Chapter 159 Gambling Skills
Su Ze and the others kept vigil for Xiong Yue in the mourning hall, and the next day they met the lawyer who came from the county, Chen Chaoyuan's brother Chen Chaoyu.
Chen Chaoyu is a middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar. He wears a bright blue Confucian shirt. He looks similar to Chen Chaoyuan, but is more rounded than Chen Chaoyuan, but looks more vicissitudes of life.
Chen Chaoyu also failed in the imperial examinations for many years, so he simply gave up studying and became a litigator in the county by studying "Da Ming Law".
Fujian itself has a tradition of litigating, and there are many lawsuits. Moreover, Nanping's prosperous business has also led to the drafting of various contracts, so the business of litigants is not bad.
Chen Chaoyu is not the most powerful litigator in the county, but he has been a litigator in the county for ten years, and he can be regarded as a scholar who leads a good life in the county.
Starting from the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many scholars began to engage in careers other than the imperial examination. In places with a strong commercial atmosphere such as Guangzhou and Jiangnan in Fujian, there was also a trend of focusing on money.
Being rich is naturally respected. Studying for the imperial examination is one way, but making money is another way.
However, these are also the majority of scholars who are unable to participate in the imperial examination or who are not talented. After all, in our society where "excellence in learning leads to officialdom", becoming an official is still the first choice of all scholars.
"I met Mr. Su."
Chen Chaoyu was not very familiar with Su Ze because of the relationship between Su Ze and Chen Chaoyuan, but greeted Su Ze politely.
Su Ze also raised his hand in return, and then asked: "Chen Zhuang, if we sue again in the name of Mrs. Xiong, are there any chances of winning?"
Chen Chaoyu shook his head and said, "This case has been settled happily. It is not easy to reverse the case."
Chen Chaoyu said : "I have also inquired about this case from Sun Dianshi. Behind Feihu Gambling House is Cai Yuanwai. Cai Bangzhuang, the shopkeeper of the gambling house, is a branch of the Cai family. Su Xianggong must know the power of the Cai family in the county." "
So. When Cai Yuanwai was dividing the tribute silver, what happened to Cai Yuanwai who complained about the false financial situation?" Chen
Chaoyu shook his head again and said: "I also found other tea farmers who participated in the tribute silver distribution, but they all refused to testify." "The
Xiong family is divided. The tribute silver was fifty taels, and the other families also received less tribute silver. If it is proven that Cai Yuanwai used deception to get Father Xiong to sign the deed, then the tribute deed will be invalidated, and everyone's All the interests will be damaged."
Now Su Ze understood the cleverness of Cai Yuanwai. This is the power of the Ming Dynasty squires, and it is also the method they often use to exploit the people, which is to use the sword and the pen.
The Daobi Li is the junior official who drafts documents and contracts.
The Cai family is not a sharp-edged official, but Cai Yuanwai is also proficient in legal documents and government procedures. The Cai family relied on various literary traps and process flaws to set up such a situation.
The squires and landlords raced to enclose their land and take it by force. This was already a thing during the Han Dynasty.
In the history books of the Western Han Dynasty, terms such as "heroic" and "bad tyrant" often appeared, but in the books of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the words used to describe the powerful were much more positive.
Naturally, powerful people and officials joined forces, and the people who wrote the history books changed their butts.
Another point is that the rough way of governing the people in the Western Han Dynasty has changed. Landlords have begun to worry about their reputation and no longer directly use violent means to seize land.
By the Ming Dynasty, a more covert and more justifiable method of grabbing land had already been developed.
This is naturally related to the continuous peasant uprisings in history. The powerful landlords and gentry are also afraid that the people will blame them, in which case they will lose the most.
In addition, when facing the government, the powerful are not willing to make matters bigger and let the government intervene in grassroots affairs.
In short, there are not many things like directly killing people and grabbing land.
Chen Chaoyu said: "Xiong Yue is dead, and Xiong's father has signed and pledged his signature on the county government document. It is difficult to overturn this case." "The issue of tribute sharing concerns the interests of
many people, and no one is willing to give it to Xiong. family to testify."
Su Ze clenched his fists and said, "In other words, it will be difficult to seek justice for the Xiong family by taking the government road?"
Chen Chaoyu nodded feebly. He had been a lawyer for many years and had also helped powerful families fight. Passed a lawsuit.
He is well aware of the darkness in society. Ordinary people have no room to resist when faced with the local tyrannical gentry.
Not only do Cai Yuanwai and the others have connections up and down the county, but their affairs are also in compliance with the yamen regulations and the laws of the Ming Dynasty. You have no way of suing them.
After fighting these wealthy gentry for a period of time, Chen Chaoyu stopped taking business from local wealthy people because he couldn't stand the dark world.
