scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 80 Industry Patriarch Fatty Lu

(PS: It’s the end of the month, friends, should you have a second and third monthly pass? Get one or two from the great god and give it to the pure newcomer wolf.)
Golden meat, a famous dish in Northeast China, is made of tenderloin slices, eggs, and flour. It is golden in color, crispy and tender, and has a mellow taste.

According to legend, this dish was created in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, a general in the Ming Dynasty lived a luxurious life. He had to serve eight dishes and one soup for each meal. One day the cook left the kitchen for some reason after cooking seven dishes and one soup. , a slave was quick and wise, and made this dish with meat slices, eggs, and flour. He never thought that after the general used this dish, he was full of praise for it, so he rewarded the slave and listed this dish as a common dish. He even took this clever slave as his godson.

This general is called Li Chengliang, and this slave is called Aixinjueluo Nurhachi.

For some reason, this story and this dish became very popular in the prefecture of Qujing in the southwestern border. Lu Yifeng, the new magistrate of Qujing County, also eats this dish every meal. He must say: We officials of the Qing Dynasty, don’t forget My Great Qing Dynasty was hard won, and don't forget the humiliation my Great Qing Taizu suffered in the family of former Ming officials. ——As for whether Luzhi County has any specific references, this is a question of the benevolent and the wise.In short, I think Magistrate Lu did it unintentionally. As for whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway.

There is also a legend that Li Shizu, the prefect of Qujing, also likes to eat this dish, and often says proudly that this dish was made by the slaves of his ancestors, and now the slaves of his ancestors are well developed , But I haven't forgotten my roots, and I have always been thinking about my old master's family. Now the pockmarked great-grandson of my house slave has to call me old master when he sees me. ——Of course, no one can tell exactly where this legend came from. Anyway, after Li Zhifu heard the legend, his face turned pale on the spot.

These vicious words are still something to talk about. Before thoroughly learning Fatty Lu's vicious methods, Li Suzu and Li Dazhifu not only hated Fatty Lu extremely, but also had contempt and contempt from the bottom of their hearts. After Fatty took office and caught his brother-in-law, the prefect Li didn't pay much attention to Fatty Lu, and his calculation was also - boy, let you go crazy for a few days first, and wait for my good brother When Wang Fuchen comes back from Kunming, I will settle accounts with you slowly!When the time comes, the spank you hit my brother-in-law's ass, I will slap and slap you on your fat face!
Li Zhifu's temporary swallowing of his anger was indeed out of helplessness, because all the reasoning was on Lu Fatty's side, and if this matter was really going to become a big deal, Li Zhifu would not be able to explain to the court, but what Li Zhifu could not have imagined was that at the same time, Qu Jing What the people in the county could not have dreamed of and cheered was that on the first day of Fatty Lu's tenure, Fatty Lu posted another notice that made Li Suzu furious-encouraging the people to file a complaint at the county government. If you can take revenge, Lu Qingtian must be the master for the common people.

It turned out quite naturally that in the afternoon of that day, the Qujing County Government received more than [-] pleadings—most of them sued Li Suzu's brother-in-law Ren Xinglai, or accused Ren Xinglai of bullying others and bullying men and women; Or accuse Ren Xinglai of bullying the market and monopolizing the medicine and salt industry; or accuse Ren Xinglai of being domineering and seizing people's land and women; some people simply accuse Li Suzu of covering up relatives and conniving at relatives to do evil, Fatty Lu picked them up one by one, He patted his chest on the spot and promised, vowing to completely eradicate Ren Xinglai's cancer in Qujing.

That’s not enough, what made Li Suzu and Qujing prefect’s Yamen feel unbelievable was that it was still behind. In the afternoon, some people reported to Fatty Lu that a murderer who had been wanted for many years was hiding in an underground casino in Qujing , and this casino has members of the Qujing magistrate Yamen who arrested Wang Meng, so no one has dared to touch this casino and this wanted criminal.After receiving the report, Fatty Lu sent Li Tianzhi and Fang Shiyu, the new chief and deputy arresters of the Qujing County Yamen, to arrest him without saying a word.

