Chapter Twelve Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy

  Dealing with Su Jun is nothing, after all, he's just a lowly person, and someone like him, so young and inexperienced, can't be considered cunning. He even wore a green hat when he got married, his heart was unbalanced, and whenever he had the chance, he would vent his anger. Under the influence of such thoughts, he acted recklessly, making it easy to grasp his handle.

  Su Tiancheng's true opponent is the eldest lady.

  Su Tiancheng's mother had passed away seventeen years ago, to the point where there was no image of his mother in his impression, vaguely knowing that his mother was originally a maid beside the big wife.

  Don't underestimate the practice of bringing a maid when marrying, on the surface it seems like a luxurious display, but in reality, there are crucial underlying reasons. Men from wealthy families or merchant households can't just have one wife, they all take concubines. When the first wife brings her maid with her, in most cases, the man takes the maid as his concubine. This way, the first wife's position in the household is very solid, even if the man takes a concubine outside, the new woman who comes in doesn't dare challenge the authority of the first wife, no matter how much the man wants to protect the concubine.

  There has been some mystery surrounding Madame's background, with some saying that her background is very strong, seemingly a maid from an official family who married Su Huawen and helped him do business well. Some even say that Madame was able to establish connections with the current imperial court's cabinet ministers.

  It is precisely because of this situation that the authority of the lady in the mansion is extraordinary.

  Su Tiancheng has his own judgment, the reason why such rumors appear can only explain that Mrs. Big's background is not good enough, to establish her own prestige and image, the best way is to create momentum, let people not understand, three people become a tiger, slowly others will believe it.

  If her own mother was a maid beside the madam, how could there be maids beside the madam if she used to be a maid in an official's family?

  The emergence of this situation shows that Mrs. Dai is not simple.

  The merchant's family is originally complicated, and the matter of liking new things and being tired of old ones often appears. If the big wife doesn't think of some ways, how can she control the house? How can she become a real hostess?

  It's hard for a clean official to meddle in family affairs, and Su Tiancheng didn't want to stir up the Su estate so that it would be restless. Unfortunately, this lady was still too ruthless. Unconsciously, he had already sensed many things.

  Because of her good reading skills, the mistress looked at her with disapproval. The mistress's two sons, Su Tianhao and Su Tianran, were not doing well in their studies. The old master only had three sons, if she stood out, it would be unclear how to divide the family property. So, the mistress tried every means, short of openly using force. This time, leaving her in Pingyang Prefecture, what was on her mind, is hard to say, perhaps she was looking for an opportunity, or maybe not.

  Su Tiancheng would never have such outdated ideas, what a big wife, after all, is just a stepmother. Fortunately, his own life was hard and he wasn't tortured to death. If he wanted to show filial piety to this stepmother, saying something about loyalty and filial piety being complete, go dream on, emotions are mutual.

  It's possible to handle the affairs of the Su family, but it can't be too excessive. After all, in this era, the eldest lady is the one who holds power at home. Before truly achieving success, openly going against her and tearing off the facade wouldn't be a good thing. This doesn't mean that one can't show strength, absolutely not being weak, self-reliant and strong, making the eldest lady feel apprehensive, not daring to act recklessly or take action against oneself. Only then is it possible to live a peaceful life, waiting for the future when success is achieved, all matters will be easy to handle.

  The things that happened in the Pingyang Prefecture City, the big madam of Taiyuan Prefecture City will soon know about it. After all, most of the people in the prefecture were personally selected and left behind by the big madam, so someone must have reported the news.

  So, Su Tiancheng was already very careful. The reason he asked Su Pingyang to take charge of the household directly was still from a safety perspective. If one day he died suddenly in the mansion, it would be too costly.

  To avoid such situations, it is necessary to gather one's own strength.

  Pingyang Prefecture of Shanxi Province has jurisdiction over six states, the prefectural city is located in Linfen County, which is also the later Linfen City. It borders Shaanxi Province to the east, Taiyuan Prefecture and Fen Prefecture to the south, Qinzhou, Luan Prefecture and Zezhou to the west, and Henan Province to the north, belonging to the eastern gate of Shanxi Province.

