CH 149

“Zhao Eldest! You will die a sticky death!” The shoeless and messy haired Zheng family patriarch pointed at Zhao Rong’s nose, “Today you play the jackal to the tiger! In the future, will your Zhao family be able to retreat safely?”

Zhao Rong looked at Patriarch Zheng: “Since Patriarch Zheng knows that His Majesty is a fierce tiger going down the mountain, why did you refuse to see reason back then? Patriarch Zheng, have a look around, your wife and sons have bowed their heads, they are willing to be loyal to His Majesty, so why bother to block your family’s path to survival? Even if not for the Zheng family’s century-old reputation, it is also necessary to consider more for the future generations.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

Patriarch Zheng looked up to the sky and laughed: “Zhao Eldest, you are laughable!”

“A man’s arm is cut off, and yet you want this man to serve it over with both hands. My Zheng family is willing to provide food and people, so what else is he dissatisfied with?!”

Zhao Rong: “It’s just a few servants.”

Patriarch Zheng scolded: “Just a few servants?”

“Your Zhao family is also a century-old clan! You actually don’t know whether this is just a few servants?”

“What is a servant? Old generational servants, my family’s shops, and your family’s shops, aren’t they all watched by servants?”

“Your family’s ancestral lands, my family’s ancestral lands, aren’t they all being looked after by the servants?”

Zhao Rong cupped his hands and said: “Patriarch Zheng, I respect you as an elder, and I have made my statements. His Majesty is benevolent and kind, but the sharpness of the slaughtering knife is rare in this world. If you remain stubborn, then it will not be Zhao who will come to persuade you with good words, but the sword and the axe, Patriarch Zheng, take care.”

Zhao Rong flicked his sleeves and turned around, leading the people away.

Every step of the way, he kicked up wind, and his momentum and aura was no longer that of the old Zhao family son.

“Father!”

After Zhao Rong left, Patriarch Zheng’s eldest son hurried to his father’s side. He wanted to support Patriarch Zheng, but Patriarch Zheng waved him away.

“You! You!” Patriarch Zheng pointed at his sons and wife, and at everyone, “Are you going to watch our Zheng family decline? Will the inheritance left by our ancestors be ruined today?”

The eldest son knelt on the ground with tears in his eyes: “Father, the emperor is a tyrant, a fierce tiger. Only by letting go of the past glory will our Zheng family have a chance to breathe, and in the future will we be able to send our children to the court.”

“Father.” The eldest son took a few steps on his knees and hugged Patriarch Zheng’s legs, “Our Zheng family has not gained an inch in a hundred years.”

Patriarch Zheng felt unsteady on his feet, and he sat on the chair: “You…..are willing to give up your ancestral inheritance in order to stand out in front of the new king?”

The eldest son raised his head: “Father.”

Patriarch Zheng looked at his sons and his grandchildren.

In addition to fear, their faces were filled with uncontrollable excitement and yearning.

They have acquired civil and military skills, but they couldn’t use it to serve the imperial family. At this time, the new king appeared, and even if the king was extremely vicious, they couldn’t wait to make use of their skills and abilities that they had learned.

They didn’t care whether the new king was strong or weak, traitorous or evil, so long as they could accomplish their ambitions, nothing else mattered.

Patriarch Zheng was defeated. He covered his eyes and said with trembling lips, “I can’t stop you, I have grown old, Zihui.”

The eldest son hurriedly said, “This son is here.”

Patriarch Zheng didn’t want to open his eyes to see his children and grandchildren again: “In the future, this family is now yours.”

The eldest son froze in place, and repeatedly said he dared not: “This son, the son is not as capable as father…..”

Patriarch Zheng: “Don’t say anymore! From now on, I won’t care about this family anymore!”

“In the future, success or failure, whether our Zheng family is the passing water of the east or the pagoda on the main mountain, it will depend on you all.”

The children of the Zheng family bowed their heads and knocked it to the ground.

