Ye Xiaotian and Li Jing were almost kicked out of the mansion by Zhang Zhifu. As soon as they left the mansion, they saw that the entourage who accompanied them to Mercury Mountain was already waiting outside the mansion. This efficiency is really amazing.
Tongren Zhang Zhifu is a hereditary native official. According to the imperial government’s policy of “using barbarians to control barbarians”, as long as the chiefs submit to the imperial court, the official position and territory can be hereditary, and they can establish government offices in their own territories, administer independently, and manage villages level by level. Farming and taxation; recruiting and raising soldiers; setting up civil servants.
Therefore, although the soldiers sent by Zhang Zhifu were dressed in Ming military uniforms, they were actually private soldiers of Zhang Zhifu. Zhang Zhifu sent nearly a hundred people to Mount Mercury with Ye Xiaotian and Li Jing. Messenger.
From the perspective of official position, Li's experience is higher, but since this matter is led by Ye Xiaotian, he is of course the leader. Li Ching didn't intend to compete with him on this matter. Going to Mercury Mountain would be a disaster, and whoever was in charge would be at the greatest risk. He wished that Ye Xiaotian would bear it all by himself.
Ye Xiaotian always felt that the prefect Zhang was in such a hurry to send them away, not because of the emergency at the Mercury Mountain, but because Zhang Zhifu was worried that he would cry for his father and mother and refuse to go after knowing the situation of the Mercury Mountain.
Ye Xiaotian brought six of his own guards and more than a hundred people out of the city. He and Li Jingcheng rode in the same car, and asked sincerely, "Li Jingjing, where is the Mercury Mountain? What happened there?" , and I hope that you will not hesitate to enlighten me."
It’s no wonder Ye Xiaotian didn’t know clearly, information is inconvenient in this age, Ye Xiaotian has never even seen a map of Guizhou Province, even if he has heard of some places, he may not be able to get the directions, let alone this place that he had no impression of before. What is Mercury Mountain
This is true geographically, as well as culturally. For example, everyone in Hu County knows him well, but in Tongren, except for some caring people, most people have never heard of his name, Ye Xiaotian, not everyone. They all care about changes in the officialdom.
Li experienced such a thankless job for no reason, and he was really troubled, but he also wanted to go to Mercury Mountain, and there were some things that Ye Xiaotian knew well, so as to save him from being ignorant and causing troubles to drag him down, so Li Jing still told Ye Xiaotian the truth.
This Mercury Mountain is located between Shiqian Division and Tixi Division. Tixi Division belongs to Tongren Mansion, and Shiqian Division belongs to Shiqian Mansion, so this Mercury Mountain is actually at the junction of the two mansions. Mercury Mountain is rich in cinnabar. Cinnabar can be used as a pigment, as a medicinal material, and as an extremely important mineral, as it can be used to extract mercury.
During the Warring States period, there was a widow Qing in the Bashu area. Because her family owned a cinnabar mine, she was so rich that even Qin Shihuang treated her very courteously and built a "Huaiqing Terrace" specially for her.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the war between Sinan and Sizhou, two Tian's consolation envoys, was to compete for a cinnabar mine. Emperor Yongle took the opportunity to send troops to intervene, thus splitting Sinan and Sizhou into eight prefectures, weakening the With the strength of Tian's chieftain, it can be seen that the cinnabar mine has made a lot of profits.
The output of the Mercury Mountain Sand Mine is actually not very large, but to the local chieftains, it is no less than a mountain of gold, but the ownership of the Mercury Mountain is now a mess. The reason why the ownership is unclear is because the women of the Tusi family also have the right to inherit, so some territories are often transferred when women marry.
Ordinary people or Han officials have other women besides their wives, which are concubines. The status of concubine and wife is equivalent to the difference between master and servant. Ma'am, just like an emperor can marry multiple concubines.
Although the status of these wives is inferior to that of the main wives, they are far from being comparable to concubines. They have great rights and freedom, and they are not much worse than Mrs. Zhangyin. The difference is that the heirs of Mrs. Zhangyin have the priority of inheritance.
Whether it is Mrs. Zhangyin or other wives, they are all from noble families. To reflect her nobility, she will marry many things, including the land she inherited. Therefore, some territories are often tossed and turned between different chieftains. It becomes a muddled account backwards and forwards, as is the case with Mercury Mountain.