  Due to historical reasons, Shanxi Province is not very rich and even poor. It belongs to the Central Plains region. Every time the imperial court changes, it is a must-fight place for soldiers, suffering from countless wars.

  At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the richest place was still in the south, and the four prefectures of Zhejiang Province: Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, and Huzhou Prefecture were the places where wealth flowed like oil, famous all over the world. Next are Huguang and Liangguang.

  Shanxi and Yunnan are generally considered to be poor regions.

  Shanxi has a particularly large number of merchants, the land is barren and can't get much income, so they have to turn to business. Many people from Shanxi have flowed out, many Shanxi people have gone to North Zhili and South Zhili, even Huguang, after going out, they don't want to come back. The Shanxi people themselves feel that there is no big way out, can only work hard in the business aspect, over the years, there are also a lot of merchants, after hundreds of years, Jinshang is famous all over the country, it's reasonable too.

  Su Tiancheng's father Su Huawen is a typical representative in this aspect.

  Su Huawen was born into a merchant family, and his son inherited his father's business. In the Ming dynasty, there was a strict hierarchy of scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, with merchants ranking last. If they couldn't obtain an official title, they would always be at the bottom of society, even if they had money but no social status. Therefore, many merchants worked hard to make money while hoping their children could pass the imperial examination and bring honor to their ancestors. This idea of bringing glory to one's ancestors is difficult for ordinary people to understand.

  Su Huawen was also diligent in reading when he was young, unfortunately, he was not born to be a scholar, after taking the exam for many years, he still didn't get the title of Tongsheng or Xiucai, so he gave up and focused on doing business.

  Heaven is fair, Su Huawen was unable to obtain a high official position, but his business flourished and he became one of the top merchants in Shanxi Province over the years, even the Shanxi Governor's office knew about him.

  This kind of fame is not a good thing, with no personal achievements, in order to maintain the family business, you need to invest a lot of silver, bribe officials at all levels, otherwise, others will find excuses to take advantage of you.

  The merchants of Shanxi were born weak, and the taxes they bore were much higher than those in the southern regions. This seems a bit unfair, as the southern regions are so rich, but bear fewer taxes. Of course, there is a premise here, that is, the business tax in the Ming Dynasty was pitifully low, with only one out of thirty taxes being levied, and it's not even certain whether it can be implemented.

  In the imperial court, most of the cabinet ministers are from the south. The scholars from the south are indeed more formidable in their studies and many have obtained honors through examinations. They hold power over the government, so naturally they speak for the large landowners and merchants of the south, who can gain many benefits as a result.

  There were some things that Su Tiancheng still didn't understand, such as why his father, Su Huawen, had moved to Taiyuan Prefecture. The concept of regional business was very strong, and Su Huawen was originally from Pingyang Prefecture, so he wouldn't easily move elsewhere unless the business opportunities in Taiyuan were particularly good. But Taiyuan was the provincial capital of Shanxi, a place with countless bureaucratic groups, not to mention that within the city walls of Taiyuan Prefecture there was also a famous vassal king: King Zhu Shenyan of Jin.

  This Zhu Xunxian is not simple, the son of Zhu Xigui, although he has no power, but he is particularly good at making money, rich and oily, his family has accumulated countless treasures. In the end, Li Zicheng conquered Taiyuan Prefecture, all the treasures were obtained by Li Zicheng, and he himself surrendered to the Qing dynasty, with a bad ending.

  Su Tiancheng vaguely knew that during the great famine in Shanxi, this King of Jin Zhu Shenyan clung to his wealth and grain, refusing to bring them out. The most excessive thing was that when Li Zicheng attacked Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhu Shenyan, who was in Taiyuan, even at the moment of life and death, still refused to bring out silver to distribute to the soldiers inside the city to resist.

  Of course, these are historical descriptions, and whether there is exaggeration or not, Su Tiancheng is not very clear. Since he has traveled to the Ming Dynasty, all situations need to be figured out by himself.

  Thinking of these things, Su Tiancheng felt that his task was still very heavy, and there were too many things to be done.