After listening to Zhou Zhixian's words, the squires not only looked at each other, but after a while, the old man sitting in his sixties said: "Tangzun is the parent of the county, and now the squires of this county are in trouble, how can Tangzun say that he can't help?"

The old man is called Liu Zongze, the number one squire in Jiaozhou County, and he has a great reputation in the entire Laizhou Mansion. com Because his family is the home of three generations of eunuchs, and Liu Zongze himself is a Jinshi of Guangxu for four years, for nearly 2o years as an official, he has been a county magistrate for two terms in the local area, a state official, a commissioner, and a Beijing official in the capital for several years, and the highest has been the Ministry of Industry to treat Lang, 5 years ago, Zhishi returned to his hometown for the elderly, but now he still hangs a four-grade false title, in terms of grade alone, it is much higher than Zhou Wenhuai, the seven-grade county. Therefore, in front of Liu Zongze, Zhou Wenhuai still has to respect respectfully: Boss. What's more, Liu Zongze's officials in the past 2o years have not been in vain, and there are many officials in the same year, classmates, who have a lot of political energy, and they are not something that Zhou Wenhuai can offend.

In the face of Liu Zongze's questioning, Zhou Wenhuai couldn't help but smile bitterly, arched his hand, and said: "Boss, you also know the current situation, Xiaguan is only a mere county, and there can be hundreds of soldiers in the county, and overseas Chinese and even foreigners can fight to the ground, how can these armies in the county be able to fight each other, how can you let Xiaguan be good?"

At this time, a fat man in his 4o years old who was sitting under Liu Zongze said: "Then it can't just be let the overseas Chinese come here, if the county can't send troops, then go to the state to ask for troops, if the state is not good, go to the province to invite, don't there be Beiyang New Army under Governor Yuan? Let them deal with overseas Chinese." ”

The man who spoke was called Ma Benchu, who had more than 3,600 acres of land at home, rented out more than 3,000 acres of land, employed more than 12o households, and collected as much as 5 or 6,000 taels of silver every year, making him the largest landlord in Jiaozhou County. Therefore, he was most nervous about the [Outline of the Land Reform System] that crossed the group.

Zhou Wenhuai looked at him and thought to himself whether the Beiyang New Army under Governor Yuan could beat the foreigners? If they could beat the foreigners, would the Empress Dowager and the Emperor still need to run away? However, he could not say this, and only said: "Governor Yuan has issued three edicts, ordering officials in various parts of Shandong not to clash with overseas Chinese, but in the event of a conflict, they should give priority to forbearance and not quarrel with them. ”

Ma Benchu was stunned, although he did not have as much power as Liu Zongze, but he was also a local hero, so he was not very afraid of the county, but he did not dare to be disrespectful to the governor of Shandong, so after listening to Zhou Wenhuai's words, he couldn't help but be disappointed, and said: "What can I do then? Or report to Beijing and let the imperial court send troops to deal with overseas Chinese?"

Saying that, Ma Benchu looked at Liu Zongze, because Zhou Wenhuai was only a county official, and he was not qualified to directly write to the center of the Qing court, and although Liu Zongze was only a civilian, because of his old qualifications and many ways, he could directly stab the affairs of Jiaozhou County into Beijing through other channels, as long as Liu Zongze was willing to do it.

Liu Zongze glared at Ma Benchu, quite disapproving of his suggestion, and said: "Now that the Queen Mother and the Emperor are touring the west, not to mention how many major military affairs the Queen Mother and the Emperor have to deal with, how can these small things alarm the heavens." ”

Zhou Wenhuai also said: "Yes, don't forget, it was the overseas Chinese who recaptured the capital from the hands of the National Alliance, and now they are about to welcome the two palaces back to Beijing, and the imperial court is also recruiting overseas Chinese. ”

Ma Benchu stood up anxiously, spread his hands, and said, "Then what should we do? We are so difficult that we can watch the overseas Chinese expropriate all our land?" Then he turned to Liu Zongze and said: "Old Liu, you are old and respectful, take an idea." ”

Liu Zongze waved his hand and said, "The old man has his own opinions, so don't be bored." Sit down first. ”

Ma Benchu listened, and was a little relieved, before sitting down again.

Liu Zongze turned to Zhou Wenhuai and said: "The old man also knows the difficulties of the hall, and the old man has a plan, and the hall will see if it is feasible." ”

Zhou Wenhuai said: "Boss, please speak." ”

Liu Zongze said: "Please also ask Tangzun to come forward and be a middleman, whether overseas Chinese want land, money or silver, you might as well make a price, we can also make up for it, if there are any difficulties, we can also open our mouths, as long as we are not bankrupt, we will naturally try our best to help, but it will not be to requisition all our fields, there is a way to be a person to stay in line, and it will be good to meet in the future." ”

When the others heard this, they all nodded again and again, and Ma Benchu also said: "Yes, yes, yes, how much money you want, how much grain you want, how much land you want, you can offer a price, don't take it all, even if it's left to us." ”

Zhou Wenhuai nodded, Liu Zongze is really old and sophisticated, in fact, Zhou Wenhuai also thought about it, could this be a pretentious gesture by overseas Chinese, deliberately releasing this wind first, scaring these squires, and finally forcing them to bleed, the so-called sky-high price, and pay back the money on the spot. After all, there was no such thing as collecting all the fields. However, Zhou Wenhuai didn't say it just now, because he was afraid that everyone would misunderstand whether he was singing Shuanghuang with overseas Chinese; secondly, Zhou Wenhuai was a little uncertain, because overseas Chinese officially issued an official document, which is not like deliberately scaring people. Therefore, it is naturally better for Liu Zongze to put it forward first, he is just an executor, and he is naturally indispensable to his own share of benefits if he talks about it, and if he can't negotiate it, he can also push all the responsibilities away.

