Lu Ming

Chapter 492 Ancestral Hall
If you want to kill a tree, you don't need to chop it with a big axe, you just need to peel off the bark of the trunk part - the nutrient delivery channel is cut off, and the crown will die soon.

This method is especially useful for commercial crops such as lychees, because many people do not need to cut down trees and go back to fire.So that night, the fruit trees in the lychee garden outside Chenshi Village were processed in the same way, and the lychees that were about to mature would never grow ripe again.

Next is the fish pond.This one is much simpler and only requires a sudden change in the pH of the pond to kill the fish.On this point, Master Xiong from Jiangnan has rich experience.At that time, under his leadership, the research group tested the tolerance relationship between a variety of commonly used chemicals and pond fish, and achieved rich scientific research results.

So bags of white powder were scattered into the surrounding fish ponds.In addition, the mulberry trees surrounding the fish pond did not escape the catastrophe, and all of them were stripped of their bark.

Finally, rice fields.

There is no way to do this in the rice field, so we can only choose the most labor-intensive method, roll up your trouser legs, and go in with a long-handled sickle to cut randomly.Fortunately, destruction is always easier than construction. A row of people with long knives cut around and stomped on things, and they did things without bending their waists. The efficiency was very fast.

At dawn, when the early risers of Chenshi Village came out of the village with their hoes on their shoulders, they found that all the fish in the pond had turned white. After a beauty exfoliation, the white and tender circle behind the bark was revealed.

With a "puff", the people sat on the ground and the sky collapsed.

Chenshi Village, Chen Family Ancestral Hall.

The old Chen family ancestral hall was renovated only the year before last. The beams and columns that have been painted several times stand there calmly. With the long woodcut couplets and the raised plaque beside the door, it exudes majesty everywhere.

In today's ancestral hall, almost all the men of the Chen family were present.

In the main hall where the tablets of the ancestors of the past dynasties are enshrined, the heads of the houses are sitting. Behind them are their nephews and nephews. Outside the door are densely packed ordinary people, all the way to the courtyard wall.

The person sitting at the top of the table is naturally the head of the Chen family.

The patriarch's name is Chen Shi'ai.This man has a pointed face and thin eyebrows, with a gray beard. He is over 50 years old. He wears a scholar's scarf and a scholar's robe.

Chen Shi'ai was an old scholar during the Wanli period, the eldest son of the eldest family, and the patriarch of the Chen clan for many years, and was quite prestigious among the clan.

At this moment, Chen Shi'ai, with an angry face, was banging on the armrest of the seat vigorously: "You bastard, you are really lawless. Is this person surnamed Cao trying to rebel? Reverse, rebellious, this Qiu Ba must be rebelling!"

Following the roar of the old patriarch, there was a lot of discussion in the main room, and most of the clansmen were also full of anger, cursing that the surnamed Cao would die a bad life, and that he had a son without an ass hole.

"Okay, don't close the door and become a king. The rice is already cut, and you are still talking about it, cursing and cursing, can someone with the surname Cao lose a hair?"

The person who said this was a fat middle-aged man in a satin robe with a jade ring on his finger.This person's name is Chen Shicai, he is the talker of the third house, and he ranks fifteenth in the world's generation.

There was a reason for Chen Shicai's disdain.Because their Sanfang's energy over the years has been mainly spent on business and business, they have some conflicts with other Fangtou who rely on farming as their main business, and they have a lot of quarrels with each other.

Sitting here today, seeing this group of clansmen sitting in a well and looking at the sky, embracing the disabled, he, who had originally made up his mind not to say anything, finally couldn't help but utter a word.

Following Chen Shicai's sarcasm, the hall fell silent.

The patriarch Chen Shiai was not happy at this moment, he would roll his eyelids at Chen Shicai, and said in a sinister way: "Old fifteen, please make it clear, what does it mean to be a king behind closed doors!? Isn't everyone discussing countermeasures?" ?”

"Countermeasures? Hmph, what a joke. Is there a countermeasure for sitting in the main room and cursing?" Chen Shicai looked helpless at this moment, turned his head and said to everyone: "The fish are dead, and the rice is gone. What countermeasures can make the fish come back to life? Before The people in Toushan Village and Weishan Village were manipulated like this, so what should those people do in the end? Just lie down and be hammered!"

"Ridiculous!" Chen Shi'ai became more and more dissatisfied when he heard this, and after casting a sidelong glance at the fifteenth old man, he stood up from his chair and said loudly: "My Chen family has been here for hundreds of years since it moved south in the late Song Dynasty. There have been countless natural disasters and man-made disasters, have you ever been afraid of anyone? Huh, as long as the township and party are united, there will be no hurdles that cannot be overcome!"

After talking about the chicken soup, Chen Shiai thought about it and said to Chen Shicai: "Old fifteen, don't stir up trouble here, I know you have dealings with Cao thief."

Pointing to the tablet behind him, Chen Shi'ai continued: "Today in this Chen family ancestral hall, in front of the ancestors, don't plan to do anything wrong. You need to know that the people sitting here are all your flesh and blood relatives. People are doing it, and the sky is watching, the clan law cannot cure you, and the ancestors will not spare you in the future!"

"It's that cliché again." Chen Shicai sneered a few times with an expression of "I knew it earlier" after hearing the threatening words with guns and sticks.

