Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of Chongzhen, it was supposed to be the time when people started buying new year goods and making various offerings to ancestors, stoves, and five internal organs temples.

In Valley County, Lingnan, there is a gloomy mist in front of a Hakka house.

In front of the enclosed house, which was used for drying grain and enjoying the cool air, the owner of the enclosed house, Zhan Taigong, was squatting on the ground, smoking a dry cigarette.

This enclosed house is the residence of the Zhan family. It is built on the mountain, facing south and north, symmetrical from east to west, with clear priorities and orderly layout. The pond in front of the house and the back of the main hall are combined into a whole, which seems to have a "surrounding dragon". ” state.

Dozens of members of the Zhan family live here.

This was also the pride of Zhan Taigong throughout his life.

It is mainly made of soil, mixed with ash, sand, gravel or pebbles, rice straw, bamboo branches, glutinous rice, brown sugar, etc. and stirred together. After the soil is stirred, it is no longer pure raw soil. Instead, "cooked mud" was formed through a special fermentation process, and this enclosed house with walls three feet thick, floors several feet high, and covering an area of ​​dozens of acres was built, so that a whole family could live and work here in peace and contentment. Thinking about it every day, Grandpa Zhan can go to see his ancestors with a smile.

However, the enclosed house that could withstand the attacks of bandits and robbers had to be allowed in by the official tax collectors.

Looking at the bowl of rice wine at his feet, Zhan Taigong suddenly had the idea of ​​kicking it over!

"There is no such thing as a good one! (Cursing people to annihilate their descendants)" he cursed in a colloquial manner. God knows which one he was cursing, and the young people around him did not dare to approach.

"Chenjiu! What are you doing, bastard!"

Zhan Chenjiu, who was seen by Taigong, walked over from the side of the wall surrounding the room with some embarrassment.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?" Zhan Chenjiu felt frightened when his grandpa stared at him. My mother-in-law had said that my grandpa was an officer in the Ming Dynasty chieftain, and his severed head could run around the whole house three times.

"What are you doing!?" Zhan Taigong stood up and hit Chen Jiu on the head with his pipe, "We are old, aren't we? You guys can't even see if you carry a bag."

Saying that, he kicked his feet. Hakka people pay most attention to their elders and young ones. As the master taught him, Chen Jiu considers himself unlucky.

"Grandpa! Brother Chenjiu is planning to go to the county town. He has a friend who is doing well in the county. Brother Chenjiu plans to borrow some money from him and pay this year's taxes." Zhan Chenjiu stood beside him to help him. A young young man carrying a burden felt unhappy when he saw Grandpa Zhan teaching Chen Jiu a lesson, so he quickly explained to his grandpa.

"Yeah, it's almost time to pay the money." He was also worried about this matter just now.

You can skip the meal, but you have to pay the money.

Narrowing his dimmed old eyes, Grandpa Zhan looked at the old wine. This boy had been here since he was a child. How could he not know that he had friends.

"Do you have any friends in the county who can lend you money?" Grandpa Zhan looked unhappy.

Facing Grandpa's question, Chen Jiu suddenly felt his scalp numb. He had no friends in the county, but he couldn't tell him about this person.

Chen Jiu's hesitant behavior made Grand Duke Zhan even more suspicious, and he became even more angry when he saw what was on the baggage.

He has been innocent all his life, but he is about to become a thief.

"Beast, why are you carrying a big hatchet on your back?! Are you going to find a friend or to rob?! Let me tell you, if you dare to do evil, you will not be able to enter the Zhan family's ancestral hall until you die, and don't trust Zhan anymore. An insult to our ancestors.”

"Grandpa! I really went to a friend to borrow money." Chen Jiu walked up to Grandpa Zhan, lit the pipe for him, and took two puffs on Grandpa Zhan before his expression softened.

So Zhan Chenjiu continued to explain: "Grandpa, I brought a hatchet with me because there are people everywhere trying to steal money from rich households, borrow rice, and block roads to rob. I also have no choice but to defend myself."

"Alas! These days are really getting more and more chaotic. It was never this chaotic when Zhang Ge was here." Grand Duke Zhan couldn't help but let out a long sigh, thinking of the happy days of his youth.

