Traveling through the Republic of China, I married a dead person

Su Bai felt a little surprised that even an ordinary farmer knew about the eldest lady of the Kong family, but in fact, this was a very normal thing.

The ancestors of the Kong family had been officials in the imperial court since the late Qing Dynasty. After the abdication of the Qing emperor and the warlords' melee, they became local tyrants here. The Kong family were from Longxing, so a fart from the Kong family would cause a gust of wind in Longxing City.

Mr. Kong has passed away, and the young eldest lady is in charge of the family. This is not only known to everyone in Longxing City, but also a topic of conversation among people after dinner.

Looking at the posture of this group of people today, two carriages were parked at the edge of the field. Xu Tianyi and Yuan Yuze were wearing short jackets, and they looked like servants. Not to mention Zi Yan, who was dressed like a standard maid.

Su Bai had been sitting on the ground, giving orders and making gestures. Officers and soldiers were under her command. Apart from the eldest lady of the Kong family, probably no one else could have such a grand ceremony.

"What's your name?" Su Bai asked the man.

Su Bai was surprised by the other party’s name: Niu, and his name is Niu Nineteen!

Zi Yan explained to Su Bai that there were many people with similar names. Farmers' families were not like the rich families who had family trees that listed their generations according to the order of birth of all the male members in the clan. Some clans arranged their generations according to the order of birth of all the male members in the clan.

Aunt Zi has also heard of someone named He Wushiyi.

"So your Niu family is very prosperous?" Su Bai asked Niu Shijiu.

Niu Shijiu pointed behind him and said that their village was called Niujia Village, but there were not many people with the surname Niu.

At this time, everyone had finished their lunch and came over to chat with Niu Shijiu, which made Niu Shijiu feel flattered.

There were still a lot of white flour cakes left. Su Bai asked Zi Yan to pack them up and let Niu Shijiu take them all back for his family to eat.

"Thank you, Young Madam. Thank you, Young Madam!" Niu Shijiu didn't know how to thank Su Bai and almost knelt down.

Niu Shijiu told Su Bai that if the eldest young lady needed help, he would find someone in the village to help. He pointed to this piece of land and said that he would plant cabbage in a few days. These days were the slack season for farming and there were plenty of people in the village.

"No need, we'll finish today and won't come tomorrow." Su Bai said with a smile.

"The eldest young lady is such a good person." Niu Shijiu was obviously a little disappointed that he couldn't help Su Bai, and he didn't know what to say.

Niu Shijiu told Su Bai that the large piece of fertile land nearby actually belonged to the Kong family.

Su Bai heard from Kong Dai that the best farmland in Longxing County belonged to the Kong family.

"The harvest must be good, right?"

When Su Bai asked this, Niu Shijiu's smile became a little strange, as if he had something to say but didn't know how to say it.

"The young lady is asking you, just tell the truth." Zi Yan said from the side.

It turned out that although the land belonged to the Kong family, the farmers here did not pay rent to the Kong family, but to a man named Kong Zhengliang.

Zi Yan had seen this man before. Although his surname was also Kong, he could not be considered a member of the Kong family. He was in charge of the Kong family's land and was responsible for collecting rent and grain.

Is there such a thing?

Su Bai had never seen the name Kong Zhengliang in the accounts of the Kong Mansion, which meant that he did not earn any wages from the Kong family. Obviously, he was just a middleman.

No wonder farmers can’t get enough to eat even though the fields have such good yields.

It would be strange if you could eat your fill after being skinned twice.

Although the Kong family had more than 800 acres of fertile land, they made very little profit from it, which was just enough to meet the food needs of the entire Kong family. So when Su Bai threatened several concubines to split up the family and give the land to them, no one was willing.

It can be said that the grain produced by more than 800 acres of fertile land was basically supplied to Kong Chen's Temporary Seventh Army. Now that the National Government has been fully responsible for all military expenses of the Temporary Seventh Army, this grain should not be given to Kong Chen anymore. Even if he wants it, he has to buy it with money.

Su Bai also knew that Kong Chen would not talk to you about this.

But at least one thing can be done, which is to remove Kong Zhengliang, the middleman who is peeling off the skin.

Su Bai did not expect to gain any profit from the land for himself and the Kong family. If no one took advantage of the land, at least these farmers who worked hard in the fields could have more food to eat.

