Li Shimin

Chapter 820 The Arrogance of the Langya Wang Clan

Jiangning, named Jiankang in ancient times, was the capital of the Six Dynasties.

Forty miles in length from east to west, north to south, triple palace walls, and a majestic city, the layout of Chang'an City is all based on Jiangning.

During the Six Dynasties, Jiangning had a population of one million, and its level of 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 is also the most prosperous city in the southern part of the Tang Dynasty.

In the city, there are many great families and rich merchants.

And the biggest family is the Langya Wang family.

The Wang family of Langya 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 the horse share the world".

It's just that during the Yongjia Rebellion at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Wang family of Langya, like all the great families in the north, crossed from Linyi to the south, and the whole family moved to Jiangning.

But the Langya Wang Clan did not just decline, but directly supported Sima Rui to establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and then the Langya Wang Clan became even more powerful, and only the Chen Jun Xie Clan could match it.

In the Tang Dynasty, even after experiencing the wars in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the Langya Wang Clan was still as strong as ever.

It's just that Langya Wang's reputation is not as outstanding as that of 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 a consistent amount of money from the Langya Wang family, not only did they fail to repay the arrears for a year, but the arrears also changed from a consistent amount of money to a five-way amount of money.

And one of the stewards of the Langya Wang family brought a few servants to the village households and forced them to pay back the money.

"In charge of money, the villain's family really has no money. After the autumn harvest, the villain will definitely return the money owed to the Wang family!"

He Er knelt on the ground with bruises all over his face, pleading bitterly to the strong men in front of him.

"Return, what do you use to pay back? You have been borrowing the consistent money for two years. Not only have you not repaid it, but it has increased from one consistent to five consistent. The Patriarch is already dissatisfied with the old man. You want the old man to be punished by the Patriarch?"

Guanshi Qian snorted coldly, his face full of disdain.

"The old man has already come, and today you have to pay it back, or you have to pay it back! If you have no money at home, it's okay to say, I heard that you still have a few acres of fertile land at home."

"Forgive me, Steward Qian. There are only a few acres of fertile land left in this villain's family. If those few acres of fertile land are gone, the villain's whole family will be unable to survive!"

He Er was terrified, his eyes flashed, and he said again hastily: "Please allow Steward Qian a few more days, the villain goes hunting in the mountains, works for others, try to raise money for Steward Qian!"

"Tsk tsk!"

Guanshi Qian sneered, "You are an old man and a three-year-old child. If making money is so easy, how long can you delay paying it back?"

Hearing this, He Er looked desperate.

"But money is in charge, the villain's family, all of them rely on those few acres of land to survive, beg money to be in charge..."

"Hmph! No matter how much you ask, it's useless to pay back the debt. Even if the lawsuit reaches the Yamen, the old man is not at fault!"

Guanshi Qian was unmoved at all, and looked up at the family behind He Er, with a sympathetic look on his face.

"If you think you can't support your family if you sell the land, there is another place for this old man!"

"Please tell me about the money manager!"

He Er asked hurriedly.

"It just so happens that my Wang family has gained hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land in the past few days. Your whole family has entered my Wang family and farmed it for my Wang family. If the cultivation is good and the owner of the family is kind, maybe I can reward you with more money. The whole family suffers outside, not to mention starvation, poor food and clothing, and often bullied by others!"

Qian Guanshi said slowly.

"This……"

He Er was stunned for a moment, and then his face was filled with embarrassment.

He finally understood in his heart why the money steward of the Wang family suddenly asked him for a debt in advance.

It turned out that the Wang family lacked servants.

However, how could he not know that if he entered a big family as a slave, he would never starve to death.

However, it is definitely not as good as Qian Guanshi said.

As long as he enters the Wang family as a slave today, the whole family, even the children and grandchildren, will be slaves and handmaids in the Wang family. Life and death are controlled by the Wang family.If something goes wrong with the Wang family, it's just a trivial matter to beat and scold at will, and no one can control all kinds of bullying and killing!
Thinking about it, He Er shook his head quickly.

"Forgive the money manager, the villain sells the field, sells the field!"

"Sell the fields?"

Steward Qian sneered, "Since you want to sell the field, the old man will wait for two days. However, you are only given two days, and the interest rate will be increased every day for these two days. If after two days, you still have not paid the seven-percent money, hum..."

"Seven pennies?"

He Er's eyes widened suddenly, his face full of disbelief.

"The money manager, isn't there only five strings of money?"

"The five guan is the money you owe the Wang family, but the family wants you to pay back the money today. If you don't pay, the old man will make it up for you. Why, do you still want the old man to pay you for nothing?"

