Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 21 A little plan
"The Song Dynasty Criminal Code clearly states, 'Anyone who contributes money or property to a crime, even if the cumulative total is several days, may not exceed double the original amount.' Do you think you're breaking the law?"

The boy's thin back was straight, but his voice was as cold as ice.

"This money, including principal and interest, is only 32 strings of cash. Since Fourth Uncle has brought the counting sticks, why not settle the account in front of the villagers?"

"nonsense!"

Lu Zongde suddenly flew into a rage, his abacus scattering all over the floor. "Who doesn't know that the Song Dynasty laws don't apply to the land under control?"

The white cat Tofu on the peach branch jumped down with its fur raised, and landed at the feet of the woman who had just spoken ill of Lu Beigu.

The woman screamed and dodged backwards. The hairpin in her bun caught the hemp cloth that was drying in the sun in the neighbor's house. With a "rip", half of the cloth was pulled to the ground by her, and it was covered with mud and water in the early morning.

"My fine gauze!" The owner of the cloth beat his chest and stamped his feet.

Amid the chaos, Lu Beigu's voice was exceptionally clear.

"——Then go and settle it before the local official."

In the first year of Yuanhe in the Former Tang Dynasty, Gao Chongwen, the governor of Xichuan, pacified the barbarians in the south and established a prefecture from Naxi to the north bank of the middle and upper reaches of the Chihui River. Because rush (i.e., rush) was everywhere in the prefecture, it was named Linzhou.

Later, due to the endless wars during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the various countries were unable to take care of this place. The Shuixi Luo family, one of the four major vassal forces in the southwest, took advantage of the opportunity to actually control this place.

After the founding of the Song Dynasty, since its focus was in the north, it needed to concentrate all its efforts on dealing with the Northern Han and Liao, so it did not take action against the four major vassal forces in the southwest.

One hundred years ago, that is, in the third year of Qiande of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty, Linzhou abolished its status as a state-level administrative region. Southern areas such as Gulin were incorporated into the Luo family's vassal area, and its northern areas such as Hejiang County were incorporated into Luzhou.

Therefore, the people in charge of the civil affairs of Gulin Town and several other towns were the Yi local officials appointed by the Luo family.

If you don't go looking for this Yi local official, you will be cheated of his benefits from time to time. If you take the initiative to look for him, no matter whether he is right or not, it will be a lose-lose situation for both of you.

At this time, an old man who was watching shook his head and said, "What a sin! Bullying an orphan and a widow."

Before he could finish his words, he was quickly dragged away by his family, who kept saying as they dragged him away.

"Why are you interfering in Lu's affairs, old man?"

Lu Zongde's face froze. He had thought that a widow with a pair of children and a half-grown brother-in-law would be easy to control.

Who would have thought that his nephew, who was usually taciturn, would dare to contradict him in public?
And if the case really gets brought to the local Yi officials, there is no need to talk about whether they are right or wrong, but in terms of money, they will definitely suffer a huge loss because unlike ordinary counties, the local officials here will first take some money from you no matter what the result of the judgment.

At this moment, Lu Beigu suddenly came up with an idea.

If the situation remains deadlocked and difficult to break, why not take advantage of the information gap between the two sides and use a little trick?
He changed the subject and asked, "The clan members have come to collect the debt today. The total amount, including principal and interest, is 32 strings of cash. If you pay this money, will you leave us alone?"

Seeing Lu Beigu suddenly give in, Lu Zongde felt relieved.

He no longer dwelled on the exorbitant interest rate, but tacitly agreed with Lu Beigu's statement and spoke hypocritically.

"If you're short of money, you can use this land as collateral. If you have nowhere to live, you can rent it to me in the future."

"We're moving."

Lu Beigu said to the onlookers, "We will pay off the money we owe to the Lu clan today. We also hope that all of you will sign a guarantee that we will never see each other again."

At this time, Lu Zongde and others did not react. They subconsciously thought that Lu Beigu meant to sign a guarantee so that he could use the house and land to pay off the debt and then move away with his family.

Therefore, the leading uncle nodded in agreement without even thinking.

"I won't make it difficult for you. All the neighbors of the Lu clan can sign this guarantee."

Lu Beigu picked up his pen and wrote a guarantee letter on the stone table on the spot.

Then the creditors came forward with hunched backs, vying to sign or put their fingerprints on the freshly issued guarantee letter, like a group of vultures fighting for food.

Everyone's face was filled with greedy smiles, because they all felt that this letter of guarantee was the certificate for dividing the house land later. You know, the value of this piece of land is probably more than 40 strings of cash, so they got a great bargain.

