Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 588 What a wealthy family pays attention to is being different
"If you want to talk about rumors, in the past few days, apart from the Jinyi Guards of the Songjiang Mansion who have been investigating everywhere, the government has also dispatched government officials to search around. This kind of behavior is just a routine, other than that, there is not much movement.

Currently, the riverside wharf has been closed for nearly a month. I just wondered whether the capital will send someone to preside over this matter after that. If so, how should we deal with it? "

Gu Shenqing saw that the three people in the hall were all looking at her, so she pondered for a while and then spoke slowly.

In the early days, the attack and killing of court officials at the port of Songjiang Prefecture was carried out by the four of them after conspiring and arranging people to carry it out.Dozens of people who participated in the attack were private slaves of the four families. These dozens of people, together with their families, have all evaporated from the world.

After Jiajing, the economy in the south of the Yangtze River was booming, and there were many rich households, and the number of landless farmers and handicraftsmen sold as private slaves due to various reasons increased day by day.

Some wealthy households held as many as 2000 slaves.All such slaves and maidservants have an agreement to sell themselves, and their descendants will not be allowed to leave their nationality for generations.

The slaves and maidservants in Jiangbei were recruited by gentry. There are slaves in Henan, Shandong and other provinces, but the number is less than that in Jiangnan.

Take Gu Shenqing and other large merchants as examples. The Gu family has more than a thousand private slaves, and the other three families also have six hundred or eight hundred private slaves.

Under this extremely unequal relationship between master and slave, many nasty things happened frequently, and one of them was particularly disgusting.

Some wealthy households actually enjoy the right of the first night to the slaves' daughters, and on the day of the marriage of some slaves, the bride has not had intercourse with the slaves, so the master must "enjoy" them first.

Those who attacked and killed the officials of the Ministry of Industry that day were selected from these private slaves by several families.Soon after the incident, the perpetrators were called together to drink and celebrate their victory, and then they were all poisoned to death with poisoned alcohol, and their bodies were loaded onto the boat and thrown into the sea.

"According to the time, this matter must have been reported to the court. According to the style of the emperors and ministers of this dynasty, I don't know how long it took to discuss it back and forth. If it is not complete, it will be nothing. .

If the imperial court really dares to send people down to preside over the opening of the sea again, then let's do it again at the right time, and let them know that taking people's money will never end well!This Jiangnan is the Jiangnan of our Jiangnan people, and no one else can profit from it! "

Just after Gu Shenqing finished speaking, Lu Maocheng took the lead to express his opinion, and the blissful Saturday opinion head praised: "Xiao Lu is right, since ancient times, he has been a powerful dragon and a snake. There are no famous officials from Jiangnan to stand up for me, but if the imperial court continues to act recklessly, then let him have a taste of our methods!"

"I don't think this matter will be so simple. Let's not talk about how long it will take for the court to discuss this matter. Let's just say that if the court sends people to the south again to continue building the pier, in case soldiers are sent to suppress the place today, That would be troublesome. If this is the case, with our strength, we can't resist him at all, so we need to discuss this matter carefully!"

After Lu Maocheng and Saturday Guan put forward their own opinions one after another, Xu Sheng, who has always been calm, put forward different opinions, and laid out the possible countermeasures of the court.

"Brother Xu, did you worry too much? This time, the Zhu family wanted to open the sea. In fact, he learned the tricks of Emperor Shenzong's struggle with the people. That lame man sent the mine supervisor and tax supervisor to seize the property of the gentry. Didn't he lose his wife and lose his army? Why didn't you see that he sent soldiers to suppress the scene?

This Zhu family emperor has always been this kind of virtue. He wants to be a watchword and also wants to set up a memorial archway. Everyone is a person with great face, and they all want to make a good reputation as a Mingjun in the history. No matter how reluctant he is, he has to quickly change his own articles of association and send soldiers to collect taxes?You must not teach the world to scold you to death! "

Regarding Xu Sheng's overly cautious and extreme judgment, Lu Maocheng replied in a rather disapproving tone.

"Brother Lu, don't be careless, what Brother Xu said just now is quite reasonable.