So Zhou Wenhuai said: "Okay, since the fathers and elders entrust the official to be this middleman, the official will be exempt from difficulties, estimate and try, I hope that the negotiation can be completed, and everyone can be safe, but if the negotiation fails, the fathers and elders cannot blame the official." ”

Liu Zongze said: "This is natural, the hall can do its best, if it succeeds, we will also have a heavy reward, if not, how can we blame the cousin, we should think of another way." ”

Zhou Wenhuai nodded and said, "That's fine." As he spoke, he picked up his teacup and took a sip. When the servant behind him saw this, he immediately shouted, "Send off!"

When Liu Zongze and the others saw it, they all got up and said goodbye to Zhou Wenhuai. Zhou Wenhuai sent them outside the county yamen before saying, "Fathers and elders, please listen to the official's reply." ”

Everyone got on the sedan chair and left the city one after another. However, Liu Zongze did not go out of the city, but went to his house in Jiaozhou City. It turns out that although Liu Zongze is the number one squire in Jiaozhou County, but the family's land is not much, only more than 1,000 acres of land, in this era, can only be regarded as an ordinary landlord, the annual rent income is only, 2,000 silver, and the main source of income for his family is by commercial income, the original Liu Zongze is born in a merchant family, now his family in Shandong has more than 1o shops, mainly to operate bronzeware, and concurrently engage in other commodities, there are 3 in Jiaozhou City, including a shop, a hotel, The intermittent copper workshop employs more than 5o craftsmen, and the annual commercial income can exceed 10,000 taels.

However, although Liu Zongze is not an official, he has correspondence with many officials in the capital, and he has to support at least 3,000 taels of silver for the officials in the capital every year for their various activities, which is a common thing in ancient Chinese officialdom. And this is also the main way for the local gentry to maintain their political influence, and at the same time to serve their own children.

Now Liu Zongze has a total of three sons and two daughters, the eldest son Liu Jisheng is mediocre, so he manages the grange in the countryside, although the second son Liu Jiping is shrewd, but he is not the material for reading, he is exempt from being admitted to a lifter, and after a few petty officials, he does not want to be an official anymore, and now he is responsible for running the business of the Liu family; the third son Liu Jiguang is the youngest, less than 3o, he has been admitted to the lifter three years ago, and now he is studying hard at home to prepare for the examination, he is also the most promising person among Liu Zongze's daughters to continue his career.

The two daughters are married, the eldest son-in-law is also an official and is an official elsewhere, and the second son-in-law is from Wuju and is now a famous guerrilla in Laizhou Mansion. Therefore, although Liu Zongze's family does not have any high-ranking officials, it is indeed intertwined and has formed a small system.

Liu Zongze's second son, Liu Jiping, often lived in a residence in Jiaozhou City because he had to take care of business, and just over two months ago, Liu Jiping somehow got into a relationship with overseas Chinese, supplying wood, stone, fur and other items to overseas Chinese, and did a lot of big business, so Liu Zongze decided to live in Jiaozhou City these days, coming to wait for news from Zhou Wenhuai; secondly, he also wanted to discuss with his second son, after all, the second son had contact with overseas Chinese.

Nazhi waited until Liu Zongze came to the residence to know that the second son had gone to Qingdao, saying that he was talking about a big business with overseas Chinese, and he was not in Jiaozhou City. So Liu Zongze stayed in the city and waited for his second son to come back.

After waiting for two days, the second son has not returned, but Liu Jisheng, the eldest son who is taking care of the land in the countryside, has found Jiaozhou City, and it turns out that Liu Jisheng has received a notice from the overseas Chinese that five days later the overseas Chinese will send a land reform working group to the village, and they are looking for housing in the village, and all households in the village are required to take the initiative to explain the situation of the land and property to the land reform team. Therefore, Liu Jisheng did not dare to slack off, and hurried to Jiaozhou City to report to his father.

After hearing Liu Jisheng's briefing, Liu Zongze couldn't help but be surprised; it turned out that he thought that the overseas Chinese were just posturing and imagining that the squires were extorting more land money and grain, but now that the overseas Chinese want to send a land reform working group to the village, are they going to play it for real? Fortunately, there are still a few days to go, and they have time to deal with it again, but I don't know if Zhou Wenhuai has talked to the overseas Chinese. Liu Zongze wanted to go to Zhou Wenhuai again to ask, but he felt a little rude, after all, it was only two days, and it was a little inappropriate to go to Zhou Wenhuai immediately

And just when Liu Zongze hesitated to visit Zhou Wenhuai again, his second son, Liu Jiping, also came back, so Liu Zongze also dispelled the idea of visiting Zhou Wenhuai, and discussed with his second son first to see if he had any news.