A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 422 Hua Shi Gang

"I didn't know that Song Yashi was coming, so I didn't go out to greet him. Please forgive me."

"Master Lu, you are too polite. I came here uninvited, which is impolite. I hope you can forgive me."

"Song Yasi, please come in."

Speaking of which, Song Jiang's position as a bailiff can only be regarded as an official, not an official.

In every dynasty, officials and clerks were separated. Officials had ranks, received fixed court salaries, and enjoyed state benefits. Clerks were staff appointed and dismissed by officials, had no ranks, did not enjoy state benefits, and were supported by the officials themselves.

Officials needed to pass the imperial examinations and various assessments to be appointed and dismissed by the court. Clerks were directly appointed and dismissed by officials at will. However, in the Song Dynasty, clerks were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations. In other words, once you became a clerk, you would never have the hope of becoming an official again in your life.

The post of Yasi was mainly responsible for the registration and management of prisoners. In other dynasties, it was just a low-level clerk. In the Song Dynasty, ordinary officials would use Yasi as secretaries.

There were two Yasi in Yuncheng County, but Song Jiang was highly regarded by the county magistrate and was selected as the first Yasi. The Yasi was equivalent to the secretary of the township government in later generations, who was mainly responsible for connecting with prisoners, and was also responsible for handling some tax work and recording criminal cases.

This position is neither big nor small, but it is very lucrative. After all, before the prisoner is imprisoned in the prison, if his family does not bribe the prison guards and the head of the prison, he may be beaten with 100 sticks first, and his life may be half lost.

It was thanks to this lucrative job that Song Jiang was able to accumulate a lot of wealth, and had money to help those heroes who came to him for help, and was called the Timely Rain and Hu Baoyi.

Even after Song Jiang married Yan Poxi, he was able to immediately arrange a two-story house for her so that she could have everything she wanted, including food, clothing and other daily necessities.

In contrast, although Lin Chong, Wang Jin and others were known as the instructors of the 800,000 Imperial Guards, they were actually military officers without rank, not the chief leaders of the 800,000 Imperial Guards. There were so many 800,000 Imperial Guards, and among them there were hundreds of spear and stick instructors, who were actually military instructors who were only responsible for routine training and had no authority to lead troops.

If Lin Chong, Wang Jin and others were really the leaders of the 800,000 imperial guards, even though Gao Qiu was the emperor's favorite, he would not dare to provoke them easily.

"Song Yashi is visiting my humble abode. I wonder what advice you have for me?"

"It's hard to say what you are asking for advice, but there is something I need to inform Master Lu about recently. Not long ago, the governor of Qingzhou found a piece of strange stone and prepared to present it to the emperor. It will pass through our Yuncheng County on the way, and the county magistrate is already arranging to demolish the city wall.

According to calculations, this strange stone will pass through the land of Lujia Village. Please remove the crops and level the land in advance to avoid delaying the transportation of this strange stone."

"I wonder which part of my Lujia Village this strange stone will pass through?"

"It is expected to pass through the land west of Lujiazhuang..."

"Okay, I understand. Lujiazhuang will definitely cooperate."

"In that case, Song Jiang will take his leave."

"It's not easy for Yashi Song to come here, so you should have a meal before leaving, and let me, Lu, show my hospitality as a host."

"Song Jiang appreciates Master Lu's kindness. However, Song Jiang has official duties to attend to and needs to inform other farmers and people along the way, so he won't stay any longer."

"Then I'll see the bailiff off. Lai Fu, go prepare some wine, drinks and snacks for Bailiff Song for his use on the road."

"Yes, owner."

Huashigang is the name of a special transportation system during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, which was used to transport rare stones and flowers to satisfy the emperor's preferences. Gang refers to a transportation team, and a transportation team consisting of 10 ships is called a gang.

If it was just some flowers and plants, it would be fine, but the transportation of these strange stones was a real waste of money and labor. Many of the strange stones weighed thousands of pounds, even tens of thousands of pounds, and hundreds of thousands of pounds. They required countless oxen, horses, and laborers to transport them day and night. Along the way, cities were destroyed, villages were destroyed, and fields were destroyed, making countless people miserable.

Moreover, the transportation process gave many officials the opportunity to accept bribes and embezzle money, exploiting the people along the way and causing widespread public outcry.

No matter how wealthy the Song Dynasty was, it could not afford to be played by this emperor. Many peasant uprisings in Jiangnan were caused by this flower and stone levy.

Of course, at the moment Lu Cheng was just a country squire and landlord, and he had no ability to resist, so he could only obey the arrangements.

Fortunately, it only passed through the fields in the north. If it passed through Lu Cheng's manor, Lu Cheng might have given gifts to those officials and made arrangements to let them bypass his manor.

After seeing Song Jiang off, Lu Cheng immediately called housekeeper Sun and asked him to gather some tenants to remove the crops where the strange stone was about to pass and level the land.

This is because Lu Cheng's family is so rich that he doesn't care about the food produced by that little piece of land. I'm afraid some other people along the way are not so lucky.

It is already winter now. After the crops in the fields are uprooted, no other crops can be planted. There will be no harvest in the first half of next year. It is estimated that many families will not be able to bear the losses and will be forced to sell their land.

After arranging these things, Lu Cheng continued to devote himself to studying martial arts.

Recently, Lu Cheng has been practicing his own "Tiger Roaring Thunder Sound Breathing Method" and "Innate Internal Strength Breathing Method" at the same time, combining the advantages of the two breathing methods, as well as various matching prescriptions, and constantly organizing and improving them.

This is because Lu Cheng possesses a physical fitness of 28 points and a spiritual fitness of 28 points. His physique is strong enough and he has meticulous control over his body. In addition, his comprehension is far beyond that of ordinary people. This is why he was able to improve the skills of his predecessors.

Practicing martial arts can also be addictive, especially being able to clearly sense the little changes inside the body, the internal organs and bones are gradually strengthened, the blood flow becomes stronger and more powerful, and the overall metabolic level is significantly improved.

The pleasure of this kind of practice is a double enjoyment of the mind and body.

It is no wonder that in many martial arts and cultivation novels, there are so many people who like to retreat into seclusion and become martial arts fanatics or Taoism fanatics.

More than half a month later, a group of government officials passed by Lu Cheng's farm, pulling a huge stone weighing tens of thousands of pounds.

Lu Cheng looked at the strange-shaped rock from a distance, but couldn't figure out what was so good about it that could make the emperor so obsessed with it.

According to historical records, Song Huizong later obtained a huge rock from Taihu Lake, which was so big that a hundred people could not hug it. He loved it so much that he made it a marquis.

All I can say is, if God wants to destroy someone, he must first make him crazy.

"Master, several households near our village request to sell their land to our Lujia Village and become tenants of our Lujia Village."

"Well, take them all."

"Yes."

In order to help some people along the way and to strengthen Lujiazhuang itself, Lu Cheng asked Steward Sun to buy all the destroyed land within three to five miles.

After more than a year of expansion, Lujiazhuang now has nearly 1,000 acres of land, becoming one of the largest landowners in Yuncheng County. Coupled with the Lujiazhuang's lucrative business, Lu Cheng's actual assets are among the largest in the entire Jizhou Prefecture.

In this day and age, that’s not a good thing.

Having only food but no guns means building granaries for others.

If you have only money but no power, you will feel insecure all day long.