PS: Double more for a monthly pass! Fight!

Things in the world are so changeable.

A few hours ago, the leader of Xin'an County, who was still slaughtering the people and horses of Xin'an County under the majestic command under the city, is now sitting in front of him, giving away a sum of silver dollars, and adding dry shares for himself in the upcoming business activities, which makes Lord Wu Wenming feel so good!

Settle the account, as soon as they met, they sent two thousand silver dollars to apologize for the fright caused to Lord Wu by the massacre under the city during the day, and then they were ready to spend five thousand silver dollars to buy land, and the land in Tai Po was worth five thousand silver dollars? What's more, there is also the cost of the 10,000 silver dollars to open up the joints of each way?

The thought that came to Master Wu's mind was popping up, "Do you have to transfer away?" It's also good to stay in this Xin'an County! ”

"Tianhua still has some mundane affairs to deal with, and when Tianhua comes back from Huizhou and Chaoshan, he will come to chat with his parents over tea."

The matter has been done, and his thoughts and hole cards have been revealed to the petty official in front of him, Chen Tianhua felt that there was no need to continue to stay here and talk to him about these useless salty things, so he got up and left.

After a few words of hypocrisy, Master Wu arranged for his family to send Chen Tianhua and his party out of the city with lanterns from the Yamen of Xin'an County.

In front of the mansion gate, watching Chen Tianhua and his party ride away in the night, the hooves of more than ten horses struck on the bluestone slabs in the streets and alleys, and the sparks disappeared into the vast night in an instant.

Looking at the boundless night, think about the ups and downs of today's day. couldn't help but make Master Wu sigh and feel that the world is impermanent.

"Dong Weng, Dong Weng?" The master Gao Chang on the side whispered to his employer to ask.

"Students have something to ask Dong Weng for instructions."

Gao Chang asked Wu Wenming very respectfully.

Back in the study, Master Wu Wenming was very generous and ordered someone to inform his wife and bring five hundred silver dollars over.

"Old master, this is the silver sent by Chen Tianhua, and five hundred silver dollars will be given to the old master. This is like me buying some jewelry for Mrs. Ru's wife, hairpin rings and the like. ”

Wu Wenming is not the kind of scholar who was born on the right path in the imperial examination, but because of this, he spent money to buy an Engong. More familiar with officialdom, the world, and people's hearts. Know how to share spoils with others. No, share.

"Then the student is ashamed!" Gao Chang is not polite, thousands of miles for officials are only for money, and they can't study. Go and learn the curtain. When this money and food punishment master. Isn't it just for money?

"However, the students were a little worried."

This area south of the Shenzhen River has always been the territory of the five major families. Yuen Long (including Ping Shan, Ha Tsuen, Pat Heung and San Tin, etc.), Kam Tin (including Kam Tin and Pat Heung), Fanling Sheung Shui (including Tai Po, Fanling, Sheung Shui, Sha Tau Kok and Ta Kwu Ling, etc.) and coastal valleys (including Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun) are also home to the five major ethnic groups, the Tang Clan, the Hau Clan, the Pang Clan, the Liu Clan and the Man Clan.

And as far as the students know, the Tang family has long regarded Tai Po as a forbidden place, and for many years, they have been trying to take Tai Po into their pockets, but unfortunately they have not been able to do so due to lack of money. However, the children of his clan have already started to build market houses for rent in the Tai Po area, operate businesses, and collect taxes, and now there are hundreds of stores there, and it is said that they can collect more than 100 taels of silver every day, this Tai Po has become like a happy forest for his Deng family, and the adults want to sell this Tai Po to Chen, and he will inevitably have a conflict with the Deng family, once the conflict starts, it will inevitably be a fight of thousands of people, and the Deng family wants to resist it, so they will gather the remaining four families who are close to it to deal with it. This Xin'an County will become a big Shura field! Countless people's lives will be lost as a result, and their farms, houses, and possessions will be lost. I hope that the old parents will be aware of it! ”

"It doesn't matter! The Deng family's behavior in Tai Po has been recorded in our county government? None! Since there is no record, then Tai Po is a borderless land, and some people are willing to buy a borderless land, so what am I afraid of if I act according to the laws of Daming? The old master just took the money and prepared some jewelry with Mrs. Ru! ”

The two of them had finished their secret discussion in the study, and seeing that Master Wu had made up his mind, Master Gao, who was a staff member, naturally didn't want to say anything more, so he got up and left.

