Rise of Nongmen

The home of the head of Suifeng Village.

"Wang Lichang, why did you come in person? Just let someone know if you have something to do." Ye Ningren stepped forward with a smile.

"The list for sending food to Beijing has been released. Your village has a lot of quotas. I don't care if I don't look at it." Wang Lichang looked dignified.This is a hard job, it's okay to arrive safely, but if something goes wrong on the way, the crime will be serious, not only the head of the civilian husband who escorted the grain will be lost, but it may also cause disaster to the village.

Hearing this terrible news, Ye Ningren's face suddenly changed, how could he still have a hint of a smile?

"This is the roster specified by the above. Take a look. If there is no problem, then we will set it up like this. We will leave in seven days." Wang Lichang was very worried.Years of wars have made it unrealistic to transport taxes and food over long distances. They have not picked up this hot potato for a long time, and even if they have in the past, they are mostly sent to the state city, and it may not be sent to Beijing once in decades.

You know, the journey from Jinmin County to Xijing is long, the tasks are heavy, there is a lack of medical care and medicine, poor food and sleep, and an unknown number of people will be involved along the way.

Ye Ningren suppressed the fear in his heart, took the roster and looked through it carefully, the more he looked, the darker his face became, until Ye Chen's name unexpectedly jumped into his eyes, and he was instantly livid.

"Wang Lichang, what's going on? My nephew is the only one in the family, and no one can get his turn, right?"

Li Chang Wang didn't react too much, pointing in the direction of the county government office, spread his hands and said: "I don't know if it's decided by the superior."

Ye Ningren was puzzled, could it be that Ye Chen had offended someone who shouldn't be offended, and that person deliberately took revenge to obstruct him?Suppressing the doubts in his heart, he flipped through the roster in one go, unable to calm down for a long time.

Not only Ye Chen is on the list, but the Ye family is also the focus of care, and the closer to their blood, the more people will be selected.

There are only four hundred people in Suifeng Village, most of whom are old, young, women and children, and less than a hundred strong laborers. This time, nearly [-]% of the food transportation has been transferred, and almost all of them have been spared. This is to make them perish. That man So cruel.

Gathering his mind, Ye Ningren tried to recover: "How much is a quota for silver?"

Wang Richang shook his head, and sympathy flashed in his eyes: "There is an order from above that you must serve in this corvee by yourself, unless you have a broken arm or leg and are too sick to get out of bed." Speaking of this, he seemed to think of something, and added He said, "If you pretend to be sick, you won't be spared. A medical officer will come to check on the sick servants one by one."

Ye Ningren's face turned pale. Of his five sons, only three survived, all three of them were on the list, and none of them would be left for him. It was like killing them all!

After looking through the roster, Ye Ningren's heart was twisted into a ball. At this moment, he was no longer sure who offended the person.His father's lineage is 40 years old, and there is one person who counts as one, and one does not fall. They are all on the list, and Ye Chen is just the most conspicuous person.

Wang Lichang couldn't empathize with Ye Ningren, but he could understand the depression in Ye Ningren's heart. It was rare for him to let go of his airs and say something to comfort him: "It's not as bad as you think. The world has been peaceful for several years now. There are not many bandits. Even if there are, they are not good. Don't dare Attack the grain transportation team. Your family is not short of travel expenses, so prepare some dry food and clothing for Wuzi, and some commonly used medicines, and bring your own ox cart, so you won’t suffer too much.”

"You're right." Ye Ningren said this, and the worry in his heart not only didn't decrease, but became more and more serious.This incident clearly shows that someone is secretly doing bad things, and the possibility of arriving safely is very slim.

Ye Ningren was in a bad mood at the moment, and Li Chang Wang also had his own concerns, so he didn't want to wait any longer, so he got up and left after finishing the work: "You inform me, and the list will be reported to me the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Ye Ningren didn't keep anyone, sent them out, looked through the roster from beginning to end, and immediately rang the big bell outside the ancestral hall.

The melodious sound of the bell has strong penetrating power, but the villagers have no time to savor it, but everyone who heard the sound of the bell left their work at hand and flocked to the central square of the village from all directions.

"Quiet." Seeing everyone gathered, Ye Ningren shouted with a sullen face.

The villagers were taken aback, but they didn't dare to do it again, so they shut up obediently and stood still.

