Liu Shancheng is in a good mood these days. It has already reached the twelfth lunar month, and the Chinese New Year will soon be here.
The income of the Liu family this year is very good. Since I became the head of the Liu family, the Liu family has been prospering over the years. Especially in recent years, the border trade with the north has been reopened, allowing the Liu family to make a lot of money on the Mongolian trade route. Money, Liu Shancheng was very happy looking at the increasing numbers in the account book.
This year is much better than last year, and I think next year will be even better.
The road to Jiezhou Salt Well has been opened. Although it cost a lot of money to bribe the mine supervisor, the money was definitely worth it to Liu Shancheng.
In the spring of next year, the Liu family will be able to completely monopolize the surplus salt in Jiezhou. This is not a small number. You must know that the amount of surplus salt in Jiezhou is much larger than the amount of regular salt. With all this excess salt in the hands of the Liu family, then the Liu family will The family's share of selling salt on the grassland suddenly doubled several times.
That's not all. In addition to salt, the Liu family also opened up the iron smelting route from Wenyu Mountain in Xia County, giving the Liu family an advantage not only in the salt road but also in iron smelting.
Salt and iron are both strategic materials in urgent need on the grassland. As long as they can be transported to the north, the profits will be extremely huge.
Liu Shancheng himself has carefully calculated that by this time next year, the Liu family's wealth will reach a higher level, and the Liu family will also become one of the largest businesses in Shanxi. This is what Old Mrs. Liu spent back then. What he has never been able to do in his whole life, Liu Shancheng is within reach.
Thinking of this, Liu Shancheng was so happy that he almost laughed out loud. He was thinking about his plans after the spring. While he was thinking about it, a person hurriedly came in from outside.
Liu Shancheng's face suddenly sank, and he was about to curse. The Liu family's rules were very strict. Normally, servants had to be notified before entering his house. How could anyone break in directly? But when he took a closer look, he saw that the visitor was Lin Zhenzong, the chief steward of the mansion. He stopped shouting and scolding him, but also scolded him with some displeasure.
"Master, it's not good! Something happened!" Lin Zhenzong came in hurriedly, without bothering to explain, he took a few steps to Liu Shancheng's side and said.
"Something happened?"
"The prefect's Yamen sent someone to the mansion, please go there immediately." Lin Zhenzong said in a low voice, with a hint of urgency on his face.
"Prefect's Yamen? Is this a Yamen servant? What's the matter?" Liu Shancheng asked in surprise.
"Not only the government officials, but also Zhao Zaotou asked me to go to the court if someone wanted to file a lawsuit."
"Life lawsuit? What kind of life lawsuit?" Liu Shancheng was puzzled. What kind of life lawsuit could the Liu family have involving the prefect's yamen? What's more, he, Liu Shancheng, had a good friendship with Li Tongzhi from Pingyang Mansion. Even Jiang Tongpan had had several drinks together and called themselves brothers at the wine table. Logically speaking, if something really happened, the news should be reported first. How could the government officials come directly to the door?
"Master, have you forgotten? Didn't the maid Xiaohuan disappear in Mrs. Xiangyu's room more than a month ago? I just asked Zhao Zaotou privately, and they said that Xiaohuan's family informed the magistrate's yamen, and the magistrate Mr. Yu accepted the petition and then asked Zhao Zaotou to bring someone to the door to ask the master to appear before the court..."
"Xiaohuan?" Liu Shancheng frowned and thought for a while, then he remembered that there was such a person. This maid was from his concubine Xiangyu's room. She made a mistake more than a month ago and was beaten. He didn't expect that this maid was weak. , died a few days after being beaten.
In a wealthy family, what does it matter if a maid dies? What's more, Xiaohuan's family is just an ordinary poor family. If they had some family property, they wouldn't sell their children to the Liu family as maids?
Just die. After people die, they are taken directly to the mass graves outside the city and buried, and the matter is over. But who would have thought that today they heard that Xiaohuan's parents went to the magistrate's office to complain about this matter, and directly sued Liu Shancheng, which made Liu Shancheng instantly feel angry.
"Bastard!" Liu Shancheng slapped the armchair hard, stood up and cursed: "Who gave them such courage? How dare they submit a petition to the prefect's Yamen? It's simply lawless!"
"Sir, this matter has already happened, the petition has been handed in, and the key point is that the prefect has also come next. Now the people from the prefect's Yamen have arrived, and I have to go there no matter what. In my opinion, sir, you have condescended to do it now. Tang, we will discuss this matter with Li Tongzhi later. Anyway, it’s not a big deal just for a mere maid. The big deal is just a matter of spending some money..." Lin Zhenzong certainly understood why Liu Shancheng was angry. For the Liu family, beating him to death Being a maid is not a big deal, but now Liu Shancheng has sued her and has to go to the magistrate's office. This is simply embarrassing.
Liu Shancheng is also a well-known person in Pingyang Mansion. Not only does his family have a great business, he has a deep relationship with the officialdom. Whether he is the county magistrate or the magistrate of Pingyang Mansion, they are all friends of the Liu family.
Being embarrassed is not just a matter of not getting it right, but also having to spend money to manage it. No matter how much money the Liu family has, they are just merchants. It is true that the Liu family has connections in the officialdom, but these relationships are also built with money.
Liu Shancheng felt very uncomfortable when he thought of this, but Lin Zhenzong was right. The prefect's Yamen had already sent someone here, and he simply couldn't avoid this matter.
