Chapter 175 Zhou's cousin and Bei Kong's hostility
Chapter 175 Zhou's cousin and Bei Kong's hostility (Subscribe)
The leader of the Luo Sect soon fell into deep thought. Xu Qing's request was simple, to help the Red Flower Society resist the threat of Heshan Dao in Lingnan and southern Fujian, so that the Red Flower Society could truly gain a foothold in the southern part of the world.
The predecessor of the Red Flower Society was the Lotus Sect, so the fact that it had changed its appearance could not be hidden from the Luo Sect.
In fact, it is not new at all for officials to control underworld forces.
Even the Luo Sect had connections with important figures in the court, but the relationship was not that deep.
In addition, some important officials in the court even came from evil sects.
The court is the most turbid place in the world, with all kinds of things. Even if Emperor Taizu of Dayu were to be resurrected, he would not be able to do it, let alone have the need to do so.
The leader of the Luo Sect burned Su Lianqing's secret letter and then wrote a reply. He wanted to know what price Xu Gongming could offer to cooperate with the Luo Sect.
In fact, he knew in his heart that his reply to the letter asking for the price had already fallen into Xu Gongming's trap.
The question is, what good is there in saying no?
He could also take this opportunity to find out what Xu Gongming was thinking.
...
...
When the leader of the Luo Sect was replying to the letter, an uninvited guest came to the Xu Mansion.
"I met my brother-in-law."
The girl in front of me is about thirteen years old. It is just like the poem: "She is more than thirteen years old, and she is in the prime of February."
The posture is beautiful, like a flower bud about to bloom in February.
It was not until Feng Wu explained to Xu Qing that he realized that the cousin in front of him was Zhou Tixue's daughter, and she was already this old.
My cousin is called Pingting.
Xu Qing exchanged greetings with her, then took Feng Wu to the study and asked, "What's going on?"
It is not strange for the daughter of a wealthy family to live with her relatives. The key point is that these relatives are usually elders. How could she come to her cousin's husband's house alone and apparently stay for a long time?
This kind of thing is obviously not normal.
Feng Wu then recounted the whole story.
It turned out that the Taicang Zhou family was a big family in the north, and they were on good terms with the Northern Kong Yanshenggong Mansion. Zhou Pingting and the second son of Yanshenggong had been engaged not long ago, but the Zhou family elders discovered that Zhou Pingting had not bound her feet, so the matter naturally became a big deal.
"Do Zhou's daughters also have to bind their feet?"
"Over the past hundred years, there are indeed quite a few, but if the parents insist on not binding their feet, or keep it a secret, it's not a big deal. My mother didn't do that. However, I heard that this trend is getting worse and worse, and many daughters of wealthy families have to bind their feet. My uncle and aunt didn't let my cousin bind her feet, but my aunt thought it was a good thing to marry the Duke of Yansheng, so they asked which young ladies in the family had bound their feet. My aunt kept it a secret and then reported my cousin's name. It was probably because my uncle is now the governor and his family is now particularly prominent, so the Kong family is very satisfied with this marriage." Feng Wu paused, and continued, "Because the marriage was settled, my aunt was afraid that she could not keep it a secret, and she wanted my cousin to bind her feet to avoid the marriage falling through."
Xu Qing's mouth twitched. "Normal people bind their feet when they are four or five years old, or six or seven years old at the latest. How can they bind their feet at this age?"
Feng Wu: "My aunt is afraid that if she cancels the engagement, my cousin's life will be ruined."
Xu Qing thought, what kind of magical operation is this? He was afraid that breaking off the engagement would ruin his daughter's life, so he signed up for it.
He then asked, "Then why did our cousin come to our house? She didn't want to bind her feet, so didn't she go to her uncle or your father?"
At this point, he thought about the bad climate in Lingnan, and as a high-ranking official, Zhou was watched by people all the time. If his daughter escaped from marriage and went to him, there would be too many reasons for people to criticize her...