Next, Chen Shicai shook his head helplessly, and then said leisurely: "Jiaodao, everyone is fighting with someone surnamed Cao. The book office master of Laoshizi's 'Demolition Office' from the new city, not every household enters Is it? Doesn’t every household have the land acquisition regulations given by others? Here, I, Chen Shicai, also have a copy in black and white. It’s not a copper coin more than anyone else! Chen Shi’ai, don’t you want to pour dirt on my Sanfang’s head? Shui, come, take a look at the regulations of my third house, can I get an extra copper coin?"

Having said that, Chen Shicai took out three bound white A4 papers from his pocket, and slapped them on the coffee table.

"This is the charter, everyone in the clan has a copy! Chen Shi'ai, don't talk about your ancestors and shut up about your ancestors. Let me ask you, for the past six months, the charter has been in the hands of each family. As the patriarch, you can't wait to die. Have you ever had a little coping?"

Chen Shi'ai opened his mouth to refute when he heard this, but his tone couldn't help but weakened a bit: "It's a matter of great importance, and we have to see how other families deal with it, so that we can gain advantages and avoid disadvantages, right?"

"Take advantage and avoid disadvantage? Heh heh, the rice has been destroyed. What kind of advantage is this? It's obviously a way to lure wolves into the house!"

Seeing that Chen Shi'ai was so angry that he couldn't speak, Chen Shicai walked two steps into the hall, shook his sleeves, and finally said with a sneer: "I can't resist, but I don't want to sell the land, isn't it just waiting for death? Alright, The matter has come to this point, I don’t think you can drag it on any longer. Today I will make it clear: Sanfang will sign the charter later, if you don’t want to sign, you can do whatever you want.”

After Chen Shicai said this, he waved his hand and strode out of the ancestral hall.Following behind him were three rooms and one group of people.

After Chen Shicai left, a new round of whispering started in the slightly awkward main room.Not long after, an old man with pure white hair and beard opened his mouth: "Shi Ai, looking at this situation, General Cao may be red-eyed, and he is bound to win. He has soldiers and horses in his hands. Looking at it in the past six months, he may be The government can't point it out."

"Other villages also resisted fiercely, and everyone knows the end. It's a lesson from the past, we can't follow in the footsteps,"

"Now I can't hold back my arms, so why not just sign the document. Otherwise, the mulberry and rice would have been destroyed, not to mention that the children have no food to eat, and the autumn tax will come soon, then the gate of hell will be closed. What can we do with it?"

Hearing the speech of this senior elder of the Dexun clan, Chen Shiai did not show righteousness to others, but said bitterly: "Si Bo, it's not that Shiai is stubborn, but if you sign that document, I Chen Shiai The family is in real trouble!"

When Chen Shi'ai said this, his eyes were red: "Leaving the Tiantu family house, the clansmen scattered all over the world to do work for Cao. Who will run the clan study in the future? Who will offer incense to the ancestors? Once this pen is settled, the Chen family will be happy." It's game over."

I have to say that Chen Shi'ai, an old scholar, has a good vision.His words clearly pointed out the implicit killing of the clan by demolition and land expropriation: once the clan’s land that the clan relies on to exploit and bind the peasants is deprived, the traditional clan structure will disappear in an instant.

For a patriarch like Chen Shi'ai, the demolition was a blow to reduce his dimension—he could no longer exploit his tribe by means of "common property", "sacrifice to land", and "ethnic studies", and he couldn't use righteousness and family law in the ancestral hall. Deal with the clansmen, because the clansmen have all gone to dormitories in different places, and no one listens to him anymore.

This is the most fundamental reason why Chen Shiai would rather die than submit to the demolition office.He sees it all, knowing that if he gives in, he will lose the most precious thing: his rights.

However, seeing through is seeing through, and things must be resolved after all.The dead fish in the pond and the young crops in the rice fields are lying there, and the practical problems cannot be solved by just talking about righteousness.

So Chen Shi'ai turned his head, and said to an old man sitting beside him who had been silent all the time: "Shiqi, say a few words."

Chen Shiqi, a Jinshi during the Wanli period, served two prefects and one branch inspector. Now he is old in the village, and he is the biggest support of the Chen family.

Chen Shiqi with a clear face, dressed in a black straight dress, and with three long beards, shook his head slightly when he heard the words, frowned and said: "Now the court is in troubled times, and that person Cao is a pirate recruited by An, with a strong army, a few days ago He went to King Qin of the capital again, so if the Third Division of Guangdong Xianfan wants to give him some points, he has to let this beast go crazy for a while."

"You can't just wait to die like this?"

Chen Shi'ai stared at his only hope without blinking.

"Calculating the time, the letter from the capital is only a few days away. If you can play the book of Cao Chuan in the court at that time, it will probably be effective."

"Then what should we do now?"

"Procrastinate." Chen Shiqi said decisively: "Make some small moves, but don't overdo it. I'll talk about it after I read the letter."

"That's the case." Chen Shi'ai walked a few steps in the hall with his hands behind his back: "Tomorrow I will go to the county government to beat the drums and complain. The county magistrate Sun and I are usually on good terms, so I should definitely cause some trouble to the 'demolition office'."

"Good." Chen Shiqi nodded and said, "Let's wait a few days for the exchange of documents."

(End of this chapter)