The Head of the Ming Dynasty Spared His Life

The Zheng family in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province is the first one in the south of the Yangtze River where Emperor Hongwu personally wrote.

In the entire Pujiang County, more than 8% of the land, a full 10,000+ hectares, is owned by the Zheng family.

The Zheng family established Zhengjiazhuang alone, which is larger than the county seat.

In Pujiang County, a word from the Patriarch of the Zheng family is better than that of the county magistrate who can be called "Bailihou".

It can be said that Pujiang County is the Zheng family, and the Zheng family is Pujiang County

In fact, the county magistrate here is surnamed Zheng, a branch of the Zheng family.

This move is of course against the rules of Daming official circles.The Ming Dynasty stipulated that the local government should avoid officials.That is to say, people from this province cannot be officials in this province (officials with a ninth rank or higher are officials, and those without a rank are officials).Not to mention people from this county acting as county magistrates.

But helplessly, no one in the officialdom dared to be the county magistrate of Pujiang County.

In the officialdom, if someone was assigned to be the county magistrate in Pujiang County, he would immediately be persuaded by the knowledgeable officials not to go to that place in Pujiang County.It's not that the place is dangerous, or that it's difficult to be an official, on the contrary, because of the huge Zheng family in Pujiang County, it's very easy to raise money and food, whether it's criminal names or money.When it was time to pay the imperial taxes, the Zheng family would naturally send someone to bring them over.

The problem is that being an official here is equivalent to being an official for the Zheng family, and there is no political achievement at all.

Without achievements, there is no way to advance.

Of course, due to the existence of the Zheng family, there is no profit, and no one dares to take advantage of it.

There was once a county magistrate from another province who served four consecutive terms in Pujiang County for 12 years, and finally died of old age here. He only had a salary of 100 taels of silver every year, and he had to keep his master’s followers. He was so poor that even the coffin was subsidized by the Zheng family. .

In the future, no one would come to Pujiang County to be the county magistrate, so the Ministry of Officials had no choice but to select a side branch from the Zheng family's children to be the county magistrate.

From then on, the Zheng family completely ruled Pujiang County.

In front of Zhengjiazhuang, there are nine archways in a row, with extraordinary momentum, standing side by side.

On the first archway, it is written "the first in the south of the Yangtze River", which was personally written by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Behind is a series of two "No. [-] Scholar and No. [-]" archways!

This means that the Zheng family has produced two champions.

Then there is a "No. [-] Jidi" and a "Tanhua Jidi" archway, both of which were supervised by the Ministry of Rites of the imperial court.

At the highest point in the back, there is a memorial archway written by Fang Xiaoru, a great Confucian of this dynasty, which records the grand occasion of Zhu Yuanzhang's personal inspection of the Zheng family in Pujiang County.

All of this demonstrates the strength and glory of the Zheng family!

. .

Chapter 378 Confiscated Home!The first in Jiangnan! 【5】

In the main hall of Zhengjiazhuang.

The Patriarch of the Zheng Family, Zheng Zhushan, was preoccupied, frowning, looking at the piece of paper in front of him.

On this piece of paper, flying dragons and phoenixes, it seems that the writer was in a hurry, and the content was only one sentence.

"Dongchang was ordered by Yan Song, the minister who investigated and dealt with major treason cases, to arrest the head of the Zheng family, Zheng Zhushan, and he will arrive in three days."

Below him sat a row of dozens of well-known figures from the Zheng family, including three red-robed officials above the fourth rank, more than a dozen big landowners and squires, and more than 3 big businessmen.

These people are the backbone of the Zheng family, together, Pujiang County and even Jinhua Mansion belong to them!

Zhejiang Jinhua Mansion!It has long been controlled by the Zheng family.

All of these dozens of people had gloomy faces, as if they were facing a catastrophe, but they were full of resentment and gritted their teeth.

"Patriarch! Dongchang fanzi has already passed Suzhou, and will arrive in Jinhua tomorrow, so make up your mind quickly!"

"That's right, the imperial court actually sent Tiqi Yinggou. Jinyiwei and Dongchang are running around in Yangzhou to search and arrest people. Except for those salt merchants who have been controlled by Yan Song, Yangzhou has not suffered any losses, and the other owners have been arrested!"

"what should we do?"

Zheng Zhushan's face was livid, and he waved his hand abruptly and shouted: "Silence! How decent!"

Dozens of people below were silent.

Zheng Zhushan turned to a fourth-rank official headed by him, and said with a pale face: "Prefect Yang, are you sure the news is true?"

This official is the backbone of the Zheng family's current officialdom, Yang Shangong, the prefect of Jinhua Prefecture.

Although Yang Shangong is not surnamed Zheng, he is the son-in-law of the Zheng family, so he is considered half.At this time, his face was serious, and he said anxiously: "Patriarch Zheng, I only got this news from a friend of the same year after taking a big risk. Hurry up and inform my family, you must make plans early."

Zheng Zhushan gritted his teeth and crushed the ball of paper: "Plan? What else can I plan? Although my Zheng family owns the entire Pujiang County and even half of Jinhua Mansion, can we still fight against the Imperial Court East Factory?"

There was a young and energetic Zheng family disciple standing up and shouting: "But that treacherous official Yan Song, why should I arrest my Zheng family patriarch? Does he not want to live?"

Another official sneered with a strange yin and yang: "Yan Song really has lived enough. Thinking of my Zheng family, it is the first family in the south of the Yangtze River bestowed by the Taizu. There are no less than 10 officials in the family in the court, and there are countless big clans with me. Intense anger, watch and help each other. This Yan Song dared to touch us after eating the leopard's guts?"

Thinking of this, Zheng Zhushan couldn't help but nodded slightly.

But Yang Sangong didn't think so, and said in a trembling voice: "Everyone, don't underestimate Yan Song. This time the emperor was assassinated in Chengtian Mansion, and he narrowly escaped death. Only Yan Song protects the sky. At this time, Yan Song's favor has reached the extreme. Both Jin Yiwei and Dongchang are willing to be his henchmen! I heard that the emperor was furious and appointed Yan Song as the Minister of the Imperial Order to investigate and deal with major treason cases, which can be done cheaply. Yan Song took the opportunity to build a big prison!"

The official children of the Zheng family were extremely arrogant, sneered and cursed.

"Dare he?"

"Give him the guts, he doesn't dare to act wildly in my Zheng's house!"

"Don't look at Yan Song as the first assistant, but he is alone. Our Zheng family has been in the family for hundreds of years, and we have built a strong foundation. The superficial strength is only the tip of the iceberg, which is enough to destroy Yan Song countless times!"

All kinds of arrogant words are endless.

This Zheng family is used to seeing strong winds and waves, so they are not afraid of a mere chief assistant at all.