A big family like Qinjiazhuang often has many tenant farmers in addition to the pillar industries.

Originally, these tenant farmers had more or less one-third of an acre of land, and they were able to be self-sufficient, and their lives were quite passable.

But in recent years, for some reason, bandits have been rampant, and they have swept through various villages to burn, kill, and loot every other day.

However, the imperial court was indifferent to the bandits, and no decrees were issued for disaster relief and tax reduction.

The county government still collects taxes as usual, which makes the people who are already in dire straits even more miserable.

They had no choice but to sell the land to the local households, raise enough tax money, and then rent back the land from the large households for cultivation, nearly sixty percent of the income was owned by the large households, and forty percent of the income was free to use and barely make a living except for those who still had to pay taxes.

Of course, among these big households, there are also some good families, such as Qinjiazhuang.

Qinjiazhuang is mainly based on forging weapons, it is the most famous casting workshop in Xihe County, whether the official family in the county or nearly half of the large and small powerful families in the county are made by the Qin family, of course, agricultural and industrial tools are also.

Its strength can be seen.

The powerful Qinjiazhuang was never arbitrary, and they only received a symbolic 20% of the rent for the tenant farmers around the estate, and also provided a living plan for those farmers who still had surplus manpower, so that they could become hired farmers in Qinjiazhuang.

Moreover, in order to prevent the harassment of bandits and the erosion of the torrent, Qinjiazhuang simply spent a huge amount of silver to build a wall to enclose the manor and tenant farmer land.

It is equivalent to building a small county town, and Qinjiazhuang is the person in charge.

Here, like Xihefang, tenant farmers can trade freely, and the general food and clothing can be satisfied.

The tenant farmers' lives are protected, and the thick stone walls keep the floods out, so they can work happily with peace of mind, and happiness means a good harvest.

In this way, there are more than 300 tenant farmers, and the income of nearly 10,000 acres of fertile land is 20%, not to mention that the rent received by Qinjiazhuang alone in a year can reach more than 10,000 taels, and it has to be said that it is still extremely considerable.

This is also one of the important reasons for the rapid rise of Qinjiazhuang's prestige.

Qinjia Manor is located in the southwest outside Xihe County, the terrain is empty, and the road to Qinjiazhuang is also sparsely populated, sparse grass and trees, and it is by no means a good place to enjoy the shade or hide.

But under the blue sky and white sun, there are people, dressed in rough cloth and tightly wrapped, with a hat on their heads, lying on a small dirt slope on higher ground, obviously not enjoying the coolness.

Seeing that Qin Shuyu was finally late, the strange man quickly got up, jumped up, and jumped to the middle of the road.

Qin Shuyu stopped and said suspiciously, "Are you waiting for me?"

"Yes, after you rescued the girl, I decided to come and wait." ”

Qin Shuyu smiled: "The implication is that if I hadn't saved that girl, you wouldn't be standing in front of me now?"

The strange man didn't beat around the bush at all, and said bluntly: "In that case, I will find a way to contact other people in Qinjiazhuang who can call the shots." ”

Qin Shuyu was puzzled: "What are you looking for in Qinjiazhuang?"

Strange man: "I want to cooperate with Qinjiazhuang." ”

Qin Shuyu glanced at the white sun on his head, and asked, "Even if you want to seek cooperation, why don't you go directly to the others in Qinjiazhuang to negotiate, but instead wait for me here with exposure, and dress up so mysterious." ”

The strange man said: "I don't want too many people to see that I have come to Qinjiazhuang, and I am looking for you, because it is easier for you to persuade than them." ”

Qin Shuyu smiled in surprise: "I don't understand, where did you get this idea from. ”

The strange man sighed and said, "You won't be surprised if you know who I am." ”

As he spoke, he had taken off the hat from his head.

Qin Shuyu carefully looked at the man in front of him, he was two or three years older than himself, with a serious face and delicate skin, he should have been born into a wealthy family, and he would never look so shabby like this.

However, he has a cold and arrogant backbone that ordinary rich children do not have.

Qin Shuyu was sure that he had never seen this person, so he said, "I don't recognize you. ”

The strange man hugged his fists and said: "My surname is Ma, my name is Ziwei, the eldest son of Ma Ming of the Ma family in Cuiping Township." ”

Qin Shuyu's face suddenly turned unkind, and he said coldly: "I see, you are planning to use Qingyu to blackmail me!"

He secretly clenched his fists, and once Ma Ziwei, who was only the second of the Spirit Sea Realm, nodded and admitted, he used a thunderbolt to take it down in one fell swoop.

Ma Ziwei said: "On the contrary, I will try my best to help you take care of Xu's Pharmacy." ”

Qin Shuyu sneered: "Your Ma family is obedient to the Xiang family, and Xiang Kun is trying to get involved with Qing Yu, do you think I will believe that a potential enemy will help me with such nonsense?"

Ma Ziwei suddenly had hatred in his eyes, and said coldly: "That's just my father who was kept in the dark, and there is an aunt who doesn't abide by women's morals, and some white-eyed wolves who can't be fed, and I, Ma Ziwei, disdain to be with them, I hate them, I hate Xiangjia even more, and I can't wait to pump their tendons." ”

Seeing this, Qin Shuyu was dumbfounded, could it be that he really misunderstood him? He didn't speak, but waited for him to continue Ma Ziwei to speak.

