The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 620 Treating guests to dinner
On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Guangde, in Taicang Prefecture, at the Wang family residence.

"Mr. Zhang, please."

"Brother Chenyu, please!"

The main hall is bright with incense and candles, and has brocade curtains and embroidered curtains. A plaque of the central hall is hung in the middle of the wall, and in the middle hangs the portraits of the Wang family's ancestors, all of whom are wearing pythons and jade waists. There are also several scrolls of ancestors' portraits on both sides.

The Taicang Wang family is a branch of the Taiyuan Wang family. They flourished in Jiangnan in the late Tang Dynasty and were a veritable family of scholars and officials. Many of their ancestors were officials. Wang Heng's father, Wang Xijue, was a famous prime minister during the Wanli period.

"In this year of great disaster, I apologize for the poor hospitality. Please forgive me."

The maids and servants stood on the east and west sides, the men on the east and the women on the west.

The ground was covered with red felt, and several large gilded enamel braziers were placed in the corner. It was still a bit chilly in Taicang during the first month of the year.

The main seat was furnished with a pillow with a cloud dragon holding a longevity ornament on its back, and on either side stood seven or eight carved lacquer chairs facing each other, with a large copper foot warmer under each chair.

In the middle stood a long oval table, densely packed with dishes. Near the host and guest seats, freshly cut venison was sizzling in the oven, and the aroma wafted in the air.

The elegant Wang Heng (Zi Chenyu) sat at the head of the table, and next to him was a young man of about twenty years old, dressed in fine clothes, who must have been rich or noble.

The Mr. Zhang that Wang Heng mentioned was the eldest son of Zhang Zhongyi, a wealthy businessman in Taicang Prefecture. His surname was Zhang and his name was Yuan.

"I'm so ashamed to bother Brother Chenyu during the New Year. I'm so embarrassed by your courtesy."

A pretty maid came forward to pour wine, but Zhang Yuan didn't even look at the maid, his eyes fixed on Wang Heng.

Wang Xijue's son slowly picked up the cherry blossom cup, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

He didn't look at his anxious friend, but just stared at the dishes on the table and sighed slightly:
"Alas, the old accounts of the Wanli Dynasty still need to be rediscovered. Go ahead and stir them up, stir them up, and mess up the Great Qi. I'm afraid they won't stop until a few lives are lost."

Zhang Yuan said anxiously, "How can this be an old debt from the Wanli period? My relatives in the capital wrote to say that this land survey is based on the first land survey in the Ming Dynasty, and they are recovering the arrears. That's why my father asked me to come and bother Brother Chenyu to ask the Wang family..."

Wang Heng waved his hand, not giving Zhang Yuan a chance to speak: "The first time? That must be the old almanac of the Hongwu year."

"A thousand-year-old farmland has eight hundred owners. Are you going to charge us hundreds of years of land tax? This is murderous and heartbreaking. Your Zhang family should pay a few hundred thousand taels in back pay!"

Zhang Yuan left his seat, stood up, bowed to Wang Heng, and said almost pleadingly:

"Brother Chenyu, save me!"

Wang Heng helped his friend up and said calmly:

"Brother Zhang Yuan, what are you doing? If an enemy comes, we must fight him. If a flood comes, we must block it with earth. I have some friendship with Magistrate Huang. My father was the Prime Minister back then, and he was very kind to me. I'm writing a letter to him and have him remove the five thousand acres of land from the Yellow Book. If the imperial envoy inquires about it, just say it's ownerless land and the Yellow Book has been in disrepair for a long time. At most, I'll refund you a few thousand taels of silver."

Zhang Yuan pretended to kneel down again.

"Thank you, Brother Chenyu, for saving my life. I will..."

