Chun'an County, West Zhejiang, Ming Dynasty, according to the official register, the county is surrounded by more than 10,000 households, more than 40,000 mouths, and 2,600 hectares of fields. From any point of view, it can be regarded as an out-and-out remote mountainous county, and it is understandable that when Fang Yingwu, who is "familiar with historical materials", is immersed in the scene, it is understandable that "it is easy to mix here".

But at the same time, Chun'an County is indeed an out-and-out strong county for the imperial examination, but the scholars are concentrated in a group of scholarly families. These big families have held on to educational resources for generations and cultivated generations of exam strongmen.

According to Wang Kui, the county's imperial examination talents mainly come from nine families, and the first one is the Wu family of Dongyun Village in the county, and one percent of the county's meritorious people come from here. The rest are the Xu family and Jinxi Hongjia in Shufu in the west of the county, the He family in Wenchang Village in the north of the county, the Fang family in Fushan Village in the north of the county, the Fuxi Fang family and the Wang family in the southeast of the county, the Fang family in the northeast of the county into Xianxi, and the Cixi Hu family outside the west gate of the county seat.

Fang Yingwu stared and listened carefully, and heard three Fang families one after another, which really deserved to be the first surname in Chun'an County. It's a pity that those Fang families have no actual relationship with the Fang family in Shanghuaxi Village, and the other Fang family is not this Fang family.

Like hundreds of other villages in the county, they live in Huaxi, where they only farm and pay taxes and serve, which is uneventful. Occasionally, there will be talents, but they are genetic mutations, for example, the biggest talent Huaxi has ever produced so far is Fang Yingwu's father, Fang Qingzhi, Fang Xianggong.

Zuihou Wang Kui sighed: "Most of the fame in the county has come from these clans for many years, and it is difficult for those who are not within the walls of their doors to enter the county school, unless they are really talented or appreciated by the great masters." The most famous is the old man who was the emperor and the auxiliary merchant of the dynasty, who came from the poor family but was able to have three yuan and the first, and newly erected the reputation of the merchants in the south of the county. ”

Fang Yingwu and Wang Kui chatted for an afternoon, and did not leave until they turned west. Before parting, Wang Kui praised Fang Yingwu: "The virtuous nephew is worthy of being the son of Fang Xianggong, with lofty ambitions and ordinary people, and he resolutely has the wind of a father, I am optimistic about you!" ”

In fact, it was bragging, but it was interpreted as commendable, and Fang Yingwu secretly smiled bitterly. At this moment, he found that his father's image in his heart suddenly became tall and powerful, and he no longer dared to have any resentment and underestimation of his father.

It is unimaginable how much effort it takes for ordinary peasant children to fight their way out of the "group of death" in this county and gain valuable fame for showing off their talents.

If you don't go crazy, you can't live, if you don't have this kind of dedicated Jing God, how can your father get ahead and fight back a talent for his family? Their Huaxi Fang family has never had any humanistic traditions, and they have no help from Shilin and officialdom.

However, although Xiucai has a certain degree of dignity and privileges, there is still a deep gap between him and the official eunuch to cross, which is a difficult problem in front of his father, and it must be the reason why his father is desperate to study.

And now what about yourself? Fang Yingwu sighed and said a very familiar sentence in his previous life - it is difficult for newcomers to get ahead!

But Fang Yingwu has never been a person who accepts his fate easily, otherwise he would not have worked hard to be admitted to a prestigious school as an orphan in his previous life. In this life, the big words have been blown out, and I have to break through anything.

Through today's casual conversation with Wang Kui, Fang Yingwu found that it was really not good to live in this isolated small mountain village, and he had to go out and open his eyes. Otherwise, if you only rely on the "historical data" in your stomach to imagine, it is easy to make jokes about sitting in a well and watching the sky.

Of course, although Fang Yingwu was almost making a joke, he would not admit that this was the reason why his inner sense of superiority was too strong.

When I returned to the courtyard, I saw my uncle scratching his ears and cheeks and turning in circles, obviously in a hurry.

