A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 260 Feed the unfamiliar white-eyed wolf

One more friend is better than one more enemy, but in the face of interests, there are several real friends.

It is also said that a small favor becomes a noble person, and a great favor becomes an enemy.

After returning from the night banquet in Huaiyu Palace, he saw Wu Cheng, a hunchback, beating someone in front of the gate of Wutou in Shouyang Hou Mansion. Wu Cheng, who was short and hunchback, was holding a tall, thin man who was much taller than him with one hand. , viciously slapping the man's face with his toes.

Slap after slap, left and right, the face of the middle-aged man was covered with blood.

That man was obviously much taller than Wu Cheng, but he was beaten with blood all over his face but he only dared to beg for mercy.

"stop."

Huaiyu got down from the carriage and looked at what was happening at the door of his house with a gloomy face. Jinwu couldn't help it during the Shangyuan Festival today. Two three-story colorful buildings were built at the gate of Wu's house. It has also been made into a mythical figure statue lamp, which is very gorgeous.

Not only did it attract neighbors to look at the lanterns, but even many people from other workshops also came to watch.

And the color building of the Wu family also specially set up many lantern riddles. Small lanterns are hung on the color building. As long as you can answer the above puzzles correctly, you can get this beautiful lantern. There is a reward, and the top three who answer the most correctly every day can also get a bonus reward wrapped in red silk on the Cailou.

The sword maids of the Wu family uniformed in red dresses, stood in front of the colorful building with swords on their backs and spears.

The atmosphere was originally very harmonious and joyful.

Now the concierge of the Wu family is actually beating people in public, it looks like a powerful and evil slave bullying others.

"what happened?"

Huaiyu doesn't quite believe that Wu Cheng is bullying others, after all, there are so many neighbors here, as well as family stewards, sword maids, etc., and Wu Cheng will not let Wu Cheng mess up and ruin the family reputation.

"Ah Lang, this scoundrel is a bastard. He dared to come to our house to act wildly. I will teach him a lesson."

Huaiyu looked at many people around, some came early and some just came, some knew about it and some didn't, they were discussing a lot, if this matter is not explained today, it might be spread tomorrow.

"Let go of him first, tell me what's going on, louder."

"Back to Alang, the thing is like this. Since our Wu family moved to Yongxingfang, we have been very friendly to the neighbors in the neighborhood. Our family paid for the disabled in the workshop to clean the streets and alleys at night, and spent money Ten public toilets and four bathhouses have been built on several streets in the workshop, all of which are free for the neighbors to use, and even the community school in the workshop, our family also donates food and paper and pens.

During the four seasons and eight festivals, we will specially send food and salt to the orphans, widows, elderly and sick in the workshop. Whenever the neighbors and neighbors are struggling to survive, we will help everything we can.

There are those young and strong who have no work, we arranged for them to be introduced, half-sized children also specially arranged to work as shop assistants, and they can earn a living and learn crafts. People say that our martial arts family is benevolent and charitable. Bar? "

Although Wu Cheng is a hunchback dwarf, but after coming to Chang'an as a porter, he has increased his knowledge, and now his speaking skills have improved. As soon as he said these words, many of the onlookers were neighbors from our workshop, and they also spoke out. Applause, everyone praised the Wu family for their charity, benevolence and righteousness.

Wu Cheng thanked everyone, then pointed at the man whose face was covered in blood.

"Let's just talk about this person. This person is not a person. This person's name is Zhao San. He is in his thirties this year. He is good at his age, but he is lazy and lazy. In the early years, his parents worked hard to get someone to talk to him. Marriage, and spent a lot of money to find a wife for him..."

Jian Yi brought Huaiyu a horse tie, Huaiyu sat and listened, he saw that everyone was disdainful towards that Zhao San, and some neighbors even spat at him, it seems that this person really asked for it.

After listening carefully, Huaiyu became very angry.

It turns out that even though Zhao San married a wife, his habit of eating, drinking, whoring and gambling has not changed at all, and later he learned to eat, drink, prostitute, and gamble. His family was originally well-off, and his father was a good craftsman, but he couldn't stand his extravagance. .

The family business was ruined, and my father was furious.

But this guy didn't restrain himself at all, and even intensified a little bit. He couldn't pay back his gambling debts. He had two fingers chopped off and got the nickname Eight Fingers, but he still didn't change it.

There is an old lady in the family, paralyzed on the hospital bed, with no money to buy medicine and treatment. She used to rely on her wife to help others weave, embroider, wash, and support the elderly and children. All the family's affairs are on her.