Steward Qian glanced at He Er lightly, "Besides, I might as well tell you that if you don't pay the seven pennies in two days, the price will inevitably increase. At that time, if you don't enter my Wang's house to pay the debt with your own body No more!"

"Director Qian, I don't know if the Wang family wants the eight acres of fertile land in the villain's house?"

He Er asked in a low voice.

"want!"

Steward Qian glanced at He Er with a strange look on his face, and said, "Eight mu of good land, of which two mu of high-quality paddy fields cost [-] Wen per mu, and the remaining six acres of dry land cost [-] Wen per mu!"

"Guard Qian, did you remember wrongly, the villain is a field, and there are high-quality paddy fields, why is it 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 for buying land!"

Guanshi Qian glanced at He Er, and said: "In the past two years, the Patriarch has purchased feudal kingdom cities in Goguryeo and Tubo, and the family has spent a lot of money, but there are millions of acres of fertile land in those purchased cities.

Therefore, for one mu of high-quality paddy fields, my Wang family will give up to five hundred mu.In addition, all the aristocratic families in Jiangning now have this price! "

He Er's face was ashen, and he squatted on the ground, full of despair.

"How could it be like this? That's a first-class paddy field... [-] Wen, but it can only be sold for [-] Wen..."

Around, a crowd of onlookers were also full of sympathy.

Even some old people are still muttering in a low voice with miserable faces.

"A sin!"

"What a crime..."

"Okay, He Er, you should think about it for two days. A certain family has other debts to pay, so I won't waste time on you!"

With that said, Guanshi Qian was about to turn around and leave.

He Er was full of despair.

Although he was illiterate, but at this meeting, he also understood that this officer He was obviously forcing him to become a slave in the Wang family.

However, he was not reconciled, and quickly raised his head to look at the several clan elders beside him.

It's a pity that those clan elders were also full of helplessness, while the second uncle who had a better relationship with him kept sighing and shaking his head slowly.

Even if a few of them pooled together and could pool so much money, they didn't dare to pool it together.

They are even more aware of the horror of these big families. It is better for a family to be slaves than to be slaves for the whole village!
Regarding the reactions of these people, Guanshi Qian is also very satisfied. He is just a villager, and he wants to turn the world upside down?

Two days later, not only obediently gave him two more money, but he was also able to take in a family of servants for the head of the family again.

However, just as he was about to mount his horse with the support of several nurses, a voice came from behind him.

"Wait a minute, isn't it just five pennies, someone paid for this person!"

Guanshi Qian's movements froze immediately, and he ignored one leg that was still hanging on the frame, so he looked towards the crowd with an angry expression on his face. There is still someone who dares to risk offending the Wang family and show his head to a mere pariah ?

After seeing a few young people, he couldn't help being startled, thinking that it was the children of some family who came out, and didn't know the situation.

"Who are you? Can you tell that this matter is about my Langya Wang family?"

"That's just five pennies. Someone will pay it back for the villager first, so that I won't have to run back after asking the old man for money in a few days!"

Then, it was Li Xuan, Li Chengqian and others who stood behind and watched quietly when Guanshi Qian led a group of people to demand debt from He Er.

As for Li Chengqian and others who wanted to speak out, but Li Xuan stopped him, he wanted to let Li Chengqian know how cruel and nasty these aristocratic families treat the common people, and how helpless the common people are in the face of these aristocratic families!
"Ok?"

Now, Guanshi Qian understood a little bit.

Looking at the expressions of Li Xuan and the others, they immediately turned cold.

"Are you all here to trouble my Langya royal family?"

"Pooh!"

Cheng Chusi spat directly at Guanshi Qian with disdain on his face.

"You are just a little steward, thinking that you can represent the Langya Wang clan with a few guards? Or, the Langya Wang clan has become so arrogant and domineering?
A small manager can bully the people and threaten passers-by outside? "

Hearing this, Guanshi Qian and the nursing homes beside him couldn't help but look gloomy, and walked towards Li Xuan and the others.

"Can you please name me?"

"Your Cheng Yeye!"

"Your Li Yeye!"

"Yeah, your house..."

Cheng Chusi and Li Chongyi said arrogantly with grins.

Hearing this, Guanshi Qian and the other guards looked even colder. They were not from a famous family in Jiangning City, so they dared to be so arrogant.

"The old man thought he was a young man from some family in the city, but I didn't expect it to be a wild bastard from another place!"

"You old bastard is a bastard, you are not as good as a hog dog!"

