Daming, originally wanted to destroy it, but the system came

Chapter 334 Evidence of the Zhang family’s crimes?

In Liyang County, Zhu Min did not lead the entire army into the city. Instead, he let the army camp outside the city and only led a small number of people into the city.

He walked in front alone, an old man riding a tall horse, followed by a carriage, in which sat the daughter of the Tang and Xu families, followed by the three generals Wang Fu, Niu Sheng and Peng Yue, and then the hundred guards .

But there are quite a few of these people.

"Li Yang, the magistrate of Liyang County, met His Highness the King of Dian. He is a thousand years old and a thousand years old. Don't be surprised if you miss him and welcome him from afar."

Li Yang, the magistrate of Liyang County, surrounded by some people, came to pay homage.

After all, Liyang is just a county now. Apart from the county magistrate, there are only a few officials. However, it was a middle-aged man dressed like a wealthy official who caught Zhu Ming's attention.

Before Zhu Ming could ask, the man also bowed down and shouted: "Zhang Haoling of the Zhang family in Liyang sees His Highness Thousand Years Old."

I am still Zhang Qiling.

Zhu Chu complained in his heart for a while, but of course he said calmly on the surface: "Everyone, get up. This king is just going to patrol the seaside and take a rest while passing by here. Don't take it too seriously. "

Of course these are excuses, you can't just say that you want to investigate them.

"Your Highness is here for the first time. I'm afraid I won't have a hotel to stay in. If you don't want to give up, please move to the Zhang Family Courtyard to stay temporarily," Zhang Haoling and Yuan Wai said on his own initiative.

Zhu Ming glanced at the Liyang County Magistrate.

Li Yang also hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the county government temple is small, so I'm afraid I might wrong Your Highness. The Zhang family is a local aristocratic family in Liyang, and the Zhang family has many Confucian scholars and is deeply loved by the local people. It is a model of a family that is loyal to the emperor and serves the country. Please give them a chance to be filial.”

In fact, it is normal to live in local families. In ancient times, whether ordinary businessmen or pedestrians, it was not that you could live in restaurants wherever you went. Most of the time, like some small villages and villages, there were no restaurants and you could only borrow restaurants. Live in someone else's home.

Most people would also do it for convenience.

And before leaving for one night, I would leave some money as a token of gratitude.

Even when Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, not all of them lived in palaces. According to records, he also found many aristocratic families along the way and lived under the hospitality of officials.

For example, Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River six times, and four of them stayed at the Chen family in Haining.

This also led to the rise of the Chen family and became a famous family in Zhejiang.

There is a reason why the Zhang family is so attentive.

Of course the county magistrate is also happy. My dear, your highness, more than a hundred of you have come to our county government office to eat horse chews. After you leave, what will happen to this shortfall?

During the Hongwu period, official salaries were not high, and how much money did a county magistrate have?

So it's better to trick him into going to Zhang's house.

"In that case, I won't disturb the Zhang family," Zhu Ming agreed obediently.

"No matter where it is, it is our ancestors of the Zhang family who should be shining brightly, and we are the ones who shine brightest," Zhang Yuanwai lowered his head, appearing respectful.

In this way, Zhu Min and his party followed Zhang Yuanwai and accompanied by County Magistrate Li. After entering Liyang County, they went straight to Zhang's house.

The Zhang family is the largest aristocratic family in Liyang County, also known as the so-called gentry. Although Li Yang is the county magistrate, in many cases, even Li Yang has to rely on the assistance of the Zhang family to handle political affairs well.

Although there is no famous scene where bullets are flying inside, even the interrogation has to go to the tea hall, and there is no so-called "creating a clever name, wooing the wealthy gentry, paying taxes and donations." After the matter is completed, the wealthy gentry's money will be returned in full, and the common people's money will be paid back in full. Seven points.

But there is a saying. Taxation in ancient times was actually very troublesome and complicated. It really had to be collected by the local gentry with the help of the government.

As a result, although many gentry did not hold official positions, they still had many complicated titles.

Such as labor service and miscellaneous service, military service comes from military household registration and is not included.

Especially if someone is tasked with transporting grain as a grain officer, it is really possible for them to lose their fortune and their family.

What we are referring to here is not the grain transport officer in the army, nor the transportation from the national grain depot to the front line or the barracks.

