Ming Zuo

Chapter 11 The Young Master is in charge (2)

"This year's drought, there has been no rainfall for several months, and the fields are not harvested. The old slave thought, it is better to waive the rent of the farmer, so that he can survive this period. I never thought that in the summer, I received a letter from the master asking for Money and grain. The world is big, and the master is the biggest. In any case, you have to get the master, right? So the old slave thought, discuss with the farmers, and squeeze out some to satisfy the master. "

Zuo Yanyan said that Zuo Menggeng knew about Zuo Liangyu's urging for money and food.

It also involves a koan case in Liaodong.

During the Tianqi period, Emperor Sun Chengzong was in charge of Liaodong.

In view of the increasing pressure in Liaodong, in order to save the situation, Sun Chengzong compiled a car battalion.

Zuo Liangyu was super-promoted and became the Dusi of Youying.

This incident caused great controversy among the Liaodong armies.

Because Zuo Liangyu was not well-known before, he was just a mere commander. Although he had military exploits, such a promotion was really appalling.

Why Sun Chengzong favored Zuo Liangyu so much, and Zuo Menggeng merged the souls of two generations, I don't know why.

Zuo Liangyu has no deep background.

He was born in poverty, his parents died when he was young, and he didn't even know his mother's name. He was raised by his uncle.

But later, when the uncle had his own child, he was cold to Zuo Liangyu, disgusted and bored.

Zuo Liangyu was arrogant and arrogant, unwilling to live under others, and vowed to break out into the world.Leaving behind the Huang family and the young Zuo Menggeng, they went to Liaodong to join the army.

In Zuo Menggeng's memory, his childhood life was quite bitter, and sometimes he even starved.

It was not until Zuo Liangyu became the chief minister that the Zuo family gradually gained momentum.He added mansions and fields, recruited many servants, and had a decent facade.

But Zuo Liangyu's situation was not better.

After the eunuch party took power, Sun Chengzong resigned, and the person in charge of Liaodong became Yuan Chonghuan.

It stands to reason that Yuan Chonghuan, as a student of Qian Longxi, bears the brand of the Donglin Party on his body.With the friendship of fighting against the eunuchs together, Yuan Chonghuan should have taken good care of Zuo Liangyu's love for Sun Chengzong.

However, the opposite is true.

Under Yuan Chonghuan's command, Zuo Liangyu's life was quite difficult, and he was repeatedly targeted, which can be said to be precarious.

Zuo Menggeng couldn't see why this was so, and this was one of the reasons why he hated Yuan Chonghuan to the bone.

Later, the governor of Liaodong fell out, and Yuan Chonghuan was squeezed out by Wang Zhichen with a background of the eunuch, and Zuo Liangyu's situation was even more difficult.

At that time, Zuo Liangyu almost wanted to resign from office and return to his hometown, but he was not angry with birds.

Fortunately, Emperor Tianqi died, Chongzhen ascended the throne, Wang Zhichen was expelled, and the governor of Liaodong was replaced by Bi Zisu.

Zuo Liangyu, who was finally relieved, was terrified and thought about consolidating his position no matter what.

He intends to spend a fortune to justify his position.

Zuo Liangyu's official title, the full name is Liaodong Cheyouying plus the title of Dusi.

For officials in the Ming Dynasty, the addition of titles is an honor.

For example, something like "Prince Taibao, Prince Shaofu", etc., are beyond the reach of human officials.But when it came to Zuo Liangyu, the word plus title became a reminder.

His rank of superintendent, just like any acting county magistrate or acting army commander, is of a temporary nature and can be dismissed at any time.

The reason for this is that when Sun Chengzong promoted him at the beginning, because the disparity was too great, he did a détente to deal with the controversy.

Zuo Liangyu wanted to take advantage of Liaodong's head to change people, get a sum of money to bribe Shangguan, and put the word "additional title" away.

This incident happened in June, and a month later, Ning Yuan mutiny, Bi Zisu committed suicide, Yuan Chonghuan staged the return of the king.Not only did he quell the mutiny beautifully, but he also killed and dismissed a large number of officials.

That is to say, Zuo Liangyu is not very responsible in it, and he is dismissed from office. Otherwise, his head will be in danger.

However, Liaodong and Linqing are thousands of miles apart. Zuo Yan didn't know that Zuo Liangyu lost his office, so he wanted to take advantage of the autumn harvest to collect the rent and realize it, and then send it to Zuo Liangyu.

"That day, the old slave went to Zhuangzi, and there was some delay on the way. When I got there, I can't imagine that Wang San and several bastards actually fought and kicked Father Liang Yue to death. Then Liang became more and more mad and killed Wang on the spot. [-]. The old slave wanted to quell the incident, but Liang Yue killed his eyes..."

The rest need not be said, Zuo Menggeng also knows.

Zuo Yan was injured because of this, and the Zuo Mansion was in chaos.

The tragedy of a tyrant slave bullying others, leading to the destruction of a peasant's family, happened in his own home.

Zuo Menggeng patted his head, feeling really stuffy.

"Uncle Yan, take a good rest and leave this matter to me."

After appeasing Zuo Yan, Zuo Menggeng returned to the main courtyard and asked, "Where are those who beat people?"

