Zhu Youjian was planning his own grand cause in Qianqing Palace, while Li Xiao had no choice but to go to the funeral.

The vassal king! Since the successful rebellion of Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, this group has been the subject of special care by the Ming Emperor. No matter what the reason, they are not allowed to leave the vassal territory without the decree of the court. Even if they go out to hunt on weekdays, they have to ask Report to the local chief officer.

However, considering that they are all descendants of the Zhu family, the Zhu family can be regarded as having their shares. Every year, money is allocated from the national treasury to support these high-level royal families. As a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, except for not having much freedom, everything is considered Having a good time.

There is a vassal king in Shandong who has been in power for many years, King Lu!

Since the first Lu King Zhu Tan, this family has accompanied the Ming Dynasty in Yanzhou for more than 200 years. Just three days ago, Li Xiao got the news. The old Lu King Zhu Shouyong died, leaving behind a yard of women and six children. A son, riding a crane to the west.

With such an important person under his rule passing away, Li Xiao, as the governor, naturally wanted to pay his respects. Going south along Jinan is Yanzhou, the fiefdom of King Lu.

When the governor travels, he must be accompanied by honor guards and escorts. Master Man took his cavalry that had just been redressed to escort Li Xiao. There were two hundred cavalry in front to clear the way, five hundred cavalry in the back, and one thousand three hundred in the middle. The cavalry protected Li Xiao's central army. There were even mortars carried on carriages in the central army.

The reason why he is so arrogant is because Li Xiao wants to use this armed parade to show the local prefecture and county officials that I, the governor, have soldiers. These soldiers are not the miscellaneous soldiers in the guard station, they are real soldiers. Those who can fight. Of course, after leaving Jinan for hundreds of miles, there were endless bandits along the way, which was also the reason why Li Xiao led so many soldiers.

As the only unit in Li Xiao's army that still needs to wear armor, Man Ye's cavalry has a European cavalry breastplate. Putting aside the protective power of this thing, as a cool guard of honor, it is really cool.

The copper-plated helmet and breastplate shone golden in the sun, making them look rich and noble. The front faces of the war horses were also wrapped in this kind of armor. From a distance, they looked like a team of robots flying in the air in autumn. Marching on the ground. A large group of people and horses marched on the official road, making people unable to open their eyes. From a distance, it looked like a god's mansion.

Seeing the people kneeling on the ground in surprise, Li Xiao knew that his goal had been achieved. Every time he went to a prefecture or county, the local governor tried his best to welcome this team. Even if the treasury was empty, he must do a good job in reception. .

If you don’t visit Shandong, you won’t know. As soon as you go out, you will make new discoveries. Li Xiao discovered that Shandong, which is more than a hundred miles away from Jinan, is simply two different worlds from Shandong outside Jinan!

Walking into an unknown village, the farmers burrowed into their thatched houses like frightened mice.

Thatched houses have been the residences of poor people since the Spring and Autumn Period. Thousands of years have passed, and Li Xiao can still see this kind of ancient building. The roof is covered with weeds, and the walls are made of adobe. The industrious Chinese people As a nation, everything comes from the land, including their residence.

Many farmers are mixing weeds and yellow mud and then smearing it on their adobe houses. It is said that this can keep out the cold in winter!

The windows and doors are made of wooden frames, covered with thatch, and covered with yellow mud to keep out the cold.

Li Xiao walked into a house. The unkempt guy was kneeling on the ground, his body shaking like chaff. In the corner of the thatched house, there was a woman curled up. She was surrounding several equally unkempt children with her arms like an old hen!

The children tried their best to squeeze towards their mother, which reminded Li Xiao of a piglet snatching milk.

The woman's hair was as messed up as a ghost, and her eyes were wide with fear. She didn't know whether she hadn't washed her face, or she had deliberately smeared pot ash on her face. It was dark as if she had African origin. There was a mat on the ground, and a mat on top.

The bed was covered with straw. The woman's feet were exposed from under a bed of black stuff that looked like tattered cotton wool. She was barefoot and had no shoes. Li Xiao estimated that there were no shoes for women.

This is a family that is extremely poor both spiritually and materially. A bed is a luxury for them. The hot bed is a technological product for them. A few sticks support a tripod with a stone pot hanging on it.

