War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 332: Taking the Surname
There are many different opinions about how much property the Yuan family had. Some say that there were about 10 million silver dollars in total, while others say that before his death, he divided all his property into 30 parts, each of which was about 80,000 silver dollars. Among them, the two unmarried daughters shared one part, the wives and concubines without children each received one part, and the wives and concubines with children and the married daughters did not receive any property. If calculated in this way, he probably had about 2.4 million silver dollars in property.

Regardless of whether it is true or false, if compared with the Zhang family in Northeast China, President Yuan can be considered an honest official.

But actually?
However, few of the children in the Yuan family have lived a rich and prosperous life!
There was Yuan Keyou, who robbed the Yuanlin and Yuanzhai in Anyang during the time when Old Feng was in charge of Anyang. He was forced into a desperate situation and moved to No. 72 Peijia Lane, Anyang, and hung a sign that read "Yuanlin Management Office". He made a living by selling timber from his former forest.

There was also Yuan Kequan, who married the daughter of former Qing minister Duan Fang and often lived on pawning.
There was also Yuan Keliang, who was disliked by President Yuan and called a "bandit" and became mentally ill two years after President Yuan's death;

There were even posthumous son Yuan Keyou who had to rely on his craft to make a living in Tianjin, and Yuan Kehe who made a living by carving. How could Yuan Kewen, who was born in "Seoul", make a good living?
Is the matter here really as simple as it seems on the surface, that the inheritance is divided equally?

Xu Chaoyang only found out the truth after talking in the car with Zhang Boju, who knew the inside story. It turns out there is a big story behind the distribution of Yuan family's property!
After Yuan Shikai passed away, his true will should be "each of his sons received more than 10,000 yuan in cash, 8,000 yuan in stocks each, and 20 houses, with a total value of nearly 200,000 yuan", "the daughter received 7,000 yuan in cash and no other property", and "the wife and concubines lived with the children and did not receive any money" (source: "Two or Three Things About My Father" written by Yuan Keqi).

Yuan Keyou was a posthumous child, so he didn't get any money.

If there is a reason why Yuan Keyou did not get any money, then the reasons for the others who did not get any money are really not sufficient.

Who divided this money?

At the beginning, it was a "funeral committee" formed within the clan, and these people were the elders of the clan, who later became the leaders of the "Yuan Clan Association".

But who wouldn’t be jealous if such a large sum of money fell into their hands?

So, after the funeral was over and the money was paid, the Yuan Clan Association found all kinds of excuses to refuse to distribute it. You can sue them if you have the guts.

But, that was a time of great chaos in the world, who would care about you?
This is why many of President Yuan’s children ended up with a miserable fate.

But how can they have such great power to control other people’s property?
They also had a way, and used a sentence that the president said before his death, which was: "As long as the money is not dispersed, the people will not be dispersed..." They included this sentence in the will, but Xu Chaoyang thought, the person is about to die, and the property has been divided up, how could he say such a thing?

But, on second thought, if this sentence is followed by "Once the money is dispersed, the Yuan family will be gone", it will make sense.

This is clearly what President Yuan said when he recalled his life before his death. He knew that once he died and his wealth was dispersed, this family would no longer exist. But he still underestimated himself. Once he was gone, not only would his family be gone, but even his country would be gone.

……

Yuan family, treasure house.

The plaque "Looking at the World" is still hanging there, exposed to the scorching sun, but the paint on the plaque has faded, just like the Yuan Dynasty that collapsed long ago, and has lost its former color.

"Be careful."

Yuan Fuzhen stood outside the treasure house and asked her servants to move out the things inside one by one. When all the treasures were moved out, the Xuande furnace that was priceless in Dazhalan and the Yuan blue and white porcelain that could not be seen in auction houses were all placed in the sun, but she was not happy at all.

"sister!"

At this moment, a shout came from outside the door, and Zhang Boju, with a pale face, came over with Xu Chaoyang and the guards behind him. Yuan Fuzhen only glanced over here and turned away like a young couple in a tantrum. But Qigong and Zhang Daqian behind Zhang Boju were completely dumbfounded when they saw the treasures all over the yard!
“Isn’t this the Ru kiln in the palace…” Qi Gong almost burst into tears when he saw this thing. Back then, he was also a royal relative.

Zhang Daqian immediately said to him: "You forgot that his family was once an emperor."

Wow, just two sentences clearly describe the turbulent situation of that era, even though these two sentences are as ordinary as can be.

Xu Chaoyang was standing about twenty meters away from the treasure house. He came here to make peace and returned to Peking for the money, but Yuan Fuzhen threw her chopsticks in front of him yesterday, which immediately irritated him. He was facing difficulties everywhere, but he still insisted on taking the attitude of "I would rather starve to death than beg at your doorstep". If Zhang Boju hadn't said that it was Yuan Fuzhen who asked him to help, he probably wouldn't even enter the Yuan residence at this moment.

Yes, it is a shame to save face.

Director Zhang, who had just recovered and whose mind was still on Xu Chaoyang's scars, saw that something was wrong and began to think, if things continued to develop like this, wouldn't the things that Deputy Director Li had instructed him to do go to waste...

Just as he was thinking about it, a servant took out a glass box from the treasure house. Inside was a musket that was tributed from a foreign country in the early days. It was said to be an item from the Xianfeng period. When Zhang Boju saw it, he immediately came up with an idea: "Brother-in-law, do you recognize this thing?"

He did it on purpose. With his status, how could he not recognize this musket?

Xu Chaoyang deliberately turned his head to look around, and walked past the treasures that were being carried out on the ground without even glancing at them. When he got close to Zhang Boju, he lowered his head to look at the things in the glass cover on the wooden box. This time he said, "Old-fashioned muskets. This thing has a slow firing rate, short range, unstable trajectory, and low accuracy. It is out of date."

Well, everything in Xu Chaoyang's eyes is related to the military...

While Xu Chaoyang was talking, Zhang Boju deliberately glanced at Yuan Fuzhen, and even stared at her with a look as if to say, "I've already built the ladder for you to this extent, why don't you say something!"

Yuan Fuzhen, on the other hand, immediately turned her head away again and said nothing.

This time, Zhang Boju was completely at a loss. He looked to Qi Gong and Zhang Daqian for help. But the two of them seemed to have completely forgotten about it. They were just studying porcelain with their butts sticking out, and didn't even bother to pay attention to Zhang Boju.

This is how to do?
Just when Zhang Boju was at a loss, the servants outside came into the yard.

"Miss, Master Liu is here."

Yuan Fuzhen then murmured, "What is he doing here?"

Xu Chaoyang looked at Zhang Boju with a puzzled look, and Zhang Boju explained: "My sister's sixth uncle, President Yuan's younger brother, the actual controller of the Yuan Clan Association...The sixth son of the Yuan family, Yuan Shixun."

Just as he finished speaking, an old man with gray hair who needed help to walk came in from the corner door with two young people in gorgeous clothes. They stood in front of Yuan Fuzhen and asked, "Fuzhen, why do you live here?"

Yuan Fuzhen bowed politely and then asked, "This is my home. If I don't live here, where should I live?"

"You've already married, and you're no longer a member of the Yuan family!" The young man behind the old man spoke even more harshly, and in just one sentence he took away Yuan Fuzhen's surname!
(End of this chapter)