Seeing Zhu Ming inquiring about the wealthy families, Zhang Guangdao smiled: "This Baishi is twenty miles in radius, with only two upper-class households, and all of them have their surnames. One lives in Shangbai Village, and the head of the family is Lao Bai Junwai; the other lives in Xiabai Village, and the head of the family is Xiao Bai Junwai."

"Which surname is Bai has a better reputation?" Zhu Ming asked again.

Zhang Guangdao said: "The one in Shangbai Village wants to be more shameful, and at least he didn't force his neighbors to death."

Zhu Ming immediately understood that the two families with surnames Bai were not very good, but the one in Shangbai Village had at least some bottom line.

Zhu Ming bowed and said, "Please help me lead the way with my brother Zhang."

Zhang Guangdao acted very enthusiastically and threw the salt he bought to Luwan and Ding Dafang, and took Zhu Ming and his son to the upstream empty-handed.

As for Lu and Ding, while helping to see the salt, they continued to stay in the market town to sell chickens and ducks.

The further away from Baishitou, the fewer fertile lands by the river, and the more barren mountainous land they are. Houses are scattered at the foot of the mountain, and all the earth-walled thatched huts are not only poor but also sparsely populated.

During the period of Wang Anshi's reform, the peak of the population in Hanzhong, and it has declined year by year since then.

Take Yangzhou as an example. It has three counties under its jurisdiction, namely Xingdao (Yangxian), Zhenfu and Xixiang. At its peak, the population of the whole province was about 300,000, and most of them lived in Xingdao County. Today, the total number of main households and customers is 250,000 left.

Xixiang County is the poorest, with a maximum population of 50,000 or 60,000 people.

Of course, the above data does not count the escaped households hiding in the mountains.

After walking for about 40 minutes, the terrain was wide open again, and a large tile house suddenly appeared. They were all houses of the Bai family. The largest mansion belonged to the owner's house, and the nearby houses were divided into the same tribe.

"That's the old Bai Junwai family," Zhang Guangdao pointed to the mansion and said, "He has a grudge against the young Bai Junwai downstream, but the ancestors of the two families are clan brothers."

Zhu Ming couldn't help but look at Zhang Guangdao and thought to himself that I am a stranger. Why do you tell me about such a grudge relationship?

Zhu Guoxiang asked, "I see there are many tea mountains here. Did the Bai family make a fortune by growing tea?"

Zhang Guangdao's smile became strange: "In the past few decades, we can only destroy the family by relying on tea. How can we get rid of it? The court canceled the official job in the middle school and replaced it with the work of the Lunzi Yaqian. No other family dared to go there. The Bai family had two brothers who were brave and went to Changming Yaqian to become Changming Yaqian. After a few years, they became prosperous and prosperous."

Changming Yaqian is also a job for the government, but the nature is completely different and it is an initiative to register to do things.

They are not considered officials, but they are like officials. They do not receive wages and cooperate with the government for a long time. Including tax collection and labor arrangements, they are all assisted and cooperated with Changming Yaqian. If something happens, they don’t have to pay compensation, and they can get oil and water with the government.

Zhang Guangdao continued: "The old Bai official, grandfather and I both have a name for the front of the yamen. The family is very familiar with the government. He was a gray-clad official when he was in his teens. Later, he cursed himself with the new magistrate, and became a serious civil servant. He also gave his daughter to the county magistrate as a concubine, and became the chief clerk of Xixiang County."

The county chief clerk, a ninth-rank small official, seems to have no presence, but he is already an amazing figure for the people of the countryside.

Moreover, many county archers in the Song Dynasty were from Jinshi or were appointed as academic officials. If they wanted to be promoted from a civil servant to a chief clerk, they had to get the support of a high-ranking official. In addition to marrying their daughters as concubines, they would also give a lot of money in private.

In addition, many county magistrates in the Song Dynasty also served as county magistrates, and were also responsible for catching and stealing (in order to save wages, the chief magistrate and county magistrates were often the same person, and they only had to pay the salary of one official position). If the magistrate did not like to manage affairs, the trial of many daily cases was also handled by the county magistrate and the chief magistrate.

Taxation, justice, and law enforcement, three powers are combined together, and for the villagers, they are the local emperors!

Zhu Ming had already understood that the deal he was about to face was a retired county chief clerk and a powerful figure who must be respected in all villages.

"If you can trust me, I will show you the horses and you will sell your pens." Zhang Guangdao said.

Zhu Guoxiang bowed and said, "I'm working hard."

Zhang Guangdao pointed to the side of the mansion: "Go past the side door, don't go to the main door to make you uncomfortable."

"Thank you for the reminder." Zhu Ming thanked.

After the father and son took a few steps, Zhang Guangdao shouted: "If you can't get in, you can go back to the mountains with me. My brother likes to make friends with heroes."

Zhu Ming turned around and bowed, his attitude was ambiguous.

The father and son came to the side door of the Bai family mansion, with a high wall and a large courtyard, and the door was closed.

Zhu Ming said: "The packaging box cannot be exposed. Although it is printed in traditional Chinese characters, it contains manufacturer information."

Zhu Guoxiang stuffed the packaging box back into his backpack and asked his son: "Only sell one?"

"Scarcity is precious," said Zhu Ming.

There are a total of six Hu pens, all of which are New Year gifts for relatives and children. They are finely crafted and valuable. Although they are not top-quality, one pen is worth hundreds of dollars.

