My classmate Zhu Houzhao

Chapter 4 The Rise of the Fang Family

The Fang family was not originally a wealthy family; at most, their ancestors had been rich, but they later declined.

The Fang family had lived in Liangxiang for generations. Every year during the Spring Examinations, many candidates on their way to the capital would pass through Liangxiang, and many would even stop in Liangxiang before the examinations.

At this time of year, wealthy families in Liangxiang would place their bets on these candidates, arranging marriages between their daughters and those candidates they favored.

Generally speaking, this kind of thing is a sure thing, since only those who have passed the imperial examinations can participate in the spring examinations. Once a scholar becomes a Juren, his status and class have actually been elevated. Juren and Xiucai are completely different concepts.

Scholars are as numerous as carp crossing a river, and there are countless Xiucai (successful candidates in the county-level imperial examinations), but only a handful of Juren (successful candidates in the provincial-level imperial examinations). Once you become a Juren, it means that you are only one step away from becoming a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) and entering the imperial court as an official.

Most importantly, those who passed the imperial examinations were exempt from agricultural taxes. After passing the examinations, many farmers would naturally offer up their land. Therefore, anyone who could establish a kinship with a successful candidate was basically guaranteed to make a profit.

Although the Fang family had fallen on hard times, Fang Heng's grandfather had always harbored the ambition to revive the family. However, the Fang family members had failed to achieve anything in the imperial examinations, so Fang Heng's grandfather had wicked thoughts.

Fang Heng's maternal grandfather, Shen Zhui, was one of the candidates who went to the capital to take the imperial examinations. He was already a well-known scholar before the examinations.

Shen was traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations when he passed through Liangxiang and temporarily stayed there. With the examinations approaching, the prices of inns in the capital were soaring, and the daily accommodation costs alone were a considerable expense.

Therefore, many candidates who arrived early, like Shen Zui, would choose to stay in a county town near the capital first, and then enter the capital and stay in an inn when the imperial examination was approaching.

The Fang family was in decline at the time, so it was extremely difficult for them to befriend a talented young man like Shen Zi, let alone establish a marriage alliance with him. However, Fang Heng's grandfather was very shrewd and used some methods to eventually become close friends with Shen Zi. Unfortunately, Shen Zi was already married with a daughter, so the two had to arrange a betrothal between their children. Later, Shen Zi's daughter married Fang Heng's father, Fang Hong.

Later, as expected, Shen Zhui passed the imperial examination and entered the court as an official. He rose rapidly through the ranks, reaching the rank of fourth grade official in just over twenty years.

A fourth-rank official is not a small position in the capital, and even more so in the provinces.

When Fang Heng's mother married into the Fang family, Shen Zui had already risen to the rank of fifth-grade official. From the reigns of Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong onwards, corruption among officials in the Ming Dynasty gradually became rampant. By the early years of Emperor Chenghua's reign, with the deterrent power of Emperor Chenghua and the fact that the Grand Eunuch Wang Zhi commanded military power and was invincible in battles abroad, nearly wiping out the Jurchen people, the Mongols in the northwest were also suffering repeated defeats, and the corruption among civil officials improved somewhat.

However, after leading troops in the field for many years, Wang Zhi, the former head of the Western Depot and a favorite of Emperor Chenghua, gradually developed suspicions about Emperor Chenghua due to time and distance. The civil officials seized on this thought of Emperor Chenghua and gradually sowed discord between Wang Zhi and Emperor Chenghua. In the end, Emperor Chenghua still recalled Wang Zhi to the capital and stripped him of his military power. After all, if an invincible Wang Zhi, leading a large army in the field, were to be determined to rebel, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty would be able to stop him.

Emperor Chenghua's actions cannot be said to be wrong. After all, a qualified emperor should nip any unstable factors in the bud. Back in the early Han Dynasty, no one could match Han Xin's ability to lead troops into battle. It was precisely for this reason that Liu Bang had to strip him of his military power and demote him to the Marquis of Huaiyin.

For Liu Bang and Zhu Jianshen, whether Han Xin and Wang Zhi would rebel was not important; what was important was that they had the ability to rebel, and once they did, no one could stop them.

If we don't seize the military power of these two men, it's tantamount to handing the sword hilt to someone else. Whether the country is stable or not depends entirely on whether the other party has a conscience.

A good monarch would never gamble on this.

After Wang Zhi's military power was stripped, he was sent to Nanjing to retire, even though he was only in his early twenties at the time.

Since then, civil officials have gradually taken over military power. In fact, since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, military power in various places has been transferred to other places, and it has become common for provincial governors to lead troops. This situation became more and more serious after the Tumu Crisis.

Emperor Chenghua (Zhu Jianshen) established the Western Depot, which greatly strengthened Wang Zhi's power in order to consolidate military power. However, as the saying goes, "what makes you successful can also make you fail," and in the end, Wang Zhi's military power became too great. After Emperor Chenghua seized Wang Zhi's military power, military power in various regions once again fell into the hands of the provincial governors.

