The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 25 Liu Sheng "Borrows Food" [Please follow up]

The weather in May was already a bit hot, especially in the afternoon. Ma Jinliang was not drinking tea and singing music in the courtyard, but was playing ball with his concubine in his room.

"Master, it's a disaster!"

The housekeeper Ma Gui suddenly shouted outside, which made his hand tremble in fright, but he barely managed to crush the ball.

The concubine made a sound, caught him and beat him again, showing her mouth opening and closing, and the fragrance continued.

Ma Jinliang finally calmed down his concubine, and then he came out of the room and said with a depressed expression: "Didn't I tell you not to disturb me when I'm sleeping?"

Ma Gui said anxiously: "Master, it's really a disaster. Ma Jinshui came to report that the ruthless bandit named Liu has entered the stronghold again, and he has brought seven followers with him!"

"Ah?" Thinking of the last time he was bullied by Liu Sheng, Ma Jinliang panicked, and even his legs became weak. He held on to the door frame and said, "We must have asked Ma Qi to kill him, and he came to take revenge. What can we do?"

Ma Gui suggested: "Master, why don't we hide before he arrives?"

Not only Ma Jinliang was afraid of Liu Sheng, but Ma Gui was also afraid - the scar-faced Ma Qi and a dozen bandits failed to kill Liu Sheng, but were killed by Liu Sheng instead, which shows how powerful Liu Sheng is.

Ma Jinliang gave Ma Gui a kick and said: "If running is useful, will I still be anxious here? As I said before, the man named Liu has held my hand. If I can run, can my family business be lost?"

After thinking for a while, Ma Jinliang said: "In this way, when you go to deal with him later, just say that I went to visit relatives and let him come back another day."

"It takes a day to delay, you are so smart." Ma Gui flattered him and hurried to wait outside the gate.

Ma Jinshui was still waiting by the gate. When he saw Ma Gui coming, he hurriedly said: "Steward Ma, I came here in a hurry to report the news. Don't you reward me with some food?"

Ma Gui glanced at Ma Jinshui and said, "With the drought like this, I don't have any food left at home. Where can I find food to reward you?"

Ma Jinshui's face darkened when he heard this, "Okay, I won't report the next time someone named Liu comes again."

After speaking, he pretended to leave.

"Look, why are you so angry?" Ma Gui grabbed Ma Jinshui and said, "I'll reward you with a liter of millet, right?"

"If the housekeeper wants to give it, hurry up. My mother didn't want to eat the day before yesterday. She said she wanted to save rations to keep me alive. If this continues, I'm afraid she will die."

"No matter how fast you hurry, you have to wait until I can deal with the man named Liu, right? You wait aside for a while."

After the two of them finished speaking, they saw a group of people arriving in front of Ma Baihu's house. The leader was Liu Sheng.

The seven followers at the back all looked good, but the ones carrying swords and spears looked troublesome.

What surprised Ma Gui the most was that Wang Laowu, the real bandit from the West Fen Ridge, was also inside!

Liu Sheng showed no politeness and said directly when he saw Ma Gui: "Go and tell Ma Baihu that I will come to talk to him about something."

Ma Gui came back to his senses and said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, what a coincidence, our master went to visit relatives this morning. How about you come back another day?"

Liu Sheng asked Yang Kuiwu, who was gasping for air behind him, "Did Ma Baihu leave the city this morning?"

"No, at least I didn't beat Ximen away." Yang Kuiwu replied.

Ma Gui immediately said: "Yes, the master is going through the Dongzhai Gate."

Liu Sheng laughed and said loudly: "Ma Baihu's letter of commitment is not easy to use. Today I will read it here for the folks to listen to. I will make dozens of copies later and send them to the county government. I hope the county magistrate will see you." I will definitely be happy."

"Forgive me!"

There was a cry of urgency in the courtyard, and a man ran out. It was Ma Baihu who was visiting relatives.

"Spare your life, Master Liu." Ma Baihu bowed repeatedly after coming out, with a look of pleading on his face.

Liu Sheng smiled and said, "Didn't the housekeeper say you went to visit relatives? Why are you at home?"

"My relatives are close to the village and just came back." At this point, Ma Jinliang saw more and more villagers gathering around him, so he said: "Liu Zhuang, why don't we go to the house and talk?"

"Row."

Liu Sheng grabbed Ma Jinliang's hand and entered the courtyard.

Wang Laowu, Shi Jincai and others also followed in. Ma Gui and several servants in the courtyard did not dare to stop them.

Yang Kuiwu hesitated and followed, but was stopped by Ma Gui.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

Yang Kuiwu endured the burning feeling of hunger in his abdomen and said, "Master Liu said he would take me to have a meal."

Ma Gui frowned and was about to send Yang Kuiwu away when Shi Jincai's voice came from the courtyard, "Our boss did say to let him in."

Ma Gui looked ugly, but he didn't dare to stop Yang Kuiwu anymore.

When Ma Jinshui saw Yang Kuiwu going in, he rolled his eyes and wanted to follow him in.Ma Gui quickly stopped him and asked, "You want to go in too?"

Ma Jinshui said with a playful smile: "I might be able to help if I go in."

"You're doing a damn favor - if you still want that liter of millet, just wait outside!"

After saying that, Ma Gui closed the courtyard door directly.

