Lu Ming

Chapter 347 Opening of the Port (thirteen)

After Zuo Hongtang picked up the deed on the table and took a closer look, this time he was really angry: "Master Yu, the ink is still wet, you must do countless things!"

The content on the paper was very simple: Zuo Shiqi agreed to an agreement of intent to rent warehouses and exchange land, with fingerprints on the outside.

At this time, Yu Bende asked with a smile: "Master, the black and white papers have been pressed with fingerprints, how can they be counted?"

Zuo Hongtang slapped the paper on the table fiercely: "This shit is not a land deed. There is no public discussion within the clan, and it is impossible to buy and sell land in private. Sooner or later, the seventeenth will be beaten to death in the ancestral hall." Yes, Master Yu, you have crossed the line!"

From this moment on, clan power and imperial power were on the same page.

Traditional Chinese society is a social structure in which the three powers of "imperial power, religious power, and clan power" coexist.

The exercise of imperial power is political power at the national level, and the exercise of clan power is the power of local autonomy.The imperial power only extends to the county level, which is what the so-called "imperial power does not extend to the county".

The townships and villages below the county level are all clan and folk self-government. Only when the law and state public affairs are involved can the imperial power extend to the townships and villages.

Then, because people follow the traditional culture, the education, right and wrong, and moral judgment of the whole society can be completed by the religious authority who has mastered the culture-a stable triangle is formed in this way.

So the moment this thin yellow contract was thrown on the table today, Yu Bende, who represented the imperial power, was tantamount to a formal confrontation with Zuo Hongtang, who represented the clan power.

In theory, this contract represents an ambiguity: Both parties have reasons.

For the clan of the Ming Dynasty where "imperial power does not come down to the county", everything about Zuo Shiqi, including his property and his life, has the right to settle it privately - this has been done for thousands of years, "Ministry Don’t raise officials, don’t prosecute.” Clans are justifiable to use family law to kill people, and there is no need to report to the government, let alone the small amount of land.

This is why Zuo Hongtang attacked Yu Bende for "fishing beyond the border": Yu Shuban broke the traditional tacit understanding between the two parties.

And the reason why Zuo Shiqi was not dealt with ruthlessly at the beginning was because the elder council of the Zuo family underestimated the seriousness of this matter: handing over Zuo Shiqi's land deed to his elder brother and sister-in-law for safekeeping. It seems that it is enough, there is no need to silence it.

After all, if you really want to kill someone, you need a reason. They just tried to sell the land, and they didn't kill someone while sleeping with their sister-in-law.

But that's where things go wrong.The Zuo family didn't have sufficient sources of information, so they didn't know the purpose and background of Yu Bende and his group. They didn't expect that the opponent's appetite was actually bigger than the sky, and they came for the Zuo family.

The sale of Zuo Shiqi's land just gave Yu Bende an excuse and opportunity to intervene - in fact, if he had asked the patriarchal clan to bury Zuo Shiqi privately yesterday, Yu Bende would not be able to use his strength today.

For Yu Bende, since Zuo Shiqi is still alive, then this matter is easy to handle: he came to the door in person today, and it was easy to make sense of Zuo Shiqi lying on the bed, full of resentment, and asked him to press handprint.

Note that this contract is actually just a "Letter of Intent", which states that Zuo Shiqi agrees to sell his land to the renter.As for the most critical land deed itself, it is still in the hands of Zuo Shiqi's brother and sister-in-law, and Yu Bende needs to handle it himself.

However, this is enough, Yu Bende just needs an opportunity to intervene openly.Now Zuo Shiqi's land sale has become an "official matter" under the witness of his "official servant", and an official matter means that this dispute can be "reasoned" in the lobby of the county government.

So now Yu Bende is eager for the Zuo family to kill Zuo Shiqi again, so that he can make a big mess of this matter - the premise of "the people don't raise officials and don't investigate" is that there is a tacit understanding between the two parties, and once the tacit understanding is broken by the government, they must be held accountable For a certain case, regardless of the others, it is necessary for the parties involved to go to court.

These truths sound long, but they can be understood in an instant on both sides of the confrontation.

After listening to Zuo Hongtang's explanation, Yu Bende smiled and pointed at the piece of paper on the table with his finger, and then he asked a murderous sentence: "Whether Zuo Shiqi is Shentang or alive, the villain can't control that much. But this person sued his brother and sister-in-law for conspiring to seize the family property and forcibly demanded the land deed, so it seems that this is true?"

Of course Zuo Hongtang understood the meaning of this old dog: the surname Yu wanted to make things worse and let the public to intervene.In the words of later generations, it is Yu Bende who wants to draw his opponent into his familiar environment, and then defeat him with rich experience.

"There is absolutely no such thing!" Zuo Hongtang instinctively opened his mouth to deny.

"Hehehe" Yu Bende, who was dressed in official clothes and pretended to be a tiger, obviously had the upper hand at this moment, even though he was just an old man who came to Zuo's house alone: ​​"Since there is no such thing, then who owns the title deed of Zuo Shiqiu?"