Wang Heng took the wine glass in front of Zhang Yuan, filled it up for him himself, and said casually:

"A censor, an imperial envoy, and a raincoat guard, all arrived in Taicang. They're unfamiliar with the place and didn't bring any soldiers with them. Why should we be afraid of them? But we should be wary of those little brats down there. There are dozens of mouths to feed in the state capital. One deputy prefect, two assistant prefects, three prosecutors, the experiential officer, the governor, the prosecutor, and the inspector of the prison—none of them can be fed well."

"Come, let's drink this cup together!"

Zhang Yuan raised his glass, hesitated for a moment, and whispered:
"Brother Chen Yu, the five thousand taels of silver have already been prepared for your use. Don't worry."

Wang Heng smiled and nodded, his expression unchanged:
"The imperial envoy is from the north, outside the Great Wall. In short, he is not a fellow traveler."

"Tartar?" Zhang Yuan looked surprised.

"They could be from the Northern Tartars (Mongol), the Eastern Tartars (Jianzhou), or Han Chinese from Liaodong. That's why I can't talk to them."

Wang Heng drank the wine angrily, his eyes slightly red, and suddenly slammed the table and stood up.

"How ridiculous! It's an insult to civility! It ruins the culture of Jiangnan! This warrior, obsessed with war, has brought disaster to the Central Plains and Huguang. Now he's reaching out to Jiangnan, armed with a copy of the Hongwu Yellow Book that he got from who knows where, and wants to investigate the land and collect the land tax. He's nothing but a bandit. Do you really think there's no one in my Loucheng?"

Zhang Yuan quickly signaled Wang Heng to lower his voice.

"Brother Chenyu, be careful there are ears on the other side of the wall."

The Wang family in Taicang was not having an easy time either.

According to the land survey standards set by Emperor Guangde, the Wang family must either clear out the 50,000 mu of land they had illegally occupied since the Jiajing period, or pay an additional 2 million taels of silver in land tax...

There are three other prominent families like the Wang family in Taicang City, namely Huang, Chen and Zhang, which are commonly known as the Four Great Families.

The four major families are intertwined and connected.

Before and after the fall of the Southern Ming, the retired emperor accepted all the former Ming officials without question. Many prefectures and counties in the southeast, like the Republic of China after the Xinhai Revolution, simply replaced the plaques at the entrances of the yamen and the prefects wore official robes before continuing their duties. Zhu Changling's indiscriminate bestowal of official titles and ranks, with positions below the prefecture of Taicang essentially held by the four great families, even local sages like Wang Heng were recruited by the Hongguang court and became magistrate of three counties.

More than three million mu of farmland in Taicang Prefecture (including all counties) were almost divided up by the four families. They even took possession of the official land of Taicang Guard, the Weaving Bureau, and the Banknote Customs.

The focus of Emperor Guangde's rectification was on these parasites in Loucheng.

The storm is brewing. The Zhang family is the weakest of the four major families and is the first to feel the murderous aura from Nanjing.

Now that Jiangnan has been pacified and the mouth of the Yangtze River has been blocked by the navy, under the deployment of the retired emperor, a situation of closing the door to fight the dog has been formed.

These greedy rats, realizing they have nowhere to escape, inevitably resort to a desperate struggle.

Wang Heng looked up at the portrait of the Wang family ancestor hanging under the plaque in the central hall and said viciously:
"So what? Even if the flags on the city walls change, I remain unmoved! I'm not bragging, but in Lou City, only our Wang family has stood firm for hundreds of years! Even if the Qi army comes, what can it do? My father's disciples are all over the world. Among the eight current prime ministers, four are my father's disciples! Not to mention the prefectures and counties in Northern Zhili... Liu Jing's rise to power was also due to my father's recommendation."

Zhang Yuan had no idea that the Wang family had such a relationship with the emperor, and he was so shocked that his mouth opened wide.

"Change the law, change the law. No matter how he changes it, the Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teacher cannot be changed! Unless the Liu family really wants to betray their teacher and destroy their ancestors!"

