Jinyi champion

Chapter 2 The Crisis of the Small Courtyard
As in Zhu Hao's memory in this life, there is a large pond covering two or three acres in the backyard.

This house is located in the south of Anlu City, adjacent to the Han River. It is a mansion with three courtyards and shops given by the government. The big pond was originally a lotus pond in the back garden. It had been neglected for a long time, and Zhu Hao's mother took it over and cleaned it up briefly. Now it is just an ordinary reservoir.

As the officials carried the bags of salt out of the warehouse and poured them into the pond in front of the people, Zhu Niang and Aunt Li's hearts were bleeding.

Zhu Hao took a special look at the salt grains spilled on the ground. As expected, the quality of official salt these days is just that. There are many impurities, let alone snow white.

Even if other people don't make trouble with this kind of salt, it's only a matter of time before people eat it.

There were more than [-] halites left in the barn, all of which were poured into the pool, and the water was covered with white salt flowers, and more than [-] catties of salt could not be completely dissolved for a while.

Seeing this, Zhu Wanjian immediately asked the officials to dip a stick into the pool water and stir to speed up the dissolution of the salt.

Zhu Niang and Aunt Li sat slumped on the ground, looking at the pond full of salt flowers, wanting to cry but not crying.

Zhu Wanjian walked up to the second daughter, with a somewhat smug look on her face: "You two brothers and sisters, I did this for your own good! It is said that women should not show their faces casually, especially the third brother and sister, you are a chaste woman, and you will always be my Zhu Family members, every word and deed involves the face of the Zhu family, don't blame the elder brother for not helping...everything is based on the interests of the family!"

Zhu Niang didn't answer.

She has no intention of paying attention to this brazen second elder brother.

The neighbors who sneaked into the backyard couldn't stand it anymore, and commented: "Something happened to the shop, so it's fine if you don't come out to help, and you even colluded with the government to embarrass the orphans and widows of your brother's family. How dare you say that it is for the good of others?"

"Yeah, why is this kind of person so thick-skinned?"

If it is said that the onlookers stand in a relatively neutral position and their emotions are easily manipulated by others, but the neighbors who usually have a close relationship with Zhu Niang know Zhu Niang as a person, and at this time support the orphans and widows in the yard.

Zhu Wanjian lost face and shouted loudly: "Who are talking nonsense? Zhu's family affairs, when will it be your turn to gossip?"

Some people are still aggrieved.

"If the shop is taken back by the Zhu family, no matter what business I do in the future, I will not come to patronize it!"

"Yes, this kind of family who embarrasses orphans and widowed mothers, what kind of family is good? Stay away from now on..."

……

……

An hour later.

Five miles northeast of Changshou County, outside the big manor, bordered by [-] acres of fertile land, the rice is rippling like blue waves, and the trees on both sides of the road are lush.

Under the shade of the forest, a carriage stopped in front of the vermilion lacquered gate. After Zhu Wanjian got off the carriage, surrounded by several servants, he entered the gate with the plaque of "Zhu Mansion" and went straight to the inner hall of the middle courtyard.

A plaque of "loyalty, filial piety, righteousness" is hung on the front of the inner hall. Below it is a portrait of a military general in armor and holding a spear. Beside the altar table, an old woman in her fifties kneels on a futon with her back to the door, her hands in her hands. Holding the Buddhist bead chain in his hand, he closed his eyes while twisting the Buddhist beads while muttering something in his mouth.

"Mom, I'm back."

Zhu Wanjian walked behind the old woman, his muscles stretched, and his expression of satisfaction and excitement was beyond words.

The old woman opened her eyes, stopped what she was doing, got up and bowed respectfully to the portrait, then turned to look at her son.

The old lady has a graceful face, but the years have carved marks on her face, and a slight change in expression will cause horizontal wrinkles on her face.

She is the current de facto helm of the Zhu family, Zhu Jiashi.

"The shop and the salt have been successfully seized?"

Zhu Jia's expression was calm, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

Zhu Wanjian smiled and said: "No seal, but all the salt from the warehouse has been poured into the pool in the backyard. The store has no salt to sell, and the creditors will come to demand it. Then we will provoke them again and ask them to reward the third son's house from the court." Debt repayment... nothing will go wrong."

"Why is the good salt ruined?"

Zhu Jiashi looked stern.

Zhu Wanjian was asking for credit, but after hearing what his mother said, he hastily explained: "Mother, our purpose is not to take back the shop and the third son into the mansion, plus the third son's family's dozens of acres of land outside the city? If the salt arrives at the county government, the third daughter-in-law wants to What should I do if I can get it back? This plan is the bottom line of the military strategist..."

"okay!"

Zhu Jiashi stretched out his hand to interrupt his son's nonsense, "You and the people from the government went to seal up the shop, and no one commented?"

Zhu Wanjian was a little annoyed: "Why didn't anyone say that? They are all talking about our Zhu family embarrassing orphans and widows, and saying that the third eldest family is a chaste woman bestowed by the imperial court. It is inhumane and unrighteous for the family to do so...

"It's the third son who has a bad head. He said that he should destroy all the salt, so he borrowed the donkey from the slope to agree. If it weren't for someone's irresponsible remarks, my son would not have made such a bad plan."

"Ah."

Zhu Jiashi nodded slightly and didn't care about it any more.

Zhu Jiashi looked up at the general on the portrait, with a gloomy expression: "Your third brother Ruoquan knows, will he stand on Wei Niang's side in today's matter?"

Zhu Wanjian said sternly: "The third child is filial and will definitely support mother's decision. Besides, he is such a rigid person, how could he let his wife and concubine show up in public? If Quanxia knows, he will be grateful to mother."

