Chapter 159

Wang Tai immediately waved his hand:

"Hey! Uncle didn't say that! Uncle just feels there might be a problem, afraid you will suffer and be deceived! But to say that the constant-price granary is completely a cover, that's not necessarily true. After all, building a granary is such a big move, if it's nothing in the end, how can he explain it? However, whether he will do some tricks in the process of preparation and transport, separating a part of the grain to transport to the cargo station, that's hard to say. Nephew, don't forget, you have the name of doing grain business. At that time, using your name to transport and sell grain is a matter of course. Once the matter is exposed, if it is investigated, the one who participated in building the granary is you, the one who rented the warehouse is you, and if the shipping is still yours, then..."

Wang Yang's face suddenly became extremely ugly, his palms shaking slightly between loosening and gripping.

Wang Tai smiled when he saw this: "But this is just my guess, it may not be the truth."

Wang Yang was full of panic: "Uncle, if this is really the case, what should nephew do? Should I report it in advance?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, it hasn't reached this step yet. Besides, we don't have evidence, what to report? Don't wrong the Prince of Badong, maybe he really has good intentions. How about this, anyway, you are participating in the preparation of the constant-price granary, just take the opportunity to find out the truth. Isn't the contract still with you? If he really wants to transport grain into the warehouse, he can't hide it from you. You pay more attention, check often, and tell Uncle if there is anything! Uncle will make the decision for you! He, the Prince of Badong, wants to use our Wang family's thousand-mile horse to take the blame? He thinks beautifully! Don't worry! If the sky falls, there is Uncle!"

Wang Yang was moved, his lips trembling, stood up and bowed deeply: "Yang meets Uncle, like parting clouds to see the blue sky!!!"

After Wang Yang left, Wang Tai paced a few steps, and immediately sent his men, first to inquire whether Jingzhou really wanted to build a constant-price granary. Second, to secretly investigate whether Wang Yang's warehouse in Linjiang Cargo Station was really related to the Prince of Badong.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather turned hot. It is said that "not afraid of the Dragon Boat Festival being sunny, just afraid of the Dragon Boat Festival being hot." Once the Dragon Boat Festival is hot, the temperature rise will be like lighting a fire. Looking at this momentum, the dog days will probably not be easy. But at this time, not many people are discussing whether this summer will be difficult, because now on the streets and alleys, in restaurants and teahouses, people are talking about the constant-price granary.

When the news first came out, the vast majority of people didn't believe it.

The matter of the constant-price granary had been discussed for several years, and it had been discussed for so long, and all prefectures were full of difficulties and couldn't be built. What's more about Jingzhou? And those aristocratic clans who monopolized the grain business, could they agree to this kind of thing that cuts off their financial path? The old people sat in the shade of the trees, shaking their heads repeatedly, using their life's experience to prove the unreliability of this news. The wine guests smacked their lips, analyzed it profoundly, and finally concluded that this was absolutely nonsense.

But when the grain carts of various aristocratic clans drove to the official granary one after another, everyone was dumbfounded. Even those who believed this news before would never have thought that this matter would proceed so smoothly!

The whole Jingzhou was amazed, and all praised the Prince of Badong for having the means and courage to suppress the aristocratic clans, and even more rare was his concern for people's livelihood. You know, even when the Prince of Yuzhang was in charge of Jingzhou, he didn't mention building a constant-price granary.

While the Prince of Badong's reputation was rising, the figure of a noble young master also entered the sight of some people.

This person is named Wang Yang, said to be a descendant of the Langya Wang clan, with eight buckets of talent, not yet at the age to be an official, but he could participate in the preparation of the constant-price granary as a white-clothed person, and derived various strange rumors from it.

Some say that Wang Yang's family controls half of the grain trade in eastern Zhejiang and is now transporting grain to the constant-price granary continuously; some say this is just a means for an aristocratic young master to accumulate qualifications, just holding a name for participating in affairs, just paving the way for his future official career. Others say that the water here is infinitely deep, and all major forces want to come and share a piece of the pie, and Wang Yang is the representative of the Langya Wang clan. The so-called constant-price granary is just a new method for the government and aristocratic clans to join hands to make money.

The last statement is the most absurd, but it is widely circulated among the people. People like to simplify complex problems and complicate simple problems. The former, such as equating a noble surname directly with a major force, is the most accustomed way of division for ordinary people.

In the imagination of many people among the people, the entire Langya Wang clan is a major force, and all descendants serve this force. But the reality is that the Langya Wang clan has complex branches, scattered in various places, and many branches have long been out of the five clothes. Not to mention that the distant ones don't communicate, even within the three clans, there are phenomena of not saying a word. As for political hostility and human resistance, that is even more common. So don't say that Wang Yang can be the spokesperson for the Langya Wang clan, even if the patriarchs of all branches are invited together, it is difficult to speak for the entire Wang clan.

Therefore, such rumors only circulate among the people. Scholars will not believe it. What circulates among scholars is another piece of news, saying that Wang Yang does silk business, not hesitating to stain his body with the path of merchants, in exchange for the smooth preparation of the constant-price granary.

Skeptics who heard this statement often asked: What does doing silk business have to do with building a constant-price granary?! The speakers either smiled mysteriously or disdained to answer. Anyway, there are few who can truly explain the reason, so they are always at a disadvantage in the debate.

Until a scholar in Nanguang Commandery who admired Wang Yang wrote a strange article, titled "Silk (Planning) Grain Interpretation," stating the purpose of writing this article as "to clarify the ambition of Wang Jun, seeing that there is something in it that makes people cry and cannot stop. Not to let ignorant people speculate falsely! Shallow people slander deeply!"

