Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 6 The Crowd ([-])

Fifteen days later
Cold dew
Silvermoon Harbor

Eleven merchant ships appeared on the horizon and finally anchored in the harbor.

After nearly three months, the caravan headed for Jiaodong trade finally came back.

"Patriarch, it's time to get off the boat." The third uncle Wang Shu reminded him.

"En." Wang Taihao responded lightly, and then said to the two girls behind him: "Guojiao, Lan'er."

"My lord..." The girl Lan'er lowered her head and snuggled into Wang Taihao's arms in front of Wang Ruojiao.

"Cousin, is it really okay for us to buy so many armors?" Wang Ruojiao on the side seemed to have looked away, turning a blind eye to such a situation, and asked Wang Taihao about his business.

"What are you afraid of? I am the adopted son of the King of Jiaodong, and the King of Jiaodong will guarantee our Wang family. Besides, the Wang family village is far away from Chang'an, and the court has no control over it." Holding the girl in his arms, Wang Taihao got off the boat with a smile, without any hesitation. I don't care about the fact that buying and selling armor without the permission of the imperial court is a capital offense in the Han Dynasty.

When the two of them were discussing the purchase of armor, Wang Song led the servants to start counting the goods.

"Let's go back to the manor to rest first, and we will hold a family meeting in a few days to discuss the results of this trade and discuss future development." Wang Taihao took the little girl Lan'er's little hand and got into a carriage, heading towards the Wangjiazhuang manor. go.

Wangjiazhuang was built on a small extended peninsula of the Liaodong Peninsula, surrounded by the sea on the east, south, and north sides, and only had a narrow passage in the west, and on this narrow passage were set up Juma, arrow towers, watchtowers, and stone fortresses. Defensive facilities such as trenches and trenches, on the one hand, are to defend against the sneak attacks of the aborigines in the northern forests (Wang Jiazhuang called them "Jianren"), and on the other hand, they are also to prevent the rebellion of the serfs and tenant farmers.

The southernmost part of Dashui County in Liaodong Peninsula is under the rule of Wangjiazhuang. There are no self-cultivated farmers here, only tenant farmers and serfs. There were originally several villages with self-cultivated farmers, but they were forced to sell their farmland to Wangjiazhuang at a low price during the disaster year. From then on, they became tenant farmers of Wangjiazhuang from generation to generation, and all the hunters, fishermen, craftsmen, etc. here belonged to Wangjiazhuang management. Naturally, they did not need to pay taxes to the Han court, and all the fruits of labor belonged to Wangjiazhuang.

These are the results of decades of hard work by Wang Kang, the ancestor of the Wang family.

The family discussion is a rule set by the ancestor Wang Kang. If there are no special circumstances, it will be held once a year to clear up the financial bills of the current year and discuss the financial budget for the next year. All members of the family who have reached the age of 16 will Both men and women can participate in the meeting, and the wife or son-in-law of a family member can also participate in the meeting with the consent of the head of the family.

And under the influence of Wang Kang, the former owner of the family, there is no such tradition in the Central Plains that men are superior to women in Wangjiazhuang. Both men and women have equal inheritance rights. For all descendants of the Wang family, men can marry regular wives and concubines, and women can also take care of sons-in-law. The status within the family only depends on whether you have the blood of the royal family flowing in your body, not whether you are male or female.

The Wang family called this the patriarchal system. In a family, only the head of the family is the most respected, and the gender of the head of the family does not matter.
-
five days later

last hour
Wangjiazhuang Council Hall
duang——duang——

The servants rang the big bronze bell.

The adult juniors of the Wang family who were taking a nap, as well as their wives and sons-in-law woke up one after another, washed their faces soberly, and rushed to the meeting hall on foot. They needed to arrive before the last hour.

After about two quarters of an hour, most of the people had arrived.

The entire meeting hall is still very large, and can accommodate up to more than 100 people at the same time.

When everyone was seated, it could be said that they were divided into three camps. The people present were divided into three camps, namely the first family Wang Liang, the second family Wang Chong, and the third Wang Song. Unable to come to participate in the family discussion, the old grandmother sat next to the head of the family.

"The master is here!"

When everyone was discussing, Wang Taihao came late, and he cupped his hands to apologize to everyone: "Taihao is late, I hope everyone will not blame him."

squeak-

The door of the meeting hall was closed by the servants outside, and all the maids had already been kicked out.