When the matter came to this point, Wang Meng, the head catcher of Qujing Mansion, couldn't think of coming forward, so he took a group of yamen servants from Qujing Mansion to the underground casino to stop him, but his words were wrong. up.It turned out naturally that the talented county government servants in the team naturally had the upper hand. Guang Fang Shiyu broke the bones of five government servants alone, and another seven or eight government servants vomited blood. Li Tianzhi also captured Wang Meng, the arresting head of the government office, with his own hands, and escorted him back to the Qujing county government prison together with the casino owner and the fugitive.

After this battle, the reputation of the Qujing county government rose, and the joy of ordinary people was loud, saying that God opened his eyes and sent a good county magistrate to Qujing, and the people of Qujing should have a better life this time.The government office in Qujing was disgraced and terrified. Li Suizu was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He wrote a memorial to impeach Fatty Lu overnight, and sent a horse to the Yamen of Yunnan governor in Kunming, demanding that Fatty Lu be dismissed and questioned. He was impeached by his boss on the first day, but Fatty Lu also set a new official record in the Qing Dynasty.

Unfortunately, to the great disappointment of Li Dazhifu, Yuan Maogong, the former governor of Yunnan, had returned to his hometown in Shuntian to observe his filial piety because of his father's death. Bailijia was sent to Yunnan in a hurry, and since Fatty Lu was selected by Wu Yingqi himself as the official of Hongmiaozheng in the west, so Yunnan's vassals and Taiwanese did not dare to mix in randomly, all because they used the excuse that they had no rights. To make the decision, Li Suzu's impeachment memorial was temporarily put on hold, and he will make the decision after Lin Tianqing takes office.

When the reply was sent, the furious Zhifu Li turned over the table again, but because he didn't have the right to dismiss Fatty Lu directly in his hands, and he didn't catch Fatty Lu at all, he could only grit his teeth and hold back his breath. Lin Tianqing officially took office and used official means to deal with Fatty Lu, or waited for his friend Wang Fuchen to return, and used other means to get rid of this thorn in his side, the thorn in his flesh!However, Ren Zeyu, Li Zhifu's little wife, didn't care about so much, she would hang herself in front of Li Zhifu every day, crying, making troubles and hanging herself, forcing Li Zhifu to rescue his younger brother from the prison as soon as possible, which made Li Zhifu tireless, and hated Fatty Lu even more to the bone.

Let's not mention Li Zhifu's troubles and hatred for the time being. Since Fatty Lu took office, he has indeed done a few good things for the common people. Li Tianzhi, the head catcher, completely regarded the sixty or so yamen servants in Qujing County as military drills. He got up early every day for training, ran and patrolled the streets, caught petty theft, rectified the order in the market, organized the people to clean up the garbage in the city, standardized health regulations, and eradicated the plague. source.

Then, Zhu Fangdan, the teacher brought by Fatty Lu, also opened a medicine shed outside the county government office, brewed anti-fever medicines and distributed them to the people for free, and took time to diagnose and treat the sick people for free. Improvements will be seen after taking the secondary medicine—the only thing that surprises the people in Qujing is that when Master Zhu, who can heal diseases, takes a very long time to pulse the pulse of the big girl and the little daughter-in-law, and occasionally he will make the more beautiful ones The older girl and the younger daughter-in-law are brought into the back hall to avoid other people's examination and diagnosis.

These are still trivial matters. The plan for a year lies in spring, and spring plowing in February is the biggest thing. In order to do a good job in spring plowing and planting, Fatty Lu said everything he wanted, but he left the former county magistrate Cheng Feng and Cheng Feng's master for a while. , while asking them to help him organize the people's spring plowing and land reclamation, and at the same time asking them to invite all the big and small landlords and gentry in Qujing to meet.The big and small landlords and gentry in Qujing thought that Fatty Lu was a new official who took the post, so they obediently prepared generous gifts and came here. The result was beyond their expectations. A banquet was held here to entertain these landlords and gentry.

During the banquet, the big and small landlords and gentry in Qujing County couldn’t help but express their gratitude to Fatty Lu, and insisted on sending gifts to Fatty Lu. The official did not invite you here today to accept your meeting gifts like others, and please take back the gifts you brought back as they are, but the official invited you here for something else."

"Xian Zun, why did you invite us?" A small landlord asked timidly.The other landlords and gentry also pricked up their ears, wanting to hear what kind of medicine was sold in Fatty Lu's gourd.

