"A family that accumulates good deeds will surely have abundant blessings. A great kindness needs no verbal thanks. If Uncle ever has any need of me in the future, your nephew will certainly go through fire and water without hesitation."
Speaking of the Zhu Wen before him, he was well-educated, polite, humble, and knew how to repay kindness.
It was a pity that after he became emperor, Emperor Jianwen completely let himself go. If he had been emperor for a few more years, he might have truly tried to restore the rites of Zhou.
As for changing Zhu Wen's character and making him realize his foolish ideas, Rosen had no such intention.
Rosen was too lazy to even correct his own son's character, let alone an outsider with whom he had no relation.
In the following days, Zhu Wen traveled through the countryside and discovered that this Village, though small, was a rare place of peace and prosperity, with affluent common people.
He especially learned about the role Rosen, a gentry magnate, played in the local area. Rosen leased his land to tenant farmers at a low price. Tenant farmers, after a year of hard work, only needed to pay Rosen one-tenth of their harvest. Regardless of drought or flood, Rosen would not collect more.
If the entire country had gentry like Rosen, then the World would achieve great harmony.
Rosen had no idea that some of his measures, which benefited his own clan, would give Zhu Wen such naive ideas.
In fact, during the early Ming Dynasty, there was a government decree that tenant rent should not exceed forty percent. However, in reality, landlords would take eighty percent of the tenant farmers' harvest. In times of disaster, it would be collected by volume, and the amount would change annually.
Rosen also publicly claimed that he collected seventy percent of the land rent, because if he collected less, then all the surrounding tenant farmers would flock to him, and other landlords would band together to ostracize and suppress him.
Therefore, Rosen also required the Luo Family Village people to make the same claim to outsiders.
Zhu Wen did not know the truth, and the people of Luo Family Village, seeing that Zhu Wen came from the Luo mansion, assumed he was one of their own and naturally spoke without inhibition.
"Uncle, if you were an official, you would surely benefit the people of a region," Zhu Wen said with emotion.
No wonder Law Ming possessed such scholarly integrity; it turned out his father was so extraordinary.
Not only was he skilled in martial arts, capable of fighting off a dozen fierce men, but he could also transform this Luo Family Village into a paradise, where every household had surplus grain. Moreover, he was humble and polite. If he were chosen as a local official, he would surely achieve great things.
Rosen looked deeply at Zhu Wen, as if looking at an idiot.
"I don't like being an official. The official World is treacherous, and a slight misstep can lead to eternal damnation. It's better to be a wealthy old man; that's more practical," Rosen said expressionlessly. He was just afraid that this foolish child, after becoming emperor, would inexplicably give him an official position.
By the time Zhu Di ascended the throne, it was uncertain whether he would list his entire family on the purge list.
What a headache…
During this time, Rosen could even see many of Zhu Yunwen's foolish ideas.
Such an emperor ascending the throne would absolutely not be a good thing. It would be a disaster, both for his own family and for the people of the World.
A month later, the coachman returned.
"Uncle, my ancestor has sent people to pick me up. Your nephew has come to bid you farewell."
"Alright, take care on your journey." Rosen nodded. The coachman's return yesterday had given Rosen a general idea.
Zhu Yuanzhang must have sent quite a few escort teams, but these soldiers did not enter the Luo Family Village territory, so Rosen did not know how many came, but he imagined it was not a small number.
After Zhu Wen left, the Luo mansion returned to its usual tranquility.
In the same year, Law Ming won first place in the prefectural examination, returning as a Huiyuan.
The entire Luo Family Village was buzzing with excitement. Ron was even more thrilled, running to various temples and Daoist temples in Kaiyuan County, donating a considerable amount of incense money to each one.
Rosen directly invited many cooks from Kaiyuan County to Luo Family Village and held a three-day continuous feast in Luo Family Village. People from within ten li, as long as they came to say a lucky word, could sit down and eat their fill.
However, the excitement only lasted for a few days. Law Ming needed to prepare for the autumn imperial examination next year, so he subsequently began to study even harder.
Quite a few fellow students came to visit Law Ming. Some came to make connections, some for mutual progress, or to borrow books.
Law Ming occasionally went out with his classmates to enjoy the scenery.
With the status of a Juren, and being the Huiyuan of the prefectural examination, Rosen was not worried about Law Ming's safety.
The bandits and rogues in this World dared to kill Xiucai, but they did not dare to kill a Juren.
This was like the Village thugs and bullies of later generations; they would only bully farmers without connections. But if it was a city's Zhuangyuan, even the Village thugs and bullies would give them a wide berth.
A Zhuangyuan meant attention, and those vermin in the gutters feared nothing more than being exposed to the light.
After half a year of preparation, Law Ming finally began to get ready to go to the capital for the examination.
Rosen had four servants accompany Law Ming to the capital.
"My eldest son, this is a land deed for a vacant mansion in the capital. After you arrive in the capital, you will live in that mansion. Then, purchase some house servants to serve you. These four are loyal to our Luo family; you can entrust them with any important matters."
"Father, when did you buy this mansion? Have you been to the capital?"
"A few years ago, a wealthy merchant from the capital didn't bring enough money, so he used this mansion as collateral for me."
Actually, Rosen himself went to Yingtian Prefecture to buy it.
Not only in Yingtian Prefecture, but even in the current Shuntian Prefecture, he owned quite a few fields and shops. This was Rosen's investment for the future.
After all, this was a long journey, nearly fifteen hundred li to Jinling.
Rosen was also afraid that something might happen to his son.
These four servants were all recruited by Rosen over the years, and they had passed Rosen's rigorous tests before being kept by his side.
Now, letting these four accompany Law Ming and take care of him, unless they encountered a large group of bandits, these four would be enough to protect Law Ming completely.
Law Ming was now eager to go to Yingtian Prefecture.
After all, to him, that was the most prosperous place in this World.
It was not surprising for a young man to be full of longing for that place.
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