This refers to transporting grain from the local area to the national treasury, which is a thankless task. Not only does the cost along the way require the grain transport officer to pay for it out of his own pocket, but if the time is delayed, it is said that it was a capital offense in the Qin Dynasty.

Therefore, ancient aristocratic families and gentry still had great status.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was still far behind. If it were placed in the Song Dynasty or even the Tang Dynasty, those aristocratic families would not even take the imperial power seriously.

Didn't Li Shimin suffer a lot from the surname?

Even Tang Taizong had no choice but to compromise in the end.

The imperial examination system appeared as early as the Sui Dynasty, which was also the purpose of Yang Guang to compete with aristocratic families.

But in Li Tang, they had no choice but to retain the Enyin system, also known as the recommendation system, allowing the aristocratic family to continue to control their status in the ruling class.

Far away.

Not long after, Zhu Xi and his party arrived at the Zhang family's yard.

The Zhang family specially set aside a large manor, with a scale of four rooms inside and outside.

The so-called four entrances refer to a circle of courtyard walls on the outermost periphery, a small courtyard after entering the main entrance, and a row of concierge rooms.

After that, enter another door and you will find the main courtyard, with east and west wing rooms and a main hall for entertaining guests.

The third door, that is, the third entrance into the courtyard, is the backyard, which is also the living area for the owner and his female family members.

The fourth and final courtyard is usually the back garden, a place for maids to rest, and some stables.

The whole yard is so big that it can accommodate more than a hundred people and even more than a hundred horses.

The main reason is that Zhu Ming and the others did not bring any extra female relatives, and there were only two girls, Xu Miaojin and Tang Xin, in the entire team, so the fourth yard they entered only needed to let the horses go.

As for the guards, they can stay in the concierge's room at the first entrance and the courtyard at the second entrance.

If it were a wealthy lady from an ordinary family, this would of course be very inconvenient.

But neither Tang Xin nor Xu Miaojin are girls who pay attention to these details. They even secretly carried two pieces of armor in their luggage, and even the weapons they were good at, especially Xu Miaojin's long spear. You see it at a glance.

Since they were going to patrol along the coastline, they might encounter Japanese pirates, and they didn't intend to miss the opportunity.

In the third backyard, Zhu Min was sitting in the yard. He was the only man and two girls in the whole backyard. Although it was clean, it still felt a bit unnatural.

Maybe it’s because you know it’s living in someone else’s house?

Or is it because Tang Xin is here?

Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu, this is really troublesome.

Zhu Zhen was secretly annoyed, he really didn't expect that Lao Zhu kept setting traps on himself.

Not only were Tang Xin and Xu Miaojin tied together, but Mu Qiu was also plotted. Now he wants to marry Mu Qiu? Then you have to marry Xu Miaojin first.

Want to marry Xu Miaojin? Then you have to marry Tang Xin.

One ring within another, why are you playing with me like nine rings?

Zhu Ming was so angry that he couldn't help but sigh when he thought of his wedding, which was like a nine-story chain on the mountain road.

"Why are you sighing?" Xu Miaojin walked over gently and brought him a pot of tea and put it aside.

In the past, she was the one who served Zhu Chu's tea on the grassland. She couldn't cook, couldn't she make tea?

I'm used to it now.

She is the eldest lady in her own house, but when she goes out, she is just Zhu Chu's woman.

"Oh, you're so self-conscious," Tang Xin had just tidied up her room and came out. She couldn't help but joked when she saw the two of them sitting side by side looking at each other.

Xu Miaojin turned around and counterattacked unceremoniously: "Why don't you come over and pour tea for sister?"

"Xu Miaojin, are you going to die?" Tang Xin suddenly blushed.

The three of them all knew what was going on. The three giants of the Ming Dynasty in the DPRK were already well-known, and they no longer hid it.

Now that there were only three of them in the yard, Tang Xin felt a little helpless.

"You guys chat, I'll go out and take a look first." Zhu Miao quickly got up and hid. The main reason was that Xu Miaojin not only wasn't jealous, but looked like he was watching the fun, and wanted to bring him and Tang Xin together without thinking it was a big deal. What's going on? thing.

Xu Miaojin looked at Zhu Zhen's retreating figure faintly and snorted softly. "You still know how to taste it," Tang Xin rolled her eyes and walked over, not knowing what her ladies were thinking.

