A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 333 Little prodigy, family troubles
July
Emperor Xiaozhi was buried in Jinling.

In the same year, Cao Teng and seven other people were awarded the title of Tinghou for their merits in making decisions.

The first year of Jianhe
Because Liu Zhi was appointed by Liang Ji, and his party members were all over the court and local places, Liu Zhi was very concerned about Liang Ji's attitude. But he eagerly hopes to have his own strength, at least he will not die as easily as Tu Liu Zuan.

June
Liu Zhi dismissed Hu Guang, the Taiwei who was close to Liang Ji, and appointed Du Qiao, the chief minister who was at odds with Liang Ji, as the Taiwei.

August
Liu Zhili made Liang Ji's sister, Liang, queen.

September
An earthquake occurred in Luoyang, and Liang Ji took the opportunity to launch an attack. Liu Zhi had no choice but to dismiss Taiwei Du Qiao, but did not immediately appoint a new Taiwei.

October
Liu Zhi appointed Situ Yuan Ke as Taiwei and Sikong Yuan Tang as Situ. However, in order to appease Liang Ji, he appointed former Taiwei Hu Guang as Sikong.

Because Liang Ji gathered a huge corruption group, upright ministers not only could not be appointed, but were even jailed for it. On the contrary, corrupt officials who were prone to corruption and followed people's influence were constantly promoted.

This greatly contributed to the decline of the Han Dynasty's political situation, especially for the people at the bottom, a complete feast began. However, the eaters were not them, but the corrupt officials, lawless and powerful, but the ingredients were themselves.

The Liang Ji Group has developed to this day. It is no longer a pure group of relatives. Instead, it is headed by Liang Ji, including Sikong Hu Guang, Wei Wei Liang Shu, Henan Yin Liang Yin and other Liang family relatives, corrupt courtiers, and lawless powerful people. Winged interest groups. They are called turbid currents.

Those officials who are knowledgeable, unwilling to cling to power, and hate corruption are headed by Bai Liu who was dismissed from office, as well as Li Gu, Du Qiao, and Taiwei Yuan Ke who were also dismissed. They are all their members. They formed a self-protection group with each other and regarded themselves as clean currents, which represented their unwillingness to join in the turbid currents.

However, there are still some individuals such as Situ Yuantang who do not agree with each other. They only obey the emperor's orders and do not care whether the edict is reasonable or not. Most of them are some wealthy families in Henan. They are called imperial party.

The main conflict between the three parties is Zhuoliu and Qingliu. The imperial party has nothing to do with them. However, due to the indulgence of Empress Dowager Liang and Liu Zhi, Zhuoliu has the absolute advantage overall, and Qingliu has to reluctantly protect itself.

As Zhuoliu gains power, local corruption is rampant. A large number of powerful people collude with officials, mergers and acquisitions become common, and the people are living in dire straits.

Julu County, Ren County, Zhumating, Beilinli
This place was once the main battlefield where Emperor Guangwu sent an army of 200,000 to attack Zhao Han, but they suffered a heavy defeat. The ancient battlefield that once flowed with blood has now turned into a vast expanse of fertile wilderness, filled with farmhouses and plowed fields.

What is different from other places is that the crops here grow much better than other places. It is a famous fertile farmland in eight towns throughout the country.

Fifty acres in other places is enough to feed a family, but thirty acres here is enough for a family to live a decent life.

And such an excellent place is naturally targeted by some people.

They were the powerful people in the county. Nowadays, the government only cares about tax collection and not annexation, so they finally reached out.

Eight-year-old Zhang Jiao walked tiredly on the deserted road. The real pain in his stomach reminded him that it was time to eat, but there was nowhere to eat at this time. There was not even a blade of grass near the road.

It turns out that this section of road was not like this. There were many flowers, plants and trees along the road, but now they have been eaten up and chopped down by the surrounding people.

On his mother's order, he went to a Taoist temple a few miles away from his home to give a gift of thanks to a Taoist priest who had helped their family. He also followed his mother's instructions to offer incense to the gods at his home and bless everything in his home. Good health.

Zhang Jiao's father died of illness a month ago. In order to treat the illness, his family invested all their savings. In the end, they even mortgaged the family's only few acres of fertile land. This illness dragged on for a long time. Three months later, my father finally left.

Not only that, in the end, their family didn't even have money to pay for their father's funeral. A Taoist priest from a Taoist temple near Beilin happened to come to their place to perform rituals for another family. The Taoist priest felt pity and offered to do it for free. His father did this so that his father could be buried with dignity.

If his family was just an ordinary home, there would be no need for this, but his father was a scholar, and his mother did not want his father to die in such a careless manner. His father made a living by writing and reading letters for others all year round. He also managed the family's fields with his mother, which brought the three brothers to their current age.

In fact, their family's financial situation was much better than that of other people in the same neighborhood. He even knew of a family in the west who was so hungry that they sent their daughter to a wealthy family.

But a serious illness directly destroyed their family, and he finally understood why the family in the west was so thin and they were all hungry.

However, although his body was tired at this time, he was in a good mood, because when he went to offer incense, he was attracted by a Taoist priest from another place who wandered to the Taoist temple, and said that he had Taoism and could practice Taoism with him. .

He was so happy. You know, if he could enter the Taoist temple with the Taoist priest, it would mean that there would be one less person to support in the family, and his mother would be much more relaxed.

