After hearing what Zhou Zhixian said, the gentry not only looked at each other, but after a while, an old man in his sixties sitting in his seat said, "Tang Zun is the parents of a county. Now the gentry in this county is in trouble. How can Tang Zun say that he can't help?"

The old man in the word is Liu Zongze, who is the number one gentry in Jiaozhou County, and he has great reputation in the entire Laizhou Prefecture. "Because his family was a family of officials of three generations, and Liu Zongze himself was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Guangxu. He was an official for nearly two years. He served as a local magistrate, one as a prefect and the other as a censor. He served as a Beijing official for several years. He was the highest in the Ministry of Works. He retired and returned to his hometown for retirement five years ago. However, he still has a fourth-rank false title. If the rank is a single rank, it is far higher than Zhou Wenhuai, a seventh-rank magistrate. Therefore, in front of Liu Zongze, Zhou Wenhuai had to respectfully respect: "Old Master. Besides, Liu Zongze's official positions for the past 20 years were not in vain. There are also many officials who were in the same year, classmates, and had a great political energy, and it was not something that Zhou Wenhuai could offend.

Facing Liu Zongze's questioning, Zhou Wenhuai couldn't help but smile bitterly, bowed and said, "Sir, you know the current situation. Xiaguan is just a mere magistrate. There are hundreds of soldiers in the county. Overseas Chinese and foreigners can fight to the point of being defeated. How can these troops in the county compete with each other? So what should you do if you ask Xiaguan?"

At this time, a 40-year-old fat man sitting under Liu Zongze said, "Then we can't just let overseas Chinese do it. If the county cannot send troops, then go to the state to invite troops. If the state is not good, go to the province to invite troops. Don't Governor Yuan have the new Beiyang army under him? Let them deal with overseas Chinese."

The person who spoke was Ma Benchu. He had more than 3,600 acres of land at home, rented more than 3,000 acres of land, and hired more than 12 o'clock households. Every year, he rented up to 5,600 taels of silver. He was the largest landlord in Jiaozhou County. Therefore, he was the most nervous about the [Outline of Land Reform System] issued by the Time Travel Group.

Zhou Wenhuai glanced at him and thought to himself whether the Beiyang New Army under Governor Yuan could beat foreigners? If he could beat foreigners, would the Empress Dowager, the emperor still have to run away? But this cannot be said, and he said: "Governor Yuan has issued three decrees to order officials from all over Shandong to not conflict with overseas Chinese, but if there is a conflict, we should put tolerance first and we should not argue with them."

Ma Benchu ​​was stunned. Although he was not as powerful as Liu Zongze, he was also a local tycoon, so he was not afraid of the magistrate, but he did not dare to disrespect the governor of Shandong. Therefore, after hearing Zhou Wenhuai's words, he was disappointed and said, "What should I do? Or report to the capital and ask the court to send troops to deal with overseas Chinese?"

As he said that, Ma Benchu ​​looked at Liu Zongze. Because Zhou Wenhuai was just a county magistrate, he was not qualified to write to the center of the Qing court directly. Although Liu Zongze was just a civilian, he was old and had many ways, so he could directly lead to Jiaozhou County's affairs through other channels to Beijing, as long as Liu Zongze was willing to do it.

Liu Zongze glared at Ma Benchu, disagreed with his suggestion and said, "Now the Empress Dowager, the Emperor is on a Western tour and is not in the capital. What's more, the Empress Dowager, how many major military and national affairs of the Emperor have to deal with? These small matters are needed, how can the Emperor be heard?"

Zhou Wenhuai also said: "Yes, don't forget that it was the capital that overseas Chinese took back from the Eight-Nation Alliance. Now they are about to welcome the two palaces back to Beijing, and the court is also recruiting overseas Chinese. Even if the matter is reported to the court at this moment, it will probably be useless."

Ma Benchu ​​stood up in a hurry, spread his hands and said, "What should we do? We are so embarrassed that we can see the overseas Chinese recruiting all our land?" Then he turned to Liu Zongze and said, "Old Liu, you are respectful, come up with an idea."

Liu Zongze waved his hand and said, "I have my own opinions. Please be at ease. Please sit down and talk about it first."

After hearing this, Ma Benchu ​​felt a little relieved before sitting down again.

Liu Zongze turned to Zhou Wenhuai and said, "I also know the difficulties of the Tang Zun. I have a problem with it. I will see if it is feasible."

Zhou Wenhuaima said: "Please tell me, sir."

Liu Zongze said: "I would like to ask the Lord to come forward and be an intermediary. Whether overseas Chinese want land or money, you might as well offer a price. We can also make up for it. If there are any difficulties, we can just talk. As long as we don't lose everything, we will naturally try our best to get all the help, but we will not confiscate all our fields. It is said that we are a person and we will stay at the front line to meet in the future."

