After the old housekeeper of Shan Chixia returned home, so far, the Zheng family is finally reunited, although from top to bottom are all big men and bachelors, as for the sister who entered the palace at the age of thirteen, from the legal point of view of the Ming Dynasty, she always wants to marry, so she has to be regarded as an outsider.

Shan Chixia unloaded the leather bag on her body and gave it to her son Shan Sinan, hugged her fist to Zhao Cangjing, and went upstairs to see Daddy Zheng first, the friendship between the two brothers was really a brother, the name of the master and servant was really a brother, Daddy Zheng saw Shan Chixia come back, he was really happy, it looked like there was a little more blood on his face, Shan Chixia didn't say it, he was quite uncomfortable in his heart, Daddy Zheng was also a good man, a strong man who was ordered by the government to serve, and dared to carry people out of the pile of dead people from the siege of Tartars, this kind of courage is definitely not something that ordinary people can do.

But now, Daddy Zheng has been suffering from tuberculosis for a few years, his face is pale, he is not thin, it seems that he is about to fall down when the wind blows, and he coughs heart-rending and painful, these are still secondary, the most important thing is that Father Zheng is three years younger than Shan Chixia, and he is really good this year, but he is thirty-seven years old, but he has to stay in this abbot all day long, afraid that his illness will be passed on to his son, and he will not even see his son's face, which is a man in the prime of life, what a great torture and pain.

In other words, Zheng Liancheng's father's big name, a good name at the end, is Zheng Daddy's old man's son, spent two taels of silver to ask an old Confucian to give the name, the old Confucian felt that this son looked like a pearl, so the name Liancheng, taken from the allusion of the "Historical Records" and the family, therefore, Zheng Chengguan was seen by Wen Ren's small ** made fun of mutton fat and white jade, and the Zheng family sisters and brothers are both famous for their beauty, which is really a family history.

Shan Chixia sighed in her heart, but smiled on her face, "Her complexion looks good, it seems to be better than when I went out, too, the good official is so good, but when I came back, I heard along the way that Zheng Chengguan cut his head, and I thought I had heard a mistake." ”

Father Zheng laughed when he heard this, and then, covering his mouth and coughing twice, Shan Chixia got up and poured a bowl of weak tea from the tea pot on the table next to him, and gave it to Father Zheng to drink two sips, Dad drank water and gasped twice, and then sighed, "Speaking of which, it is my body that drags down this family, but the good family is dragged apart alive, and it affects the good officials......" said, glanced at Shan Chixia, and said: "It also affects you." ”

Shan Chixia was displeased, frowned and said: "What is this, I was a member of the Zheng family back then, and I was a servant and slave of the Zheng family......" Father Zheng had to smile bitterly, this old brother is good at everything, but he regards kindness and righteousness as greater than the sky, which is also a kind of pressure for himself, and he always feels that his family has delayed others.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty in the world's more than 50 percent of the silver inflow under the impact, began to have a lot of people of insight to open their eyes to see the world, of course, this is the official tone of later experts, in fact, to put it bluntly, is under the impact of the economic tide, everything in silver to evaluate to speak, commonly known as [rich is the master] [laughing at the poor do not laugh at prostitutes].

This point of view is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is already a consensus among the people, often there are large families who fall into decline and then the servants turn over, and the master and servant are reversed, and the master is not angry, and the lawsuit goes to the government.

But in fact, the government will no longer use the law of the Ming Dynasty to cut off the property of the servants to the master's family, often based on mediation, that is to say, the entire Ming Dynasty has formed a consensus, you are developed, you should be a group of servants, you are defeated, and it is also the destiny of shallow water that can't raise fish, and a signed and drawn document of sale can't explain anything.

Therefore, Father Zheng felt very guilty in his heart, feeling that he had delayed Brother Shan for a lifetime.

However, Shan Chixia is a person who admits death, and refuses to accept this kind of apology, but will be angry and feel that Father Zheng is separated from him, which is to despise himself, so his face is not good-looking, from this point of view, it is really difficult to say that this master and servant are not master and servant, where is there such a reason to give people face, so the two are really a strange relationship between master and servant and brother.

