Noble Families

Seeing this scene, both Shen Zhui and Zhao Hu's expressions turned grim.

The little boy was on the verge of tears. Shen Zhui patted his head and put on a smile.

"Don't cry, we won't hit you, nor will we take your money. But you must leave the letter behind. Take this money and hurry home, don't go outside the city anymore."

"Okay." The little boy nodded repeatedly.

After the little boy left, Shen Zhui looked at the several letters in his hand, opened them one by one, and in a short while, handed them to Zhao Hu.

"A total of seven letters, all from people within the County Yamen, from the Three Divisions and Six Offices. They range from Postnatal Third Stage to Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm. According to the child's description, he wasn't the only one delivering letters. I'm afraid everyone of note in the County Yamen has received these letters of threat and enticement."

"Hmph, a petty trick. These big families, they always resort to the same old tactics," Zhao Hu said with disdain.

"The most cliché ones are usually the most effective," Shen Zhui replied. "And the Yang Family is different from the Li Family. Although the Yang Family also acts unscrupulously in the local area, they are very reputable. The prices they offer are never reneged on. I'm afraid many people will be tempted."

"This matter must be reported to the County Magistrate," Zhao Hu said solemnly.

"Let's go." Shen Zhui nodded.

County Yamen, Law Enforcement Hall.

There were many more people in the County Yamen today than usual. Due to a ban issued by the County Magistrate twenty days ago, almost everyone from the Three Divisions and Six Offices was present at the County Yamen.

However, the atmosphere was somewhat different. As Shen Zhui walked through the training ground, he saw many constables whispering in groups in the corners. Few people greeted each other when passing by, and even when their eyes met occasionally, it was filled with vigilance and suspicion.

"Even if not a single person agrees to their demands, the Yang Family's objective has been achieved," Shen Zhui couldn't help but worry.

Making the County Yamen's internal staff restless and suspicious of each other had clearly taken effect.

Walking all the way, they arrived at the Law Enforcement Hall. Shen Zhui and Zhao Hu, along with others, found Steward Liu and presented the envelopes.

"Leave them here," Steward Liu said without even looking at the envelopes, his expression blank.

"Reporting to the Steward, both mine and Shen Zhui's have been torn up. These letters could harm the morale within our County Yamen. Please report this to the County Magistrate and make plans early..."

"Plans?" Steward Liu looked up at Zhao Hu. "You two are not the first to receive these threatening letters. For now, we can only wait and see. You may go."

"But Steward..." Zhao Hu was anxious. "Are we just going to let this go unchecked?"

"How can we check it?" Steward Liu asked indifferently.

"In the past seven days, no less than three hundred envelopes have been delivered here! Everyone has received multiple letters, and it's still going on. These messengers are almost all children and laborers seeking small gains, only knowing how to take money to deliver letters. The real masterminds are nowhere in the city.

Even I have received eight letters! Those ignorant brats wrapped the letters in stones and threw them into my residence in the middle of the night. The windows of my rooms were smashed to pieces!"

"Do you think I don't want to sleep well?"

"I!" Zhao Hu's face turned red from Steward Liu's scolding, and he said stubbornly, "Then I request permission to go out of the city to investigate."

"The County Magistrate's ban is still in effect. No one is allowed to leave the city!"

"This won't do, and that won't do either. Are you just going to stand by and watch the common people die unjustly outside the city?!"

"Insolent!" Steward Liu became furious.

"Steward, please calm your anger." Seeing this, Shen Zhui quickly stepped forward and pulled Zhao Hu behind him.

"Zhao Hu misspoke in his haste. Please forgive him, Steward."

Steward Liu glanced at Shen Zhui and waved his hand impatiently. "Everyone is treating me like a punching bag. Shen Zhui, take him and get out of here quickly. If you have business in the Martial Arts Department, go directly to Wang Long. If you dare to order me around again, I won't be so accommodating next time."

"Thank you, Steward. We'll take our leave."

After leaving the Law Enforcement Hall, Zhao Hu angrily shook off Shen Zhui's hand. "This inaction is just encouraging the arrogance of those clan parasites! Come on, let's go find Captain Wang right now."