Zhu Jiashi was thoughtful, "Why did the third child take the initiative to ask Ying to go to the north to suppress the rebellion, and ended up with no bones left? Wouldn't it be better to stay in Anlu and be a hundred households?
"Now your father can't afford the couch, your brother stays in the capital and doesn't return, you don't want to make progress, and your younger brother is all about taking the imperial examination. Who will complete the mission of my Zhu family?"

Zhu Wanjian stared wide-eyed: "Mother, my father is Jinyiwei Qianhu. Why do you want to move your family to a small place like Anlu when you are doing well in the capital? You always talk about the mission of the family. What kind of mission does our family have?"

Zhu Jiashi didn't answer.

"Mother, it's fine if you don't say it. Why do you always blame me for not being enterprising? What's wrong with me? Aren't I taking care of the shop and the farm at home? There are more than one hundred taels of silver in the income every month!"

Zhu Wanjian said proudly.

A sneer appeared on the corner of Zhu Jia's mouth: "One hundred taels a month, of which fifty or sixty taels are paid by the tenants, and another fifty taels are paid by the third daughter-in-law. Our Zhu family has more than a dozen shops in Anluzhou City. If you rent it out, it will cost more than thirty or forty taels per month? Don’t wait to take back the old three shops, even the fifty taels of income will be lost.”

"Who said it? It's the good Fengshui bestowed by the imperial court on the third shop. It is located in the commercial center of the south of the city, and there are many rich and powerful families around, so it has huge profits... She can pay fifty taels to the family every month. Who believes that she won't?" Hidden?"

"Besides, why don't you say that your eldest grandson is spending time and money outside? The money that flows out of his hands is not one hundred taels, but seventy or eighty taels, right? Why are you so used to it? The five sons of my family add up their monthly expenses Not as much as his fraction."

Zhu Wanjian retorted loudly.

Zhu Jia said angrily: "Your elder brother is in the capital, he..."

I was about to say something, but Zhu Jiashi stopped abruptly.

Zhu Wanjian said disdainfully: "My elder brother is in the capital, so why is he also a deputy Qianhu of Jinyiwei, and he will inherit the position of Qianhu of Jinyiwei from my future father, so you will be the grandson of the eldest son, right?
"Forget it, I'll finish what you entrusted, so I won't stand in your way here... Mother, you continue to worship the Buddha, and I will leave!"

Zhu Wanjian left with anger.

Zhu Jiashi looked at his son's back with a kind of sadness in his eyes.

……

……

Rice shop backyard.

The crowd has dispersed.

Zhu Niang and Aunt Li are holding a shovel, trying to fish out the undissolved salt in the pond, while sister Zhu Ting is helping to tie the shovel to the long bamboo pole.

Standing on the rockery in the spacious backyard, Zhu Hao silently observed the topography and landforms below, judging the high and low directions.

"Xiaohao, come quickly and get some salt."

Zhu Niang saw her son standing on a high place in a daze, she couldn't help urging him.

At this time, Zhu Hao had already used two questions to learn from his mother what he would face after his new birth.

May of the ninth year of Zhengde!

Anlu Prefecture!
Anlu Naixing Palace is located, in the ninth year of Zhengde, the future Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong was the same age as himself, at the age of seven.

With this message, he suddenly understood the direction of his efforts.

But the most urgent thing right now is to solve the current crisis in the small courtyard.

Zhu Hao went to the big pond and looked. There was indeed a lot of undissolved salt at the bottom of the water, but the salt had been mixed with a lot of silt, and even if it was fished out, it would be difficult to remove the impurities.

"Mother, with this fishing method, even if one or two percent of the salt can be fished out, it won't be clean... Who is this kind of salt full of impurities sold to? If someone eats something wrong, the money from selling the salt may not be enough to pay for it." The soup and medicine expenses?"

Zhu Hao's question shattered Zhu Niang's last hope.

As the son said, fishing for salt and selling it will not help the external debt, and may even lead to a bigger crisis.

Aunt Li approached: "Master Hao, since you know this, why do you want people to pour salt into the pool?"

Zhu Hao said: "Mother, auntie, if you believe me, just listen to me, find someone to renovate the backyard, find a way to refine the salt, and ensure that the new salt is whiter and purer than before..."

Zhu Niang looked at her son in surprise: "Xiaohao, what are you talking about?"

The five-year-old little Zhu Ting next to him looked at Zhu Hao with a look of admiration, "Brother, is it really okay?"

"Mother, I saw a method in an ancient book that can purify salt..."

"Where did you read the ancient books? How did you know how to read before you were enlightened?"

"...It's like this. The book is full of pictures, which describe the process of making salt in detail, so you can understand it at a glance...Mother, don't worry about the details. Now we are dead horses as living horse doctors."

"But... refining salt requires firewood and utensils, which we can't afford."

"We don't need those for the time being, we will use the scorching sun to expose it to the sun... It is midsummer now, and salt will crystallize in a few days, but we need to find someone to divide the backyard into three large pools and twelve small pools, using diversion troughs for each other Connected, now call Uncle Zhong and Yu Sanlai..."

In Zhu Hao's incomplete memory, there are actually helpers in this shop, who usually help carry grain and salt bags, and do some chores, and are paid according to their work.

Uncle Zhong and Yu Sanben were laborers at the dock, they came to the grain store to help out from time to time, and they had a good relationship with Zhu Hao's family.

"Ma'am, look..."

Aunt Li had no idea, so she could only look at Zhu Niang.

Zhu Niang looked dignified and nodded slowly: "Drying the salt is indeed the last resort. Even if the dried salt has impurities, it is better than the salt that is fished out. If it doesn't work, we will take it outside the city and sell it to farmers in the mountains..."

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(End of this chapter)