The next day, the Zheng family dispersed the old servants, hired new servants, and returned the servants to the common people.

The aristocratic families, every one of them was in danger.

But there were those who followed the example of the Zheng family and cut off their arms for survival.

“Most of them are smart people.” Song Shizhao smiled at the booklet sent over by Zhao Rong.

The old servant was puzzled: “It’s just a matter of servants. Why do they all look like their parents and mothers have died?”

Song Shizhao smiled and shook his head: “You, you never use your brain.”

The old servant poured him a glass of wine: “More and more, I do not understand what my lord is saying now.”

At this time, Lin Yuan was instructing Luo Ben: “I am sending you this time in order to supervise the registration of households. What generational servants and family servants, they are all my citizens.”

Luo Ben promised: “What Your Majesty says is very true, under the Lord, there should be no one who coerces the people into slavery.”

Lin Yuan had a smile on his face: “I fully entrust this to Mister.”

Luo Ben cupped his hands and bowed at the waist: “This official will do my best.”

“Go.” Lin Yuan watched Luo Ben leave.

Luo Ben listened to the cries outside the governmental office.

The servants cried and sobbed, not wanting to be commoners.

“My father and my mother, my grandparents are all servants.” The man cried bitterly, “I don’t want to be a commoner!”

The common people have to pay taxes, but being slaves, the master was the one who paid for their food and shelter. They didn’t have to worry about their livelihood and the future. When they have children the master’s family would support them. All they had to do was to obediently do work.

But when they become common people, they have to make all the decisions on what to do.

And also pay taxes.

Why be part of the common people?

If there was no benefit, why do it?

“That’s right! Me too, my family are all servants!” Someone shouted, “Please, sir!”

Hearing this, Luo Ben raised his head and commanded sarcastically, “If that’s the case, then drag them out, impose castration, and send them to the palace as slaves.”

When the people outside heard this, they quickly shouted: “My lord! My mother only has this one son! My lord!”

Luo Ben looked at the people outside the door who kept kowtowing and crying, and said: “Being a slave or a servant is orriginally a last resort. The parents in the world all want their children to grow up healthily and earn food for their bellies with their own hands and feet. You, as the children of someone else, don’t think about improving yourselves, and instead are willing to be slaves, it is truly ridiculous and lamentable.”

“Today, I will point out a clear path for you all. The people of the world are all the citizens of His Majesty, and the slaves of the world are only the slaves of His Majesty. If you want to be a slave, you can enter the palace, and there is even ways to promotion. Perhaps you may even be able to honor your ancestors and become a famous eunuch?”

The people below didn’t dare to cry anymore.

They tucked in their heads for fear of being caught out and sent to the palace.

It was not that they couldn’t find a means to live anymore, so why go to the suffering of cutting off the roots of one’s descendants?

As a man, if he lost that object, then he was no different from a cripple.

“Is there anyone who still wants to be a slave?” Luo Ben asked loudly.

No one spoke outside the door.

Within half a month, Dadu no had slaves.

The servants received the money owed by the master’s family and found other means of making a livelihood, and it was not as difficult as they thought.

There is your own house that sheltered you from the wind and rain. As long as you are willing to work, you can get paid. The days passed slowly, and they no longer felt that there was anything wrong with being a commoner.

The child played in the alley, holding a grass cricket in his hand, and ran into his yard on short legs, watching his father chop wood.

“Father, why do you have to chop so much wood?” The little boy squatted on the side.

The man smiled and said, “To boil more water today, we’re all going to take a hot bath. Yesterday, I asked your second uncle to make a bathtub, and it will be finished today.”

The child jumped up excitedly: “Will I take a bath too?”

The man put down his axe and rubbed his son’s head: “Of course.”

The child giggled and said, “It’s a good thing to move out. Once we move out, we can take a hot bath.”

When they used to be servants, where was there a hot bath to take, if they could get a pot of hot water and wipe themselves, the. it would already be considered good luck.