Although he had a good relationship with Li Tongzhi and Jiang Tongpan, he had no friendship with the prefect Yu Zhida. This Yu Zhida was the prefect who was just transferred to Pingyang Prefecture at the beginning of this year. He was previously the deputy of Dali Temple. Although this official rank is not high, his status is not low, and he is also a capital official.
The institution of Dali Temple is one of the three legal departments, which is equivalent to the Supreme Court in later generations. The temple minister is also one of the nine ministers, but the actual affairs are handled by the left and right temples below, and the left and right temples have a deputy. This deputy is called the temple deputy. , this was the official position Yu Zhida held before.
It's not that Liu Shancheng doesn't want to get involved with Yu Zhida, but the problem is that Yu Zhida is a bit aloof and ignores him at all.
Originally, Liu Shancheng planned to take advantage of the upcoming Chinese New Year to find a way to clear things up, but he didn't expect that before he had time to do this, people from the prefect's Yamen came first.
Although he was angry, Liu Shancheng did not panic at all. What did the fate of a maid mean to him? Not to mention that he was actually sued by the mud-legged man. Liu Shancheng already had an idea in his mind. After the court was over and the matter was resolved, he had to show off to the mud-legged couple who dared to accuse him.
After a while, Liu Shancheng changed into his robe and walked out of the house, swaggering to the front yard.
When we got there, several government officials were already waiting. The leader, Zhao Zaotou, was quite polite when he saw Liu Shancheng. He handed over his hands and said that there was really nothing he could do to invite people to the house today. He had spoken to the prefect, and he couldn't help himself because of official duties. , please don’t take offense, Mr. Liu.
Liu Shancheng was quite generous. He waved his hand and said it was okay. Since there was such a thing, he would follow them. Then Liu Shancheng got into his sedan chair, accompanied by the chief steward Lin Zhenzong, and the group went directly to the prefect's Yamen.
When they arrived at the prefect's Yamen and got off the sedan, Zhao Zaotou led Liu Shancheng into the lobby alone.
As soon as he entered the lobby, Liu Shancheng looked into the hall and saw the prefect Yu Zhida, dressed in official uniform, sitting steadily in the hall. Kneeling in front of the hall were two ordinary men and women with gray hair. Liu Shancheng did not recognize them, but if You guessed it right, they must be the parents of the maid Xiaohuan who sued her.
But the strange thing is that there is a chair under the left hand side of Liu Zhida's seat. Sitting on the chair is a man. Liu Shancheng doesn't recognize this man. He seems to be an ordinary person in his clothes, but why is he in the lobby? Just sit still like this?
In addition, there were also office workers and a man dressed as a lawyer standing. Zhao Zaotou entered the lobby, saluted Magistrate Yu in the hall, and said that Liu Shancheng had been brought. After hearing this, Yu Zhida, who had closed his eyes to rest, opened his eyes and looked down the hall, falling on Liu Shancheng who followed Zhao Zaotou to the hall.
"Is this Liu Shancheng down here?" Yu Zhi's majestic and loud voice sounded.
"I've met your lord, I am none other than Liu Shancheng..." Liu Shancheng saluted with his hands raised, but before he could stand up, Yu Zhida's voice came over again.
"Liu Shancheng, do you have an official position?"
"Huifuzun, no."
"But the student?"
"no……."
With a snap, Yu Zhida grabbed the wooden stick on the desk, slapped it, and asked sternly: "You have no official position, and you are not a student. Why don't you, a mere merchant, kneel down when you see me? Come here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Shancheng, who had not yet recovered, only felt a heavy kick on his knee. Unable to control himself, he fell forward and fell to his knees with a plop.
Liu Shancheng was dizzy after the fall, and his whole body was in chaos. Then he heard Yu Zhida shout again: "Left and right! Give me ten boards!"
As soon as these words came out, Liu Shancheng was terrified. In recent years, the Liu family's business has grown bigger and bigger, and the more dignitaries Liu Shancheng has made, he has made friends. He has always had dealings with the chief envoys and governors' yamen, down to the lower prefectures and counties, and even with the local mine and tax supervisors assigned by the palace.
Money clears the way, and it is common to drink and have fun with these people on weekdays. As time passed, Liu Shancheng became vague about his identity. Not to mention other things, even Li Tongzhi and Jiang Tongpan of Pingyang Mansion were guests of his Liu Mansion.
Moreover, after so many years of living, Liu Shancheng was going to court for the first time, so when he met the prefect, Yu Zhi accidentally forgot his identity during his freshman year.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Lao Zhu innovated and established regulations, and people were not allowed to kneel before officials. However, this is no longer the era of Lao Zhu. Ordinary people must kneel when they meet officials in court, unless you have an official position or have a reputation. Even ordinary people are like this, let alone merchants at the bottom of the Four Ministries.
As a merchant, no matter how rich Liu Shancheng was, he could not change his low status. If the person sitting in the hall had collusion with Liu Shancheng, the matter would naturally turn a blind eye and pass.
But the person sitting today is Yu Zhida. Yu Zhida was born as a Jinshi and was transferred from Dali Temple to the prefect of Pingyang. He is particularly concerned about these rules. He saw that Liu Shancheng, a merchant, actually saluted him carelessly. If you don't kneel down, how can you give him a good look when you are angry?