When Su Bai expressed his thoughts, Niu Shijiu actually knelt down to Su Bai. He was kneeling to the young lady on behalf of the entire village.

This Kong Zhengliang did nothing but collect rent for the Kong family, yet this one thing made him one of the richest men in Longxing City. He built a three-courtyard house with blue bricks and black tiles, while the Kong Mansion had four courtyards.

You can roughly know how much farmers' blood was drunk without counting.

"I have not been in charge of the Confucius Mansion for long. I will go back and ask about this matter before making a decision. Don't tell the villagers for now." Su Bai asked Zi Yan to pull Niu Shijiu up from the ground.

Niu Shijiu went back and in the afternoon brought a lot of villagers with tools to help Su Bai.

But Su Bai's job was not really a very strenuous one, so they were really not needed. They just sat in the field not too far away, watching these people do these weird things that they had never seen before.

Before leaving, Su Bai told Niu Shijiu that once there was a letter, she would send someone to the village to inform everyone.

On the way back to the Kong Mansion, Su Bai felt that he was a little impulsive again. He hadn't fully figured out the relationship between Kong Zhengliang and the Kong Mansion, and his relationship with Kong Chen, as well as their interests, but he had already agreed to the people from Niujia Village. This was a bit inappropriate.

When Su Bai thought of the grateful eyes of Niu Shijiu and the villagers, and their expressions eagerly expecting him to help them solve their problems, he made up his mind that no matter what the interests were, he had to get this done.

As for Kong Chen, you should still take the grain that you are entitled to, but you can no longer make decisions for the Kong family on other matters. These lands originally belonged to me.

We returned to the Kong Mansion a little earlier than yesterday. Kong Dai and Guo Deyi greeted us at the door again. They said that Captain Zhou and the newly appointed county magistrate came to ask for an audience with the eldest young lady in the morning, and since Su Bai was not there, they went back.

"Do you want to tell Captain Zhou that you're back?" Kong Dai asked.

"The new county magistrate has taken office, so I should take the initiative to visit him. Isn't it a bit rude to ask him to come to my house to see me?"

Kong Dai said it was no problem, as the new county magistrate was an old acquaintance of his, Cheng Zifeng, the county magistrate of Linhua County.

The previous Linhua County Magistrate was appointed when the master was alive, and the current Longxing County Magistrate was appointed by the provincial government.

This is the legitimate county magistrate.

In this case, Su Bai asked Guo Deyi to inform Captain Zhou and ask him to invite Cheng Zifeng, which would be more appropriate.

When Su Bai thought that Zhou Beiwang was coming back, he felt an indescribable sense of security.

"Uncle Kong, what is the relationship between Kong Zhengliang and us?"

After Su Bai told Kong Dai about his idea, Kong Dai did not quite agree.

First of all, even if the middleman Kong Zhengliang is removed, the profits should be brought back to the Kong family and not given to the farmers. Over the years, they have been growing crops well on their land, and they should be living their lives and having children.

Su Bai felt that there was no point in reasoning with Kong Dai on this issue, and he thought of a word that had not been used for a long time: the exploiting class.

This kind of exploitative thinking has been deeply rooted in Kong Dai's mind. Although he is also a servant, he is a watchdog raised by the Kong family.

Secondly, and more importantly, Kong Zhengliang and Kong Chen have a close relationship. It is true that Kong Zhengliang is a vampire to farmers, but in addition to the fixed amount of grain handed over to Kong Chen, part of the profits Kong Zhengliang earned went to Kong Chen personally. Although there is no real evidence, even a fool can guess it.

The difficulty of this matter lies in Kong Chen.

"Call Kong Zhengliang to your house tomorrow and have him hand in the job, and we'll take over!"

"This..." Kong Dai couldn't object, but he was very worried about how Su Bai would explain the matter to Kong Chen next. In his opinion, it wouldn't work.

At that time, not only will Su Bai fail to accomplish the task, but he will also be laughed at and his prestige will be reduced.

"Don't worry, I have my own way to make Kong Chen speechless. If you want to be unreasonable in this matter again, I will cut off his support!"

Su Bai did have a plan, and he was going to fight Kong Chen head-on this time.