The scholar who waits for the study. With red and swollen eyes, he came over to clean up the teacup, and saw Lord Wu sitting on the Taishi chair, just glanced up, and immediately lowered his head, his eyes were full of grievances.

"Little girl, what's the matter, who bullied you? Sue sù master, master go to vent your anger! ”

"How can anyone dare to bully me, it's just that someone has no conscience, when he wants to be a person, he keeps kissing and calling for flesh, and when he annoys others, he is a fist crutch and a heart-wrenching person, we are the life of a slave, how dare I be angry with the master?!"

Looking at the scholar's coquettish and stupid face, I couldn't help but get drunk in the hearts of the adults, "They all complain about the master, they all complain about the master!" In this way, after a few years, the master will give you the maid in the room to be your daughter-in-law, okay? When the time comes, you husband and wife will wait for the lord together. ”

When Lord Wu was flirting with his prostitutes, Chen Tianhua and others had already left the city gate. Under the guidance of the messenger with the lantern of the Yamen of Xin'an County, the city gate official cooperated to open the north gate and put down the drawbridge and send Chen Tianhua and others out of the city. Of course, the moment Chen Tianhua rode his horse out of the city gate, he still dropped a money bag containing thirty silver dollars, "Please drink tea, brothers!" ”

Looking at the residents who were looking for the bones of their relatives on the battlefield during the day with torches, listening to the sound of cries faintly drifting in the wind, Liang Kuan, the team officer who followed Chen Tianhua into the city, was a little unbearable, "My lord, are we killing too much?" These people don't seem to deserve to die?! ”

"The kindness of a woman!" Chen Tianhua added a whip to the horse, and urged the horse away without looking back. Liang Kuan had no choice but to shake his head, shook his teeth at the faintly visible firelight in the distance, and urged the horse to chase after him.

Not long after they had left the city, another fast horse rushed out of the city, and the rider on the horse gave them a fierce look in the direction they had gone. With his legs between the horse's belly, he whipped the horse's ass and rushed into the night towards the south of the county.

Kam Tin Jiqing Wai is one of the six walled villages of the Kam Tin Tang family, which was first built by the ancestor Deng Bojing in the Chenghua period, and is collectively called "Kam Tin Six Wai" with Wing Lung Wai, Taikang Wai, Nan Wai, Bei Wai and Xin Wai. Since the first year of Chongzhen, in order to strengthen the defensive function, the old and young of the clan have begun to strengthen this walled village.

Since the beginning of the Wanli period, the Deng family has been a figure on the rich side of Xin'an County, not to mention anything else, the patriarch Deng Yuanxun alone has 10,000 acres of fertile land under his name. Of course. They don't have to pay taxes and pay grain.

The entire Deng clan not only owns the rich land in the Jintian area, but also owns a lot of land in other areas of Xin'an County, which can be said to be the first wang clan in Xin'an County. Due to the spread of the clan population, many side branches of the Tang family also migrated from the Kam Tin area to Lung Yeuk Tau and other places in Fanling. The 5 enclosures and 6 villages of Longyuetou are all places where the descendants of the Deng family live.

And this auspicious celebration. As the location of the Tang clan ancestral hall. It can be said that he is the leader of this prosperous family. The whole auspicious circumference is rectangular. Covering an area of 45 acres (about 100 meters long and 90 meters wide), it is neatly designed and has a symmetrical layout on the central axis. It is a typical walled village building. The blue brick wall is 6 meters high, the thickness is more than 5 meters, the wall base is made of stone, there is a cannon port on the wall, and the four corners of the wall are all built with turrets. There are houses and alleys in the enclosure, and in the middle is a street that extends from the main gate to the village tail shrine hall. There was originally a moat more than 10 meters wide around the perimeter, and there was only one entrance and exit in the whole enclosed village, and a chain of iron gates was set up.

