Lu Ming

Chapter 346 Opening of Port (Twelve)

The structure of the Zuo clan is the same as that of all other clans: the patriarch is the core figure, who holds the right to distribute public property, public land, and public property within the clan.

At the same time, the most prestigious elders in each house will form a dual council with the patriarch to negotiate internal affairs of the clan.

Recently, however, the clan meetings have been more frequent than before.

When the Land Acquisition Office first entered the village a few days ago, the clan held a meeting. The only consensus reached at the meeting was to "wait and see what happens."However, not long after, the second emergency meeting started again.This time the topic is how to deal with Zuo Ping, the scum in the clan.

Speaking of Zuo Ping, this person is also a strange one.Among their generation, Zuo Ping is the seventeenth, so people usually call him Zuo Seventeen.

The seventeenth on the left is the second son of Liufang.When this gentleman became an adult, he was assigned the property rights of [-] mu of land from his family. He didn't want this guy to suddenly become addicted to gambling after the death of his parents.

Originally, no one cares about this kind of thing. Which big family doesn't have a few scum?Seriously, many people are watching with cold eyes, waiting for the next time this guy loses a bet and releases the title deed for everyone to continue bidding.

I don't want a thunderbolt on a sunny day: the renting and land acquisition office is here.

With competition comes comparison.After observing for a period of time, Zuo Shiqi found that the rented house for land requisition was indeed innocent, real gold and silver, so his mind was moved.

You must know that he only has 40 mu of land left on hand, most of which are not good land, just ordinary middle and lower fields.

Then if the land is exchanged according to the conditions given by the renter, he can get 60 acres of neat farmland in other counties.In this way, the value of his assets has increased a lot invisibly. Whether he continues to rent out or split up and sell if he loses a bet in the future, he can advance and retreat or defend.

So Zuo Shiqi secretly ran to Fengxian for a walk, and after inquiring about the specific situation with the rich peasants who ate crabs, the gambler was really tempted.

However, it is not so easy to sell the land. There is a hidden problem to be solved: theoretically, he can only sell the land to the clan.

This point is necessary and understandable: the clan is not a joint-stock company for future generations. If unworthy descendants are allowed to sell the land to outsiders, the clan will disappear within a few generations.

But Zuo Shiqi really wanted to get rid of his clan. He just wanted to stay away from those clansmen who mocked him as a waste all day long and were waiting to take advantage of him.

He is a man with dreams, he doesn't want to be trampled under his feet for the rest of his life, he has been waiting for the past few years, just waiting for an opportunity to get into the gambling house and make a killing, and get rich overnight.Then tell everyone that what he lost must be taken back!
Now that the Land Acquisition Office had appeared, Zuo Shiqi's opportunity had finally come, so he didn't hesitate any longer, and knocked on the back door in the middle of the night, intending to have a good talk with these land requisitioners.

The result of the conversation was very satisfying to him: the Land Acquisition Office agreed to relocate his land in Xiaoshan.In this case, he would have gone to Shaoxing, and the clan would not be able to do anything to him across the Qiantang River in the future.

So someone went home excitedly to prepare the title deed.

However, what Zuo Shiqi did not expect was that he was escorted into the ancestral hall early the next morning, and there were members of the Council of Elders waiting in full force.

Who betrayed him?Brother and sister separated by a wall.

Under the reminder of Jiafa (red lacquer stick), Zuo Shiqi quickly revealed everything.After that, he was given an additional board, and then ordered to stay at home to recuperate from his injuries, and he was not allowed to go anywhere.

As for his land deed, after being discussed among the clan, his brother will keep it on his behalf. If Zuo Shiqi wants to sell the land in the future, his brother will take care of everything.

To be honest, the result of this treatment is already very fair and kind from the perspective of the clan.Zuo Shiqiu didn't lose anything except being beaten with a stick. If he really wanted to sell the land, he could still get money, but it was just the internal price of the clan.

But things in the world are never that simple.The eggs are broken, can the flies be spared?

On the day Zuo Shiqi was repaired, a certain county clerk's office heard the news and rushed to the home of the injured to give condolences.After that, Yu Bende put his hands behind his back, hummed a ditty, and strolled to the door of Zuo's house, begging to see Zuo Hongtang.

Naturally, Zuo Hongtang didn't dare to neglect, so he hurriedly invited Yu to the main room to have tea.

From the perspective of the large class, there was a clear expression of "scholar, civilian, business and industry" in ancient times.However, this is just a rough division. Within each class, there will be many small classes according to their strength.

For the "rich" class in the Ming Dynasty, there were also several levels of division.

Excluding those royal relatives and relatives, the top of the food chain is naturally the gentry class.A real gentry refers to a "senior intellectual family" in which someone in the family is an official, or at least there are Juren and retired officials in the township.

If this kind of family is operated properly, and if there are people from generation to generation who become officials, then the clan members can engrave the high-end nameplate of "poetry and book heirloom" on their foreheads.This title sounds very elegant, but it represents the top dignitaries who cannibalize people without spit out their bones.

