King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 82 The Tenant
Hearing the question, the old farmer who was weeding raised his head and replied with trepidation: "Don't dare to lie to the nobleman, there is still a month before the harvest!"

Zhu Jinghong smiled, and asked again: "I know, I'm asking about the harvest... How much grain can one mu of land produce?"

They are a group of people, all carrying swords, majestic and imposing, ordinary farmers are not intimidated.

Seeing why Zhu Jinghong showed no reason, the old farmer's son had the courage to reply: "If you come back to my son, this year's situation is not bad, there should be five or six hundred catties per mu of land!"

"It's only five or six hundred catties per mu of land?" Zhu Jinghong couldn't believe it. This yield is far worse than that of later generations.

"How many people are in your family? How many acres of land do you have now?"

The man replied: "There are seven people in the family, and they rented six acres of land from Lu Yuan's family!"

It was actually a rented land, which also surprised Zhu Jinghong.

"How much is the annual land rent?"

"Most likely don't know, anyway, the Lu family receives three hundred catties of grain per mu of land!"

One mu of land harvests five or six hundred catties, and each mu has to hand over three hundred catties, which is not enough for others to work all year round.

Let's say that one mu of land harvests [-] catties of grain, and after handing over [-], only [-] catties are left, and [-] mu of land is [-] catties, and the average ration for a family of seven is just over half a catty.

With such a standard of living, I am afraid that it is only enough to maintain a living, and there is no need to suffer from minor disasters and illnesses. The possibility of starting a family is very slim.

It is said that in modern times, people are treated as cattle and horses, but in ancient times, people were really treated as cattle and horses... Zhu Jinghong sighed secretly.

But the Zhu family where he lives is the largest landlord in the world. From the perspective of the world, the "Lu Yuanwai" in the peasant household is also the role of the tenant.

While Zhu Jinghong was contemplating, he saw a little boy walking towards him with a basket not far away.

Seeing Zhu Jinghong and his party, the boy was obviously frightened, and he didn't dare to approach more than ten meters away.

"Child, come here..." Zhu Jinghong waved at the little boy, and smiled what he thought was kind.

But these people are so imposing, how dare Xiaotong come over at this moment, the atmosphere is so embarrassing.

This frightened the three laborers in the field. They were deeply afraid that the child would anger the nobles and eventually bring disaster to our family.

Although they are farmers in the countryside, this family can also tell that Zhu Jinghong and his party are bigger than the Lu family.

"Erba, the young master asked you to come here, so you can come here..." The old man in the field was full of anxiety.

"grandfather……"

The child was really frightened, and now he cried out with a "wow", which made several people in the field panic.

Zhu Jinghong was a little embarrassed, so he took the initiative to walk towards the child, waved to Lu Yuxin, and shouted: "Bring something to eat!"

They came out with them, and they brought everything they had to eat, drink, and even medicine.

I saw Lu Yuxin touched the package in front of the saddle, took out a small cloth bag from inside, opened it, and took out a small oiled paper bag.

"Master Thirteen..."

"What are you doing for me? For others!" Zhu Jinghong pointed to the crying child.

Lu Yuxin glanced at it, and saw that the child was wearing a worn-out short shirt, the clothes were stained with plaster, and there were oil stains and snot marks on his face.

"Here you are, the thirteenth Lord rewarded me, and I don't want to thank you!" Lu Yuxin handed out the oiled paper bag.

Wrapped in oiled paper is dried meat made by the royal chef of the palace with great effort, even though it is tightly wrapped, it exudes a tempting aroma.

The little boy was only seven or eight years old, he had already been conquered by Xiang'er, so he took it from Lu Yuxin, and he stopped crying now.

"Second baby, quickly kowtow to the nobleman!"

The child's father came out of the field and came directly to the child's direction, for fear that the child would offend the nobleman.

But his reckless move immediately aroused the reaction of the guards. Two people immediately stopped him, and then kicked him to the ground.

