Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 696
"Don't sell it yet! Wait a little longer and see if there are grain merchants from other places coming to guard us to collect grain!
I don’t believe it, just a few years ago our Daming was still eating tree bark and digging wild vegetables, but today it’s so burned that even the food is worthless!
Damn baby, steam more pancakes tonight, let the children open up to eat, enough! "

Looking at his wife and children's eyes full of expectation and worry, Li Bao waved his hand and said loudly in a tone full of pride.

The mother-in-law glanced at her husband, muttered softly and went to the kitchen. Dahan lifted up a corner of his jacket and wiped the sweat from his face, walked to the big urn in the corner, picked up a gourd ladle, and scooped up a scoop of cool water from the water tank. The well water gulped down, put down the ladle and wiped the corner of her mouth and said in a low voice, "Daddy, it won't take long for the summer harvest and autumn planting, but Danny is looking forward to entering our house as soon as possible!

Didn't Ye and Niang think about hugging their eldest grandson as soon as possible?
The family doesn't have much money left, so we can't spend the hire money on bricks and tiles, can we? "

Erwa and Sanya on the side each held a fresh cucumber in their hands, took a bite out of it, and then looked back and forth at their father and elder brother.

"What are you talking about?
Is this urging Ye Da to sell the precious food regardless of the status?

It's been a few years since I've had enough!

Why do you take the food as an inappropriate thing? ! "

Li Bao glared at his elder son, and was about to reprimand him loudly, but when he saw his elder son's sunburnt face, Li Bao's heart softened again, and his tone of voice became much softer: "Well, in a few days Let’s go to Qingyao County again, which is close to Henan, and I heard that Henan has been hit hard by the disaster, so I figured that the grain merchants who went to Qingyao to collect grain from other places offered higher prices than ours!”

Qingyao also belongs to Pingliang Mansion, and its location is eighty miles southeast of Weihu County, which is much closer to Henan.

"Great, Qingyao is not close, you can't make round trips in a day!

I don't worry about you going!
I'm going to go with you, if there is anything wrong, it's good to have someone to take care of you! "

Dahan looked at his aging father and felt a little uncomfortable.

"What's the matter in this peaceful situation? Wouldn't it cost more money for one more person to go?

talk later.

Tomorrow, the land will be turned over first, and the crops will be planted. There is no rush.

Uh this time, I also took the opportunity to transfer the kiln that sells bricks and tiles to a few places, and picked a strong and cheap one. When the work is over, the three of us will transport it back. The new house can be built in less than a month. Dani married into the door! "

In the next few days, Li Bao's family devoted themselves to farming like the farmers in the fort.

Seeing that the work in the field was coming to an end, Li Bao also began to plan to invite acquaintances in the castle to go to Qingyao together.

Selling grain has become a problem that all farmers have to face, and the farmers who went to the county that day were also unwilling to sell at a low price. It should not be difficult to invite someone to go with them, but I don’t know what is going on with the two families in Qingyao. Just like the guards, then this trip will be wasted, and they will have to spend a few copper coins for staying in the hotel.

Just when Li Bao was thinking about it and still hadn't made up his mind, at dusk that day, Qilibao gathered everyone under the big pagoda tree in the fort, and solemnly announced two news: The shop opened.In the spring of next year, every household in the castle will plant sweet potatoes. At that time, the county government will send out seedlings, and some officials will come down to teach everyone how to plant them.

This thing does not occupy the field, it can be planted on the wild grass, wild slopes, or in the fields, and it can be harvested after the frost and can be eaten as food.

The farmers, who knew almost nothing about the outside world, felt baffled.

The wine shop will open as soon as it opens, what does it have to do with us.

How can our farmer have any spare money to buy wine and drink.

Sweet potatoes sound like a good thing, they don’t take up much space, and they can be eaten as food, but we haven’t seen what this thing looks like?

