Chapter 557: The Xu Family Betrayed

Wang Shimao stood anxiously on the bow, wishing the passenger ship under his feet could grow wings and fly to the north gate pier of Huating County immediately.

How could this happen?
The residence of Mr. Xu, the former prime minister and a member of the most famous family in the southeast, was unexpectedly harassed by a group of villagers.

These villagers also humiliated Mr. Xu in public.

When the brothers Wang Shizhen and Wang Shimao received the letter, they could not believe it at all.

Do you know who Xu Gong is?
Former Prime Minister of the Cabinet!
The veteran who came to power!

The Grand Secretary of the State!

Is there any heavenly principle? Is there any royal law?
When he thought of this, Wang Shimao’s heart felt like it was burning on fire.

After receiving the urgent letter, he immediately set out from Taicang, dozens of miles away, and hurried to Huating.

Amid his anxiety, the passenger ship finally docked at the pier, and Yuan Daoan, who had been waiting for a long time, hurried to greet it.

Yuan Daoan was from Huating, a juren (a scholar-official) and a famous scholar in Songjiang. He was hired as the editor of the newspaper Ci Lin.

It was he who wrote a letter and sent someone to take it to Taicang overnight to inform Wang Shimao and his brothers.

Yuan Daoan also looked anxious, “Hello, Brother Linzhou. Why didn’t Brother Fengzhou come?”

“Alas, what a coincidence! My brother sprained his ankle and couldn’t move around easily, so he asked me to come down. Pingzhi, how is the situation at the Xu Mansion?”

Yuan Daoan stamped his feet repeatedly, “Alas, what an insult to society! Mr. Xu is the pillar of the country and the master of the southeast, but today he has suffered such a great humiliation. How can we not lament and lament?”

“Get in the carriage, Pingzhi, we’ll talk in the carriage.”

“it is good.”

He got into the carriage, lowered the curtain, the driver shouted, and the two-wheeled carriage started slowly.

Wang Shimao immediately asked, “Pingzhi, please tell me the details. You only scribbled a few words in the letter, and your words were not clear, which made me worry all the way.”

Yuan Daoan sighed and replied, “Alas, this is all caused by Dai Fengxiang, that scoundrel.”

“Dai Fengxiang, the Imperial Censor of Jiangsu Province? He has put up notice boards in Suzhou and issued more than a dozen notices. He is very powerful and is definitely targeting Lord Shaohu.”

“Brother Linzhou, the court announced that Hai Gong was sent as the governor of Jiangsu Province to investigate Cai Guoxi’s suicide. People in Jiangnan are in a panic. Everyone knows that Xiang Zhuang’s sword dance is aimed at Pei Gong.

“Mr. Hai went to Jiangnan this time, most likely to deal with Mr. Shaohu. But Mr. Hai disappeared as soon as he entered Shandong, and no one knows where he went incognito and what he found.”

I’m not afraid of Hai Rui coming to investigate the case, I’m just afraid that Hai Rui will disappear.

It’s possible to cover up a case if you investigate it openly, but it’s uncomfortable if you go incognito. No one knows what you have found out, and they wait in fear for you to come out, and then you suddenly explode. Who can stand it?
“People’s hearts were in turmoil, and the officials and gentry in Jiangnan were even more flustered. But they never expected that the first person to jump out and rebel would be the scum Dai Fengxiang.”

Wang Shimao stroked his beard gently with his right index finger and thumb, squinting his eyes. “Dai Fengxiang was deeply indebted to Lord Shaohu. During the Longqing period, Lord Hai cleared the land from the Xu family. Dai Fengxiang, who was then the official in the Ministry of Personnel, also submitted a memorial to impeach Lord Hai for bullying the gentry and stood up for the Xu family.

How come you changed your face in the blink of an eye?”

Yuan Daoan shook his head and said, “Alas, that was then, and this is now.

At that time, Lord Shaohu was the chief minister of the cabinet, with great power in the government and the country. Now Lord Shaohu is just a retired official, with only a glorious title but no real power.

Duke Hai was in the emperor’s favor and was promoted to the governor of Jiangsu, which made him Dai Fengxiang’s immediate superior. Last time, Dai Fengxiang had offended Duke Hai, and he was trying his best to make up for it, so he acted like this.

He sent out more than a dozen notices, shocking Suzhou and Songjiang. Many officials and gentry who were looking around followed his example and took advantage of the situation to attack the Xu family and Shaohu Gong. “

Wang Shimao nodded. “It’s similar to what my brother and I guessed. Those villagers who harassed the Xu Mansion and humiliated Mr. Xu claimed to be the family of Shaohu Gong. How come they are like that?”

