Zhou Zhenghao is one of the largest landowners in Huai'an City.
He was a candidate in the first year of Tianqi. After winning the examination, Zhou Zhenghao also participated in four general examinations, but he was never awarded the Jinshi. He gradually gave up the idea of becoming an official. But even this status of being a candidate made Zhou Zhenghao
Hao became a well-known figure in Huai'an.
On weekdays, scholars in Huai'an Prefecture would gather to recite poems and recite poems, and Zhou Zhenghao would inevitably be present to join in the fun. Sometimes there were no bureaucrats present, and Zhou Zhenghao, who was a scholar, would preside over the gathering. Zhou Zhenghao was an eloquent speaker, and although he could not compliment his poetry, he was very good at reading.
People serve food, so he is quite famous among scholars in Huai'an Prefecture.
When it comes to literati in Huai'an Prefecture, Zhou Zhenghao is one of the top few. Even when the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture sees Zhou Zhenghao, he must treat him with courtesy and call him Duke Zhou.
Being like a fish in water among scholars is not only a beautiful thing, but also has practical benefits. The prefect looked at Zhou Zhenghao with a high look, and Zhou Zhenghao finally had someone to rely on. The government of Huai'an is in Shanyang County, and the county government of Shanyang County
Those government officials and housekeepers were all smarter than monkeys. When they heard that Zhou Zhenghao could "stand firm and speak" in front of the prefect, they all rushed to flatter Zhou Zhenghao.
Those government officials not only did not collect Zhou Zhenghao's land tax, but also did not hesitate to favor Zhou Zhenghao when he encountered a lawsuit with others.
Zhou Zhenghao is a very good person, and every time he is taken care of by an official, he always has to deal with it a lot. Over time, Zhou Zhenghao has become a "good person of Zhou" that everyone in the government is happy to make friends with.
This situation made Zhou Zhenghao's family fortune soar like Beijing's "Turtle Rocket".
Not to mention the fields and shops that were snatched from various lawsuits, including land donations, Zhou Zhenghao has more than 6,000 acres of fertile land. These fields were not only actively donated by small businessmen trying to evade taxes, but also by market scoundrels.
He dedicated his controversial property to Zhou Zhenghao and turned someone else's land into Zhou Zhenghao's.
The latter kind of donation is called "guilty donation" and is an important source for Zhou Zhenghao to obtain land.
Starting from the first year of Tianqi, Zhou Zhenghao's land has doubled every year. Because Zhou Zhenghao knew people in the government and was powerful, the scoundrels in the market were like flies seeing carrion, and rushed to "offer" land to the Zhou family.
.These green men inexplicably caused some troubles and disputes with the common people, and then took the land to the Zhou family.
The land passed down from generation to generation suddenly belonged to Zhou Zhenghao, and they had no choice but to file a lawsuit with Zhou Zhenghao. However, Zhou Zhenghao always won in the end. The small farmers who were forced to sell their sons and daughters by Zhou Zhenghao had no choice.
There are also fifty households among one hundred households.
Zhou Zhenghao had one wife and six concubines, and these wives gave him five sons and seven daughters. When Zhou Zhenghao reached middle age, he was very proud of himself.
However, Zhou Zhenghao's happy life came to an end because of Li Zhi's southern expedition in the spring of the 19th year of Chongzhen.
Zhou Zhenghao had previously participated in the "gentry self-rescue" initiated by Qian Qianyi and donated one thousand taels of silver to Qian Qianyi's Jiangbei Second Town. The money was handed over through the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture, and Zhou Zhenghao did not publicize it loudly. But Zhou Zhenghao
Hao knew that once the prefect of Huai'an was caught by Li Zhi, his sponsorship of Jiangbei Second Town would definitely be publicized.
Huai'an is very close to Shandong, almost bordering it. People in Huai'an can often learn about Li Zhi's affairs in Shandong from visitors from Shandong. All the news from Shandong proves that Li Zhi is a ruthless man who kills without blinking an eye.
Character: Zhou Zhenghao was a little frightened when he donated one thousand taels of silver.
When Li Zhi attacked the Qing Dynasty, the Second Town of Jiangbei stabbed Li Zhi from behind. With Li Zhi's character of revenge, since he withstood the north-south attack by the Qing Dynasty and the Jiangbei Army, it was impossible not to go south to punish the scholars in the south.
But what he didn't expect was that this retribution would come so quickly.