The article examines the past, quotes extensively, starting from the similarities and differences between silk and grain, all the way to the Jingzhou trade situation and the aristocratic clan relationship network, and uses Wang Yang's social words and deeds as side evidence. The inference is profound, and it is written in more than thirty thousand words, which can be called magnificent. Finally, it points out:

"Wang Jun's ambition has long been placed in songs and poems, but the ignorant cannot see it. 'Colorful sleeves diligently hold the jade cup,' which is a metaphor for his entering the game with silk and his ambition to plan grain and build granaries.

Colorful sleeves are silk; diligent means diligent and tireless. Cup is a substitute for grain. "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Money-makers" says: 'Selling grain and selling a thousand cups.' Jade is a precious thing in the world, and everyone values it. Saying 'jade cup' is taking the meaning of 'people regard food as heaven,' and grain affairs are the essential task of the country, so it cannot be ignored.

Wang Jun does not hesitate to labor himself in the silk merchant business, diligent and hard-working, and finally holds out the grain of a thousand families with his own filth! His sincere and kind intentions are all in this sentence! Those who know his heart cannot help but cry for it! And the ignorant attack it with drums, not knowing that Wang Jun's meaning is deep, his ambition is wide, how can the vulgar look at it? The injustice of the 'Book of Documents' has Wang Jun to wash it. And whose injustice can Wang Jun save? Therefore, I wrote this article to examine the beginning and end of Wang Jun's participation in building the constant-price granary, not hating that those who come later will not hear it!"

Originally, this article was only circulated in a small range, but some scholars of the "Ancient Text Book of Documents" faction reported to the Nanguang Commandery school festival wine, saying that this student made "demon articles and rumors to confuse people's hearts," demanding the revocation of his student status to correct the hearing, and cited the classic learning engagement history (academic administration) and Confucian forest military advisor (education supervision) to pressure the commandery school festival wine.

Unexpectedly, this move caused a strong rebound from the modern text faction, who came down to support one after another. Both factions showed their magical powers, each finding connections, and even the Commandery Governor was involved. Because he was of the same clan as the student and advocated for peace, he was actually reported to the Ministry Commandery (representing the state to supervise each commandery, equivalent to a resident commandery supervisor), impeaching the Governor for breaking the law! The lawsuit was fought all the way to the state department, which can be called a stone causing a thousand waves.

In the end, the student was not only not punished but also became famous. This article was spread among the scholars of Jingzhou and was highly sought after!

Scholars who supported the statement that "Wang Yang doing silk business is to build a granary" were even more morale-boosted after getting this "divine article," and coupled with Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan's secret pushing, the debate gradually escalated, even developing to the point of blocking Wang Yang to seek verification.

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Note: TV dramas like to count a clan as a force, and treat the clan system of the Ming and Qing dynasties as the clan situation in all periods of ancient times. The classic bridge is a very awesome patriarch holding a meeting in the ancestral hall to discuss disposing of clansmen and so on. But reality is far from that simple. Our country has strongly advocated the clan law and clan system since the Song Dynasty, which is the so-called "respecting the clan and collecting the clan," and it has gradually strengthened since then. A typical example is that the power of the patriarch is expanding, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties, not only can he intervene in the establishment of heirs and family division, but in some places, he even enjoys the power of punishment and killing.

But this was not the case during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, the concept was that the gate and the surname were two concepts. "Gate" in the medieval era was also called "family gate," or "gate household," "household" is actually the meaning of home, and they were all based on the family. For example, before Wu Di of Liang ascended the throne, he married his second daughter to Lady Xie Tiao's son Lady Xie Mo. But after becoming Emperor, he wanted his second daughter to remarry, the reason being "Wu Di's intention was thin, and the gate was single, wanting to remarry Zhang Hongce's son." ("History of the Southern Dynasties: Biography of Lady Xie Mo")

The so-called "gate single" does not mean that the Lady Xie clan of Chen Commandery is not good, but that this family of Lady Xie Mo is too thin. For example, Yan Han warned his descendants: "Your family is a scholar's gate, there is no wealth and nobility in the world, from now on officialdom cannot exceed two thousand stones, marriage do not covet the powerful family." He is not saying that the Yan clan of Langya is a "scholar's gate," but that this branch of his family is a scholar's gate.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Cheng said to Wang Yang before: "Bloodline determines the lower limit, family background determines the upper limit." The former is how the clan surname is, the latter is how the family background is, not the same thing.

Although the clan system in the medieval era was not as rigid as in later generations, forms such as passing wealth, helping funerals, and living together had already appeared (but not fixed and universal), but things like clan rules and clan fields had not yet appeared, but there were tomb fields for returning to burial ("Taiping Yulan: Humorous 3": "Commonly call Hutuo River the Cui family tomb field") which was not universal.

Moreover, the Northern Dynasty valued clans far more than the Southern Dynasty. The Northern Dynasty was "The northern soil values the same surname, calling it flesh and blood. Those who come from afar to rely on it, none of them do not try their best to support it. If they don't arrive, they think it is unrighteous and are not tolerated by the township." ("Book of Song: Biography of Wang Yi") But the Southern Dynasty was "The generation is already far, thinking it is a passerby." (Tao Sima Qian "Gift to Changsha Duke and Preface") Ancient sacrifice is after the ancestor, father is Zhao, son is Mu (the ancients' explanation of the original meaning of Zhao Mu is different, here is Zheng Huan Xuan's statement), outside the original meaning, in daily writing, Zhao Mu mostly refers to the relationship of kinship, the meaning of this sentence is: those who branch out far, are the same as strangers.