Su Hao told Deng Kui to arrange for vigilance to prevent any unexpected events. At the same time, he sent a messenger and rushed back to Huai'an Prefecture overnight to report the news to Han Wen.
The matter of landowners concealing land acres was an open secret in the Ming Dynasty. This kind of thing happened in every prefecture and county, but the severity was different. The law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates: Anyone who cheats on the land and omits the land registration will be punished by one to five acres. , forty floggings, plus one level for every five acres. A hundred canes are used to punish crimes, and the fields are brought to the official, and the taxes and grain hidden therein are levied according to the number. The regulations are very strict, but in reality, such regulations are basically It is in name only. There are tens of thousands of landlords all over the country who have concealed their fields, but a few have actually been found out and questioned.
However, there is still a big difference between whether the law has provisions or not. The difference is that once the government wants to embarrass someone, it can just pull out a law and use it. In a situation like Zeng Fengxian's, things went too far. Su Hao directly exposed what he had hidden about his farmland, and he had no choice but to run for his life in a hurry.
Han Wen had known the following situation for a long time. When he sent Su Hao to resolve the land dispute, he did not ask Su Hao to do such a trick. But when he received Su Hao's report, he suddenly became excited. He felt that this might be a breakthrough for him to open up a situation in Huai'an Prefecture. Early the next morning after receiving the news, he sent Tian Younian, the general judge, to Andong County to handle the matter on behalf of the prefecture.
After such a big incident, Tan Yiheng, the magistrate of Andong County, could not sit still and took a group of government servants to Mulberry Manor to understand the situation. Tian Younian and Tan Yiheng jointly worked together and quickly put forward the following handling suggestions:
The eight acres of farmland Hu Lin occupied by Zeng Fengxian was returned to Hu Lin, and the boundary stakes were re-erected to determine its location;
Most of the more than 3,400 acres of farmland verified by Zeng Fengxian's family was confiscated as official land and leased to farmers in the village for farming;
Because the Zeng family members were unaware of the concealment of the land, they refused to pursue the matter and left 100 acres of the Zeng family's land as their food field, allowing them to support themselves;
A sea arrest document was issued to arrest Zeng Fengxian and several of his personal followers who were absconding due to fear of crime.
Among these opinions, the third one was suggested by Su Hao. He had a somewhat modern concept of "crime is not as bad as the family" and could not bear to see those women and children reduced to official slaves because of Zeng Fengxian's crimes. After all, this case was Su Hao's. He succeeded, so both Tian Younian and Tan Yiheng were willing to sell him to save face. As for the pardoned Zeng family members, they kowtowed to Su Hao like pecking rice and regarded him as their savior.
What happened in Sangyuanzhuang spread quickly throughout Huai'an Prefecture, and the shock it caused was no less than the earthquake that occurred in Yancheng more than ten years ago. A wealthy gentry with thousands of acres of fertile land suddenly died because of a foreign worker. With just one word, the head of the department had his house confiscated and had to flee to the end of the world. All the other powerful landowners would not feel uneasy, fearing that the same bad luck would happen to them.
Finding a landowner in Huai'an Prefecture who has not concealed his land is more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. Before this, both the government and county governments turned a blind eye to such matters. As long as the landlord showed his filial piety, If the money can be delivered in time, no one will pursue it. But it is different now. A 250-year-old director of the Ministry of Industry came with a group of soldiers who are good at surveying to measure the land of the landlord. Behind the head of the Ministry of Industry, there is also a new prefect. Perhaps it is the new official who takes office as a trigger, and his tactics are indeed ruthless.
"This is how to do ah!"
In Tangqiao Town, Yancheng County, the big landowner Hu Yuanchong was worriedly discussing countermeasures with his steward You Shengyuan. Over the years, the Hu family had accumulated five to six thousand acres of farmland through plunder and plunder, and after paying taxes,
At that time, he claimed that there were only more than 2,000 acres. If Su Hao found out about his home, his fate would be no different from Zeng Fengxian.
What made him most uneasy was that he also took advantage of the flood to occupy the land of a farmer in the town, and the farmer also went to Huai'an Mansion to file a complaint. If nothing unexpected happened, Su Hao would soon take someone with him
Came to Tangqiao Town to handle this case.
"Dong Weng, in my humble opinion, let's return those acres of land to Cui Erniu's family to avoid trouble." You Shengyuan suggested.
Hu Yuanchong frowned and said: "Just return a few acres of land to Cui Erniu. What I'm worried about is that it's too late to return the land now. This boss Su seems to be not only helping the poor to get their land back, but also
I was holding back and wanted to do something about Qingzhang. This is something that Zhang Shouxu of the imperial court wanted to do in the 8th year of Wanli but never finished it."
"No, that's not the case. The Qingzhang matter is a thankless job. As an official in the capital, why would he mess with this matter?" You Shengyuan said.
Hu Yuanchong shook his head and said: "I can't tell clearly. No one can figure out the origin of this person named Su. I heard that he has a very tough background. Maybe he wants to make some achievements in Huai'an so that he can go back and find a better job."
A great official."
"Damn it, if he wants to be an official, he's going to kill us!" You Shengyuan said angrily.
Hu Yuanchong sighed and said: "What can we do? He is a capital official and has the support of the magistrate. It is useless for us to ask the magistrate for help."
