Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 106 The Emperor Also Comes to Increase Shares ([-])

This is a change in Jiaoshan Village, Sanjing Town, Kelan Prefecture, in Gaojiahui Town, dozens of miles away from Mijing Town.

At this time, at the intersection, a young woman with a sallow face in a coarse cloth dress with a few patches on it was following closely beside another middle-aged woman who was also wearing a cloth dress, and the two were talking. , entered the town.

Gaojiahui Town is not big, there is only a bluestone street in it, with some low and leaky houses built with rammed earth walls on both sides, and only a few sparse shops selling some groceries. There are very few young and strong men, mostly old women in ragged clothes, holding some children by the hand, all of them have numb expressions on their faces, as if they are overwhelmed by the burden of life, even the two from the tax collector's house in the town The tax collectors are all sitting at the door basking in the sun, lazy and relatively boring.

After the two women walked into the town, the sallow-faced young woman said to the middle-aged woman: "Sister Chun, is it true that you said about picking wool? After a month, you can really earn two renminbi." ?”

The middle-aged woman said: "Ah, sister Xi, you have asked me eight hundred times, so don't worry, as a sister, when did I ever lie to you? Your sister has been working at Mrs. Sun's every day these days. Is it fake? You are so diligent, let alone two renminbi a month, even three renminbi a month, it is not impossible to earn. But you have to think about it, this life is not easy."

The sallow-faced young woman is called Yang Ximei, who lives not far from the town, and the middle-aged woman is called Lu Chunjie, who is from the town of Gaojiahui. Although one of them lives in the east of the town and the other lives in the west of the town, But they have been friends since childhood, and because her family background is better, Lu Chun has always taken good care of Yang Ximei.

Yang Ximei couldn't help asking repeatedly, she is really struggling now, the family is always full and hungry, even if she works hard to take care of the house every day, basically the whole family is still in a state of not having enough food and clothing, and with very few sources of income, this The family is very difficult. She really wants to earn some money so that the family can have enough food. Also, the family's land tax has been in arrears for several years. , If you can earn some money, that would be really good.

There are four children in Yang Ximei's family, as well as her father-in-law and mother-in-law, who all depend on her and the man to support them.Now she is at home, in addition to helping the man with the field work, she also has to do housework and do some needlework for others. She does not stop every day, and only takes a rest when the rooster crows at night, so that she can earn a living in a day A few pennies.

There are seven people in her family who eat four and a half liters of rice every day. In order to feed the men in the family, she and her mother-in-law are often half-starved and half-fed, and the children are often hungry and cry.In the previous month, there was no more needlework, which made Yang Ximei even more worried.

In addition to these, there is also the matter of land tax. According to Yang Ximei's family, some fields are designated as Zhongtian, and each mu of land needs to pay 2 cents of silver, including all silver consumption and additional taxes, as well as the labor allocated to the field.When the weather is good in previous years, the tax generally accounts for one-thirtieth of the farmland income, which can be paid every year, leaving some grain and rice at home, so that you can eat well during the New Year.

However, since a few years ago, this year has been bad, and the income from the fields has been decreasing. One acre of land cannot harvest a few buckets of grain, and in some years, an acre of land has no grains. When selling grain, the merchant lowered the price and exchanged less silver, and exchanged copper coins for silver, and the price of silver was too high, so that the silver in his hands became less and less. In addition, the fields were not harvested. It is in arrears, and this year is already the fifth year.

Although tax and food arrears are not Yang Ximei's family, but a common phenomenon in Gaojiahui Town, but ordinary people, who are in arrears with taxes and food, are always afraid and worried in their hearts, and it is best to pay them in full.

At this moment, after hearing what Sister Lu Chun said, Yang Ximei was delighted and said, "We farmers, why are we afraid of doing some work, as long as we can earn money, no matter how hard we work, we are not afraid."

Then she said strangely: "It's strange, Sister Chun, when did someone collect wool in the town? I've never heard of it before, and I've seen those sheep farmers, and no one has ever collected their wool? "

Sister Lu Chun said: "I don't know about this sister. I heard that some time ago, some old men from the state city came down to collect wool, trimmed the wool, and transported it to Wuzhai Fort. They said that it was done by Wuzhai Fort. What kind of woolen mill needs a lot of wool, which is strange to you, why does this woolen mill need so much wool?"

Yang Ximei just muttered: "Wuzhaibao..."

Seeing Yang Ximei's appearance, Lu Chun smiled and said, "Ximei, do you miss your man? I heard that your man went to Wuzhaibao to work a few days ago?"

Yang Ximei said: "Yes, my man heard from people in other villages that there are many workshops and factories in Wuzhaibao, and they are recruiting people everywhere. As long as they are willing to work, anyone will want it. Now that the farming is slack, my man is thinking about earning money. Some wages, a few days ago, he went with several strong men in the village."

Sister Lu Chun sighed: "Yeah, all the men in the town have disappeared recently, which made the men in my family very excited. They said all day long that they wanted to go to Wuzhai Fort to see if they could earn some money. Oh, I don't know what's wrong. , that Wuzhai Fort is so good, everyone is going there?"

