Chapter 114 The number one and number two enemy
finally finished dealing with the Changning Guard matter. Su Ze ordered Xiong Wu and Yao Chun to carve movable type at the guard station. Chen Haizhang continued to repair Jianxi, and the matter of dealing with the Black Mountain bandits was left to Lin Mojun.
Luo Erlang is a rebel wanted by the court. There is a reward for his head, but his head has to be sent to Fuzhou Prefecture to receive the reward.
The Black Mountain bandit is also a famous bandit in the county. Xue Gao is also wanted by the county government. His head was cut off by Lin Mojun, sprinkled with lime and put into a sack. There are also a dozen other Black Mountain bandits who have life lawsuits on their hands. , were all tied up by Lin Mojun, and a small flagman from the guard station was asked to lead the regular soldiers of two flags and escort them to the county seat to receive the reward.
Su Ze also hitched the carriage and headed to the county town with Xiao Qitong.
This time, he was escorted by guardsmen, and the merchants and travelers on the road hid when they saw him. The reputation of the Ming army these days was about the same as that of bandits.
This flagman's name is Lin Xianda, Lin Xianyang's uncle and brother, and he was very attentive to Su Ze along the way.
As they approached the gate of the county town, Lin Xianda said: "Mr. Su, we will go to the county government office as soon as we enter the city."
Su Ze nodded and said, "You can go back directly after you finish your work. You don't need to wait for me."
Lin Xianda said: " Baihu asked us to escort Mr. back. Last time, some Black Mountain bandits escaped, in case they cause trouble for Mr.."
Su Ze could only nod and said, "Then where will you stay after finishing your work?"
Lin Xianda smiled and said, "Let's Wei also has some relatives in the county where he is located, so we can just stay overnight. Sir, just busy with your business. Just say hello to us when you leave the city." Su Ze thought of the time when he and Lin Xianyang entered the city
. He also stayed at a relative's home in Changningwei.
So Su Ze nodded and said: "When you settle down, come to the county school to find me, and I will take you all to have a good meal in the county tonight!" All the soldiers
cheered, although the soldiers in Changning Guard had the best food. Okay, but it's just the staple food. There are no restaurants in the county that taste good.
After entering the city, Su Ze and Zhengzu parted ways. As soon as he reached the gate of the county school, he saw a figure he had been waiting for for a long time.
Yu Zongyuan, the number one supporter of Su Ze's rebellion and the source of great grievance, was sitting under an umbrella waiting for Su Ze.
Seeing that the corners of Yu Zongyuan's mouth were boiling with anger, it seemed that the second young master was having a hard time.
Sure enough, as soon as he saw Su Ze, Yu Zongyuan came over quickly, took Su Ze's hand and said, "Brother Su, it's really a disaster!"
Su Ze once again felt sad for the Yanping Wei Yu family. Yelling, even if the Yu family does not suffer disaster, it will suffer.
Mr. Yu also noticed his gaffe, pulled Su Ze to sit under the parasol, and said eagerly: "Brother Su, save me!" Su Ze was also speechless
. He was not the Bodhisattva of Avalokitesvara. Every time Yu Zongyuan came up, he would COS Monkey King is really unbearable.
"I've also heard about the Yanpingwei incident. Has the matter at Brother Yu's family not been resolved yet?"
Yu Zongyuan sighed and said, "Brother Su, are you talking about the matter about Yu Shiqing's army? That matter has been resolved."
Su Ze wanted to ask how much money the Yu family had spent to eliminate the disaster, but he felt it was not appropriate.
Forget it, given the second young master's urinary nature, he would tell him sooner or later. Su Ze was curious about what caused his trouble?
Yu Zongyuan said anxiously: "The matter of Yu Shiqing's army has been solved, but my disaster has come!" "
Brother Su has a clever plan. Do you know the scandal about my ancestors?"
Su Ze nodded. The scandal about the Yu family's ancestors is now Everyone in Nanping County knows it, and there are even burlesque singers who arrange this part into a joke, which greatly enriches the spiritual, cultural and entertainment of the people in Nanping County.
Yu Zongyuan said: "My father is afraid that something like this will happen again in this generation, so he is planning to separate my family!" Su Ze now
understood what Yu Zongyuan's trouble was. He had always coveted his brother's career. It is estimated that the commander is aware of this now.
If things like our ancestors happen again, I'm afraid the Yu family will be dismissed from their posts by the imperial court.
So Commander Yu simply let sons like Yu Zongyuan divide the family property and move out in advance to save them from coveting their brother's property.
This is naturally a great thing for Yu Zongyuan's brother, but it is terrible for Yu Zongyuan.
Yu Zongyuan was busy with family affairs, but when the matter was settled, his father kicked him out of the mansion.
The concubines and maids raised in Yu Zongyuan's house used to be paid for by the public account, but after moving out, they would have to spend their own money.