At this moment, Wang Taihao was sitting on the main seat alone, drinking a cup of hot tea, and scanning the people in the hall.

Those present were divided into three groups, namely:

[Big House: Wang Tairan (Wang Taihao's younger brother)
Second room: Wang Chong (second uncle), Li Cuier (second aunt), Wang Taiyang (cousin), Zhang Xiuwan (Wang Taiyang's wife), Wang Roujing (cousin), Zhou Ming (Wang Roujing's son-in-law)

Third room: Wang Song (third uncle), Lu Yueling (third aunt), Wang Ruojiao (cousin)]

Including the old grandmother and him, Wang Taihao, there are only 12 people in total, which looks so bleak in this meeting hall that can accommodate more than 100 people.

Since it was the first time to hold a family meeting, the inexperienced Wang Taihao was very nervous.

"Do as I taught you before." The old grandmother reminded Wang Taihao.

"Yeah." Wang Taihao nodded. It was a lot easier to have the old grandmother sitting beside him. Then he put down the teacup in his hand and was about to speak, but found that there seemed to be someone missing, so he asked his third uncle Wang Song: "Third uncle, Why isn't Tyson here?"

The Taisen that Wang Taihao mentioned is Wang Taisen, the son of the third uncle, who is also the half-brother of Wang Ruojiao. Yaojiao has a higher status.

"Tianxuan's serfs made trouble, Taison went to deal with it, and he won't be back until later." Wang Song knelt on the mat and replied truthfully.

Tianxuan is an organization of serfs. The reason for such an organization is that a few years ago, thousands of serfs made trouble at the same time and almost captured Wangjiazhuang. After Shou asked for help, the county captain personally led the county and county soldiers to suppress the serfs, and Wangjiazhuang was able to survive. Afterwards, Wangjiazhuang also had to donate a lot of wealth to the officials of Liaodong County in return.

After this incident, the ancestor Wang Kang divided the serfs, tenant farmers, craftsmen, fishermen, hawkers, and small people under the jurisdiction of Wangjiazhuang into seven parts according to the Big Dipper, namely Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, and Yu. Heng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang are under the jurisdiction of seven members of the Wang family, and Wang Taisen is in charge of Tianxuan's serfs.

And every year, the serfs and tenant farmers of the Big Dipper will compete with each other, the top ranked will be rewarded, and the low ranked will be punished.

In this way, these low-level people can be divided, let them compete with each other, prevent them from uniting, and prevent the Wang family from facing their anger directly. In this way, the children of the Wang family can enjoy a good life with peace of mind.

"Oh." Hearing Uncle Wang Song's explanation, Wang Taihao responded, and then said to everyone: "So, let's start this year's discussion."

"Later, Uncle San will report on the outgoings and receipts of this trade, and then Uncle Second will report on the various expenses and income of the village this year, and then Tai Ran will report on the deaths, births, and escapes of farmers in the Big Dipper this year, and finally ..."

boom! boom! boom!
Before Wang Taihao finished speaking, the door of the meeting hall was knocked violently.

"My lord, my lords, Mr. Tyson, he! He!" The servant outside the door shouted very loudly, with a cry in his voice.

"I'll open the door." Zhou Ming, the son-in-law of the second room, knew that he was the lowest among the people present, so he got up consciously and went to open the door.

squeak--

"Lord!!!"

As soon as the door was opened, several servants helped a young man covered in blood. This young man was about eighteen or nineteen years old, and he was Wang Taisen, the son of the third uncle Wang Song.

"Sen'er!!!"

"elder brother!!!"

Seeing this situation, father and daughter Wang Song and Wang Luojiao hurriedly stood up and stepped forward.

"What's going on!? What's going on!?" Wang Song asked the servants angrily, holding the seriously injured bastard who was dying.

"Reporting to the master, yes, when Young Lord Tai Sen went to appease the troublesome serfs, he did not expect that those serfs had planned to surround Young Lord. Under the protection of our servants, Young Master escaped from the encirclement and fled back to the manor. , but those servants have already been killed by the rioting serfs and tenant farmers!" The servant narrated the matter in fear, for fear of being angered by the master.

"How could a few farmers hurt my Sen'er?" Wang Song continued to ask.

"Reporting to the master, it's not just a few, it's, it's hundreds!"

"what!?"

The people present, including Wang Taihao, were all shocked. They did not expect that the matter would become so serious.

(End of this chapter)