Seeing this scene, Shen Zhui and Zhao Hu's expressions turned grim.
The little boy looked on the verge of tears. Shen Zhui patted his head and put on a smile.
"Don't cry. We won't hit you, and we won't take your silver taels. But we'll keep the letters. Take this money and hurry home. Don't go outside the city again."
"Mm." The little boy nodded repeatedly.
After the little boy left, Shen Zhui looked at the few letters in his hand, opened them one by one, and soon handed them to Zhao Hu.
"There are seven in total. They're all for people in the county office—Three Divisions and Six Offices. Their cultivation ranges from the Postnatal Third Stage to the Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm. Judging from that child's description, he isn't the only messenger. I'm afraid everyone of any standing in the county office has received one of these letters of coercion and inducement."
"Hmph. Child's play. These great families always use the same old, worn-out tricks." Zhao Hu's face was full of disdain.
"The oldest tricks are usually the most effective." Shen Zhui said, "Besides, the Yang Family is different from the Li Family. Although the Yang Family also runs roughshod over the local people, it places great importance on its reputation. It never goes back on an offer once made. I'm afraid quite a few people will be tempted."
"This matter must be reported to the magistrate." Zhao Hu spoke solemnly.
"Let's go." Shen Zhui nodded.
County Office, Law Enforcement Hall.
There were many more people in the county office today than usual. Since the magistrate had issued a ban twenty days ago, nearly everyone from the Three Divisions and Six Offices had been staying in the county office.
The atmosphere, however, was somewhat different. As Shen Zhui crossed the Training Ground, he saw many constables gathered in groups of three or five, whispering in corners. Few colleagues greeted one another as they passed, and even when their eyes happened to meet, they were filled with wariness and suspicion.
"Even if not a single person accepts these letters, the Yang Family has achieved its goal." Shen Zhui couldn't help feeling worried.
It had made everyone in the county office panic-stricken and wary of one another. Clearly, it was already having an effect.
After making his way through the office, they arrived at the Law Enforcement Hall. Shen Zhui, Zhao Hu, and the others found Steward Liu and presented the envelopes.
"Just leave them there." Steward Liu didn't even glance at the envelopes, his face expressionless.
"Reporting to Steward Liu, Brother Shen and I have already torn ours up. These envelopes may damage morale within our county office. Please report this to the magistrate and make preparations in advance..."
"Preparations?" Steward Liu looked up at Zhao Hu. "The two of you aren't the first to receive these threatening letters. For now, all we can do is wait and see what happens. You may leave."
"But Steward Liu..." Zhao Hu grew anxious. "Are we really going to let this go unchecked?"
"How do you propose we deal with it?" Steward Liu said flatly.
"In the past seven days, no fewer than three hundred envelopes have been delivered here! Everyone has received several, and they're still coming. The messengers are almost all greedy children and laborers who only know how to take money and deliver letters. The true masterminds are not even in the city.
"Even I have received eight! Those ignorant brats wrapped the envelopes in stones and threw them into my residence in the middle of the night. The windows of my side room were smashed to pieces!"
"Do you think I don't want a good night's sleep?"
"I..." Zhao Hu's face flushed crimson after being sharply rebuked by Steward Liu. He stiffened his neck and said, "Then I request permission to leave the city and investigate the case."
"The magistrate's ban remains in effect. No one is permitted to leave the city!"
"This isn't allowed, and that isn't allowed either. Are you just going to stand by and watch the common people die unjustly outside the city?"
"Outrageous!" Steward Liu flew into a rage.
"Please calm down, Steward Liu." Seeing this, Shen Zhui hurried forward and pulled Zhao Hu behind him.
"Zhao Hu spoke out of turn. Please forgive him, Steward Liu."
Steward Liu glanced at Shen Zhui, then irritably waved his hand. "Every one of you treats me like a punching bag. Shen Zhui, take him and get out. If you have business in the Martial Arts Department, go directly to Wang Long. If you dare lecture me again, I won't be so easy to talk to next time."
"Thank you, Steward Liu. This subordinate will take his leave."
After leaving the Law Enforcement Hall, Zhao Hu angrily shook off Shen Zhui's hand. "With this kind of inaction, aren't we just encouraging those clan parasites to grow even more arrogant?! Come on, let's go find Captain Wang right now."
