Chapter 164 Who is the extremist?
Cai Yuanwai sat on the Taishi chair. Fang Jing, who was opposite him, said happily: "The county government has accepted the case. According to past precedents, the Xiong family's tea garden will be awarded to us." Cai Yuanwai finally showed a smile. He has been worrying about his family these days
. He seemed to have aged ten years all of a sudden.
But it’s worth it!
After one year of operation of the Xiong family's tea garden, the net income is about one hundred taels of silver.
However, the Xiong family is a small farmer and needs to hire workers when picking tea. The tea can only be sold locally, so the income is so low.
If a large family takes over, uses domestic slaves to pick tea leaves, and sells the tea leaves to Yuegang, the income can be doubled.
The tea garden is filled with tea trees that have been managed by the Xiong family for generations. This tea garden has a stable income, and tea is also hard currency. If the entire tea garden is sold, the market price will be around one thousand taels of silver.
This price is already quite terrifying. Yu Zongyuan split from the Yu family, and the property he brought out was four shops plus one thousand taels of silver.
Cai Yuanwai felt regretful. If he followed the previous plan and swallowed up the Xiong family's tea garden, the Cai family's industry would be much stronger.
But now that I have swallowed the Xiong Family Tea Garden, I am afraid I can only sell it.
Let's survive this year first. As long as we survive this year, the Cai family's village can switch to other crops, and the dyeing shop can also switch to selling other things, so that the Cai family can survive.
Cai Yuanwai's intentions were good, but obviously things couldn't go as he wished.
While he was talking to Fang Jing, the steward suddenly came in and said, "Outside the office, the government office has come to deliver a summons!"
A summons?
Fang Jing immediately stepped forward and said, "What's going on? Why isn't it the county government? Instead, the government government comes directly to deliver it?" The person in charge
said, "You don't even know!"
Cai Yuanwai said, "Don't worry about the government office." Yamen, I want to see what else we can sue our Cai family!"
Fang Jing followed Yuan Cai to the first courtyard and saw a clerk wearing a soap-colored official uniform, holding a summons from the Yamen standing there. in front of the door.
The Cai family's affairs have been a hot topic in Nanping County recently. A group of people gathered at the entrance of the alley and pointed at the gate of the Cai family.
Cai Yuanwai knew that this was a government official deliberately trying to embarrass him. When he thought that he was an official of the fifth rank and was oppressed by subordinate officials, Cai Yuanwai's hatred for Su Ze deepened.
The clerk read out the summons from the government office, refused Fang Jing's invitation to bring him into the house, and left with his subordinates to help the clerk.
After reading the petition, Fang Jing felt that something was wrong.
There was more than one person suing the Cai Mansion. When Cai Yuanwai purchased land, he also used many tricks in order to pay less land tax in the future.
The most commonly used method is to hide the land and conceal the land area.
Concealing the area can also lower land prices, which is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.
But Su Ze didn't know what kind of magical method he used. He actually found the people who sold Cai Yuanwai's land or their descendants, and asked them to go to the government office to sue Cai Yuanwai for occupying their land at a low price, and also reported Cai Yuanwai's farm. Tax evasion!
Fang Jing broke into cold sweat, Su Ze's methods were too cruel!
The Cai family started from the fields, and Su Ze also started from the fields. The Cai family's farm was the lifeblood of Cai Yuanwai and the result of his life's struggle.
The summons sent by the government office stated that the government office wanted to clear out the farm owned by Zhang Yuan Cai's wife.
Fang Jing lost his square inch, and Cai Yuanwai was left without a master. With Su Ze's great magical power, he could dig out these old documents and encourage these people to sue him.
The key is how can he get the government government to come forward and directly bypass the county government that the Cai family can influence, and still give land to the Cai family's farm?
Cai Yuanwai found it incredible when he thought about it. Su Ze, a scholar from a remote area of Changningwei, was not even a scholar. Why did he have such energy?
It doesn't matter! There are also tea gardens!