As for Lord Feng in the capital, although he is a senior official in the Six Departments, he cannot always look after my little cousin.
The Northern Kong and Zhou families were also apparently very powerful in the north.
Feng Wu said the same thing.
Xu Qing pondered and said, "This matter is still a little strange. It is somewhat problematic that my cousin was able to come to our house smoothly all this way."
He was habitually suspicious and felt that something was wrong.
Feng Wu: "My husband, do you mean that Zhou or Bei Kong want to make a fuss about this? They deliberately let my cousin come south to seek refuge with us?"
Xu Qing, "It's not the case with the Zhou family, but it's hard to say about the Northern Kong. I have to ask Mr. Xie about this matter. He has studied in the north for many years and knows many things better than us."
He paused, and continued, "Uncle has helped us a lot. No matter what is strange about this matter, I still believe in uncle. You take good care of Pingting. If there is really trouble, it won't be a problem when we get to Jiangning Mansion. You don't have to worry."
Although it is troublesome, Xu Qing has to take care of the matter of Lord Zhou's daughter regardless of Feng Wu's factors.
A real man knows how to distinguish between gratitude and resentment, and Xu Qing cannot help but repay Lord Zhou for his kindness to him.
...
...
Xu Qing went straight to the Jiangning Weaving Office, found Xie Quan, and talked about the matter straight to the point.
After hearing this, Xie Quan smiled slightly and said, "You have found the right person. If it weren't for your little cousin, Bei Kong would probably have to trouble you."
Xu Qing was confused, "What conflict do I have with Bei Kong?"
Xie Quan laughed loudly: "You, Xu Gongming, also have your moments of confusion. The trouble here is caused by the conversion of rice to mulberry and the maritime trade."
Xu Qing understood everything immediately and asked, "I'm not very clear about Bei Kong's business. Do they also engage in smuggling and silk business?" The Kong family has always been arrogant and dares to interfere in all kinds of business. If there is really a business conflict, Xu Qing will still deal with him. Otherwise, how can this business be done?
There is nothing to be afraid of when there is a conflict. The key is to understand the causes and consequences and to prescribe the right remedy.
Scholars all over the world regard the Kong family as the face of the orthodox religion, which should not be desecrated. But in Xu Qing's eyes, it is just the urinal of imperial power.
He respected the Master in his heart, but he had no respect at all for the Kong family.
What's more, when he respected the Master, he was also respecting his life, not deifying him.
Xie Quan: "The Kong family owns more than 100,000 acres of fertile land, many of which are mulberry trees. Therefore, the Kong family occupies a large share of the northern silk trade. But you have not only replaced rice with mulberry trees, but also the northern raw silk you use mostly comes from the He family in Nanyang, which has greatly affected the Kong family's raw silk business."
He was the Jiangning Weaving Supervisor and knew everything about this matter.
In fact, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that it has a great impact. The fundamental reason is that Xu Qing ignores the Kong family.
From Xu Qing's perspective, this naturally makes sense.
Old He has a good relationship with him and is from the Nanyang He family. Now he is even a councilor of Nanzhili. What is the Yanshenggong Mansion? When Xu Qing does business, he needs to consider their attitude. Is he just trying to deliver business to his door?
But as far as the literati were concerned, the Duke Yansheng's Mansion was equivalent to the person in charge of the literati all over the world. Xu Qing was at best the most capable hall master and incense master in Nanzhili recently. After Xu Qing won the title of Jieyuan, he had no contact with the Duke Yansheng's Mansion at all, and did not come to Dongshan Province to seek advice and gild himself. He also indirectly affected the business of the Duke Yansheng's Mansion. This was really intolerable.
If there was no incident involving Zhou's cousin, there would be other incidents.
Xie Quan was afraid that Xu Qing didn't understand the ins and outs, so he explained it in extra detail.
No matter what, as a member of the orthodox religion, one cannot avoid the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, and cannot avoid the Yansheng Palace.