"The imperial court has sent a mission to escort food into Beijing, and the person whose name is called will prepare all supplies within seven days." Ye Ningren stood on the high platform, looking down at the gloomy villagers below, "...Ye Chen...Ye Wu , Ye Yin, Ye You..."

As the names were announced one by one, everyone's hearts sank, followed by an uproar. After the list was sung, the square was completely silent.

It took a long time before someone said: "Village chief, can you use silver as a substitute?"

"No."

"Then find someone to replace?"

"I think everyone knows that our village is being targeted. If you have the guts, go ahead and try." Ye Ningren looked downcast.People don't fight with officials, not because they don't want to, but because they simply can't fight.For a moment, Ye Ningren was looking forward to going back to the past, at least he could escape in troubled times, but now they can do nothing but accept their fate.

Seeing that the last glimmer of hope was broken, there were bursts of crying.

Hearing that his own children and grandchildren were also there, Ye Weiting's heart felt turbulent, but he was still able to stabilize his figure so that he would not be on the verge of falling.After he regained his composure, he scanned around the panic-stricken villagers, his heart filled with disdain, he either acted like a panic-stricken chicken, or only knew how to cry, they were all a bunch of trash.

Ye Ningren was also useless, he was bullied all the way to his house and didn't think of a way, so he resigned to his fate so easily.

Seeing the poor behavior of the villagers, Ye Weiting was filled with displeasure, and left with his family, and at the same time called the village head and elders away.

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, and the bloodthirsty light in his eyes flashed away: "Sister-in-law, help your mother go home."

Song Shi wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and together with Ye Xue helped Bai Shi walk home.

Not only the Ye family was like this, similar scenes abounded everywhere. For a while, the entire Suifeng Village was shrouded in haze.

After arriving home, as soon as Bai breathed a sigh of relief, he said anxiously: "Chen'er, haven't you made friends with a wealthy family in the city? Go find him and find a way."

"Mother, it's useless. He was imprisoned by County Magistrate Wang a while ago." Ye Chen softened his voice.Bai Shi really cared about him, even if it was just a half-way mother and son, he would not be so heartless and take all this for granted.

"Then what about your herdsman friend? He can even get southern specialties, so I'm afraid he has a lot of background."

"He's just a businessman, and he doesn't have a fixed place to live. I'm afraid he can't even find anyone in such a short time."

"You only know a big family in the city, is there anything else?" Bai was holding on to the last ray of hope.

The result was doomed to disappoint her. Ye Chen did know someone with great background, and he was the eldest son of the powerful Marquis. Unfortunately, only a few people knew about the cooperative relationship between the two parties. The most important thing is to fish out the others.

Although he didn't know the details, Ye Chen knew that it was probably because County Magistrate Wang couldn't find the person who threatened him secretly, so he vented his anger on him who had worked for Xu Yanqing.This is not enough, maybe Xu Sanye was involved in this matter, and the other party was cutting off Xu Yanqing's wings. After all, he contributed a lot to the resurgence of Qingyuan Restaurant, not only limited to bean products, but also a variety of new dishes. He is related.

Ye Chen didn't think that the news about his cooperation with Xu's winery was leaked, so that the county magistrate Wang and Mr. Xu would not dare to act rashly. You must know that Qing'anhou's mansion is behind the winery, so it is not so easy to provoke, but I doubt it It's possible on his head.

Ye Chen admitted that he had miscalculated. He originally planned to quietly develop a small power in Suifeng Village, eat and drink well, and spend his whole life in Jinmin County. It would be even better to be a local emperor. He didn't want to be involved in the court battles. Unexpectedly, the tree wants to be quiet but the wind is not constant, the opponent is in control of power, does not take human life seriously, forgets to use public interest for personal gain, and even directly uses power to eradicate dissidents.

No, Ye Chen shouldn't even be considered a dissident, he's just an insignificant little person, the more so, the more petite these people are.

Seeing that the matter was settled and irreversible, the Bai family recovered from the grief.Thinking that the youngest son spent 600 taels to help the eldest daughter's family escape from Xu's clutches, more than half of which was borrowed, I felt a little bit more complaining.Right now is the time to spend money, but they don’t come together, they are so weak that they are at home, calming down, Bai gets up: "Chen'er, go and settle the account of the tofu shop in advance for this month, as much as you can get back, and the rest You don't have to worry, my mother will help you arrange everything when you go out."

