Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1186 Master Tang

Mengzi in Yunnan.

This was the jurisdiction of Shading Prefecture and also the location of his chieftain's mansion.

A few years ago, Sha Dingzhou married Wan, the widow of Pu Mingsheng, the chieftain of Amizhou, and thus directly annexed the territory of Pu Minsheng. The two chieftain forces were merged into one, and his strength increased greatly, making him one of the strongest chieftains in Yunnan.

At present, Sha Dingzhou's territory is not small. The territory he controls covers the eastern part of the Red River in southeastern Yunnan, the western part of Wenshan and the nearby prefectures and counties. In addition, there are 28 villages that serve him as the master. With the increase of strength, Sha Dingzhou's ambitions began to expand. Especially after he got the loyalty of Wan's brother-in-law, Lin'an student Tang Jiabin, Sha Dingzhou became more confident and gradually had some inappropriate thoughts.

"Is your Excellency here?"

"The master is in the backyard. Can I go and report to him?"

"No need, I'll go straight there, no need to go through so much trouble." Tang Jiabin waved his hand and walked towards the backyard with a swagger. The guard who had spoken just now had no choice but to stand aside. It would be fine if it were someone else, but this Mr. Tang was different. He was the most popular person around Sha Dingzhou now. What's more, Tang Jiabin and Sha Dingzhou were brothers-in-law. He could go in directly and no one dared to stop him.

Tang Jiabin is not very old, only in his early thirties this year. Compared with the natives of Yunnan, Tang Jiabin looks younger. After all, he is a literati, and a scholar cannot be compared with the natives who live like wild monkeys in the mountains. What's more, Tang Jiabin has a good appearance and is handsome, otherwise Xiao Wan would not have married him.

Tang Jiabin was from Lin'an Prefecture. Although his family was not rich, they were barely considered small landlords. Tang Jiabin was smart since he was young. At the age of fourteen, he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. He was called a little prodigy in his hometown.

Just when his fellow villagers had high hopes for Tang Jiabin, thinking that he would continue to work hard in the imperial examinations, pass the examination, and then take the joint examination to become a Jinshi, Tang Jiabin's subsequent imperial examination journey turned out to be extremely difficult, as if his talent disappeared all of a sudden after he passed the examination to become a Xiucai. In the next ten years, Tang Jiabin failed repeatedly in the examinations. Not to mention becoming a Jinshi, he even failed the examination for Juren every time.

The more he failed the exam, the more anxious Tang Jiabin became. As he grew older, the halo of a child prodigy on Tang Jiabin gradually faded, and he went from being the hope of the whole village to being the joke of the whole village. At the age of thirty, Tang Jiabin was obsessed with the imperial examinations every year. Not only did he not have any skills, he even forgot to marry a wife. The continuous imperial examinations were extremely expensive. Although the Tang family had some assets, they were only small landlords. As the only son in the family, he was raised by his parents and did not pursue a career. He continued to invest huge amounts of money and energy in the imperial examinations, and after a long time, his family could not afford it.

Although Tang's father had advised him to get married first and then start a career, or to find a job with the title of a scholar, such as writing letters for others, or teaching children in a private school, at least to make a living, the proud Tang Jiabin directly rejected this suggestion, and was still obsessed with the imperial examination, with the idea of ​​not giving up until he passed.

As time went by, the Tang family's income was not enough to cover their expenses and they gradually declined. In addition, due to natural disasters many years ago, the harvest was poor. Tang's father unfortunately fell seriously ill, and all the family money was spent but he could not be saved. After the death of Tang's father, Tang's mother also died soon after. In just half a year, Tang Jiabin lost his parents one after another and became a lonely person. The family's land was also sold one after another because of his parents' serious illness. Tang Jiabin had no other assets except the old house where he lived.

Tang Jiabin could not accept that he had suddenly become a commoner who could not even afford to eat, from a small landlord. In addition, he had not made any progress in the imperial examinations for so many years, which made Tang Jiabin psychologically ill. After his parents died, his family no longer supported him, so his path to the imperial examinations was completely cut off. Moreover, Tang Jiabin always thought that he was very talented, and the reason why he failed in the imperial examinations was because of the imperial court's selection of talents, not because of himself. His personality gradually became distorted and cynical.

After a while, Tang Jiabin finally made a decision to leave his hometown and look for opportunities elsewhere. He had had enough of staying in his hometown and being criticized by others. Besides, his parents had both passed away and he had no attachment to them. He had always been recognized for his talent but had always been unlucky. Maybe he would have better opportunities if he went to other places.

In this way, Tang Jiabin sold his ancestral house, packed his luggage and quietly left Lin'an Prefecture. In the following years, he went to many places and tried to find opportunities in the imperial examination. Unfortunately, fate never favored Tang Jiabin. Not only that, even the nobles who appreciated him never appeared. Instead, he was ridiculed by others because of his shameless and boastful talk.

This situation made Tang Jiabin feel that the whole world was full of malice towards him. Unwilling to give up, he continued to wander around aimlessly, and unknowingly came to Yunnan, thousands of miles away. In an accident, Tang Jiabin accidentally ran to the territory of Pu Mingsheng, a chieftain of Ami Prefecture, and got into trouble because of a misunderstanding, but this trouble also changed the trajectory of his life dramatically.