Just as he was about to knock on the door, Zhu Ming suddenly asked: "Which dynasty was Hubi famous in?"

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head: "I don't know."

Things are a bit awkward. What if Hubi was not famous during the Northern Song Dynasty?

Zhu Guoxiang thought carefully: "When I bought a pen, the shopping mall salesperson seemed to say that Hu pen was very famous in the Tang Dynasty. He also quoted Bai Juyi's poems and picked a piece of it out of thousands of flocks. Hey, how could I remember this poem?"

Zhu Ming said: "After we traveled through time, our memory seemed to have improved. The information I had searched through videos before can blurt out a lot of details."

"Don't worry about him, let's try it." Zhu Guoxiang said.

In fact, Hubi was not truly famous until the Yuan Dynasty, and was only sought after by a small group in the Song Dynasty.

“Don’t miss it!”

Zhu Guoxiang knocked on the door of the house.

Soon, the door of the house opened and the person who was guarding the door was an old man.

Seeing that the father and son were dressed in rags and had a stinky smell, Lao Cangtou regarded them as beggars and closed the door again without saying a word.

There is no way, so I can only continue knocking on the door.

I guess I was annoyed by the old man in the door. When the door of the house opened again, there was an additional servant holding a stick.

The young servant scolded, "Get away if you beg for food, don't look at whose house this is!"

Zhu Guoxiang was forced to take two steps back by a stick, holding the Hu Pen and said, "We are not begging for food, we are merchants passing here. This brush is a top-quality Hu Pen and is worth a hundred cents of yuan. Old Bai would definitely like it when he sees it."

The old man and the young servant obviously didn't know anything about the goods, and they didn't believe that a brush was worth hundreds of cents.

Zhu Ming and Zhu Guoxiang and his son instantly changed from beggars to liars.

The young servant swung his stick and said viciously: "If you don't leave, I'll beat you in the future!"

Zhu Guoxiang turned his head and looked at his son. Zhu Ming shook his head and sighed, and he stepped away from the distance in unison.

"Bang!"

The door of the house was closed again.

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "What should I do?"

Zhu Ming said: "When you keep guarding, there will always be people who know the goods."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I see that there are pawn shops in the market, so why not go to the pawn shop and ask about the price."

"It's also a solution." Zhu Ming nodded.

The two of them returned, but Zhang Guangdao was still standing there and did not take the opportunity to lead the thin horse away.

Zhang Guangdao asked with a smile: "Can't you get in?"

Zhu Ming said: "The guardian doesn't know the goods, so he has to contact the old Bai Man in person."

Zhang Guangdao smiled even happier: "When I go back to the mountains with me, how can I see Lao Bai and Yuanwai easily?"

Zhu Ming said: "It's strange. My father and son are so depressed and have nothing to do. Why did the brother of the Zhang family repeatedly invite each other?"

Zhang Guangdao said: "You speak and do things differently from ordinary people. You must be not ordinary people, but most of them are scholars who have read books. There are many heroes in our village, but there are few who can read and write. My brothers will definitely like it when they see it."

"Brother Zhang's family fell in love wrong." Zhu Ming still refused to comment. He did not want to go into the mountains to become a bandit for the time being.

Zhang Guangdao accompanied the father and son to return to the market, and Rwan and Ding Dafang's poultry were sold out.

Everyone ate a bowl of noodles in the market. Zhang Guangdao paid for a treat and then asked to part after filling his stomach.

Before parting, Zhang Guangdao clasped his fists and said, "If you understand, go to the village to find the brothers of the Tian family. Tian Er will take you into the mountain."

"I'm sure, my brother." Zhu Ming bowed.

After sending the three people to the ferry to board the boat, Zhu Ming and Zhu Guoxiang went to the pawnshop.

Zhu Guoxiang stood outside the shop and looked at the horse, while Zhu Ming went in with a brush.

This is a comprehensive shop that not only carries out pawn business, but also sells rice and exchanges money and grain.

The two tax laws were implemented in the Song Dynasty, namely, the collection of summer and autumn grains.

When summer grain is taxed, it is often the case that cloth is collected.

If you are a fifth-class lower-class lower-class household, you do not pay taxes separately, but seven families are made into a group and get a piece of silk cloth to hand it over to the government. The lower-class households are very poor, and they may not be able to take out silk cloth or money. They can only sell grain for money and then buy cloth for taxes. At this time, you have to find money and grain to exchange for shops.

"A pen in Hu, please give me a price." Zhu Ming took out the brush.

The shopkeeper obviously had never heard of Hubi Daming, so he took the brush and asked, "Do you die or live?"

"What if you die? So what if you live?" Zhu Ming asked back.

Because Zhu Ming's clothes were torn, the shopkeeper was careless. But after careful consideration, his eyes lit up quickly, and he put down his brush without showing any expression: "A bald pen, with a messy hair, and a valuable five-part article."

In a big city like Kaifeng, the most trash brush is about ten cents.

In this Baishi, the price is much lower, and you can really buy a brush for five cents. However, a brush with better quality also requires dozens of cents.

A Hu pen priced at five quotations, and Zhu Ming almost got angry and laughed.

Zhu Ming took back the Hubi and left, and the shopkeeper shouted: "Slow down, I'll take a look."

Zhu Ming did not put the brush back to the counter, but held it with his hands and came to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper looked at it for a while: "I just missed it. This pen is still craftsmanship and worth twenty cents of iron!"
To be continued...