Ye Chen didn't object.

"Snow girl, Shuang girl, don't embroider these few days, and come over to help, old man, you too."

The three mothers of the Song family hurriedly agreed.

"Chen'er, go to the sheep house to catch a few fat sheep, slaughter them and make them into jerky, and save them to eat slowly on the way."

Ye Chen responded and left.

In the past, the Bai family treasured the goats in the family very much. They would rather go to the butcher shop to buy them than let the family think about them. They said they were still young and had to grow longer. Regardless of these.

"Grandma, what are we doing?" Ye Yao asked with red eyes.

He was also worried that when the food transporter was in charge of the court, but the quota was limited, these alone were not enough to support the long-distance trek, and additional purchases had to be made.Fortunately, the family has money. Even though they owed a whole lot of debt again, they are still much more relaxed than before. This can be reassuring, but I am afraid that there will be a headache on the way, and that will be bad.

"You and Xiaohui are going to install a canopy for the bullock cart. It should be light and easy to carry and detachable."

Ye Yao and Ye Hui took the order and left immediately, only Ye Guang was left blinking at Bai Shi with big black eyes.

"Xiao Guang, I have an important task for you. Go and write down the names of those who work for our tofu factory and are also on the list of servants, and then go to your grandfather's house to borrow the list."

Seeing Ye Guang obediently running out the door, Bai Shi seemed to have endless energy, no matter how chaotic the other places were, at least her family was united, which was better than anything else!

Thinking of the weak and deceitful eldest daughter, Bai's heart suffocated, and she decided to teach the younger ones in the family, especially the girls Xue and Shuang, that they would rather be criticized for being aggressive than being bullied for being soft.

After everyone finished their work and took a break, Mrs. Bai took the roster borrowed by Ye Guang and pushed it in front of Ye Chen: "Chen'er, mother has seen it through, some people are not worth paying for, you treat them well, they just take it for granted, you Take a step back, and they take a step forward."

After a pause, Mrs. Bai pointed to the roster and continued: "Look, take a piece of paper and write it down later. If you have a good relationship with our family, you can take care of it a little bit more. The same goes for those who work for us. Look at the others. If you want to help, you can help, if you don’t want to help, just pretend you didn’t see it.”

Ye Chen smiled, it seems that the 600 taels were not in vain.

"Xiaoguang, report the name of the person you wrote down to your uncle."

"Okay, grandma." Ye Guang looked at the private school boy, with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and calling the name.

With Bai's fighting spirit high, the Ye family was peaceful, but other families who were going to be sent to corvee were not so calm, especially those from poor families.It’s okay to be willing to give flowers to the children and grandchildren. The autumn grain has just been sold, and I have some family assets. I will talk about the future, and I will focus on the immediate things first. I can’t guarantee anything else. I will never worry about eating and drinking along the way.Those who are stingy will be miserable. Except for some dry food and a little money, they have nothing, and they can only pray that there will be no accidents along the way.

Those with better family backgrounds tried their best to find ways to make connections, and tried to get their children and grandchildren out. Ye Weiting's family, whose grandson was an official, was full of guests again.

Before dawn the next day, Ye Chen drove the bullock cart into the city.

This time, Mrs. Bai followed suit.No one in the Ye family has traveled far for more than ten years. Many things have to be bought on the spot, and Ye Chen is responsible for all of them. Kill the price.

When approaching the village entrance, Ye Chen ran into Ye Ningren's family.

"Uncle, are you going to the city?"

"Well, let's go together, the patriarch will be here soon." Ye Ningren's brows showed a few traces of melancholy, and his expression was tired. It was obvious that he had trouble sleeping and eating because of the deposit of grain into Beijing, "I heard that you borrowed a lot of money from your partner, enough Is it useful? If it’s not enough, I still have some here. Don’t think about being frugal, you can earn money if you lose your money, and everything will be lost if you lose your life.”

Ye Ningren was talking to Ye Chen, but he actually mentioned Bai's.

"That's the reason. Chen'er is going to the city to collect the bill today. I won't pay back the money owed to that boss. I will use it when Chen'er goes out this time." After taking over the conversation, "Brother and sister-in-law, when Chen'er is about to arrive in the account, if you don't join hands somewhere, I should be able to spare some, so don't be polite to me."