The man smiled. He was different from others. When people asked them to leave the master’s house, he didn’t cry like others. He voluntarily took his wife and children out himself.

He didn’t want his son to be like him, to be a slave all his life, to be a slave from generation to generation, and for his descendants to be slaves, never able to make something of themselves.

He had to work hard, send his son to study, so that his son did not have to be like him, and his son’s son did not have to be like him.

“Go to your mother and see what delicious food she made for you today.” The man patted his son’s butt.

The child jumped up and ran to the house to find his mother.

“Mother!” The child put his hands by the stove, “What are we going to eat today?”

Woman: “We’re going to eat sweet potato rice today, what do you think?”

The child nodded again and again: “Okay! Eat sweet potato rice!”

The woman said, “With some side dishes as well?”

The child smiled sweetly: “Okay! Mother’s cooking is the most delicious.”

The woman leaned over and tugged at her son’s face: “Who’s mouth is covered with honey?”

The child laughed and threw himself into the woman’s embrace.

At the dinner table, the whole family ate sweet potato rice and wild vegetables, which was quite delicious. The woman said to her husband, “I heard that women can also work. If I can work, we can save the money earlier and send Da Niu to study.”

Da Niu was their son. He was born prematurely and they had been afraid of not being able to raise him up, so they gave him the nickname Da Niu (Big Ox).

The husband said, “Don’t go, I’m going to join the army. The monthly salary in the army is much higher than that of you and me working odd jobs, we can save up the money earlier.”

The woman’s chopsticks paused: “Join the army?”

The husband patted the head of the child who was eating diligently next to them and said, “Don’t be afraid, the military camp allows us to go home to visit relatives every month. Even if there is a war, only Haozhou and Anfeng are left. I won’t necessarily fight, but even if I go, we will not lose, your husband is strong and has things my heart will miss, I will definitely come back alive.”

The woman was frightened: “In war, the weapons have no eyes. If you can’t come back, Da Niu and I will become orphan and widow. Anyone can bully us. I’m just a woman. What can I do then?”

The husband held his wife’s hand: “I heard people say that the treatment in the military is very good. After being discharged from the army, we will get money, and the court will arrange work for us. If injured or disabled, we can get another sum of money. If we die on the battlefield, we will be known as martyrs, and you and Da Niu are the family of a martyr.”

“Families of martyrs can get a sum of money every month.”

“And will also be taken care of by the imperial court.”

The woman burst into tears: “Do you have to go?”

The husband nodded: “I have made up my mind.”

The woman stretched out her hand and wiped away her tears: “I’ll pack your things for you. I’ll take good care of Da Niu at home and serve my in-laws. You should also cherish yourself outside. Don’t let me become a widow and let Da Niu lose his father.”

Husband: “I am lucky to have a wife like you in this life.”

The woman forced out an ugly smile, having no appetite anymore, she hid in the bedroom.

Only the son raised his head: “Dad, are you going to join the army?”

The husband smiled at the child: “Does Da Niu like that?”

The child didn’t know the cruelty of war, but only knew the prestige of being a soldier: “Father, will you be a general in the future?”

Husband: “Dad will work hard.”

The child said happily, “Then I am the general’s son!”

——

Lin Yuan looked at the booklet written by Luo Ben, and after reading it, he walked up to Luo Ben: “Is qing willing to be the Senior Official?” (TN: qing = term used by the emperor for his subjects)

Luo Ben raised his head, and then knelt down three times and knocked his head on the ground nine times ceremoniously.

“I am willing to be loyal to Your Majesty, and I will not change in this life.”

This Senior Official was a new position Lin Yuan created.

During the Song Dynasty, the senior official was of the third rank, headed by the Xuan Feng Senior Official and Zheng Feng Senior Official.

And Luo Ben’s Senior Official was the Imperial Censor Senior Official, of the second rank, who had the responsibility of inquiring and advising the government.

Lin Yuan helped Luo Ben up, and said with a smile, “If qing will not disappoint me, then I will not disappoint qing.”