Ye Xiaotian and Li Juan were almost driven out of the mansion by the prefect Zhang. As soon as they left the mansion, they saw that the followers who followed them to Mercury Mountain were already waiting outside the mansion. This efficiency was really amazing.

The prefect Zhang of Tongren was a hereditary local official. According to the court's policy of "using barbarians to control barbarians", as long as the chief surrenders to the court, the official positions and territory can be hereditary. It can establish a government office, administration, and management of village farming and taxation levels in its own territory; recruit and raise war generals and soldiers; and establish civilian personnel.

Therefore, although the soldiers sent by the prefect Zhang were dressed in the Ming Dynasty military uniform, they were actually private soldiers of the prefect Zhang. The prefect Zhang sent nearly a hundred people to the Mercury Mountain with Ye Xiaotian and Li Juan. These two were equivalent to the two envoys sent by the prefect Zhang.

Judging from the official position, Li Xue's grade is higher, but since Ye Xiaotian is the leader, he is of course the leader. Li Xue did not intend to compete with him on this matter. It is a bad luck to go to Mercury Mountain. Whoever is responsible will be the greatest risk. He hopes that Ye Xiaotian will take it on.

Ye Xiaotian always felt that the prefect Zhang was so anxious to send them away, not because the Mercury Mountain had reached such an emergency, but because the Prefect Zhang was worried that after he learned about the Mercury Mountain, he would cry and shout for his parents and refuse to go.

Ye Xiaotian brought his six guards and more than a hundred men out of the city. He and Li Jing took the same car and asked sincerely: "Li Jing, where is this Mercury Mountain and what happened there, I hope you can give me some advice."

It’s not a big deal that Ye Xiaotian is not clear. The information in this era is inconvenient. Ye Xiaotian hasn’t even seen the map of Guizhou Province. Even if he has heard of some places, he may not be able to figure out the location, let alone the mercury mountain that had no impression before.

This is true in terms of geography and humanities. For example, he is already well-known in Huxian. But in Tongren, except for some people who are interested, most people have never heard of his Ye Xiaotian's name, and not everyone cares about changes in the officialdom.

Li Jing was so thankless that he was not worried, but after all, he had to go to Mercury Mountain. Some things made Ye Xiaotian know and avoided him not knowing the depth and causing him to cause trouble to implicate himself. So Li Jing told Ye Xiaotian the truth.

This mercury mountain is located between Shiqiansi and Tixisi. Tixisi belongs to Tongren Prefecture, and Shiqian Prefecture belongs to Shiqian Prefecture, so this mercury mountain is actually at the junction of the two prefectures. The mercury mountain is rich in cinnabar. Cyxisi can be used as pigments, as medicinal materials, and can also extract mercury. It is an extremely important mineral.

During the Warring States Period, there was a widow in the Bashu area. Because the family owned a cinnabar mine, it was so rich that it could rival the country. Even Qin Shihuang treated her very well and specially built a "Huaiqingtai" for her.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the fuse of the war between the two Tian family Xuanwei envoys of Sinan and Sizhou was to compete for a cinnabar mine. Emperor Yongle took the opportunity to send troops to intervene, thus splitting Sinan and Sizhou into eight prefectures, weakening the power of the Tian family chieftains, which shows how profitable the cinnabar mine is.

The output of the Mercury Mountain cinnabar mine is actually not very large. However, for the local small toasts, this is no less than a mountain of gold, but the ownership of the Mercury Mountain is now a confusing account. The reason for the unclear ownership is that the women of the Tuas family also have the right to inherit, so some territories are often transferred as the woman gets married.

If an ordinary family or Han officials save other women besides his wife, it is a concubine. The identity of a concubine and a wife is equivalent to the difference between a master and a servant. The concubine is a private property bought by the family, but the chieftain is not the case. He can marry multiple wives, just as the emperor can marry multiple concubines.

Although the status of these ladies is inferior to that of the wife, they are far from comparable to that of concubines. They have great rights and freedoms, and are not much worse than that of Mrs. Zhangyin. To be honest, the descendants of Mrs. Zhangyin have priority inheritance rights.

Whether it is Mrs. Zhangyin or other wives, they are from noble families. To reflect her nobleness, they will marry many things, including the land she inherits. Therefore, some territories often fall back and forth between different toasts, and they become a confusing account. This is the case with Mercury Mountain.