Just when everyone was discussing, the head of the village spoke again unhurriedly: "Starting tomorrow, Four Seas Distillery collects grain from farmers' homes at three cents and five cents per shi. It is open to harvest, settled in cash, and accepts as much as there is!"

As soon as Li Chang’s words fell, the farmers gathered around anxiously like a frying pan, and rushed to Li Zheng to ask whether the words just now were deceiving us, and finally confirmed the accuracy of the news After sex and the address of the winery, the farmers ran away in a huff.

This is a great thing, I have to go home and tell my wife and children to go.

What the village chief said was ordered by the official, and now the food in the house has found a big customer.

The next day, just after the rooster crowed, Qilibao was already full of people shouting and dogs barking.

Every household with an ox cart feeds the ox cart with grain, and those without an ox cart push out the wheelbarrows with hangers on both sides, and seal up their own grain. Steamed cakes, taking advantage of the coolness of the morning, left Baozi in a mighty way and began to march towards the county.

Although the head of the village made it clear that the distillery is open and guarded, but if you go late and the money for the distillery's grain collection is gone, wouldn't it be a waste of time for the family to come?
This is three yuan and five stones, which is five cents more expensive than last year. After such a good thing, there will be no such shop in this village.

Li Bao took his two sons and drove the ox cart full of grain, and walked at the front of the grain sales line. The faces of the three fathers were full of anticipation and apprehension.

The distance of twenty miles is not far. After more than an hour, Li Bao saw the tall city wall of the county seat. After getting closer, Li Bao and his son suddenly found that there was already a long queue in front of the unopened city gate. There was a queue full of all kinds of vehicles, and there were noises and shouts everywhere. Many people were already squatting next to their cars and eating steamed cakes.

"The plague-stricken!

This is the middle of the night, can't you rush over without sleeping? "

Li Bao, who was displeased, muttered in a low voice and swung his whip. The old scalper picked up the front team after a while.

Look at the sky, it's still early when the city gate opens, Li Bao took out steamed cakes and a few pieces of pickled vegetables from the cloth bag in the car, and the three of them munched on the brighter and brighter sky use it.

Right at that moment, the heavy city gate was slowly opened from the inside, and several government servants in official uniforms walked out of the city gate with water and fire sticks. A small leader raised the iron horn to his mouth and loudly ordered everyone All the farmers lined up, and several other people walked along the long line with sticks in their hands. Seeing that some cars were not neatly lined up, they yelled and beat them with sticks. The beaten farmers quickly adjusted the cars with smiling faces. Only then did the servants continue to move forward cursing.

Half an hour later, Li Bao and his son drove the ox cart and followed the team in front slowly, and came to the Four Seas Winery not far from the east gate of the county seat. After entering the gate, turn right, and two tall warehouses appeared in people's sight.

This is to ensure that there is a place to store the purchased grain. Four Seas Wine Industry invested in the construction of two granaries, each of which can hold 50 shi of grain.

The reason why it is so large is that it is used as a backup for the official warehouse. In case of unpredictable accidents, the food in it can be used for emergency relief.

There are also county officials here to maintain order. Every farmer who comes to sell grain will receive a wooden sign with a number. After that, take the note issued by the grain collection clerk to a room on the other side to collect silver and copper coins.

It was under this arrangement that the whole process of selling grain appeared to be relatively orderly, and there was no great chaos.

Li Bao's family transported more than [-] shi of grain this time, earning more than eight taels of silver. After inquiring that the grain collection operation would continue, the father and son hurried back home in an ox cart, and transported it again at noon that day. A cart of food came over.

The other farmers were also in the same situation as Li Bao's family. Many of them went back and forth twice a day. Every household sold out all the old grain in their homes, and finally returned home with extremely satisfied expressions on their faces.

The 12th year of Chongzhen was an unforgettable year for farmers in Weihu County.

Every family has received a huge sum of money that has never been seen in a lifetime, and this kind of life makes people feel more prosperous.

(End of this chapter)