Beautiful step by step

Chapter 61

Wei Wei and Yan Heng stayed at Wei's house for two full days, originally they only planned to stay for one day.

Although the family is poor, the Wei family's house is kept very clean. The bedding is old, but there is a smell of sunshine when lying on it, and you can feel that it has been newly dried.Before falling asleep at night, the sound of crickets came from the window, which was very peaceful and beautiful.

The rice I got up the next day was not delicate, it was just ordinary cornmeal soup with pickles.But Aunt Wei added two drops of sesame oil to the pickles, which made the bland pickles taste even better.The whole family sits happily at the dinner table, even if it is a simple meal, the taste will be much better.

Wei Wei ate very satisfied, and then took the initiative to help Uncle Wei sort out the collection of books.

The Wei family's study surprised her, she always thought that the largest room facing the door was the main room of the Wei family.It was late yesterday when she came, and she never went in.After eating breakfast, I followed Uncle Wei in. As soon as I opened the door, a smell of books and pages came over my face.Facing the light, she saw the bookshelves from the ground to the roof, densely packed with books of various thicknesses and sizes.

After a long time, many pages of the books began to turn yellow, and the binding threads of the book bindings were broken, and they were tied up with hemp rope and placed there randomly.

In fact, the Wei family didn't have many things, even with the dowry of Brother Heng's mother back then, it wouldn't be much.But if these books are added, it may be more troublesome than a family full of children and grandchildren like the head of the Yan family.Books should be sorted by category, and these are no better than new books. Most books have been stored for a long time, and the paper is extremely fragile, so they need to be handled with care.

Without another word, Wei Wei went to the bookshelf to help Uncle Wei tidy up.She has never seen many books, but this does not prevent her from understanding the general content of the book through the cover.Because of the huge workload, they stayed an extra day.After sorting out the books in two days, even if she just read the book, she saw an extremely rich content.History, geography, poetry and songs, and even in a corner, she saw a few books in foreign languages.There is a pseudonym of the Neon Kingdom, and even Latin, although she can't read it at all, but this does not prevent her from understanding how extensive the Wei family's ancestors have been.

While tidying up, her curiosity about the Wei family grew day by day.

Seemingly seeing what she was thinking, Uncle Wei let out a long sigh after accidentally learning that Yan Heng gave her an ancestral suet white jade bracelet as a betrothal, and then his attitude changed completely.

He was not as polite to her as he was at the beginning, and he behaved a lot more freely, even accusing her when she misclassified the book.

At the same time, while finishing the book, he told the past of the Wei family.

The Wei family used to be a scholarly family not weaker than the Liu family where the Yishan layman lived. Although the population is small, there have been many talents in the past dynasties.Until the last years of Emperor Yue Taizu, Wei's family came out with an astoundingly talented person. He had never forgotten since he was a child.

This person is Uncle Wei's grandfather, Wei Xiang.It stands to reason that there is a prime minister in the family, and the Wei family should be raised to a higher level.But it happened that Xiao He failed Xiao He, this Wei Xiang who led the Wei family to the peak, read too much, was too smart, and saw the current situation of the world too clearly.He said to the first emperor, that people with fame and fame do not pay taxes on their land, and that princes and princes, nobles and nobles, from generation to generation, seem to be fine, but people are not satisfied, and rich and noble families are prosperous, and they will always invade for their own benefit. Wealth, the embankment of a thousand miles is destroyed by ant nests, and over time this will eventually become the foundation of Shaking Dayue.

In Wei Wei's view, this statement is not wrong. Why did the ancients say that "everything is inferior but reading is high"? It is because once you get fame, you no longer have to pay taxes on the land under your name. In order to avoid taxes, many farmers will also link their land to Under the name of a scholar with a lower tax rate.Wei Xiang saw it very clearly, in a wealthy family, the children have plenty of money and concubines, and many children are blessed to have a lot of children.In order to ensure that every descendant can enjoy wealth, they can only grab resources from ordinary people.Therefore, in all dynasties, when the country was founded, the river was clear and the sea was clean, and the evils of the previous dynasties were swept away.However, within a few generations of emperors, land mergers began, and until the end of the land mergers were extremely serious, most of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few people, and the common people had no food to eat, and peasant uprisings would occur.

Wei Xiang's point of view is very far-sighted, and even in the long run, it is beneficial to wealthy families.After all, once the emperor and the courtiers, the officials restrained themselves from making less money, and the more they lived, the more prosperous they would be, and everyone would have more years of good life.But no one thinks that way. Most people think that I have worked so hard to get to this position, why should I give up my benefits.

Therefore, Wei Xiang's proposition really hit the lungs of every official.Although the first emperor strongly agreed with it, he still couldn't stop the crowd from attacking it.In the end, even the late emperor who fought with the Taizu and was known for his arbitrariness failed to keep Wei Xiang.

The only thing to be thankful for is that Wei Xiang is indeed smart and upright.As soon as he became an official, every promotion was based on his solid achievements, and he was impeccable.The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty united and searched through the codes of Dayue, but in the end they only charged him with "slandering" and drove him far away to the northwest under the name of "the side of the Qing emperor", begging to be seen.