Fang Yingwu thought about it for a while, and then understood his uncle's psychology. As long as the division of the family is not clear, my uncle will not be able to do farm work, and who knows if that land will not belong to him tomorrow?

Of course, this embarrassing situation is the same for Fang Yingwu, but Fang Yingwu is one person who eats enough and the whole family is not hungry, and at worst there is the option of selling himself to Wang Dahu's house. And Fang Qingtian, the uncle who dragged the family, was different, he really couldn't afford to delay the time, and the whole family would definitely starve if he abandoned the farm for the past few days.

Things have come to this point, and the lesson for my uncle is enough, and if I continue to toss it, I will ruin my reputation. Fang Yingwu shouted to his uncle in the attitude of a victor: "It's okay to give you two rooms and five acres of land, if you agree, I will go to the second uncle tomorrow to make an appointment!" ”

After a night without words, Fang Yingwu and his uncle went to find the second uncle again and asked him to be a witness, and the two rooms made a contract to separate. As agreed yesterday, half of the house is on one side, three acres of land for the big house, and five acres for the second room.

Fang Yingwu got a piece of paper drawn on the mortgage, and the housework dispute can be regarded as a temporary end. But when he saw that his uncle was still patrolling around, he knew that this uncle must have the idea of renting three acres of land in his own hands.

But Fang Yingwu would not rent the land to him. First, I really don't look down on my uncle's Bingxing, and I don't want to have any financial dealings, so as not to ask for trouble when I get it, and the ghost knows if he will deliberately default on the rent because of his status as an elder?

Second, I don't want to be seen as a bad person. After working hard to divide the family, if Zuihou still rents the land to the second room, then he is too weak and easy to bully in the eyes of others. You must not let others have such an impression, otherwise everyone will want to take advantage of it.

So Fang Yingwu resolutely ignored his uncle, but he didn't want to go to the field in person, so he quickly released the news of the rent. In this way, three acres of land can collect about two stones and three buckets of rent every year, which is enough for him to eat alone, and his family's land does not have to pay taxes anyway.

The village is not big, and any news spreads quickly. There are some people who don't have enough land to plant, so they are naturally very excited about renting the three acres of land. But they also knew that Fang Qingtian still wanted to continue planting these lands, so they hesitated again.

Even in this remote mountain village, interpersonal relationships are a delicate issue, is it worth risking offending villains in order to rent three acres of land? It needs to be carefully considered.

In the afternoon, when he couldn't wait for others to rent the land, Fang Yingwu released the news again, "My family can be exempted from two relatives from forced labor, there is still a shortage in addition to me, and at the same time, my family can be exempted from two stone field taxes, the quota is not used up at all, and there is still a vacancy equivalent to one stone and seven buckets of rice grain." In the future, whoever rents my family's land will be able to enjoy the above two imperial court benefits in the name of my family's relatives and tenants! ”

In the evening, Fang Yingwu became a fragrant bait, surrounded by enthusiastic uncles of the same clan, and crowded his room.

In the end, it was agreed that three acres of land would be cut into small tofu cubes and rented to four relatives, one of whom would be exempted from military service this year, and the other three would share the tax exemption quota of killing seven buckets with one stone.

But what is very unusual is that the land rent is as high as 70%, but everyone is very willing.

Because Fang Yingwu decomposed the two stones of tax exemption given by the imperial court to their families, except for the three buckets they kept, they all broke it down to several relatives. And after Fang Yingwu's dazzling calculations, it was only then that seventy percent of the land rent, which was the most beneficial way to divide the land rent, was obtained.

The interests of both parties can be said to have been maximized. Several relatives rented three acres of land in the name of tenants, and each acre of land gave Fang Yingwu three buckets of land rent, but in exchange for six buckets of tax exemption, the blind can see that it is very cost-effective. By the way, several families have to take turns to take care of the food.