"Okay, okay, I said the wrong thing." Father Zheng knew Shan Chixia's temper well, so he apologized to him with a smile, Shan Chixia snorted, but he didn't take it seriously, he just used the topic to play, saving Father Zheng from being bored upstairs all day, and his heart was drilled into the tip of the horns.

The two talked for a while, Shan Chixia only then got to the point, and her face was a little worried, "This time I came back from Jiubian, and I heard from the army that Qi Shaobao was in a bad situation in the imperial court, and after Zhang Ge died of illness, there were quite a few officials who impeached Qi Shaobao, and now Qi Shaobao's position as the chief military officer of Jizhen is in jeopardy, in my estimation, within a year, Qi Shaobao may have to be transferred, the so-called son of heaven and a courtier, when the time comes, most of the Zhejiang soldiers will either be transferred with Qi Shaobao, or ......"

When he said this, he paused, with a wry smile on his face, "I am afraid that it will not be easy to enter and exit the nine sides in the future." ”

Daddy Zheng's illness is also empty of gold and silver, Shan Chixia goes in and out of the nine sides, buys and sells ginseng mink skins and the like in the form of running a single gang, these can make a lot of money when they change hands, such as ginseng, they have to sell a radish price outside the customs, but after entering the customs, they are worth more than 100 times, and the ginseng with good quality in that year can be sold at a sky-high price, although the ginseng he poured down cannot be sold at a sky-high price in a retail way like a pharmacy, it is often sold to a familiar pharmacy, and Daddy Zheng sees that the medicine is here, and each has its own convenience. But the key is that he has a lot of robes in the army, and when he goes in and out of the nine sides, he turns a blind eye to it, just if he doesn't see it, others don't have this treatment.

What are you doing with so much skin and ginseng as an ordinary businessman? Is it the annihilation of the Tartars? What the? A serious businessman and a good man? Everything is taxed. The tax had to be collected by the imperial court, and we, the soldiers, guarded the border for the Ming Dynasty, and fought with the Tartars with a knife and a gun.

Anyway, the commercial tax of the imperial court is a thing that everyone who understands knows what is going on, the commercial tax of the entire Ming Dynasty is only about 100,000 a year, to talk about it is not good, the Duan official who was cut off by Zheng Chengguan has more than this number, speaking out, the commercial tax of a huge court for a year is not as much as the family wealth of an ordinary rich man's family, it is really hanging and laughing.

This is the difference between Shan Chixia and other businessmen, others have to pay tolls, he doesn't have to, the biggest profit is actually on this.

But Qi Jiguang's big backstage Zhang Juzheng is dead, once he is transferred or stepped down, Shan Chixia wants to enter and exit the nine sides again, and there will be no such good treatment, let you claim to be the first swordsman in the Zhejiang soldiers, that has to work in the Zhejiang soldiers, and change someone to do the chief officer of Jizhen Town, let you fly away, it is useless to be known as the first swordsmanship in the Ming Dynasty, you should pay for silver in and out of the nine sides, and no one cares about your swordsmanship.

Therefore, Shan Chixia came back this time, she was really worried, what should she do in the future?

The appearance of his sad face made Father Zheng laugh, and then there was a violent cough, Shan Chixia got up to stroke his back, and sighed in her heart.

After coughing for a while, Daddy Zheng waved his hand, and told Zheng Guofan that he planned to go south to Ningbo to join his aunt, Daddy Zheng's wife's sister married the man's father, who was a small Beijing official, and his rank was pitiful, and he resigned a few years ago and returned to his hometown Ningbo.

At this time, the kinship was not like that of later generations, Confucianism paid attention to the etiquette system, the so-called [relatives respect respect, relatives hidden], and framed the patriarchal society of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, moving a family thousands of miles to relatives seemed a bit unreliable in later generations, but at that time, it was a very normal thing.

