When the woman came closer, Zheng Haizhu could see clearly that she had a weathered face, a lot of white hair in her bun, and dense wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and lips. She was at least fifty years old.
"Are you the imperial wife who came to occupy the land from Songjiang?"
The old woman spoke in a bad tone, and looked straight at her with two sharp eyes.
Zheng Haizhu had a vague feeling of familiarity, and for a moment, she thought of Mao Wenlong and Ma Xianglin, men who had great power on the battlefield.
The old woman spoke not Chongming dialect, but Su Song Mandarin like the county magistrate, and Zheng Haizhu understood it completely.
She is definitely not an ordinary peasant woman from Chongming.
It would not be right if it were someone like the elders of the county or township. Jiangnan is not a matriarchal society like the aborigines of Taiwan. How could a woman be the leader of the clan?
Zheng Haizhu speculated in his heart, but did not hesitate to be polite and thanked the old woman for her blessing.
"To pay tribute to my senior, my surname is Zheng. I came here by boat from Wusongkou today."
After she raised her head, she kept looking at the old woman, not harshly in return, but with more of a sense of exploration in her eyes.
At this time, the coachman who had put down the Zhen wood also hurried over, bowed to Zheng Haizhu and Wu Bangdang, and introduced diligently: "This is Grandma Tang, a family member of Tang Min Zhonggong, the Prime Minister of Guanglu Temple."
Hearing this, Zheng Haizhu was slightly startled, then showed an expression of surprise and respect, and asked solemnly: "Tang Min Zhonggong? But the Tang County magistrate who fought against the Japanese here during the Jiajing period? At that time, the Japanese pirates bribed thousands of people in Chongming. He entered the city unimpeded and burned and killed them. It was Tang Gong who led the people to fight the Japanese pirates in the streets and died heroically in the line of duty."
Grandma Tang's appearance of questioning the crime suddenly changed: "Do you know my father?"
In the Wu local dialect, dadi means "grandfather".
Tang Yicen, the county magistrate who fought bravely against the Japanese, has been martyred for seventy years. Grandma Tang did not expect that this young foreign woman in front of her could explain her grandfather's deeds so clearly in just a few words.
In fact, Zheng Haizhu knew that Tang Yicen was not a popular figure in the history, and he got it from Han Ximeng, who was full of poems and books and was familiar with the past events of the previous dynasty.
Developing maritime trade is one thing, but remembering history is another. A few years ago, when Han Ximeng and Zheng Haizhu developed tobacco bags and Ukiyoe handkerchiefs for export to Japan, they also devoted their best efforts to complete the "Chronicle of the Anti-Japanese War" ", one of which is the anti-Japanese scene on Chongming Island.
Chongming Island is not under the jurisdiction of Songjiang. Han Ximeng insisted on embroidering the war on Chongming Island because he respected the magistrate of Tang County as a scholar, but he was loyal to his duties, fearless, and rushed to the forefront of fighting the enemy with a sword.
At this moment, Zheng Haizhu saw that the other party's hostility had subsided, and continued to offer praises to ease the atmosphere: "The deeds of Tang Gong are widely circulated in Susong. A few years ago, when I first arrived in Songjiang, I heard Mr. Shu talk about it. Later, I met Han The eldest lady of the family embroidered the "Chronicle of the Anti-Japanese War" together, and felt her blood pumping even more when the needle was dropped. By the way, grandma, I am the steward, Mr. Wu, and his family's ancestors were guerrillas under Qi Shaobao."
Wu Bondang stepped forward in response, cupped his fists and said, "This junior has met my mother-in-law."
"Oh, that's it. It turns out that you, the old lady and I are both loyal queens."
Grandma Tang's tone finally softened, and the look she looked at Wu Bond was much kinder than when she looked at Zheng Haizhu.
Zheng Haizhu understood that the old lady was always extra lenient to the young and gentle young people.
At this time, Hua Er, a girl from the Liao people, came over with a stool, placed it on the ground, and timidly said: "Mother-in-law, please sit down."
Grandma Tang glanced at the bench and asked curiously: "Why is it half a rice horse?"
"Yangma" is a tool used by farmers when planting rice. A four-corner bench-like seat is fixed with tenons on a wooden board, which also resembles a horse's back and legs, so it is called "Yangma".