Ye Xiaotian frowned secretly when he heard this, and after talking for a long time, it turned out to be a "family property dispute". Settle the matter as a reward for distributing relief money.
Li Jing frowned, reluctantly said: "There are two chieftains on the side of Mercury Mountain, one is the Zhan family, and the other is the Yang family."
Ye Xiaotian couldn't help but feel moved when he heard this, and suddenly thought of Zhan Ning'er, but many families in Guizhou have been passed down for thousands of years and have branched out, such as the An family. Now there are at least twenty chieftains surnamed An in Guizhou. It is a family, but now they have different positions, but they may not all be sent by the Shui'an family.
Although the history of the Zhan family is not as long as that of the An family, there should be five or six chieftains surnamed Zhan, but I don't know if the Zhan family that Li Jingwen mentioned is Zhan Ning'er's family. Ye Xiaotian interrupted Li Jing's words, and asked: "The Zhan family that brother Li mentioned, but the Zhan family who is known as one of the Eight King Kong?"
Li Ching sighed: "Exactly, if it weren't for such a difficult person, why should the magistrate bother?"
Ye Xiaotian was overjoyed, he didn't expect the Zhan family to be where he was going, maybe he would have a chance to see Ning'er, she didn't feel anything when she was by her side, but it's been a long time since I saw Ye Xiaotian Missing her a bit, he said happily: "Please continue to talk about Li's experience."
Li Shiji said: "There are also two chieftains on the side of Mercury Mountain, one is from Guoji's family, and the other is from Yu's family."
When Ye Xiaotian heard about Guoji's family, his heart moved again, Guoji's family? It can't be Guoji Gelong's family, if it is really him, then the road to enemies is narrow. It's just that Li Jing was already a little impatient, Ye Xiaotian didn't interrupt him this time.
Li Shiji said: "It's too early to talk about the cause of this dispute. It is said that more than two hundred years ago, Mercury Mountain still belonged to the Yu family. The Yu family had only one daughter in that generation, who married Zhan Zhan's family, so the Mercury Mountain belonged to Zhan's family as a dowry.
Several decades later, the direct line of the Guoji family had only one daughter in that generation, and she became the chieftain. This female chieftain did not get married, but recruited a relative, so the young son of the Zhan family married into the Guoji family, and the Zhan family took Mercury Mountain as a dowry, and since then returned to the Guoji family.
Twenty-eight years ago, when the Guoji family married their daughter, the Mercury Mountain was transferred to the Yang family as a dowry. The head of the Yang family had married a Mrs. Zhangyin from the Zhan family before and had a son with him. After the wife of Zhangyin died of illness, she continued to marry this woman from the Guoji family, who also gave birth to a son for him. Not long ago, Chieftain Yang died of illness, so here comes the problem..."
When Ye Xiaotian heard this, his head was already as big as a bucket, and he couldn't distinguish between so many messy relationships, so he asked blankly: "What's the problem?"
Li Shiji said: "Tusi Yang died of a sudden illness and did not leave a will. As the eldest son, both of his sons have the right to inherit. The son also has the right to entrust the land, not to mention that the current Mrs. Zhangyin is the biological mother of the second son, so of course she has to fight for the benefits of her own son."
Ye Xiaotian was still confused. Although he couldn't remember so many complicated relationships, he managed to remember that the Tixi Division of Tongren Prefecture belonged to the Guoji family and the Yu family, and the side of Shuiyin Mountain belonged to Shiqian Prefecture. It's the Zhan family and the Yang family, and now the two sons of the Yang family are fighting over the family property, and it's nothing to do with Tongren Mansion!
Hearing Ye Xiaotian's question, Li Jing said with a heck of two voices: "There are a lot of questions. First of all, the eldest son is the heir of the chieftain, and in the territory of this Chieftain Yang, Mercury Mountain produces the most wealth. Of course he is not willing to give up. to his half-brother.
But Mrs. Zhangyin is the biological mother of the second son, and she tried her best to fight for her own son. The eldest son was brought up by the current Mrs. Zhangyin.
The mother-in-law of Yang's family belongs to the Zhan family. Of course, the Zhan family has to help his nephew. Besides, the Zhan family was married to the Guoji family as a dowry by the Zhan family. Now it has fallen into the Yang family. Of course you are qualified to ask.