This morning, 20,000 minzhuang greeted Li Zhi's siege. Zhou Zhenghao donated another 2,000 taels for this minzhuang a few days ago. He originally thought that these minzhuang could defend for half a month. By then, Jiangbei's army might attack Huai'an and
Li Zhi fought a decisive battle. However, Zhou Zhenghao's idea turned out to be a fantasy after all. It only took more than an hour for Huai'an City to be conquered by Li Zhi. Li Zhi's Tiger Army, armed to the teeth, rushed into Huai'an Fucheng and captured him alive in the prefect's Yamen.
Magistrate of Huai'an.
Zhou Zhenghao knew that Li Zhi had mastered the list of donors and would definitely kill people according to the list. The only way left for Zhou Zhenghao to survive was to escape before Li Zhi could raise the butcher's knife.
Zhou Zhenghao waited for everyone to be asleep in the middle of the night, and sneaked to the city wall with his five sons and six grandsons. After observing for an hour, Zhou Zhenghao finally escaped from Huai'an City from the collapsed section of the city wall.
Zhou Zhenghao had heard that Li Zhi never killed women. So as long as the men of the Zhou family escaped, the Zhou family would be safe.
After Zhou Zhenghao escaped from Huai'an City, he fled all the way south, trying to escape to Yangzhou City where Jiangbei Army was stationed. However, the Zhou family's children were all packed with goldfish. The packages were very heavy and they ran extremely slowly. They ran for an hour under the moonlight.
The Zhou family was so tired that they were all out of breath.
After running for another quarter of an hour, he saw a small village surrounded by earthen walls. A wooden door half a person's height was closed at the entrance of the village. Zhou Zhenghao walked to the wooden door and took a look and found a well in the middle of the village.
Zhou Zhenghao's little grandson was very thirsty after running around. When he saw someone shouting: "Grandpa, I'm thirsty."
Zhou Zhenghao has always loved his little grandson. When he heard this, he handed his parcel to his eldest son and said, "Don't be afraid, grandpa will scoop some water for you!"
Zhou Zhenghao looked at the wooden door, stepped on the door panel and tried to climb over, but accidentally made some noise.
As if they were facing a formidable enemy, the Zhou family all stopped all movements and cautiously observed the movements in the village.
Fortunately, Zhou Zhenghao's actions did not wake up the villagers. Zhou Zhenghao licked his lips, jumped over the wooden door with the soles of his feet, and walked carefully towards the well in the middle of the village. Zhou Zhenghao walked to the well, observed it, and then removed the wooden door.
The bucket was carefully put down. There was no sound at all when the wooden bucket was put down. Zhou Zhenghao felt happy and started to pull up the bucket of water.
However, while Zhou Zhenghao was stealing water, the door of a thatched hut next to Zhou Zhenghao was suddenly pushed open, and a man in his twenties suddenly walked out, lifted up his tattered clothes and wanted to urinate in the corner of the house.
He suddenly saw Zhou Zhenghao stealing water.
When Zhou Zhenghao saw this man, he secretly thought it was over. This was obviously Boss Xu, who had been involved in a real estate lawsuit with him.
At that time, Boss Xu was also a rich farmer and had fifty acres of dry land in a mountain col. Zhou Zhenghao coveted the fertilizer and claimed that the mountain col was the ancestral graveyard of his Zhou family. He filed a lawsuit and took over the fifty acres of dry land.
Not only did they take away the fifty acres of fertile land owned by Mr. Xu, Zhou Zhenghao also took away the sixty acres of thin farmland owned by four households in Xujia Village.
Unexpectedly, the road where we met was so narrow, that this small village was actually Xujiacun, and that Zhou Zhenghao actually met Mr. Xu here.
Huai'an borders Shandong, and news from Shandong comes from time to time. Anyone with a little knowledge in Huai'an knows that after the Duke of Jin kills here, all the gentry in Huai'an will be in trouble. During the day, Boss Xu heard that Duke Jin was attacking
After arriving at Huai'an City, Zheng was secretly happy that his enemy Zhou Zhenghao would be finished this time.
At this time, Boss Xu saw Zhou Zhenghao clearly who was on the run, and he was not willing to let this drowned dog go. Boss Xu's eyes widened and he wanted to shout to wake up other villagers.
Zhou Zhenghao was so scared that he was sweating. He quickly took out five barefoot gold bars from his sleeves and knelt on the ground with a plop.
"Boss Xu, please spare me! This gold bar belongs to you!"
