Twenty-four, provoke

  Two horses, galloping swiftly past Wei Zhongxian's ancestral temple. Zhu Yuanzhang took a glance and found that there was no one around the temple, nor anyone inside worshiping. Wei Zhongxian's reputation among the people wasn't very good. When his temples were built nationwide, they occupied many acres of farmland and houses, forcing people to pay homage to him. Those who refused to enter the temple and worship would be put to death. This extreme method not only failed to bring Wei a good name but instead made his reputation even more notorious.

  Weizhongxian had a bad reputation among the people, and one of the reasons was his handling of the Donglin Party. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the Donglin Party was not a good thing either. Weizhongxian and the Donglin Party were at odds with each other, and at most it was just a dog biting a dog, a trivial matter without any distinction between justice and evil. However, there were many upright people in the Donglin Party who had a better reputation among the people, so public opinion tended to favor the Donglin Party, which indirectly made Weizhongxian's reputation even more notorious.

  After passing the ancestral temple, I ran for a while and saw a large mansion in front of me. The flat yellow earth road led directly to the main gate of the mansion. The main gate was extremely luxurious, with three openings and three beast heads on top, painted in extremely bright colors. Unlike the ordinary rural gentry's main gate, it did not have a steady atmosphere, but instead showed a kind of nouveau riche momentum. Several housekeepers wearing cotton clothes stood guard at the door, looking quite spirited.

  Ma Qianji snorted coldly from his nose: "A nouveau riche who doesn't even qualify to hold a scholar's staff, our Ma family has to come and ask this family for help, it's really humiliating."

  Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say a word, he just gave Ma Qianjiu a sidelong glance.

  Two people arrived at the door, dismounted their horses, and Ma Qianjiu walked to the edge of the Shi family's gate, announcing a few words. The servant of that house initially looked down on the two men who came rushing in on horseback. It wasn't until Ma Qianjiu announced his name that he became respectful and smiled, saying: "So you are the great steward of the White Water Ma family, as well as Zhu Baige, the second hero of White Water, who has recently been rumored about. You two please wait a moment, I will go in to announce your arrival..."

  The village of Zhu was not far from the Ma's, and the recent activities of Zhu Ba had been passed down to the villagers through the long and short workers, and then spread out, already spreading over a range of tens of miles. Many villagers would discuss Zhu Ba's story after dinner, some as a joke, but some poor people took it as an inspirational story... One day, I can also change from being a long worker to being in charge, that would be great!

  When the wives in the four villages scold their husbands, they often say: "Look at you, why don't you learn from Bai Shui Zhu Ba, fight for face, and become a leader so I can see?"

  This rumor spread the fastest in rural areas, one told ten, ten told hundred, and before long, the story of Bai Shui's second good man Zhu Ba Ge had already been heard throughout the surrounding villages.

  Having such a reputation is a good thing, for example, Song Jiang in "Water Margin" has a good reputation in the rivers and lakes, no matter where he goes, as soon as his name is reported, others immediately kowtow and call him "big brother", while acknowledging their inferiority in their hearts.

  Ma Qianjiu and Zhu Yuanzhang waited for a while at the door, an old steward came out to greet them, leading the two into the Shi family's mansion. This old steward was obviously familiar with Ma Qianjiu, as they chatted and laughed casually along the way, reminiscing about past events.

  Before long, they arrived at the hall. The hall of this family was also extremely luxurious, with crimson tables, emerald green teapots, and red silk window curtains... The colors were quite bright and bold, somewhat different from the elegant and refined atmosphere of the Ma's family. Indeed, from the front gate to the hall, everything was filled with the flavor of a nouveau riche family.

  A middle-aged man wearing a silk gown sat in the hall, his face stern. Ma Qianji quietly introduced him to Zhu Yuanzhang: "This is the current head of the Shenyi family, Shen Da! Don't look at his serious and dignified appearance, he actually has no ability at all. If it weren't for Shen Twelve becoming a public official, who knows which ditch he'd be playing in now?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang nodded silently, and from Ma Qianjiu's words, he could hear the traditional gentry family's innate disdain for eunuch families. Ma Qianjiu was just an old slave, yet he dared to look down on someone else's master...

  "Ma Guanshi, what brings you to my place?" Shenyi's face was full of mocking expression: "Your Ma family has never visited our humble abode before. I thought that our Shenyi family wasn't worthy of your Ma family's attention. It seems that having a scholar in the family makes all the difference, haha!"

  Ma Qianjiu's face flashed a hint of embarrassment, but it quickly disappeared. He cupped his hands and said, "Master Shen is joking, isn't this the Ma family's humble abode? Today, I am here on the orders of our young master to deliver gifts to Master Shen."

  "Give a gift?" Shang's spirit lifted, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes: "What gift?"

  The nouveau riche is indeed the nouveau riche. As soon as they hear about giving gifts, they become like this... Zhu Yuanzhang secretly shook his head in dismay. No wonder your family is looked down upon by others. Just this attitude alone makes you far inferior.

  Ma Qianjiu reached into his bosom and pulled out a large stack of deeds and contracts, smiling: "These are the land deeds for Xigou Village and the indentured servant contracts for its villagers. In total, there's over 200 mu of land and more than 40 households. Young Master Er asked me to hand them all over to you, Old Master Shen, in one go. I hope our two families can become closer from now on."

