Chapter 105 - 99: Armed Fight
Chapter 105: Chapter 99: Armed Fight
"You big idiot!"
"How much silver did you squander, Fang Mu? If you don’t explain yourself today, you’re not allowed to eat! No, you’re not allowed to eat ever again!"
Ms. Chen stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Father Fang.
And it was clear that Ms. Chen was truly furious this time.
The Liu Family’s entire estate! In ordinary times, it would be worth at least ten thousand taels of silver.
But even now, in this disastrous year, it must have still cost several thousand taels of silver.
’Their family has only been doing well for two years; where would they get that much silver? It must have been taken from Zhi’Er. And Zhi’Er’s silver was earned at the cost of nearly being crippled. It was all blood-and-sweat money! How could Fang Mu just take it and buy the Liu Family’s lands?’
At this thought, Ms. Chen’s eyes immediately reddened.
Fang Mu was instantly at a loss, and he looked to Fang Yue for help.
"Mother, I was the one who told Father to buy it. It has nothing to do with him."
Fang Yue hadn’t expected Ms. Chen to return at this very moment, nor that she would run into Scholar Liu outside and hear from him about the sale of his family’s property.
Even more so, he hadn’t imagined that this matter would upset Ms. Chen so deeply.
He quickly explained to his mother, "Mother, don’t worry. Master Zhang from the boxing school wrote to me. He said the disaster will be over soon."
"Mother, look, we’re spending several thousand taels to buy this land now, but it’ll be worth a fortune later."
Hearing Fang Yue’s words, Ms. Chen immediately pressed him, "Zhi’Er, you can’t lie to your mother. Is it really going to get better soon?"
"Of course, it’s true. The letter is still in my room. How about I go get it for you to see?" Fang Yue said with a smile.
’Of course, there was no letter. He hadn’t received a letter from Fang Hu or Zhang Boyang for quite some time. The last letter he received had said that the imperial court might soon launch a final, decisive battle against the Mo Mountain Tribe.’
"Oh, that’s good! So not only did our family not lose money, but we’re going to make a huge profit. That’s my Zhi’Er for you! If you hadn’t gotten this news, we would have missed this opportunity."
As soon as Ms. Chen heard this, her expression went from stormy to sunny, and she started praising Fang Yue with a smile.
"Well, I was the one who went and bought it. The Liu Family was originally asking for five thousand taels, but after a lot of haggling, I got them to knock off a whole one thousand taels," Father Fang muttered at this moment.
He had to show off his contribution, too.
"You? As wooden as you are, you know how to haggle? Zhi’Er must have taught you."
Father Fang’s personality was wooden and taciturn; he wasn’t a smooth talker.
Ms. Chen didn’t believe for a second that he could haggle with a sly fox like Scholar Liu, so it must have been Zhi’Er who gave him the strategy.
After saying her piece, Ms. Chen ignored the three Fang men.
She gathered up all the land deeds from the table.
"I’ll hold onto these for now, to keep your father from losing them."
Alright, she was treating Father Fang like a child.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, on the road to Xiahe County Town.
"Father, it’s just a bit of worldly wealth. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Turning it into cash allows us to get things done, which is better than letting it rot in our hands."
Liu Chuanzhi tried to comfort his father.
"The reasoning is sound, but that’s a family fortune built up over several generations of hard work! To have it all lost by my hand... how will I ever face our ancestors in the afterlife!" Scholar Liu sighed heavily.
Then he continued, "But you’re right, Chuanzhi. Look outside. This land is so fertile, yet now it’s all barren. What’s the difference between land that can’t be farmed and a pile of rocks?"
"Exactly, exactly! And that Fang Mu thinks he got a huge bargain, chuckling to himself. What a great fool," Liu Chuanzhi said sarcastically.
According to the current market, their properties were worth about four thousand taels of silver.
But who would buy them now?
No one.
They would have had to keep lowering the price. So, while it looked like they accepted one thousand taels less, they didn’t actually lose out.
Not losing was as good as winning.
Besides, by selling the land, they no longer had to worry about the life or death of those tenants.
Otherwise, if they waited until the tenants had nothing left to eat or drink...
Whether they helped or not, it would be a huge problem.
Tenants rebelling during a famine year were all too common.
It was a total mess, a powder keg waiting to explode.
Right now, only the Prefecture City was safe.
After all, the water shortage in the Prefecture City was much less severe than in the other counties of Shanyang Prefecture.
"Alright, let’s hurry. It will be a real hassle if that mud-leg figures things out and tries to break the contract," said Scholar Liu.
"Father, don’t worry. I made sure to add a special clause to the contract. Once signed and fingerprinted, it cannot be revoked," Liu Chuanzhi said with a smile.
He looked as if he had calculated everything, with the entire situation firmly in his grasp.
"Oh, right, Father. In a few days, those tenants will find out we sold the land. The Fang Family is going to have a rough time then."
The Great Wei Dynasty’s regulations on land tax exemptions have always been very strict. If one wanted to increase the amount of land exempted from tax by Talent, they either had to participate in higher-level imperial examinations to achieve a higher-ranking title, or they had to be promoted to a higher official position.