Just take over the Xiong family’s tea garden, sell it, and then go to the Inspector’s Office to take care of it! It will definitely settle these cases!
It was just another waste of money. Cai Yuanwai felt regret for the first time, but he regretted not taking over the Xiong family's tea garden earlier.
But bad news always comes faster, and a steward rushed into the house again.
"Yuanwai! The Dusi Yamen has sent a signal to the Xiong family!"
"What's going on!"
Yuanwai Cai completely lost his bearings.
Now that the Xiong family has a banner, Mother Xiong is no longer an ordinary woman, she is an outstanding model who is famous throughout the province.
The property dispute lawsuit against the Xiong Family Tea Garden was naturally dismissed.
What? Will the province's moral model appropriate family property?
"Tell me! How did a woman like Mother Xiong get a royal title? It was issued by the Dusi Yamen herself!" The
steward was about to lose his breath. Only then did Cai Yuanwai let go of his hand. The steward gasped and said, "
It's the Yu family. ."
"How could the Yu family get involved in this matter!"
"The second son of the Yu family led his troops to exterminate the Japanese pirates some time ago. Xiong Yue was on the list of merit requests submitted to the Dusi Yamen. The list was run by the Yu family." The prefect
said The commanders of the Yamen and the Yanping Guards, how could these people be willing to be used as guns against themselves by a little scholar like Su Ze?
Cai Yuanwai couldn't figure it out.
However, in just a few days, the offensive and defensive momentum changed, and the Cai family fell into a disadvantage again. Cai Yuanwai worked hard to move around in order to save the two farms.
All of this was naturally Su Ze's handiwork.
To ask for credit for the dead Xiong Yue, all Su Ze paid was a Japanese pirate's body and a Japanese knife. By the way, he brought angel investor Yu Zongyuan the position of promotion officer of Fuzhou Zuowei General Banner, and let Yu Zong Yuan has qualified to participate in the Fujian Martial Arts Championships next year.
The so-called promotion officer corresponds to the position of military commander.
The commander-in-chief has a secular position and can be passed on to the next generation after death.
The promotion officer cannot be passed down from generation to generation and can only be enjoyed by oneself.
Although it is only the general flag, which is a low-level position outside the eighth-level official rank, for the family, the qualification for the martial arts examination next year is the highlight.
According to the management of martial arts examinations in the Ming Dynasty, in the Chinese style of martial arts examinations, the first place can be directly awarded the position of Deputy Qianhu, and the second place and below can be promoted in sequence, at least to the position of Baidu.
Yu Zongyuan was awarded the general banner this time. As long as he succeeds in the martial arts examination again, he can be given the promotion officer of deputy Qianhu according to the usual practice. Although it is not a worldly job that will extend to his descendants, it is still a pretty good position.
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh. Sure enough, there were people in the court who could do things easily.
If the same credit is given to an ordinary pawn, it may be promoted by one level, and if it is given to a small flag or a general flag, this life will almost come to an end.
But the Yu family worked hard, and with the help of a Japanese pirate head and a Japanese sword, Yu Zongyuan was qualified for the martial arts examination. I heard that the Yu family had already taken care of it, and Yu Zongyuan would definitely win the examination this time.
The military examination is different from the civil service examination. The examination is generally serious. Except for the first few who can guarantee their true talents and practical learning, many of the latter are the descendants of the generals who engaged in malpractice for personal gain.
Second Young Master Yu was naturally grateful for Su Ze's great kindness to him. His only regret was that he had to report to Fuzhou Zuowei in Fuzhou Prefecture before the martial arts examination.
Farewell to Su Ze, Yu Zongyuan entrusted all the shops in Nanping City to Su Ze, took his concubine and money and treasures, and headed for Fuzhou City.
After solving the problem of the Xiong family's lawsuit, Su Ze's method for dealing with the Cai family was to repay the other person with their own treatment.
This year, Yanping Prefecture did not collect all the summer grain, and the imperial court did not exempt Fujian's summer grain because of the Japanese pirates. The prefect was worried in the prefect's Yamen. This news reached Su Ze's ears through Lin Xianyang.
