The most powerful patriarch in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 18 Lawless
There are still three days before the deadline for payment, the old patriarch sat on the top of the side hall, rubbed his eyebrows, and asked a little tiredly: "How much have you raised now?"

The second uncle lowered his head and said bitterly: "If we go back to our ancestors, we can only raise more than 380 taels now."

"Our Lu family is not the only one who has been taxed. The whole of Fujian has been raising money to pay taxes recently. It is difficult to raise money now," the fat man said with a sad face.

Lu Jinyuan shook his head and said: "The life is so hard, the court can't help but justify it, and even the postponement of the levy is gone. This is forcing the common people to their death."

Exemption is to reduce or exempt the people's taxes, and deferred collection is to postpone the payment of taxes.

During the Ming Dynasty, avoidance became a common occurrence, not only during natural and man-made disasters, but also when the emperor was in a good mood and swiped a pen.

Zhu Jianshen, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, was exempted many times in his life. According to statistics, he lost nearly 2000 million shi in taxes during his reign.

Deferred collection means that the people can't afford it for a while, and they can postpone it if they find a reason. Some push it for several years, and if they are lucky, they can wait for exemption.

With the exemption and deferral of levy, ordinary people will naturally pay less if they can, and delay if they can.
Like the Lu family in Fuzhou, the ancestors had a wide range of people, and they delayed the collection many times, so that they accumulated more and more, and now they have accumulated more than 500 taels.

Master Qing shook his head and said: "In the past, I could handle it with a little bit of payment. This time, I don't care about sympathy at all. I have to pay it in full. I don't care what the world is like now. God doesn't reward me with food. No wonder there are so many people. artificial rebellion"

Lu Jinyuan said in a low voice: "The rebels dared to kill even the prince, and Jianlu even surrounded Jinzhou City. The court must be in a hurry."

Everyone sighed and didn't know what to say for a while.

The old patriarch said with some self-deprecation: "The well-known Fuzhou Lu family can't even make up 1000 taels. It's me, an old man, who didn't make a good family. I'm ashamed. I have no face to see the Lu family's ancestors when I die."

"It's the younger generation's incompetence that made the ancestors worry." The second uncle was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty.

Uncle Fei, Master Qing and others knelt down and confessed their crimes.

The harvest has not been good in these years, and he has been dead with the Yang family many times. The court has continued to increase taxes and pay, and the clan has long been unable to make ends meet.

The old ancestors, who were supposed to provide for their lives, had to work hard for the clan when they were old. Even if they were guilty, they would also be disappointing for the younger generation.

How dare you let your ancestors take the responsibility.

After the old patriarch said "the world is not benevolent", he asked everyone to stand up and sit back to their original positions.

No one spoke, and the scene was clouded with gloom.

"Second brother, the buyer of Chashan, do you have any clues?" The old patriarch asked.

"Old ancestor, that is an inheritance passed down from the ancestors," Second Master Qing said anxiously.

Lu Jinyuan also echoed: "Ancestor, think twice, Chashan is your painstaking effort."

"Why don't we let the younger generation of the clan sign a long-term contract with a company, so that we can raise a sum of money?"

The old patriarch yelled and said: "Stupid, signing a long-term contract with a firm, what is the difference between selling one's body, the younger generation of the clan is the hope of the clan, and they cannot destroy their foundation."

Seeing that everyone still wanted to say something, the old patriarch waved his hand and said, "We can really think of a way, and we don't have to worry about it here. If we keep the green hills, we don't have to worry about running out of firewood. People are the green hills of the Lu family in Fuzhou."

After a pause, the old patriarch continued: "King Fu, King Xiang, those are the Princes of Daming. Thousands of hectares of fertile land have countless wealth. If you say it is gone, it will be gone. In this troubled world, money is something outside the body, and only relatives are the most important."

The fat man closed his eyes and said dejectedly: "The old ancestor is right. Money is something other than money. If you sell the tea mountain, just sell it. The world is so chaotic, maybe one day the tea mountain will not be named Lu."

Qing Erye, Lu Jinqing and the others did not speak, which was regarded as tacit consent.

Seeing that no one objected, the ancestor motioned for the second uncle to continue.

The second uncle hurriedly said: "If we go back to our ancestors, there are many buyers who are interested in tea mountains. Among them, the most sincere and highest bid is Fan Shaodong from Shanxi Jiexiu Fan's Company. The asking price is [-]% higher than other people's." .”

