24 Scheming

Old Man Wei was still marveling at how Qiu Luan had achieved such great merit on the battlefield, leading to his rapid promotion and fortune. However, to Wei Guangde, these words carried a different weight.

"Father, didn't you say last time that, according to the news you heard in Zhenjiang, the imperial troops were all avoiding battle? How is it that this man, Qiu Luan, dared to lead the Datong army to engage the Tatars?" Wei Guangde asked, recalling what his father had said when he first returned.

"How would I know? That’s what the official gazettes wrote, and that’s what I heard people saying back then." Old Man Wei recalled the situation; it did seem contradictory, but he couldn't be bothered to dwell on it.

Wei Guangde searched his memory, trying to find any record of a Minister of War—whose name he couldn't quite recall—being beheaded, or any information on this general named Qiu Luan. He found nothing. Naturally, he could not access the history of this era from his future perspective; his questions had been in vain.

Of course, had he known he would experience such a transmigration, he would have paid more attention to articles and reports about the Ming Dynasty. He would have known that in the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign, the Mongol Tümed leader, Altan Khan, launched a war because the Ming Dynasty had blocked the "tribute trade."

In this conflict, the Datong Regional Commander Qiu Luan—whom the Wei father and son currently viewed as a hero—had incredibly managed to bribe Altan Khan to preserve Datong. After pocketing the money, Altan Khan turned his forces toward the Gubeikou section of the Great Wall and marched on Beijing.

It was a farce directed by a shameless man, which forced the Jiajing Emperor, who always considered himself wise and martial, to wake up from his illusion of national prosperity. Immediately after, the Emperor was repeatedly humiliated as Altan Khan rampaged through the outskirts of the capital and retreated unscathed. The Jiajing Emperor was left with no face at all. Once the crisis subsided, the Minister of War, Ding Rukui—a lackey of the corrupt official Yan Song—was made a scapegoat and beheaded by the enraged Emperor.

At this point, Wei Guangde suddenly wondered whether the person forcing his family to sell their land was a civil official or a prince enfeoffed in Jiangxi. If it were a prince, they would have no choice but to accept it, but if it were a high-ranking official's family, there might be a different possibility. He realized that if even a grand Minister of War could be executed on a whim, then if the current buyer were also a civil official, they might face their own downfall in the future.

As a lowly Sixth-Rank Centurion, he certainly could not afford to offend a civil official; they couldn't even fight back against a Seventh-Rank County Magistrate. In his previous life, he had heard that being an official—especially a high-ranking one—was a high-risk profession unless one remained scrupulously clean. As for this Ming Dynasty, he remembered that the founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, was notoriously stingy, keeping official salaries so low that corruption was rampant. Although he had yet to take the imperial examinations or enter government service, he could fantasize that if this buyer were to commit a crime and be executed, with their property confiscated, this "hidden field" might become an asset he could manipulate.

"Father, we will definitely sell the land. The other party doesn't want too many people to know about it. When we negotiate the price and sign the contract, can we try to keep the location of the land vague in the agreement? And it’s best if our family doesn't sign as the middleman," Wei Guangde suggested tentatively, though he wasn't sure if his plan was truly viable.

"Keep the location vague?" Old Man Wei, hearing his son pivot from the capital's battlefield to the land sale, began to ponder and understood his son's underlying intent.

The transaction involved "hidden fields," so it would not be registered with the local magistrate; it would be a private handover witnessed by a middleman. Because of the secretive nature of the land, one couldn't just find anyone to be a middleman; they would need someone who understood the risks to sign and press their thumbprint as a guarantor. In ancient times, land transactions were simple written contracts without standard formats or detailed maps showing boundaries; everything was text-based, which left room for manipulation.

While it was likely the buyer would bring their own middleman, they might try to force his father to sign as a witness to tie them into the deal. Since it was hidden land, the contract wouldn't specify the buyer or seller, but having Old Man Wei sign as a middleman would be troublesome. The buyer just wanted the seller to take the money and stay quiet.

"I understand your meaning. When the time comes, I'll see what they want, but I certainly won't sign or press my print on it, as it wouldn't be appropriate for my station," Old Man Wei said with a meaningful look.

Seeing his father's expression, Wei Guangde knew he had been understood. His older brother, Wei Wencai, also had a spark in his eyes, suggesting he had caught on as well. Wei Guangde continued, "I think that since they are buying the land, they will definitely want to farm it; they won't leave it barren. Father, you could try to negotiate for Brother to act as the estate manager, overseeing the farmers. They can come to inspect it whenever they want, and the rent collected will, of course, be theirs."

"Me? Act as an estate manager?" Wei Wencai asked loudly, his tone filled with clear reluctance.

"If possible, we should try to secure the management of this land," Wei Guangde insisted.

"It will likely be difficult, but it's worth a mention," Old Man Wei said, stroking his beard, now fully certain of his son's scheme. If the buyer’s career thrived, nothing would happen, but if they met with misfortune, the situation would change.

"We shouldn't just mention it; we must argue for it," Wei Guangde replied, believing in seizing the opportunity. Although the land would be sold, the buyer would technically have the final say, but this land was special, wasn't it?

Wei Guangde continued: "Father, during the negotiations, you must explain that the land belonging to our Centurion Office isn't enough to feed all our people, but our men can tenant their land and work it. They can grow whatever they want, as long as the common folk can get enough to eat; everything will follow standard practice. Whether it's a sharecropping arrangement or a fixed rent, it's all negotiable. As for our family, we will look after the land, and the benefits of being the estate manager are only fair. Surely, they won't buy the land and not hire someone to keep an eye on it."

"It's worth a shot; we should strive for it. At the very least, it provides some income. Otherwise, once the land is sold, it will have absolutely nothing to do with our family," Mother Wei said, finally understanding her son's intention. If they could pull it off, they would be acting as both a Centurion and an estate manager for that land, securing extra benefits every year. As for the buyer, they had paid the silver and would receive the full rent as agreed; they would lose nothing, so they would have no reason to object.