The Ming Dynasty's collection of summer and autumn grains did not have to be paid immediately.
Take summer grain as an example. Summer grain varies from province to province according to the time when the grain matures. Basically, harvest and collection starts in August.
If you complete 80% of the summer grain collection tasks for the whole year in August, you will be considered qualified. In the next three months, that is, if you complete the remaining 2% before November, you will be considered qualified for the tax collection test. In the Ming Dynasty, the first priority for officials to pass the examination was tax collection, so the biggest headache for every official was the problem of insufficient food collection.
As the new prefect, Fang Zhifu, summer grain collection is his key task, but this year Yanping Prefecture's summer grain is still far behind.
The reason is naturally very simple. The Japanese pirates besieged Shaxian County during the summer grain harvest, causing a grain harvest failure in Shaxian County and affecting the grain collection work of the entire Yanping Prefecture.
If the gap was smaller, the government could use public funds to buy some grain to make up for it, but this year the gap is particularly large, and the government has spent a lot of money because of Japanese pirates, so it has no ability to fill the hole.
After getting the news, Su Ze took action decisively.
Still through Fang Ruolan, Su Ze proposed a plan to "borrow the Cai family's head" to the prefect Fang.
The reason why the Cai family was chosen was because the reputation of the Cai family was already bad in Yanping Mansion. All the powerful families were trying to cut off from the Cai family. Attacking the Cai family would not cause the entire gentry class to join forces to resist.
With a good reputation, no one will necessarily help you when you are in trouble, but no one will make you worse.
With a bad reputation, no one will help you when you are in trouble, and there will be a bunch of people applauding you.
The bad reputation of the Cai family made him the fat sheep that the prefect chose to slaughter in order to make up for the summer grain shortage.
Su Ze asked Lin Xianda to look up the information on the Cai family's property sales in Bijia Pavilion, the county government office.
Bijia Pavilion is the place where the county government stores archives and past official documents, which naturally also includes the registration contracts for the county's property sales.
After the property is transferred, a red deed needs to be stamped by the government, and the government will also record the information of the buyer and seller and the area and location of the purchased land.
These records are the tax calculation basis for the tax collectors to collect taxes in the coming year. They are also the transfer filing materials to prevent the two parties from entangled with the land issue again.
Lin Xianda dug out all the archives of the Cai family's land purchases over the past few decades. Su Ze asked Xiong Wu to lead people to find the original sellers one by one. Some of the sellers were no longer here, and then looked for their descendants.
After such an investigation, it turned out that the Cai family underreported the area of land purchased in order to avoid taxes and lower land prices.
Magistrate Fang, who was worrying about the shortage of summer grain, almost immediately agreed after hearing the "suggestion" from his daughter.
Su Ze also observed the thunderous methods used by a prefect to deal with the gentry.
I have to say that the energy of parents is still very high.
If Magistrate Fang wants to deal with the entire Yanping Prefecture's gentry, for example, by giving extra fees to all landlords, they will definitely encounter joint resistance.
But the prefect had to deal with one of the gentry, the Cai family with the most notorious reputation, so the situation was completely different.
All the wealthy people in Yanping Mansion stood aside and watched the magistrate Fang use his methods.
The plaintiff arranged by Su Ze went to the county government office. After the county government rejected the lawsuit request, the prefect immediately used the government government's authority to take the lawsuit to the government government office.
Immediately after accepting the merged case, all the plaintiffs were asked to write pleadings and then sent them to the Cai Mansion.
The Cai family was still preparing to argue, so Li Tongpan, the governor of the government, personally led all the households and qufangs to go out and clear the land in the two manors outside Cai Yuan.
Needless to say, the result was that a comparison of the records in the Cai Family Farm and the Nanping County Yamen Register revealed that nearly half of the land was concealed.
Now the case has been solidified. The Cai family is not only involved in land sales disputes, but also involves tax evasion.
