Jia Lian of the Red Chamber

Jia Yun looked at the sky and said, "Pingyi Village, Fengyi Town is forty miles away. Even if we go at this time, it will be dark. Uncle, why don't you just rest in the county government office overnight and leave tomorrow morning?"

Jia Lian waved his hand: "No need, I have a fast horse, we can go to the town first, find out the situation, dig early in the morning, the Holy Majesty is still waiting for me to announce the good news."

Hearing this, Jia Yun didn't dare to hesitate, and ordered the servants to pull the three elders slowly on the road, and accompanied Jia Lian on horseback.

Jia Lian and Jia Yun took the little leopard and the three of them whipped their horses and arrived at Pingyi Village, Fengyi Town at the beginning of the unitary hour.

Jia Lian saw large fields of sweet potatoes on both sides of the road, and someone in the field was cutting sweet potato seedlings.

The three of Jia Lian got off their horses, pretended to be passers-by, and approached him: "Excuse me, uncle, what are you doing?"

The old farmer is about fifty, with gray temples, but hale and hearty.Seeing the politeness of Jia Lian and the others, he put down his sickle and cupped his hands: "The guest officials are polite, dare to ask the guest officials whether they are looking for relatives or visiting friends?"

Jia Lian replied: "I was passing by here and saw the lush crops, so I asked."

The old farmer was very happy when he heard the words: "Our county magistrate sent a message that tomorrow he will come to our village to inspect the farming, and he will dig on the spot in the old man's field, saying that he will collect data and report it to the emperor. The old man is very happy when he hears the news. No, I'll bring my son here to clean up, so as not to delay the Grandpa's errand tomorrow." Jia Lian saw Jia Yun, cupped his hands and asked, "You always know the magistrate?"

The old farmer waved his hand: "Look at what you said, the old man is not so lucky, the magistrate is busy."

Jia Lian asked again: "May I ask you how the county magistrate is?"

The old farmer suddenly smiled: "If you want to ask our county magistrate, you have nothing to say, just say 'yes'!"

Jia Lian smiled and asked, "What's so good about asking him?"

The old farmer said: "Guest officer, have you heard of the second tyrant in our county? In the past, the magistrates of the county usually fought fiercely with the Qin and Wang families as soon as they came, and joined forces to do their best. Those yamen servants came down casually to arrest them. People, if you don't blackmail you a few taels of money, you don't want to get away. This new grandpa is not like this. As soon as he came, he dismissed the two yamen moths of the Qin family and the Wang family.

It has been half a year since he took office, and the yamen servants have never gone to the countryside to disturb the people.Not only that, the grandpa also bought food from the property confiscated from the Qin family and Wang family to poor households, and distributed sweet potato seeds to us for planting free of charge, and this year can be exempted from tax.

How many years have I not met such a master of Qingtian, so I told my children and grandchildren that when they caught up with the good times, the Japanese pirates were also beaten away, and the heavenly master also rewarded them with food. It is the three joys of life! "

Jia Lian was delighted to hear this. He felt that this man was talkative and insightful, so he paid attention to him and went to his house to stay at night. Then he asked, "Dare to ask the old man how long he lives?"

The old farmer cupped his hands: "I don't dare to live long, the old man is 53 this year."

Jia Lian was full of compliments: "You are in such a good spirit, I can't tell at all. These two are your sons?"

The old man nodded: "Yes." After speaking, he greeted the two sons who were working hard: "Come here and greet the guests."

The two sons seemed a little cautious, but they just stopped the clerk, bent over Jia Lian and bowed their hands, then bowed their heads and went to work again.

The old man smiled: "My sons have never seen the world, just laugh."

Jia Lian asked, "You seem to have read books?"

The old man nodded: "Our family used to open a shop in Shuntai County. That year, the shop was ravaged by Japanese pirates, and all the things in the shop were robbed. Parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and everyone died, and the shop burned down. I was selling goods outside, so I escaped unharmed.

