Bachelor

Chapter 253
Zhou Xinshu's eloquence is really good. He told this story clearly, but Sun Dan didn't think so.But Sun Hao, Feng Zhen, Shi Wanquan and others around him were all fascinated.

After listening, Shi Wanquan chuckled: "This Hua Jinsheng family is really fucking cunning, and my old Shi can be regarded as a person who can settle accounts. They are smarter than me. Give all the land to the Guo family to evade taxes, even if every year After paying a certain amount of rent, it can be counted, and the number that is handed over to the court is much less."

After finishing speaking, he wrung his fingers and listed the court's land tax, labor service, payment and progressive tax one by one, and came up with a figure that was quite high for ordinary people.Compared with the imperial grain and national tax, the land rent of the Guo family is so small that it can be ignored.

Sun Dan also gave a wry smile. The loss of national taxes is a helpless thing. This is also the reason why the emperor sent him to Fangshan for a pilot project to clear the land.

However, Sun Dan didn't want to touch the cheese of the big landlords and take a share of the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and he didn't want to be an enemy of the entire scholar-bureaucrat class.Open source does not need to touch the land to open source. There are many more profitable businesses in this world than farming. It is impossible for the Ming Empire to get rid of the financial crisis with a single day of land endowment.

Sun Dan's considerations were at a higher level, but the matter at hand had to be handled well. After all, this was his first case since he took office, and he needed to establish his prestige through facts, otherwise the new law would not be able to be promoted at all.

Moreover, after finishing speaking, Zhou Xinshu had already knelt on the ground with his unkempt head on the ground, crying loudly: "Master Qingtian, you have to decide for the grassroots!"

Because he knocked too hard, in a blink of an eye, blood gushed out from Zhou Xinshu's head, mixed with tears.

It didn't matter that he knocked, it alarmed the family, only heard the voices of two women: "Master!" "Daddy".

It was enough for two women to rush over and kneel in front of Sun Dan.

These two women, one in their forties and the other in their [-]s and [-]s, were probably Zhou Xinshu's wife and daughter.

Sun Dan handed over to Feng Zhen and Sun Hao, and said to Zhou Xinshu's family: "Get up, the county will handle it fairly."

Feng Zhen and Sun Hao hurriedly helped the family up from the ground.

The two women of the Zhou family hurriedly covered the wound on Zhou Xinshu's head.

Sun Dan took a closer look, Zhou Xinshu's wife was just a dark and strong middle-aged woman, she really didn't look very good.His daughter is also of ordinary beauty, but she is slim, and she is considered good in the Zhuang family. No wonder the Hua family has so many ghosts.

It's hard for an upright official to decide on housework, so it's hard to tell the right and wrong of the Hua and Zhou families.However, according to the ethics and morals of the feudal society, the reason is on the Zhou family's side.

For Sun Dan, this matter is easy to deal with.The big deal is to bring together the patriarchs of the Hua and Zhou families and related people to talk about it, and then ask Hua Daniu's family to pay some money.

But now the Hua family actually went to invite people from the bank to come and help, and the Guo family was involved, so the matter was somewhat responsible.In the final analysis, it wasn't because Mr. Guo's family took over the land of Hua Daniu's family that such a big thing happened.

Looking at the problem at a deeper level, the root is that there is a big problem in the relationship between people, land and court taxes.The contradiction between man and land, the contradiction between the privileged class and the common people, the contradiction between the imperial court and the scholar-officials.

All Sun Dan needs to do is to smooth out the relationship and find a way to solve the problem.

He thought for a while, then asked Zhou Xinshu: "Old Zhou, what is the origin of this Mr. Guo?"

Zhou Xinshu's head was wrapped with gauze, and he looked rather funny. He replied: "As far as the old man is concerned, Mr. Guo was born in Juren and served as a county old man in Guangdong. His family has tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. The richest household. In the past few years, quite a few shabby households have given him land and attached themselves to him."

Sun Dan smiled: "It's just a county magistrate with a family background, it's nothing. He is a scholar, and he probably understands the truth. The county has just come to Fangshan and is about to communicate with the local big families. Zhou Xinshu, When you take my post to see Mr. Guo, say, the county asked him not to get involved in the affairs of the Zhou and Hua families. He also asked him to return the land of the Hua family to the Hua family. The Hua family has land, and if they use the lack of land as an excuse, they will not be able to hold the ground. At that time, the county will naturally give you a judgment. Also, let him send out the group of people It’s gone. My Ming Dynasty naturally has the rule of law, so it’s nothing to bring a group of rogues here. Be careful that the county will arrest all those people and throw them in the prison to drink the northwest wind.”

Without Mr. Guo being involved in this matter, things would be easier.

Zhou Xinshu was overjoyed, kowtowed again, held Sun Dan's post with both hands, rode a big green donkey, and ran towards Guo's house happily with two Zhou family's youngsters.

The Guo family is about [-] miles away from Zhoujiazhuang, and it takes more than half a day to go back and forth.