After the Wu family came, they felt pity for Mrs. Zhao Qian, and not only asked her daughter-in-law Mrs. Zhao Zhang to collect medicines in the Qianjintang, but also came to the clinic several times for free.

Not to mention that when food was expensive before, they also lent him food.

And during the four seasons and eight seasons, there will always be some firewood, rice, oil and salt to his family. Even though his family's kid is still young, he makes an exception to receive it as a shop assistant.

Originally, Zhao Sandang was extremely grateful for the kind help from the Wu family, but this is just a rascal.Years ago, his mother passed away after a long illness and had no money to buy a coffin for burial, so the Wu family borrowed the money.

Then, starting from the next year, because Zhao Qian's people are gone, some food and oil assistance that was originally given to the Zhao family for the New Year's Day will not be given this year.

This is normal at first, that share is for orphans, widows and disabled people. Besides, the Wu family is just a neighbor, not his father, so there is no reason to help such a bastard all the time.

But Zhao San was still angry, and dared to scold the Wu family outside.

This bastard has recently been chased by people for his gambling debts, so he sold his wife directly to a bachelor rascal, saying that he would give the rascal three years to pay off his new gambling debt, and agreed within three years , his wife Zhao Zhang and him, and the children they gave birth to during the period also belonged to the rascal. Three years later, Zhao Zhang still returned to Zhao San's house, and the other party was responsible for Zhao Zhang's food and clothing for the past three years.

After signing and pressing his fingerprints, the rascal got the pawn contract, so he specially invited Zhao San to have a drink, and he would come to pick him up tomorrow.

This Zhao Sandian sold his wife and drank a few ounces of cat urine, so he didn't know the east, west, north and south. On the way home, he passed by Wu's house and saw the beautiful lanterns in the colorful building of Wu's house, so he came up and said a few auspicious words, wanting to please him. bounty.

Everyone in the Wu family knew what Zhao San was up to, and no one wanted to talk to him. As a result, this guy became furious, and started to openly scold the Wu family by taking advantage of his drunkenness.

Although Wu Cheng is just a concierge, he has always regarded himself as a loyal servant of the Wu family, how can he get used to him?
Normally, no matter how many powerful officials came to Wu's house, they would have to be polite to him as the concierge, and even give him a reward for the concierge, so in Wu Cheng's eyes, he was much more noble than Zhao San.

If Zhao San dared to bark at the Wu family, he would naturally go up and bite.

When he went up, he was beaten, and his face was covered with blood.

That Zhao San was quite arrogant at first, but was woken up by Wu Cheng's slaps, and he didn't even dare to backhand, just kept begging for mercy.

After listening to the details, not only did Wu Huaiyu spit at him, but even the older girls, younger daughter-in-laws, three aunts, seven women, eight aunts, and six grandmas around him were extremely disdainful and began to curse and accuse him.

Before, someone reported to Mrs. Zhao, saying that his man had been beaten at Wu's house, and he had just brought his child to intercede for his husband, but he heard that he had sold her to pay off his gambling debts.

Mrs. Zhao and Zhang collapsed, sitting on the ground crying, lamenting the injustice of fate and the suffering of life.

The Wu family used to give the Zhao family food, rice, oil, salt, loan money, medicine on credit, and even help him bury his mother, but now they help out a white-eyed wolf.

Just because he would give his family some food and salt during the New Year's Eve, but this year he didn't give any more, so he dared to scold the Wu family.

A typical rise of kindness against Michou.

Zhao San is a typical hopeless scum.

There are such people no matter in ancient or modern times, and there are many of them.

Huaiyu asked Jian Yi to help Zhao Zhangshi, and then asked Wu Cheng to pull Zhao San in front of him.

"Zhao San, is what Wu Cheng said just now true?"

Zhao San was quite arrogant just now with the strength of wine, but now he was trembling with fear, because in the Tang Dynasty, there was a crime of scolding, that is, the crime of slander (li).

Concubines, concubines, and husbands need eighty sticks.Children and grandchildren who betray their parents and grandparents are even more hanged, and those who dare to beat them will be beheaded directly.Those who cheat on uncles and parents have to be apprentices for one year, and those who cheat on teachers and masters also have to apprentice for one year.

And the subordinate officials who scolded the superior officials were also sentenced to imprisonment.

People who scold officials are also guilty of punishment. The bigger the official who scolds, the heavier the punishment, ranging from three years to ninety sticks.