Zheng Haizhu pulled Hua Er, stroked her messy hair, sighed, and explained: "They are all poor people who saved their lives from the Liaodong Tatars. They left their hometowns and came here to beg for food. How much does each person bring?" One or two things from my hometown. Some have hoes, and some have stools for pulling out rice fields. Like this little girl, she brought her mother’s cotton-ginning handle with her, and finally kept it to think about.”
Grandma Tang's eyes rested on the wooden handle fastened to Hua Er's waist for a moment, and she muttered: "What a sin, you lost your mother at such a young age."
Then he suddenly turned to look at the coachman who had brought him here, and said angrily: "Why don't you get out? Are you standing here to spy on the county master?"
The coachman had a fake smile on his face: "Let's go now. If grandma and madam can talk things over properly, our master's heart will be in his belly."
…
Grandma Tang watched the mule cart go away and said with a sigh: "It's not a good official to be acting coquettishly."
When he turned around, Wu Bond was already holding a bowl of hot porridge.
"Grandma, the cold is already here at this hour. Let's drink some soup to warm ourselves up."
Grandma Tang didn't show any courtesy. She took the bowl of porridge, drank a few big sips, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and said: "The land you want to plant is originally owned by an owner. Twenty years ago, the Japanese invaded North Korea, the North Koreans asked for help from the Ming Dynasty, the court mobilized troops from all over, and hundreds of people from Chongming Guards Station went north..."
Following Granny Tang's narration, Zheng Haizhu and Wu Bondang roughly understood.
It turned out that the several hundred acres of land they were on were originally the farmland of Chongmin military households who went north as guest troops.
The nature of the land in Ming Dynasty’s farming and civilian fields was different. The fields cultivated by military households inherited from the guard system at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China were called tuntian. What ordinary people cultivate is civilian land.
When the Ming Dynasty dispatched troops to Korea, there were nearly a thousand registered military households in the Chongming Guards. The hundreds of people sent out by General Qian were basically old and weak soldiers at the lowest level, and most of them died on the battlefield. Some of those who survived may not want to go back to Chongming and be bullied by Mr. Qian, so they stayed on the northeastern border to do small business.
Twenty years later, several descendants of veterans returned to Chongming to inherit their fathers' military status and land, only to find that the land had been occupied by the latest Chongming Qianzong.
The old people in Chongming Health Center pointed the children to find Granny Tang.
"Mrs. Zheng, Mr. Wu, I'm not just an old lady, I'm boasting. My litigation skills may not be matched by many litigators in Suzhou, not to mention Chongming County."
Female lawyer?
Zheng Haizhu and Wu Bond did not hide the surprise in their eyes.
They were all thinking that they had traveled around the Ming Dynasty and had seen a lot of the world. Today, it was the first time they knew that there was a female lawyer on the small island east of Nanzhili.
Grandma Tang's mouth showed a hint of pride: "What's so strange? My great-grandfather was a criminal scribe in Lingui, and later became a famous local litigator. My grandfather succeeded in his success, passed the Jinshi examination, and left his hometown in Guangxi to become an official. My grandfather fought against the Japanese here. After he died, my grandmother took my father to stay in Chongming. Fortunately, the imperial court gave my grandfather the title of Minister of Guanglu Temple. My grandmother also had the same order as you, Mrs. Zheng. The Jin gentry in Chongming did not dare to bully orphans and widowed mothers. Those with conscience The military households, as well as the common people who participated in the anti-Japanese war, were even more grateful for my grandfather's kindness and kindness to my family. After my father was admitted as a scholar, he failed to pass the exam, so he continued to work as a lawyer and wrote petitions to the folks in the village. .”
When the old lady said this, she turned to the young girl Hua Er who was standing next to her and was fascinated by what she heard: "When my father taught me how to write my first petition, I was as old as you. I went there a few days ago. The petition submitted by Suzhou Prefecture to fight for land for the descendants of veterans is the 738th petition I have written since I have been in the industry for forty years."
Zheng Haizhu was stunned.
The gray-haired Chinese barrister in front of her really refreshed her understanding of the late Ming Dynasty.
(End of chapter)