From where, I was also chilled, sold the goods in my hand, and set up a tomb for my parents, brothers and sisters-in-law. I used the remaining money to buy a few acres of land here, and settled down here.These two sons are also under my tight control, maybe they have been to the county seat, I am afraid, my old Tian family can't cut the roots. "

Jia Lian smiled and said, "It's all right now, the Japanese pirates have been driven away."

The old man felt the same way: "Yes, I have ten acres of land myself, and I harvested a season of wheat in the spring. Thanks to the governor for his kindness, the old man leased [-] acres of fertile land and [-] acres of hillside land from the government. Tax-free, the old man is going to send his two eldest grandsons to the attached hall in the town, and he can no longer imitate their father, they are all foolishly detained by me."

Jia Lian was praised face-to-face, and he was very happy in his heart. He decided to tell the story of this family to the new emperor, so he glanced at Jia Yun and hinted that he would record it.

Jia Yun took out a pen and paper knowingly.

Jia Lian asked with a smile, "Can the three veterans of your family manage to cultivate [-] mu of land?"

The old man smiled: "It seems that your family does not cultivate land. When the farming is busy, the big guys help each other. If you are really too busy, you can also hire part-time labor. Besides, the hillside land of my family is not cultivated. We planted mulberry trees. My old woman I like to raise silkworms. My family used to have ten acres of mountain land. Later, when I married a daughter-in-law, she wanted to cultivate more mulberry fields. The world was not peaceful a few years ago, and no one wanted silkworm cocoons. Now the world is peaceful. When I think about it, the government also advocates it. Tax-free and seedlings are provided free of charge, so I rented an extra [-] acres of hillside land according to their wives."

The speculation between the old man and Jia Lian gave birth to a friendship: "It's getting late, and it's fate to meet each other. I don't know if you can catch up with the night. If you don't think it's simple, why don't you go to the old man's house for a night? Old man, I haven’t said that to anyone for many years.”

When Jia Lian heard the words, he was in the middle of his heart: "then it is better to be respectful than to obey!"

Most of the folk houses in Fujian and Zhejiang like to live by the water, and the Tian family is no exception. There is a large pond in front of the house, which is full of lotus leaves and lotus flowers are in full bloom.

The house of the Tian family is close to the mountain, and the whole yard is surrounded by a tall flower wall to form a closed space. Entering the yard is the drying yard, and the three open halls in front are where the reception and wine are served.At the back is a square courtyard. Behind the courtyard are three upper rooms, east and west wing rooms.

A typical family surrounded by mountains and rivers, the living environment is very good.

After dinner, Jia Lian intentionally raised the topic, and secretly inquired with Mr. Tian about the ownership of the land in Pingyi Village.It turns out that although Pingyi Village has more than [-] mu of fertile land and [-] mu of hillside land, most of the villagers in the village are tenant households, and few people own their own cultivated land.There are more than [-] households in the village, and the land they own is less than [-] mu.Except for some official land, most of the remaining fertile land belonged to the country gentry.

Jia Lian knew that these acres of land do not need to pay taxes.

Jia Lian asked: "Isn't it true that only [-] mu of land is taxed for [-] mu of land? How did the taxation of Pingyi Village rely on in previous years?"

Old Man Tian sighed: "Most of the taxes are paid by corvees."

The taxation of the imperial court comes from two basic components: land tax and human population.

There are many good fields in Fujian and Zhejiang, and land tax should occupy the bulk of taxation.Now there is a strange phenomenon, the good land is in the hands of a few people, these people are precisely the gentry who do not need to pay taxes.

In this way, the bulk of the taxation falls on the small tax and corvee.As a result, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Because of this, the founding head of the first assistant minister proposed a whipping method, but the implementation was not satisfactory.In the end, this new policy that benefited the country and the people was not supported by the emperor, and the chief assistant died of illness and his son died young.

