The man wearing a big felt hat looked at the endless queue and couldn't help laughing.
On the side, the thin man nodded: "We haven't run away in vain, maybe we can still make a profit!"
A group of them originally went to sea to do business, but a violent storm caused them to deviate from their route and were forced to anchor on a desert island.
If all the goods are lost, they will have to use their savings over the years to pay for the return trip home.
Everyone was unwilling and looking for a way out.
I don't know who noticed that the stones under my feet were different, and then I noticed the swarms of parked birds and the low mountains.
"Guano Mountain——"
Treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and you can make a little profit.
So they packed the entire ship with guano and returned home.
Unexpectedly, bird droppings are also fertilizer after all. Compared with the limited human fertilizer, bird droppings have an advantage in quantity.
Although the price is low, after selling a whole boat of guano, the original cost can be recovered, and there is even money left to repair the boat, which is really a surprise.
"This is a good business!" the skinny captain murmured: "In the future, when returning to the voyage, we will no longer be afraid of an empty ship. We can even make a profit by transporting bird droppings."
Just after they finished selling, a group of servants stopped them: "Our master invites you to come over!"
In this case, the captain could only walk over.
A rich middle-aged man said indifferently: "How much bird droppings do you have? I want them all!"
"There aren't many left!"
"Then go find it for me and transport it. Don't worry, the price won't be unfair to you."
"How much do you want?"
"As much as you want!" The master said domineeringly: "Did you know that most of the land in Haimen County is saline-alkali land, and bird droppings are a good thing!"
Haimen is close to the sea, which is the most suitable land for local people to cultivate.
The accumulation of guano is enough to transform saline-alkali land into leather and farmland, which is extremely suitable.
An acre of saline-alkali land is only about one acre, while the amount of cultivated land is ten times.
As time goes by, land becomes more and more tense, and converting saline-alkali land into cultivated land has become a common method.
Faced with such a threat, how dare they not be careful?
In the blink of an eye, a large number of merchant ships brought a lot of guano from the sea to various places along the coast, and it was widely welcomed by everyone.
…
The shouts along the streets, along with the strong New Year atmosphere, and the sound of firecrackers made many people shiver.
As the saying goes, the new year is sad.
The debt accumulated over the past year will become a heavy burden that overwhelms the family during the Chinese New Year, making poor families overwhelmed.
Zhang Genlai was lying on the straw pile at home, watching his wife wiping away tears as she persuaded the creditors to come back one by one. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in the living room.
I saw that the original plate of dumplings and several dishes had been eaten up by the group of creditors, leaving the whole family looking at each other.
Several chickens, a basket of eggs, and half a fan of pork were all taken away without any courtesy.
"If it weren't for Dayong's reputation, our family would have to be demolished. How will the head of the family spend this year?"
The woman wiped her eyes with helplessness on her face, and her tone was full of complaints.
"Don't worry, I have a way!"
Zhang Genlai took out half a bag of multigrain flour from his pocket. Although it was yellow and black, it was extremely conspicuous at this time.
"I've been doing odd jobs on the street these days. I knew this group of people would come to loot, so I didn't tell you!"
For a moment, the wives and children all smiled.
After the Chinese New Year, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Genmiao bravely went to her mother-in-law's house and had a meal and a drink.
My brother-in-law was working as a laborer in the county government, so the whole family was naturally hungry, but he had no intention of helping his brother-in-law and his family.
For gamblers, it is a bottomless pit and cannot be trusted.
If he hadn't said hello, these people would have wanted to tear down his house, so they wouldn't have been so polite.
"Brother, believe me, I really want to change. I haven't gambled for half a year, but the debt is too much and the interest is crushing..."
Zhang Genmiao lowered her head and kept pleading.
The brother-in-law didn't want to pay attention to it, but he couldn't stand his sister's plea. He could only say: "Don't say I don't take care of you."
"The imperial court is preparing to establish a vassal state again. If you look like this, you can follow the vassal king to the vassal state. When the time comes, you can sell the land to pay off the debt and open up a few acres of land in Nanyang. Wouldn't it be easy and comfortable?"
"Nanyang? I won't go!" Zhang Genmiao shook his head: "There are snakes everywhere, locusts flying in the sky, malaria and other things are everywhere. It is really a deadly place!"
"That's all, then go to Taiwan!"
Brother-in-law Qi Dayong hated the fact that iron cannot become steel: "They hire people to cut sugar cane there and they can earn one or two yuan a month. If you are tired, you can pay off the debt in seven or eight years."
"Then let's go to Nanyang!"
Thinking of the hard work of cutting sugar cane under the scorching sun, Zhang Genmiao rationally chose to go to the Nanyang Kingdom.
When the time comes, I can open up a manor and take my family there to enjoy the blessings. It will be more comfortable than staying in the fields for seven or eight years and returning home.
"Okay, as for the interest, I'll go talk to you and see if I can reduce or reduce it a little, so that it doesn't accumulate more and more..."