Cai Yuanwai is a senior official, and it is difficult to arrest him if he is an official. The government office immediately seizes Fang Jing, the lawyer who sued Cai Yuanwai, into the government prison. (Correction in the previous article, Fang Jing has no fame)
Fang Jing is just a weak scholar, and there is no way he can survive the prison of the government. He quickly explained all the problems related to the Cai family's property, and by the way, he also revealed the stolen goods he had done to the Fang family over the years. Everything was shaken cleanly.
This naturally includes the case of the Xiong family.
Now Magistrate Fang was no longer polite and directly began to re-trial these cases.
Some of the cases were committed before, and the witnesses and physical evidence are still there. Although Cai Bangzhuang, the leader of Xiong Yue's case, died, the gambling man who carried Cai Bangzhuang's body is still in the county jail. The trial of the case did not cost much at all. strength.
Fang Zhifu asked the Nanjing officials and Fujian officials to ask for the removal of Cai Yuan's official status and title, and then quickly brought the Cai family under control.
Under such a series of slaps, Cai Yuanwai had no room for resistance. Even before the intercessors who helped him rescue him received news, the case was already a solid case.
Everyone in Yanping Mansion understood that the Cai family was finished.
As long as the official document from the Nanjing Ministry of Civil Affairs comes down, Yuan Cai will be arrested and imprisoned without official protection.
In order to make up for the taxes owed for concealing the land acres over the years, the Cai family had to start selling off their land.
However, the Cai family's farmland was all land that was in litigation, and the land itself was in dispute and could not be sold. The Cai family could only sell the seven dyeing houses in the city and the tea garden at the foot of Wuyi Mountain.
But even so, no one in Yanping Mansion dared to care.
The reason is naturally that the Cai family has too many lawsuits. What if there are also disputes in these industries?
However, the pressure from the government became more and more urgent, and the Cai family had no choice but to continue selling at a reduced price.
When the price was lower than when the Cai family purchased these properties a few years ago, Su Ze went to the Cai family's door with money.
Cai Yuanwai was already lying on the bed dying. Although the Nanjing officials did not reply, Fujian Tixue was a senior in the examination room of the Fang Prefecture. He went ahead and dismissed Cai Yuanwai's two sons.
This was tantamount to ending the Cai family's career, and Cai Yuanwai could not afford to fall ill.
"Get lost! I will never sell my property to you until I die!"
Cai Yuanwai sat up like a flashback and drove Su Ze out of the house.
But Cai Yuanwai's two sons immediately followed him.
"Mr. Su, my father is ill and confused. Both the shop and the tea garden can be sold, let me tell you."
Su Ze bargained again and bought the Cai Family Tea Garden, which was larger than the Xiong Family Tea Garden, for 800 taels of silver.
Each of the seven dyeing shops cost one hundred taels, totaling one thousand five hundred taels of silver.
Relying on the Lu King's treasure and the income from robbery, Su Ze signed the deed with one stroke of his pen.
Cai Yuanwai died, and lawyer Fang Jing was sentenced to exile, pending review by the prosecutor's office.
The two sons of the Cai family did not participate in the conspiracy, and they were also deprived of their honors. The hidden land properties were all used to make up for the outstanding debts, and they also had to make up for the money they had paid to buy the land at a low price.
The Cai family was in a state of collapse, and the wealthy family members of the Yanping Mansion looked at the government office with awe.
Su Ze also admired the governor's methods very much. He took away the Cai family with this combination of elimination and attack.
Sure enough, I still have a lot to learn.
This set of combos to deal with the squire can almost be called a textbook model.
In addition to Su Ze, Hai Rui also changed his mind about the prefect.
Hai Rui came to apologize and discussed with Magistrate Fang how to serve as an official. He actually felt like a close friend.
Su Ze comforted Xiong Yue's soul.
Su Ze began to study and practice calligraphy behind closed doors. After writing the last page of the copybook, his calligraphy skills were upgraded.
I have finally finished writing this plot, and all the foreshadowing has been taken back.
Next is farming
(end of chapter)