When the others heard this, they nodded repeatedly. Ma Benchu ​​also said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,

Zhou Wenhuai nodded. Liu Zongze was indeed a worldly apt. In fact, Zhou Wenhuai also thought about whether this would be the Chinese overseas pretending to behave and deliberately letting out this wind first to scare these gentry, and ultimately forcing them to bleed heavily. The so-called asking for a price everywhere and paying the money on the spot. After all, it was not like this that the fields were collected at once. However, Zhou Wenhuai didn't say it just now, because everyone was afraid that they would misunderstand whether they were singing double-yellows with overseas Chinese; secondly, Zhou Wenhuai was a little unsure because overseas Chinese officially issued official documents, which did not seem to be deliberately scaring people. Therefore, it was naturally better to propose it first. He was just an executor. If he had made an agreement, he would naturally have his own benefits. If he couldn't, he could push all the responsibilities completely.

So Zhou Wenhuai said, "Well, since you have entrusted me to be this middleman, I will avoid this. I guess I will give it a try. I hope that the negotiation will be completed and everyone can be at peace. However, if the negotiation fails, you should not blame me."

Liu Zongze said: "This is natural. The Lord of the Hall can do his best. If it succeeds, we will also receive a heavy reward. If it fails, how can we blame the Lord of the Hall, and think of other methods."

Zhou Wenhuai nodded and said, "It's good." As he said that, he picked up the teacup and took a sip. When the servant who served behind him saw him, he immediately shouted, "Send out the guest!"

When Liu Zongze and others saw it, they all stood up and said goodbye to Zhou Wenhuai. Zhou Wenhuai sent them outside the county government office and said, "Dear elders, please listen to my official reply."

Everyone got on the horse in a sedan chair and left the city. However, Liu Zongze did not leave the city, but went to his own house in Jiaozhou City. It turned out that although Liu Zongze was the number one gentry in Jiaozhou County, his family did not have much land, only more than 1,000 acres of land. In this era, he could only be regarded as an ordinary landlord, and his annual land rent income was only one or two thousand silver. The main source of income in his family was commercial income. It turned out that Liu Zongze was born into a family of merchants. Now his family has more than 10,000 shops in Shandong, mainly dealing in copper ware and other goods. There are three shops in Jiaozhou City, including a shop, a hotel, and a copper workshop. He hired more than 50,000 craftsmen, and his annual commercial income could exceed 10,000 taels.

However, although Liu Zongze was not an official, he had always had letters with many officials in the capital. He had to support at least 3,000 taels of silver for their various activities every year. This was a common thing in the ancient Chinese officialdom. Although the officials in the capital were glorious, their extra income was not as good as those in the local area. To be a good official, a large amount of activity funds were required. These expenses naturally fell on local officials outside, and local gentry like Liu Zongze. This was also the main way for local gentry to maintain their political influence, and it was also a support for their children.

Now Liu Zongze has three sons and two daughters. The eldest son Liu Jisheng is mediocre, so he manages a farm in the countryside. Although his second son Liu Jiping is smart, he is not a good student. He passed the imperial examination and passed the imperial examination after becoming a few small officials. He no longer wants to become an official. Now he is responsible for running the business of the Liu family. Liu Jiguang is the youngest, less than 30 years ago. He was admitted to the imperial examination three years ago. He is now studying hard at home to prepare for the imperial examination. He is also the most hopeful person in Liu Zongze's imperial examination.

Both daughters are married, and the eldest son-in-law is also an official, and he serves as an official elsewhere. The second son-in-law is a martial artist and is now a guerrilla in Laizhou Prefecture. Therefore, although Liu Zongze's family has no high-ranking officials, it is indeed complicated and has formed a small system.

Liu Zongze's second-hand relationship, Liu Jiping often lives in his residence in Jiaozhou City because he had to take care of his business. And just over two months ago, Liu Jiping had some knowledge of his relationship with overseas Chinese and supplied wood, stone, fur and other items to overseas Chinese. He had done several big business. Therefore, Liu Zongze decided to live in Jiaozhou City these days, waiting for news from Zhou Wenhuai; and secondly, he also wanted to discuss with his second son, after all, his second son had contact with overseas Chinese.

Na Zhi only realized after Liu Zongze arrived at the residence that his second son had gone to Qingdao and said he was discussing a big business with overseas Chinese, not in Jiaozhou City. So Liu Zongze lived in the city and waited for his second son to come back.

After waiting for two days, Er'erji had not yet come back. However, Liu Jisheng, the eldest son who was taking care of land in the countryside, came to Jiaozhou City. It turned out that Liu Jisheng had received a notice from overseas Chinese that in five days, overseas Chinese would send a land reform working group to the village, looking for housing in the village, and asked all households in the village to take the initiative to explain the land reform team to the land reform team. Therefore, Liu Jisheng did not dare to neglect and hurried to Jiaozhou City to inform his father.

After hearing Liu Jisheng's announcement, Liu Zongze was also shocked. It turned out that he thought that overseas Chinese were just pretending to behave, and the purpose was to imagine that the gentry extorted more land, money and grain, but now overseas Chinese were going to send a land reform working group to the village. Are they going to play really? Fortunately, there are still a few days left and there is still time to deal with it again. I just don't know if Zhou Wenhuai had talked with overseas Chinese. Liu Zongze wanted to ask Zhou Wenhuai again, but he felt a little rude. After all, it was only two days, so it was a bit unsuitable to go to Zhou Wenhuai immediately.
Chapter completed!