In addition, all other expenses that can be shared with the public will have to be borne by Yu Zongyuan himself in the future. These expenses are not small expenses.
Yu Zongyuan cursed and said: "My father is killing the donkey! If you give me four shops and a farm, plus three thousand taels of silver, he will beat me! If I had known, he would not be busy in Fuzhou Prefecture at that time, and let the Yu family be Forget about confiscation of the house!"
Su Ze could only lament that the Yu family is really rich. An ordinary adult man these days can't earn fifteen taels of silver even if he is busy in a year. Yu commanded the order to divide the family for the second son who had no inheritance rights. That's three thousand taels of silver, which is two hundred years of wages for ordinary people.
There are four shops and a farm. After these operations are completed, they can earn hundreds of taels of silver a year. This is after the Yu family was severely blackmailed by Yan Maoqing.
But when I think about the troupe that Mr. Tuohu couldn't bear to part with for even a thousand taels of silver, it's not that the Ming Dynasty wasn't rich, but that these utilitarian classes were too rich!
Su Ze looked at Yu Zongyuan and asked: "Brother Yu, what do you want?"
Yu Zongyuan whispered: "Do I still have a chance to inherit the family property?"
Su Ze continued to pretend to be a ghost and said: "Brother Yu, please give me another number. ."
Yu Zongyuan said a number, and Su Ze pretended to count it with his fingers. After a moment of burning incense, he said: "
It's difficult! Running for the Yu family has cost Brother Yu too much luck. Now your brother is so powerful. It's prosperous, so we need to take a look at it slowly."
Yu Zongyuan slapped his thigh and lifted it up and said, "No wonder that old man asked me to go to Fuzhou City at this time! It turns out he wants to consume my luck! Damn it!"
Su Ze continued: " Brother Yu, I suggest you stay dormant for a while. Anyway, it’s not something you have to rush to make your body healthy.” Hearing what Su Ze said, Yu Zongyuan could only
sigh and said: “Brother Su, my family’s expenses are It’s quite big. My father only gave me this little bit of property, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to sustain it!”
This little bit of property?
Is this what you are saying?
The Changning Guards combined may not have as much wealth as you and the Second Young Master alone!
But when Young Master Zai showed up at his door, there was no reason why Su Ze wouldn't cheat him.
It was still early, so Su Ze pulled Yu Zongyuan and said, "Look for a tea shop. I will help Brother Yu plan these four shops."
Yu Zongyuan asked excitedly: "Brother Su, do you still know about business matters?"
"I know a little bit about it."
Yu Zongyuan immediately pulled Su Ze towards a nearby tea shop and said as he walked: "I'm about to find someone to help me check it out!"
When they arrived at the tea shop, Yu Zongyuan even opened the door. After he stopped talking, he poured out his bitter words and said:
"These four shops are all old shops of our Yu family, and the shopkeepers are all old people in the house. I don't know how much these treacherous slaves have taken from them. The four shops combined only make seventy or eighty taels of silver a year!" "
Su Ze drank from the tea bowl, thinking about it with [Estimation] and [Accounting] skills in his mind. Nanping County is Yiguo County, which is the county where the prefecture is located. It is the economic center of Yanping Prefecture.
The property of the Yu family was the property of Yanpingwei, and the tax collectors in the prefectures and counties did not dare to exploit them, so there were almost no excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes.
Under such circumstances, four shops only earn seventy or eighty taels a year, which is indeed a huge deficit.
It has always been a common thing for a cunning slave to eat his master's food.
Back then, Yu Zongyuan's father had just inherited the position of commander. He also wanted to rectify the old servants in the family and sent people to check the account books of these shops.
But these servants have been in charge of the store for a long time, and they are very good at fake accounting. There is no problem at all in the books.
In the end, Commander Yu had no choice but to find an excuse, and transferred a few greedy and excessive managers to a farm outside the city, and replaced them with a few of his cronies.
After these cronies took over the store, they were still greedy.
The reason why there is still some profit every year is because all the servants who are in the third grade are commanded by Yu, and these domestic slaves also have to rely on the Yu family.
But it was different when it came to Yu Zongyuan. Everyone in the Yu family knew that Yu Zongyuan was a idiot and could not manage the shop well. They were afraid that he would not be able to pay the eighty taels of silver in the future.
At all times and in all over the world, the path of a professional manager is a fart, and it is the norm to be a shopkeeper who eats up all the family property.
Yu Zongyuan said: "My four shops are a powder shop, a pickle shop, a dyeing shop and a book shop." Su Ze pricked up his ears.
This young master is full of treasures. These four shops can These are all things that Su Ze has been jealous of for a long time.
Changningwei's cotton has been woven, but Su Ze is still thinking about printing and dyeing.
Ordinary cotton cannot be sold at a high price because rich people still like to wear silk.