However, there is a prerequisite for scolding, that is, scolding must be face-to-face, not behind-the-scenes.

If Zhao San dared to scold the Wu family, it would be light for Wu San to slap him in the face.

This will be released to future generations, although it is not a crime to scold an official, but it is impossible to get away with the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

"The little one just drank a few more glasses of wine and got drunk. I was talking nonsense for a while. I really didn't mean it..." Zhao San knelt down in front of Huaiyu, frightened, and slapped himself fiercely. Face.

It's too easy for Shouyang Hou to kill a street rascal like him.

"I asked you if you scolded Benhou just now, and Benhou's parents and ancestors?"

"Damn the little one, for a moment of confusion, Wuhou will treat it like a little one and let it go..."

"Answer me!" Huaiyu's voice was not high, but Zhao San was trembling, "Damn it, I fainted for a while and insulted Marquis Wu..."

Wu Cheng came up, "Ah Lang, ask this slave to beat this dog to death with a stick."

Huaiyu asked Jianyi to call a foreign steward in the mansion.

"Does Zhao San, the scoundrel in the workshop, owe us money?"

"Back to Alang, the rogue Zhao San's family borrowed our three-dou millet earlier, and the agreement was to return it after the spring, and it will be due soon. In addition, his mother paid more than 1 yuan to Qianjintang for medical treatment, not counting the consultation fee. .

Also, his old mother died of illness before, and he had no money to buy a coffin. Our family borrowed money to buy the coffin for the funeral, and owed more than 5000. Some of them are already due and have not been repaid. "

Wu Huaiyu looked at the trembling Zhao San without any sympathy.

poor person must have something mean.

The Wu family helped the Zhao family a lot before, and it was because of the neighbors in the neighborhood that the upstart Wu family was willing to spend some money in exchange for a good reputation, but it didn't mean that the Wu family could be insulted and provoked by the white-eyed wolf.

Not even when drunk.

Today, Wu Huaiyu also intends to use this rascal Zhao San to show the neighbors that the Wu family is benevolent, but they are not free to provoke.

"Isn't my Tang law still stipulating on debts?" Huaiyu asked.

The foreign manager immediately shouted, "According to the laws of our Tang Dynasty, all debts that violate the contract and are not paid are worth more than one bolt of silk. If you violate the [-]th day, you can be whipped [-] times, and on the [-]th day, you will be given a second class. A second class is added to a horse, and a third class is added to a hundred horses, and each order is prepared for compensation!"

The manager also carefully explained this legal provision to the neighbors in the neighborhood in vernacular.

If the debt is more than one bolt of silk, if the debt is not repaid for more than 20 days, it will be flogged and beaten twenty times.After another [-] days, continue to fight, up to [-] times.And if you owe a lot, you will be charged with an additional crime, up to a hundred bolts of silk, and you will be charged with a third-class crime.

Of course, when the fight is over, the debt will continue to be repaid.

If you still hang on and don't pay back, more than a hundred days, you will be sentenced to one year in prison.

Flogging means beating the board, while vain means forced labor, free of charge.

After one year of labor reform, the debt still has to be repaid.

In fact, the cost of being a dishonest old man in Datang is even higher.

A piece of silk is enough to be included in the dishonest list.

Zhao San died today, not only committing the crime of treason, but also failing to pay the debt.

No matter which one, Xin Zhao is in serious trouble, Zhao San kept kowtowing for mercy, and even slapped himself, suddenly, something fell out of him.

"Ah Lang, this Zhao San stole the colorful silk flag from the Cailou of our family." The hunchback Wu San had sharp eyes, and he recognized at a glance that it was the colorful silk flag from the Cailou of Wu's family, because the silk was painted with talisman seals, It was painted by Wu Huaiyu himself.

Stealing things was called theft in the Tang Dynasty, and it was one of the six crimes of stealing goods.

The crime of theft is calculated according to the value of the stolen property. The value of the property is one bolt of silk, seventy sticks, five bolts of silk, and one year's imprisonment for treason.If it reaches fifty bolts of silk, it will be exiled for three thousand miles and served for three years.

"It's made of high-quality colored silk at home, and then Alang painted talismans with cinnabar and consecrated it himself. It's extremely precious. How dare this dog slave steal it? How dare you!"

Wu Huaiyu personally painted the fine silk flag of the talisman seal, which already exceeded the value of his own colored silk. It is normal to say that it is worth three or five bolts of silk.

Zhao San is finished.

(End of this chapter)