Father Zheng told him about this, and said that the good official now has his own opinions, and this family should also let him support it, so you don't have to worry about Qi Shaobao's transfer and the connection between this kind of thing and his own family.

Shan Chixia frowned a little when he heard this, he had also seen Daddy Zheng's brother-in-law, he was a showman, his ability was not big, his vision was very high, at that time the Zheng family had not fallen, and it was also a good and honest family for several generations, that Xiucai came to the Zheng family to sit, always with his chin cocked and not very much looking down on his brother-in-law, now the Zheng family looks like this, what kind of eyes does that person have to look at?

He was born in a martial arts, and this kind of words are disdainful and hidden in his heart, and when he thinks of it, he will say it, and Father Zheng will tell him, the good official has also earned money now, let's go, not to flee, besides, the good official is now also a serious scholar.

Saying this, Shan Chixia laughed, Zheng Guofan went to school last year, and the two of them were ecstatic at that time, and they entered school at the age of twelve, even if they were placed in the heyday of literary style in the south, it was also worth a glance at, not to mention the north, he didn't say it, Shan Chixia actually went to this stubble. Think about it, everyone is a talent, who looks down on who is not necessarily!

Shan Chixia laughed a few times, hesitated, got up and walked to the door, called Zheng Guofan up, and asked him to stand outside the door.

"Good officer, don't come in, just stand at the door, your Uncle Shan has something to ask you." Father Zheng said happily inside.

Shan Chixia's surname is very careful, and there are outsiders downstairs who are not good at asking more, so I asked in detail at this time, and the obedient official answered honestly, Shan Chixia is also a person who goes south and north, and after thinking about it carefully, I also think it makes sense, but I slightly feel that Zheng Guofan is not taking money seriously at the moment, and I am afraid that he will be young and frivolous, so I asked him seriously, but I am sure that I can support this family, you must know that your father's body can't get down without two hundred taels of silver a year.

Zheng Guofan looked at Shan Chixia with a serious face, and nodded seriously, "Uncle Shan, after the matter of painting my sister, I have figured out a lot of things, please rest assured Uncle Shan, the good official is sure that he will not only treat his father's illness, but also recuperate." ”

Daddy Zheng's illness is mainly three points of treatment and seven points of nourishment, Shan Chixia worked hard to make money, so she had to be divided into three points, far from reaching seven points of nourishment, Zheng Guofan said this, of course, there was a comprehensive consideration. He was going to take the whole family to Tianjin by horse-drawn carriage, and then take a boat south to Ningbo in Tianjin.

Take a boat from the sea, he has a lot of time on the road to write a few books, to Ningbo, you can find a bookstore to sell, the so-called to go to the aunt and uncle, just an excuse, in case you can't talk about the price, the aunt's house temporarily stays for a while, the book can be sold at a good price, you can buy a house directly, by the way, there is a horse, the south lacks horses, the good horse in the north is only more valuable in the south, even if there is an emergency, the horse can be sold for a while, He didn't believe that the book he wrote on the boat couldn't be sold for so long in Ningbo.

He said all his thoughts carefully, Shan Sinan touched the beard under his chin, and felt that it made sense, not to mention, even the house was sold now, that is to say, the Zheng family is currently only temporarily borrowing someone else's house in Daxing County, so go south!

For a time, he was proud, to the south, only four or five hundred miles away from his hometown Yiwu, the fast horse arrived in two days, he could toss a few hundred taels of silver a year in the north, and when he arrived in the south, he couldn't toss the silver?

Thinking of this, he slapped the wall and said, "Okay, that's it." Master, go down and do your own business! I'll do the rest. ”

Zheng Guofan asked Shan Sinan to go out at noon to buy a few good dishes, and casually said to invite Zhao Laodong's family to have lunch, I never thought that Zhao Cangjing actually took the lead, really ate at Zheng's house, but called Zheng Guofan for a while, and then came to see Mr. Zhao Cangjing Chixia before Mr. Chixia, this is to understand that the feelings are caused by blind worship, can't help but smile, more confident in their own pen power, in the words of later generations, striding on the road to get rich and well-off.