"There are three main things. One is to meet and get acquainted with everyone." Fatty Lu said with a smile: "Secondly, I will tell you by the way that I have made a decision. It will be set at two cents of silver, and will never be increased! Please inform your neighbors and tenants that if the land security officer who collects taxes dares to charge one cent more, you can file a complaint in front of the county, and the county will definitely deal with it severely."

"Huoxing only charges two cents?!" All the gentry in the venue were stunned, and then cheered together, "Master Qingtian, Master Qingtian!" (Note: It means that Fatty Lu only charges two percent local tax, at that time the maximum received was more than [-]%.)
"Two cents?" Cheng Feng, the former county magistrate of Qujing, was also taken aback. He quickly pulled Fatty Lu's sleeve and said in a low voice, "Master Lu, are you crazy? I don't blame you for comparing me, but two For the money, what do you have enough for? Is it enough to pay the government servants? Or is it enough to give the master’s salary? The old man received one penny before, and he was still struggling to do anything. You only received [-]% of the old man’s money. What is enough for you?"

"Don't blame Mr. Cheng, I definitely don't mean to compare you with you." Fatty Lu said in a low voice: "It's just that the people in Qujing are too poor. It's so cold in spring, and most of the people don't even have a piece of clothing. The officials really don't have the heart to burden them any more. As for the expenses of the Xiaguan's yamen, Mr. Cheng, please rest assured that the Xiaguan's family is not poor, and it will not be a problem to maintain it like this for ten or eight years."

Cheng Feng was dumbfounded, and after a while he sighed and said: "Master Lu, I really admire you, no matter you are for the name or why, I admire you so much."

"Your Excellency Cheng is too much for the prize. The lower official is definitely not as great as you imagined. To tell you the truth, the lower official has a lot of means to make money, but not from the people of Qujing." Fatty Lu smiled and said to Cheng Feng in a low voice.Then he turned around again, waved his hands at the thundering landlords and gentry, signaled them to be quiet, and said: "Everyone, all the gentry, please be quiet. I have a third thing to say, my official." The third thing is that I would like to borrow ten acres of land from everyone present for half a year."

The town god's temple became quiet, and all the landlords and gentry looked at each other, not knowing what kind of tricks Fatty Lu wanted to play. The little landlord before asked timidly, "Dare to ask the county lord, why are you borrowing ten acres of land from each of us?"

"Of course it is to grow things." Fatty Lu smiled and said loudly: "But please rest assured, fellow countrymen, I have inquired before that one mu of land is used to grow food and vegetables, and the income is about eight qian, and I will give it to you. Count one or two. I will borrow ten acres of land from each of you, and I will give you free seeds to cultivate. After half a year, if the value of the things produced on the ten acres of land is less than ten taels, I will pay you to make up for it from my own pocket. Let you suffer!"

"If Mr. Lu keeps his word, this is a good deal. Anyway, we will not suffer." All the landlords and gentry nodded one after another. Among them, An Jiarong, the landlord with the most land, asked timidly: "Master Lu, then you want us to plant What? What about the things that grow out?"

"I want you to grow this." Fatty Lu asked Xiao Erlang to bring a bag of things, reached into the bag, grabbed a handful of very small gray seeds, and said with a smile: "This thing used to be called A Furong, but now it is called Baqi Drug seeds, very valuable things. You plant this thing now, and after half a year, I will buy back what you planted with silver, and buy it back with so much silver that you can't imagine."

"I know about drugs. I used to have diarrhea when I was a child. It is very effective and very valuable." An Jiarong nodded, and then asked worriedly: "But Mr. Lu, does this thing grow well in Qujing? We have never had it here. planted."

"Don't worry, it's definitely growing very well. The land and climate here in Qujing are very suitable for the growth of drugs." Fatty Lu smiled, and then said: "Besides, my officer has already said that if the plants are not worth ten taels of silver, I will make up for you from my own pocket. If you are still not at ease, I can give you ten taels of silver as a guarantee for each of you now. If you fulfill my promise in the future, you will return it. However, I believe that , when the time comes, you will definitely regret that you planted too little, too little."

"Since the county lord said so, if the grassroots don't borrow it, they really don't know how to appreciate it." An Jiarong felt relieved and said loudly: "Lord Lu, the grasslanders don't need you to pay for the 30 acres of land planted in their house." The money guarantees that even if the things grown in the [-] mu of land are not worth [-] taels, the grassroots will admit it. After all, there will be floods and droughts when growing food, and no one can guarantee that growing food will not suffer losses."

