Chapter 40 The Dirty Behind the Glamour

Chapter 40 The Dirty Behind the Glamour

Chapter 40 The Dirty Behind the Glamour

In addition to the official network of relationships, the Liu family also has many connections in the business world.

According to the information obtained by Zhu Minfeng, the Liu family has good relations with several large merchants such as the Chang family in Jinzhong and the Fan family in Jiexiu. The Liu family and the Chang family are even in-laws. Liu Shancheng's aunt married the second master of the Chang family, so the relationship is quite close.

The Liu family had a good reputation outside and was quite credible. Even in Pingyang Prefecture, the Liu family was also known as "good people". Whenever there was a famine, the Liu family often cooperated with the government to provide relief to the victims, which won them a certain amount of praise.

But privately, the Liu family is not a good family. The reason why the Liu family became rich was because of bribery. After the Liu family became rich, in order to compete for trade routes and gain profits, they did a lot of dirty things in secret. Don't be fooled by the Liu family's appearance of being kind people who build bridges and roads. In Zhu Minfeng's words, the Liu family is actually not a good thing at all.

For the sake of profit, the Liu family has done a lot of robbery and plunder over the years. Not to mention the distant past, let’s just talk about Pingyang Prefecture. Taking advantage of every famine, on the one hand, the Liu family set up porridge shops to provide relief to the victims, and on the other hand, they took the opportunity to lend money to exploit the people, and joined forces with the government to annex land at extremely low prices.

On the trade route, many merchants who had conflicts with the Liu family met with inexplicable accidents. Some ordinary merchants were even thrown into jail by the Liu family using their connections in the officialdom because they blocked the Liu family's trade routes, and eventually their families were broken up.

They didn't know about this kind of bad things before. They always thought that the Liu family was just a wealthy family and envied the Liu family's wealth. But who would have thought that behind the glamorous Liu family, there was such dirtiness and darkness.

"The old Liu was not a good person before. It is said that the Mu family in Daizhou was ruined by this old guy. The Mu family was a famous big merchant in Daizhou back then, and the Mu family and the Liu family were relatives. How could the Liu family be so cruel? The eldest son of the Mu family went to the grassland and disappeared. The second son of the Mu family was involved in a lawsuit and was beaten to death in court. The old man Mu died in a fit of rage. The women and children of the Mu family were even more pitiful. In just a few months, the Mu family was gone, and half of the huge wealth of the Mu family was swallowed up by the Liu family."

"After Old Master Liu died, Liu Shancheng became the head of the Liu family. Liu Shancheng is not a good person either. It was said that Old Master Liu was responsible for the Mu family's troubles, but it was Liu Shancheng who did it. Over the years, Liu Shancheng used his connections to force several people to death. These people were all small and medium-sized merchants. Not only did they die, but most of their wealth was also taken away by the Liu family..."

Zhu Minfeng shook his head as he spoke. He was a member of the royal family, and as a member of the royal family, he was naturally familiar with many dark things, but what Liu Shancheng did was still shocking. For money, the Liu family could do anything, including robbery and even murder and arson. This was nothing to the Liu family.

"What's the situation at the Liu family?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a frown.

Zhu Minyu immediately reported to him the information he had heard, that Liu Shancheng was the head of the Liu family and also the head of the Liu family.

After the death of Old Master Liu, the Liu family was controlled by Liu Shancheng. Liu Shancheng had three brothers. He was the eldest, Liu Shanchang was the second, and Liu Shanlin was the third. In addition, he had two younger sisters who had married long ago.

The second and third houses did not have a high status in the Liu family, because Liu Shancheng's eldest house held the power of the Liu family. In addition, Liu Shancheng was always wary of his two younger brothers and never gave them the right to touch the family business. Apart from the monthly allowance and dividends, their actual power in the Liu family was not as good as that of the managers under Liu Shancheng.

Liu Shancheng is 42 years old this year. In addition to his first wife, he also married five concubines, not to mention how many bed-warming maids he had.

Among these wives and concubines, Liu Shancheng's favorite was his fifth concubine Xiangyu.

The reason is very simple, because this concubine named Xiangyu gave birth to Liu Shancheng's only son, and this son was born when Liu Shancheng was 38 years old. Perhaps in later generations, it is normal for a man to get married and have children at the age of 38, although it is a bit late. But you must know that in the Ming Dynasty, ordinary men usually got married at the age of 15 or 16, and there were many who got married at the age of 13 or 14.

It is common for couples to have children within the second year after marriage. It is normal for the age difference between father and son to be only sixteen or seventeen years. It is very rare for couples to be like Liu Shancheng, who did not have a son until he was thirty-eight years old.

This might be the reason why Liu Shancheng married five concubines in addition to his wife. No matter how hard Liu Shancheng tried, he could not give birth to a son. He did give birth to several daughters, but none of them were male. As he grew older, he became more and more anxious. Such a huge family business cannot be left without successors, right?

His second and third brothers do have sons, so logically they could find one to adopt.

