Chapter 17: Family

Seeing this scene, Shen Zhui and Zhao Hu both looked ugly.

The little boy was about to cry. Shen Zhui touched his head and put on a smile.

"Don't cry, we won't beat you, and we won't ask for your silver, but the letter must be kept. Take the money and go home quickly. Don't go outside the city again."

"Yeah." The little boy nodded repeatedly.

After the little boy left, Shen Zhui looked at the letters in his hand, opened them one by one, and handed them to Zhao Hu after a while.

"There are seven letters in total, all from the county government, three classes and six rooms, ranging from the third level the day after tomorrow to the ninth level the day after tomorrow. According to the child's description, he is not the only one who sent the letters. I'm afraid there are many people in the county government. , have all received this threatening letter.”

"Huh, what a trick. These big families come and go with these old-fashioned methods." Zhao Hu showed disdain.

"The most cliche is usually the most effective." Shen Zhui said. "And the Yang family is different from the Li family. Although the Yang family is also rampant in the countryside, they are very trustworthy. They never go back on the price they offer. I'm afraid many people will be tempted."

"This matter must be reported to the county magistrate." Zhao Hu said solemnly.

"Let's go." Shen Zhui nodded.

…………

County government, law enforcement hall.

There are many more people in the county government today than in the past. Because the county magistrate issued a ban twenty days ago, almost all the people in the third class and sixth room are in the county government.

However, the atmosphere was a little different. When Shen Zhui walked through the martial arts field, he saw many government officials whispering in groups in the corner. Few people said hello to their colleagues. Even if they occasionally made eye contact, they were full of emotion. Wary and suspicious.

"Even if no one agrees to these letters, the Yang family's goal has been achieved." Shen Zhui couldn't help but feel worried.

Making people in the county government panic and wary of each other has obviously had an effect now.

Traveling all the way to the Law Enforcement Hall, Shen Zhui, Zhao Hu and others found Master Liu and presented the envelope.

"Just leave it." Mr. Liu didn't even look at the envelope, his expression expressionless.

"Report it to the Chief Secretary. Both my subordinates and Shen Zhui have torn up the envelopes. These envelopes may be harmful to the morale of our county government. I would also like to ask the Chief Secretary to report this to the Ming County Lord so that we can make plans in advance..."

"Plan?" Master Liu looked up at Zhao Hu. "You two are not the first to receive these threatening letters. Now you can only wait and see what happens. Go on."

"But the chief clerk..." Zhao Hu was anxious. "Are we just going to let it go?"

"How do you care?" Master Liu said calmly.

"In the past seven days, there have been no less than 300 envelopes delivered here! Everyone has received multiple copies, and they are still continuing. Almost all of these messengers are children and civilians who are greedy for small profits. They only know how to collect money to deliver letters. , the real mastermind is not in the city at all.

Even this officer received eight letters! Those ignorant kids wrapped envelopes with stones and threw them into my mansion in the middle of the night. The window of my wing was smashed to pieces! "

"Do you think I don't want to have a good night's sleep?"

"Me!" Zhao Hu was robbed by Chief Liu, and his face suddenly turned red. He frowned and said, "Please ask me to go out of the city to handle the case."

"No one is allowed to leave the city until the county order is lifted!"

"It won't work this way, that won't work either. Could it be that the chief clerk just watched the people die in vain outside the city!"

"Presumptuous!" Master Liu was furious.

"Master, calm down." Seeing this, Shen Zhui stepped forward quickly and pulled Zhao Hu behind him.

"Zhao Hu made a mistake, please forgive me."

Chief Liu glanced at Shen Zhui and waved his hand in annoyance. "Everyone is treating me as a punching bag. Shen Zhui, get him out of here quickly. If anything happens to your martial arts squad room, go directly to Wang Long. If you dare to point fingers at me again, you won't be so easy to talk to next time."

"Thank you sir, I will take my leave."

After leaving the law enforcement hall, Zhao Hu angrily broke away from Shen Zhui's hand: "Such inaction will encourage the arrogance of those clan worms?! Come on, let's go find Team Leader Wang now."

Shen Zhui stood still: "Brother Hu, it's useless for you to go find Team Leader Wang now."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"wait."