He now only litigates ordinary economic and civil disputes in the county, so after many years of practice, he is still only a little-known lawyer in the county, and cannot be compared with those well-known lawyers wearing silk and satin.
Su Ze thought for a moment and realized that he wanted to keep things simple.
It seems that Cai Yuanwai had already planned to deceive the Xiong family. Maybe Cai Yuanwai arranged for Xiong's father to become addicted to gambling.
Xiong Yue's death may have been an accident in the execution process, but the Cai family quickly canceled the matter with an IOU and asked Xiong's father to sign the Ganjie document, closing this loophole.
Considering that the Cai family has been operating in the county for many years and has high-level relationships, it may be impossible for Su Ze to overturn the case through litigation.
Su Ze sneered in his heart, since the Cai family was not outspoken and insisted on doing these dark things, then they might as well overturn the table and have fun with him.
Su Ze is not a lawyer. Compared with his tricks outside the market, is there anyone in Nanping County who can compare with him?
Su Ze already had a plan in mind to deal with squires like the Cai family who were all-powerful. Since they themselves were unreasonable, Su Ze didn't need to be unreasonable and go through the legal process.
Su Ze said coldly: "Thank you Chen Zhuang for your advice."
When Chen Chaoyu saw that Su Ze did not mention the matter of continuing to complain, he thought that Su Ze had given up on helping Xiong Yue get revenge, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"Ms. Su, you You are a scholar who is favored by the two lords in the county. Don't ruin your future because of impulsiveness. If you can win the imperial examination in the future, you will naturally have a way to take care of the Cai family." Su Ze said in his heart that he would have a way to take care of the Cai family now
. , but he still said gratefully to Chen Chaoyu: "Thank you very much, Chen Zhuang."
Chen Chaoyu cupped his hands, saying that all this was a small effort, and left some condolence money with Mother Xiong, and returned to the city.
Su Ze said to Lin Qingcai: "I won't sue."
Lin Qingcai thought that Su Ze had given up avenging Xiong Yue, and he breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt sad. Even a capable person like Su Ze couldn't avenge Xiong Yue. , the darkness of this world is evident.
After bidding farewell to Mother Xiong and returning to Changning County, Su Ze did not return to Changning Guard immediately.
He found Xiong Wu who was working in the county.
Xiong Wu spent this time teaching various tricks to the children in the almshouse on how to live on the street.
In his opinion, it is impossible for these children to live in the almshouse forever, and being a low-income person is also a means of survival.
Naturally, there are many unwritten rules for survival on the streets. As the former leader of Luohanjiao, Xiong Wu taught these children a lot.
He just came back from another county a few days ago, where he trained a group of book boys from "The Surprise" and taught them how to unite to deal with street gangsters. As soon as he returned to Changning County, Su Ze called him over.
"How much do you know about Feihu Gambling House?"
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze and said quickly: "Flying Tiger Gambling House is the gambling house of the Cai family. The Cai family is a wealthy Nanping family. You know this except Yuan Cai." Su Ze nodded
. He raised his head and signaled Xiong Wu to continue speaking.
Xiong Wu continued: "It will not be easy for Mr. Su to deal with the Cai family."
"This Feihu Gambling House is not just a gambling house. The Cai family also lends money in the gambling house. On weekdays, there are people from the Bawang Society covering it. If necessary, People from the Bawang Club come to the door when debts are being collected."
Hearing the name of the Bawang Club again, Su Ze asked: "The Bawang Club has such a deep connection with the Cai family?" "Such low-level clubs are naturally related to the people in the city. Isn't it normal for some wealthy families to have some connections?"
These days, squires are all black and white, and they have armed servants. It is not normal for them to have some collusion with gangs.
Su Ze had met before. Lin Qingcai's family was a newly moved family, and there was no official in the family.
The Chen Chaoyuan family was just a poor scholar, and the Xiong family was the first generation to start studying.
The Chen family of Beishan Village has not even started studying yet, and the Changning Guards are just military guards of a hundred households.
The only one who is a bit more classy is Jiang Men Yujia, who is not popular among scholars.
Su Ze's impression of these squires still rested on people like Chen Moqun, the head of the Academy, and He Liangjun, Mr. Tuohu. Little did he know that they were celebrities themselves and leaders of wealthy families, and their morals were naturally higher than those of Cai Yuanwai. The person is much taller.
Su Ze still underestimated the moral limits of the local gentry.
Su Ze said to Xiong Wu, "Take me to Feihu Casino."
"Ms. Su, you?"
"Stop talking nonsense and lead the way."
Feihu Casino is not in the city, so Hongwu training is naturally prohibited. It's about gambling, but it's just about group training. As Ming Dynasty's business gradually developed, gambling houses have become a semi-gray industry.
