In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 524 Is it worth fighting for the Song Army?
Borneo Province raises cattle and sheep and is rich in fish and meat resources, so the food of the local Song Army is quite good. At first, they invited European bakers to help make bread. Later, the Song Army also learned it and promoted it in the army.

Although this kind of medieval brown bread is not delicious, it is easy to preserve, easy to carry and transport, and is now one of the staple foods of the training army.

Whenever he sat at the dining table, Song Zhuang forgot all the shortcomings of the Song Army, because to be honest, the food they had now was not something that the Bo Ni nobles could eat every day.

Everyone trained for a day and devoured everything. In the end, there were still two long loaves of black bread on the table, and some jam was left.

Song Zhuang was not polite and reached out to take one of them, and handed the other to Wu Commander Song Ying: "Song Ying, do you want it?"

Song Ying burped, thinking that Song Zhuang's family was quite poor before and there were many people in the family: "I don't want it, you can take it, brother, don't you have any objections."

No one at the table made a sound, and they didn't dare to raise their opinions. Moreover, Song Zhuang's family had a large population, and the pressure was also great.

Song was so happy that he took two loaves of black bread and jam and went out.

"Come back on time." Song Ying turned around and called.

They have to go home around eight o'clock in the evening, and they have to learn Chinese.

Song Zhuang responded and ran home with his things.

His family built a city with several wooden houses. There were parents, brothers, sisters, and a wife. The wife was pregnant with a child. There were ten people in the family, living in three houses.

Of course, there are more forests here, and the layers of wood can be built casually. After they applied to Song Jun, their father and his brothers are building new houses these days.

However, the family is also allocated 50 acres of farmland and more than 100 acres of forest, so they are extremely busy every day.

They mainly grow rice and pepper. If there are mountains and forests close to the sea, they will get papaya or coconut.

They also make something called sago, which is an edible starch made from the trunks and stems of local palm trees through processing, soaking, precipitation and drying. The most traditional one is the starch extracted from the pith of the Sago palm (also known as Sago and Shagu), which is made by hand.

This thing also has a long shelf life, can be processed into cakes, is easy to store and transport, and is also currently part of the Song Army's military rations.

In the past, these things were not worth much in the local area. The locals usually helped slave owners to get them in exchange for some food rations.

Now that they have it out, they can sell it directly to the Song Army in exchange for copper coins, silver coins and supplies.

Song Zhuang's family just has too few normal labor forces. Although there are many people, his younger brothers and sisters are all young, and his wife is pregnant with a baby. He has to train as a soldier, and the only people who can do the work at home every day are his parents and two brothers.

The two elder brothers have not married yet. They got married because they received a military enlistment fee after joining the army and they looked handsome in military uniforms.

The four main laborers in the family have to do many things, including planting, collecting and selling.

Song Zhuang brought the black bread back, and his brothers and sisters immediately burst into joy, picked up the jam and started eating.

"Slow down, slow down." Song Zhuang looked at his younger brothers and sisters lovingly. After eating it a few times, he felt that the black bread was not delicious. Later in Europe, it was only eaten by the poor, but now here, it is still delicious.

The eldest brother Song Zhong came over soon. He changed his name to Chinese, but he couldn't speak Chinese characters well and didn't go to class, so he was not recruited after the war.

When there was no one at home, they tried their best to speak Bo Ni dialect, but they were careful. Song Zhuang sometimes tried to speak Chinese as much as possible, and also guided and taught them to speak Chinese, for fear of being reported.

"How is the harvest this year?" Song Zhuang asked his eldest brother.

"Fortunately, we have planted 30 acres of rice this year. If nothing happens, we should be able to get two stones per acre." As Song Zhong spoke, their parents also went home one after another, carrying pepper on their backs. October is when the pepper harvest begins. Season, in a month or two it will be the rice harvest season. The weather is good today, and with the help of Song Jun, it should be a good year for everyone.

"So much, isn't that sixty stones?" Song Zhuang's eyes lit up when he heard this, with a look of disbelief on his face.

This was something that was unthinkable before the Song Army came. At that time, none of them had any land. The land was all in the hands of the landlords. They rented the land and had to pay rent every year. In the end, they had to get some rations to eat. Sometimes they even had to owe the rations. .

"People in the Song Dynasty attached great importance to water conservancy. They built waterwheels and canals everywhere. They also taught us how to prevent insects and weeds. The yield of rice will increase." Dad spoke in Bo Ni. He didn't speak any Chinese and didn't dare to go out for fear of encountering others. When he arrived at the Song Army, he always pretended to be mute and did not dare to speak outside.

"How to prevent insects?" This was the first time Song Zhuang heard it.

"Cricket grass is also called goosegrass."

