Chapter 19 19 Hidden Field
Wei Guangde saw how eager his companions were to try hunting birds when they talked about it, and he didn't want to offend them. He just said a few perfunctory words, then separated from the children and went home.
Wei Guangde entered the front door of his house and did not see his father and eldest brother in the front yard. At this time in the past, there were always people in the front hall.
But I didn't think too much, so I walked directly to the backyard. When I entered the door, I saw several serving maids and women standing near the courtyard door. I felt strange.
Usually, at most one of these people is sweeping the yard, while the others are busy with their own business, either wiping tables and chairs in the house or cleaning up debris. Why are they all standing here at the courtyard gate today.
"Aunt Li, why are you all standing here instead of going into the house to serve?"
"Second Young Master, you are out of school."
Aunt Li is the mother-in-law who serves his mother. She usually stays in the house, but it is rare to see her standing outside.
"The master, madam and young master are talking in the main room, and we won't be allowed to go there unless summoned."
"Oh, that's how it is."
Wei Guangde understood what was going on, but didn't take it for a moment.
Thinking of what I overheard two nights ago, I wondered if Father Wei finally couldn't resist the temptation in his heart, so he held an extended meeting of family members and called his eldest brother in for advice.
Although in this day and age, parents' fate is God's, but what Mr. Wei is hesitating about now is a major matter, and it seems normal for his eldest brother to know the inside story.
Wei Guangde had no intention of eavesdropping on what was being said in the main room, so he walked directly across the yard to his house. When he passed the door of the main house, he accidentally glanced inside, and instantly four pairs of eyes met.
At this moment, Wei Guangde's parents were sitting on the Grand Master's chair in the main hall, and his brother was sitting neatly on the chair on the left side below. They were silent at this time, so they all saw Wei Guangde passing by the door.
Just when Wei Guangde was about to walk through the door, Mrs. Wei Wu said, "School is over. Put down your schoolbag and come over here."
Do you want to go there by yourself?
Wei Guangde thought to himself, and immediately agreed, quickly returned to his room, took off the study and put it on the desk, turned around and went out to the main room.
After Wei Guangde came in, he sat on the chair on the right side opposite his brother. Now he also imitated his elder brother's behavior and sat properly.
"Wencai, tell the waiter what's going on."
Wei Meng spoke at this time.
The eldest brother Wei Wencai agreed and told Wei Guangde about today's events in detail. As Wei Wencai talked, Wei Guangde gradually opened his mouth.
Wei Guangde actually wanted to shout "I'm sorry" at this moment, and then continue to curse that dog Taoist priest. He was really not a human being, and he dared to rob his own house. Fortunately, the labor and management just respected his teacher, and gave it to that Taoist priest. The shameless guy said hello respectfully.
After Wei Wencai finished explaining the situation, Wei Mengcai asked: "Xiao Er, what do you think of this matter?"
Although Wei Guangde is only eleven years old now, he is still stuck between the levels of child and teenager. When Wei Meng died of his father, he was not as old as Wei Guangde, but he had already begun to support a family. After all, the family only had He was the only man left.
Therefore, at this time, Wei Meng also regarded Wei Guangde as his own situation at that time, and felt that he should be sensible, so he asked Wei Wencai to tell Wei Guangde about the matter and wanted to hear what he meant.
"Dad, is there any room for change in this matter? Uncle's side"
Wei Guangde was thinking about it when he heard what his brother said, but after all, he still had little knowledge and the matter was a bit difficult to deal with. Although he still had a partial understanding of many things, he still asked first if there was any room for solution.
Father Wei shook his head and sighed: "Since they dare to come to the door, they naturally know what they are. This means that there is nothing you can do to find them."
"Is the field they are talking about the farmland in our fort? The farmland in our fort is registered with the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. How dare they ask for it?"
What Wei Guangde knew about his family connections was that his eldest uncle was his mother's biological eldest brother. His eldest aunt was from the Jiujiang Guard Commander Tongzhi's family and was the second-in-command of the guard station.
Doesn't it matter anything else? Wei Guangde's memory is gone.
I guess that's it. After all, it's just a hundred households, and the levels are there.
Even if you want to make friends with high-ranking officials, you are just like that, and you can't make friends just by wanting to make friends with them.
After Wei Guangde asked this question, Father Wei did not answer. Instead, his eldest brother Wei Wencai spoke: "The area in the back mountain is the wasteland reclaimed by our ancestors."
"Not a farm?"
"no."
"Who is that dog Taoist priest? Why does he threaten us to sell our land to him? He only gave us five taels of silver."
Wei Guangde still couldn't figure it out. If it wasn't Baihusuo's land, it must be his family's land. Why should he sell it to a Taoist priest, unless he was just a lobbyist standing at the front desk and the buyer was someone else.
In addition, when the elder brother introduced the situation just now, he also mentioned the price offered by the Taoist priest, which was five taels per acre.
Although Wei Guangde doesn't know how much land is worth per acre now, but according to his elder brother, the price is a bit low, otherwise he wouldn't be so eager.
These family properties will all belong to him in the future, although Wei Meng is still the head of the family now.
If the land is sold now and sold at a lower price, the loss will actually be his money.
Although Wei Guangde is only eleven years old, his actual age is indeed in his twenties, so he can naturally think of many things, but he still has to say this.
"The people behind him are very powerful and we cannot afford to offend them."
At this time, Father Wei said, "Actually, that field used to be wasteland. Your grandfather and his family started to ask military households to help cultivate it."
Father Wei began to slowly tell the story of the origin of the land, which naturally aroused Wei Guangde's curiosity.
Before, Wei Guangde was very curious about what happened to that piece of land and why it was being threatened. Now that he heard Dad Wei talk about it, he slowly understood what happened.
The root cause of everything is that the field was formerly wasteland, which was reclaimed by his ancestors by the military households of Baihusuo. You can imagine what the ancestors did in the past. It was undoubtedly the field that was cultivated by these laborers for free.
Of course, these are not the key points. The key point is that after the land was reclaimed, it was not reported.
That is to say, this land has always been occupied and used by the Wei family, but there is no title deed. It is "hidden land". The government does not know about it, so naturally there is no need to pay land tax.
Father Wei doesn't know what the situation of this type of land is like in the Ming Dynasty.
But in Jiangxi, there are still many similar lands.
Just because there is too much does not mean that there is nothing wrong. According to the nature of the government, once it is exposed, the land tax will definitely be recovered, or if it fails, it will be confiscated and turned into official land.