Even the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty put in so much effort, but they could only confine their crimes to "not being an official for three generations", not "not being an official forever".

After talking about the past, Uncle Wei was full of emotion: "If my grandfather had drifted with the crowd back then, he might have taken his time."

"Uncle, this matter can't be slow. If great-grandfather followed the crowd, he wouldn't become the youngest prime minister of Dai Viet."

Wei Wei said firmly, Uncle Wei paused, looked at his subordinates, and what he got was the essay left by his grandfather back then.Without opening it, he also knew that the first page of the essay had only one sentence——

Although he died nine times, he still has no regrets.

When he was a child, he thought his grandfather was stupid. However, in the 20 years since he got married, he saw with his own eyes that Jiuquan, which was once poor but where everyone worked hard and had a happy smile on his face, gradually changed under the insatiable greed of officials. Now that everyone is in danger, he understands how powerful his grandfather is.

"Right or wrong, it will be judged by future generations."

Wei Wei knew that he could say this sentence, Uncle Wei wanted to understand.Concentrating on arranging the books, she was always thinking about Wei Xiang.

Was it really because Wei Xiang was a clean and honest official that the lives of the whole family could still be saved after being targeted by the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty?And Ah Heng, others may not pay much attention to it, could it be possible that with Emperor Qinglong's ability, it is impossible to find out who his great-grandfather is?

These two things are connected, and it is not difficult to see the emperor's attitude.

For a moment, Wei Weifu was in his heart. Unknowingly, she had hugged Da Yue's thickest golden thigh.With the emperor as her backer, her grain reselling business is still a mess!
It took two days to help Uncle Wei organize most of the books in the room.There are still some scattered linear books, no matter how much she helps, it will be a disservice.

With the reluctance of the four members of the Wei family, Wei Wei and Yan Heng boarded the carriage for the return journey.

Before reaching the gate of the house, a group of people could be seen from a distance.Among them, a group of people wearing bunts was a group she knew, and they were the clansmen she had seen in Yanjia Village when the grave was moved.As for the other group of people wearing standard cotton shirts... She turned to look at Yan Heng.

"Does Ah Heng know where those people wearing the same cotton robes come from?"

Yan Heng sighed: "It's Zhou's family member."

"The Zhou family... so many households?"

Wei Wei felt that his brain was not enough, and the group of people at the door was crowded, there were at least 50 people.This is just the servants, if you add maids, mother-in-law, and servants, is the Zhou family going to be the emperor of the land?Thinking about the five people she and Yan Heng brought to Liangzhou, it was really worth comparing people to others and goods to throw away.

"Aheng..."

Yan Heng touched the knife on the other side, and said in relief, "It's just a bunch of wine bags and rice bags, so don't be afraid, Ah Mao."

She was really not afraid, but seeing the serious face of the man she married, ready to fight for her with a big knife at any time, it felt quite heartwarming.

"The Zhou family's style is more serious than your serious appeasement."

Yan Heng's face stretched a little, and he thought for a moment and asked, "Ah Mao, after we arrive in Liangzhou, should our family hire a few more nursing homes?"

Wei Wei liked the word "our family". The carriage slowed down, and she leaned on his shoulder: "People are complicated, as long as we have enough people, our family has the most powerful people in Liangzhou."

Yan Heng's shoulders stiffened, realizing that the most powerful person she was talking about was himself, and he couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips.Under Ah Mao's adoring gaze, the corners of his lips became more and more curved.

The most powerful person?Even if it is not now, he will definitely do it in the future.

"Here, I'll go down and have a look first."

The carriage stopped in front of the house, Yan Heng stretched his long legs and jumped off the carriage.This time, he didn't reach out to Wei Wei, but rushed into the crowd with a knife in his hand, and smashed the handle of the knife at the Zhou Jiajia Ding who was standing in the front.

With a knife, the servant fell to the ground, his nose couldn't stop bleeding, and his tragic state shocked the rest of the Zhou family.

In fact, there were quite a few people from the Yan family, but they were used to being oppressed by the Zhou family over the years, and they didn't dare to resist for a while, so they were suppressed by the Zhou family.Now Yan Heng raised his knife and stood in the crowd, with a flash of cold light on the edge of the knife, it cut off all the fear in their hearts.There was a governor from the Yan family who sent the biggest fish of the Zhou family to the prison with just a finger lift, so there was nothing to be afraid of the remaining small shrimps.

The members of the Yan family plucked up their courage and pressed forward with their bare hands.Patriarch Yan, who had been standing in the crowd, thought more deeply. He had experienced the Chu family and the Zhou family successively for most of his life. This was the first time he had seen a clan member surnamed Yan so brave and fearless.Unknowingly, Brother Heng has become the backbone of the whole clan.

At the same time, his prestige as the patriarch is rapidly disappearing, and he cannot and cannot stop it.Now that the matter has come to this, he can only put himself in the right place and be a pawn.