Goosegrass is mainly found in temperate and tropical areas. It is found in Nanyang, including Borneo and Malus. Use this grass to boil water for a long time and take it in large quantities. It is mainly used to clear away heat and relieve dampness. It can cure epidemic diseases, heatstroke, fever, panic in children, jaundice, dysentery, gonorrhea, and dysuria; it can also prevent and treat Japanese encephalitis.

In the Central Plains, it has been said since ancient times that it has miraculous effects in preventing epidemics and fighting plague and seasonal poisons. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, folk and traditional Chinese medicine have been spreading for a long time. Because of its commonness, it is called Thousand People's Tread. Young people use it as cricket grass, and it is called cricket grass in China.

Song Jun also learned from Champa City that by mashing cricket grass into mud and spraying it on the rice fields, it would effectively prevent insects. This was also the earliest insect repellent, and it was quite effective at the time.

I still want better results. Their pepper can also be used. It requires a lot of pepper. After boiling the pepper, spray it on the rice leaves. It can also prevent insects. However, pepper is very expensive and the cost is too high. Of course, Song Jun It won't be used that way.

Promoting the cultivation of cowgrass is the cheapest and best way.

Since goosegrass is mainly produced in temperate and tropical areas, after Zhao Yurui saw the success here, the next step will be to transplant it to Daemang and Jeju, and then promote it nationwide to prevent insects from rice and wheat and increase yields.

Song Zhuang immediately began to make plans.

This year's autumn grain can be 60 shi. According to the Song army's tax rate of 50%, they have to pay 30 shi. However, because someone in their family is a soldier, they can get a 10% discount. As long as they pay 40%, they can keep 34 shi. .

It sounds like the tax is relatively heavy, 50%, but the land assigned to them by the Song Army is permanent. Except that it cannot be sold, it can be passed on as long as someone in their family has it, so the tax is not high. They originally got 50 acres of land out of thin air. , so people are willing to pay this tax.

For a family of ten people, if they eat 30 dan a year, even if they eat well, there will still be about 4 dan left over.

Borneo has double-cropping rice. The yield of early-season rice is slightly lower, about one stone and five bushels. Thirty acres is 45 bushels. After deducting 40% of the tax, there are still 27 bushels left, and there is a surplus of thirty bushels for the whole year.

"How much pepper can be harvested?" Song Zhuang asked again.

Pepper cannot be harvested until three to four years after planting, but it can be harvested for twenty years.

Their pepper harvest has been in the second year, with a total of twenty acres of pepper, and the yield per mu is more than two hundred kilograms, which is far behind later generations.

This pepper is very expensive now. As I said before, the price of pepper here is usually one hundred catties. It is sold in Lin'an for six coins per catty (six hundred Wen), and one hundred catties is sixty taels. Sixty times more.

This was the price when the Song and Srivijaya dynasties were doing business with Bo Ni.

Now the fields of the people here were given by the Song army, so after they grow pepper, they keep ten kilograms per person per mu based on population. For example, Song Zhuang's family had twenty acres of pepper and produced more than 2,000 jins. The nine members of the family could keep 90 jins for themselves, but the Song army usually gave them 100 jins directly.

The remaining two thousand kilograms or so were purchased by the Song Army at the market price of one hundred kilograms each. They could get more than twenty kilograms, or more than twenty silver coins, but they had to pay a 40% tax, so in the end they got twelve kilograms. silver.

In addition, they have more than 100 acres of mountain forests, and the trees on the mountains also produce various crops, and they can also go to the seaside to fish.

The Song Zhuang family calculated today that this year is a good harvest year, with a surplus of thirty shi, and after selling other supplies, the silver income can reach more than twenty-five silver coins.

This is almost more money than their family could earn in ten years.

Just because the Song army came, divided the fields and mountains for them, and taught them farming work.

Even if the Song Army imposes 40% to 50% tax, each of their families can survive well as long as there are no natural or man-made disasters.

Of course, it sounds like the income is quite high. In addition to food, the family of nine has to buy other things. The silk, sugar, refined salt, tea, and fine wine of the Song Dynasty are all money.

So Song Zhuang calculated that if he continued to spend the money he earned in a year, he would not be able to save much in the end.

But the overall quality of life is much higher than before.

Song Zhuang's father finally said: "I want to cut down some palm trees on the mountain with your two brothers, but I have to apply to the Song people for permission."

"Then plant dipterocarps." Dipterocarps is a large tree, forty to seventy meters high, which is very useful.

During the Bo Ni Kingdom, the oil produced from its resin was mainly used to make spices, namely dipterocarps, and was traded with other countries, making a lot of money.

But his tree body itself can be made into plywood. A tree is forty to seventy meters high, and the tree body itself is worth a lot of money.

