Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 18
Landlord Xu met with the representatives of the tenants in Xuzhuang at [-]:[-] p.m., and had a cordial conversation with them. After one night of discussions, they finally reached a consensus:
That is to strengthen win-win cooperation, enhance infrastructure construction, improve the living standard of Xuzhuang, center on economic construction, and work together for Xuzhuang's brilliant tomorrow under the flag of the great landlord.Reporter Xu Qi sent a report at the scene.

Uncle Zheng’s home:
"Damn, don't go weaving tomorrow..." Old Uncle Zheng said to his wife Zheng Liu Shi with a playful face.

"What, you see that Mr. Xu has reduced the rent, are you lazy?" Mrs. Zheng Liu said.

"How can it be, Mr. Xu will ask us to do something tomorrow..." Mr. Zheng explained.

"What? Do something?! Huh, I knew it, it's a rent reduction and a shame, there must be no good intentions..." Zheng Liu didn't know why, so she looked resentful.

"Look at what you said, people pay wages, two meals a day, ten cents! Don't talk nonsense..." Old Uncle Zheng continued to explain without saying a word.

"What, you old man, why didn't you say it earlier, which caused me to wrong him." Zheng Liu blushed and smiled.

"Hey hey hey..."

"Don't laugh, you go to work, and I can't be lazy at home... The child is old, and if he doesn't save some money, who will marry him?" Zheng Liushi looked worried.

"No, Mr. Xu arranged a job for you, five cents a day, just cooking for everyone..." Uncle Xu said as if asking for credit.

"You still have to hire someone to cook? What kind of work, there are so many people..." Zheng Liushi still refused to believe it.

"Repairing the well and digging the pond...it won't come down for a month..."

"Master Xu, Master Xu, tsk tsk tsk, good man..."

"You just said that people..."

"To shut up!"

In the dark Zhuangzi, similar conversations came from different households' houses.

The seven families in Xuzhuang, including Fourteen Ding and Liu San, were divided into three groups to dig a square well next to Xu Qing's house, next to the tenant's house, and another farmland far away from these two places.

A group of five people, two people dig, one pulls the soil, two people carry water, mix up the dug mud, put some straw and step it evenly, stack it outside to dry, and make large clay bricks, five people Take turns.

In addition, several children in the village are also busy. The girls are busy weaving a kind of side basket with wicker, and the boys are responsible for bringing the baskets and filling them with stones.

Everyone in the village was beaming, and Mr. Zheng's wife was even more proud. She worked in the weaving house for a month and only paid three Wen a day, but now it costs five Wen a day!It's very vigorous to cook.

Xu Qing checked the purse over and over again, and after a month, the salary plus food did not cost five or six taels of silver.Tsk tsk tsk, my heart hurts...

Now Xu Qing is digging a square well. According to the length unit of later generations, it is a large rectangular pit with a length of 2.5 meters and a width of 1.5 meters. The depth should not be known until Xu Qing wants to dig out water.After digging, use a frame of stones to compact the soil in the well.Then build a wall around the wellhead with earth bricks and cover it with wooden planks, leaving only one hole for everyone to fetch water.

Such a well, if it goes well, can be used for the daily use of nearly a hundred people.And three of them in the village can save the crops in times of drought.

Xu Qing also wanted to dig a pond in the low-lying area of ​​Zhuangzi, plant lotus flowers in it, put a few fish in it, and renovate the surrounding area into paddy fields. In the future, one crop of rice and one crop of wheat can be grown in rotation.Anyway, the surrounding land belongs to Xu Qing, and there is no precise boundary marker, so he can do whatever he wants.

The good life of the landlord is coming, just thinking about it makes me feel comfortable, and the heartache caused by money is much less...

Master Xu, now he has no choice but to accept the word master. No matter how much he emphasizes the difference between master and young master, people in Zhuangzi still call him master.Only those in your own family will call you young master.

Mr. Xu is currently inspecting the No. [-] drilling site. Yesterday, he only dug a little more than a meter. Fortunately, the omens are good, and the ground more than a meter is very wet.

Then Mr. Xu inspected several construction sites in succession, cordially condolences to the workers who are struggling on the front line, and also experienced it by the way, but was kicked out, ahem, no, it should be so as not to affect the work of comrades Feelings, the inspection ended immediately.

"Housekeeper Zhao, why don't those people from the saline-alkali land come here these days? Could it be that they earn enough food..." Hu Fu said, looking at the unfinished autumn grain, piles of unsplit firewood, and other chores at home.

"Master, the village in the saline-alkali land is now called Xu Zhuang. Somehow a rich man came over there, and the land there is his."

"Huh? Where did you come from?" Hu Fu frowned.

"I don't know, maybe it's the one who does business." Butler Zhao guessed.

"What should I do with so much work here? If I don't finish it, it will be a big loss in winter." Hu Fu said.

"Sir, we can invite others... There are many people in other villages... not bad for Xuzhuang..."

"No, other people need two buckets of rice to come. The people in the saline-alkali land are honest...hehe" Hu Fu narrowed his eyes, "Well, go to Xuzhuang and let the person surnamed Xu call someone else, Luonan Who in the county won't give me face?"

Hu Fu is a landlord closest to Xuzhuang. His family’s land is less than [-] mu, but it is all good land. In terms of value, it is about the same as Xu Qing’s [-] mu. People in Xuzhuang usually come to him. Part-time work at home.

The three brothers of the Hu family, the eldest, Hu Gui, works in the county yamen, and is the judge of the punishment room. Hu Fu is the second eldest, who guards the family land, and is known as a narrow-minded iron rooster, and the third eldest, who runs a cloth shop in the county. , and another cousin is Lizheng from the village.Therefore, the Hu family is still quite influential in Luonan, and ordinary people really dare not offend them.

Hu Fu had never heard of anyone surnamed Xu in Luonan, so he naturally thought that the same housekeeper said that the Xu family was a businessman who came to Luonan to settle down.Since ancient times, businessmen are the cheapest, inferior to others, and have no background in officialdom, so they have never done much.

And Landlord Xu, who was happy for the first well to successfully pump water, didn't know that a little trouble came to him.The one next to Xu Qing's house was the first to get out of the water. After digging four meters, there was too much water. He continued to bite his head, scooped out the water, and dug another half a meter.Then stack the stone frames one by one, and it may be ready for use the next day.

The other two wells also came out of water one after another, and the stone walls and planks were built one by one as mentioned before, and a fence was built outside, and littering was prohibited inside the fence.After digging the well, Xu Qing organized to dig the pond. The pond was not as strict as the well, so Xu Qing would not always give instructions.So enjoy leisure at home, and occasionally tease Xiaoyue Xiaoru.And Xu Qi and Xiaoyue are learning women's red, one stitch at a time, weaving and spinning, embroidery and so on.

(End of this chapter)