In terms of swearing, Cheng Chusi, Li Chongyi and others are not afraid of anyone.

"An old animal with cross-eyed eyes is just a servant of a noble family. How dare you be so arrogant?"

"Xiaoye kindly wants to pay you money for this poor villager, but you are so shameless, do you really think I can't see your dirty plans?"

"Isn't it that your aristocratic family has a large piece of good land in Goguryeo or Tubo's vassal state that no one cultivates, so they use their own dirty methods to force these villagers to serve as slaves to your royal family, and then let you drive them to Goguryeo or Tubo? Feudal kingdom, let your royal family plant fields?"

Hearing this, He Er and all the villagers in Hejia Village couldn't help being shocked, and looked at Guanshi Qian and others in disbelief.

"Hmph, so what?"

Seeing that Cheng Chusi directly revealed the truth of the matter, Guan He stopped pretending and said with a sinister smile.

"To pay back the debt, even if the government comes, you can't say anything. Besides, a group of little beasts, you don't go to inquire about it. In the land of Jiangning, my Langya Wang family is the sky, and my Langya Wang family is the king. Law!"

"Especially now, my patriarch has been conferred the title of King of Dandong by His Majesty. Even the governor of Jiangning has to bow obediently when he sees my patriarch! As for bringing a few untouchables who owe money to my royal family into the mansion, to farm 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 villagers of the He family couldn't help showing a trace of despair on their faces again.

People who don't live in Jiangning have no idea what the Langya royal family means to these common people.

"Tsk, what a big joke, a mere King of Fanbang wants to become king in the Tang Dynasty, he really doesn't know what to do!"

Cheng Chusi said with disdain again.

"presumptuous!"

Guanshi Qian yelled directly at Cheng Chusi, "You black man who came here from nowhere, don't be presumptuous. How can you insult my Patriarch?"

"Such a treacherous person, why can't you, Cheng Yeye, speak of him?"

Cheng Chusi sneered, "Such a shameless person dares to call himself the king of Dandong, dare to be the head of my Tang family, and for his own selfishness, he wantonly harmed the people, and even sent thousands of people to Goguryeo. Cultivating the fields is simply inferior to animals!"

Immediately, all the people in Hejia Village were terrified.

Meanwhile, Guanshi Qian and the guards of the royal family all stared closely at Cheng Chusi.

"who are you?"

"Your Cheng Yeye!"

Cheng Chusi still had that angry expression.

"You little bastard, why are you still so arrogant now?"

Guanshi Qian was furious, and shouted directly: "Go to this old man, dare to insult the head of the family like this, even if you are a relative of the emperor, you can't afford to walk around in Jiangning!"

On the side, the guards of the royal family pulled out the steel swords at their waists and rushed forward with a murderous look.

"Humph!"

Seeing this, a gleam of joy flashed in the eyes of Cheng Chusi and Xue Rengui, and they were just about to charge upwards.

On the side, Li Xuan shouted directly: "Where is Zheng Fu!"

"The end is here!"

Behind them, there was a roar of unison.

All the villagers of the He family were stunned for a moment, but before they could react, they felt a huge force coming from behind, and they moved to the sides involuntarily.

Afterwards, figures squeezed in from behind them, and soon surrounded the members of the Wang family.

Seeing this, the expressions of the guards of the royal family who hadn't walked in front of Li Xuan and the others changed drastically, and they quickly retreated to Guanshi Qian.

"Who the hell are you?"

Manager Qian also noticed that something was wrong. With so many guards following him when he travels, he must not be an ordinary wealthy family.

"A person who is not even afraid of the emperor's relatives, what are you afraid of?"

Cheng Chusi said with a sneer.

"No matter who you are, but someone is a member of the Langya Wang family. As members of the aristocratic family, don't persecute each other!"

Manager Qian said quickly.

"Hey, are you worthy too?"

Cheng Chusi mocked.

"You black bastard..."

Guanshi Qian looked anxious, when had he been so submissive?

"Zheng Fu, take down all these bastards!" Li Xuan said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Zheng Fu bowed his hands to salute, and then led a group of personal guards, pressed Guanshi Qian and a group of royal guards to the ground roughly, and tied a rope behind his hands.

On the other hand, Guanshi Qian was full of bewilderment and his head was buzzing.

"King?..."

"I don't know which king you are?"

"You lowly slave, how do you have the right to know the honorific title of my family's great king?"

On the body, a guard said with disdain on his face.

Seeing this, Cheng Chusi, Li Chongyi and the others sneered with disdain and ignored it.

……

(End of this chapter)