"Old Mrs. An is right, I will also plant twenty acres." Another moderately large landowner echoed and shouted: "Even if one acre of land can't earn a tael of silver by then, the grass-roots will recognize it by themselves, and they will never come to trouble County honor."

"I also plant twenty acres."

"I plant fifteen acres."

"My family has little land, so I plant ten acres according to the order of the county lord."

"Lu Xianzun, can this thing be grown on the mountain? If it is possible, Caomin can plant fifty or sixty acres. Caomin's family opened a new hill last year. Anyway, if you grow food on raw land, you won't get much. It's better to plant this lotus. Wait for the raw land. When the land is ripe, we can plant food again."

All the landowners and gentry agreed one after another, and they all agreed to plant the Eight Banners medicine according to Fatty Lu's order. I am going to give Fatty Lu a gift today.Fatty Lu laughed happily, and said: "Thank you, thank you all for your support and trust in me. Please rest assured, with Master Zhu's help, although the seeds I prepared this time are not too many, but It’s okay to plant one or two thousand acres, you can plant as much as you want.”

"Of course, you can't patronize planting this lotus and forget to grow food. I would like to give you a suggestion here. You can try to introduce some sweet potatoes, yams and corn (commonly known as corn in Yunnan and Guizhou). Yes, there will be quite a few surprises waiting for you at that time. If you have any problems in finding these seeds, you can also ask this official, and this official will definitely find a solution for you."

"Master Lu, is this thing really so magical?" Not only the landlords and gentry in Qujing, but also Cheng Feng, the former county magistrate who is about to be transferred to Anhui, grabbed a handful of seeds and looked at them carefully. Cheng Feng asked curiously: "Can this thing be grown in Anhui? I transferred to Jiande, which is also a well-known poor place in Anhui. If this thing is really as good as you said, I would like to try it in Anhui, and it can be regarded as a hometown there. Be blessed."

"Of course, as long as the weather is not too cold, this thing can be grown anywhere." Fatty Lu smiled and said, "But it's definitely too late to plant in Anhui now. Let's do it. I'm planting in Qujing now, and I'll wait until July and August." Seeing the effect, Mr. Cheng, how about sending someone to get the seeds from me?"

"Success, it's a deal!" Cheng Feng was amused when he heard it, and said to himself that with your help in the trial planting, what else should I be afraid of?At that moment, Cheng Feng raised his hand and said with a smile: "Master Lu, then let's make a deal, how about high-fiving?"

"Of course." Fatty Lu smiled and raised his fat hand, "High fives!"

"Crack!" With one palm strike, Fatty Lu also established himself as the patriarch in a certain industry, so that in later generations, some people who deserve death will pay homage to Fatty Lu before engaging in illegal activities. Portraits or photos of Fatty Lu when he was old, begging for the blessing of Fatty Lu, the patriarch, to protect us from being caught by people in the yamen when we go in low and go high.

Of course, the descendants of Fatty Lu refused to acknowledge the honor of their ancestors. Not only did they desperately attack and suppress these unscrupulous disciples who worshiped their ancestors indiscriminately, but they also pushed the blame on Zhu Fangdan in the legacy of their ancestors—if it wasn’t for this The old satyr used his influence in the apricot forest world to obtain so many seeds that should be used for medicine for his ancestors. Will this thing be popular in this era?
Whether or not Zhu Fangdan's descendants will accept this honor is left alone for the time being. In short, after Fatty Lu and Cheng Feng clapped their hands, in addition to asking Xiao Erlang and Shen Xin to distribute seeds to the landlord Laocai, he also ordered: "Also give me a separate I was planning to plant seeds of 2000 mu of land, and sent a fast horse to Luliang. The second prince of Pingxi Wang had a fief of more than [-] mu of land there, and he wrote back to me and agreed to lend me [-] mu of land to plant this thing. , send it over overnight, don't delay the farming season!"

"Also, Master Zhu, send people to Anmin Dasi and Longkuo Tusi to send seeds of [-] acres of land each, and write two letters to them by the way, telling them how to plant, encouraging them to plant, and it has been planted. , I bought it back with so much silver that they couldn't even imagine!"

(End of this chapter)