But Liu Shancheng didn't have a good relationship with his two younger brothers. He had always been wary of his second and third wives, and didn't even let them interfere in the business. If he adopted a son from them, what would happen in the future? Was this son his own? Or his younger brother's? What if he died one day and the adopted son inherited the family business and recognized his biological father again? What would he say?
So even if Liu Shancheng himself could not give birth to a son, he refused to give his brother's son to him, and was willing to welcome concubines into the family one after another. Hard work pays off, and not long after the fifth concubine came into the house, she finally got pregnant. Perhaps Liu Shancheng gave enough money to the temple, or perhaps he chanted sutras and kowtowed devoutly in the small Buddhist temple at home every day, and finally one day the fifth concubine gave Liu Shancheng a son.

The birth of his son finally made Liu Shancheng feel relieved. He felt relieved to have a son, and the family business would be passed on to the successor. Liu Shancheng treasured this son who was born in his middle age very much. He held him in his mouth for fear that he would melt, and held him in his palm for fear that he would fall. He doted on him.

It was also because of this son that his concubine named Xiangyu became more powerful in the Liu family than ordinary concubines, and even surpassed Liu Shancheng's first wife.

This concubine was no pushover. Relying on her favor, she not only held most of the power in the family in her hands, but also whispered in Liu Shancheng's ear, allowing her brother to become the chief steward of the Liu family.

Liu Shancheng trusted Xiangyu's brother very much, and not only made him the chief steward, but also regarded him as his confidant. Privately, the Liu family called him the second master, which was equivalent to the second in command of the Liu family besides Liu Shancheng.

On the contrary, Liu Shancheng's real second and third brothers had no rights at all. Sometimes they wanted to ask their eldest brother for more silver, but Liu Shancheng scolded them before they even opened their mouths. In Liu's house, their status was not as good as that of a concubine's brother.

"Liu Shancheng's wife just let this Xiangyu climb over her head?" After listening to Zhu Minyu's story, Zhu Shenzhui frowned and couldn't help asking.

"Liu Shancheng's principal wife is his aunt's cousin. If it weren't for this relationship and the fact that Liu Shancheng has always had a reputation as a good man, he would have divorced her long ago. What status can a woman who can't lay eggs have in the Liu family? So what even if she is the principal wife?" Zhu Minyu shook his head. Zhu Minyu was an honest man and someone who attached great importance to family. In his opinion, Liu Shancheng was nothing at all.

The concubine gave birth to his son, so it's fine if you want to spoil her, but you can't do it so excessively! His wife is still alive, but he praises the concubine to the sky, and he is so harsh to his two brothers, but he values ​​an outsider so much, which is simply unimaginable.

With one hand on the edge of the table, Zhu Shenzhui thought carefully.

The three of them had told him everything they had found out, and he had understood it all. Although there might be omissions in what they had found out, and it was impossible to guarantee that it was all complete, but with such a short time and the abilities of the three of them, such a result was already very good.

The general situation was basically the same as Zhu Shenzhu's initial judgment. Liu Shancheng had deep connections with the official and business circles, and a big businessman like him would have been swallowed up without these connections and personal connections long ago.

As for the robbery, murder and arson, Zhu Shenzhui was not surprised. This may seem excessive to outsiders, but it is the most normal thing for capital. Let's not talk about other things. Take Zhu Shenzhui himself for example. Is he a good person for leading the people of Wangjia Village to smuggle salt? You have to know that he has killed people in the past two years. Sometimes if you are soft-hearted, you may lose your life.

But then again, Zhu Shenzhui and Liu Shancheng are fundamentally different, and their starting points and purposes are different. This is the real reason why Zhu Shenzhui has a bad impression of Liu Shancheng, not to mention that the Liu family has already reached out to him and intends to cut off his retreat. How can Zhu Shenzhui let it go?
It is unlikely to start with the government or the military. After all, Liu Shancheng and they have a vested interest. In other words, Liu Shancheng and they are in the same group. Over the years, they have made a lot of money relying on the Liu family. As for other merchants, let's not talk about whether there are merchants willing to turn against the Liu family. Even if there are, they have to consider whether they can win the fight against the Liu family.

The Liu family, especially Liu Shancheng, are not easy to deal with. If the Liu family cannot be defeated in one go, the consequences will be disastrous.

After much thought, Zhu Shenzhui felt that it would be better to start with the conflicts within the Liu family, especially Liu Shancheng's two younger brothers, the second and third branches of the Liu family.

As brothers, the second and third wives had no rights, and the concubine's brother had even surpassed them. How could ordinary people tolerate this? There was also a conflict between Liu Shancheng's concubine, Xiangyu, and his wife, which could be used.

Isn't there a saying that goes, "Troubles start within the family, and the fortress always begins to collapse from within. If we can make good use of this, it will be an opportunity to severely strike Liu Shancheng. As long as there is chaos within the Liu family, there will be other ways to deal with the matter in Jiezhou.

(End of this chapter)