"Second brother and sister, you are interested. But you don't need it for the time being. Wuzi works in the town, Yin'er also has a craft, and the family can afford to travel far away. Xiaochen is good at skills, so it's true to take care of her on the way." Qiu said sincerely, but the smile on his face was forced, and it was all caused by the corvee incident.

"Mother, what did you say?" Ye You was unhappy, "I am much older than Chen Zi, there is no reason for him to take care of him, it is my cousin who should take care of him."

Qiu gave her youngest son a look: "Look at your body, and then look at Xiao Chen, do you think you are taking care of him, or is he taking care of you?"

Ye You's eyes fell on Ye Chen, and when the two sides were compared, they suddenly froze.Ye Chen has a strong figure, half a head taller than him, so it's okay to just sit like this, but when he moves, he can compete with a mountain leopard. He is strong and powerful, which is beyond his comparison.

Bai Shi opened the corner of his mouth and smiled.The youngest son's food intake has increased sharply in the past few months, the food is good, he is never hungry, his stature has suddenly increased a lot, and he is also much stronger.

After chatting a few more words, Ye Weiting came into sight of several people in a mule cart.

After a brief greeting, three groups of people set foot on the road into the city together.

After wandering around for more than an hour, Ye Chen and Ye Ningren split into two groups, he went to collect the bills, while Ye Ningren and the others went to the county government to pay respects to County Magistrate Wang.

It's one thing to accept fate, it's quite another to give up without making any effort.As the head of the village, Ye Ningren tried to find a way to clear things up, even if the matter was a foregone conclusion and could not be changed, not to mention preferential treatment, it would be good to just let the accompanying guards not get in the way.

Ye Chen is actually not short of money, although it is just a tofu shop, the profit is not small at all, maybe selling tofu can only make hard money, but not other deep-processed soy products.Especially the secret fermented bean curd, although the price is not high, the highest price of a small can is no more than one tael, compared with the cost, it is too much, and the profit is several times, but it is a pity that this product is too popular and the sales volume is limited , You can only wait for the opening of other local markets before you can enter the account in large quantities.

Of course, the tofu shop alone is not enough to offset the 600 taels of expenditure. Ye Chen's biggest source of income comes from Xu's wine shop, and the wine industry is the real profiteering industry.

The threshold for brewing wine is very high, and official permission is required. It is not impossible for people to brew privately, but they can only drink it themselves and cannot sell it outside.

Originally, Mr. Xu would 100% put his idea on Xu's winery, but unfortunately something happened and a murder case happened. Ye Chen retaliated and fueled the flames behind the scenes, so that there was an uproar, and Mr. Xu had to Temporarily silence the drums.

No one expected that accidents would happen one after another. The Qing'an Hou Mansion and Xu Yanqing joined hands to run the winery, which caught Mr. Xu by surprise, and it was too late to do anything.

So, one step at a time, one step at a time, that's how opportunities slip through people's hands.

Ye Chen's technology investment originally accounted for [-]% of the shares, but after Xiao Jinyan joined, it was reduced to [-]% of the shares. In this way, the income is beyond the imagination of Bai and others.However, there is no way to get money here, so he had no choice but to make an appointment with Xu Yanqing, and said to the outside world that it was a loan from him. With the relationship between the two, there was no doubt.

The bills are basically settled once a month, and Ye Chen came to the door suddenly, and none of the shopkeepers was happy to see the success.

This is normal, Ye Chen is not dissatisfied with this, but just informed the partner that he will serve corvee and send food to Beijing in the near future.Most of them are reasonable, express their understanding, and try to raise money for him, and he doesn't care about some people who pick money.He was wrong about this matter, and he would not bother with them, but when he launched some cheap and good products in the future, he probably would not have their share.

After collecting the bill, Ye Chen walked into Qingyuan Restaurant.Not long after, he saw Xu Yanqing.

"Brother Ye, our restaurant has a cooperation with the Qing'an Houfu. Asking the Houfu to come forward should save you from the long-distance travel. I don't think you want to use this relationship. What do you think?" Xu Yanqing was puzzled.

"What do you think is the possibility of the Hou Mansion stepping in to protect all the villagers of Suifeng Village based on our cooperative relationship?"

"No more than [-]%."

"That's it. I haven't thought about moving yet. Being the target of public criticism is not conducive to future development."