This is the history of auspicious Qingwei, however, today's auspicious Qingwei in the first year of Chongzhen began to re-reinforce, the original wall set up the fort, after being demolished, mixed with stones, sand, and ashes, with the purchased wrought iron bars, with green bricks to re-build. Compared with the original fort, it is more solid, and at the same time, it is slightly more prominent than the original fort in terms of layout, and the artillery firing range of the general's bronze cannon and Franc machine on the fort is wider, and you can support each other with artillery fire.

On the wall, from time to time, young men with spears patrolled along the wall, led by leaders wearing long knives. Although the festival has passed, we are about to start busy with spring ploughing. However, there are bandits everywhere, and people have to be on guard.

Entering from the main gate of Jiqingwei, along the main road in the village, you will soon arrive at the ancestral hall of the ancestors of the Deng family, on the right rear side of the ancestral hall, a three-in, three-out mansion stands here, as if a deferential child stands in front of the elders.

This house is ordinary on the outside, but it is unique on the inside, and the whole house is supported by huge beams and columns made of yellow pear. Inside the house, the decoration is gorgeous, needless to say, the Suzhou look that people in the Ming Dynasty admired can be seen here, the table is placed in the holy porcelain of Nanzhong, the maid and the woman who wear flowers and butterflies in and out are all delicate and fine cotton robes made of cotton cloth from abroad, and the big maid and the mother-in-law who have experience are all new styles of clothes made of Suzhou silk. Several pots of huge kumquat were served extremely luxuriantly, and the small kumquat on the branches was densely packed like small lanterns.

In the hall, there are many high-ranking friends, and a banquet is being held.

Handsome maids stand behind everyone with wine jugs in their hands, ready to fill their glasses for the guests. Needless to say, the dishes, cups, spoons, and other items on this table are all made of gold and made by master craftsmen. And under the buttocks of the guests, there are also Huanghuali official hat chairs, Huanghuali octagonal round stools, etc.

This scene is said to be in the remote countryside of the South China Sea, even in the north and south of Erjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other places, and it is not lagging behind at all. Although some of them have the rustic atmosphere of a rich country man, they are inevitably ridiculed, but the luxury of Cheng dù is no less than that of a prince.

On the main seat, at this time, sat an old man who was too old to speak, with furrows and wrinkles on his face, full of vicissitudes of wind and frost, trembling demeanor, and a face full of wrinkles, which was enough to show that the pig-killing knife of time had harvested the best part of his skin, leaving only the loose part.

The banquet has been going on for a long time, the host and the guests set off waves of climaxes, the old man seems to be a little impatient with alcohol, slightly closed a pair of old eyes there to take a nap to nourish his spirit, watching the children and grandchildren drink with the guests and write poems. However, the occasional flash of light in the cloudy eyeballs makes people know that this person is not simple, just like a beast that seems to have entered the late stage of life, it looks drooping and old, but if someone tries to hit the idea of this beast, I don't know when it will become the food in the belly of this beast.

People who are drinking in the room. I don't dare to despise him because of his old age, and all of them look respectful or respectful, this person is the patriarch of the Deng family in Jintian, Deng Yuanxun. The de facto leader of the five major families, the Emperor of the Soil in Xin'an County.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We were invited to Jiqingwei today to eat this famous Deng family pot choi, to celebrate the addition of another man to the Deng family, the fourth generation of the Deng family's family is in the same house, and we all toast the Deng family again! ”

A child of the Sheung Shui Hou family raised his wine glass and raised his yì, which immediately resonated with everyone in the hall, and a group of people stood up one after another. Toast to Deng Yuanxun.

Trembling, he drank half a glass of wine. Deng Yuanxun sat back in his seat, "Everyone, how is the wine today?" ”

"The finest!"

"How's the dish?!"

"This poon choi, made with radish, bamboo, squid, pork skin, shiitake mushrooms, chicken, dace balls and stewed pork, has been found throughout Xin'an County. I'm afraid I can't find a better second one! ”

Deng Yuanxun glanced at everyone with a pair of old eyes. Someone in his sight. I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart.

He said gloomily: "If I tell you sù virtuous nephews, this wine, this dish." And this house, furniture, and woman, I'm afraid there will be no more in the future. What will you think? ”

For a while, the entire hall immediately became silent, and the place that was still lively just now seemed to have become as silent as a barren mountain and a ruined temple in the blink of an eye.

