The Great Seminary

Chapter 39: Going against the ancestral decision (Part )
Zhang Gui's words made him so angry that his teeth were itching.

Zhang Bashan was about to lose his temper, but when he calculated the time, he realized that his wife, who had gone out with her concubines, children, and maids to burn incense, would be back soon.

Not daring to waste time, he suppressed his anger and said with a frown:
"I feel bad too that you were removed from your post by the clan due to your involvement with the traitor Zhang Yan.

Now happens to be an opportunity for you to redeem yourself from your crimes.

The clan has some business dealings with the royal merchant family of Shuanghu, Rong family. Although it is nearing completion, it still needs some capable people to complete the matter.

I added your name to the list, and with the help of the boss, I finally got a position as the head of the team."

“Your favor is worth only a guy’s head, and you spent it on me!

Are you talking nonsense or am I crazy?"

Zhang Gui was stunned, with an incredible expression on his face and blurted out.

"Why can't my favor be worth the price of a clerk's head?" Zhang Bashan finally got furious when he heard this.

Being looked down upon by a mere concubine's son, especially when such contempt is real, is too devastating.

"I'm telling you, I've already submitted a letter to the government office, and I'm about to take over the job of serving as the Minister of Agriculture in the surrounding villages of Pingyang Town.

A mere farmhand in the tribe can make the final decision."

The name of the Minister of Compassion for Farmers sounds both compassionate and intimidating, but in fact he is just a ninth-rank official who collects agricultural taxes.

But the current Guan is stronger than the county magistrate.

Since he was in charge of the imperial grain and taxes on many farms in his hometown, it was only natural for him to send his idle son to be the head of the clan farm.

Things that the descendants of the main family who passed the imperial examination cannot do can be done easily and smoothly by the "current manager".

The only strange thing is why Zhang Bashan would take the initiative to give this opportunity to Zhang Gui, his concubine.

You must know that some things, even if they are natural, can be done once or twice but not three times, and even two may not be acceptable.

Zhang Gui could naturally understand this logic with his intelligence, but when he heard the words "Shuanghu Rong Family", he could no longer refuse this task.

The tiger, who had been planning to steal the sheep, was ecstatic when he had the opportunity to enter the sheep pen to collect folk songs.

"It turns out that the scholar is going to be an official, so his reputation will naturally increase.

I was ignorant and said something wrong, please forgive me, please forgive me."

"How can a concubine speak to the master like this? Get out of here, get out of here."

Zhang Gui smiled faintly upon hearing this, turned around and left.

When he left, the housekeeper Zhang Xi happened to limp into the main room.

As the two men passed each other, Zhang Xi hurriedly bowed to Zhang Gui in a pretentious manner.

"Zhang Xi, why are you, a steward, offering favors to a concubine?" Zhang Bashan shouted, taking advantage of the situation.

Zhang Xi first bowed to the master, then said softly: "Master, your young master is your flesh and blood after all.

As long as you still recognize him, we servants will always respect him."

"You are a loyal and honest person." Zhang Bashan was speechless for a long time after hearing this, and finally sighed and said, "I couldn't bear to let this little beast commit more crimes.

Now it seems that such a rebellious son has no future, and it would be a good thing for him to sell stinky shrimp paste for the rest of his life.

This is truly fate!"

The Zhang family in Pingyang could no longer hold on due to the internal strife and had to sell their land to get out of trouble.

However, the ancestors who moved their family from Pingyang Prefecture, Longjin Province to Siyang County, Yuehai Province, left behind:

“I would rather give up a fortune than half an acre of land.

Anyone who sells even one acre of land can no longer claim to be a descendant of the Zhang family.

At that time, the Zhang family who fled took with them all the gold, silver and other treasures, but not an inch of land.

The southerners, however, took advantage of the newcomers and deliberately refused to sell them land. Without land, they had no roots, and could no longer claim to have "farmed and studied for generations, and passed down the family tradition of virtue."

At that time, every bit of land was of great importance to the Zhang family.

It is only natural that our ancestors left us the family motto of "focusing on the land".

But now the Zhang family's act of selling land has become a violation of the decision of their ancestors!

In this situation, the land has to be sold and the dignity of the ancestors has to be maintained, so a group of "scapegoats" are needed.

As for Zhang Gui, who was born into a concubine's family, he didn't even have a "generation name".

A criminal who has been involved with the traitor in his family is very suitable to be blamed for adding to his crime.

Leaving Zhang Bashan’s old house.

Zhang Gui did not go home but strolled out of Pingyang Town and wandered in the countryside.

The aristocratic farms are first built in the middle of the fields, like a small city.

The servants who do the farming are kept in the farm, and some retainers also live in the farm to prevent them from escaping.

If the person in charge of the manor is a descendant of the master family, he or she will most likely live in the city.

In the morning, you can visit the farm, have a meal, and rest, so that you can return to the city in the evening for nightlife.

A manager who came from a servant family had to be trapped in the farm all day like a slave.

If the farm not only grows crops but also cash crops, then in addition to mills and warehouses, it will also build workshops, wineries, oil mills, etc.

It can be said that a large farm is a small city.

Zhang Gui walked around the fields for a while and finally saw about two or three hundred young men and women wearing coarse clothes in the distance.

Under the supervision of a team of guards riding tall horses, they appeared on the county road.

There were also several ox carts accompanying them.

If a young and strong woman cannot hold on, she may get on the ox cart to rest for a while, but a man will be whipped.

Fortunately, they were not far from their destination. Half an hour later, they finally arrived at the gate of a large manor with blue bricks and white walls.

Walked into it.

This village is called "Wangbei".

It was one of the oldest and largest manors developed by the Zhang family in Pingyang, but now it has obviously changed.

Given the Zhang family's current precarious situation, it is simply impossible for them to transport dozens or even hundreds of young and strong slaves for dozens of days in a row.

Zhang Gui, who had been secretly gathering information and monitoring the ground for more than ten days, was calculating in his mind.

There are now at least three thousand servants gathered in Wangbei Village.

And this is not a slave-born child in a family with five or six people, including old and young.

Instead, two men form a household, and they are the most valuable young and strong.

In other words, it is very likely that the number of slave households in Wangbei Village is almost the same as the number accumulated by the Zhang family in Pingyang over more than two hundred years.

"Imperial merchant, imperial merchant, the scale of his business is truly jaw-dropping.

At first, I was afraid of not having enough to eat and wasting opportunities, but now I am afraid that there are too many sheep and my stomach will burst.

It's New Year's Eve and you're still crowding the farm. How much land do you want to buy from the Zhang family?

If we buy all the crops and there's not enough for you to farm, that wouldn't be a waste."

Thinking of Zhang Gui, he frowned, then stopped wandering around, walked back home, and continued to eat the fish, shrimp and vegetable noodles left by his mother.

(End of this chapter)