Xu Yanqing was silent, he could understand that it didn't matter what the other villagers were, if they left all the fellow villagers, especially the close ones, and only cared about themselves, if nothing happened, they would surely be hated by others, living together for many years, it was really hard to guard against.

Ye Chen didn't say much, this was just a superficial excuse, he didn't have this idea in his heart, he just used it to go to the outside world to see, if he really had to worry about this, those big families would not be able to develop.

Anyone who wants to get ahead will inevitably offend others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly.Human beings are a competitive society. Some people want to climb up, and naturally some people will be squeezed out. They are afraid of this and that, so there is no need to do anything.

The topic stopped here, and the two chatted about business cooperation. Before Ye Chen said goodbye and left, Xu Yanqing gave a generous gift.

"If you think you don't need money, I won't give it to you. You accept this, just in case."

Ye Chen opened the brocade box and took a look, jokingly said, "This is not your family's ancestral treasure, is it?"

"Brother Ye was joking."

Ye Chen didn't refuse anymore, century-old ginseng is considered rare even in the Dai Viet Dynasty, and it is indeed miraculously effective to hang one's life.

"Brother Xu's kindness, I accept it, so let's leave it alone."

Leaving Qingyuan Restaurant, Ye Chen didn't meet up with the Bai family who was buying a lot, but turned around and went to Hongliu's family.

Except for guarding the few streets protected by them, Hong Liu and the others spend most of their time in places of three religions and nine schools. Whenever they have the opportunity, they establish relationships with servants and servants of rich families. Sometimes they even meet some rich children. Eating and drinking, so happy.

But I didn't forget the business, so I collected a lot of information.

Ye Chen doesn't have high requirements, and they can't be secret agents, which requires professional training. He only asks them to pay more attention on weekdays, and they don't need to deliberately cliché, just write down the trivial things in the chat.

To put it bluntly, it’s actually more about listening to gossip.

Don't underestimate Li Jiashou, the boss of the boss. Those who fall into the hands of people with excellent intelligence analysis ability can display unimaginable abilities, and Ye Chen happens to be one of them.

Hong Liu and the others learned about Ye Chen's enlistment as a food delivery man shortly after the list came out. However, the news was delayed and it was useless, so they didn't send anyone to notify them, but they got some information about the whole story.

After Ye Chen finished listening, he wrote down all the gossip that Hong Liu and the others had heard, put down a sum of money and left.

As soon as they left, the eyes of everyone including Hong Liu lit up instantly.

"Brother Hong, open it quickly. It has been several months since Master Chen left. How much money did he leave this time?"

Hong Liu picked up the purse and weighed it, it was not light, and when he looked inside, the smile on his face became wider, but it was fleeting, and he pretended not to care, and said: "Look at you, you are so promising, isn't it only 100 taels?" , It will take several months, and the monthly cost is less than before."

The others looked at Hong Liu with a look of disgust and were speechless for a while: "Oh, brother Hong, it's a lot. We used to work hard and couldn't get much. How easy is it to get this money?"

"That's right, Brother Hong. Since I followed Master Chen, my family's income has been increasing day by day. My family used to look at me with disgust, but now it's too late to praise me. No one will say that I'm not doing my job properly and doing nothing. I've become a master at home." After the man finished speaking, all the younger brothers followed suit, and laughter instantly filled the entire courtyard.

Hong Liumian was embarrassed: "Well, what you said is reasonable, let's go, brother will take you to the stalls for a meal."

Everyone curled their lips, Brother Hong is still so "stingy".Sigh, when will they be able to go in and out of the restaurant from time to time?It is said that a table of top-level seats costs one hundred taels.

After the regret, a group of people still swarmed out happily.

After finishing the work, seeing that the appointed time hadn't arrived yet, Ye Chen came to West Street, looked from shop to shop, and found Bai's in a cloth shop in a short time.

At this time, Mrs. Bai was arguing with the shopkeeper about whether to give an extra cloth head.

After getting the things, Bai smiled happily, stroked the fabric for a while before carefully putting them away, and when he turned around, he saw Ye Chen standing behind him, and immediately became more happy: "Is the matter over?"

"Ah."

"Come and have a look, if you don't like it, I'll pick another one for you."

Ye Chen glanced at the fabrics that Bai Shi pushed towards him, most of them were the colors he preferred, and couldn't help laughing: "These are fine."

