At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 6 The Zhou Family of Pei State
Zhou Qi's statement that Wang Ji's death was imminent was not without purpose.

During those years when he was sitting on the bench in his previous life, Zhou Qi loved reading history books, especially the historical works of the Han Dynasty, and read almost all of them several times.

Others in later generations may not have heard of Wang Ji's name, but Zhou Qi knew that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two people who were written into the "Biographies of Cool Officials" in the history books. It is Wang Ji, the Prime Minister of Pei State.

Coincidentally, in history, Wang Ji, a cruel official, was tortured to death by the Yang Ball.

Calculating according to the time, Yang Qiu has already assumed the position of captain of Sili, and will soon attack the eunuch Wang Fu. Wang Ji, the adopted son of Wang Fu, is naturally doomed.

However, even if Wang Ji's death was approaching, he still had great power over the country, so Zhou Qi was not willing to provoke this dying man for no reason.

But it was said that it was because of the water conservancy donation, and the people watching immediately exploded. Almost everyone was extremely resistant to this water conservancy donation.It's not that they don't know the benefits of building water conservancy projects, it's just that many people are really poor at home and have no money left to pay water conservancy donations.

There are often local officials who set up clever tricks to ask people to donate money in the name of serving the people, but often the money is donated and things are not done, and the property ends up in the pockets of officials.

Since today's day began to sell officials at a clearly marked price, those who donated money to obtain official positions mostly ran amok in the localities and squeezed the people desperately in order to recover their costs.Especially those who are short of money and choose to use installment payment to buy officials, they will use all means to search for places in order to raise enough money.

In comparison, in Pei State, due to the existence of Wang Ji, a cruel official, ordinary officials did not dare to go too far, but they were not exploited too much.From this aspect, Wang Ji did make great contributions to the people of Pei State.

Wang Ji looked around at the crowd and shouted sternly: "Building water conservancy projects will be beneficial to the future at this time. This is a major plan of the imperial court and cannot be abandoned. Now that the official document has been released, anyone who dares to refuse to accept donations will be severely punished!"

Everyone changed their colors when they heard the words.

No one in the Pei Kingdom knew Wang Ji's methods. Those who dared to oppose him did not end well. So when Wang Ji got angry, everyone immediately fell silent. Even if they complained in their hearts, no one dared to say anything more. .

Seeing that everyone was shocked, Wang Ji turned his head and said to the old miser with a blank expression: "It is the duty of a miser to collect taxes. The truth is that I will give you three days to deliver official documents from the government to every household in the countryside. Register all those who refuse to donate!"

Then, Wang Ji pointed to the two corpses on the ground and said: "The corpses of these two people are hung on the big tree outside your house. After three days, I will send someone to bury their corpses and bury them together with the baby. I hope that you can get them Do everything that the prime minister tells you to do!"

After speaking, Wang Ji said no more. After having the two bodies hung up, he hurriedly left with the county soldiers.

"How can this be!"

"This year, the tenants and taxes are still unable to pay, so where can we raise money to donate money to build water conservancy projects?"

“In the past, the Prime Minister acted cruelly and never exploited the people’s support. Why did he do this to harm the people today?”

……

As soon as Wang Ji led his troops to leave, the people were already in a quarrel.

Not long after, the common people fell to their knees and cried to the old miser: "I am a village miser who listens to lawsuits and collects taxes. Within ten pavilions under his jurisdiction, we are poor or rich, and whether there is any money left in the family." , the public knows the most details. The construction of water is beneficial to the people. If we need corvee labor, we naturally dare not shirk it in the slightest. However, each person pays a hundred yuan in taxes. The tax is too heavy. I don’t know how many people’s families will be destroyed by this move! Even if we don’t have a home, what will happen even if the water conservancy is repaired?”

"During the time when the public was a poor man in the village, he promoted education and righteousness. Even during the tax payment period, he was unwilling to be treated harshly in a poor family. Today, there is a catastrophe, and the people have no way of life. I hope that the public can make decisions for us!"

The common people knelt down together, and Zhou Qi, Xiang Hong, and Zhou Gu stood in the middle, which looked particularly eye-catching.

After seeing the three people, the old stingy man's frown relaxed a little, and then he helped up the leading old men and said: "Everyone, get up for now. Even though this old stingy man is just a stingy man in the countryside, he will do his best to stop the Prime Minister." Promote water conservancy donations.”

"You will retreat for now, and I will let you know when I come up with a countermeasure!"

Zhou Qi, Xiang Hong, and Zhou Gu also rushed forward to help the old people up, and then helped the old miser to persuade them to leave.

After everyone left, Zhou Qi looked at the couple who were hanging on the tree, and said solemnly: "Grandfather, according to my grandson, the Prime Minister's actions today are different from usual, and his attitude is very firm. I'm afraid something is wrong!"

The old lady didn't say anything more and motioned for the three of them to enter the room to discuss matters.

After entering the house, Taigong asked Zhou Gu to pour a few glasses of water, and then sat opposite Zhou Qi and Xiang Hong, but he remained frowning and silent.

After an unknown amount of time, the grandfather suddenly looked at Zhou Qi and asked, "My grandson, do you know why Prime Minister Pei Guo killed people at the gate of my Zhou house and hung their bodies on a tree outside the courtyard for three days?"

Zhou Qi pondered for a while, and then replied: "It is not only to frighten the people in the countryside, but also to show grandfather his determination to accept donations, and to warn him. He wants to frighten grandfather with this act of intimidation, and then do his best to collect it for him. Donate water!"

The old grandpa stroked his beard with a smile on his face when he heard the words, but added: "Besides, Prime Minister Pei Guo also wants to test the Zhou family of Pei Guo through this move."

"The Zhou family of Peiguo?"

Zhou Qi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this.

Although their lineage has been in decline for many years, their ancestors were also prominent for a while, and they are descendants of Zhou Bo, the founding general of the Western Han Dynasty.

Zhou Bo served as the prime minister twice in the Western Han Dynasty. His son Zhou Yafu was even more strict in running the army. He once led the army to put down the rebellion of the Seven Kings. Later, he also became the prime minister. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao praised his general Xu Huang as "Zhou Yafu". wind".

Both generations of the Zhou family are in high positions. If nothing unexpected happened, the family should have become a powerful family. Unfortunately, in Zhou Yafu's later years, his son privately purchased [-] armor shields for him to be buried in. After the incident, he was charged with treason. , Zhou Yafu was deeply humiliated, went on a hunger strike for five days and vomited blood and died.Later, due to various reasons, the Zhou family's fiefdoms and titles were abolished successively. The Zhou family, which was once prominent, began to gradually decline and was divided into several branches and moved to various places.

Among them, the most prominent one is the direct line of the Lujiang Zhou family. Since Emperor Zhang and Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this line has been officials for generations.

In addition, although the Zhou family in Peiguo was not as prominent as the Zhou family in Lujiang, and there were few members of the family who held important positions in the court, they belonged to the family of prefects.Especially Zhou Jing, a famous scholar in Xiang County, is famous all over the world. Even if he is as powerful as Shi Changshi, he dare not move the Zhou family of Peiguo rashly.

As for Zhou Qi's family, they also belong to the Zhou family of Pei State in name, but in fact they have been separated from each other for a long time. There is basically no intersection between the two.

(End of this chapter)