Half gray means that gambling houses have to pay taxes.
Every month, house tax collectors would come to collect public security donations. The so-called public security donations were the money donated by gambling houses to help the government maintain public security because they had corrupted the public order atmosphere.
The security donation was not a regular tax of the court, but gambling houses were very happy to pay this tax.
This money is not handed over and is used for the daily expenses of the yamen.
However, according to court laws, gambling houses are illegal. As long as there are no disputes, the government will not care.
This is also a characteristic of the Ming Dynasty, where the people do not raise officials and do not investigate.
The gambling house is located in the outer square of the city. It is a temporary resting place for merchants entering the city and passing by. Over time, houses were built against the city wall for the merchants to stay. Later, it gradually became a place for various religions and nine streams.
In addition to gambling houses, there are also prostitutes wearing heavy makeup on the streets.
Xiong Wu's eyes were darting everywhere along the way, and it took him a long time to bring Su Ze to the entrance of the gambling house.
Feihu Gambling House has a big plaque on it, so that others don't know that this is a gambling house.
The sounds of various gambling instruments were heard, and a lot of shouts were heard. They rushed out the door with the unpleasant smell of sweat. Su Ze pinched his nose and walked in.
[I found the gambling shop where I can learn the skill "Gambling Skills". Do you want to learn it? 】
This is what Su Ze wanted, so he directly chose to study.
Xiong Wu hadn't entered a gambling house for a long time. He took a deep breath and showed a longing look, but he looked at Su Ze and didn't dare to make a mistake.
"What kind of games are there in general?"
"Pai Gow, but most people play dice. There are special places for cockfighting and cricket fighting, and those who play those games don't go into gambling houses."
Su Ze took a look and found that most of them were. Playing dice.
Dice is throwing dice. This gambling activity has a long history and is deeply loved by gamblers.
Xiong Wu said: "You can play with the banker, or you can play with other gamblers, but these are senior gamblers, so Mr. Su should not play with them." "
Those with one arm exposed are the banker's people."
Shun Looking over at Xiong Wu's hand, sure enough, in addition to ordinary gamblers dressed in rough clothes, there were also some people sitting on the table with one bare arm exposed. They were holding dice cups and shaking them. A large group of gamblers gathered around the table. guest.
Su Ze even saw a stout woman shaking dice with one bare arm, which was really eye-catching.
Su Ze turned around and found the doorway as expected.
The banker responsible for playing the dice lost and won, but Su Ze took a look at the statistics and found that the results of the dice did not conform to statistical laws.
A thousand dollars?
Is the Cai family even more rubbish than I thought?
However, for a gambling house of this level, it is not like a big gambling house can make a lot of money by pumping money. It is normal for the Cai family to spend thousands.
After understanding this, Su Ze smiled. Since you are out of pocket, you are welcome.
Su Ze pulled Xiong Wu, who was eager to try, and said, "Let's go."
"Leaving now?"
Xiong Wu was still unfinished, and was finally pulled away by Su Ze.
After returning to the editorial office of "The Surprise", Su Ze said to Xiong Wu: "Go and buy some dice and a dice cup." "?" "
Go
as you are told, and come back as quickly as possible."
Xiong Wu was kicked out of the editor Ministry, is Su Ze going to bet against himself?
He frowned, then laughed slyly, quickly got into an alley, and soon returned to the editorial office with a few dice and a dice cup.
Chen Chaoyuan and Lin Qingcai watched in confusion as Xiong Wu carried the dice cup upstairs, and then the sound of distant dice clattering could be heard upstairs.
Su Ze is gambling with Xiong Wu?
After the two met Su Ze, they also knew his character very well. Su Ze had almost no bad habits. He was the most talented among the four, but he also studied the hardest.
He would actually bet against Xiong Wu?
[Betting against Xiong Wu, gambling skill experience +1, Lv1, 2/100]
Su Ze played a hundred games with Xiong Wu, almost losing more than winning. Finally, when his gambling skills were upgraded to Lv2, Su Ze I saw the clues.
"The dice are filled with lead?"
Xiong Wu laughed and then said: "Xianggong Su is really talented and can learn everything at once. This dice is indeed filled with lead."
Su Ze played with it and asked: "Feihu Bet Does the casino also use dice like this?"
"That's not true. The gamblers in the gambling house are not fools. How can they let the banker play tricks on the dice? That is a more advanced gambling technique, which is not something we can learn."
Su Ze nodded, you Xiong Wu can't learn it, but I am a systematic person.
Su Ze believes that as long as he reaches Level 5, he will naturally understand the problems in the gambling skills of Feihu Casino.
"Continue!"
(End of Chapter)