Yuan Daoan sighed, “Brother Linzhou, those family members are actually servants or tenants. They brought their land to the Xu Mansion and relied on the prestige of the Xu Mansion to live freely for more than ten or twenty years. Now they have turned their backs on us and are biting back at the Xu Mansion. They are like the wolves of Zhongshan!”

Wang Shimao remained silent.

It’s almost the same as my brother’s guess!
In the second year of Jiajing, Xu Jie passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, thus entering the official career.

In the 31st year of Jiajing’s reign, he entered the cabinet to assist in government affairs.

After serving as an official for more than 40 years and as a cabinet minister for 20 years, the Xu family jumped from a small wealthy family to the first family in the Three Wus. Families who brought their land to the Xu family became numerous.

Ming Dynasty law prohibited the buying and selling of human beings as servants. Therefore, young children were sold by human traffickers and claimed that the master’s family’s men and women were their fathers and mothers, but they were actually servants.

The older people brought their entire families and land as donations and changed their surnames to become members of the master’s family, but in reality they were servants and tenants.

These families who brought their land as donations wanted to rely on the Xu family and be exempted from corvée labor, especially the miscellaneous labor that could destroy a family.

As for the land donated to the Xu family, the Xu family colluded with the government and used illegal means such as flying and fraudulent mail to hide the land and distribute the taxes to other self-cultivating farmers and small and medium-sized landlords.

Then the Xu family would not have to pay normal taxes, would not have to bear any obligations, and could enjoy the benefits of one person being an official and the whole family enjoying the benefits.

The Xu family did not have to pay rent, but the family members who had offered their land had to pay the rent to the Xu family without any deduction.

Wang Shimao said slowly: “Pingzhi, there are still a few bad things.”

Yuan Daoan was stunned, “Brother Linzhou, please speak.”

“A man named Gu Shao went to Suzhou to report to Dai Fengxiang, saying that the Xu family had committed fraud in the 43rd year of Jiajing, delaying the transportation of pigment silver from Songjiang Prefecture to the national treasury.

There was also a man named Shen Yuanheng, who sued the Xu family for embezzling money and grain.

There was also a Taoist priest named Li Fugang who reported that Shaohu Gong’s brother Wanghu Gong was arbitrarily roaming the village, arresting villagers and punishing them according to the law. He issued a fierce order, and the officials in the prefecture and county obeyed it in fear and did not dare to disobey.

Yuan Daoan was stunned when he heard this. “Who are these three people?”

“Gu Shao used to be a clerk in the household department of Songjiang Prefecture. Shen Yuanheng used to be a clerk in the criminal department of Huating County. Li Fugang claimed that he was a student from Qingpu. One day, he went to the prefectural school to enroll and offended Lord Wanghu. He was forced to seek shelter in a Taoist temple to barely make a living.”

Wang Shimao stared at Yuan Daoan and asked, “Pingzhi, you have always been close to the Xu family. Tell me, did these things happen?”

Yuan Daoan was silent for a while, “Shaohu Gong has always been virtuous, but he has been away from home for a long time, and the three young masters have neglected to discipline him. Wanghu Gong has a harsh and impatient temper, and he will lose his temper at the slightest displeasure.”

In this case, the three people’s lawsuit was indeed true, but there might be some discrepancies. Wang Shimao sighed and said nothing more.

Yuan Daoan was also feeling uncomfortable, as everyone was pushing him down when he fell.

In the past, when Lord Shaohu was in power, everyone was fawning on Lord Wanghu and the three princes. Now that the situation has changed, everyone is starting to take advantage of the situation.

The carriage soon arrived at Xu’s house.

There were hundreds of people blocking the entrance of Xu’s house, all wearing blue shirts and small hats, with unfriendly faces. Some stood there, staring at the gate of Xu’s house, wondering what they were thinking; some pointed at the gate of Xu’s house and cursed loudly, the curses were extremely unpleasant to hear.

Thousands of people gathered around to watch the fun.

The three memorial archways built by the order of Emperor Jiajing were filthy and dim. Men, women, old and young stood below them, and the ground around them was covered with snot, yellow phlegm and melon seed shells.

Yuan Daoan led Wang Shimao out of the carriage in the distance, walked around to the side door and knocked.

The door opened a crack, revealing the face of the Xu family’s servant. Seeing that it was Yuan Daoan, whom he knew, he quietly opened the door and let the two in.

“Where is Lord Shaohu?”

“The master is in the study in the middle courtyard. Alas.”

“what happened?”

“A dozen tenants who surrendered and changed their surnames, along with two village elders, blocked the master in his study, pointing at his nose and cursing him. We couldn’t stand it. If the master hadn’t issued repeated strict orders, we would have kicked these bastards out long ago.”

“Pointing at Lord Shaohu’s nose and scolding him! This is outrageous!”

Yuan Daoan was furious. He lifted up his clothes and quickened his pace.

Wang Shimao hurried to follow.