But that time the son belonged to the Guoji family, and of course the Guoji family also wanted to help their nephew. Besides, the Mercury Mountain was directly accompanied by the Guoji family and given to the Yang family. Is there any reason not to let the Guoji family's nephew inherit it? As a result, the Yang family, the Zhan family, and the Guoji family had disputes, and at this time, the Yang family of Bozhou got involved again..."
Ye Xiaotian wondered: "What's the matter with the Yang family in Bozhou?"
Li experienced: "The Yang family in Shiqian Mansion is a branch of the Yang family in Bozhou. Although they have not been in touch for a long time, they are the same ancestor. Now that the two brothers of the Yang family are in dispute, the Yang family in Bozhou thinks this is a good opportunity to intervene. Pretend to be the main house and come to mediate."
Ye Xiaotian muttered something, calculated for a long time, and said: "I understand, there are Yu's family and Guoji's family on the side of Shuiyin Mountain, and there are Yang's family and Zhan's family on the other side of Shuiyin Mountain. The two brothers of the Yang family had a dispute. They invited their uncles to help them, the boss asked for Zhan, the second looked for Guoji, the Yang family in Bozhou came to join in the fun, isn't that true?"
Li Jingxin said happily: "Ye Xiancheng is really smart, that's how it is."
Ye Xiaotian said angrily: "Then it's none of our business in Tongren Mansion! This dispute belongs to the Yang family in Shiqian Mansion, and the Guoji family in our Tongren Mansion got involved. The magistrate asked the Guoji family to withdraw. Why not? If the Guoji family refuses to agree, then let the Guoji family do the work alone, why does Zhifu Zhang insist on intervening?"
Li Jingchen coughed, and said slowly: "Because, there is still a Tixiyu family here."
Ye Xiaotian asked suspiciously: "Didn't the Yu family marry Mercury Mountain as a dowry two hundred years ago, so what does it matter to the Yu family now?"
Li experienced: "Well, it's complicated to say that the upper chieftain has jurisdiction over the lower chieftain. Just like Zhang Zhifu is the lord of our Tongren, the chieftains in all counties and counties in Tongren must obey his jurisdiction, but Some small chieftains may not directly belong to Zhang Zhifu, but are attached to other big chieftains, and those big chieftains are attached to Zhang Zhifu, do you understand?"
Ye Xiaotian has been in Guizhou for a long time, so he understands this somewhat. This kind of relationship is somewhat similar to the Western system of vassals and vassals, where layers of vassals are entrusted, and each other is master-slave in turn. The subordination relationship only exists between the two aristocratic ranks adjacent to each other, and cannot be subordinated by leapfrogging.
In other words, you are my lord, and I am his lord. He is only responsible to me and ignores you, but I am responsible to you, and I don’t need to pay attention to the chieftain who is more powerful than you . A European medieval proverb clearly illustrates this relationship: "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal."
Seeing Ye Xiaotian nodded, Li Jing smiled and said, "It's good if you understand. Tixi Yu's family is the lower chieftain of Tongren Yu's family. In name, the land of Tixi Yu's family belongs to Tongren Yu's family. There is no direct ownership of the mountain, but whoever owns Mercury Mountain should be his next chieftain, do you understand?"
Ye Xiaotian said: "Understood!"
Li Shiji said: "But Tusi Yang's family, who now controls Mercury Mountain, does not belong to Tongren Mansion, but to Shiqian Mansion. How can they fulfill their obligations as subordinates? This question was not originally available in the era of the eight prefectures of Sizhou and Sinan. The problem, anyway, everyone is the same master - Tian.
At that time, Mercury Mountain belonged to you, and it was up to you to offer offerings to the master of the Tian clan, but now that the chieftains of the various prefectures are gradually breaking away from the control of the Tian clan, and Tongren Mansion and Shiqian Mansion belong to each other, this account has to be settled clearly La. So, the Yu family also wants to take advantage of this chaos to get Mount Mercury back. Do you understand this time? "
Ye Xiaotian stared straight at Li Jing, and his ears seemed to be buzzing like an old monk chanting: "Once upon a time there was a mountain, and there was a temple on the mountain, and there was an old monk in the temple. The old monk told the young monk a story: Once upon a time there was a mountain, and there was a temple on the mountain, and there was an old monk in the temple..."