Xu Miaojin sighed: "So what? Even today, the Hongwu Emperor, in order to maintain the balance between the court and the central government, didn't he marry more than twenty concubines? Isn't there a lot of concubines in the harem?" Xin'er, you don't know that when we were on the grassland before, those grassland women wanted to eat him up and wipe him clean, it was very scary."

"So you want to drag me down so that I can help you secure your position in the harem in the future? I heard that His Highness already has a sweetheart in Yunnan. You are the latecomer, you little heartless one," Tang Xin He used his hand to push Xu Miaojin's forehead.

Xu Miaojin looked at Tang Xin aggrievedly: "This time I finally had an excuse to come out, so I went to the southwest. Your Highness must go back to the Yunnan feudal territory. What if I really meet Miss Namu?"

"How do I know? I only know that sooner or later I will be sent to your brother's bed by you," Tang Xin cursed through gritted teeth.

She could finally see that, whether it was the three disrespectful old guys or this stinky sister who made careless friends, she couldn't escape this disaster as long as they were around.

In fact, Tang Xin was also very powerless, because she was Tang He's daughter.

Tang He's old subordinates are all over the world. Whoever becomes Tang He's son-in-law, especially after the death of King Lu Huang, who becomes Tang He's son-in-law, will be very famous in the army in the future.

She is just a political victim.

So Zhu Chu touched the wrong person that night, and she didn't say anything about it. It would be a matter of time anyway.

Let’s not mention Tang Xin’s complicated mood.

Zhu Chu came to the yard outside and immediately found Wang Fu.

"Your Highness, I have sent someone to the city to find a way to contact the Jin Yiwei spies. As long as Li Gui really leaves a secret post here to investigate, he will be found," Wang Fu said proactively.

Zhu Ming nodded and felt relieved to let Wang Fu do the work, but he still had to explain: "Don't forget to ask the brothers to be careful. It's best not to rush to alert the snake. Also, Magistrate Li Yang Li also needs to investigate . Also, don’t forget our usual process, find a way to measure how many acres of fields there are around Liyang, and the ownership of the fields. There is also the issue of population registration. "

He said that he wanted to attack the Jiangnan family, but in fact, Zhu Chu didn't know yet how to do it.

Because these aristocratic families were well hidden, although they always criticized and looked down upon Zhu Yuanzhang, they did not blatantly say that they would welcome the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. After all, they did not dare to become public enemies of the world and cause public outrage.

These guys are more like the second or fifth generation hidden among the people, acting cynically.

However, Zhu Zhen naturally had his own method, which was quite simple. He did not believe that the aristocratic families were all honest and upright. If the aristocratic family wanted to accumulate wealth and heritage, in addition to monopolizing intellectual property rights, it was nothing more than monopolizing land.

The trick of annexing land has actually been the same thing since ancient times, and Zhu Zhen believes that the Zhang family will be no exception.

Moreover, this Zhang family was the family that had conflicts with Yan Shitai. It is said that the children of the Zhang family were very unscrupulous at that time, even committing murders in the street, and they were very arrogant.

How long has it been since? As the saying goes, one's nature cannot be changed, Zhu Ming sneered, how dare you bring me, the living king of hell, into your home to entertain you? Do you think you can win me over?

Funny? My goal is the world, how can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?

Are you missing the Zhang family?

It's just that Wang Fu's people want to find the Jin Yiwei spy sent by Li Gui first. After all, they can't succeed in a short time.

That night, Zhang Yuanwai from the Zhang family came to visit again.

The yard was brightly lit, and Zhang Haoling brought dozens of people from the Zhang family, big and small, to greet Zhu Xi.

Zhang Haoling is only the head of the family of this generation, but in fact the Zhang family has four generations under one roof. His father is still alive, and there are already two generations of children and grandchildren.

A large family greeted Zhu Chu's luggage in the yard. Zhu Chu's whole body was numb. Even if he had a photographic memory, he couldn't remember who was who.

"Your Highness, these are the little girls Zhang Ting and Zhang Ting. They are twin sisters who have just reached the age of fifteen. If they are not abandoned, I would like to invite His Highness's subordinates. All slaves and maids will be decided by Your Highness," Zhang Haoling He even took the opportunity to push out his two young daughters and bring them to Zhu Ming.

I saw that these twin sisters were really charming. They glanced at Zhu Ming shyly, and then quickly lowered their heads. Those two pairs of beautiful big eyes seemed to be able to talk.

The most valuable thing is that they are not only sisters, but also twins.