"This..." Zuo Hongtang found himself falling into a trap.

No matter what answer he gives now, the opponent can use Zuo Shiqi's confession and contract to make an attack and bring the matter to the judicial process.For example, Zuo Shiqi's brother and sister-in-law were sent to the county government to explain the situation by issuing a "ticket".

And how can a rural family like the Zuo family compete with others in the county government?

In fact, it's not that simple at all.With the household book of the county government acting as a witness, referee and team member in person, not to mention that the brother and sister-in-law did take the title deed in full view, even if they didn't take it, they would be blamed countless times if they entered it.If it doesn't work, it can be connected to other members of the Zuo family.

The checkpoint before this is already difficult: in this era, the witnesses summoned are all detained in the "detention hall" privately set up by the police. The brother and sister-in-law are already finished.

This is the reason why small people and small households are afraid of the government: no matter whether they win or lose, they have to shed a layer of skin if they don't die.

It was originally a simple clan matter, but now it is caught by the opponent.Realizing that no matter what, he couldn't avoid the fact that the other party used the advantage of the public to entangle this point, Zuo Hongtang stopped following Yu Bende's train of thought.

He first thought about it quietly for a while, then picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, and then asked in a gentle tone: "Master Yu, you can't let go of a small matter, you really want to buy the Zuo family's land, right? "

"Of course." After wandering around for a long time, Yu Bende finally led his opponent's thinking on the right track. When he saw that his face was serious, he stared at Zuo Hongtang coldly and said, "You don't really think that I came to Zuo's house, just For Zuoshiqi Naluoshizi's forty mu of land?"

"Master Yu, with so many people in Zuojiazhuang, where can they go to earn a living after selling the land?" Zuo Hongtang still doesn't believe that Yu Bende came to swallow up the whole village's land, so he still doesn't really believe it at this time.

"Hehe, let me tell you the truth from Mr. Zuo, there will be a large studio here in the future." Yu Bende put on a smile again at this time, and began to describe the company's vision to someone: "If you change land in the village, you can go to the south to continue Farming. Those who don’t want to farm can also work in the workshop, and they will always have something to eat.”

Zuo Hongtang suddenly stood up from his chair.A certain person finally understood now that he didn't come here to play with him, but really had a plan to uproot the Zuo family: "Yu, you are really going to drive thousands of members of my Zuo family to death!" No?"

At this time, Yu Bende also stood up slowly: "Master Zuo, this place is bound to be acquired. Compared with the one behind me, your Zuo family is really not enough. Please listen to my old advice: know the current affairs Those who are outstanding, maybe after everyone sells the land, life will be better?"

How could Zuo Hongtang entrust his family's fate to this old man's words?Seriously, he already thought he had seen through Yu Bende's tricks: "Fart! My Zuo family lives here for generations, how can I just leave? Hmph, Yu, I don't care who the master behind you is. If you want to seek land, follow me first." Let’s step over the corpses of thousands of members of the Zuo family!”

After cursing with the halberd finger, Zuo Hongtang tossed his sleeves, turned his back, and said angrily, "It's okay to leave!"

Standing there, Yu Bende couldn't help sighing: After all, we have come to this step.So he hastily clasped his fists together and turned to leave.

The moment Yu Bende came out from the left door, the scene entered the main stage.Both sides have already understood the opponent's purpose and ideas at this moment, and the rest is only a cold competition of strength.

The first scene of the main drama came very quickly: after Zuo Shiqi lay on the bed for a day, he was happily helped to the Land Acquisition Office and took his land deed on the table.

And Yu Bende, who was sitting behind the table, saw Zuo Shiqi taking out the land deed, and couldn't help but sneered a few times: "Okay, very good, come here, and go through the formalities for Brother Zuo."

He learned from Zuo Shiqi's mouth that the Zuo family urgently held a senate meeting, and at the meeting, Zuo Shiqi's land deed was returned, and he was also removed from the Zuo family.
So Zuo Shiqi is purely a loner.Wanting to be the God of Gamblers, he now intends to completely let himself go and leave Zuojia Village, where the bad guys are entrenched.

So Yu Bende finally became a good man again: he bought the rooms of Zuo Shiqi with silver.

After sending the God of Gamblers away, the Land Acquisition Office, aware that the Zuo family had begun to shrink their defenses, first waited in a calm manner for a few days.After all the retail investors who were willing to sell the land were settled, another news was announced in the village: for those who sell the land now, an additional two taels of silver will be added to the original standard per mu.

After this news came out, even a fool would settle accounts: as long as you sell the land at home, even if you go to a neighboring village to buy another land of the same size, you can still save a lot of money afterwards.These years, no one's family is well-off. With this money, the overwhelming debts and exorbitant taxes can be solved!
Then there was another wave of land sales, this time involving almost all the remaining retail investors in the village.

Most importantly, another Zuo family came to the door with the title deed.

(End of this chapter)