Spring returns to the earth, and the south wind begins to rise.
Huang Yidou leaned on his waist and dug the ditch, and the river flowed along the gap into the field. The sound of rushing, accompanied by the breeze, gives people an indescribable sense of comfort.
Soybean Sprout held a shovel and inspected the fields.
If there is a gap in the field ridges washed out by water, shovel soil to block it. If there is no gap and it is just water seepage, then it will be simple. If you step on the outside of the ridge, it will be blocked.
When Huang Douya heard the sound, she raised her head and saw three strangers walking by the roadside talking to her father, so she walked towards the end of the field.
"Thanks to your hard work for twenty acres of land, I may live long."
"Two out of sixty."
"How many people are in the family?"
"We have a grandchild of six. We just got a grandson this year. In a dozen years, he will be able to follow us and pick up the crops. I'm afraid I won't be here by then."
"Don't say that. The peaceful days have just begun. There were many good days in the past. If I live another thirty-eight years, I will even be able to visit the Fengtian Palace."
"What palace?"
Huang Yidou didn't know where that place was. Hearing that it was the imperial palace, he immediately laughed and wrinkled his face: "That's not a place for ordinary people like us to go."
Gu Zhengchen said with a smile: "There are no taboos if you live to be a hundred years old. I have to work hard to live longer."
Huang Yidou slapped his back: "After decades of living, this year is the only time I have some hope. My family cultivated ten acres of land at the end of last year, and the government even waived the summer tax. As long as this year's harvest is finally achieved, the days to come will be I’m finally getting better. It’s just that my body can’t stand the torment year after year.”
Gu Zhengchen joked for a while and changed the subject: "My father-in-law, I heard that there were bullies bullying the people in Sanquan Village. You must have heard about this, right? The government office posted a notice saying that there are bullies bullying the people in the village. You can go to the county or government offices to file a complaint."
Huang Yidou sighed: "Who dares to complain without being bullied to the point of death? We have many relatives, and 30% of people in Sanquan Village are named Lin. What can you do if you complain to just one of them? If you are not allowed to come back to farm another day, you can always Look for opportunities to retaliate. If you can endure it, endure it; if you can live with it, live with it."
Gu Zhengchen frowned and asked, "I heard that the Lin family also let dogs kill people. Is it true?"
"That happened the year before last..."
"father!"
Huang Douya came over, interrupted Huang Yidou, and looked at Gu Zhengchen and others warily: "We don't know anything, we just want to plant good land."
When Gu Zhengchen saw this, he smiled and cupped his hands and said goodbye to his father-in-law.
Lin Baifan couldn't help but said: "The Lin family is too overbearing. The villagers don't even dare to speak out."
Xiao Cheng snorted: "I thought that the lives of a group of people would be much easier if corrupt officials died, but now I see that there are still big families sitting on top of the people and dominating them."
Gu Zhengchen walked towards Sanquan Village and said seriously: "What the father-in-law said is not unreasonable. Some large households are not the same family. A large spread of branches and leaves is indeed much better than a solitary sapling. It is the sapling that uses its body. If you try to collide, you will only end up broken. To govern the local area, you can't just fight the corruption tigers, but also need to fight the flies in the countryside."
The imperial power does not go to the countryside, not because it cannot go to the countryside, but because it feels that going to the countryside is a burden, cumbersome and troublesome. Because the further down you go, the more troubles there are, the more stubborn the clan power is, and the more complex problems you face.
The imperial court did not want to be so complicated, so it set the end of governance at the county level, and the township aspects were handed over to the district chiefs, Jia chiefs, elderly people, etc., who relied on local rules, local customs, and local folk conventions to govern.
This governance method has certain advantages. For example, the court does not need to appoint too many "village chiefs" below the county level, and does not need to pay "village chiefs" salaries. All trivial matters in the countryside are handled locally, and no money is paid to the county. Government offices and government offices have resulted in an accumulation of cases. This is why a county government office can manage tens of thousands of people, and a government government office can manage hundreds of thousands of people.
But there is also an obvious problem, which can easily lead to rural hegemony. Although Quanzhou Prefecture has suffered many hardships, there are still many locals. Due to the fierce fighting in the south of the Yangtze River during the war in the late Ming Dynasty, some people were forced to move south and settled in the countryside of Quanzhou to cultivate wasteland and take root.
In the final analysis, these people lack the foundation. When they meet good villagers and good-hearted people, everything is easy to say. If there is a bully or arrogant person in the village, their family has a big business, and there are many people, they will bully even the locals, let alone the outsiders.
Without solving this stubborn problem, it is impossible for the people of Quanzhou Prefecture to truly live a good life. So Gu Zhengchen walked from Jinjiang County to Nan'an County and then to Anxi County.
Entering Sanquan Village, Lin Baifan wanted to ask the villagers where the bully Lin Dachui's home was, but Gu Zhengchen waved his hand: "Look for the one with the biggest house and the courtyard wall."
Ordinary people's homes still have thatched houses and small courtyards with bamboo fences, but they don't have the financial resources to build courtyards with walls. Sure enough, before walking too far, we saw a huge courtyard next to the river.
Gu Zhengchen and others were still more than ten steps away from the courtyard gate when someone ran over and shouted: "Who told you to go here? Get out of here. This is the road to Mr. Lin's house. You are not allowed to go there. You are dirty sluts, too." You deserve to go this way, get out of here!"
"Look, you don't need to make excuses, they will come up with excuses. This is because you have been arrogant for a long time and have become accustomed to lawlessness." Gu Zhengchen smiled contemptuously, turned his head and said to Lin Baifan: "The old method."
Lin Baifan's face looked a little ugly: "Can you try another way? I've been beaten several times along the way. How about him?"