But it is said that Jia Lian and Jia Lian stayed at Tian's house this day, and they were awakened by a burst of crying in the middle of the night.

The little leopard jumped up, ready to go out to check, but was stopped by Jia Lian's hand.

Jia Lian's hearing is excellent, and he quickly understood the whole story, and smiled immediately.

It's no coincidence that there is no book, but Old Man Tian is handling the housework.

It turned out that something happened to Old Man Tian's youngest daughter-in-law's family, and the whole family came to join Mr. Tian at night.

Mr. Tian asked about the whole story, but refused to accept it.Old man Tian's youngest daughter-in-law threatened her husband that if her husband's family did not accept her natal family, she would divorce her.

Old man Tian was furious and wanted to divorce his wife for his son, but his son refused, so he started arguing.

Coincidentally, the reason why Old Man Tian's in-laws fled here is the same as why Old Man Tian refused to take him in. Old Man Tian hated the current chief envoy, the magistrate of Shuntai County 25 years ago.

It was just because the Tian family saved [-] mu of fertile land when they were doing business. As a result, when the Japanese pirates came, they robbed things and burned the house, and the land deeds of the Tian family were burned.

Logically, Mr. Tian came back, and according to the rules, it is enough to make up another red deed, but pay some handling fees.As a result, Yu Huali, the county magistrate at the time, refused to handle it.

Mr. Tian was not convinced, and was going to sue the government office. Later, when an insider mentioned Mr. Tian, ​​he found out that the reason why Yu Huali did not reissue the land deed for the Tian family was because the land of the Tian family had been sold as official land at a low price. Wang family.

The reason for Yu Huali's behavior is that Yu Huali accepted a concubine daughter from the Wang family as his concubine.

It is said that this woman is proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, has also received Western culture, and is proficient in Francier and English.The dress is also very westernized, exactly the same as those Franco-English women.

It is said that when the Wang family hosted a banquet for Yu Huali, this woman came out in Western clothes to toast, and Yu Huali was stuck in it since then and could not be pulled out.Just because she was married at the beginning, this woman had to be wronged and became the second wife. This woman covered the sky with one hand at home, so that the wife of the main house had no place to stand.

Jia Lian was a little surprised yesterday, there are many people who have been harmed by Japanese pirates, why the Tian family behaved so low-key, even though the family had surplus money, they retreated to the countryside, and their son didn't even dare to read books.

But it turned out that he was afraid of the Wang family and Yu Huali.

Jia Lian was overjoyed. He was worried about fixing Yu Huali, who was stumbling behind his back. For no reason, God sent Old Man Tian and his family to his door.

Jia Lian told the little leopard, "Go invite Mr. Tian!"

The little leopard went to the open hall of Tian's house. Old man Tian's family was there, and there were seven other people, two men, two women, and three children.

When Old Man Tian saw the little leopard, his face was full of shame: "It's the old man's fault that I alarmed the guests."

The little leopard cupped his hands: "It's okay, our master asks the old man to speak for a while!"

Old man Tian nodded: "Trouble brother!"

Here, Jia Lian greeted Mr. Tian, ​​invited him to take a seat, and then bowed and said, "Please forgive me, Mr. We are not passing merchants, but turned to look for you, an old farmer."

Mr. Tian was busy returning the gift: "Could it be the county magistrate in person."

Jia Lian pushed Jia Yun forward: "This is the county magistrate of Shuntai."

Mr. Tian was a little dizzy with joy, and picked up a county magistrate casually, what a blessing.

He accepted his head and bowed: "I don't know if the grandfather is face to face, the little old man is rude."

Jia Yun raised her hand with a smile: "Please, old man, it's my official, Meng Lang."

Mr. Tian stood up respectfully and bowed: "I don't know what orders the old master has in exchange for this old man?"

Jia Lian interjected: "Our grandfather wants to know why your family is yelling in the middle of the night? But you have encountered a difficult problem? If you have a difficult problem that cannot be solved, please feel free to ask. Maybe our grandfather can share one or two for you."