Seeing the suffering of his grandchildren, he couldn't bear it and sighed: "It has been three generations since my family moved here. In these years, we have only been cultivating mountains, building fields and building houses, and we have forgotten to ask for a husband here." Come and study for you! As long as one of you can achieve the title of scholar, our Zhan family will not be bullied to this extent!"

Over the years, people in the house could see Grand Duke Zhan sighing in the courtyard almost every day, regretting that he did not send his children to study and gain fame.

"All you do is dance with guns and sticks every day. If any of you has a reputation, alas!"

In the Ming Dynasty, as long as a family has a good reputation, they can be exempted from taxes. Such a good thing makes the students of the Ming Dynasty highly respected.

Zhan Chenjiu and others had long been tired of hearing this. They had never learned anything. When they were young, the whole clan spent tens of taels to hire a scholar to teach him the sage's principles of "Zhi Hu Zhi Ye" every day.

As a result, half a year later, the school was set on fire at night, and the scholar was beaten half to death.

They were not good at studying, but it was a pity that they could not join the army now. The Ming Dynasty's management of the Hakkas was still very strict. They had no official background, and they wanted to eat public food and had whims.

"By the way, tell me, who is the friend you are looking for?" Zhan Taigong knocked out the ashes from his cigarette and asked again.

"Grandpa, this is Gu Shengzhi from Santian Village, Chijiukou, Luyang County, the one nicknamed Gu Zi."

"What!"

If he didn't listen, he would be fine. After hearing this, Taigong Zhan immediately got angry and swung the cane he had put aside to hit him blindly.

"Yao Shouzi! You're still in contact with that big gambler! Are you planning to lose all the five acres of paddy field your mother left for you, and then go out to beg for food?!" After that, he picked up the crutch and hit him again. "I told you not to learn well, you grandson!"

"Stop fighting, stop fighting."

Zhan Chenjiu covered his head and dodged while explaining: "Grandpa! It's true that I used to be a gambler! But in this Changxian area, when it comes to millet, who wouldn't give a thumbs up and praise a person for his 'righteousness'?!"

"You're so righteous! That kid hasn't done anything good in these years. How could you not know that?"

Over the years, Gu Shengzhi and his younger brother Gu Qian led a group of brothers to block rivers and roads in the Lingdong area, collecting tolls and so-called protection fees for passing traders.

Grand Duke Zhan has long disliked these brats. If he had been twenty years younger, these guys would not be so unscrupulous in this long county.

"Grandpa, Brother Gu is a good man. Most of the money he borrowed was spent to help the brothers."

"What do you know?" Zhan Taigong sneered and said, "With this little trick, how can he hide it from anyone?"

While he was talking, a group of people came from the distant mountain road from far to near.

"You guys, all go back first!"

Seeing the county tax collectors coming to ask for money and food, Grandpa Zhan looked determined and pointed at his children and grandchildren with his stick, asking them to go back to the enclosed house. He picked up the bowl and drank the cold rice wine in one gulp.

In a moment the tax collectors were at the door.

The tax collector, who was secretly called "weasel" by the people in the four villages and towns, was actually just a gray-clothed man in the county government office. According to the ceremony established by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, such a person could only receive some government subsidies and was not considered a member of the county government. A real official errand. It was even lower than the current level of city officials.

However, over the years, the various systems formulated by Mr. Zhu when he founded the country have actually existed in name only. If his system were followed, half of the officials in the imperial court would have to pack up and leave.

Most of the petty officials were occupied by businessmen's children, and the so-called low-level jobs became higher and higher.

As the saying goes, things turn around. Those who were humble back then have now become Donglin, and they have all become moral gentlemen. Isn’t it ridiculous?

The same goes for Weasel. A mere gray-clothed guy actually owns a house with five in and three out in the county town, and two singing diva fans outside.

After all, where does money come from? It’s not just ordinary people like them.

Calling him a weasel is a good word.

"Mr. Zhan, it's the end of the new year soon. Is it time for you to pay this year's money and grain? To be honest, I don't want to embarrass you. However, the officials can't help themselves. The reminder from above is too tight. "You are so respected, so don't embarrass me." The weasel looked at the elderly Zhan Taigong with a smile, and his tone was as polite as possible.