Ma Ziwei said: "Originally, the ugliness of the family should not be publicized, I shouldn't say this, but I really don't vomit and feel unhappy, and I also want to show my sincerity and make my position clear." ”

Qin Shuyu said: "You just have to say, these words can come out of your mouth, and only into my ears." ”

Ma Ziwei pondered for a long time before he said, "Presumably Young Master Qin also knows that my Ma family will present gold and silver jewelry worth 20,000 taels to Xiang Jia every year." ”

Qin Shuyu bowed his head and said: "Xiang Jia is the largest salt merchant in Xihe County, and all the salt shipped to the towns for distribution is transported by your Ma family's fleet, and it is reasonable to send these silver coins as a reward." ”

Ma Ziwei said helplessly: "But over the years, Xiang Lion opened his mouth to the family, and began to ask for 30,000 or 40,000, which has increased to 50,000 taels this year, and also asked to send ten BMWs over, and the total of zero and zero adds up, nearly 70,000 taels, which is the income of my Ma family for a whole year." ”

Qin Shuyu frowned and said, "This is indeed too much. ”

Ma Ziwei laughed at himself again: "The ridiculous thing is that such a bandit act, I thought that the stewards of my Ma family's ten convoys would definitely not agree, but I thought, five people agreed on the spot, and two of them also spoke for Xiang Jia, saying that without Xiang Jia, my Ma family may not be able to earn 70,000 taels a year." “

He eased the anger in his heart, and said: "But the fact is that the freight they give to the family every year is less than 150,000 taels, and some accounts have not yet been settled. If you teach people to believe that these five people are not eating inside and outside, unless heaven and earth are turned upside down. Among the other five stewards, only two severely reprimanded the Xiang family, and the other three were all pretending to be deaf and dumb. ”

Qin Shuyu bared his teeth and said, "Wealth is moving, Xiang Jia is drawing blood and stripping tendons!"

Ma Ziwei sighed and said: "Actually, whether it is the Xiang family, or the five stewards, they are outsiders after all, at least when they first entered my Ma family, they were outsiders, and I will not be so resentful because of selfishness." ”

He suddenly clenched his fists, the green tendons on his hands burst out, and his eyes were even more scarlet, and said, "But my aunt, as well as the horse trainer Liu Cheng, they are really inferior to beasts." ”

Qin Shuyu's heart moved, and said, "They can be regarded as your relatives." ”

Ma Ziwei hated: "Relatives, I'm sorry!"

He spat on the ground fiercely and said, "One after the death of my mother, I treated her as my own mother, and the other was my most respected horse training master. As everyone knows, these two have hooked up and committed adultery 20 years ago, and they secretly married and gave birth to my younger brother Ma Zilu. If it weren't for the fact that I happened to bump into their fornication a few days ago and overheard their conversation, I am afraid that my Ma family would be played by this pair of shameless people. ”

However, when it came to the scandalous affairs of the Ma family, Qin Shuyu only questioned: "To avoid the eyes and ears of so many people in your Ma family to do such things, your aunt and Liu Cheng do have some means."

He changed his voice and said, "But I heard that your master's cultivation is worthy of reaching the fourth level of the Spirit Sea Realm, and your aunt is an ordinary woman, no matter how witty they are, in front of the Ma family, which has a great family, they should not be able to set off any strong winds and waves." What's more, your father is still a sixfold master of the Spirit Sea Realm, and he can manage the Ma family to its current status, so there will be no shortage of strategies, how can he let them come to him?"

Ma Ziwei smiled bitterly: "Don't mention my father, I don't know what kind of ecstasy soup the demon woman poured into him, and obey her in every way." And I, as a son, told him what I had encountered, but I was scolded and said that I had made it up out of thin air. ”

Qin Shuyu frowned secretly when he heard this, he had seen Ma Ming, the head of the Ma family, and his personality seemed to be a little rough and stubborn, but he was by no means a person who did not distinguish between right and wrong, Ma Ziwei should be a fan of the authorities.

He secretly kept an eye on him, and listened to Ma Ziwei say: "As for that Liu Cheng, you greatly underestimated him. ”

Qin Shuyu was stunned for a moment and said, "Could it be that he still has something else to rely on?"

Ma Ziwei said: "After encountering this scandal, I secretly investigated Liu Cheng, and sure enough, I found some important clues, he found many informants, some of whom had close contacts with a nest of mountain bandits called the Green Wolf Gang who were active in Cuiping Township, and the other part secretly passed on news between the Ma family and the Xiang family. ”

I am afraid that these people are the unidentified cultivators in Jun Yao's mouth, Qin Shuyu frowned, and said, "Liu Cheng wants to rely on the Xiang family and the Green Wolf Gang to reshuffle the Tsushima family?"

Ma Ziwei said: "Liu Cheng's idea is true, but what about the Xiang family? If it is just to destroy the Ma family, they don't have to be so cautious, they just need to shout, in the future, my Xiang family's salt will no longer be transported by the Ma family's convoy, which is enough for my Ma family to mess up and fall apart, so Xiang Jia's move is aimed at Qinjiazhuang." ”

Qin Shuyu was a little embarrassed, this was difficult for him, only to blame for all these years, he had been groggy all these years, and he had no intention of paying attention to what the situation of Qinjiazhuang was, so he couldn't figure out how Xiang Jia was going to target the Qin family this time.

He had to say, "I want to hear about it." ”

Ma Ziwei glanced at Qin Shuyu unexpectedly, and said in his heart that this Young Master Qin can't cultivate, is it really pretending to be drunk and dreaming all day long, otherwise, with his ingenuity, how could he still not guess Xiang Jia's intentions?

However, he didn't care about this, he asked, "Does Young Master Qin know that in a month, the Qin family will deliver an ordnance to the Danyang County Guard?"