Afterwards, Xie Quan explained to Xu Qing why the custom of foot binding had become a common tool used by people in today's orthodox religions.
This is because after foot binding, women's ability to engage in production activities became weaker, and foot binding itself involved expenses. As a result, some farmers with land, who originally relied on the efforts of couples, were able to support family expenses and save money in good years.
If they were influenced by the custom of foot binding, they would inevitably go hungry in years of disaster. In this case, they would have to borrow food from the rich, and eventually lose their land. Naturally, they would become tenants of the rich, and the land would belong to the gentry.
This is actually just the tip of the iceberg of the exploitation of the common people by the big households.
For example, in the early Han Dynasty, lavish burials were popular, and the dead were treated as if they were alive. Even small and medium-sized landlords could go bankrupt because of funerals, which also gave the powerful families the opportunity to annex land.
Therefore, the reason why Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty could crack down on the powerful families was that the middle and lower classes were fed up with these powerful families. In the early stage, they cooperated with Emperor Wu in cracking down on the powerful and wealthy, but Emperor Wu was fair and treated everyone equally, regardless of whether they were big or small, or ordinary people.
Of course, this was also because Emperor Wu had to do so because he had a huge business and needed money urgently. If later generations wanted to learn from Emperor Wu, they first had to have Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty as their grandfather.
Xu Qing: "I think this trend also exists in Nanzhili now."
Xie Quan: "Yes, but not much. Because girls are also useful, whether they are picking mulberry leaves or working as textile workers, they can make a lot of money. If you are too harsh, it will easily cause a backlash..."
Xu Qing sighed, "The world is bustling with people because of profit. People in the world have no choice. Mr. Xie, I plan to write an article, please give me your advice."
Xie Quan had always known Xu Qing's talent and learning. As expected, just the answers to the four books in the provincial examination were so well written that even if Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan were resurrected, they could not change their writing style.
Seeing Xu Qing writing from his inspiration, he couldn't help but look forward to what kind of shocking article Xu Gongming would write.
Xu Qing hesitated at first.
He was looking for some information from his own memory, comparing and selecting it with the historical materials of this world.
With his soul functioning at the peak level of manifestation and his absolute concentration, Xu Qing's mind was running at a rapid pace.
Xie Quan looked into his eyes as if sparks were about to appear.
About two quarters of an hour later, Xu Qing picked up his pen and wrote one word after another on the white paper like a dragon and a snake. This was standard official script, and every word was clearly visible.
Xie Quan read along the lines of Xu Qing's writing.
The more he read, the more shocked he became.
When Xu Qing finished writing, Xie Quan also finished reading Xu Qing's article.
Xu Qing put down his pen and sighed, then asked Xie Quan for advice: "Mr. Wenyuan, do you think there are any flaws in my article?"
Xie Wenyuan looked extremely strange and asked, "Gongming, what on earth are you planning to do by writing this article?"
Xu Qing: "Of course, the article is written for others to read, so we can just start a newspaper."
Xie Wenyuan was no stranger to newspapers, as they had existed before the Song Dynasty. Shuntian Prefecture even had an official newspaper office called "Shuntian Times". Now that the Prime Minister had carried out reforms, private individuals were also allowed to publish newspapers.
But other people’s newspapers generally discuss current affairs.
The content of Xu Qing's article is too explosive, even worse than criticizing current politics or scolding the Prime Minister's mother.
"No, Gongming, it shouldn't be that serious."
“Are there any mistakes or omissions in my article?”
"I can't tell at the moment."
Xie Quan's forehead darkened, but to be honest, Xu Qing's article was clearly written, like the iron pen of a historian, and he could not find any obvious logical problems.
The problem is that the content of the article clearly states that Bei Kong is not Confucius and is of Hu descent.
He was just pulling out a hair of your beard to test you, are you planning to dig up his ancestors' graves?
Is there any reason?
(End of this chapter)