Lu Ming

Chapter 359 Opening the Port (25)
As Xiong Dao expected, the temptation about the Xu family's Zhuangzi was immediately called back: the Yaren sent to Huating County to communicate did not even meet the owner's face, and was ridiculed by the manager. , rushed out.

Xiong Dao was fully prepared for this result.

Although Xu Jie was the chief assistant of the Jiajing Dynasty, he has been dead for 40 years. However, the Xu family has hairpin tassels in the past dynasties, and there are many people who have become officials. I still want to go to the tiger's mouth to extract my teeth, so it's normal for some people to run into trouble.

Xu Jie's younger brother, Xu Zhi, was an official to the Ministry of Criminal Justice in Nanjing. His eldest son, Xu Fan, was an official at Taichang Temple, and his two second sons were all officials at Shang Baoqing.

Without such a distinguished family, the Xu family would not dare to connive their children to run amok in the countryside and buy land property arbitrarily.At that time, Xu's family occupied an area of ​​24 mu, and his children and slaves committed crimes, resulting in a mountain of lawsuits against him, which eventually led to Hai Rui.

Although the above-mentioned things happened decades ago, and the Xu family has also restrained itself a bit, but because there have been people who have become officials in the past dynasties, the Xu family is still a super threshold.

Xu Jie's eldest grandson, Xu Yuanchun, was a Jinshi in the second year of Wanli, and an official to Taichang Temple.

But now, Xu Jie's great-grandson Xu Bengao has made a fortune again.

Back in the reign of Tianqi, Xu Bengao was just a thousand households of royal guards.However, this king played the basic skills of the family of eunuchs to see the political wind: when most officials, including Yuan Chonghuan and his like, were vying to build Wei Zhongxian's ancestral hall, Xu Bengao was dismissed because he refused to build the ancestral hall.

Not long after that, Brother Chongzhen came to power, Eunuch Wei fell, and Xu Bengao was reappointed overnight. He was favored by the emperor as an anti-Wei fighter, and he was promoted repeatedly. Finally, he was promoted to Zuodudu, Zuojundufu.
So, facing such a prominent and top-notch family, Xiong Dao is now a mouse-pull, unable to speak.

First of all, the strategy of "driving tigers and devouring wolves" that Xiong Dao had been using before did not work at all in the Xu family.

Whether it is the gentry he knows, or the magistrate of the county government, including the small official Yu Bende, they are all useless now.Because the Xu family is not one of those rich peasants in the countryside, this family can make the gentry turn against each other at any time, the county magistrate will be dismissed from office, and the petty officials will lose their lives.

So if Xiong Dao really wants to have trouble with the Xu family, the civil servants he relied on before will not only not help him, but will probably turn around and deal with him: on the one hand, he is a gentry with deep roots and a natural network of connections class, and on the other side is the grassroots spokesperson who recruited the giant bandits.
If these two forces that are not used to each other are confronted, the county magistrate will not risk offending the entire gentry class and being labeled a "gentleman thief" to collude with Xiong Dao even if he is beaten to death. No benefit is possible.In fact, any normal Ming bureaucrat would not be stupid in this kind of thing, and Xiong Dao's ability to fight for a situation where the two do not help each other is considered a high incense.

As a result, more than half of the methods Xiong Dao used before have failed, including using the official cover of Yu Shuban to do things, which is definitely impossible now-the county magistrate will remove Yu Shuban immediately. With the support of the Xu family behind them, the Yu family would not even dare to fart.

Among Xiong Dao's remaining methods, the sharp economic methods in the past are no longer effective.Because there are no middle class such as small landlords and rich peasants in the Xu family's village, all the farmers are tenants of the Xu family, and the land deeds are all in the hands of the Xu family. The previous high price to seduce the other party's civil strife can't be used.

As for buying land from the Xu family at a high price, for a top gentry like the Xu family, land is not only a source of wealth, but also represents political power.

It's the same reason as the nouveau riche insisting on buying the house where Jack Ma lives. How much is enough?No matter how much money you bring, Ma Ali may not be able to sell it, right?Even if they agreed to sell it, how much would Xiongdao have to pay?double?three times?five times?
If the price is really that high, from now on, Xiongdao will never want to buy land from the surrounding area again, because everyone will raise the price: since they meet Kaizi, they will not kill him for nothing.

After discovering that all the obvious means were not working, Xiong Dao could only consider rolling up his sleeves and doing it himself, or in other words, using the power of the Jiangnan Station to give the Xu family some "means".

However, after he thought about it carefully, he found that it was still wrong: no matter what the method was, it would eventually lead to an uncontrollable ending.

The main force of the Xu family is in the capital, and a group of scholars from the family are staying at Huating. The Zhuangzi blocking the wharf area is just one of the countless lands around the Xu family.

In other words, even if Xiong Dao sent people to assassinate two of them, burn Zhuangzi down, or drive away and kill all the tenants, the land would still not be available—the Xu family could completely leave the land idle and not sell it even if killed .