Shen Zhui stood still. "Brother Hu, it's useless to find Captain Wang right now."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Wait."

"Wait until when?"

"Until the seedlings are strong enough, and the weeds show themselves."

"..."

Zhao Hu slapped his forehead and walked back from the front, staring at Shen Zhui with a puzzled expression.

"Brother, do you know something?"

"Why do you ask?"

"When my old father was still alive, he told me a principle: whenever someone says something I don't understand, that person is either an idiot or knows more than I do. Brother Shen is definitely not an idiot, so you must know something I don't."

Shen Zhui knew that if he didn't explain things clearly to Zhao Hu today, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep. So, he pulled Zhao Hu to a secluded pavilion behind the County Yamen.

"Although the recent events have caused a big stir, if we summarize them, the methods of the masterminds can be boiled down to one sentence."

"Inflate prices within the city, create refugees outside the city."

"And intercepting government soldiers," Zhao Hu added.

"Exactly." Shen Zhui nodded, signaling him to remain calm.

"However, this alone is not enough for us to go to war with the two major families."

"Prices are soaring, and it happens every winter. It's unavoidable. Looking back three years, the County Magistrate was able to suppress the smaller families in the city, preventing them from going too far, which is why everything was fine."

"This year's price increase is only slightly higher than in previous years, but because of the large influx of refugees outside the city, it has caused some unrest. Legally speaking, the County Magistrate cannot use this as a reason to take action against the Li and Yang families."

"What about those refugees?" Zhao Hu couldn't help but ask. "Creating refugees is a serious crime!"

"A good question," Shen Zhui nodded. "Where do refugees come from?"

"Refugees are a group of people who do not have their own land or property, nor do they have surplus grain to survive the winter, forcing them to leave their homes."

"But why were there very few large-scale refugees in previous years, and so many appeared this year?"

"That's because these people originally had no land, or because the taxes were too heavy, or because of drought and flood disasters. Farming on their own is not as profitable as working for others. They often have to sell their land and seek protection under noble families. From then on, they farm the noble families' land to earn a living, and these are tenant farmers."

"The advantage of being a tenant farmer is that as long as the noble family doesn't fall, they don't have to worry about taxes or buying farming tools themselves. Usually, to maintain stability, even when there's no harvest in winter and summer, tenant farmers can get basic necessities by doing other jobs for the main family, so they have a stable income regardless of the weather."

"The disadvantage is that no matter how much or how well the tenant farmers work, most of the land's produce belongs to the noble family, with only enough for basic living expenses. If there's a disaster year, the noble family, to maintain their luxurious lifestyle, won't even give the tenant farmers that little bit of food."

"It can be said that the life and death of tenant farmers depend on the whim of the noble family."

"With abundant resources, noble families can control the pricing of goods. When noble families set prices low, those originally registered free citizens can maintain their families by farming their own small plots of land."

"But when prices rise, the money and grain obtained from farming an acre of land are less than working for the noble family, and they can't even exchange it for clothing or oil and salt. Then these registered free citizens often choose to sell their land and become slaves!"

"In the long run, there are more and more tenant farmers, and the noble families' land holdings grow larger. There's even a medium-sized town outside Heyuan County with a thousand acres of land, where three hundred households are all land belonging to the Li family, and servants of the Li family!"

"And these tenant farmers farm the noble families' land, eat the noble families' rice, and even live in the noble families' houses. Naturally, they will defend the interests of the large families and believe in their authority! They even only know family law, not the law of the land!"

"At the same time, as the influence of these noble families expands and their incense offerings flourish, receiving worship from their followers, the Yin Gods of the ancestors of the two major families will also grow stronger! Simultaneously, they can use the power of these Yin Gods to cultivate many experts."

"Conversely, the deities enshrined in the City God Temple within the city will become weaker. With this rise and fall, over time, the Yin Gods of the ancestors of the large families may even become more powerful than the deities of the City God Temple!"

"Of course, this is a line that very few large families would dare to cross, otherwise, they would face an army invading and uprooting them."

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