Sun Dan, the majesty of the county, naturally couldn't wait in Zhoujiazhuang, and ate the hot noodle soup prepared by Zhou Xinshu's wife and daughter. After warming up, he said "Excuse me!" and went to Feng Zhen and others to leave.

When it was time to go out, Zhou Xinshu's daughter suddenly called out: "Master, please stop, the girl has something to say."

Sun Dan was stopped by a little girl, and felt strange. According to the instructions, women are very shy. She can stop a county magistrate like herself. I don't know how much courage it takes.

So Sun Dan stopped in his tracks and said kindly, "Say it."

The little girl wept and said: "My lord, the little girl said she gave it to Hua Daniu, and the news has spread throughout Fangshan County. Since the little girl has a marriage contract, she will naturally marry the Hua family. Please tell me Master give me a judgment, otherwise, how can the little girl see people."

Sun Dan wanted to laugh: "Okay, I'll find a way to talk about the Hehua and Zhou families. In fact, you two are right in Yemen. It's not impossible to get married, and there is no irreconcilable conflict."

It can be seen that the little girl likes the boss of the Hua family. Love is something that cannot be treated with common sense!
With Sun Dan's promise, the little girl from the Zhou family kowtowed happily again, tears falling down her cheeks.

Sun Dan didn't want to delay any longer, so he comforted the Zhou family with a few words, and then led the people on horseback all the way. After walking for another two hours, they finally arrived at Fangshan County at noon.

Before coming to Fangshan, Sun Dan also heard that Fangshan has [-] households, and the total population is almost [-]. It is considered a large county in the capital.

Calculated by the Ming system, counties with more than [-] households can be called Shangxian, and magistrates can be established.The magistrate has more power than the magistrate of the lower county.

But as soon as he entered the county, Sun Dan realized that the county was too small, as small as a modern town.There are only two streets, one vertical and one horizontal. If you walk, you can walk all over the city in 10 minutes.There is not much population in the city, roughly estimated, at most [-] residents.More of the population is scattered across the countryside.

Speaking of it, ancient China was actually a big rural area.The city is nothing more than a seat of government to the common people, and has nothing to do with them.

The entire county town is full of low-rise houses, and the streets are not to mention dirty, but also so narrow that people can hardly breathe.The streets are not paved with bluestone slabs like in Beijing, and loess is exposed in many places.It has been snowing for the past few days, but today is a sunny day.As soon as the sun shines, the temperature rises, but the ground becomes muddy, making the horses impatient and snorting constantly.

The county government office is located on Yamenkou Street at the crossroads.
The gate of the yamen was broken and torn, and only two old and messy yamen servants were cleaning the snow, cement, and water at the door weakly with brooms.

Sun Dan showed the letter, and the two hurriedly welcomed Sun Dan and others in.

The inside is still very dilapidated. The so-called officials do not repair the yamen. According to the two people, this yamen is still the old house when Chengzu was born.

However, the ground inside is paved with stone slabs, which is very comfortable for people to walk on.

After entering the yamen, Sun Jia was already waiting there. Seeing that everyone was exhausted after walking for a day, she hurriedly arranged for Sun Dan and the others.

Sun Jia's current identity on the surface is Sun Dan's housekeeper, but in fact she is the agent of Sun Dan's economic activities in Fangshan.She values ​​filial piety in her body, but because she has found something to do again, her spirit is much better than before.

After getting settled, Sun Dan was about to ask Sun Jia how she was doing in Fangshan these days, when she heard someone outside beating drums and shouting from time to time: "Master Qingtian, we have been wronged!"

As soon as the butt touched the stool, someone came to beat the grievance drum. What happened today?
Although Sun Dan was already tired, he raised his spirits and ordered Shengtang to ask questions.

As soon as I sat down in the main hall, I saw a group of people rushing in carrying a seriously wounded person, "Hula!" Kneeling on the ground, and then crying continuously.

Sun Dan looked intently, but the leader was Zhou Xinshu's wife.

She and her daughter had already cried into two tearful people, wailing: "Master Qingtian, you have to decide for us!"

"Ah, it's Zhou Xinshu?" Sun Dan was taken aback.

"Yes." Zhou Xinshu's wife hurriedly moved away.

Sun Dan looked intently and saw that Zhou Xinshu was lying on the stretcher covered in blood, and he was exhaling more than breathing in.

Seeing Sun Dan looking over, Zhou Xinshu only moved his eyeballs, and two old tears flowed down his cheeks.

Sun Dan hurriedly asked: "What's the matter, didn't Zhou Xinshu go to Guo's house, and it became like this in a blink of an eye, who beat him?"

Zhou Xinshu's wife said: "I went to Guo's house, but as soon as I arrived at Guo's house, I saw people from Hua's family and people from Daxing were there. If there was a disagreement, the group of beasts fought with my old Zhou. How about Lao Zhou? It's their opponent... Huh, after the fight, they were thrown onto the snow. Master, you have to decide for our Zhou family!"

Sun Dan rushed upwards and asked, "Did Zhou Xinshu go to Zhou's house and show them my post?"

"I saw it, but Mr. Guo just sneered and tore up your post."

"Ah! So shameless?"

(End of this chapter)