Another thing to consider is that the Xu family is not a soft persimmon.Once the other party notices that someone is making small moves, then Xiong Dao is likely to face a prison sentence-yes, it is the legendary "Take my film to the county government and get the surname Xiong" This is the most unpretentious means necessary for a gentleman.

The simplest, most common, and most effective.

This kind of drama of taking old movies to the Yamen to sue people, catch people, and give them away has been performed every day for thousands of years.However, behind this simple post, it represents the entire feudal system and wants to destroy this operating law-the British did it after they fought two Opium Wars and burned the Old Summer Palace.

So what about Xiongdao now?He has neither a fleet nor an army to burn Chongzhen's garden.So don't look at his imposing manner, in fact he is quite lacking in confidence: because from the legal point of view, he is still a grassroots.

To deal with grassroots, only one film of the master is enough.So as long as the Xu family mobilizes the prefectural and county yamen, as simple as sending a few tolerance officers to summon Xiong Dao for interrogation, things will get out of control in an instant.

Xiong Dao would definitely not take the risk of going to the court, it is his territory, and Deng Hu's example is not far behind.At this time, it is difficult to handle: how many tolerances were slaughtered?Or dodge?

Dodging is useless, because people who come can arrest other people wantonly at the construction site and the house, so in the end they have to see blood and violently resist the law.However, this is tantamount to killing officials and rebelling, and the next time it will be the garrison.

Most importantly, what's the point of doing this?He Xiong Dao came here to open the port, not to run away after practicing marksmanship.

Xiong Dao stood on the bank of the river with his hands behind his back, looking at the rolling waves of the river, but he heard the sound of chant on the construction site behind him.The voice was very loud, and the peasants were full of spirits, even the noisy waves couldn't cover it up.

Turning around to look at the construction site in full swing, and then turning his head to look at the field to the west that was still being plowed vaguely, Xiong Dao couldn't help but sigh: since the deduction can't make any good results, then let's admit it honestly.With my current level of bronze level strength, don't pretend to be a hero to toughen up the king.In the end, the entire opening of Hong Kong was implicated, and the public and private parties suffered a great loss.

After figuring this out, Xiong Dao stopped being hypocritical and immediately started a series of adjustments.

First of all, he found Feng Guanjie, and then told him clearly: the operation to take the land to the west will be suspended, so Feng Guanjie had better start revising the plan now and arrange the location of the dock on his own land.

Then Xiong Dao went back to the house.

In the secret room in the backyard, he paced slowly, while the telegraph operator on the side waited with bated breath for him to speak the telegram.

"Given that neither the strength nor influence of our ministry meets the conditions."

"Temporarily give up contact with Mrs. Xu and the rest of the gentry."

"Ask for strategic support from the headquarters, and send powerful people who are familiar with the gentry to listen to me."

After finishing this long telegram, Xiong Dao still shook his head helplessly: Although objectively it is the reason why the enemy army is too strong, in any case, it is not so good to admit that our side can't handle it and needs a lot of support from the rear. It is easy to speak out.

After sending this telegram, Mr. Xiong, who has been making troubles in Jiading County for the past few months, seems to have fallen silent overnight - all land acquisition projects have been suspended, and the port area is no longer trying to expand. A large number of construction workers began to concentrate on digesting the existing site.

Anyway, it's time for halftime.

Zuo Baoliu was squatting beside Hebutou outside the village, smoking the bamboo tobacco stick in his hand vigorously, while staring at the wooden boat going away with red eyes, as if the boat was pulling his lover.

However, for Zuo Baoliu, who had been working in the mulberry garden for half his life, the person on the boat was really his good friend: it was the last batch of mulberry trees to be packed away.

Zuo Baoliu stood up slowly until he could not see the hull of the ship, took two final sips of the cigarette rod with a gloomy face, and then tapped the pot on the tree trunk beside him.After packing up his things, he slowly hunched over, hands behind his back, and walked towards the rented inn.

For more than a month, Zuo Baoliu and the other workers, under coercion, worked from dawn to dusk, and finally moved all the mulberry trees in the mulberry garden onto the boat today.

While they were digging away the mulberry trees, the remaining farmers in the village kept bringing in the soil with a kind of delicate cart.

The soil was collected when the village flattened the land and dug irrigation canals - too many ridges and roads were leveled, and now Zuojia Village is full of neat fields, which Zuo Baoliu has never seen before.

All the soil transported by the trolley was filled into the mulberry pit.Zuo Baoliu knew that in a short time, this mulberry garden without mulberry trees would be turned over and irrigated, and then planted with those strange crops
There are several kinds of crops brought by the new owner by boat. The only one Zuo Baoliu knows is sweet potatoes, and the rest are called potatoes and corns, which he has never seen before.

However, these are not the focus of Zuo Baoliu's attention: his mind is always on the mulberry garden.However, no one cares what he thinks. In the end, the mulberry garden will be connected with the rest of the land, and there will be no traces of the past.

This made Zuo Baoliu very sad.

(End of this chapter)