The light was so bad that Li Xiao had to get closer to see what was inside. As soon as he got closer, there was a grassy smell that hit his brain. There was a pot of green stuff in the stone pot, and it was still steaming.

Li Xiao scooped it out with a spoon, and the child inside let out a howl to protect his food. He wanted to run over, but was held down by his mother.

"It's just autumn, so there won't be any food at this time." Li Xiao couldn't understand. It was just autumn and he was eating wild vegetables? The Yellow River flooded in Heze, not here? I haven't heard of drought or drought.

Locust plague, life won't be so difficult?

"Back to...! Back to the eldest master, I went to the rental house and there was some food left over. Now while there are still some wild vegetables, let's make do with it for a few days. If you can save food, eat it sparingly, otherwise we will run out of food in the winter.

There are no wild vegetables. The whole family has to drink from the northwest wind!" The man kneeling on the ground was very afraid of Li Xiao. He spoke in a stumbling manner, with a strong Shandong accent that Li Xiao could not understand. He needed to be translated by the local officials around him.

"Is this the poorest family, or are everyone like this?" Li Xiao put down the spoon in his hand and turned around to ask the security chief behind him.

"My lord, although this family is poor, it is not the poorest. Farmers are just like this. They only get half a year's food and half a year's food."

"Is there anyone poorer than this?" Li Xiao was so shocked that his mouth opened. This family is so virtuous, but it is poorer than this family, so what does it look like?

"yes!"

From the chief's answer, Li Xiao knew the hardships of farmers. They worked endlessly every day, but in the end they couldn't even provide food and clothing. As long as the weather was warm, wild vegetables were an essential food substitute. Li Xiao was even outside,

I saw wild vegetables being dried. It is estimated that in winter, these dried wild vegetables will also become food for the poor.

Poverty, like maggots in the tarsus, accompanies them. And not only them, but also their descendants. Even if I beat Li Xiao to death, I would not believe that a family that does not even have enough to eat would send their children to study. In

In their view, children will become laborers after they can leave, and they need to help adults work in the fields.

After visiting several houses in a row, Li Xiao finally had an intuitive idea of ​​the poverty in Shandong.

When I first arrived in Shandong, I was on the coast. During times of famine, people there could go to the sea to catch some fish and shrimps to satisfy their hunger. As long as they didn’t lack arms or legs, life was still pretty good.

But when he arrived in the interior of Shandong, Li Xiao finally knew what it was to be poor. He had no clothes on his body and no food in his mouth. This was still a good time, but if the time was bad, people who sold their sons and daughters would spontaneously form a family.

Market. Ignorant children will be picked and sold like commodities.

Leaving the farmer's house, right in the center of Zhuangzi, there is a large courtyard with three entrances and three levels. The courtyard is surrounded by a ten-foot-high green brick wall, which swears that the owner of the house and the farmers belong to two worlds.

In front of the black gate, stood a well-dressed old man. Surrounded by a group of sons and grandsons, he was preparing to meet the governor. Beside the black gate, there were two stone sculptures that looked more like poodles than lions. This represents this

The family belongs to an official gentry, and this old guy, or his son, is currently serving as an official in the court.

"Old Sun Damao pays homage to the governor!" The old guy saw Li Xiao approaching and bowed his hands to Li Xiao. This confirmed Li Xiao's suspicion that people with high status do not need to salute court officials.

But there are exceptions. If Wu Changshi came to study politics, Li Xiao believed that this guy would definitely kneel down and worship.

Except for a few guys who bent down to salute, the rest of the people knelt on the ground. Li Xiao counted the numbers, and it seemed that this family was great. A big family in the countryside actually had five people with great fame. In the countryside,

He definitely belongs to the kind of wealthy family that is the heirloom of Shili.

"Sun Damao! What is your fame?" Li Xiao looked at Sun Damao and asked.

"I was a scholar in the 21st year of Wanli reign, and my youngest son Xuecong was a Jinshi in the second year of the late emperor's reign. He is now serving in the Hanlin Academy in the capital!" Sun Damao looked proud when talking about his youngest son.

"It turns out to be an old gentleman. Sorry! Sorry! Excuse me!" As expected, it was a family of officials. Li Xiao smiled and raised his hand to signal everyone to excuse themselves.

Accompanied by the master's family, Li Xiao walked into the large courtyard of the Sun family. This courtyard is called a large courtyard, and the main hall is almost as big as the governor's Yamen lobby. There are two maids and two young men standing on both sides of the main hall, both of them are hanging down.