"Okay, then mother will help you decide." Bai Shi quickly put away the fabrics again, and because there were a lot of things, the shopkeeper sent them to the chariot market outside the city, and she took Ye Chen to the next shop in a hurry.

Winter is coming soon, and we must keep warm. The focus of Bai's trip is on cotton clothes, bedding, shoes and socks.It is not uncommon to miss the destination during a long trip, and it must be prepared in advance.

After some busy work, it was already dusk when the two arrived home.

Ye Guang had been looking forward to it for a long time, and when he saw them from a distance, he couldn't wait for the Song mother and daughter to set the table.

After dinner, Ye Chen didn't go back to his room to rest, but went straight to the village chief's house.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Ye Chen saw Ye Ningren sitting in the main room smoking a cigarette with a sullen face: "Uncle, what did the magistrate Wang say?"

"It is said that everything will be done according to the rules. Whichever village is drawn by lottery will be that village. No accommodation will be given." Ye Ningren knocked on the cigarette stick and said in a bitter voice, "Lottery? It sounds good, but who knows if it's tricky? I've lived for most of my life. I haven't heard of such absurd things as using lottery to decide which village will be transferred to serve as corvee."

Ye Chen thought for a while and asked, "It doesn't work if the patriarch sacrifices Brother Shuo?"

"It works, you can use silver as a substitute, one hundred taels per person, but only for the patriarch's family." Speaking of this, Ye Ningren's face was extremely ugly.

Ye Chen guessed: "Did the patriarch pay?"

"Ah."

Ye Chen couldn't help laughing.

The children and grandchildren of Ye Weiting who were conscripted to serve as servants could not be counted on five fingers together. Such an operation must cost a lot of money, which shows how rich the family is.

It's still easy to make money in wars. Ye Shuo is only a seventh-rank military officer, and his family is so wealthy. His ability to make money is much stronger than that of ordinary businessmen. No wonder so many people have sharpened their heads to squeeze into official careers.

"Uncle, going out for a walk may not be a bad thing. When Brother You and the others come back, they might not even look down on our little place." Ye Chen joked.

"It's just as good as you said." Ye Ningren looked a little pale.

Ye Chen suppressed his smile, and said solemnly: "Uncle, I have some connections in the city. Although that person doesn't have much to deal with with County Magistrate Wang, it's okay to do a little favor. The tolerance shouldn't be too difficult for us."

"Really?" Ye Ningren's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Ah."

"That's good, that's good." Ye Ningren said yes twice in a row, then changed the subject and said to Qiu, "Mother, you should prepare more food and drink, and give it to Xiaochen later. people."

"Oh, I'll do it now." Upon hearing the good news, Qiu was overjoyed.Her family has some wealth, and what worries her most is not the difficult journey, but the oppression by officials.Without this worry, other things can be handled easily. As long as you pay attention to it, you can survive the few months in Beijing without any problem.

After chatting for a while, seeing Ye Chen was leaving, Ye Ningren got up to see him off.

Ye Chen's eyes moved slightly, and when Ye Ningren delivered it to the door, Fang asked, "Uncle, what are you..."

"Let's talk at your house."

Ye Chen immediately avoided mentioning this matter, and just chatted all the way home.

"Brother is here?" Mrs. Bai hastily stepped forward to greet her, then turned to tell Mrs. Song, "Master, make a bowl of tea for your uncle."

Ye Ningren waved his hand to push back: "It's getting late, I'll leave after I have something to say to Xiaochen, so you don't need to mess around." After finishing speaking, he followed Ye Chen's bedroom.

After taking his seat, Ye Ningren was speechless for a while, as if there was something unspeakable.

Ye Chen's eyes dimmed: "Uncle, if you have anything to say, just tell me, no matter good or bad, my nephew can bear it."

Ye Ningren stared at Ye Chen, hesitant to speak, and finally sighed: "The people around the magistrate of the county made a show of it intentionally or unintentionally, and I thought it meant that our village dispatched a large number of strong laborers to work as servants because of you." , This is to punish you to death. The patriarch was also there at the time, so I don’t know if I heard the hidden meaning, but I reckon Xuan, the patriarch is very smart.”