Tang Jiabin, who almost got into trouble, met Xiao Wan, the younger sister of Mrs. Wan, a famous lady. Perhaps it was because scholars like Tang Jiabin were rare in Yunnan, and Tang Jiabin was good-looking and talented in quoting classics in his speech. Xiao Tang, who admired scholars, took a liking to Tang Jiabin at first sight. After asking Tang Jiabin whether he was ready to get married, Xiao Wan decided to marry him.

After traveling in Yunnan for half a year, Tang Jiabin certainly knew the status of the chieftain in Yunnan. So Tang Jiabin seized the opportunity, and the two hit it off and became husband and wife.

After marrying Xiao Wan, Tang Jiabin finally lived the life of a superior person that he had always dreamed of, but the good times didn't last long. Pu Mingsheng fell ill and died soon after. Once Pu Mingsheng died, his territory could not be kept by his widow Wan alone. Moreover, Pu Mingsheng and Wan had no offspring. According to local rules, women could not take over the position of chieftain. If they didn't find a way to solve this problem, when the branch of Pu Mingsheng's family took over the territory, both Wan and Xiao Wan, including Tang Jiabin himself, would lose everything in front of them, and thus become exiled or even die inexplicably. In this situation, Tang Jiabin knew that he had to save himself, and Wan and Xiao Wan couldn't think of a solution at this time, so they could only turn to Tang Jiabin for help. In order to maximize his interests and keep his wealth and current status, Tang Jiabin considered again and again and finally chose a person, and that person was Sha Dingzhou.

The reason why Sha Dingzhou was chosen was that, firstly, his territory bordered Pu Mingsheng's territory, and the two families were neighbors. Secondly, Sha Dingzhou was young and unmarried, so he was more suitable than other chieftains. As for the third reason, Tang Jiabin had met Sha Dingzhou before and had a good relationship with him. He knew that Sha Dingzhou was simple-minded but ambitious, and his strength was not bad.

If he could take advantage of this opportunity to marry Wan to Sha Dingzhou, and give Pu Mingsheng's territory and population as a dowry, it would not only allow him and the Wan sisters to completely get rid of the current embarrassing situation and find someone worthy of their support. In addition, it would also allow Sha Dingzhou to take this opportunity to expand his power. The merger of the two families would make them the strongest chieftain in Yunnan. With this contribution, Tang Jiabin would also be able to gain Sha Dingzhou's trust.

The next thing was much simpler. With Tang Jiabin's plan, it was quickly accomplished. After Wan married Sha Dingzhou, the two departments merged into one. Sha Dingzhou's strength increased greatly. He was happy that he could not only protect Wan's sisters and Tang Jiabin, but also showed great trust in Tang Jiabin.

After following Sha Dingzhou, it didn't take Tang Jiabin long to become Sha Dingzhou's confidant and adviser. For Tang Jiabin, who had studied for more than 20 years and passed the imperial examination at the age of 14, Sha Dingzhou, who had a low level of education, was too easy to fool. Relying on his eloquence, his years of study experience, and his mastery of strategies, he helped Sha Dingzhou do a lot of things. As Sha Dingzhou's position became more and more stable and his strength gradually grew, he trusted Tang Jiabin more and more.

When we arrived at the backyard, we saw Sha Dingzhou was having a great time. There were several beautiful native women serving him, and there were fresh fruits and fine wines beside him. One of the women fed him fruits, another helped him pour wine, and there were three women, one stood behind him to massage his shoulders, and the other two were pounding his legs on both sides. He was enjoying himself to the extreme.

"Your Excellency is in a good mood." The voice came before the person arrived. Sha Dingzhou, who was enjoying it with his eyes half closed, opened his eyes and saw that it was Tang Jiabin who came. He laughed out loud: "Mr. Tang, it's good that you came. Come, come, taste my good wine. This is the good wine that I asked someone to bring from Kunming."

Tang Jiabin laughed and walked over to sit on a chair. He glanced at the wine and fruits on display, then glanced at the young women.

"I am not good at drinking, and I am not as generous as you. It is more appropriate for you to enjoy these by yourself."

"Hahaha, you, even if you can't drink, you can at least have a sip. Men have nothing to be afraid of. When you get drunk, just sleep here with me. It's very convenient." Sha Dingzhou joked with a smile.

Tang Jiabin shook his head slightly and said seriously: "Drunkenness may cause trouble in other days, but it is inconvenient now. Besides..." At this point, Tang Jiabin paused and gave Sha Dingzhou a look.

Sha Dingzhou put away his smile and gave a signal to the women around him. They quickly stood up, put down their work and left. After the women left, only the two of them were left at the scene. Without any outsiders, Sha Dingzhou asked Tang Jiabin: "Why do you always talk like this? You can't just say it directly instead of beating around the bush? Tell me, what's the matter?"

Tang Jiabin smiled. He was a scholar, not a native like you. Could he be careless? Wouldn't that lose his identity? But he couldn't say this. Tang Jiabin put away the folding fan in his hand, leaned forward slightly, and said to Sha Dingzhou: "I have good news."

"What good news."

"That's what I talked about with you last time."

"That thing?" Sha Dingzhou stared with his small eyes, a little puzzled. Seeing this, Tang Jiabin could only give a hint. After hearing the hint and understanding it, Sha Dingzhou's expression suddenly became excited, and he couldn't wait to ask Tang Jiabin: "Is it true? Did this old guy Wu Bikui really believe it?"

"Of course!" Tang Jiabin said proudly, "With me in charge, nothing is impossible. My Lord, just wait for the official news."

"Okay, okay! Haha! Hahaha!"

(End of this chapter)