Shen Zhui stood still. "Brother Hu, there's no use going to Captain Wang now."
"Then what do you say we should do?"
"Wait."
"Until when?"
"Until the seedlings are strong enough, until the weeds poke their own heads out."
"..."
Zhao Hu slapped his head, then turned back from ahead and stared at Shen Zhui in puzzlement.
"Brother, do you know something?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"When my old father was still alive, he once told me a principle: whenever someone says something I can't understand, that person is either a fool or knows more than I do. Brother Shen, you definitely aren't a fool, so there must be something I don't know."
Shen Zhui knew that if he didn't lay everything out clearly for Zhao Hu today, the man probably wouldn't be able to sleep. So he led Zhao Hu to a secluded pavilion behind the county office.
"Although the recent events have caused a great stir, when you boil them down, the mastermind's method can be summed up in one sentence."
"Driving up prices inside the city and creating refugees outside it."
"And ambushing government soldiers." Zhao Hu added.
"Exactly." Shen Zhui nodded, signaling him to calm down.
"But that alone isn't enough for us to go to all-out war with the two great families."
"Prices rise sharply every winter. It's unavoidable. Looking back over the past three years, the magistrate was able to suppress the small families in the city and make them afraid to go too far. That's why everything remained peaceful."
"This year's increase is only slightly higher than in previous years. But because large numbers of refugees flooded in from outside the city, it caused a certain amount of unrest. Legally speaking, the magistrate has no way to use this as grounds to move against the Li and Yang Families."
"What about those disaster victims?" Zhao Hu couldn't help asking. "Creating refugees is a grave crime!"
"Good question." Shen Zhui nodded. "Where do refugees come from?"
"Refugees are people without their own farmland or property, and without surplus grain to survive the winter. They have no choice but to leave their homes."
"But why were refugees on such a scale rarely seen in previous years, while so many appeared this year?"
"Because these people originally had no land or property, or because taxes were too heavy, or because of droughts and floods. Farming by themselves yielded less than working for someone else. They often had no choice but to sell their land and seek shelter under an aristocratic clan or powerful household. From then on, they farmed the clan's land in exchange for their living expenses. That's what a tenant farmer is."
"The benefit of being a tenant farmer is that as long as the aristocratic clan doesn't fall, you don't have to worry about taxes or buying tools to cultivate your own fields. Usually, to maintain stability, even when there is no harvest in winter or summer, tenant farmers can do other work for their landlords and receive enough goods to maintain a basic living. You could say they are protected against both drought and flood."
"The drawback is that no matter how much or how well the tenant farmers work, most of what the land produces belongs to the aristocratic clan. They receive only enough money and grain to meet their basic needs. If a disaster year comes, the aristocratic clan, in order to maintain its luxurious lifestyle, won't even give the tenant farmers that little bit of food."
"It could be said that the life and death of tenant farmers rests on a single thought from the aristocratic clan."
"Once an aristocratic clan has abundant resources, it can control the right to set prices. When the clan sets resource prices low, the registered commoners can farm their own one mu of land and support their families."
"But when prices rise, and the money and grain earned from farming one mu of land is less than what they could make working for the aristocratic clan—even to the point that they can't exchange it for cloth, oil, or salt—those registered commoners will often choose to sell their land and remove themselves from the registers to become slaves!"
"Over time, tenant farmers grow more numerous, and the aristocratic clans' territories grow larger. There is even a medium-sized township outside Heyuan County where all one thousand mu of land and all three hundred households belong to the Li Family—the Li Family's land and servants!"
"These tenant farmers cultivate the aristocratic clan's land, eat the aristocratic clan's grain, and sometimes even live in the aristocratic clan's houses. Naturally, they protect the great family's interests and believe in its authority! Some even know only the Family Law and not the law of the land!"
"At the same time, as those aristocratic clans expand their family power, their incense flourishes, and they receive offerings from the faithful, the Yin Gods of the two great families' ancestors will grow stronger as well! They can then borrow the power of these Yin Gods to cultivate one expert after another."
"Conversely, the deity enshrined in the City God Temple will grow weak. As one side waxes and the other wanes, if this continues for long enough, the ancestral Yin Gods of the great families may even become stronger than the deity of the City God Temple!"
"Of course, very few great families would dare touch this line. Otherwise, the army would march in and uproot them completely."
Please vote.