  "Two hundred mu...!" Shandai was overjoyed, jumping up from his chair in an instant. Although the Shan family had relied on Shan's position as a eunuch to gain wealth and power in the palace, their foundation was still shallow, with only riches but no landholdings, compared to those officials who had been in power for generations, their influence was much smaller. What Chinese people value most is land, no matter how much money they have, without landholdings, they feel unsteady at heart. Shandai had always wanted to acquire more land, to leave a foundation for his descendants. Now someone was offering him two hundred mu of land, he was truly over the moon with joy.

  "He excitedly said: 'All sent to me? Is it really sent to me?'"

  Ma Qianjiu nodded: "Of course, if you think I'm joking, let's sign a deed of gift right now."

  Shan Da was overjoyed and jumped up and down, waving his hand and shouting: "Someone come, bring the four treasures of the study!"

  Thereupon, the servants of the Shirt family brought up brush, ink, paper and inkstone. Ma Qianjiu picked up his brush and wrote on the paper: "Hereby, there are over 200 mu of good fields in Xigou Village, originally owned by the White Water Ma family, now voluntarily donated to the White Water Shirt family, this contract is made as proof, and cannot be reneged..."

  After finishing writing, he drew a stroke and took out a seal from his bosom. It turned out to be the Second Master's seal, which was stamped with a big red seal after being dipped in cinnabar ink.

  Shan Da Xi couldn't help but feel delighted, and hastily came over, taking out his own seal, which was still wet with cinnabar ink. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him... You say this person is clever, yet he only reacted now. If you say he's stupid, he actually thought of it just before stamping the seal. His hand trembled as he put the seal away and said in a low voice: "This isn't right! Why would Bai Wu Wudi come to give me 200 mu of land for no reason? What do you want from me?"

  "Ah!" Ma Qianjiu was taken aback by his question, and for a moment he couldn't get the words out. He certainly couldn't say outright, "We want to push you out to fight with the county magistrate."

  At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly took a step forward, patted Ma Qianjiu's back with his hand, indicating that he would handle it, and then said in a low voice: "Master Shen, you are indeed wise and insightful. This time our Ma family came to offer gifts, we really have something to ask of you."

  "Oh? What's this about? You'd better speak up and let me hear it. If you can't say it properly, I won't take this land." Shandai's voice began to turn cold.

  Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his voice and said: "We Ma family received a message that Chen Guanyu, the magistrate of Baishui County, is actually a member of the Donglin Party..."

  "What?" Shirt was shocked: "Is County Master Donglin Party?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang's words shocked not only the eunuch, but also Ma Chanyuan: What is Zhu doing? Can such nonsense work? Ma Chanyuan quickly pinched Zhu Yuanzhang's hand, signaling him to stop talking nonsense. But Zhu Yuanzhang pinched back, telling him to listen quietly.

  The Shenyi faction set up a shrine for Wei Zhongxian, who was a staunch member of the eunuch party. The eunuchs hated the Donglin Party the most, so he immediately asked: "What evidence is there?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang asked seriously: "Has Master Shen read the book 'Xingge Tiaoli Gongshu'?"

  Although Shandai was uneducated, he happened to know this book. He curiously asked: "I've heard that this book was written by Hai Rui. What did you bring it up for?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice: "Hai Rui is a famous Qingliu, known for his integrity. The Donglin Party has always taken Hai Rui as their model, boasting about him... A few days ago, the county magistrate suddenly rejected several villagers who were planning to 'send' their daughters to our Ma family and publicly read out a few sentences from the book "Xingge Tiaoli Gongshu": All female households in this county are prohibited from sending their daughters as concubines or slaves, and no one is allowed to evade taxes."

  Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and said, "Listen to this, it's clearly the tone of the Donglin Party people."

  Shan Da was furious upon hearing this: "Yes, the 'frame-up' has been going on for a long time. Who would interfere with others without reason? Only the Donglin Party gang, day and night, put on an air of righteousness, saying this is wrong, that is wrong, as if everyone except the Donglin Party are corrupt officials and lawless scoundrels. In fact, these rascals have done many rascal things themselves."

  Zhu Yuanzhang nodded seriously and said, "County Master read these few words aloud in the hall. From now on, who among our county's villagers will dare to 'cheat'? It doesn't matter if our Ma family can't get new land, after all, our Ma family already has a lot of land. But for the Shi family..."

  He deliberately dragged out a long tail tone here...

  "Damn it, our family didn't have much land to begin with, and we were still hoping for more villagers to 'depend' on us. What is Chen Guanyu trying to do? Cut off the roots of our family?"

  Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly, knowing that the shirt had already been hooked. In the Ming Dynasty, once anything involved party struggles, there was no right or wrong. The Donglin Party supported the eunuchs who opposed everything, and the Donglin Party opposed the eunuchs who supported everything. Whatever the eunuchs said, the Donglin Party would say it was wrong. If the eunuchs didn't say anything, the Donglin Party would say they were idle and useless.

  The fuse has been successfully ignited... What happens next is no longer his concern, Zhu Yuanzhang pulled the hem of Ma Qianjiu's garment and gave a hint. Ma Qianjiu understood and quickly bowed to Da Shenyi, saying: "Master Da, we'll take our leave now, the deed to the land in Xigou Village..."

  Shan Da Leng snorted, and the seal in his hand "slapped" onto the contract: "I've taken this contract. I'd like to see how the Donglin Party's people will deal with the 'treachery' of my Shan family."