Zuo Rong took the people out, and after a while, the sturdy servant who carried a few bundles threw it in front of Zuo Menggeng.

These guys were terrified for a long time, all hunched on the ground, unable to speak because their mouths were blocked, so they could only kowtow to Zuo Menggeng desperately.

Zuo Menggeng paced back and forth in front of them, his voice was clear and everyone could hear it clearly.

"My Zuo clan started at the end of the day, and became rich and noble without forgetting their roots. I have always maintained a good family, and dared not spoil the family style."

The people around him looked strange.

Young Master Zuo, when you were walking birds across the street and fighting, you had no family style.

It's just that Zuo Menggeng is completely different now. He is high-spirited and standing like a god, and he is so awe-inspiring and domineering that people don't dare to look directly at him.

"You and other lowly slaves make up their own minds and ruin my style, and their sins are unforgivable. However, the first and third evil kings are dead, but you and others can't escape their sins."

He ordered Zuo Rong to pull out the cloth strip from the evil slave's mouth and asked, "Tell me, do you want to be subject to family law, or are you going to be expelled from the government?"

The faces of these servants changed greatly, and they kowtowed like pounding garlic.

"I am willing to be punished."

"Just ask for mercy from the young master, even if you kill me, there will be no resentment."

Today, the world is in a mess, and you can stay in the Zuofu without worrying about food and clothing.If they were driven out, they would only be afraid of exposing the corpse to the wilderness.

In fact, Zuo Menggeng had long expected what choices these people would make, but he had to act.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the ideology of the people had actually reached the brink of transformation, and the most obvious thing was the slave transformation that broke out everywhere.

Many servants were dissatisfied with the status quo and fought vigorously.

Zuo Menggeng was also afraid of such a situation at home, so today is both punishment and prevention.

If the servant is dissatisfied, it is better to drive out of the house than to hide a thunderbolt at home.

Since these people don't want to go, punish them to show justice.

The punishment is not heavy, ten sticks per person.It's true that the skin is ripped open and the wailing and weeping are not fake, but it can't kill anyone, and after a few days, it can be alive again.

The rest of the servants were horrified when they saw this situation and did not dare to slack off.

After disposing of the house, Zhuangzi is even more troublesome.

Zuo Menggeng thought for a while, and said to Zuo Rong, "Tomorrow, the eight of you will leave the city with me."

Zuo Rong and the others said yes, and went to prepare.

Zuo Menggeng returned to the backyard, the banquet was already ready, Huang Shi, Xu Ruolin, and Zuo Xianmei were all waiting for him.

"The mother eats it first. If you wait like this, don't you make the child unfilial?"

Huang Shi just shook his head and looked at him kindly.

"If the head of your family is not here, how can I wait for a woman to have fun?"

Xu Ruolin stuck out her tongue, feeling that there are many rules in this family.

She also made a hilarious gesture, obviously telling Zuo Menggeng that she was starving.

Zuo Menggeng smiled and did not delay.

"Let's have dinner then."

In order to welcome Zuo Menggeng back to the house, the cook was very attentive and prepared a table of good dishes.

Huang was a little worried.

"Miss Xu is from Jiangnan, and she doesn't know if she's used to it?"

Xu Ruolin is usually a little careless and arrogant, but when she arrives at the dinner table, the cultivation of the rich and noble comes out.The one who eats is dignified and elegant, which makes Zuo Xianmei learn while watching.

"Ludi's diet is quite unique, and it is impossible to eat in Jiangnan. It is also an experience to have this good fortune today."

Huang was relieved.

"That's good, you have suffered a lot along the way. If you don't make up for it, how can you do it?"

When Zuo Menggeng went to the front yard, Xu Ruolin accompanied Huang, and she had already told about the situation on the road, but she was very frightened.

However, hearing that Xu Ruolin and Zuo Menggeng shared a horse and spent so many days together, Huang's mind couldn't help but think more.

"I'm done eating."

"Uh……"

"what……"

Zuo Menggeng put down the bowl and chopsticks, and he was quite surprised in the stunned eyes of Huang and others.

In the past, he didn't eat fast, and he did it slowly. Although he wasn't really chewing and swallowing slowly, it took a lot of time.

It's not like now, but in the blink of an eye, a meal is over.

Thinking about how the soldiers in the dream seemed to eat like this, could they be infected too?
Huang's concern said: "How can you eat so fast? Eat more anyway. You are injured, so if you don't eat better, how can you recover faster?"

Zuo Xianmei said quietly from the side: "Brother has already eaten five bowls of rice."

She could see it clearly, the rice bowl the size of a palm, filled with rice, when it was in Zuo Menggeng's hands, it was as if it was poured into her mouth.

Looking at the amount of rice still in her bowl, Zuo Xianmei doubted her life.

After hearing Zuo Menggeng's three or two sentences, he ate five bowls of rice, and Huang Shi and Xu Ruolin couldn't help but look over.

Is this man's stomach a bottomless pit?

Zuo Menggeng also blushed.

"Hehe, eat slowly, don't worry about me."

Seeing the three women slowly counting the grains of rice to eat, he was also sitting in torment, so he simply said goodbye and returned to his small courtyard.

(End of this chapter)