"Then...can we just hand over the fields obediently?" You Shengyuan said.
Hu Yuanchong said: "Didn't you hear what people said? In the past few days, he has already checked five or six large households. Some people have handed over their extra land to the government, even if it has been cleared. There are also people who want to play tricks and refuse to hand over.
As a result, people and property were seized by the government. Now all the big households in Huai'an Prefecture are panicking, not knowing when it will be their turn. I'm thinking that in the next two or three days, they should come to our Tangqiao Town."
"Then what should we do?" You Shengyuan was dumbfounded, "How about I bring some money to see this Master Su and ask him to let us go?"
"I'm afraid it won't work." Hu Yuanchong said.
When the master and servant were sighing and unable to do anything, the doorman of the house suddenly ran in and said to Hu Yuanchong in a panic: "Master, there is someone outside asking to see you."
"Ah!" Hu Yuanchong's eyes widened and he couldn't hold his breath. He stammered and asked: "Is it...is...is it an official job?"
"It's not an official, but someone who came here in the past, Zeng Yuanwai from Andong County..." Menzi replied.
"Zeng Fengxian!" Hu Yuanchong was even more surprised than before. He had long heard about Zeng Fengxian's absconding in fear of crime, and there is still a wanted order for Zeng Fengxian posted outside the gate of Yancheng County. When Hu Yuanchong was chatting with others, Zeng Fengxian
It was speculated that Zeng Fengxian might have fled overseas with the money. Who would have expected that such a person would appear at his door.
Andong County and Yancheng County both belong to Huai'an Prefecture. Hu Yuanchong and Zeng Fengxian are both wealthy locals. They sometimes attend gatherings together, so they have known each other for a long time. Hu Yuanchong once visited Zeng's house, and Zeng Fengxian also visited Hu's house. They are relatively familiar.
We have a familiar relationship. Zeng Fengxian came to the Hu family at this time. What happened?
"Mr. You, do you think it would be better for me to see him, or not to see him?" Hu Yuanchong asked You Shengyuan for advice.
You Shengyuan pondered for a moment and said: "Dong Weng, as a villain, it would be better for you to meet him and listen to what he wants to say. Wouldn't it be better if he could give us some effective tricks?
If he wants to escape from us, we can just kidnap him and hand him over to the government. In this way, wouldn’t we have a chance to talk to Mr. Su?”
"Okay, let's follow Mr. Hu Yuanchong's plan." Hu Yuanchong said, the friendship between these big families is nothing more than this. When necessary, they can betray each other in exchange for their own wealth.
After agreeing on a strategy, Hu Yuanchong asked his disciples to bring Zeng Fengxian and his entourage to his living room, while he took You Shengyuan with him to welcome Zeng Fengxian's arrival in a warm manner.
"Oh, Brother Zeng, which gust of wind brought you here?" Hu Yuanchong greeted Zeng Fengxian hypocritically.
Zeng Fengxian was covered in dust and his face was unshaven. He bowed his hands to Hu Yuanchong casually and returned the salute. Then he sat down on the chair and said: "Brother Hu, there is no need to be so pretentious. Don't brother Hu know about our brothers' affairs?"
?”
Hu Yuanchong was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "Hu said a few things about Brother Zeng through hearsay, and I don't know whether it was true or not. I originally planned to send a family member to Chaohe Town to inquire about it."
Zeng Fengxian said: "Brother Hu, now is not the time to make sarcastic remarks. My brother took the risk and came to Tangqiao Town to meet Brother Hu to relieve Brother Hu. Su Hao will be coming to Tangqiao Town soon. Su Hao will arrive.
Today, when Brother Hu’s family is in ruins, is Brother Hu really not worried at all?”
"This..." Hu Yuanchong was blocked by Zeng Fengxian's straightforward words. He didn't know what to say for a long time.
Zeng Fengxian was actually not ignorant of tact, but after these days' experiences, he no longer had the patience to pretend to be polite. He had to use the simplest method to get Hu Yuanchong to agree to form an alliance with him to jointly deal with such a powerful enemy as Su Hao.
"Brother Hu, this Su Hao has a great background, and he doesn't recognize his relatives, so Brother Hu must not take any chances. At this time, we can only avoid this disaster if we all unite as one and deal with it together."
Zeng Fengxian said.
"What does Brother Zeng mean by unity?" Hu Yuanchong asked.
Zeng Fengxian said: "I have already thought about it. You can't hide from Su Hao, and sending money will have no effect. If you want him to stop, there is only one way, and that is... to cut off his evil hands!"
"Cut?" Hu Yuanchong was startled, "What Brother Zeng said, does he mean to fight him hard?"
"Exactly." Zeng Fengxian said, "Zeng has been running around Huai'an Mansion these days, just to unite all the rural gentry, and everyone to join forces to deal with this Su Hao. Su Hao has more than 200 officers and soldiers with him, and we can only rely on the strength of any one family.
, none of them can match him, but if we can unite, we can make him die without a burial place."
"Brother Zeng, you know that Hu Mou has always been a law-abiding person. Although there are a few servants in the family, they can still look after the home and care for the home. If they want to fight, especially with the officers and soldiers, they must not be blamed. Besides, they can't be blamed.
, Killing officers and soldiers is a crime of rebellion, and it will implicate the nine tribes. You must think twice about this matter." Hu Yuanchong said timidly. (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)