Lan Yong brought Qin Mu and the rest into Black Tortoise Manor.
Lan Yong stood under a crooked tree at the entrance of the village and knocked on the gong tied to the tree branch with a hammer.
With a series of banging sounds, a group of men, women, and children walked out of the peaceful village one after another.
These people were dressed in ragged clothes, and their faces were yellow and thin. Many of them were seven or eight-year-old children, running around on the ground naked.
Amongst this group of beggars, some of them were actually wearing the military uniform of the guards.
However, most of these men in military uniforms were disabled.
Some had broken arms, some had lost a leg, some had lost an eye, and so on.
Moreover, everyone's military uniform was very tattered, with layers of patches.
The appearance of these people gave Qin Mu a huge shock.
He originally thought that the location of Xuanwu Manor was so superior that even if the villagers were not well-off, they would at least be able to eat and wear warm clothes.
However, the scene he saw only made him feel one thing. He was poor, extremely poor.
At this moment, he even vaguely understood why Lan Yu was so anxious to give the manor to him.
Perhaps he couldn't afford to raise these people?
"Butler Lan, can I give up this manor?”
Lan Yong came with a mission.
First, he had to transfer the ownership of the manor to Qin Mu. Secondly, he had to observe and record any reaction from Qin Mu so that he could report everything to General Blue Jade.
"Young Master Qin, my Old Master is a man of his word. How can he go back on his word so easily?”
"These are all soldiers who followed my master to war. They were injured in the army or fell ill.”
"So, my master settled them in the manor and gave them a place to live.”
Qin Mu was slightly moved when he heard that.
If Lan Yong hadn't said that these people were soldiers, he wouldn't have believed it even if he was beaten to death.
The military household system of the Ming Dynasty was indeed quite ridiculous.
It was equivalent to fixing a person's occupation for generations and not allowing them to do anything else.
Even farmers could change their fate through the imperial examinations.
As for the military families of the Ming Dynasty, they could only choose to be soldiers and fight.
Although there were many shortcomings in the military during the Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu period was not bad. It was definitely not so poor.
"Butler Lan, is there a mistake?”
"The current Emperor still values military households. These military households who have fought for the country can be properly settled even if they return to the local areas.”
"Haha!"
Lan Yong responded to Qin Mu's question with a cold smile.
"Young Master Qin, you might not know this, but although the current Emperor has a system, it is not so smooth to implement it locally.”
"In principle, the local government must give a certain amount of land to the military households when they return to the local garrison.”
" However, these civil officials either distribute the mountainous areas and saline-alkalized land that can't be used to grow crops, or they delay the distribution, saying that there's no free land in the county.”
"Young Master Qin, do you know why?”
Qin Mu understood after thinking for a moment.
"Because military households don't have to contribute to the government, nor do they have to pay taxes.”
"The land that the government allocated to the military households is equivalent to wasting it!”
Lan Yong's eyes lit up, and his evaluation of Qin Mu immediately increased.
There were many scholars in the world, but there were not many scholars who understood the world. Many people were bookworms.
This Qin Mu in front of him was quite an interesting person. He had only given a casual reminder and he could already think of the root of it.
It was no wonder that Old Master had taken a fancy to this person. This person indeed had the ability to be worthy of his attention.
"Just as Young Master Qin said!"
"Local officials pay taxes as their political achievements. Who is willing to give good land to military households?”
"This is also the reason why my master dislikes civil officials. He has been tricked by these civil officials!”
Qin Mu was silent when he heard that.
Previously, he had only heard of Lan Yu being domineering, beating up Imperial Censors, and attacking passes. He had never thought that there were so many hidden secrets.
"Young Master Qin, my Old Master has specially instructed us.”
"These people were originally his comrades in the army, they shouldn't have been burdened by Young Master Qin.”
"If Young Master Qin is unwilling to use these people, this lowly one can take them away and place them in other villages of the Lan Mansion.”
"Anyway, my master has said more than once that as long as he lives in this world, he can't lack food and clothing for these people.”
" However, my master doesn't know how to manage a family. Even though he hasn't taken a grain of grain from the village for so many years and has been giving them a few hundred taels of silver every year, he still hasn't let them live a good life. My master blames himself, sob…"
"Uhh…"
When Qin Mu heard this, he felt his scalp go numb.
What's going on? Are you crying for me to see?
You're already making it sound so pitiful. If I don't take these people in, wouldn't I be even more inhumane than Huang Shiren?
"Butler Lan, leave these people behind.”
"It just so happens that I'm short of manpower recently, so I don't have to go outside to recruit.”
When Lan Yong heard what Qin Mu said, he immediately stopped crying.
"Tian Liuzi, Zhang Cheng, Old Han Zhao, Feng Lian, get over here!”
As soon as Lan Yong finished speaking, a few men in tattered military uniforms walked out of the crowd.
Lan Yong bared his fangs and brandished his claws as he shouted at them.
"Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and greet the new master!”
"This is Young Master Qin, a newly promoted scholar!”
"Our master gave you and this manor to Young Master Qin.”
"In the future, Young Master Qin will be your father, your mother, your parents, and your parents!”
"Do you understand?"
The few of them knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Qin Mu.
"I, Tian Liuzi, Zhang Cheng, Old Han Zhao, and Feng Lianzhu, pay my respects to Young Master!”
"If Young Master has any orders in the future, this lowly one will not dare to disobey!”
When Qin Mu thought about how the other party was once a soldier of the northern expedition, his scalp went numb.
What did he do to actually dare to accept their worship?
Qin Mu hurriedly helped them up.
"Uncles, you're being too serious. I can't stand such a big bow from you!”
"You are all meritorious officials of Great Ming. The reason why Great Ming can stand tall in the world and replace the humiliating rule of Northern Yuan is all because of you, uncles, who risked your lives and bravely killed the enemy!”
"Junior Qin Mu, on behalf of all the scholars and commoners in the world, thanks all the heroes!”
Qin Mu's bow stunned Tian Liuzi, Zhang Cheng, Old Han Zhao, and Feng Shuzhu.
In the morning, they learned that Xuanwu Manor had been defeated by General Blue Jade.
Therefore, they had planned for the whole afternoon, thinking about how to show the new master their might.
However, before they could make a move, the new master made such a move.
They looked at Qin Mu who was bowing to the bottom and recalled what the child had said. They felt their noses turn sour and tears flowed down.
Lan Yong had originally planned to watch the joke and wait for these veteran ruffians to give the little scholar a difficult question. However, he didn't expect Qin Mu's words to make his nose turn sour, and his chest felt like it was stuffed with cotton.
If all the scholars in the world could be like Young Master Qin, why would my Old Master have to fight to the death with those civil officials…
There were really too few people like Young Master Qin, wuwuwu…
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