Seeing his father being beaten, the "second baby" who had just been coaxed cried again in an instant.

Things happened in just a few seconds, and Zhu Jinghong didn't have time to react.

But at this moment, after kicking the child's father down, one of them had drawn out his saber and walked directly towards the man, obviously treating him as an assassin.

"stop!"

Zhu Jinghong yelled, only then did the two people in front stop, and turned around with puzzled faces.

Zhu Jinghong was very angry at first, but seeing the innocent faces of these two people, he swallowed back the curse words.

The guards are also performing their duties, so why should he scold them?
"It's all right, what are you doing beating someone, put the knife away!" Zhu Jinghong said in a deep voice.

Looking at the terrified farmer, the two guards also felt that this man was not a big threat, so they listened to the order and put away the knife.

"Help him up!" Zhu Jinghong said again.

"Don't dare to bother the nobleman, the villain can get up by himself, can get up..."

The farmer hurriedly got up, he was really scared just now, the look in the guard's eyes when he drew the knife really made him shudder.

Old head Liu, a pig butcher at the entrance of the village, has the same look in his eyes every time before he kills a pig.

"Don't cry, we are not bad people, the oily paper is delicious, hurry up and taste it..."

"Second baby, hurry up and kowtow to the nobleman!" Regardless of the pain, the farmer shouted anxiously.

Looking at the man, Zhu Jinghong said calmly, "No need!"

From the beginning to the end, Zhu Jinghong behaved kindly. He comforted the "second baby" to stop crying, left the oiled paper bag and ran to his father.

Seeing this scene, his father was so frightened that he froze in place.

Sure enough, at the next moment, Wang Jie from a hundred households scolded: "Bold..."

The farmer quickly knelt on the ground, and at the same time pressed down on his son and kowtowed non-stop: "Your noble, calm down, noble, calm down!"

The rest of the people also knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy, which made Zhu Jinghong feel a little uncomfortable.

Once upon a time, he was so humble in front of his boss!

The situation here attracted the attention of the people working around, but after all, no one dared to intervene.

Picking up the oiled paper bag from the ground, Zhu Jinghong walked slowly towards the kneeling father and son, and after approaching, he squatted down and said, "Come, eat a piece, is it delicious?"

Perhaps because of the sense of security around his father, the child reached out and took the jerky, and put it in his mouth to chew.

"Is it tasty?"

"good to eat!"

"Take it if it's delicious!" Zhu Jinghong handed out the oiled paper bag again.

"Thank you for the reward, thank you for the reward!" This time, the farmer thanked his son instead.

"Get up, get up!"

With his order, the father and son got up. The child was satisfied with the delicious food, but the adult's face was full of fear.

"What's in the basket?"

"Returning to the nobleman's words, it's lunch at noon!"

"Oh? What do you have for lunch?"

The farmer replied: "Rice balls and pickles!"

"Can you get enough to eat every day?"

"Women and children in the family eat less, but they can still eat enough!"

Zhu Jinghong asked again: "How long has your family been a tenant, and the ancestors have not passed on the fields?"

"The fields of the ancestors disappeared when the villain was a grandfather, six or seventy years ago!"

"How many tenants is this generation?"

"More than half of them are tenants. Some families with little land will rent the fields of big families to grow!"

Next, Zhu Jinghong asked some other questions, summed up in one word "bitter".

The life of the common people is really too hard. Their only pursuit is to be able to eat enough, and they have never thought about anything else.

After gaining an in-depth understanding of the current state of the world, Zhu Jinghong's mentality was also changed.

Previously, he wanted to be emperor for the sake of power and status, but now he has changed his mind and only wants to change the world as much as he can.

If he can make this world a little bit better, if he can benefit the common people in the world, he will not live this life in vain.

"It seems that I can't sit in the position of the old man of the emperor!" Zhu Jinghong murmured in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)