A crow had landed on the elm tree at the entrance of the alley, its black feathers reflecting the morning sun like splashed ink.

"Have you all signed?" Seeing that there were enough people to act as guarantors, Lu Beigu waited for the ink to dry and then leisurely put away the guarantee letter.

Then he took out a stack of Jiaozi from his pocket.

The mulberry paper shone green in the morning light, and the cinnabar seal with the denomination of "Wu Guan" was dazzling red.

Lu Beigu took out six coins in a row and said, "30 strings of cash. Please take out another two strings of copper coins so that they can count them in front of you."

The crowd suddenly became eerily quiet.

"Boy, you dare to play tricks on me?"

Lu Zongde's Adam's apple rolled and he suddenly rushed forward to grab the guarantee letter.

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the alley.

Everyone looked back and saw a green silk carriage slowly approaching. The copper bells hanging on the shafts jingled, and the curtains were lifted, revealing Zhou Mingyuan's arrogant face.

He changed into a light blue robe today, and the mutton-fat jade pendant hanging on the belt around his waist shone brightly in the morning light.

"Brother Lu!" Zhou Mingyuan jumped out of the car and bowed warmly. "It happens to be the Cold Food Festival, and my father asked me to bring some gifts."

He waved his hand, and two servants carried several gift boxes and food boxes off the carriage.

He pushed through the crowd and personally placed a vermilion food box on the stone table behind Lu Beigu. When he opened the lid, he found a box full of "Zitui Yan".

This is a swallow-shaped pastry with an exquisite design. It is extremely difficult to make. Usually only wealthy families can afford it here.

Seeing the attitude of the young master of the Zhou family, Lu Zongde immediately dared not make any more moves.

The main livelihood of the entire Gulin Town is mountain products, wine making and water transportation. Although the Zhou family has moved to Luzhou and almost no one lives here, their influence is still unquestionable.

What's more, Zhou Mingyuan is a juren!

The Song Dynasty was ruled by scholars and officials!

What is a scholar-official? Anyone who passed the imperial examination is a scholar-official.

Students in county and provincial schools might still be considered poor scholars, but if they passed the imperial examination, it meant they were only one step away from passing the imperial examination and becoming an official.

After all, there was a precedent in which Zhang Yuan was dismissed from the palace examination and then educated two Jinshi candidates, Xia Song and Han Qi, on the battlefield between Song and Xia. From then on, the palace examinations in the Song Dynasty became a formality.

Regardless of whether they are officials from the imperial court or local officials, who wouldn't give face to the Juren? Who knows when they will pass the imperial examination and rise to prominence?

Aunt Wang's neck shrank, like a hen with its throat strangled.

Lu Zongde's old face turned as red as liver: "Mr. Zhou, do you recognize my nephew?"

"Of course I recognize him." Zhou Mingyuan glanced at the crowd with a half-smile. "At the literary banquet yesterday, Brother Lu's essay 'Water from the Sky' won first prize. Even my father praised it highly. He will definitely be on the list of top scorers one day."

These words were like cold water poured into a pot of boiling oil.

The creditors looked at each other in bewilderment. Those who had been furious just now were now sweating on their foreheads and fell to the ground with a "thump".

Based on Lu Beigu's poor grades in the county school, no one thought he could be admitted to the provincial school, but what was going on with the Zhou family's young master's friendly attitude?

You know, they had never seen or even heard of the arrogant Master Zhou ever humbly giving anyone a holiday gift.

Could it be possible that Lu Beigu could really pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi?

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① The Luo family of Shuixi, the Song family of Shuidong, the Tian family of Sizhou and the Yang family of Bozhou.

② Zhang Yuan, a native of Huayin County, Huazhou, Yongxingjun Road, was a dashing and talented young man with a flair for strategy. After being dismissed from the palace examination by Emperor Renzong, he defected to the Xia Dynasty, rising to the positions of Grand Tutor, Minister of the Chancellery, and Minister of the Central Secretariat for Western Xia. After assisting Li Yuanhao in defeating the Song army at the Battle of Haoshuichuan, he inscribed a poem on the wall of Jieshang Temple: "Xia Shuo has never been so majestic, Han Qi is not surprising enough, the river is full of dragon and tiger chariots, yet he still discusses military strategies." From then on, Emperor Renzong abolished the system of dismissal from the palace examination, and anyone who passed the Ministry of Rites provincial examination was guaranteed to pass the palace examination.

(End of this chapter)