When Ye Xiaotian heard this, he frowned secretly. After talking for a long time, it turned out to be a "family property dispute". As the saying goes, it is difficult for a clean official to make a decision on family affairs. This kind of thing is the most difficult to make clear. No wonder the prefect Zhang also felt a headache and wanted to solve this problem as a reward for distributing relief silver.

Li Jing frowned and said reluctantly: "There are two toasts on Mercury Mountain, one is the Zhan family and the other is the Yang family."

Ye Xiaotian couldn't help but feel moved when he heard this, and suddenly remembered Zhan Ning'er. However, many families in Guizhou have been passed down for thousands of years and have divided into many branches, such as the An family. Now there are at least twenty chieftains surnamed An in Guizhou. Although their ancestors are all in their own family, their respective positions may not be sent by the Shui Xi'an family.

Although the history of the Zhan family is not as long as the An family, five or six chieftains from Zhan should have, but I don’t know if the Zhan family mentioned by Li Jing is Zhan Ninger’s family. Ye Xiaotian interrupted Li Jing and asked: “The Zhan family mentioned by Brother Li is the Zhan family known as one of the Eight Great Kings?”

Li Jing sighed: "That's right, if it weren't for such a difficult person, why bother the prefect?"

Ye Xiaotian was happy. Unexpectedly, the Zhan family was just where he was going. Maybe he would have the chance to see Ning'er. She didn't realize anything when she was by her side, but after not seeing her for a long time, Ye Xiaotian really missed her a little, and said happily: "Please continue talking about Li Xuexi."

Li Juan said: "There are two toasts on Mercury Mountain, one is the Guoji family and the other is the Yu family."

When Ye Xiaotian heard about the Guoji family, he felt a little moved. Guoji family? It could not be the family of that guy Guoji Gelong. If it was him, then the enemy would be narrow. But seeing that Li Jing was already a little impatient, Ye Xiaotian did not interrupt him this time.

Li Jing said: "It would be too early to talk about the cause of this dispute. More than two hundred years ago, Mercury Mountain belonged to the Yu family. The Yu family's direct descendants had only one daughter in that generation, so they married the Zhan family, so the Mercury Mountain belonged to the Zhan family as a dowry.

After a few decades, the direct descendant of the Guoji family had only one daughter in that generation, and became a female chieftain. The female chieftain did not marry, but instead brought a family to the house. So the young master of the Zhan family married into the Guoji family, and the Zhan family used Mercury Mountain as a dowry, and from then on, they returned to the Guoji family.

Twenty-eight years ago, the Guoji family married a daughter, and the Mercury Mountain was transferred to the Yang family as a dowry. The head of the Yang family had married a wife, Zhang Yin, who was from the Zhan family and had a son with him. After this Mrs. Zhang Yin died of illness, Xuxian married the woman of the Guoji family, and the woman also gave birth to a son for him. Not long ago, the Yang Tusi died of illness, so the question arose..."

Ye Xiaotian was already so immense that he couldn't tell so many messy relationships at all, and asked in a daze: "What's the question?"

Li Xue said: "Yang Tusi died of illness and did not leave a will. As the legitimate son, his two sons had the right to inherit the right. Of course, if the eldest son is there, he should naturally establish the eldest son to inherit his position as the chieftain, but his second son also has the right to enfeoff the land, not to mention that the current Mrs. Zhangyin is the biological mother of the second son. Of course, he has to compete for his own son's benefits."

Ye Xiaotian was still confused when he heard this. Although he couldn't remember so many complicated relationships, he still barely remembered that the Guoji family and the Yu family belonging to the Tixisi Si of Tongren Mansion, and the Zhan family and the Yang family belonging to the Shiqian Mansion. Now the two sons of the Yang family are competing for family property, and nothing about Guan Tongren Mansion!

After hearing Ye Xiaotian's question, Li Juan said twice: "There are many problems. First of all, the eldest son is the heir of the chieftain, and this Yang Tusi's territory produces the most wealth from the Mercury Mountain, so he certainly is reluctant to give it to his half-brother.

But Mrs. Zhangyin is the birth mother of the second son, and she tried her best to help her own son. The eldest son was raised by the current Mrs. Zhangyin. Now that his father's body is not cold, he cannot disobey and unfilial, and he is reluctant to hand over the Mercury Mountain, so he sought help from his uncle's family.

The eldest son of the Yang family is the Zhan family, so the Zhan family has to help their nephew. Besides, the mercury mountain was originally the one they married to the Guoji family as a dowry, but now they have fallen into the Yang family, so they are of course qualified to intervene.