Ye Chen didn't feel too surprised, but he didn't expect to adopt this method.As the village chief said, once the villagers spread the word about his involvement, the Ye family will be pushed to the opposite side of the whole village, and it will be difficult for them to gain a foothold in the village.

However, this is something only families and villages that are going downhill will do. If they want to make a difference, unity is a must. Otherwise, if something happens to the tribe and villagers, they will abandon it and even push them to block the gun. A gang of mobs want to develop and grow. Pure fantasy.

"Xiaochen, you have to be prepared for someone to come to your door. It's best to let your mother go out to avoid the limelight." Ye Ningren couldn't think of any other way for a while, so he could only remind him like this.

Ye Chen accepted his uncle's kindness, and after sending him away, he fell into deep thought.

Just now he was not sure how much the magistrate Wang was involved in this matter, but now it is obvious that he is not the mastermind, but also an important executor.

But why?Ye Chenming's net worth is only a few hundred taels, and he owed a lot of foreign debts because of Xu's deceitful attempt to extort a sum of money, but in the end he reaped the consequences. Just a tofu shop will not make Wang County magistrate so targeted. He should have no eyelids. It's so shallow, could it be that a member of Xu's distillery has been misunderstood, or is there another reason?

No matter what, County Magistrate Wang cannot stay.With the support of Mrs. Xu Er's family, after years of management, he has a lot of influence here. If he sincerely tosses, Ye Chen can deal with it badly. Even if he can't shake him, he can still disgust him to death.

Ye Chen got up and opened the medicine box, which had accumulated his results for several months. There were not many life-saving medicines, but there were a variety of medicines with negative effects, such as drugs, hallucinogens, poisons, etc., which are helpful in the last days. And Luo Yanshan can find, not a single one.

Ye Chen promised that Mrs. Bai would not go into the deep mountains, so he took the time to walk all the peaks around Suifeng Village and the surrounding mountains of Luoyan Mountain within a radius of tens of miles. These are private possessions.

Ye Chen originally did this just for emergencies, but he didn't expect that it would come in handy so soon.

Early the next morning, Ye Chen went to the city again, and after entrusting Xu Yanqing to take care of his family for a while, they talked about business.

"Brother Xu, it's very rare to go to the capital this time. It would be too wasteful to do nothing. I want to bring some light and expensive goods that don't take up much space. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Xu Yanqing was stunned, and it took him a while to recover, and he couldn't help laughing: "How long have you been in business, why are you more like a businessman than me?"

After a short pause, he continued: "Jinmin County is rich in fur medicinal materials, and fur takes up a lot of space. Common medicinal materials are worthless, and rare medicinal materials are hard to find and sell. I don't think it's better than this. You bring some valuable mountain Rare dry goods, elephant trunks and bird's nests are not available, and there is no shortage of other mountain treasures. I am in the city, so if you go to the surrounding mountain villages, the harvest will not be bad."

Ye Chen readily accepted it, thought for a while, and said, "Do you want to bring some for you?"

"Okay." Xu Yanqing didn't shirk, "Go to the city again before you leave, I'll give you the goods, and you help me deliver them to the designated person."

Ye Chen responded readily.

"I'm afraid you'll be very tight when you receive so many goods. If I lend you this money, I'll treat it as my payment for delivering the goods." Xu Yanqing took out a few bank notes from his arms and pushed them in front of Ye Chen.

Ye Chen didn't refuse, and asked again: "If my mother and the others live in the small courtyard on Osmanthus Alley, you can help take care of them." Then he left.

After that, Ye Chen went to Hongliu's house again, and after giving the same instructions, he went to the cattle and horse market to buy two mules, and then walked around some small goods shops. After a lot of work, it was almost dusk.

Seeing that it was getting late, Ye Chen simply stayed in the city.

That night, in the dead of night, Ye Chen wore night clothes to avoid the patrolling personnel, climbed over the wall in the dark and entered the county magistrate's mansion.

The next day, it was reported that the county magistrate Wang was seriously ill, and it was useless to ask all the doctors.

The county magistrate Wang fell down, and the people below were panicked, and they began to plan three or five times.

The county government is not monolithic, and there is more than one coveting the position of Wang County Magistrate, but they also understand that the possibility of replacing them is unlikely, so seizing the opportunity to seize power has become a top priority.

At this time, the county government was busy fighting for power and profit, so no one cared about Ye Chen's movements. County Magistrate Wang and his team were either suppressed or wooed, so there was nothing to fear.