With his military power gone, Emperor Chenghua naturally couldn't be too harsh on the civil officials. Therefore, starting from the latter half of his reign, the civil officials began to embezzle money on a large scale and became increasingly unscrupulous. In order to maintain the stability of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chenghua had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

This situation did not improve after the Hongzhi Emperor ascended the throne; instead, it became even more serious. The current emperor was quite good to the civil officials, or perhaps he was feigning ignorance out of desperation. As a result, corruption was rampant among the officials in the court, and if any official did not embezzle, he simply could not survive.

Fang Heng's maternal grandfather, Shen Zhui, was just like that. In the first few years, he was honest and upright, but the more incorruptible he was, the more he was ostracized by his colleagues. After years of being immersed in officialdom, Shen Zhui was eventually corrupted by power.

When Fang Heng's mother married into the Fang family, her dowry was extremely generous. The silver ingots alone filled three large boxes, totaling five or six thousand taels of silver. The other silks, paintings, and calligraphy were countless.

There were six shops in the capital alone. Shops in the capital are all golden goose eggs. With this generous dowry, the Fang family went from being a poor family to becoming one of the wealthiest families in Liangxiang.

However, nothing lasts forever. Five years ago, Shen Zhui was exiled due to factional strife, and the Shen family collapsed overnight.

Fang Heng's mother was not implicated because she was married out of the family, but after that, the Fang family, or rather Fang Heng's father Fang Hong, changed their attitude towards Fang Heng's mother, which can be described as a complete 180-degree turn.

Fang Hong and his cousin Liu Shi were childhood sweethearts, but because of their betrothal, Fang Hong knew that if the Fang family wanted to rise, they had to climb up to the Shen family. Therefore, Fang Hong secretly kept Liu Shi outside while marrying Fang Heng's mother.

After the Shen family fell, Fang Hong took Liu Shi and his son Fang Xu into his home, and then began to constantly neglect and suppress Fang Heng's mother, Shen Shi.

Three years ago, Madam Shen died in despair. Before her death, she handed over all her dowry to Fang Heng. The money was in the Fang family's treasury, so Fang Heng naturally couldn't take it away. However, Fang Hong had been spending money extravagantly over the years, and most of that money had already been spent.

Shen gave Fang Heng the red deeds for those shops in the capital and instructed him that he must never hand them over.

In fact, the Shen family had already laid the groundwork beforehand, announcing to the outside world that these shops in the capital had been sold. For so many years, the Shen family had always been in charge of the household affairs, and Fang Hong had no idea how much money was actually in the treasury.

Even though Shen said so, Fang Hong and Liu were still skeptical. Over the past three years, Liu had tested Fang Heng many times, even cutting off his monthly allowance, just to see how he would survive without money.

For three years, Fang Heng did not take a single penny of monthly allowance from the Fang family. He survived by relying on his own abilities. Over the years, Fang Heng has learned more and more about Shen's death. It seems that his mother's death was not simple. It was probably poisoned by Liu and his cheap father in a joint effort.

To prevent himself from being harmed by the Liu family, Fang Heng has been helping the villagers of Liangxiang for the past three years. As a result, Fang Heng's status in Liangxiang is naturally not what it used to be. If something happens to Fang Heng, the Fang family will definitely be thoroughly investigated.

This made Liu hesitate to act rashly, having the desire to steal but lacking the courage.

Fang Heng was the second son in his family, not because Liu's son was older than him. Before Fang Heng, Shen had given birth to a son, but he died young. That's why Gou Dan and the others called Fang Heng "Second Brother".

"Young Master, you're back!"

The gatekeeper greeted Fang Heng with utmost respect.

Now, all the servants in the Fang family have been replaced by Liu Shi, but even so, almost no one in the entire Fang family dares to offend Fang Heng. In fact, many servants are grateful to Fang Heng, and whenever they encounter difficulties, as long as they find Fang Heng, he can always help them solve them.

This gatekeeper was one of them, so he was completely devoted to Fang Heng. Whenever there was any trouble in the Fang family, the gatekeeper would always inform Fang Heng immediately.

"I just happened to run into Sun Er selling sesame cakes. I know you like them, so I bought one for you. Eat it while it's hot."

As Fang Heng spoke, he took out a sesame seed cake wrapped in brown paper, covered with sesame seeds, and the crust looked crispy and fragrant.

The gatekeeper's eyes immediately welled up with tears as he looked at the still-steaming sesame seed cakes.

"Young master, how could I possibly deserve your concern?"

"Eat quickly, it won't taste good if it gets cold."

Fang Heng patted the gatekeeper on the shoulder and handed him the sesame seed cake.

"Everyone, let's go."

As Fang Heng spoke, he walked into the Fang residence. Wang Mazi and the others followed without any ceremony. As for the gatekeeper, he acted as if he hadn't seen Wang Mazi and the others at all, and continued eating his sesame cakes.