Although Fang Yue was a Martial Scholar and was entitled to three thousand acres of tax-exempt land, he had already used up his entire exemption quota. Today, by buying their one thousand acres of land, this land, having changed owners and been registered to Fang Yue’s Family, would no longer be tax-exempt.
Those tenants would definitely cause a scene.
That Fang Mu certainly wouldn’t know about this. After all, what would a mud-leg know of such matters?
They would just have to wait and see how Fang Yue’s Family would clean up the mess.
"Excellent."
Scholar Liu sighed with emotion. The family fortune, built over generations, was all sold off.
Of course, they had still lost a great deal of silver, which was heart-wrenching.
However, in reality, the Liu Family’s wealth, accumulated over so many years, naturally consisted of more than just land and houses.
They had many other shops and a great deal of silver, but they had already liquidated those assets long ago.
"Let’s hope everything goes smoothly."
Scholar Liu took one last look in the direction of Da Liushu Village. From this day forward, that place had nothing to do with him anymore.
~~~~~~~
The peaceful days were soon shattered. One day, the tranquil Da Liushu Village erupted in clamor.
A crowd of over a hundred people swarmed the gates of Fang Yue’s family home.
In a small village like this, a hundred-odd people made the alley feel crowded.
"Is Fang Mu home? Get out here! You have to give us an explanation today!"
"Come out, Fang Mu! Don’t think you can just hide in your house and this will all be over! You have to give us an answer today!"
"Yeah, yeah! Tell us how you forced Master Liu to sell his land to you! What kind of despicable tricks did you use?!"
"If you dared to do it, you should dare to admit it! Get out here, or we’re coming in!"
The clamorous shouting from the front gate shattered the silence of the small courtyard, bringing it to a boil.
These people were all tenants of the Liu Junren Family. Many of them had entrusted their land to Scholar Liu.
Although Scholar Liu collected higher rent than the Fang Family, it was still significantly less than what the imperial court would demand in taxes.
These people had originally thought that with the land sold to the Fang Family, they might be able to pay less rent. They even thought it was a good thing.
But today, someone had told them that the Fang Family was sure to raise their rent, collecting even more than Master Liu ever did.
This was because the Fang Family had already used up their quota of tax-exempt land.
Now that the Fang Family had bought the land, were they really going to pay the taxes for them out of their own pocket?
Wouldn’t the burden just be passed on to them, the tenants?
"Everyone, please be quiet. I, Fang Mu, know why you are here. I can’t speak for other matters, but we are all people of Da Liushu Village. Your rent will certainly be the same as everyone else’s, and what’s more, rent is waived for this year."
"When times get better, we can talk about rent then."
Fang Mu and Fang Cheng came out and spoke to the dark mass of people before them.
Having been a Landlord for two years, Fang Mu was, after all, capable of handling a situation like this to some extent.
Sure enough, as Fang Mu spoke, the agitated crowd gradually quieted down.
"Master Fang, anyone can say nice words. You can waive our rent, but the imperial court won’t waive your taxes. Don’t come looking for it from us later."
Someone in the crowd immediately spoke up.
At his words, the crowd grew restless again. Sure, Master Fang could waive their rent, but his Talent-based tax exemption wouldn’t apply to this new land. When the court came to collect the land tax, wouldn’t the burden just fall back on them? If he didn’t make things perfectly clear, how could they be at ease? Besides, even if he didn’t collect this year, what about in the future?
"Master Fang, empty promises won’t do! You have to give it to us in writing!" another person shouted.
Fang Cheng was also getting angry. Their family had already been incredibly benevolent, considering they were all from the same village and clan.
In other villages, even in a year like this, rent was still being collected as usual.
Even if it couldn’t be collected now, those landlords made their tenants sign IOUs, which could be collected on when times improved.
His family was benevolent enough to waive the rent, yet he never expected these people to be so aggressive.
Demanding his father sign and fingerprint a document... they were truly heartless.
How could Fang Cheng not be angry? "Hmph! My father said he would treat everyone equally, and he will!"
"No! If you don’t sign it and add your fingerprint, we won’t believe you!"
"Yeah, yeah! It has to be in black and white!"
The tenants became incensed again, each of them looking ready to cause trouble.
They clearly intended to use their numbers to force Fang Mu to submit to their demands.
"What are you all doing? How dare you cause trouble at Uncle Fang Mu’s house! Don’t you know your own place? If you offend Fang Wuju’s family, aren’t you afraid the Government Office will arrest and punish you?!"
Just then, another hundred or so able-bodied young men gathered.
These were clearly the Fang Family’s original tenants. They were all of the same clan, and many had received kindness from Fang Mu.
In the past two years under the Fang Family, their lives had improved considerably.
So now, seeing people causing trouble at Fang Yue’s Family’s gate, they had all come over at once.
"Hmph, what, you want to fight us? We weren’t born yesterday!"
Someone among the former Liu family tenants fanned the flames.
Tensions were already high between the two sides. Hearing this, the atmosphere immediately escalated.
It looked like a brawl was about to break out.
"What’s this? You intend to cause trouble at my front gate?"
At that moment, a cool voice rang out.
Then, Fang Yue walked out from the house.
’I didn’t want to come out, but the situation outside is grim. If I don’t show myself, a fight will likely break out today. Can I really let them come to armed blows?!!’