"When?"

"Wait until the seedlings are strong enough, and wait until the weeds appear on their own."

"..."

Zhao Hu patted his head, turned back from the front, and stared at Shen Zhui in confusion.

"Brother, do you know something?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"My old father once told me a truth when he was still alive. Whenever others say something that I don't understand, they are either fools or they know more than me. Brother Shen, you are definitely not a fool, so there must be something I don't know. .”

Shen Zhui knew that if he didn't clear things up with Zhao Hu today, he might not be able to sleep, so he took Zhao Hu to the secluded pavilion behind the county government office.

"Although these recent events have caused a big fuss, in summary, the methods of the mastermind behind the scenes can be summed up in just one sentence."

“Inflating prices in the city will create refugees outside the city.”

"There are also interception and killing of officers and soldiers." Zhao Hu added.

"Not bad." Shen Zhui nodded, signaling him to calm down.

"But just like this, it's not enough for us to start a full-scale war with the two major families."

"Skyrocketing prices are inevitable every winter. Looking forward three years, the county can suppress the small families in the city and prevent them from going too far, so they are safe and sound."

"This year's increase is only slightly higher than in previous years, but the large influx of refugees from outside the city has caused some riots. Legally speaking, the county magistrate cannot rely on this reason to take action against the Li Yang family."

"Where are the victims?" Zhao Hu couldn't help but ask. "Creating refugees is a serious crime!"

"Good question." Shen Zhui nodded. "How did the refugees come?"

"Refugees are a group of people who have no land and property of their own and no food left over for the winter, so they have to leave their homes."

"But why were there so few large-scale refugees in previous years, yet so many people appeared this year?"

"That's because these people don't have land to begin with, either because of excessive taxes, or because of droughts and floods. Farming alone is not as good as working for others. They often have no choice but to sell their fields and take shelter under the aristocratic family. From then on. , who cultivate the fields of aristocratic families in exchange for living expenses, this is a tenant."

"The advantage of being a tenant is that as long as the family survives, you don't have to worry about taxes or buying the farm tools for cultivating the fields. Usually, in order to maintain stability, the tenants can do other chores for the main family even when there is no food to harvest in winter and summer. , getting supplies to maintain basic life can be said to guarantee harvests despite droughts and floods.”

"The bad thing is, no matter how much or how well the tenants do, most of the income from these fields belongs to the aristocratic families, and they only have enough money to meet their basic needs. If there is a disaster, the aristocratic families will have to pay for their livelihood in order to maintain their livelihood. I won’t even give a small amount of food rations to my tenants for my luxurious life.”

"It can be said that the life and death of the tenants depend on the thoughts of the noble family."

"With sufficient resources, the aristocratic family can have a say in the pricing of materials. When the aristocratic family sets the resource price at a low level, the original free citizens who are registered can cultivate one acre of their own land to support their family's livelihood."

"But when prices become high, and the money you get from cultivating an acre of land is not as good as working for a noble family, and you can't even exchange for clothing, oil and salt, then these registered free citizens often choose to sell their fields and quit their citizenship and become slaves. !”

"As time goes by, there are more and more tenants, and the territory of the aristocratic family is getting bigger and bigger. There is even a medium-sized town outside Heyuan County, with a thousand acres of land, and 300 households, all of which belong to the Li family and are servants of the Li family!"

"And these tenants plant the fields of the aristocratic family, eat the rice of the aristocratic family, and even live in the houses of the aristocratic family. Naturally, they will protect the interests of the big family and believe in the authority of the big family! Even if they only know that they have a family Law, I don’t know there is a law!”

"At the same time, as the family power of those aristocratic families expands, their incense flourishes, and they are worshiped by the people, the Yin gods, the ancestors of the two major families, will also grow! At the same time, you can use the power of these Yin gods to cultivate masters one after another. .”

"On the contrary, the gods enshrined in the City God's Temple in the city will become weak. In the long run, even the Yin God, the ancestor of the big family, will become more powerful than the gods in the City God's Temple!"

"Of course, few big families will touch this thread, otherwise what awaits them is the army coming in and uprooting them."