Mr. Tian sighed when he heard the words: "It's not that I don't know how to flatter you, it's really because I'm afraid of hurting my grandfather. This matter has a lot to do..."

Jia Lian said: "Perhaps the old man doesn't know, our great-grandfather is not young, you know the Nine Provinces Inspection, he is the uncle of our great-grandfather's family, and the emperor can speak for himself."

Old man Tian was shocked when he heard the words: "It's Mr. Wang who once served as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang?"

Jia Lian nodded: "Exactly!"

Mr. Tian knelt down again, and told how his family suffered disaster, how he was robbed by the Wang family back then, how he went to the county government to argue, how the county magistrate was partial and so on. "Finally, the old man also told a new story. At first, the old man was engaged, but later the betrothed object and Wang's son met each other and regretted the marriage.

Jia Lian exclaimed: "The Wang family is the internal response of the Japanese pirates. Your family has an enmity with the Wang family. Wasn't the Wang family's design for the robbery?"

Mr. Tian nodded: "At the beginning, I didn't think that, when I learned about the Wang family's footsteps in May, the little old man knew that my whole family was implicated by the little old man. Thinking of this, the little old man really hates it." , her family has another relative, and I didn't stop it, who knew they would do such a murderous thing."

Jia Lian immediately figured out the key point: "You once said that someone reminded you. Could it be that that person is related to the Wang family?"

Mr. Tian nodded, showing a smiling face: "It's my cousin who is engaged, who is my current father-in-law. Speaking of which, I would like to thank Lord Governor for his kindness. If the matter of Wang's family happened last year, little old man The whole family is involved too."

Jia Lian was startled, it seemed that the regulations for exterminating relatives were a bit harsh.However, there is no way to use heavy codes in troubled times.Suddenly remembering his own intention, he asked, "Why did that family come here that I haven't asked yet?"

Mr. Tian once again told about the second wife of the chief envoy from the Wang family: "It's not that the little old man is ruthless. Firstly, he dare not harbor the family members of Tongwo. Secondly, speaking of it, the Wang family is the little old man's exterminated family." Enemies, although the little old man can't take revenge, he can't help the evildoers and protect the enemies."

Jia Lian smiled when he heard the words: "As long as the old man is willing, the hatred of destroying the family may not be unrepayable!"

When Mr. Tian was young, he ran across the sea boats and had some experience. When he heard Jia Lianri talking here, he knelt down with a plop, and he kowtowed three times in a row: "If the grandfather can help the little old man to avenge his family's death , the whole family is willing to serve the grandpa as slaves and maidservants!"

Jia Yun wanted to reveal Jia Lian's identity, but was stopped by Jia Lian.

Because Jia Lian was going to let the prince free up his face to fight Yu Huali.Because Yu Huali falsely accused Jia Lian, if Jia Lian came forward, the new emperor would definitely think that Jia Lian was avenging his own private revenge.

Jia Yun said: "If the old man intends to avenge his grievances, I am willing to introduce Mr. Wang for you. However, for now, let's keep those people safe. If you dig up your sweet potatoes tomorrow, if a certain mu yields three thousand catties, You will go to the county government with me to exchange planting experience with other farmers, and at that time, I will invite Mr. Wang to come here under the pretext of celebrating the victory, and you will always report the chief minister Yu Huali to hide Japanese criminals at the celebration banquet."

Old man Tian has some knowledge, and he hesitated: "As far as I know, once the little old man successfully reports, the officials who handled the case at that time will also be implicated, young master..."

Jia Yun waved her hand: "Don't worry, the officials who handled the case were deceived by others and did not accept property, and intentionally indulged in it privately. It was Yu Huali who connived at his family's 'cutting the white duck'. He committed the crime knowingly, and the crime was aggravated." Old man Tian Bow down and salute everything depends on the grandfather! "