, think carefully for two days. A certain family has other debts to collect, so I won't waste time on you!"
With that said, Manager Qian was about to turn around and leave.
He Er's face was full of despair.
Although he was illiterate, at this moment, he understood that Manager He was clearly forcing him to join the Wang family as a slave.
However, he was unwilling to give in and quickly raised his head to look at the clan elders on the side.
Unfortunately, the clan elders also had helpless expressions on their faces, and his second uncle, who had a better relationship with him, sighed and shook his head slowly.
Even if they could pool together so much money, they would not dare to pool it together.
They know very well how terrifying these big families are. It is better for one family to be a slave than for the whole village to be a slave!
Regarding the reaction of these people, Manager Qian was also very satisfied. It was just a village household, but he still wanted to turn the world upside down?
Two days later, not only did he obediently give him two more coins, he was also able to take in a family of slaves for the master of the house again.
However, just as he was about to mount his horse with the help of several nurses, a voice came from behind him.
"Wait a minute, isn't it just five pieces of money? I paid it for this person!"
Manager Qian's movements suddenly froze. He didn't care that one of his legs was still on the frame of the bicycle, and he looked at the crowd with an annoyed face. There were still people who dared to take the risk of offending the Wang family and give a hoe to a mere pariah.
?
When I saw a few young people, I couldn't help but be startled. I thought it was the children of some family who came out, but I didn't understand the situation.
"Who are you? Do you know that this matter is my Langya Wang family's business?"
"That's just five guan of money. I'll pay it back for this villager first, so I won't have to make another trip to ask for my money to manage things in a few days!"
It turned out that it was Li Xuan, Li Chengqian and others who were already standing behind and watching quietly when Manager Qian and a group of people asked He Er for debts.
As for Li Chengqian and others who wanted to speak out, Li Xuan stopped them. He wanted Li Chengqian to be exposed to how cruel and nasty these aristocratic families were to the common people, and how helpless the common people were when facing these aristocratic families!
"Um?"
At this time, Manager Qian came to some understanding.
Looking at Li Xuan and others, the expressions turned cold.
"Are you here to cause trouble for my family, Prince Langya?"
"Pooh!"
Cheng Chusi spat directly at Manager Qian with disdain on his face.
"You are just a small steward, do you think you can represent the Langya Wang Family with a few nursing homes? Or maybe the Langya Wang Family has become so arrogant and domineering?
How can a small manager go out and bully people and threaten passers-by?"
Hearing this, Manager Qian and the nursing staff beside him couldn't help but look gloomy, and walked towards Li Xuan and others.
"Can you please state your name?"
"Your Chengyeye!"
"Your Liyeye!"
"Your room is right..."
Cheng Chusi and Li Chongyi said arrogantly with grins on their faces.
Hearing this, Manager Qian and the guards were even more filled with cold eyes. They were not from a prominent family in Jiangning City, but they dared to be so arrogant.
"I thought he was a young man from a certain family in the city, but I didn't expect him to be a wild bastard from out of town!"
"You old guy is a bastard, a bastard who is worse than a dog!"
When it comes to swearing, Cheng Chusi, Li Chongyi and others are not afraid of anyone.
"Isn't this old beast with cross-eyed eyes just a servant of a noble family? How dare he be so arrogant?"
"Xiaoye kindly wants to compensate you for this poor villager, but you are so shameless. Do you really think that we can't see your dirty plans?"
"Isn't it just that your aristocratic family has a large area of fertile land in Goguryeo or the Tubo vassal state that no one cultivates, so they use their own dirty methods to force these villagers to be slaves of your royal family, and then let you drive them to Goguryeo or Tubo.
The vassal state, will you give the Wang family some land to plant?"
Hearing this, He Er and the other villagers in Hejia Village couldn't help but be shocked and looked at Manager Qian and others in disbelief.
"Humph, so what?"
Seeing Cheng Chusi reveal the truth of the matter directly, He Guanshi stopped pretending and said with a sinister smile on his face.
"If you owe debts and pay back money, even if the government comes, you can't say anything. Besides, you guys are a bunch of little beasts, and you won't bother to inquire. In this land of Jiangning, my Langya family is the sky, and my Langya family is the king.
Law!"
"Especially now, my family head has been named the King of Dandong by His Majesty. Even the governor of Jiangning has to bow obediently when he sees my family head! As for bringing a few untouchables who owe me money to the royal family into the palace to farm the land for my royal family.
, even if the governor knew about it, he wouldn’t say anything!”
As soon as these words came out, He Er and the other He family villagers couldn't help but have a hint of despair on their faces again.
People who don't live in Jiangning have no idea what the Langya Wang Family means to these people.
"Tsk, what a big joke. A mere king from a foreign country still wants to be king and hegemon in the Tang Dynasty. He really doesn't know how to live or die!"
Cheng Chusi said with disdain again.
"presumptuous!"
Manager Qian shouted angrily at Cheng Chusi, "You are a gangster who has come here from nowhere. Don't be so presumptuous. How can you, the head of my family, insult me with your words?"
"Such a treacherous person, why can't you Cheng Yeye speak against him?"
Cheng Chusi sneered, "Such a shameless person dares to call himself the King of Dandong, and dares to be the head of our Tang Dynasty family. For his own selfish interests, he wreaks havoc on the people, and actually sends thousands of people to Goguryeo, where he will live forever.
Farming the fields is simply worse than animals!"
Suddenly, all the people in Hejia Village were filled with horror.
Manager Qian and the royal guards were all keeping a close eye on Cheng Chusi.
"who are you?"
"Your Chengyeye!"
Cheng Chusi still had the same expression of being so angry that he wouldn't pay for his life.
"What a little beast, how can he be so arrogant now?"
Manager Qian was furious and shouted directly: "Come on, I dare to insult the head of the family like this. Even if you are a relative of the emperor, you will not be able to live in Jiangning!"
On the side, the royal guards pulled out the steel knives from their waists and rushed forward with murderous intent.
"snort!"
Seeing this, Cheng Chusi and Xue Rengui's eyes flashed with joy, and they were about to rush up.
On the side, Li Xuan shouted directly: "Where is Zheng Fu!"
"The end is here!"
Behind him, there was a chorus of roars.
The He family villagers were stunned for a moment. Before they could react, they felt a huge force coming from behind, and they moved to both sides involuntarily.
Then, figures squeezed in from behind them and soon surrounded everyone in the Wang family.
Seeing this, the faces of the royal guards who had not yet reached Li Xuan and others changed greatly, and they quickly returned to Manager Qian.
"Who are you?"
Manager Qian also noticed something was wrong. There were so many escorts following him when traveling. He must not belong to an ordinary powerful family.
"If you are not even afraid of the emperor's relatives, what are you afraid of?"
Cheng Chusi retorted with a sneer on his face.
"No matter who you are, you are a member of the Langya Wang family. As members of aristocratic families, we should not force each other!"
Manager Qian said quickly.
"Bah, are you worthy?"
Cheng Chusi looked mocking.
"You black guy..."
Manager Qian looked furious. When had he ever been so humble?
"Zheng Fu, get these bastards down for me!" Li Xuandao.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Zheng Fu bowed his hands in salute, and then led a group of personal guards to force Manager Qian and a group of Wang family guards to the ground roughly, and tied ropes behind his hands.
Manager Qian, on the other hand, looked confused and his head was buzzing.
"King?..."
"I wonder which king you are?"
"How do you, a lowly slave, have the right to know the honorific title of my king?"
On top of him, a personal guard said with disdain.
Seeing this, Cheng Chusi, Li Chongyi and others even sneered with disdain and ignored it.