Ma Jinshui opened his mouth to curse, but was afraid of offending Ma Gui and not getting the life-saving liter of millet. He could only squat outside the courtyard gate with a dark face and wait...
"If Mr. Liu has anything to ask me, just tell me. I will do it if I can." After entering the main room, Ma Jinliang sat down, rubbed his wrist that had a red mark on it and said with a smile.

Liu Sheng said: "I came to Ma Baihu today to do three things. The first thing is to borrow food."

Borrow food?

Ma Jinliang's heart began to hurt when he heard this - these days, no one knows that food is more valuable than silver.

Moreover, Liu Sheng said he was borrowing it, but he might not pay it back.Even if it does return, will the food prices in normal years be the same as those in disaster years?

If he lent too much money, he might have lost more than the money he was extorted from last time.

So, with a face full of embarrassment, he said: "The disaster in Henan has been going on for several years, and my family doesn't have much food. I'm afraid I won't be able to lend much food to Liu Zhuangshi."

"Let me tell you how many horses you can borrow."

Ma Jinliang hesitated and stretched out two fingers. Looking at Liu Sheng's face, he added another finger and said, "I can borrow thirty stones at most."

"Thirty stones?" Liu Sheng laughed when he heard this, turned to look at Yang Kuiwu who was standing by the door, and asked: "This military master, how many fields does your Mabai household have, and how many stones of grain can it harvest every year? ?”

Ma Jinliang and Ma Gui also looked at Yang Kuiwu, with obvious threats in their eyes.

Yang Kuiwu was already a little faint from hunger at this time. He remembered that his ancestors were originally the general banner of Dashui Pingzhai. They had been suppressed by the Ma family in recent years and all their land was devoured. His father and mother starved to death one after another last year. Just now he also almost died. starve.

Think again of what Shi Jincai said - young people, don't starve yourself to death foolishly.

He gritted his teeth, looked at Ma Jinliang and Ma Gui, and said: "Ma Bai's family has more than a thousand acres of farmland inside and outside the village. In a normal year, they can harvest more than two thousand dan of grain every year.

The past few years have been bad, but at least one thousand dan of grain can be harvested every year. "

In the Ming Dynasty, summer wheat and autumn millet were the norm in the north and even the Central Plains. According to the normal yield per mu at this time, wheat harvest was more than one stone per mu, and millet harvest was less than one stone. It can be counted as two stone per mu of raw grain per mu.

(The raw grain in this article is calculated as 134 kilograms per stone, and the rice noodles after shelling are calculated as 188 kilograms per stone.)
There are a lot of fields inside and outside Dashui Pingzhai, so Yang Kuiwu said this number is very pertinent.

After hearing this, Ma Jinliang was about to quibble, but Liu Sheng stopped him.

"Ma Baihu, this military master almost starved to death at the gate of the village just now. Please ask someone to give him a bowl of noodles."

Although Ma Jinliang hated Yang Kuiwu for exposing his background, he did not dare to offend Liu Sheng on such a trivial matter and immediately asked Ma Gui to handle it.

When Ma Gui took Yang Kuiwu and Shi Jincai out, Ma Jinliang said with a bitter face: "Liu Zhuangshi, you can't listen to Yang Kuiwu's one-sided words. My family has more than a thousand acres of land, but the harvest in the past few years has not been enough. half.

Moreover, that land is not mine alone, but belongs to the Ma family in the village. It has to feed hundreds of Ma family members.

In addition, I have to pay a certain amount of military rations to the superiors every year, and because some of the land is civilian land, I also have to pay land taxes to the county government. In the end, I have to leave some rations for the tenants, right?
After a year, I really don’t get much food.A few days ago, I spent several hundred taels to buy your glass bottles. In order to make up for the shortfall, I sold some grain. Now I really have nothing..."

"Ma Baihu!" Liu Sheng interrupted Ma Jinliang's lengthy explanation, "I regard you as a friend, so I came to you to borrow food. What is the most important thing in making friends? It is sincerity, so you don't know whether these words are true or false. Stop talking.

Just ask if you can lend me three hundred shi of food.If we can borrow it, we will still be friends; if we can't, I can only bring brother No. [-] to your house to eat to solve the food problem. "

Liu Sheng originally wanted to see the granary of Ma Baihu's family, but suddenly he remembered that in a certain movie, the landlords stored grain in several places, so he might not be able to ask about all the grain stored in Ma Baihu's family.

In this case, it is better to let the water flow slowly and borrow three hundred stones first.

Ma Jinliang almost bit off his tongue when he heard the numbers Liu Sheng said.

"Three hundred stones?!"

He wanted to refuse, but when he heard Liu Sheng say there were hundreds of brothers, and then remembered that he still had a "letter of commitment" in Liu Sheng's hand, he didn't dare to say the refusal.

In the end, he could only say with a sad face: "Liu Zhuangzi is borrowing all the food stored in my family. It doesn't matter, I will treat you as my friend."

Liu Sheng smiled after hearing this and said, "Don't cry, Ma Baihu. We have just finished talking about the first thing, and there are two more things to come."

Two more?

Ma Jinliang really wanted to cry when he heard this.

He thought to himself: I am not going to be drained of my family wealth by this man named Liu today, right?

(End of this chapter)