In short, it means that Fang Yingwu transfers the tax-exempt index to others, and the beneficiary pays half of the profits to Fang Yingwu as remuneration. But this kind of behavior is relatively gray, and it belongs to the behavior of exploiting the loopholes of the system, so the Ming court has one less labor force and a tax of seven buckets with one stone.

This made his uncle Fang Qingtian's teeth itch, why didn't he think of operating such a tax-free index in the first place? Eight years of excess tax-free quotas were wasted because they were not used up.

If there is any consequence, it is that this separation has also impressed the villagers with each other. Don't say it's a small matter, in the lives of ordinary people, splitting up is already one of the biggest things, and it's easy to get entangled.

From the beginning when he was in a weak position, he turned his hand and pressed his uncle, and he has been sharing the grace and interests of the court with the villagers.

Everyone only thinks that Brother Qiu is worthy of being the son of the talented Xianggong, and he is talented at a young age, which is different from them as villagers. Insightful, idea, able to do things, can do things, is definitely a standout character in the village!

For the praise of the neighbors, Fang Yingwu laughed and convinced a few village husbands and women in the isolated mountain townships, there was really nothing to be proud of.

After completing the separation of the family and the rental of the field, Fang Yingwu completely relaxed and slept peacefully. The next morning, he walked around the village in a leisurely manner, and at the same time went to Wang Kui, a neighboring village, to borrow the latest version of the county chronicle.

After reading this county chronicle, he went to the county seat. On the one hand, I tried to find the county to ask for the food that belonged to my father, and I could ask for as much as I could; On the other hand, it is a field trip to prepare for the future.

After taking a nap in the afternoon, Fang Yingwu saw that the weather was good, so he planned to read in the courtyard outside. When he walked into the courtyard, he found seven or eight villagers blocking the gate.

The villagers who blocked the door saw Fang Yingwu coming out, and shouted nonsense: "Little Xianggong, it's not good!" ”

"Uncles, what's the matter?" Fang Yingwu asked.

The villagers replied: "There are a few officials from the county, who are arresting people in the village, and they are very domineering, I will ask the little minister to take a look!" ”

Fang Yingwu almost blurted out, the official came to arrest people, so what are you looking for me for, what does it have to do with me? But forcibly hold back, "What do uncles need me to do?" ”

Everyone said as a matter of course: "Xiao Xianggong, you are a person with great ability, what happened to the village, who will come forward if you don't come forward?" ”

Fang Yingwu suddenly understood that these villagers at the bottom may not have great wisdom, but they will never lack the wisdom to survive.

To put it mildly, it is to hold yourself high and at the same time push it out to solve troubles, such as the current trouble of the county government officials running to the village to catch people. This is the survival wisdom that the people at the bottom are accustomed to naturally.

When they encounter problems, they always want to find a leader who can handle it, and without a leader, they don't know what to do, so they would rather suffer some grievances.

Of course, the people who are found are generally either big families or gentlemen, but there are no two of these in the small village of Shanghuaxi, and the second uncle with the eldest generation is also an old fool. It just so happens that he has been very eye-catching recently, like a useful character, and the son of a dignified and talented man, so they came to him to come forward.

For thousands of years, ordinary people have come over like this. Of course, there are also times when people are unladylike, such as when the leader ascends to the top and shouts, and there are many cases of rebellion when he is dragged in a daze.

Even if you see through it, what about it? The villagers thought that this was to look up to themselves, so they pinned their hopes on him, since you have the ability, who will come forward if you don't come forward? Failure to do it is a matter of ability, and whether or not it can be done is a matter of attitude.

If you don't pay attention and pretend to be deaf and dumb, I'm afraid that you won't be able to see people in the village in the future. Fang Yingwu couldn't cry or laugh, didn't this force him to take responsibility and drive ducks to the shelves?

The biggest difference between this year and the 21st century lies in the concept of the human heart. He deeply realized that another meaning of standing out from the crowd is that the wood is beautiful in the forest, and this pit is still dug by himself.

The soldiers of the county government are often fierce and cunning and oppressive and good characters, and I don't know if I can cope with it.

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