In recent years, the emperor of the Zhu family has repeatedly acted, showing his tough tactics under the conquest of the outside world and the inside, and his prestige in the court is also very high. If he is angry, it is not impossible to send soldiers south. After all, now Nanchen has no place to stand in the court, and no one speaks for us. If we really want to get to that kind of situation, we need to discuss it carefully! "

Xu Sheng's remarks resonated with Gu Shenqing.For him who has been paying attention to the movement of the court, according to the increasingly tough style of the emperor, sending troops to the south is also one of the means that the emperor may use under extreme circumstances. If that is the case, things will become very difficult.

"Brother Gu, since today is the time for great joy in the family, let's talk about such nonsense later. If there are really soldiers going south, then we can gather tens of thousands of people to put pressure on it. I don't believe in the emperor of the Zhu family. Dare to kill with a knife and a gun!
Brother Gu, what fresh dishes are there for us today?I heard that my brother's mansion hired a chef from Hongbin Building in Suzhou Mansion. Could it be that there is a good way to do it? "

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting heavier and heavier, Lu Maocheng, who was always thinking about those beautiful Xiyi dancers, smiled and changed the topic.

Lu Maocheng didn't take Xu Sheng and Gu Shenqing's deduction seriously at all.

In the past 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, no matter whether it is efficiency or decisiveness, except for Taizu, the emperors and important ministers of all dynasties have not shown a superhuman appearance, and any major decision-making is delayed in wrangling and worry, Lei Sheng It has been the consensus of all the people of insight that the heavy rain is small, and the worries of Gu Shenqing and Xu Sheng are nothing but unfounded worries.

"Brother Lu's words are extremely true! Since a few distinguished guests are here today, we will not return without getting drunk! Everyone, let's follow Gu, I will teach you to wait for an eye-opener today! Haha!"

"Brother Gu, aren't you too fussy? We are all wealthy people, and we enjoy all the aquatic and land animals in our daily meals. Why do you let me eat the poor food that this farmer eats?"

After the four of them moved to sit in the waterside pavilion, besides all kinds of exquisite food on the rosewood dining table, there was actually a live duck in a not-so-large iron cage on the side, Saturday Guan suddenly said with some dissatisfaction, although Lu Maocheng and Xu Sheng were silent, they looked at Gu Shenqing with searching eyes.

"Hey! Everyone, please be safe and don't be impatient. Although this food is eaten by ordinary people, if it is cooked properly, its taste is extremely delicious!"

Gu Shenqing said it in a proud tone, and then gave orders, two beautiful maidservants lifted the iron cage and put it on a pottery urn covered with iron plates. A man in his thirties and wearing a gray cloth robe was holding a pottery urn. Can walked up to the iron cage.

The pottery urn contained burning silver charcoal, and the iron plate on it began to heat up under the gradual heat. The ducks in the iron cage began to scream and jump and struggle because of the hot feet, but they could not move because of the restraint of the cage. escape.

As the temperature got higher and higher, although it was daytime, the iron plate began to turn red slowly, and the shriek of the duck made the faces of the two beauties unbearable.

The man poured the pre-prepared liquid secret ingredients in the clay pot into the sink next to the cage. The hungry and thirsty ducks struggled desperately under the high temperature and began to desperately replenish the liquid.

As the iron plate turned red, the duck's struggle became weaker and weaker, and not many feathers were left on its body. Lu Maocheng and others also watched with relish.

"Master, the meat is already cooked!"

The man who had been carefully observing the movements of the duck saluted Gu Shenqing and said, but the duck did not die at this time.

"Let's fetch it for all distinguished guests to enjoy!"

After seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of Lu Maocheng and others, Gu Shenqing, who was very proud, ordered casually.

The man turned around and went outside the waterside pavilion, brought another clay pot containing soup and seasonings to the side, then took out a pair of deerskin gloves from his pocket, put them on his hands, and stepped forward to lift a handle on the top of the iron cage , lifted the cage off the iron plate and put it on the ground, then picked up the clay pot and poured it continuously through the iron cage, and a tangy fragrance spread quickly, making people salivate.

Just when the man opened the iron cage, took out the dying duck, and then began to slice the meat with a sharp knife, preparing to let Xu Sheng and others who couldn't wait to enjoy the food at ease, Gu Shun, the butler of Gu's mansion, came in a hurry. In the water pavilion, the expression on the face seemed to be a little uneasy.

Seeing him like this, Gu Shenqing casually ordered that the idlers in the waterside pavilion walk away in a short while.

"Master, Xie Mansion sent someone to inform that the imperial envoy has come to Songjiang Mansion!"

　Thanks to Venus for the graphics card reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)