Zhang Jiao kept thinking like this, and the hunger in his stomach eased a lot. He walked faster and soon saw the outline of his home.

It was finally here, Zhang Jiao was overjoyed and started running. He couldn't wait to analyze his mood at this time with his mother and brother at home.

But he seemed to have noticed something wrong. There were actually many villagers surrounding his home, looking at something at his home.

He squeezed in anxiously, and soon saw a sight that made his eyes split open. Two men dressed as attendants were pulling his mother, and one of his two younger brothers was hugging his mother tightly and not letting go. Cry loudly.

A man was beating and pulling him, but because his strength was too weak, he kicked him to the ground. Another young man in obviously richer clothes was directing several people to move things out of his house. "Let go of my mother!" Zhang Jiao immediately rushed forward, kicked the person who was being pulled in the crotch, and then punched the other person in the nose with a flexible punch.

Because the incident happened so suddenly, neither of them could react. When Zhang Jue succeeded, they immediately let go of Zhang Wang.

Mrs. Zhang Wang immediately ran to the wall with Zhang Jiao's two younger brothers in her arms, and kept calling for Zhang Jiao to come over.

But Zhang Jue didn't. He stood in front of his mother and brothers. He was neither tall nor strong, and he followed his father's example and protected his relatives behind him.

"horn!"

Zhang Wang shouted worriedly.

Zhang Jue ignored him. Although he was only eight years old, he had been smart since he was a child. He could learn the words taught by his father immediately, otherwise he would not be valued by the Taoist priests.

Since his father's death, Zhang Jiao has realized that he will be the eldest man in the family from now on and cannot be as willful as before. He must protect his mother and brothers for his father.

"Brother!" the two younger brothers also shouted.

The person holding his mother Zhang Wang just now was Zhang Jiao's seven-year-old brother named Zhang Bao, who had a rather weak personality. The one who beat the attendant was his five-year-old brother named Zhang Liang, who was the most active.

Zhang Liang supported Li and got out of Zhang Wang's arms and stood beside his brother Zhang Jiao.

The follower who had been slapped on the nose recovered and saw that he was actually a young child. He felt angry and lost face, and was ready to rush forward and teach his father a lesson.

"Wait!"

The wealthy young man on the side stopped him, then came not far away from Zhang Jiao, stared at him, and sneered: "Are you the eldest child of the Zhang family? You are known as the little prodigy of Ren County?"

Because his father is one of the few people in the neighborhood who can read and write, Zhang Jiao is often noticed by others. Others know that Zhang Jiao can speak like an adult at the age of three, write like a Confucian scholar at the age of five, and can recite the Spring and Autumn Annals at the age of eight, so he He is known as the little prodigy of Ren County.

The name Dajiao is the nickname given to the three brothers by other villagers. He is called Dajiao, Zhang Bao is called Erbao, and Zhang Liang is called Sanliang.

Zhang Jue's body was already extremely tense at this time, and he could only nodded stiffly.

"I am Zhang Xing from the Zhang family in Ren County. I am now working as a steward at Baiguo Bank in Ren County. I see that you are as smart as the rumors say. I still need a bookboy. Are you willing to come?"

Zhang Jiao looked at the man who hurt her mother and ransacked his house, wondering how he had the nerve to invite her?

Zhang Xing looked at the silent Zhang Jiao and snorted with a smile: "You don't have to be angry about my behavior. You see, this is an IOU signed by your mother, voluntarily mortgaging eight acres of fertile land and borrowing 800 yuan. "

Zhang Jiao looked at the IOU carefully, and then looked at his mother, Zhang Wang. At this time, Zhang Wang said with tears:

"I have handed over eight acres of good farmland at home to them, but they actually said that these are only worth 400 cash, saying that those fields are inferior farmland, and they still need to pay back 400 cash.

But the family really has no money anymore. Everyone knows that the fields in Beilin are famous fertile fields in the surrounding areas, and are worth more than 800 coins. Our family doesn't owe you anything anymore. "

Zhang Jue turned back to look at Zhang Xing, his hands clenched into fists, but he still calmed down his mind. After analyzing it secretly, he whispered to Zhang Liang next to him and told him to run to the Taoist temple immediately to bring in reinforcements. He is willing to practice Taoism and asks his master to save his life. He must be quick, otherwise his apprentice will be gone.

After hearing this, Zhang Liang did not hesitate and rushed away from the crowd and ran away.

Zhang Xing didn't care at all that Zhang Liang ran away, as long as Zhang Wangshi and Zhang Jiao didn't run away.

He had already made up his mind to pay Zhang Wang's debt and make Zhang Jiao his servant, and let his intelligence be used for his own use. He wanted to take away everything from the Zhang family.

As for Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, they are two sluggish people who want to get rid of them.

"Everyone!" Zhang Xing raised his voice and said, "This is written in white and black on the paper, and it is also stamped with a fingerprint. It can't be wrong. Furthermore, regarding the appraisal of the land, the bank appraiser Liu personally identified it as bad land. , If you are not convinced, we can go to the government to file a lawsuit. What do you think?
Also, it’s not just 400 wen that you have to pay back, but 800 wen, and there’s also 400 wen in interest. If you don't have money, hehe, just use people to pay off the debt. It's not up to you whether you are willing or not.

However, I have a kind heart and do not want to force others to do anything. The best thing is that you are willing to give me the best. "

When he said this, Zhang Xing glanced at the crowd watching the excitement outside the door intentionally or unintentionally.

(End of this chapter)