Qi Dayong nodded and showed an imperceptible smile.
After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Qi Dayong came to the foreman's home carrying a gift: "Zheng Tou, I have already mobilized ten families of men. They are willing to follow your highnesses to the Nanyang vassal to reclaim wasteland!"
"Okay!" Zheng Yamen showed a smile and patted the latter's shoulder:
"Very good, keep working hard, I will give you credit when the time comes, and you will be promoted to Class 3 soon!"
Although he knew it was a cake painting, Qi Dayong still showed a happy smile.
In the yamen, the number of white servants is several times, even more than ten times, than that of the third-class yamen servants. In terms of salary, they can only receive about ten silver coins per year, which is less than half of the latter. There is a huge difference in power.
Because, this time, he knew that there was little hope for the task assigned by the county government, but he still worked hard to complete it.
Without it, over time, there will always be opportunities.
The three classes of government officials are no longer allowed to be hereditary, but are selected among the white servants, and ordinary people also have the opportunity to be selected.
In order to appease the huge group of white servants, the county government had to give up half of its quota. That is, only one of the two retired government servants would be succeeded, and the other one would have to be selected from ordinary white servants.
The ten households that Zheng Yamen reported first immediately won praise from the county government.
Immediately afterwards, there was a yamen officer in the Tongpan Yamen who was only forty-eight years old, but he did not wait until he turned fifty and retired early.
The reason is simple: my son was admitted as a scholar.
The imperial court stipulated that for those whose children were famous, their parents and brothers were not allowed to serve as officials and could only be forced to come down.
As soon as Qi Dayong became famous in the county government, he immediately looked for an opportunity, collected a hundred yuan, and came to the home of the county magistrate's master.
Enter respectfully and leave with a smile on your face.
Sure enough, within a few days, he was promoted to a member of the Yamen and went to work in the Tongpan Yamen, becoming one of the two hundred officials in the entire county.
"Dayong, I don't have to go to Nanyang!" Zhang Genmiao beamed:
"After you became a full-time soldier, those creditors took the initiative to pay back the IOUs!"
"No, you still want to go!" Qi Dayong sat calmly, drinking tea, and said calmly: "Your name has been reported. If you don't go, won't I suffer?"
"If something happens to me, you won't even be able to go to Nanyang!"
"Hehe, what's the point!" Zhang Genmiao smiled as if he was a self-taught person: "There are several people with the same name as me in the county, why don't we just catch any of them?"
This makes sense, and my mother and sister beside me also echoed it.
A few days later, a banquet was held in the village. The clan elders, who used to be five or six in number, also attended the banquet with friendly smiles. This was called a close relationship.
After the banquet, the patriarch took him and whispered:
"Dayong, you are the most promising in the clan. I am going to trouble you with something now."
"You can just say it, and I will do whatever I can do!"
Subtext, if you can't do it, forget it.
The patriarch didn't understand what he meant, so he took out a bag of silver coins from his arms. The bag was bulging and weighed five or six kilograms.
Qi Dayong weighed it and thought it was probably a hundred yuan!
"I am a useless person. I usually live in idleness and do nothing serious. Not long ago I went to steal a married woman. I was caught and raped. Now I am being taken to jail..."
"If you are exiled, you will have to live a hard life. I'm afraid your life will be lost! You are working as an errand in the Yamen, can you take it easy?"
The patriarch said softly.
According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, if anyone commits adultery, his husband can kill him on the spot without guilt, but if he is sent to the Yamen, he will be punished with ninety sticks.
According to the new regulations of the Shaowu Dynasty, all those who are not subject to death penalty will be exiled.
Active migration and exile are two different things.
Not to mention anything else, there is no freedom in exile, and you will never be able to go home for the rest of your life, which is very miserable.
Hearing this, Qi Dayong narrowed his eyes and had an idea: "This case is in the hands of the Third Master (Tong Juan). The evidence is conclusive. Changes are impossible, but one or two things can be cleared up!"
"oh?"
"The people who are pretending to be immigrants are originally going to move to Nanyang, so there is no need to be exiled. After a few years in Nanyang, won't they be able to go home?"
Qi Dayong smiled and said: "This is my biggest option, exile or migration, what do you think?"
"Migrate!" The clan leader gritted his teeth and said, "It's better to let his wife and children take care of him than to be exiled!"
The next day, Qi Dayong went to the Tongpan Yamen and found the master by familiar means. He spent thirty silver coins to clear the way.
Of course, this little thing is nothing. Zhang Genmiao's name was replaced by an adulterer's criminal, getting the best of both worlds.
Spend another twenty yuan to Master Tongjian, show your noble hand, and turn a blind eye.
The substitution of names is particularly smooth.
Everything is so secretive that no one can detect the transaction.
In Tongpan Yamen, Qi Dayong seemed very leisurely.
