Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 941 Cruel Capital Accumulation

Yuyao is just a small county in the south of the Yangtze River. Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Songjiang are all more prosperous than it, not to mention Nanjing City, but this kind of prosperity does not belong to Zhu Cihuan.

He bought some flour and sesame oil at the grain and oil store, and pulled a few feet of ordinary cotton cloth at the cloth shop. He planned to make a new dress for his wife after returning home, and make some shoes and hats for his son from the leftovers. Jin of pork, the copper coins on the body will be spent.

In a tile house in the distance, a book is being told, and in a theater further away, Kunqu opera is being sung. Zhu Cihuan is fascinated by the strong and vivid breath of life. , I had no choice but to leave the street with my things on my back and return to Hujiazhuang.

The guarding soldier ran back, reported to the officer the result of his day's follow-up, expressed his doubts, and demanded a hundred coins.

The officer frowned, but still gave the old soldier a hundred coins. The old soldier took the money with a smile on his face. Different from ordinary people, he has a noble air, but most of them are just a rich man who escaped from the north, why is the boss so interested?"

The officer sneered, and cast a glance at the old soldier, "Li Xiancheng is a relative of Zhang Ge's hometown, you know it!"

"I know! It is said that the third son of Zhang Ge's hometown took Li Xiancheng's younger sister as his concubine. Once Liu Zhifu's term ends this year, he will be transferred to Huzhou as a co-prefect. Li Xiancheng of our county should be the master." The pawn nodded, but he still didn't understand, "But what does it have to do with this young master?"

Hearing what he said, the officer knocked him once, and watched him lower his head and put the counted copper coins into his arms, "You are quite well-informed and smart, and you can do well what you have been told, but you can't catch it." Opportunity, to curry favor with the chief, only see the small profit in front of him, so he is just a pawn so far. Li Xiancheng wants to straighten up, do you think I want to curry favor?"

The officer hinted that he would return the copper money to him and give him a chance to flatter him. The old soldier didn't know whether he really didn't understand or he didn't hear it, so he still put the money away, and then looked puzzled, "What does this have to do with that young man?" He thought Seeing the officer saying that he can only be a pawn so far, and thinking that the officer in front of him entered the army seven or eight years later than him, but got mixed up in the position of inspection, he couldn't help saying: "Boss teach me!"

"The scholar fled from the north, and his behavior must have been a wealthy person, but he seemed to hide his identity on purpose. In this case, it is very likely that he is a person on file, or he has not had time to evacuate to the north, and his family members are still there." People who are officials in the north, that's why they are so careful."

After the Ming army attacked Nanjing, the connection between Zhejiang and Fujian and the north was cut off by the Ming army. Xiao Qihui, Tan Tai, Zhang Cunren and others surrendered one after another, which made the Ming Dynasty quickly take over Zhejiang and Fujian. They are willing to surrender, and some people are unwilling to surrender to the Ming Dynasty because their family members are in the north, or their relatives are high-ranking officials in the north.

These people were stranded in the area ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and they could only hide their names, because the Ming Dynasty would not be polite when they caught them, so the officers suspected that Zhu Cihuan was such a person.

The old pawn nodded, approving his judgment, but if that's the case, the officers don't need to be so concerned at all. Is it their business to arrest, and what does it have to do with flattering Li Xiancheng?
Seeing the old soldier's expression, the officer paused for a while, and then said with a hint of color: "You heard it before, that young master said it was the east bed of Hu Yuanwai. Li Xiancheng's brother-in-law is Zhiju Zhou from the east of the city. Yuanwai took a fancy to Yuanwai Hu's 1000 mu of rice fields outside the city, and wanted to buy them all and plant them with mulberry seedlings. It is said that if the imperial court does not manage, there will be big problems sooner or later, so I am unwilling to live or die."

Now the traditional small-scale peasant economy of the Ming Dynasty has not disintegrated, and it still maintains a considerable size. The traditional influence is still very strong. In terms of merchant workshops, there are still problems of insufficient raw materials and insufficient manpower.

Merchants and wealthy families acquired a large amount of land as means of production through high-priced purchases, or collusion between government and businessmen, and raised salaries to recruit people to work in workshops, slowly disintegrating the traditional economic model, which made them exist with small landlords and small farmers. contradiction.

However, judging from the current situation and the attitude of the government, the traditional economic model will inevitably disintegrate, and large-scale, large-scale, unified planting will be formed. Small landlords and small farmers will definitely lose a lot of land, or even go bankrupt, thereby releasing a large amount of land. The labor force is driven by merchants and big rich families and big landowners.

Whether this is a good thing is definitely not a good thing for Xiaomin.

If the traditional economy disintegrates, there will inevitably be a large number of landless people in the society. The workshops will change from being unable to hire people and labor shortages to being able to hire people everywhere. It is still unknown if the conditions are used to hire these landless people, and there will inevitably be more fierce struggles to continue.

Hearing what the officer said, the old pawn seemed to understand a little bit. He looked startled, "Does the boss want to find out the identity of the young master, and then help Zhou Yuanwai deal with Hu Yuanwai? But Hu Yuanwai is a well-known good man in Yuyao. Even Prefect Liu is going to pay a visit!"

The officer smiled and said, "Hu Yuanwai's grandfather was a Jinshi of Wanli. He was killed when he invaded the North of Cholera. He was a loyal and loyal descendant. That's why Zhou Yuanwai and Li Xiancheng didn't dare to do anything. Otherwise, his land would have been annexed by Zhou Yuanwai long ago. .Do you think Li Changsheng from Li Village was thrown into prison by Li County? Now if I can confirm the identity of that young master, I can punish Hu Yuanwai for hiding and do Zhou Yuanwai a big favor. You say Li Will the county magistrate forget me after he is upright? I can even get on the line of Mr. Zhang Ge through Li Xiancheng, and my prosperity is just around the corner."

As the officer said, he was a little disappointed. He stopped, thinking that the old soldier would admire him, but seeing the old soldier looked at him in astonishment, he couldn't help being slightly taken aback, then immediately put away his smile, and said seriously, "Please come to Li! County magistrate, this is just a matter of chance. I did this mainly because the son is really suspicious. If he is really a criminal, how can we let him go unpunished. Hu Yuanwai has a good reputation, but he should be punished for recruiting criminals as his son-in-law. "

Although the old soldier felt that what the officer said was wrong, if the young man was really a sinner, he really needed to be arrested, but the young man was the son-in-law of Yuanwai Hu, and there was no evidence, so it was not easy to offend him. After all, Yuanwai Hu also had acquaintances in the official circle.

After the officer finished speaking, seeing that the old soldier didn't respond, he couldn't help but frowned, regretting what he had said to him, so he said, "Okay, go to the door, don't tell anyone about this incident, understand? "

(End of this chapter)