"Of course not," Mr. Song said calmly: "There is no movement at all at the new salt field. There is no wood cut down for drying, and there is no smoke from cooking salt. Obviously the new salt field is just a cover and has not been opened. The county
The government still relies on the salt field here in Longchi, so why should I go to such trouble?"
Song Meng immediately asked: "Did Magistrate Bai frame us?"
Mr. Song paused and shook his head, "No, there is no need for him to do such a thing. Dalang, the most important thing for you now is your studies. This year, try to go to a provincial school, or go to the capital to take the imperial examination.
You don’t have to worry about these things at home.”
Uncle Song also said: "Go back to study quickly."
Song Meng is not young anymore. He clearly distinguishes between his family and his country. Of course he also knows where the conflict between the family and the county government comes from. He pursed his lips and said: "Grandfather, father, why are Magistrate Lu and Magistrate Bai
Have you always wanted to snatch the salt farm from our family? The previous Magistrates Fang and Liu didn’t say anything, so why can’t they coexist peacefully with us like Fang and Liu did?”
Uncle Song was about to speak, but Master Song had already said: "So we are trying to communicate with County Magistrate Bai now, hoping that he can be like the previous Magistrate Fang and County Magistrate Liu. Okay, don't worry about these things and just concentrate on your studies."
Yes. If you can pass the Ming Jing examination or become a Jinshi, and become an official in the court, you will be able to rely on the Song family in the future, and naturally no one will easily bully our family anymore."
When Uncle Song saw his son, he bowed and left like this, with a very ugly look on his face.
Before his son could walk away, he said dissatisfiedly: "Father, why do you say such things to Dalang? This child is very competitive. If you tell him like this, aren't you letting him get involved?"
Master Song's face darkened, "Why, do you suspect that I am plotting against Da Lang? Don't forget, he is my eldest grandson, can I still harm him?"
Uncle Song didn't say anything. Da Lang was his grandson, but he had more than just Da Lang's grandson, but he only had Da Lang's son.
Mr. Song didn't notice his son's face. He was in a bad mood and muttered: "I didn't expect that the county school would be the first to cause trouble. It seems that Bai Shan's prestige in Beihai County is not low now."
He sighed, "The foundation of our Song family is still too shallow. It would have been nice to have two more county magistrates like Fang County Magistrate and Liu County Magistrate, but we met Lu County Magistrate and Bai County Magistrate..."
Bai Shan stepped forward to comfort the student, and when he ran to the medical office to see Lao Ba who had hit his head, he also said to Zhou Man: "The foundation of the Song family is not deep, it just looks huge, but as long as you pull it out with force, it can be easily broken."
It can be pulled out."
He said: "Speaking of the Song family's fortune, it has only happened in the past twenty or thirty years. Before that, the foundation of the Song family was not as good as that of the Zhao family outside the city.
After Zhou Man saw the patient, he took out two peaches from nowhere, gave one to Bai Shan, took one for himself, and sat on the railing, gnawing on the peaches and talking to him, "How did the Song family get rich?"
"Speaking of it, it was my fourth county magistrate named Wu. At that time, he invited the Song family to be his master. Oh, he was the father of this Master Song."
"Within two years, Magistrate Wu died of illness while in office. Magistrate Fang came, and he brought his own. That's right. The old man Song could no longer serve as a master in the county government, so he found a managerial position in the salt field and retired.
Got down."
"Magistrate Fang thought he was interesting, so he never touched him. Within two years, he felt that he was getting too old, so he retired from the salt farm and asked his son, now Mr. Song, to take over the management position of the salt farm.
"Bai Shandao: "At that time, Magistrate Fang didn't pay attention to the low-level official who was the manager of the salt field. The salt field was basically under the control of the county government, and his words were still effective."
"But this Mr. Song is more powerful than his father. He has been inserting his own people wherever possible, ranging from small stewards and bosses to the new long-term salt boilers selected every year. He has been running the business slowly.
Wait, by the time Magistrate Fang leaves, half of the people in the salt field are already under Master Song."
"The county magistrate Liu who took over was muddle-headed and restrained," Bai Shan sighed: "Fang County Cheng said that as soon as magistrate Liu took office, the Song family gave him power, and then before the relationship with magistrate Liu deteriorated,
He also sent a large sum of money, dozens and dozens of them, and Magistrate Liu was frightened. He thought that the Song family were such powerful squires here, so he did not dare to act rashly."
"After two or three years, he found out the details of the Song family. Mr. Song already had all the salt fields in his hands. Moreover, County Magistrate Liu and the Song family had gotten along well in the past few years. He didn't want to break up with each other.
, so I have been hesitant to take action.”
Zhou Man was dumbfounded, "This Master Song is very powerful, but since he is so powerful, why would he want to try so hard to undermine the imperial court? There are so many profitable businesses in this world, why do you have to hang yourself on the salt field?"
Bai Shan smiled and said: "There are many profitable businesses in the world, but the most profitable ones, besides salt and iron, are the tea, silk and porcelain businesses. The Song family is not a very powerful noble family. They can still do it in Beihai County."
He is a country squire, but after leaving Beihai County, he is nothing."
"If you want to change your family, you need to study and have a good reputation. They obviously don't want to do business. Controlling the salt farm should be the best way they can think of to make money and gain power."
Zhou Man then thought of his own family and said proudly: "My family doesn't force things. Everyone has their own way of life. Sometimes they have to take care of themselves, but sometimes they can't take it too far. If you ask me, Mr. Song can take care of it."
It was too lenient and too long. When he was young and strong, he was already thinking about the career of his descendants for the next three or four generations. Isn't this looking for trouble?"
Bai Shan nodded, but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong, so he couldn't help but ask her, "Don't you think about the future of your children in the future?"
Zhou Man said: "I don't want to. I only want them to have good character. I will send them to learn whatever they want to learn. Of course, what they want to do when they grow up is also their own business. But if they ask
I, I will also give them advice."
Seeing how proud she was, Bai Shan couldn't help but raise his hand and press her head and said: "You have grown up. You should be more reserved when you are proud. Don't raise your chin too proudly."
Zhou Man slapped his hand away, glanced at him and asked, "Will you require them to serve as officials in the future?"
"That's not the case," Bai Shan bent one leg and leaned on the railing, looking at the blue sky and said: "Being an official is fun sometimes, but more often I feel very constrained. If I hadn't made the decision before,
Hongzhi, and have been working hard for this, I don’t think I will stick to the officialdom.”
He said: "So if they don't want to be officials in the future, it's fine to do other things. As long as they have land and books at home, and they can continue to farm and study, the inheritance will naturally continue."