"Come on, come on, you are shallow, I am deeper, Third Brother Yang, let's get drunk and rest!"

In Huya Town, at the foot of Huya Mountain, in a tavern, Wang Sihu, who is twenty-five or six years old this year and has no daughter-in-law, poured a bowl of wine for his good brother Yang Sanbao and filled it for himself.

Yang Sanbao is one year older than Wang Sihu and is also a bachelor. The two of them studied in a private school in Huya Town together, and went to Jingzhou Prefecture to take the primary school entrance examination academy together, and later their families went bankrupt because of the same damage to the peasants, lost all their land, and fell from a well-off homestead to a family of hired farmers and laborers...... Because they knew each other since they were young, and they had the same experience, the two became friends and often got together to eat, drink and chat.

Yang Sanbao is more honest, and after his family went bankrupt, he paid off his debts to Ding Papi, the richest man in Huya Town, and Ding Shixiang carried a long-term job - the Yang family lost money on farming back then, and they were unwilling to sell the land assigned to their family by King Chuang to repay the debt owed to Qianzhuang, so they borrowed a loan shark from Ding Shoufu, and wanted to fight again.

As a result, there was a flash flood in the second year, which flooded his family's land, although after the flash flood, the three fathers and sons of the Yang family replanted in time, but still suffered a lot of losses...... Not only did the land not be kept, but he also owed Ding Papi's family an unpaid loan shark.

Although Yang Sanbao has studied in private school for a few years, he has no skills to make a living, so he will farm. And he was honest and honest, so he didn't dare to go out, so he had to work for Ding Papi's family for ten years to pay off his debts.

Wang Sihu's mind is more active, and the situation at home is a little better, but it is dilapidated, and he does not owe usury, so he went to Jingzhou City to make a living, and also found a job running a boat, and has followed the river boat to many places, and he is also well-informed. He only returns to his hometown in Huya Town every year before the New Year's Festival, and he will leave after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and this year is no exception.

The day after returning to his hometown, Wang Sihu mysteriously went to the Ding family's mansion and pulled Yang Sanbao, who was lying on the wall and watching Miss Ding come home from the Jingzhou Girls' School vacation, out to drink...... The two found a tavern, got a plate of salt beans, a plate of tofu, and two pots of turbid wine, and drank it.

They found that this tavern is located near the Yangtze River Wharf in Huya Town, and business is good on weekdays, and there are often passing boatmen and tourists who drink a few cups here, but it is light when the New Year is approaching, except for Yang Sanbao and Wang Sihu, who are Zhang Xiucai, who is in his forties, is buying drunk.

This Zhang Xiucai is also a fallen person, his family was originally the richest man in Huya Town, and the richest man in Ding Papi Ding was originally his family's housekeeper, managing the family business of thousands of acres of land for his family. And Zhang Xiucai and his father Zhang Lao Xiucai are both scholars, and they devote themselves to their careers. If it weren't for Li Zicheng coming to Juntian, the Zhang family would not have fallen at all.

If it weren't for Emperor Zhu who changed the rules of the imperial examination, no longer paid attention to the eight-share article, and canceled the fame of Xiucai and Juren, most of Zhang Xiucai's articles would have been able to reorganize the family business.

It's a pity that Zhang Xiucai's life is really not good, and he is a big freshman who has been reduced to half his life like this, and has become a drunkard Zhang who everyone in Huya Town.

At this time, it was already past dinner, except for Yang Sanbao, Wang Sihu and the drunkard Zhang, there was no one else in the small tavern hall, and even the owner and men of the tavern went to the back kitchen to work. The tavern has no business for the New Year, but the richest man in the town is in a good mood and wants to hold a banquet in the Chinese New Year's Eve to celebrate that his goblin-like girl has obtained the qualification for the Jinling Women's University...... So the pubs in town, large and small, have received business, and some are very busy!

After a few glasses of turbid wine, Wang Sihu looked around and found that there was no one else except a drunk, so he took out a poster and handed it to Yang Sanbao.

"Third Brother Yang, look at this!"

Yang Sanbao took the poster and glanced at it twice, his face suddenly changed greatly, and he exclaimed: "What? Chuang, King Chuang is coming back? ”

His voice sounded a little, Wang Sihu hurriedly covered his mouth, and then glanced nervously at the drunken ghost Zhang, the drunken Zhang seemed to be drunk, and made a snoring sound.

