frightfiction Chapter 268 Tangjia Village "Forbidden Area"
Chapter 268 Tangjia Village "Forbidden Area"
Along the way, Shen Zhiqiu kept asking Team Leader Li about Fang County and Tangjia Village.
For example, the prices of food and daily necessities at the market, where to sell those mountain products, and which shop offers the highest price.
Unfortunately, Team Leader Li lives in the provincial capital and doesn’t really know much about Fang County. He only knows a general idea.
However, Shen Zhiqiu could sense that the team leader did not want to discuss Tangjia Village in depth. He seemed to be saying, "I've said everything I can say. There's more to it, not that I don't know, but that I don't want to say, I can't say, and I don't want to cause trouble for myself."
Well, Shen Zhiqiu and his daughter also understood that this was all the team leader could say. He was not bad to them. At least he told them some things at the risk of his life.
Just as the people of Shenjia Village were walking towards their new home, Tangjia Village, with anxious hearts, they followed closely.
It is not far from Fang County, probably only an hour's walk away, and is located under the big locust tree at the square at the entrance of Tangjia Village.
A group of old men and women were sitting and chatting. It was not yet the autumn harvest season, so there was not much work to do in the fields.
It can be said that the villagers of Tangjia Village live a pretty good life. The worst clothes worn by the old men and women are made of cotton.
There were also some old men and women wearing muslin and satin.
At this time, someone asked, "Guang Zheng, did you go to the city a few days ago to ask Yan Li? All the villages around us have distributed refugees, but why is there no movement in our village?"
Tang Guangzheng looked to be in his forties, with a mustache above his lips and a short goatee below.
He has a mature and steady appearance, with narrow eyes that are bright and sharp. You can tell at first glance that he is a rather shrewd person.
Tang Guangzheng, ranked eleventh in the Guang generation in their family tree, was also a scholar. Although he was only a scholar, he gave birth to a good son, Tang Yanli.
Tang Yanli and Shen Zhiqiu were of similar age, around 27 or 28 years old. It can be said that they had a lot in common. Both of them passed the imperial examination and became scholars at a young age. However, after Tang Yanli passed the examination, he was noticed by Earl Yongkang and married the second daughter of his family.
That’s right, she is the illegitimate sister of the third lady who was so arrogant while fleeing from famine. That third lady was also a illegitimate sister, but from a different mother.
Although this illegitimate sister was born out of wedlock, her aunt was also favored. However, perhaps she had had enough of the hardships of being a concubine, so she did not plan to marry her daughter off high.
He only hoped that the master would find a young man with good character and ambition. Therefore, Tang Yanli, who was a good friend of the eldest son of the master's family and a diligent student in Qingyuan Academy, caught the eye of the master.
So as a scholar, he also got a sixth-rank official position in the provincial capital.
For ordinary farmers, this is really good, especially since although the Tang family is famous in this area, they are not as famous as those big families. Instead, it all starts with their old patriarch.
This old patriarch was a juren, and had a very good reputation in the surrounding villages. He was the uncle of Tang Guangzheng and the grandfather of Tang Wenli. His name was Wenqian, and he was known as Tang Jiugong.
After he passed the imperial examination, the world was just beginning to show signs of chaos. The imperial examination had not yet stopped, but several princes in the court were competing with each other. This man was extremely smart and did not want to be involved in the disputes, so he did not take the imperial examination.
Instead, it was Kaijia who started the Tang clan studies. It can be said that his mindset is unparalleled.
Tang Wenli is the most proud student of this ancestor. Now the old man is not young anymore, in his sixties. Although he is still the clan leader, just like Old Master Shen, most of the clan affairs have been handed over to Tang Guangzheng.
First, he is a scholar, and second, his son is an official. It can be said that he will become the head of the village and the next patriarch of the Tang family. It is a foregone conclusion.
Tang Guangzheng puffed on a welding pipe, which was made of gold and was given to him by his son as a gift:
"Yanli said he hasn't heard anything yet, but he will definitely arrange refugees for us. It's impossible for other villages to have people come in while ours doesn't."
The one who just asked the question, Tang Laoliu, who was the sixth in the Guang family, continued:
"I went to visit my relatives' village a few days ago and heard that several families in their village had moved in and spent a lot of money to buy houses and land. They were all very generous. They also said that the refugees who came to our Shuntian Prefecture were all rich."
Tang Laoqi also replied: "Yes, I have heard that too. Didn't the higher-ups also say that the court only wants half of the money for buying houses and land, and the remaining half belongs to the village?"
Obviously, he felt there was something sweet here and hoped that the village would also make arrangements for refugees.
But Tang Guangzheng disagrees:
"Sixth brother, seventh brother, don't always look at those petty profits. The refugees have shared money, but the original land of your village has also been shared. Our ancestors have lived in Tangjia Village for generations. Who doesn't have more descendants in the future? The land has been sold to the refugees. Where will we find land to share when the population increases in the future?"
All we can say is that Tang Guangzheng is worthy of being a scholar and has a long-term vision, but it can also be seen that he does not want refugees to enter the village.
Without waiting for Tang Laoliu and Tang Laoqi to say anything, the old ancestor, Tang Jiugong, who had been dozing on the only bamboo recliner under the big locust tree, opened his eyes. He did not get up either:
"Guang Zheng, I'm relieved that you can understand this, but it's impossible not to assign people to us. Have you ever thought about what we should do if we are really assigned people?"
Tang Guangzheng also hurriedly approached the old man at this time and said, "Uncle Jiu, I want to say that we can't let them occupy the land on this side of the river. If they want to occupy it, they can go to the other side of the river."
At this time, Tang Jiugong closed his eyes again: "But the other side of the river is at the foot of Fangshan Mountain, and sometimes ferocious beasts come down the mountain."
Tang Guangzheng: "Then let them build houses here, but the land cannot be divided here. If they want to open up wasteland, they have to go to the other side of the river."
In fact, what I want to talk about here is the terrain of Tangjia Village. Tangjia Village is located in a relatively flat area.
Most of it is flat land, but there is a Xiaoqing River running through the west of Tangjia Village. But don't underestimate it just because it is called "Xiaoqing River".
Xiaoqing River is a tributary of Dama River, the northern branch of Daqing River, a tributary of Haihe River.
That’s right, it’s the one where Shenjia Village charges a sky-high price for a boat ride across the river.
The upper reaches of this river are called Xiaoqing River, and the lower reaches passing through Zhuo County are called Liuli River.
It is 129 kilometers long and covers a very wide area.
It is also called "Mother River" by the people of Fang County.
The upper reaches of Xiaoqing River are winding. The river flows from Xiayunling to Huai'an Prefecture, where it suddenly turns south to form a right angle. The mountains on both sides are steep and the water is fast. During the flood season, the river water rises and falls sharply, making it particularly vulnerable to disasters.
This Xiaoqing River extends to the foot of Fangshan in the west and also belongs to Tangjia Village, but it is almost completely deserted and basically no one goes there to reclaim land or build houses.
It's because some villagers once saw wolves, wild boars and other animals coming down the mountain from that side.
Of course, there is a bridge over the Xiaoqing River, but it is a wooden bridge. When the mountain is closed due to heavy snow, the villagers of Tangjia Village will set up many wooden thorn fences in the middle of the wooden bridge to prevent wolves from coming down from the other side.
This is also the experience left by several generations of Tangjia Village after learning lessons through blood.
Because when Tang Jiugong was still a few years old, there was an incident of wild wolves attacking Tangjia Village.
As many as twenty-seven people from Tangjia Village were bitten to death at that time. Do you think that under such circumstances, the other side of the river would not become their "forbidden area"?