Through the wall, I could hear the sound of cursing.

“Old Xu, you are nothing now. There is Hai Qingtian up there who wants to investigate you. You are doomed.”

“Yes, don’t drag us down when you’re done. Sign the contract quickly and return the land we donated to us.”

“Back then, I brought 300 mu of paddy fields to your family, but they were only worth 2,000 taels of silver. Those were all top-quality paddy fields, and one mu was worth at least 10 taels of silver.

You are too wicked. Now that things have come to this, I am too lazy to calculate. Just give me the Fu Ruichang Silk Shop in Suzhou City.”

Finally, Xu Kun’s voice was heard scolding and retorting: “What nonsense are you talking about! Do you think that’s the best paddy field? It’s just damn poor land. No one wants it at five taels of silver per acre.

No one forced you to surrender to our house back then. It was you who cried and shouted that you wanted to surrender, and you even knelt in front of our house for several days and nights. We took pity on you and accepted you.

I gave you two thousand taels of silver, changed your name to Xu Wu, and treated you as a family member. Seeing that you were smart, I borrowed five thousand taels of silver and let you open the Furuichang Silk and Cloth Shop. I also exchanged the land you donated for two thousand taels of silver and gave you one-third of the cloth shop.

We in the Xu Mansion have done our best for you, but you, an ungrateful person, are taking advantage of our misfortune and trying to bite us back. Don’t even think about it!”

Xu Wu started to act like a scoundrel, “Well, you dare to slander me and other good people? Then we will go to court, to the Suzhou Provincial Governor’s Office, to the Yangzhou Governor’s Office, and to Hai Qingtian!”

Xu Kun was suddenly speechless.

Yuan Daoan and Wang Shimao walked into the study one after another and saw a dozen people surrounding Xu Jie who was sitting behind the desk. Some were pointing at him and whispering, while others were pointing at him and insulting him.

Xu Kun stood aside, his face livid.

Xu Jie was wearing a sky-blue silk Taoist robe and a square flat-top scarf on his head. He sat there blankly with his head lowered and his eyes drooping, with a dull look in his eyes.

His face was full of wrinkles and age spots, dull and gloomy.

Facing the scolding and insults from the people around him, he said nothing.

Sometimes there was a look of helplessness on his face, sometimes there was a look of numbness and indifference, and sometimes he lowered his head, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

“How dare you! What are you doing!” Wang Shimao scolded, “Although Lord Shaohu is not the chief minister of the cabinet, he is still a first-rank Ronglu doctor of the imperial court.

You are so wantonly insulting the former Prime Minister, a retired first-rank official of the court, you are slapping the face of the court, you are slapping the face of the emperor, believe it or not, I will file a petition to report you.
No, you unruly people are not qualified to be impeached. I will definitely submit a complaint to Songjiang Prefecture and Yangzhou Censorate, asking the government to arrest you unruly people who have committed crimes and disrespected the government!”

After hearing Wang Shimao’s angry scolding, everyone looked at each other and left.

Yuan Daoan looked at Xu Jie, tears streaming down his face, unable to control his grief.

“Mr. Shaohu, how could I allow you to humiliate me like this! Even if I risk my life, I will go to the capital to file a complaint. How could they treat a former cabinet chief and a first-rank doctor like this!”

Xu Jie slowly raised his head, his face full of vicissitudes of life was full of helplessness, and he closed his eyes and said sadly: “The night spring has no dawn, and the dead tree is sad in the wind. This old man is a dead tree, and there is no spring. The cold winter is coming, and the dead tree is rotting.”

When Wang Shimao saw him like this, he felt endless sadness in his heart.

The world is so cruel and cruel, and it’s too much!

“Shaohu Lord, my brother and I were also demoted and cannot speak for Shaohu Lord in the court.

But we still have pens, and we will definitely publish the humiliation suffered by Shao Hu Gong in the newspaper “Ci Lin”, and then write letters to many colleagues and friends, calling them out, how can the Ming Dynasty treat a veteran who has made contributions to the world in this way! “

Xu Jie’s face was filled with excitement. He wanted to stand up but was too shaky to do so. He could only tremble and bow, saying in a hoarse voice, “I appreciate your generosity, brothers.”

Wang Shimao and Yuan Daoan comforted Xu Jie with a few words, then hurriedly said goodbye and left.

They must quickly expose the injustice that Xu Jie is currently suffering to the scholars in Jiangnan and throughout the world.

Today it’s Shao Hu Gong, tomorrow it could be us!
Xu Jie asked Xu Kun to see the guests off on his behalf.

After the three people left the study, Xu Jie, who was sitting on the chair, had a flickering look in his eyes. He suddenly stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

A trusted steward just walked over and saw the window was pushed open. His master was standing behind the window. His eyes were so fierce and fierce, like a sharp sword. He was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)