"Of course not," Master Song said indifferently: "There is no movement at the new salt field. There is neither felling of firewood for drying, nor thick smoke from cooking salt. Obviously, the new salt field is just a cover and has not been opened. What the government depends on is still the salt field at Longchi, why should I go to such lengths to do such a thing?"
Song Meng asked immediately, "Did County Magistrate Bai frame us?"
Master Song paused and then shook his head, "No, he doesn't need to do such a thing, Dalang, the most important thing for you now is your studies. This year, try to go to the government school, or go to the capital to take the exam for the Imperial Academy. You don't need to worry about these things at home."
Uncle Song also said, "Go back and study quickly."
Song Meng is not young anymore, he clearly distinguishes between family and country, and of course he also knows where the conflict between the family and the county government comes from, he pursed his lips and said: "Grandfather, father, why are the Lu county magistrate and Bai county magistrate Have you always wanted to snatch the salt field from our family? The previous Magistrate Fang and Magistrate Liu didn’t say anything, so why can’t they coexist peacefully with us like Magistrate Fang Liu did?”
Uncle Song was about to speak, but he had already said, "So we are trying our best to communicate with County Magistrate Bai now, and hope that he can be the same as County Magistrate Fang County Magistrate Liu before. Yes. If you can pass the Mingjing or Jinshi exams and become an official in the court, you will be able to rely on the Song family in the future, and naturally no one will easily bully our family."
Seeing his son, Uncle Song bowed and said goodbye, with a very unsightly expression on his face.
Before his son walked away, he said dissatisfiedly: "Father, why did you say such a thing to Da Lang? This kid is competitive. If you tell him like this, don't you let him get involved?"
Master Song's face darkened, "Why, do you suspect that I am plotting against Da Lang? Don't forget, he is my eldest grandson, can I still harm him?"
Uncle Song didn't say a word. Da Lang was his grandson, but he had more than one grandson, but he had only one son, Da Lang.
Master Song didn't notice his son's expression, he was in a bad mood, and said in a deep thought: "I didn't expect the county school to make trouble first. It seems that Bai Shan's prestige in Beihai County is not low now."
He sighed, "The foundation of our Song family is still too shallow. It would be nice to have two more county magistrates like Fang County Magistrate and Liu County Magistrate, but we met Lu County Magistrate and Bai County Magistrate..."
Bai Shan stepped forward to appease the students, and went to the medical office to see Lao Ba Shi who had injured his head, and said to Zhou Man, "The foundation of the Song family is not deep, it just looks huge, but as long as you pull it out hard, it's still easy to get rid of it." can be pulled out."
He said: "Speaking of which, it's only been 20 or 30 years since the Song family made their fortune. Before that, the foundation of the Song family was not as good as that of the Zhao family outside the city.
After seeing the patient, Zhou Man found two peaches out of nowhere, gave one to Bai Shan, and took one for himself. He sat on the railing and gnawed a peach while talking to him, "How did the Song family get rich?"
"Speaking of which, it was my fourth term, a county magistrate surnamed Wu. He invited the Song family to be his master at that time. Oh, it was the father of this Master Song."
"Within two years, County Magistrate Wu died of illness while in office. County Magistrate Fang came, and he brought his own. The old Mr. Song couldn't be a teacher in the county government anymore, so he found a job in charge of the salt factory and retired. down."
"Magistrate Fang thought he was clever, so he didn't touch him. Within two years, he felt that he was getting old, so he retired from the saltworks and let his son, who is now Mr. Song, take over the management position of the saltworks. "Bai Shan said: "At that time, County Magistrate Fang didn't care about the low-level official in charge of the saltworks. The saltworks were basically under the control of the county government. His words were still effective."
"But this Master Song is more powerful than his father. He has been inserting his own people in every possible way, ranging from the small stewards and bosses to the long-term salt cooks who are newly selected every year. He just keeps running the business like this. Come on, by the time Magistrate Fang leaves, half of the people in the salt field are already under Mr. Song's command."
"The County Magistrate Liu who took over was controlled in a daze," Bai Shan sighed, "Fang County Chancellor said that as soon as County Magistrate Liu took office, the Song family gave him the authority, and then before the relationship with County Magistrate Liu deteriorated, A large amount of money was also presented, and after a handful of it, County Magistrate Liu was taken aback, thinking that the Song family is such a powerful gentry here, so he dared not act rashly."
"After two or three years, he figured out the details of the Song family. Master Song has already taken over the salt field, and County Magistrate Liu has gotten along well with the Song family in the past few years. He doesn't want to tear his face apart. , so I have been hesitating and not doing anything.”
Zhou Man was dumbfounded, "Master Song is amazing, but since he is so powerful, why did he want to break the wall of the imperial court so much? There are so many profitable businesses in this world, why do you have to hang yourself on the saltworks?"
Bai Shan smiled and said: "There are many profitable businesses in the world, but the most profitable ones, apart from salt and iron, are the tea, silk and porcelain businesses. The Song family is not a powerful noble family, and they can do it in Beihai County. He is a squire, but if he leaves Beihai County, he will be nothing."
"If you want to change your family, you need to study and have a good reputation. They obviously don't know how to do business. Controlling the saltworks should be the best way they can think of to make money and gain power."
Zhou Man thought of his own family, and said complacently: "My family doesn't force it, everyone has their own way of life, sometimes they have to control it, but sometimes they can't control it too much, if you want me to say that Master Song can control it well It's too wide, it's too long, when he was young and strong, he was already thinking about the official career of his descendants for three or four generations, isn't this just asking for guilt?"
Bai Shan nodded, thinking about it and feeling wrong, he couldn't help asking her, "Don't you think about the future of the children?"
Zhou Man then said: "I don't want to, as long as they have good character, I will send them to learn whatever they want to learn. Naturally, what they want to do when they grow up is naturally their own business, but if they ask I, I will also give them advice."
Seeing that she was so proud, Bai Shan couldn't help but raised his hand to press her head and said, "You have grown up, you should be more reserved when you are proud, don't raise your chin too proudly."
Zhou Man patted his hand away, gave him a sideways glance and asked, "Will you ask them to become officials in the future?"
"That's not enough." Bai Shan bent one leg and leaned against the railing, looking at the blue sky and said, "Being an official is sometimes very fun, but more often I feel very restrained. Hongzhi, and has been working hard for it, I don't think I will persist in the officialdom."
He said: "So if they don't want to be officials in the future, it's fine to do other things. As long as they have land and books at home, and they can keep farming and studying, the inheritance will naturally continue."