If it were an ordinary person who was greedy for money and lustful, how could he refuse.

But Zhu Miao turned his head and glanced at Xu Miaojin who was hiding not far away watching the excitement. He especially glanced at Tang Xin with deep meaning. He smiled bitterly and said to Zhang Haoling: "I understand Zhang Yuanwai's kindness. I still have it now." The lawsuit involving emotional debt has not yet been settled."

Tang Xin curled her lips, she was the one who wanted to fight the emotional lawsuit, right?

Zhang Haoling was anxious, took Zhu Chu's hand and walked aside, and whispered: "Your Highness, little old man, just tell the truth. These daughters are given to you. You don't have to give them status, little old man." I don’t dare to covet it, you can take it back and be a concubine.”

Zhu Xi looked at Zhang Haoling with a strange expression. Is this what a father can say?

Zhang Haoling's face was calm. It was just his concubine's child, and he was given it as a gift. If he was lucky enough to get His Highness's favor, he would make a lot of money.

Among aristocratic families, there are also three, six or nine levels. The most noble ones are of course the legitimate children, followed by the concubine children. These are all children without status.

A direct descendant is a child born from his first wife, while a concubine is a child born from a concubine and has almost no status.

Even if it is a marriage, it must be a marriage between the direct children and the direct children of the other party. For example, children born from a concubine are not qualified at all.

So this member of staff doesn't feel distressed at all.

But Zhu Zhen just smiled and shook his head in polite refusal.

Just kidding, he still has Tang Xin who is having a headache, and he has to take her out with him. How can he dare to provoke other women? What is the woman he wants that he doesn't already have? You don’t even need to go to the Land of Smoke and Willows, there are countless of them if you just wave.

Another one, Zhu Zhen looked deeply at Zhang Haoling and asked with a smile: "Zhang Yuanwai, if you please me like this, is there something wrong and you want me to protect you?"

Zhang Haoling was shocked, his eyes widened, and he showed a hint of panic.

But then he smiled and covered it up: "How dare you, haha, how dare you, how dare you."

Better not.

Zhu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and said politely: "Okay, you have paid your respects. I am also tired. It's time to rest. I won't send you off."

Although he was living in someone else's house, Zhu Min was not used to it at all. He came directly to act as a guest and invited the host's family out.

The nicest thing is to ask him to be invited, the worse thing is to say he is kicked out.

what? Are you here to play this trick with me?

If I had your two daughters, wouldn't you become my cheap father-in-law?

What level is my father-in-law? Mustn't it be of the rank of a Duke? Even Mu De was beaten to death because he was not at the right level.

Well, you can't say that.

cough cough.

The Zhang family did not dare to offend Zhu Ming, so Zhang Haoling had no choice but to lead his family away with disappointment.

Originally, the Zhang family had to send people to deliver a lot of necessary things, including food and drink expenses, etc.

In the end, they were politely declined by Zhu Zhen's people, and they just used the excuse of going to the city to purchase, and finally received the good news in the evening.

In the middle of the night, in a room outside the second courtyard, Zhu Zhen met a strange face.

"Jin Yiwei's secret agent is here to see His Highness Chitose. Under the orders of Mr. Li Gui, I secretly visited the Zhang family for many days to investigate the Zhang family's actions over the years. This is the result of the investigation. I would like to ask Your Highness to review it," Jin Yiwei said as he took something from his arms. Publish a booklet.

Zhu Zhen reached out and took it.

Wang Fu took an oil lamp tacitly.

Because candles are not yet widely available, oil lamps are still used here.

Under the dim light, Zhu Zhen only felt shocked.

Even turning the first page is the case that Yan Shitai handled.

There was a man named Zhang Zhan who was a descendant of the Zhang family. He killed innocent people indiscriminately because of his prominent family background, and thought he could get away with it. In the end, he was punished without mercy by the upright Yan Shitai.

It was a sensation at that time, and the whole Liyang County was praising Yan Shitai's reputation.

It's a pity that the power of the family is too complicated, and in the end Yan Shitai was exiled to Yunnan, while the Zhang family was still at large.

In addition to Zhang Zhan, there are also cases one after another, including the behavior of forcing good people to work as prostitutes to buy, sell and annex land.

Zhu Ming slammed the table and shouted: "You are simply a bastard. Wang Fu, order your troops and horses to surround the Zhang family."

"Here."

(End of this chapter)