In general, small cases are judged by village elders, village chiefs or clan elders. Only major cases involving human life are directly heard by the general judge, and there are only a dozen cases a year.
The Tongxuan Yamen has jurisdiction over arrests, inspections, prison sentences, and public security. It is in control of the judicial work of a county and cannot be underestimated.
A sergeant like him is quite popular.
Bringing food and drink to the prisoners, allowing family members to visit, conducting searches during arrests, etc. will all be taken care of, which can be said to be extremely comfortable.
In just one month, he received about ten yuan, several times his salary.
On this day, someone reported that someone had died in the inn.
Qi Dayong and two yamen servants came out in a hurry.
The innkeeper stuffed each of them with a dollar without hesitation: "I'm sorry to bother you, businessmen!"
"Little things!"
Boss Sun, who took the lead, sealed off the scene, collected evidence, and conducted a direct autopsy.
Although yamen officials are no longer hereditary, there is an exception to the rule. If it is not hereditary, no one will do it.
"I was poisoned and ate something I shouldn't have eaten!"
As he said that, Wu Zuo pointed to the porridge on the table.
Lao Sun's eyebrows moved: "Arrest everyone in the inn and wait for the master's review!"
Not many poor people live in inns.
At this time, everyone was aggrieved.
I had no choice but to generously donate thirty or fifty yuan to let him give up.
The innkeeper, along with a group of chefs and waiters, were taken into custody.
In the end, with no one pleading guilty, the innkeeper was convicted and beaten.
After all, the judge cannot fail to solve the case. This is related to political performance.
After thinking that the matter would end perfectly like this, Qi Dayong had to escort the prisoner to Fucheng and let the Fucheng judge conduct a second trial.
The prefectural magistrate saw the flaw, but still followed the county magistrate's criticism. After all, who doesn't love money?
"Can you plead guilty?"
"What a small injustice!"
The Fu Tong judge frowned, okay, the beating was not enough: "Humph, unjustly accused?"
After another beating, the file became even more complete.
When he was arrested and sent to the provincial government, he was reexamined by the inspector. He noticed the flaw:
"You coveted your guest's money, and because you molested your wife, you held a grudge and poisoned her to make her sick in bed. You did not think about it but overdosed and caused her death. Can you plead guilty?"
"What an injustice!" The innkeeper also had experience in the world. When he saw him wearing a scarlet robe, he immediately knew he was a provincial official and kowtowed hurriedly:
"The younger one's wife is twelve years older than me. She is already fifty years old now. How could anyone tease her? As for money, although the younger one is not rich, at least our family has 30 to 50 acres of fertile land and an inn. As a young man, he is a wealthy man.
, how dare you mess around..."
The inspector nodded and showed a smile:
"Come here, transfer the case file to the Prosecutor's Office, and order the deputy envoy to retry the case!"
After saying that, the inspector smiled and said: "It's a good thing you were born today, otherwise you would have been gone."
Shaowu's new policy hears cases at the county, government and provincial levels. Once a suspect claims injustice, he must be retried. Therefore, the county and government can collude, but the prosecutors have to be careful.
Once the case is reported to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for review and found to be flawed, the inspector will not be promoted, but will be easily reprimanded.
At the same time, the greatest benevolence lies in not allowing localities to use torture on criminals.
Once the criminal dies, it is assumed that the case was a result of a beating, and the official or official defaults on default, and it is normal to be dismissed or demoted.
Therefore, the inspector sighed.
Otherwise, this guy would have been killed in the county without any evidence, and he would have died unjustly in prison.
The case was dismissed by the province, and the county and government judges were shocked:
"The files are clearly done perfectly!"
However, if the prosecutor retrials and the verdict is reversed, their future will be gloomy.
With this thought in mind, he hurriedly waved his money bag around, but was held down by the inspector.
The county magistrate, the magistrate neglects his duties, is demoted, demoted and retained in office.
The county magistrate and the prefectural magistrate neglected their duties, took life seriously, were dismissed from office, jailed, and exiled for three thousand miles.
Big upheaval in officialdom.
The first time someone came, the official protection failed.
"You're so confused. How could Taitai give up his own future for you Sesame Mung Bean officials?"
"What's the origin of this place?"
"You don't even know this? Peng Qing from Fujian!"
For a time, the case caused a sensation throughout the province.
At this time, Peng Peng's previous deeds also began to spread.
When he was appointed as the county magistrate, he took drastic measures to rectify the administration of officials and reform bad regulations; he lightened corvees and reduced taxes to reduce the burden on the people; he also established free schools and school palaces to revitalize local education.
He was not afraid of power, and the gentry still severely punished those dignitaries who harmed one party; he enforced the law impartially, not afraid of power, and vindicated unjust cases for suspicious cases that occurred in this county and neighboring counties.
He was given the nickname Putian Peng Qingtian.
I had a cold, so I slept until after 11 o'clock, coughing and typing at the same time!