"It turns out it's an official from the governor's yamen. Please come in quickly." The concierge opened the door of Zeng's mansion and made way for people from outside to enter.
The person who came was the governor's most trusted staff member. Naturally, his porter did not dare to let such a big shot wait outside. Even if the master of the family knew that the governor's staff member was coming, he would come out to greet him personally.
A servant helped Hu Mingyi get off the horse and took the reins.
Hu Mingyi stepped into Zeng Mansion.
At this moment, servants from the Zeng Mansion had already come in to report.
The Zeng Mansion is a large courtyard. The ancestor of the Zeng family was a Jinshi during the Jiajing period. Before he retired, he served as the Provincial Envoy, Si Zuo, and was a high-ranking official of the third rank.
Since then, the Zeng family has had no Jinshi, only two candidates and three scholars. Now the master of the Zeng family has the reputation of being a scholar.
Walking into the front yard, Mr. Zeng greeted him from the inner yard.
"Haha, Mr. Hu, why do you have time to come to my humble home today?" Master Zeng greeted Hu Mingyi with a smile on his face.
Hu Mingyi also smiled and said: "Master Zeng's house is not a humble place. There are not many places in Datong Mansion that can compare with Master Zeng's house."
"In other words, Mr. Hu is very complimentary." Mr. Zeng added, "I wonder why Mr. Hu comes to me even though he is so busy?"
Hu Mingyi looked around for a few times and said with a smile: "Is it possible that Mr. Zeng is not even willing to treat me to a drink?"
"Haha, Mr. Hu is joking. The Zeng family can still afford a cup of tea, but they are afraid that the tea at home is too bad and cannot enter the mouth of Mr. Hu, a noble man." Mr. Zeng joked.
But Hu Mingyi had no intention of going in and sitting there.
"The tea at Master Zeng's house is better than what the governor usually drinks, so how could it be any worse?" With that said, Hu Mingyi walked inside.
He had been to the Zeng Mansion and knew where the side hall where the Zeng family used to entertain guests was, so he walked directly towards the side hall.
Master Zeng couldn't stop him at first glance, and hurriedly followed him, saying: "There are guests at home, and I'm afraid I'll offend Mr. Hu. Why don't I go to Zeng's study to have a look? Butler, take Mr. Hu to the study, and take a look at it." Make a pot of new tea that just arrived."
"Yes." The butler who followed agreed.
Hu Mingyi, who was walking in front, waved his hand and said, "There's no need to go to such trouble. I just want to meet Mr. Zeng's guests. I don't think Mr. Zeng won't be willing!"
After saying that, he continued to walk towards the side hall, not caring whether Mr. Zeng was willing or not.
Seeing that he couldn't stop him, the master of the Zeng family had no choice but to let Hu Mingyi go to the side hall.
Although the Zeng family's house is not small, it is a standard northern house. It is not surrounded by whitewashed walls like the big houses in the south. It is surrounded by green willows, dotted with rocks, and surrounded by creeks, but it has a more northern heaviness.
Arriving outside the side hall door, listening to the bursts of voices coming from inside, Hu Mingyi raised his hand, pushed the door open, and stepped in.
His sudden intrusion caused the voices in the room to disappear immediately.
Several people in the room looked at the door that had just been pushed open at the same time.
"Hey, all the gentlemen are here, which saves me the trouble of visiting them one by one." Hu Mingyi suddenly smiled when he saw that all the guests of Mr. Zeng in the house were well-known squires in Datong City.
Unlike Hu Mingyi, when the people in the room saw Hu Mingyi, the smiles on their faces suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Not long ago, Hu Mingyi forced them to raise a sum of money to defend the city in the name of defending Datong City. Now that they saw Hu Mingyi again, no one among the people present was happy.
"I've met Mr. Hu."
"Hello, Mr. Hu."
Several people in the room, no matter how unwilling they were, stood up and said hello when they saw Hu Mingyi.
Hu Mingyi smiled and nodded in response, while walking towards the main seat in the side hall.
After he sat down, he extended his hand to the others in the room and said, "Sit down, everyone, there's no need to be so outspoken. We are old acquaintances and we met not long ago."
Everyone took their seats.
"Butler, tea hasn't been served yet!" Hu Mingyi said to the butler of the Zeng Mansion.
The housekeeper secretly looked at Mr. Zeng.
Seeing Master Zeng nodded slightly towards him, he left to prepare tea.
When Hu Mingyi saw that no one was talking after he entered the room, he smiled and said: "We are acquaintances, so there is no need to be so acquainted. We were all chatting lively before I came in. Keep talking, keep talking."
However, no one in the room spoke.
"Why aren't you talking? It doesn't matter. Keep talking, otherwise Mr. Zeng, you start first. After all, this is the Zeng Mansion." Hu Mingyi said to Mr. Zeng who was sitting at the bottom.
When his name was called, Mr. Zeng had no choice but to stand up and said with a wry smile: "If Mr. Hu has anything to say, or if the governor has any instructions, just say it. The next few people are here to listen."
Several gentlemen from other families present here all looked at Hu Mingyi.
Bandits outside the city were attacking the city, which was the busiest time for the Yamen. As the governor's staff, Hu Mingyi came to Zeng's house at this time. They all knew that there must be something going on with the governor.
"Since Mr. Zeng asked this, I will tell you directly." Hu Mingyi looked at the people present one by one and said immediately, "Actually, the matter is not big. Just like last time, I hope that these gentlemen can take the lead in raising donations. Come out with some silver coins and use them to defend Datong City."
As soon as he finished speaking, a squire with a long beard on the seat said: "We just raised a sum of money not long ago, why do we still need it? The money from each family is not blown by the strong wind, and we can't defend the city." Let us do the work! Then what should the government do?"
"I heard that Mr. Huang just took in a concubine not long ago. I guess there is no shortage of money in the family." Hu Mingyi looked at the squire who spoke and said.
Mr. Huang snorted and said: "Guarding Datong City is what your governor's office should do. You can't just come to us and ask for money when you are short of money."
"Mr. Hu, it's not that we don't want to help, it's that every family is having a hard time. The money donated last time was squeezed out by every family through gritted teeth. But now the government wants us to donate money. Every family has to donate money." I really can’t get it out.” The master of the Zeng family complained to Hu Mingyi for each family.
However, Hu Mingyi didn't believe this at all.
To talk about the wealthy families in Datong City, apart from Prince Dai's Mansion, they have to be the squires living in the city.
These people's families have either produced Jinshi or Juren, and a quarter of the best farmland outside the city belongs to these people.
Many of the shops in the city are owned by these people.
Several generations of these people's families have been operating in Datong, and the only one richer than them is Dai Wangfu.