Just when the second uncle wanted to introduce other buyers, the door of the back hall of the ancestral hall was suddenly knocked "bang bang".
Someone shouted loudly outside: "Old ancestor, it's not good, something happened, something happened"

Everyone's expressions changed, and Lu Jinyuan, who was closest to the door, hurriedly got up and opened the door, and said in a deep voice, "Shui Sheng, what's the matter, please talk about it."

Rushing to the back hall and knocking on the door, disturbing the meeting of the ancestors and clan elders, needless to say, something must have happened.

Still a big deal.

Lu Jinqing roared anxiously: "What time is it, don't tell me soon."

Shui Sheng didn't care about breathing, and said with a mournful face: "Old, old ancestor, no, it's not good, the army surrounded the tea mountain, killed Brother Erwang and Uncle Xia, and tied up Brother Changfu and the others. It's over."

With a "snap", the teacup in the ancestor's hand fell to the ground, and he slumped on the chair all of a sudden.

The second uncle said anxiously, "Shuisheng, tell me more clearly, what's going on?"

Shui Sheng was still terrified, talking incoherently, after asking for a while, he finally figured out what was going on.

Tea is to blame.

Lu's tea mountain can produce Fangshan dew buds, so many people will remember the good tea.

Zheng Du, the second son of the Zheng family, was visiting Changle County. He heard that Fangshan Luya was a good tea, so he sent someone to buy it directly from the tea mountain.
Throw some money and buy that meaning.

Lu Changfu didn't dare to offend, so he immediately offered a catty of high-quality Fangshan dew buds as a tribute,
I didn't expect the person who came to open his mouth to ask for ten catties, and if he didn't give it, he would not agree.

Lu Changfu was also in a dilemma, knowing that he couldn't afford to offend the Zheng family, but he was out of stock.

The output of tea mountains is limited every year, and a certain amount needs to be handed over to the government, and the rest can be freely disposed of.

Xincha had negotiated with the buyer a few days ago, and a deposit was collected, and a catty was already squeezed through the teeth.

Ten catties, I really can't take it out.

Zheng Du's soldiers have always been arrogant, how could they reason with Lu Changfu?
It symbolizes throwing some money and grabbing directly,
Lu Changfu knew that the clan was waiting for the money to pay taxes, and he had collected other people's deposits, so he was afraid that he would lose a lot of money if he broke the contract.
Leading people struggled to obstruct, and the leading team was thrown to the ground in the chaos,
That team was not bad luck. When he fell to the ground, his head was hit by a sharp stone.
On the spot, his head was bleeding, and his life and death were uncertain.

This provoked a hornet's nest, and someone flew back to report,

Zheng Du was furious on the spot when he heard the words, and personally led a team of people to go straight to the tea mountain.

When they arrived at Chashan, they would kill without saying a word.
Killed two people on the spot, injured more than ten people, and tied everyone up,

When the accident happened, Shuisheng was weeding among the tea bushes, and when he saw the emergency, he sneaked back to report.

It's the Zheng family again, and this time it's a big disaster.

The fat man turned pale, stomped his feet, and said anxiously: "You bastard, you're so stupid, why don't you understand the truth that your arms can't twist your thighs?"

"Don't worry," Lu Jinyuan reassured: "The tea mountain is related to the fate of our Lu family, and Brother Fu is also for the family."

The second uncle said with a sad face: "Second son of the Zheng family, it's not easy to talk, I'm afraid this matter will not end well."

It’s hard to talk, but I still praise him. Everyone in Fujian knows that Zheng Zhilong’s six sons, (Note: The adoptive wife family is not counted, and the ranking is also excluded)

The eldest son Zheng Sen is gentle and courteous, and treats the people well;
The second son, Zheng Du, has the opposite personality of his elder brother, domineering, moody,
The remaining few sons are not fuel-efficient lamps,
Every year, the government receives a large number of pleadings related to the Zheng brothers, but they just suppress them.

In Fujian, who would dare to interrogate members of the Zheng family.

Someone proposed to report to the official, someone suggested to snatch the person back, and someone suggested to find a middleman,
Just when everyone was in a mess, another clansman reported that a large group of people was coming towards Xingping Village.
Someone saw Lu Changfu and others tied up with ropes, and they were in the line.

Not only killing people and arresting people, but also going to Xingping Village to question the crime.

In the panic, there was a noise outside, and the sound of horseshoes could be heard faintly.

The old patriarch supported the table, stood up with some difficulty, and said expressionlessly: "It's coming, it's useless to avoid it, go, go out and have a look."

The leaky house happened to be raining all night, and the matter of raising money and paying taxes has not been resolved, and another disaster happened.

The old patriarch felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.

Could it be that the sky is going to destroy the Lu family in Fuzhou?

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(End of this chapter)