The government has no way to deal with this kind of family. Xu Jie is the best example: During his career as chief assistant, the Xu family kept embezzling hundreds of thousands of acres of land in his hometown.

Later, after Gao Gong made Hai Rui the governor of Yingtian (Jiangsu + Shanghai - Provincial Wei Shuji), Qing Hairui, the super anti-corruption stupefied, planned to beat up a dozen local tyrants in the jurisdiction.When he found out that the Xu family was the biggest local tyrant in the whole of Southern Zhili, he began to confiscate the land, and also arrested Xu Jie's son by the way.

However, it was of no use: Xu Jie, an old comrade who had retired to the second line, found a relationship and spent some money to transfer Hai Rui away. There was a saying in the time: Retirement at home can drive away the court.

This is the strength of the top gentry family: even if Hai Rui was dismissed by two tricks, those officials, big and small, were even more inseparable from the shackles of their internal relations in the officialdom.

So this kind of gentry family is actually the biggest moth in the country: they turn a large number of owner farmers into their own tenant farmers, and they do not pay taxes on a large amount of land they occupy, which is equivalent to putting the state finances into their own pockets.

To some extent, this is the true meaning of "ruling the world with the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats": the emperor allowed the senior scholar-bureaucrats to share the national tax revenue.

Below the top gentry is the ordinary gentry class.This kind of official is usually only a generation, or the younger generation is not connected after the death of the older generation, but the relationship between the DPRK and China is still there, and the residual prestige is still there.

Even this kind of gentry is not something the government can handle.The family pays taxes on 500 mu of land, but there is still 1000 mu of land that does not pay taxes. The main body of tax collection is the county government. Whether it is Zhima county magistrate or a humble subordinate, there is nothing to do in front of this kind of people.

Next is the rural local tyrant who talks about "farming and studying heirlooms" every day.

This kind of family is the third level of the pyramid. There have never been any high-ranking officials in the family, but there are many small officials and small officials, which are deeply rooted in the local area. Sex is in a bargaining mode.

The Zuo family that Yu Bende came to talk with today is the lowest level of the pyramid: the local tyrants in the countryside.

This kind of family is the most numerous country power.This generation does not have much political energy, can dominate the local area, and owes taxes, relying on tonnage: clans with hundreds or thousands of people unite to fight wits and courage with tax collectors.

And the reason why Yu Bende chose Zuojia Village in front of Xiong Dao was because he knew himself: Zuojia Village is close to the port on the one hand, and on the other hand, because there are no political families with farming and education heirs. The subordinate staff can barely use it here.

After entering the main room, both parties watched the seats and served tea.Yu Bende was in no hurry at all, he erected the lid of the tea bowl unhurriedly, watching the water droplets on it fall into the bowl attentively.

But Zuo Hongtang with big ears doesn't have this kind of kung fu for nourishing qi.You must know that on the first day when the Land Acquisition Office came, he sent someone to invite Yu Bende in private, but he was rejected by the other party.

So he has been waiting to meet Yu Bende all these days: "Master Yu, I am looking forward to you today. Please tell me what's behind this purchase of land!"

Yu Bende nodded with a smile.Although he didn't come to Zuojia Village very often, and he didn't know Zuo Hongtang very well, but today he clearly felt that the head of the family lacked confidence.

"Country bumpkin, don't know how powerful it is." Thinking of this, Yu Bende opened his mouth and said, "Master Zuo, the matter of buying the land was entrusted to him by the big man above, and the villain is just running errands and helping out."

Seeing the old official's determination, Zuo Hongtang couldn't help feeling tense: "Oh, is that enough?"

"Naturally it's not enough." Yu Bende raised the corner of his mouth.For this kind of family without political power, his tone was very equal: "Counting all the land in Zuojia Village, it probably still owes some."

"Ah!?" Zuo Hongtang was shocked: "Where is the big man from? The appetite is not small!"

Yu Bende didn't bother to explain to these country bumpkins. Even if he said it, what the recruited deputy guard of Xiamen represented? clear."

After a few words, Yu Bende finally expressed his purpose: "Master Zuo, this hinders the work, isn't it like the actions of a sensible person like you?"

Zuo Hongtang still hadn't recovered from the shock just now.In his impression, it seems that only the royal relatives have the ability to uproot the people of a place, so he will not be able to concentrate, and after thinking about it, he realizes that Yu Bende is asking for guilt: "Master Yu, Please also clarify, has the Zuo family ever prevented you from doing business in the past few days?"

"Hey, Zuo Shiqi is already lying on the bed, how can I hinder him?"

When Zuo Hongtang heard this, he instantly understood, and then he was furious: "That bastard is a private matter of my Zuo family, so don't worry about it, Master Yu?"

"It's really out of the villain's business how master Zuo gets angry with his nephew. But right now, this document is the villain's business."

Having said this, Yu Bende slowly took out a contract from his pocket and put it on the table.

(End of this chapter)