Dipterocarps are no cheaper than pepper, and given the price of the trees themselves, Song Zhuang's father still wants to grow more for the family.

But if the tree is planted, there will be no harvest in the first ten years. It is mainly for the sake of future generations.

When Song Zhuang heard this, he was also a little moved. He knew that his parents saw that the family had no shortage of food and clothing, so they had to think about them and wanted to leave more family property for them.

"We need to make less purchases this year and buy less of the precious silk, white sugar and other items of the Song Dynasty. The money we earned will be taken back by them again." Song Zhuang said dissatisfied.

Their annual income was already dozens of silver coins, and the people of the Song Dynasty were considered small and medium-sized wealthy households, but they couldn't bear the fact that the Song people opened shops everywhere on the island, selling Song people's goods, and making their money back.

"This year I will mainly save money. First I will marry a sister-in-law for my eldest brother, and tomorrow I will marry a sister-in-law for my second brother. The more people in the family, the more labor we have. You can apply to the Song Army, or buy more fields, and then expand your pepper cultivation." , dipterocarp is also good.”

Song Zhuang's words immediately got the support of his eldest brother and second brother. Of course she wanted to marry a wife. It was fine before, but now she has money, but it can't withstand use. Song people's things are expensive and good.

After some discussion, the two of them decided to save money to help their two brothers find wives.

Unexpectedly, Song Zhuang had just returned home and saw his mother-in-law. She took out a thin gold bracelet and showed it to him. She said that she had just bought it from a supermarket in Song Dynasty. It was not expensive, only ten silver coins, and it had a gold thread on the outside. , she can’t buy anything that’s pure gold.

Song was so angry that he scolded his mother-in-law first, and then told her not to go to Song's supermarkets, where they were all making money.

In the future, I will save money to find a wife for my eldest brother and my second brother.

The mother-in-law burst into tears after being scolded and said she would not spend money carelessly in the future.

As he spoke, Song Zhuang glanced at him secretly, and then took out something. Song Zhuang wanted to vomit blood.

His mother-in-law took out a new raincoat.

Made of rubber by the Song Dynasty, the style is very similar to that of later generations. Of course, it is not as light as later generations and is thicker, but it has a very good rainproof effect.

It should rain in the south of Borneo. If there is a rainy season outside, it will be quite convenient.

"This raincoat in Song Jun Supermarket is also very popular. I went there six times to buy it. Don't scold me. I can use it when I go out to work."

"How much does this crap cost?" Song Zhuang resisted the urge to curse.

"It's not expensive, it's only two silver coins."

"..." Song Zhuang's monthly military pay was only one silver coin. This year, the silver coins were used up by two prodigal women.

Song Jun gave out silver coins quickly and received them even faster. The Boni people went to Song Jun's supermarket to spend a lot of silver coins without keeping them warm.

Song Zhuang suspected that the silver coins he would receive next month were the same ones used by his mother-in-law. Song Jun did not need to forge new silver coins here, and could take them back and send them back.

Song Zhuang stayed at home for a while, looked at the time, and saw that it was getting dark, so he hurried to the military camp.

Before I left, I thought about it and told my brother, brother and sister to let them learn Chinese at home.

His younger brothers and sisters were taught in schools established by the imperial court for no money, but his brothers did not study, so he asked his younger brothers and sisters to go home and teach his elder brother.

The Song Dynasty now has universal Chinese education for those under 18 years old. It is not mandatory for those over 18 years old, but you have to learn it by yourself. If you don’t speak Chinese in the future, it will gradually become difficult to mix here. According to the requirements of the imperial court, ten years later , you can’t hear people chatting in Bo Ni dialect on the street.

On the way back to the camp, Song Zhuang compared his current life with his previous life. When he thought about it carefully, it seemed that he could see more satisfied smiles on the faces of his parents, brothers and sisters now.

Every time there is a bumper harvest of food at home, a harvest of pepper, or a stroll in the supermarket, they can make them smile sincerely.

Before the Song Army came, under the rule of King Bali, the surface and underground of the earth, and even the air and ocean were the king's private treasures. They had nothing, and every household was like a slave, living every day for survival.

Song Zhuang had never seen so many smiles on the faces of his family members before.

Even though Song Jun is brainwashing them every day and trying to use them as cannon fodder, Song Zhuang at least sees that the lives of his relatives around him have changed dramatically.

He had a very strange feeling towards Song Jun in his heart, he hated and yearned for him at the same time.

His home is not far from the military camp, and there is a straight road leading directly there. Soon after returning to the camp, most of the brothers have arrived. Some people do not go home at all, and only go home once every few days. He lives close by, so every day He just returned. Along the way, he was thinking, should he really fight for the Song Army? Is it worth it?
(End of this chapter)