"Uncle, today's meeting, why did you make such unlucky words?"

The head of the Wen family was a little puzzled, shaking his fat body and asking the elders in front of him for advice.

Deng Yuanxun glanced at Young Master Wen, "Virtuous nephew, the pair of wrenches in your hand are emerald green, I think it's good material, I don't know how much silver it spent?" Also, your new house is several times stronger than the old man's house, and it is said that it costs a lot. Also, there are a few singing operas in your outer house in the provincial capital, I don't know how much money you spent to redeem them? How much does it cost to feed this group of stunners every month? ”

He ignored Wen Dashao's somewhat embarrassed expression, turned his head and asked everyone: "Fellow nephews, I know that you all have a lot of land in your family, and there are also shops in the market. In the past few years, we have also made a lot of money. However, let me ask you, do you know that Guangdong is now full of smoke and people, but what is the reason for this? Why is my Xin'an County unique to the peaceful and prosperous world? ”

"Also, why is the price of grain so low in Sixiang, but you can earn a huge amount of silver?!"

A series of questions hit everyone's hearts like cannonballs. In the past few years, everyone has been busy earning money, but they have not thought about why they can earn this money.

"If one day, all the shops will not be able to make any money, and they will even have to lose money inside, relying only on the grain from those fields in their hands, do you think we can still eat such dishes?!"

Perhaps because of his excitement, Mr. Deng's eyes seemed to be on fire, and his wrinkled old face was suddenly covered with a sickly red.

"A bunch of fools who don't know that death is coming!"

He waved his cane next to his seat and swung it at the huge golden basin in the center of the table, and when there was a loud bang, the golden basin was knocked over on the table, and the pork, chicken, prawns, fish balls, and other things in it were scattered everywhere along with the oil and soup. Several figures with heads jumped to their feet screaming, shaking off the oil stains on their bodies.

Seeing Deng Yuanxun so furious, the juniors of the five major families were shocked to kneel on the ground and bow their heads to plead guilty.

After a pause, Deng Yuanxun adjusted his breath evenly, ordered someone to remove the leftovers, clean up the leftover soup in the hall, and make tea for the guests again. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me ask you, how much money can you get in exchange for the rice you harvest in the fields now? How much of a year's harvest is more than your store's profit in January? ”

Someone pouted disapprovingly in the seat, "Ah Gong, it's a month, even half a month can't withstand it!" In the grandson's shop, sell some hardware utensils from the south, now Guangdong is in chaos, all over the country have formed villages to protect themselves, arrange and train group exercises, and the grandson's shop is every day the squires from the counties near the left come to buy knives and guns, etc., and go back to protect their own wealth. How can the profits of these things be comparable to those of cultivating the fields?! ”

Since the first year of Chongzhen, because of its proximity to the city of Guangdong Province and its proximity to the cape, and the geographical advantages of Hong Kong Island's transshipment changes, the large and small families in Xin'an County have discovered a new way to make money, that is, to become the distributors and agents of the Han Yuan firm that set up warehouses and stacks on Hong Kong Island.

A large number of iron utensils, from needles, iron pots, kitchen knives, shovels, shovels, hoes, to ploughshares made of nine-turn steel, as well as those mourning guns and knives, as well as cotton cloth, sugar, porcelain, rice, meat porcelain jars, edible oil, etc., were sold all over eastern Guangdong. The five great families made huge profits from this trade, so to speak, and now new houses are being built in the walled villages, and the wages of the masons are rising.

As for saying that the rice in their fields could not be sold at a price, they did not take into account it, anyway, there were shops in the street and bazaars to make money, and the rice at home would be piled up there.

"If I were to sue all the virtuous nephews, such a good life would soon come to an end, and the money we earned in the previous years would soon be wiped out. The rice produced in the field can't be sold for money, and everyone is used to such a good life, are we also like Changle, Meixian, Chaozhou, and Shantou, to rob the neighbors of the Quartet?! ”

The two eyebrows, which were almost gone, were beating angrily on Deng Yuanxun's forehead. (To be continued......)