Moreover, the output of Changningwei cannot imitate the colonial dumping practices of the British.
To make money, you still need to increase added value.
Dyeing cloth is a good way. If you can dye brightly colored cloth, you will definitely be able to sell it at a high price.
But high-priced products cannot be purchased at ghost markets or stalls. Su Ze had previously wanted to take advantage of the Yu family's misfortune to buy a shop from Yu Zongyuan, but he did not expect that the Yu family would pass the test so quickly.
I looked at Yu Zongyuan and said, Brother Yu, if you can't be sure in these shops, I'll let you know.
It happened that Su Ze was engaged in movable type printing, and the bookstore could also sell books printed by Changning Wei.
Su Ze had no clue about the pickle shop and powder shop, but they were both profitable industries.
There are so many profitable industries, and as Yu Zongyuan's good brother, Su Ze is bound to help.
He said: "Let's do this. When I finish my class tomorrow, I will accompany Brother Yu to the four shops to check the accounts and beat these cunning old servants." "Brother Su still knows how to read the accounts? Great! I have listened to my mother a long time ago
. As I said, these shopkeepers are all treacherous people. My mother originally wanted to ask my uncle for help, so she sent Brother Su, a gentleman who is proficient in accounting, to help with the accounts. Now I have Brother Su to help! That would be great!" Fortunately, she took the initiative to ask for help
. Well, Yu Zongyuan's mother's family is also quite powerful in Yanping Mansion. If she wants to deceive Yu Zongyuan, she should do it as soon as possible!
Su Ze added: "We Chang Ningwei also have some good products, which can be sold in Brother Yu's shop when the time comes."
Yu Zongyuan said gratefully: "With Brother Su helping me, there is no need to worry about the family fortune." Xing! When everything is done, I will invite Brother Su to invite Yuelou for a drink!"
After sending Yu Zongyuan away, Su Ze walked into the county school. This time, the county school was a lot more lively. Scholars gathered everywhere. , discussing something loudly.
Needless to say, it must be Mr. Tuohu’s essay call.
Sure enough, as soon as Su Ze arrived at the dormitory, Lin Qingcai took out a stack of paper, handed it to Su Ze and said,
"Brother Su, help me read this play."
Su Ze took it and took a look, and the handwriting was Lin Qingcai's. It seems that he couldn't help but write and submit a play.
What scholar can resist the temptation of fame?
Su Ze took it and looked at it, and had to say that Lin Qingcai really had no talent in opera creation.
The old-fashioned story of a talented man and a beautiful woman was full of the obscenities of a poor scholar, and the lyrics were not outstanding. Su Ze bit the bullet and read it and said, "The format is neat and the story seems a bit ordinary." Lin Qingcai sat down dejectedly:
" Brother Su, don't you think it's okay?"
Lin Qingcai sighed and said, "It would be great if I had Brother Su's talent."
Su Ze was about to comfort Lin Qingcai, when Chen Chaoyuan also came in with a stack of paper, and he handed the two scripts to Su Ze and Lin Qingcai then looked at the two of them expectantly.
After reading the play written by Chen Chaoyuan, Su Ze almost died of poison.
This is a drama that imitates the legends of the Tang Dynasty about establishing a successful career. The story is clichéd, but it also has a lot of poisonous points. There is even a scene where the male protagonist goes out to have a life and the female protagonist remarries. If it were placed in the first chapter of a modern online novel, readers would abandon the book. .
Su Ze sighed and said, "You two can submit your article and give it a try. What if it meets Mr. Tuohu's wishes?"
The two of them also ignited hope. They looked at Su Ze and said, "Where's yours?"
"What's mine ?" ?"
"Brother Su, won't you participate?"
Su Ze said, "I won't participate. I don't understand opera. Wouldn't it be ridiculous to write it?"
Lin Qingcai said, "I have never written a play before. Brother Su's talent is here. Maybe an article will become famous in the southeast?"
Chen Chaoyuan also said: "Mr. Tuohu's call for manuscripts will not end until the end of June. Brother Su starts writing now and can hand it in when he comes to the county at the end of the month." Writing a play
? Can you experience it?
Su Ze doesn't have enough experience at the moment, so he has no time to write plays.
Su Ze politely declined again. Seeing Su Ze's insistence, the two stopped trying to persuade him.
Xiong Yue was the last one to arrive at the dormitory. He used to like to participate in Shilin activities the most, but he did not write a play. It seemed that the Cha Gong incident made him uneasy.
After the four people arrived, Chen Chaoyuan said: "I heard that Huang Shixing of Yanping Academy is planning to start a small newspaper to publish everyone's plays for the scholars in the mansion to appreciate. Now that the engraving master has been hired, this is our Yanping Mansion again. What a prosperous era in the literary world!"
Huang Shixing? The second grievance that explodes gold coins?
(End of chapter)