Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 695 The Harvest Is Good, But The Grain Is Not Sellable

On May 12th in the [-]th year of Chongzhen, under the hot and dry summer wind blowing day and night, the entire northern field of Ming Dynasty was covered with a layer of golden carpet. The figures of the local farmers, they are busy sweating under the scorching sun.

The summer harvest season of the 12th year of Chongzhen began.

The half-children and girls in each family followed the harvesting adults in front, picking up the fallen ears of wheat, and when they could no longer hold them with their little hands, they wrapped a handful of ears of wheat with a piece of straw and sent them to the Brothers, sisters, and sisters-in-law who bundled the ears of wheat one by one, and then took advantage of the adults not paying attention, picked up the earthen pot placed on the ground, and poured the dark red mung bean soup contained in it into the thick porcelain bowl with a gap In the middle, enjoy a few sips.

"He's big, and now he's watching the sun go up to the top of his head, so he's going to drink some water and take a rest, and then he, Dahan, and Erwa have finished collecting this bed. Let's have lunch first, and then we'll collect after dinner!"

In the endless field outside Qilibao in Weihu County, Li Bao, with a sweat towel around his neck, bowed his head and was harvesting the heavy ears of wheat in the field with a sharp sickle in his hand. His arms were tanned and shiny, and his big rough hands Gathering a piece of ears of wheat, he slashed upwards with his right hand obliquely, and a large handful of ears of wheat have been cut off.

At this time, his mother-in-law came over carefully with half a bowl of soup made from last year's barley and said.

"Don't be in a hurry! Sanya still hasn't brought over the food, let's do it for a while before we talk!"

Hearing this, Li Bao stopped what he was doing, put a handful of ears of wheat on the ground, straightened his waist and looked around with a sickle in his hand, took the big bowl handed over by his mother-in-law, raised his head and gulped down every drop of the soup. , let out a pleasant breath in the mouth.

While the two were talking, Li Bao's daughter Sanya walked over from afar, carrying a wicker basket covered with cotton cloth.

"Big, mother, big brother, second brother, it's time for lunch!"

Sanya yelled loudly with a crisp voice, while placing the wicker basket on the field ridge.

The sun was shining directly, and the scorching heat waves rolled in the fields without shade, quickly pulling the moisture out of people's bodies.

"When spring comes next year, a few willow trees will have to be planted in this field, and we will have a place to enjoy the shade when the wheat is harvested!"

Li Bao wiped the sweat all over his face with the sweat towel around his neck, looked around again and said to himself.

In this era when food was more precious than gold, their family was not willing to plant plants to block the sun when they opened up wasteland.

Although there is a shady place for planting trees during the summer harvest, it is too small to grow crops.

But now there is no need to worry about harvesting tens of catties of grain for a small amount. After three consecutive years of bumper harvests, Li Bao's family has built three granaries.

"Yeah yeah!
Damn, my forehead hurts from the sun!
Next year, I have to plant a few trees, and I can still sleep after lunch, which is very exciting! "

Dahan, who came over from another ridge stepping on the stubble, echoed.

"The plague-stricken!

How dare you say sleep in the middle of the night!

Look at ye, this is itchy skin!

It's only been a few days of full food, and I just want to be like the official!
Even if it is planted on a tree, it is not for us to sleep in the middle of the night! "

After hearing the elder son's plan, Li Bao scolded a few times angrily, Dahan scratched his head and hurried towards Sanya's area.

"Brother, you didn't go to the city to inquire, what is the price of grain this year?

If we can sell it for a good price, we can go to the county town to buy bricks and tiles after the harvest is over, so we can build a house for my brother and marry my wife and aunt! "

Erwa held a piece of dark thick flour pancake in one hand, and a piece of pickle in the other, and said vaguely while chewing. Dahan, who was munching on the side, pricked up his ears when he heard this.

"He's old, what Erwa said is true, after harvesting the wheat, I will take some time to go to the city to inquire, and by the way, ask which brick and tile is strong and cheap, and Song Er's family has asked for it several times!"

After Li Baodi's mother-in-law stopped chewing, she continued Erwa's words.

The eldest girl of Song Er's family flirted with Dahan, and it seemed that Lang Youqing's concubine was interested, and the two adults were very satisfied after receiving the letter.

Song Er's mother-in-law also said several times in front of Li Bao's mother-in-law, just thinking that the two of them will get married quickly, and her family will have one less mouth to eat, and the dowry from Dahan's family is enough for her family The second kid is getting married.

"It's okay, after harvesting the wheat and threshing the grains, you will turn over the ground and thresh the stubble, and go to the county town with the people in the fort to buy some corn and soybean seeds, and inquire about it by the way!
Our family has so much food, it is enough for the eldest to marry a mother-in-law!
Let's keep this new food for ourselves! "

The [-] mu of land owned by Li Bao's family is really big enough. The family of five worked hard for seven days to finish harvesting. After being pulled back to the fort by ox carts, they had to go through several days of crushing and threshing. This is basically the completion of the summer harvest.

The rest is drying, digging the ground, digging out the stubble in the ground and transporting it back to be burned as firewood, and then sowing in autumn.

Under the care of Zhu Youjian, the Xi'an branch of Jiangzuo Bureau in Xi'an Prefecture worked hard all year round, producing a large number of agricultural implements, which were then distributed to local governments according to the number of households, and then distributed to inland farmers for free by the government.

In order not to affect the iron workshops of those families who made farm tools, the Four Seas Trading Company purchased the farm tools they made at market prices, and then handed them over to the government for unified distribution. This good deed also allowed many blacksmith shops to continue to survive.

This measure of benefiting the people will be terminated after each farmer's family has basically completed the farm tools, and the farmer's farm tools will be purchased at their own expense in the future.

Zhu Youjian launched this charitable act because he considered that the migrants had no money left and could not afford to purchase production tools. This measure would be automatically terminated when the food and clothing of the farmers were resolved and the family had enough surplus food.

After everyone was busy, Li Bao and several farmers in the fort invited each other, drove his own ox cart to Weihu County, twenty miles away, and returned to Qili Fort when the sun was still high. .

"He is big, could something bad happen?"

Li Bao's mother-in-law asked her two sons to unload the seeds from the bullock cart, looking at her husband who looked a bit unsightly, and asked cautiously. Dahan picked up a bag of corn seeds and looked at his father, and then said He went to the warehouse without saying a word.

"The grain store that collects grain has said that there has been a bumper harvest in the past few years. There is no shortage of grain in Shaanxi. The price of grain is two cents a stone. They also said that if they don't sell it quickly, it will drop to ten cents and five cents in a few days!"

Li Bao replied in a muffled voice.

"Didn't you charge three dollars and one stone last year? Why is it so cheap this year?
Our family has accumulated more than 40 stones!

This one stone is less than one penny, how much silver is it sold for forty stones less?
I wish I had known it was sold last year! "

Li Bao's aunt slapped her thigh regretfully and said.

"Sell less than four taels of silver!
I was still thinking, my elder brother married his mother-in-law and left a lot of money. If I save for another year, I can also marry my mother-in-law! "

Erwa muttered softly.

He is already 16 years old this year. Seeing that Geng Erlen, who is as old as him in the same village, married his mother-in-law last year and added a fat boy this year, his heart is itchy like a cat scratching all day long.

"He's big, shall we sell it or not?
If it falls to [-] yuan in a few days, as the grain industry said, then we will suffer even more! "

(End of this chapter)