Zhang Yuan came closer and said cautiously:

"Could it be that Brother Chenyu wants to..."

Wang Heng stopped talking.

"That's good to know. Taicang is full of tricks. Find a few reliable men and use both soft and hard tactics. Remember your cousin Zhang Pu's 'Five Men's Epitaph'?"

Zhang Yuan's cousin is the current Grand Secretary Zhang Pu. Of course, after his cousin became successful, he no longer recognized him as his cousin.

"Of course I remember."

On March 18, the second year of Chongzhen, the Jinyiwei went to Suzhou to read the imperial edict, which wanted to arrest Zhou Shunchang, which aroused the resentment of the people of Wu. Zhou Shunchang was arrested because he was implicated when the eunuch Li Shi, the weaving eunuch, reported the former Yingtian governor Zhou Qiyuan. It had nothing to do with the so-called tax resistance in later generations.

In "Dreams of Taoan", Yan Peiwei and other four people are sworn brothers.

The Ming Dynasty's "Compilation of Essays on Worldly Affairs" states that Yan Peiwei came from the "Daxing" (daxing) business. Daxing (daxing) performed tasks like collecting debts, engaging in fights, and settling personal grudges. They even kept idiots (or manipulated good people into idiots) to serve as prisoner for others, even to carry out punishments and even death in their place.

The truth behind "The Epitaph of Five People" is probably that the Donglin Party paid money to hire thugs to send people to take the blame and find some fools to die in place of them to calm the situation.

So Yan Peiwei and the other three, along with Zhou Wenyuan, stepped forward, became heroes, and died for their cause.

"As I said, if an enemy comes, we must stop him with soldiers and if a flood comes, we must block it with earth. I won't resort to this unless it's absolutely necessary. Let's use courtesy first and then force."

Wang Heng narrowed his eyes, recalled the past, and said leisurely:

"After all, I spent a few years with the Emperor, and I know his character well. Although he's a warrior, he's quite cunning and meticulous in his planning. If he knew the cost would be too high, he wouldn't have done it."

"Therefore, we must let the emperor know that this new law will bring disaster to the country and the people. If it is forcefully implemented, there will be a heavy price to pay."

Of course Zhang Yuan knew what the heavy price Wang Heng meant.

As long as the four major families unite, the worst that can happen is that they kill a few more beggars and refugees, just like during the Chongzhen period, and describe them as righteous men, saying that they died for the people of Taicang, inciting civil unrest and threatening the court.

You must know that Taicang is an important place in the southeast.

By then, this reform will probably come to nothing, at least, it will not be implemented in Taicang Prefecture first...
"Eat your food, don't talk about bad things."

A table full of delicacies.

Zhang Yuan swallowed a piece of steamed duck with fermented rice wine and took a sip of ten-year-old Shaoxing wine.

The duck meat has white and tender skin, fat but not greasy, and the Shaoxing wine is fragrant and mellow, flowing but not staying.

He thought that the chef of the Zhang family should be replaced. What he used to cook was just pig food!
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the maid brought out small and exquisite plates. Wang Heng introduced them with great interest:

"This is the newly imported rouge rice from Annan. The rice grains are ground into powder, then boiled with lotus leaves the size of copper coins and chicken skin. Then, it's steamed with Zhitang black-bone chicken to make soup. It's extremely nourishing. How does it taste?"

“So precious…”

"Sir?"

Wang Heng was surprised to see Zhang Yuan's chopsticks stopped in mid-air.

Although Zhang Yuan was also a dandy, he had never seen such a luxurious scene before, so he stammered:
"It's going to cost a lot of money, right? I got up early today and didn't have breakfast when I got here."

Wang Heng laughed and clapped his hands, waving his hands in a bold gesture:
"It's not expensive, not expensive. A bowl of rice is only thirty taels of silver. If you're not full, just eat more. My Taicang Wang family can still afford a few bowls of rice."

(End of this chapter)