Xiao Cheng glared at Lin Baifan: "I can do it instead, you beat me first before talking."
Lin Baifan had no choice but to step forward and shout to the servants who were blocking the road: "Why can't people pass on this road? Are you still trying to block the road and rob? Damn, I'm not afraid of you. Let me tell you, I have practiced of……"
"Fuck you!"
The servant punched Lin Baifan in the face, and Lin Baifan fell down. As soon as he put his hand to his mouth, blood spurted out, and blood dripped on the ground. He retracted his hand and hid the small bottle.
Xiao Cheng stepped forward and stepped on the stopper of the bottle. Looking at Lin Baifan whose face was covered with blood, he shouted: "Killing!"
The servant of the Lin family was startled by this voice. He took a closer look and said, "Hey, when did my punch become so powerful and draw so much blood? Is this guy dead?"
Lin Dachui was feasting at home, swallowing a piece of mutton, when he suddenly heard a cry of "murder!" and almost choked to death. He quickly called the housekeeper Lin Zhu and asked: "What happened outside? Why is it so noisy?"
Lin Zhu didn't know. Not long after he ran out, he hurried back and shouted: "It's bad, someone broke in."
Lin Dachui walked out of the room and only saw a bunch of servants being beaten by one person. They couldn't even catch a move. More than a dozen people were already lying on the ground wailing.
"Awesome, how about this hero becoming my nurse? I have money."
Lin Dachui didn't mind that his servants were beaten, but took the initiative to recruit them. He walked over with a smile, his belly trembling.
"Haha, you want him to be your nurse?"
Gu Zhengchen walked in with a smile and said, "How much money can you give him?"
Lin Dachui stared at Gu Zhengchen, then looked at Xiao Cheng standing behind him, and couldn't help but frown: "This is your servant, sell it to me, you give me a price, I won't talk back."
Gu Zhengchen stretched out a hand: "If you can get fifty thousand taels of silver, he will come with you."
Lin Dachui's eyes widened.
Fifty thousand taels of silver, your sister, I and my whole family don’t even have five thousand taels of silver, so you pay back fifty thousand taels of silver.
"But before that, you need to compensate for the loss of another servant of mine. Your servant beat my servant to death. I need fifty thousand taels of silver. If you can't come up with it, follow me to the county government office."
Gu Zhengchen opened his mouth loudly.
Before Lin Dachui understood what was happening, the servant who "beat" Lin Baifan to death was already shouting: "I just punched him, and he died unexpectedly."
"This is a human life lawsuit. If you don't pay, go to the county government office. If you don't go to the county government office, you can also go to the government office."
Gu Zhengchen had a cold face.
Lin Dachui's face turned ugly.
In the past, if anything happened, it was easy to deal with it. If there was any trouble, it could be settled with some silver. There was no trouble in Hengxing Township. But today's county and government offices are no better than before. Quanzhou Prefecture has an executioner, the prefect, who will kill corrupt officials if they catch them.
The magistrates, magistrates, and historians of Anxi were all beheaded, leaving only one chief registrar, Hou Shiju, and he was an incompetent man. I heard that the prefect's Yamen are looking into old cases and unjust cases, and the files from various county government offices have been transferred to them. If they fall into the hands of the county government now, I'm afraid it won't be long before the prefect's Yamen will target them, and the consequences will be difficult. material.
After Lin Dachui thought about it, he chose to give in: "I was killed by mistake, so I will pay you thirty taels of silver and burn it. Isn't it too deceiving to open your mouth to say fifty thousand taels? Let's do this, I'll give you five Twelve, this matter has been revealed."
"No, just fifty thousand taels, or I'll send you to the official."
Gu Zhengchen insisted.
Lin Dachui was a little flustered, rolled his eyes, pointed at the servant who beat the man to death and shouted: "Wang Jiu, you are responsible for the man you beat to death. If you want to send him to the government, just let him go!"
Wang Jiu was stunned and shouted quickly: "Master, you have to save me. I also followed the master's instructions and did not allow outsiders to walk on the stone road near the river to avoid dirtying the Lin family's lintel and ruining the Lin family's feng shui."
"Shut up!"
Lin Dachui kicked Wang Jiu away, then looked at Gu Zhengchen: "He killed someone, so take him away. Can this matter be settled?"
Xiao Cheng stepped forward and caught Wang Jiu.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the desperate Wang Jiu and said to Lin Dachui: "Aren't you afraid that the county government will kill his head if you do this? You know that the Quanzhou government office has posted a notice that the murder case will be solved and the murder case will be severely punished! Although he accidentally hit him He is a dead man, but he takes action at the slightest disagreement. He obviously deceives people a lot in daily life. He will probably die if he is tired of his crimes."
Wang Jiu howled endlessly.
Lin Dachui snorted: "What does it have to do with me whether he dies or not!"
Gu Zhengchen nodded, took out a tael of silver and threw it to Lin Dachui: "In that case, I can always buy a cart from you."
Lin Dachui was in a hurry to see Gu Zhengchen off and arranged for someone to pull the cart over.
The corpse was moved to the cart, and Wang Jiu was also forced onto the cart. The desperate Wang Jiu wiped his tears, lowered his head and confessed. Suddenly, his hands moved as if he saw the corpse.
Wang Jiu wiped away his tears and looked closely. He saw the corpse sticking out its tongue to lick the blood from the corner of its mouth, and then opened its mouth with unfinished expression.
"Ghost!"
Wang Jiu jumped up to Lao Gao.
Xiao Cheng was shocked. He underestimated this guy, but he actually had Qing Gong. Oh, I didn’t land well and my bones were broken...