After confirming that Wang County Magistrate was recruited, Ye Chen devoted himself to the acquisition of mountain goods.

Running around here and there, I was busy for several days in a row, and soon it was the day of departure.

Ye Chen has already arranged in advance. There are three cars in Suifeng Village, one for Ye's family and one for the village head's house, and the rest is shared by the villagers. Even the village head's car is half-public and half-private. Only Ye Chen's mule cart was empty, and it was all loaded with goods and his personal luggage.

It is a big event to charge grain to Beijing, and the county magistrate Wang is seriously ill, so the county magistrate will preside over it on his behalf, and he will leave on time.

The food tax of Jinmin County is not as good as that of the rich southern land, and they are lined up in a row, which is also impossible to see at a glance.

The composition of the grain transportation team is complicated, and it is relatively easy for those who are assigned to animal-drawn vehicles such as ox carts, but it is very hard to push and pull the carts.

Originally, under the special "care" of the county magistrate Wang, the conscripts in Suifeng Village received hard work, and the animal-drawn carts were forgotten.Now that the magistrate Wang’s flag has fallen, the people who depend on him are too busy to take care of themselves, and have no time to manage them. After some dredging, Ye Chen managed to get nearly half of the animal-drawn carts, which were divided into two shifts, and people took turns pushing and pulling the carts. Much better.

The servants are in groups of two, and Ye Chen and Ye Chun are in the same place.When it was their turn to push the scooter, the two hung the scooter behind the double-driver mule cart, envious of the surrounding folks.

"Those two people are so impressive, who is behind them?" Zhao Jia, the food security officer, frowned and asked Liu Zheng, the colleague in charge of Ye Chen's team.

"The Xu family has given them a message, as long as they don't break the law, they can do whatever they want."

"Is there a lady in the palace?"

Liu Zheng vetoed it: "No, it's the Yanjiu company that cooperates with the Qing'an Hou Mansion."

"With such a relationship, why was he still recruited as a servant?"

"Who knows?"

Said that Cao Cao and Cao Cao will be here, and not long after the two talked, the servants below brought a jar of wine and a few other dishes, and the wine was the flame wine just mentioned.

Zhao Jia raised his mouth and looked at Liu Zheng with a knowing smile.No wonder Liu Zheng indulged them so much, they turned out to be such good people.

It's not winter yet, and the road is not difficult. The grain transportation team arrived in the state city on time without any loss, joined the other county government grain transportation teams, and set off on another day. The team was even more powerful.

Ye Chen didn't want to be too conspicuous, so he separated the two mules, one for grain and the other for goods, but no one noticed them.

The journey was smooth, but when the north wind howled and the snow was blowing, people in the grain transportation team began to fall ill one after another, most of them were tired and tired, and it was hard to think of any problems after another freeze.

Some people in the team of Suifeng village also collapsed due to the cold and exhaustion, but their luck was good, with nearly half of the animal-drawn carts for transportation, and the fellow villagers looked after them, so they recovered quickly.

The rest of the servants who don’t have such good conditions, it’s okay to say that they are strong, and most of them can carry them through. The weak ones have no money to extend their medical treatment, so they can only pray that God is on their side.

As the depths of winter approached, casualties began to appear among the ranks.

When resting in the evening, the servants gather together in groups of three or four.

"I heard that another one is missing?"

"Well, I don't know if we can get through it."

"Are you coming to Xijing soon?"

"It's early, we still have to go for at least a month."

The man approached the fire, stomped his feet and rubbed his hands, and it took him a long time to dispel the chill. He looked disappointed and said: "It will take so long? It's getting colder and colder, when will it be the end? I used to be sitting on the kang at this time Come on, don’t get too warm, even I, a miserable farmer, have never suffered this kind of crime, so it’s no wonder that many grain guards are sick.”

"Don't worry about it. Their conditions are much better than ours. You should worry more about yourself. Persevere, and you will arrive in Xijing soon."

Listening to the discussions around, the villagers of Suifeng Village tensed up and felt sorry for each other. At the same time, they couldn't help but rejoice that several wealthy households from the same village were also on the list, and their preparations were complete. There are many animal-drawn carts. If you are sick, you can have money to consult a doctor, you can take medicine, and you have cars for transportation.