After he figured it out, Patriarch Yan walked to the front in a few steps. Although he was thin and stooped, he had been in charge of the clan for a long time, and his aura as a superior should not be underestimated.

"You Zhou family members are going to turn against the sky?"

Nodding his head with his index fingers one by one, he said sharply: "Lord Yan is the emperor's personal governor. Under the eyes of everyone, Zhou Qianhu led troops to assassinate Lord Zhenfu first, and then you people came to the court to order officials There is trouble in front of the door. The entire Zhou family still has Wang Fa in their eyes!"

of course not!

In Jiuquan County, the Zhou family is Wang Fa!

That's what the Zhou family's Ding thought, but there were so many people on the other side, and there was a killing god standing in front of him with a knife.Yan Heng and the others knew that when he was Xiaoqi, he was especially good at killing Wala people, but now that he has become a governor, killing them and those who come to make trouble is for nothing, they are really afraid.

"Our Lord Qianhu..."

Someone asked in a low voice, Yan Heng swept across the crowd, his piercing gaze made the person who asked the question feel like a cold light was on his back.

"Everything comes according to the law of Da Viet. I will leave my words here today. The people of Jiuquan are welcome to report Zhou Qianhu. If the situation is true, you will be dealt with in the future, and your losses will be returned to the government."

There were quite a few spectators around the gate of the house, and they were excited when they heard Mr. Zhenfu's words.

Patriarch Yan even took the lead: "I'll come first if you're close to the water. Every autumn harvest, Zhou Qian's households have to double the public grain, which is called labor tax."

The boy from the Yan family who helped carry the coffin the day before yesterday was acquainted with Yan Heng, so he didn't have so many scruples in speaking.Hearing what the patriarch said, he sneered, and his words were full of sarcasm: "What kind of bullshit is laboring? It's not that he has a dog leg and a little wife. There are many good girls who have been robbed by the Zhou family."

His words aroused the deep pain of many people: "My lord, please make the decision for me. My daughter was snatched away by a concubine from the third room of the Zhou family. I haven't seen her for several years. Now I don't know if she is alive or dead."

"Lord Zhenfu, my family heirloom, Ruyi, was favored by the tax collectors of the Zhou family, and he bought it for a tael of silver. My father remembered it before he died."

There was a lot of wailing, and even the people who hadn't been hustled by the Zhou family would join in the fun and talk about the tragic situation of their neighbors or relatives and friends.The common people gathered together to compare the misery. Originally, it was only five points, but this meeting was also said to be eight points.

Zhou Jiajia Ding came over boldly early in the morning. First, he met the Yan family who blocked the door. After a long stalemate, he was knocked out by the sword handle of the righteous master, and finally he was attacked by the people of Jiuquan collectively.

One bang, then decline, three times exhausted, what kind of unlucky day is this today, they didn't read the almanac when they went out, right?

Ding Zhou's family began to doubt life, everyone is like an eggplant beaten by Shuang.

The person who was slapped on the ground by Yan Heng stood up and covered his nose with blood: "Let's go."

Everyone was about to take the team back, but Yan Heng blocked the way with a knife: "Wait a minute."

Patriarch Yan automatically dubbed: "You are the governor's house in the west of the exchange market, you can come and go as you want?"

Zhou's family members are a little confused, they are not making trouble anymore, why don't they let them go?
"If you want to leave, you can, people can leave, and leave everything else to me. Starting with you, unmatch the knife and take off your clothes."

After a pause, the patriarch said, "I've always been reasonable. If I want to keep my clothes and knives, it's fine. I'll redeem them with money. According to the price set by your Zhou family, this kind of high-quality sword is ten taels of silver, and the clothes are cheap for you." If you buy it in a group of ten people, you can get rid of the change and only count as 100 taels.”

After finishing speaking, the patriarch's small body waved back, and seeing Yan Heng nodding, young and strong people from Yan's family village swarmed up, making a gesture to strip off his clothes.

"You... are too deceitful."

The patriarch understood: "It seems that they will not die until the Yellow River, so they will pick him up first."

The entire Yan family is a farmer, and what they lack most is strength.As soon as the three young men came up, they stripped off the unconvinced man several times, leaving only a pair of underwear for him.

The Jiuquan people onlookers screamed and applauded after being surprised.This method is too happy, and the Zhou family did this to them before.There is one wave of collecting public grain during the autumn harvest, and another wave of getting farm tools and cattle during the spring plowing, layer after layer until the last bit of oil and water on the people is searched and dried.

Yan Heng jumped into the carriage, blocking Wei Wei's face watching the excitement.Wei Wei didn't want to continue watching at first, with Ah Heng's figure like a male model dangling in front of her day and night, those fat-headed servants of the Zhou family couldn't catch her eyes.

"Aheng, the patriarch really has a way."

Wei Wei said excitedly, and Yan Heng also had a smile on his face.

"Just this one, I can get a small 1000 taels of silver for nothing. By the way, why did the patriarch and the others come to the city?"

Yan Heng saw the joy in her eyes when she mentioned the money, and hugged her into his arms: "The patriarch and the others came to the city to give you money."

(End of this chapter)