But that time, the son was from the Guoji family, and of course the Guoji family also had to help their nephews. Besides, this Mercury Mountain was directly given to the Yang family by the Guoji family. What reason was there to prevent the Guoji family's nephew from inheriting it? In this way, the Yang family, Zhan family and Guoji family had a dispute. At this time, the Yang family in Bozhou had another quarrel..."

Ye Xiaotianqi said: "What's going on in the Yang family in Bozhou?"

Li Jue said: "The Yang family in Shiqian Mansion is a branch of the Yang family in Bozhou. Although there has been no contact for a long time, they are the same ancestor. Now the two brothers of the Yang family are having a dispute, and the Yang family in Bozhou feels that this is a good opportunity to intervene, so they set up their official identity and take the initiative to mediate."

Ye Xiaotian was lyrics and calculated for a long time and said, "I understand that there are Yu family and Guoji family on this side of Mercury Mountain, and there are Yang family and Zhan family on the other side of Mercury Mountain. The two brothers of the Yang family had a dispute and asked their uncle to help boxing. The person the eldest brother was looking for was Zhan, the person the second brother was looking for was Guoji, and the Yang family in Bozhou came to join in the fun without any invitation. Is that true?"

Li Jingxin said happily: "Mr. Ye is indeed extremely intelligent, and that's the case."

Ye Xiaotian said angrily: "That's all the matter with our Tongren Mansion! This dispute is from the Yang family on the Shiqian Mansion. Our Tongren Mansion is just the Guoji family. Isn't it enough for the prefect to ask the Guoji family to withdraw? If the Guoji family does not agree, then let the Guoji family work and be the one person. Why should the prefect Zhang intervene?"

Li Juan coughed and said slowly: "Because, there is also a Tixi Yu family here."

Ye Xiaotian said in confusion: "Didn't the Yu family marry Mercury Mountain as a dowry two hundred years ago? What's the matter with his Yu family now?"

Li Xue said: "Well, it's complicated to say that the superior chieftains have jurisdiction over the subordinate chieftains. Just like the prefect Zhang is the lord of Tongren, the chieftains of all counties in Tongren must obey his jurisdiction. However, some small chieftains may not belong to the prefect Zhang directly, but rely on other large chieftains. Those large chieftains will depend on the prefect Zhang again, do you understand?"

Ye Xiaotian has been in Guizhou for a long time and understands this. This relationship is somewhat similar to the Western system of vassals, which are divided into vassals and are subordinate to each other in turn. The subordinate relationship only exists between two adjacent nobles and cannot be subordinate to each other.

In other words, you are my vassal, and I am his vassal, and he is only responsible for me and ignores you, but I am responsible for you, and I do not need to pay attention to the toast who is stronger than you belong to. A proverb from the Middle Ages in Europe clearly illustrates this relationship: "My vassal is not my vassal."

When Li Jing saw Ye Xiaotian nodded, Zhan Yan smiled and said, "It's good that you understand. The Yu family in Tixi is the lower chieftain of the Tongren Yu family. In name, the land of the Yu family in Tixi belongs to the Tongren Yu family. Although the Yu family in Tongren has no direct ownership of the Mercury Mountain, whoever owns the Mercury Mountain should be his lower chieftain, do you understand?"

Ye Xiaotian said: "I understand!"

Li Xue said: "But the Yang Tusi family, who now controls Mercury Mountain, does not belong to Tongren Mansion, but to Shiqian Mansion. How can we fulfill the obligations of subordinates? This problem was originally without any problem in the era of the eight prefectures of Sizhou and Sinan. Anyway, everyone is the same master---Tian family.

At that time, the Mercury Mountain was returned to you, and you would just offer sacrifices to the master of Tian’s family. But now the chieftains of each prefecture have gradually escaped from the control of Tian’s family, and Tongren’s mansion and Shiqian’s mansion have their own belongings. The account must be calculated clearly. So, the Yu family also wanted to take advantage of this chaos to get the Mercury Mountain back. Do you understand this time?"

Ye Xiaotian looked at Li Jue straight, and there seemed to be an old monk chanting scriptures in his ears: "Once upon a time, there was a mountain, there was a temple on the mountain, there was an old monk in the temple. The old monk told the little monk: There was a mountain, there was a temple on the mountain, there was an old monk in the temple..."

: It's the end of the month, huh, please give me a monthly ticket, and recommend tickets! (To be continued, please search for Astronomy, novels are better, updated and faster!

ps::It's the end of the month, huh, Qiu Yuetie, recommended tickets!
Chapter completed!