He looked at the ground with his head turned.

"Is the old gentleman the biggest landlord here?" Seeing such a magnificent house, this guy must be a big landowner.

"Haha! My ancestors once followed Emperor Taizu to fight against the Mongolian Tatars. Later, after accumulating military achievements, the court allocated such a piece of land. My family has taken root in Shandong. It has been more than 200 years.

In the past two hundred years, our ancestors have accumulated some savings over the generations. Starting from the second year of Wanli, this village has been renamed Sunjiazhuang. Because 80% of the land in this village belongs to my Sun family. In recent years, some people have sold it.

He took over the land and came to my house as a tenant. After calculation, the land around Sunjiazhuang, except for a few small pieces, is the property of my Sun family. After all, there are still hundreds of hectares." The old guy saw Li Xiao with a smile on his face.

He smiled, thinking that his son, who was an official in the Hanlin Academy in the capital, was very famous.

He couldn't help but want to show off, and showed off his wealth very ostentatiously. Li Xiao saw a proud and confident smile on his face.

Li Xiao nodded. An old rich man in the countryside could own hundreds of hectares of land, and the officials and gentry in his family did not have to pay taxes or perform corvee labor. No wonder that such a large area in Shandong has such little annual taxes!

The Sun family said that there are still a few small areas in Sun Village that do not belong to their family, and it is estimated that these families will not be able to hold on for long. The performance of the officials assigned by the court is a fixed quota, and since the Sun family does not pay taxes, then the taxes will have to fall on

Those small households are in this kind of situation. Only fools will continue to farm the land honestly and pay the imperial grain and national taxes. It is better to sell the land to the big households and become a tenant willingly, and still save some tax money.

"Old Mr. Sun is a well-known kind family here. I heard that the governor was passing by, so he specially vacated his house for you to rest." The county magistrate, who had been following Li Xiao, hurriedly spoke to Mr. Sun.

"Thank you so much, but you gave me the house...where will your family live?" Li Xiao came out with more than two thousand people. The yard is full and it is not enough to accommodate. Li Xiao is very curious,

Where will Old Man Sun and his family live?

"Haha! Excuse me, the governor. I have a house five miles away, which is slightly smaller than this one. The little old man and his family will live there for the time being. The governor has come all the way to visit my home.

It's an honor." Old man Sun bowed his hands to Li Xiao.

Ever since Li Xiao became the governor, he has been worshiped like this by many people. He was deeply harmed by the feudal society, and Li Xiao is now able to calm down about these things.

"So that's it. It seems that Mr. Sun manages the household well." Li Xiao had to praise him for being polite.

"Where! Where! My Sun family has three other houses like this. In addition, my family also has a manor ten miles away. If it is not too far away, I will ask the governor to rest on the manor. There is such a place there.

The house is several times bigger. It doesn't matter if your entourage can all live in it." Seeing Li Xiao being polite, Sun Damao's show-off temper came back. He started to brag about his wealth to Li Xiao!

It's true! They are such a wealthy family. The taxes that should have been paid to the court have been withheld by these bastards by exploiting loopholes in the system. How can they not be rich?

"The little old man has prepared a banquet to welcome you. Please don't refuse." Sun Damao finished showing off and began to fawn over again.

Li Xiao is the governor of Shandong. If a high-ranking official at this level flatters him, not only will no one dare to bully him in Shandong in the future, but he will also be able to use Li Xiao's power to do some big business. Although the Sun family is considered a big family, it can

For the whole of Shandong, it is nothing. Mr. Sun has a positive heart and wants to be the largest household in Shandong.

"That's it! Being respectful is worse than obeying orders." After a day's journey, Li Xiao was also hungry. Now that Old Man Sun wanted to treat him to dinner, Li Xiao naturally would not refuse.

"Come here, prepare a banquet." Old Man Sun ordered, and a group of servants immediately poured out of the back hall. Everyone was holding a tray in their hands, which contained dishes. What surprised Li Xiao was that these

The dishes are actually still steaming. How the hell did you do this in the days without a thermos.

There were a total of eighteen dishes, and people from all over the world came to report on it. Thinking about the green things in the farmer's pot that he just saw, and then looking at these dishes, Li Xiao felt that this was
Chapter completed!