Wang Sihu was relieved at this time, and said to Yang Sanbao in a low voice: "Third brother, the Dashun Dynasty has just changed to a new king, changed to Dongping Daxing, and returned to Tun Yong'an Palace...... It seems that he is going to go east to conquer the sky, sweep the world, and call the shots for us poor! ”

"What do you do?" Yang Sanbao asked.

"Of course, it's to divide the land again!" Wang Sihu said, "Our bitter people here in Jingzhou Mansion have been looking forward to this day for a long time!" ”

"What if it's divided?" Yang Sanbao sighed, "What should not be kept is still not guarded...... In the past 20 years, at least half of our families under Huya Mountain have been broken, that is, those who are treacherous, calculating, and will collude with the profiteers in Wuhan have developed! ”

And he is telling the truth!

Now is the era of no business and no treachery!

After Emperor Zhu turned farming into a business by seizing land and clearing land and abolishing the tax-free privileges of scholars, new problems arose one after another—there was no sure profit or loss in business, there would inevitably be deception in business, and there would inevitably be all kinds of traps and temptations that would make people bankrupt...... Therefore, the Jingzhou Mansion, which achieved the equalization of land under the rule of King Chuang, became unequal again after just 20 years, and once again there was a large concentration of land.

In Huya Township, for example, half of the peasant households that were allocated land that year were already dilapidated, either selling all or part of their land.

Among the remaining peasant households, several have developed and prospered, and the richest of them is the former housekeeper of Zhang Xiucai's family, Ding Papi Ding Shixiang. Although 20 years ago, everyone's starting line was about the same, but Ding Papi had a way and a lively brain, not only could he farm, but also became an agent for a rice merchant in Wuhan Prefecture, and resold cloth, ironware, and salt between Hankou and Huya Town. Because of the close cooperative relationship with rice merchants in Wuhan, Ding Papi can grasp the fluctuations of rice prices more accurately than other farmers in Huya Town, and make huge profits from it.

The trading house he ran that sold cloth, iron tools, and salt not only helped him diversify the risks of farming, but also gave him stronger financing ability.

Therefore, in the past 20 years, his family property has become more and more, and he has swallowed a quarter of the land in Huya Town, becoming a real big landowner.

And Ding Papi, the big landlord, is more hateful than his original master, Zhang Xiucai's family, Zhang Xiucai's family is a scholar of the Shili family, and he can't manage the land, and he can occupy the land because his family has the privilege of tax exemption, and his family is not very tenant, and in case of a bad harvest, he will also give the villagers rent and interest reduction, so everyone calls the owner of the Zhang family Zhang Dashanren.

Ding Papi is an out-and-out profiteer, farming is a business in his eyes, and land is his tool to make money. He did not even lease the land to small farmers, but hired farmers. In his view, smallholder farmers who rent land are often not good at managing their land and are not resilient to risks. Once he encounters a business loss, he will default on the tenant rent, and it is difficult for him to drive out the tenant as a profiteer, and at the same time he has to pay the land tax in full...... It's better to run your own land insurance.

So Yang Sanbao now wants to be a tenant but can't!

When the tenant is self-run after all, there is always a chance to turn over. And being a hired farmer is just a few dead money, and you can't get out at all.

As for going to Jingzhou City to make a living, he has no skills, and he can't make a lot of money when he goes, and he has to bear a relatively high cost of living.

And go to Nanyang and Xinzhou...... He didn't have the money to buy a ticket, so if he wanted to go, he had to work as a contract laborer for three years!

In short, he doesn't see a chance to turn over at all now...... Even if King Chuang comes again, he may not be able to keep the family business he has been allocated.

"Third Brother Yang!" Wang Sibao drank a few more glasses, Xu was half drunk, and he spoke unscrupulously, "What do you care if you can keep it...... If King Chuang can come again, won't we have a chance to make a contribution? If you can make meritorious service and become a soldier of the Dashun Dynasty, are you afraid that you will not have a good life? ”

"You, what did you say?" Yang Sanbao didn't drink so much, and suddenly became nervous, "You want to rebel?" Caught...... But it's going to cut off the skull! ”

"Afraid of what?" Wang Sibao smiled, "Third brother, you are bored at the foot of Huya Mountain, and you don't know anything about the outside at all...... On both sides of the Jing River, I don't know how many poor people are looking forward to the king! ”