Speaking of this, she said: "Okay, let's hurry up, Madam Sun won't be happy if it's late." She pointed to a big house in front of her and said, "Look, we're here soon."

The two hurried over there, followed by a group of women from the town who rushed into the big house after hearing the news.In addition, there are a few merchant-like people who are coming out of the house, directing a group of buddy-like people to carry bundles of wool into the carriage, adding a bit of commercial atmosphere to the town.

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That big house is not far from the tax collector's house in the town. Generally speaking, in order to collect land taxes, all prefectures and counties in Daming will set up branch tax stations in various villages and towns. Gaojiahui Town also has a tax collector's house, and there are only two Tax collectors, one named Li Sancang, one named Wang Dengxuan.

Seeing Yang Ximei, Lu Chunjie and other women walk into the house, Li Sancang, the tax collector, said: "It seems that Mrs. Sun's business is very prosperous. I counted these days, and nearly two hundred women have entered the Sun's house to work. And Almost today, two groups of merchants packed their wool and set off."

Tax collector Wang Dengxuan said: "Madam Sun and those businessmen's affairs are beyond our control. We don't have the capital and connections, and we don't envy them. It's good for the women in the town to earn money, so as to save their family's tax money from always If they are in arrears, they pay the money, and we can make a deal."

Li Sancang, the tax collector, sighed: "I hope, I really want to quit this drudgery. Don't urge me. You won't be able to collect the tax, and you will be scolded by your superiors. Use force. If you kill people, it will be terrible. I will Don’t imagine Big Brother Qi and the others.”

In the Ming Dynasty, the land tax was collected in two seasons, summer and autumn, and the annual tax could be paid in seven installments. Generally, the land tax was collected from five cents to five cents of silver for the upper field, middle field, and lower field. Finally, the correct triple receipt will be issued: one for the tax collector, one for the taxpayer, and one for the magistrate to file.

Most of the Gaojiahui town is a few middle and lower fields, and each family generally collects one to two cents of silver per mu of land.But even so, in the current situation, there are not many households in Gaojiahui Town who are not in arrears with land taxes. It is common for each family to be in arrears with land taxes for five or six years, and even the highest is 13 years in arrears.

In Gaojiahui Town, the former two tax collectors used force on the man who owed the land tax for 13 years, causing the old man in the man's family to jump into the river. After coming down, the former two tax collectors lost their jobs, so the new tax collectors Li Sancang and Wang Dengxuan of Gaojiahui Town have learned their lesson and muddled through. Anyway, it is not their Gaojiahuizhen family that owes tax money, but the whole Ke The common phenomenon in Lanzhou, the law does not blame the public.

The two were discussing, and they both felt that the current work was boring. When they talked about the current boom in buying wool in Kelan Prefecture, they were both a little bit moved, planning to make some capital, and changed their careers.

The two were chatting enthusiastically on one side, while on the other side, sister Yang Xi and sister Lu Chun had already entered the big house of Mrs. Sun.

"Stop chattering and work quickly."

After Sister Lu Chun brought Yang Ximei into the house, it was a big courtyard. At this time, the front and back yards of each house were full of people, most of them were women in coarse skirts. These people were laughing loudly while working quickly. They all sit on the ground and pick the wool, picking the thinnest part from the coarse wool.Among these people, many of them Yang Ximei and Lu Chunjie still know each other, they are all neighbors in the town, and now they all come to the Sun family to do business.

Among the people sitting, only a few people were standing. One of them was a woman in her late thirties, dressed in silk, with a rich and rosy face. She was the owner of the house, Mrs. Sun. The women in the house worked quickly, it was Mrs. Sun's personal servant Mrs. Wang.

Sister Lu Chun brought Yang Ximei to Mrs. Sun, bent over and said with a smile: "Ma'am, I brought my good sister to work, please give her some food. Ximei, this is Mrs. Sun, hurry up and see her." .”

Yang Ximei hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and said, "Mrs. Sun is good."

Mrs. Sun looked at Yang Ximei, and said, "Well, he looks like a clever person, so let's accept it. You work hard, and you won't be paid less."

Both Yang Ximei and Lu Chunjie were overjoyed, and said, "Thank you Madam Sun, thank you Madam Sun."

Soon, Yang Ximei started her career as a handicraft workshop in Sun's family. According to the wages given by Sun's family, she picked up a pile of wool every day and gave one point of silver. If she was quick, she could get three coins a month. For Yang Ximei, it can be said that the long drought meets the sweet rain, so she worked very diligently, and soon she adapted to the current life.

According to Wuzhaibao's standards, the wool purchased is determined according to the price of wool treatment.Mrs. Sun's treatment is only the second step in wool treatment.

Generally speaking, before wool fiber is used for weaving, it must first go through preliminary processing, such as wool picking, wool separation, wool washing, wool wool and other steps.

The wool that falls on the ground is collected and called wool picking.Collecting wool from sheepskin is called wool picking.For example, the wool in northern Shanxi can be harvested twice a year.After the wool is harvested, the wool needs to be divided, and the fine and medium parts are selected from the coarse wool.The next step is to wash the wool, because the wool contains grease and sand, which must be removed before spinning. There are many methods, such as frying, boiling and boiling soup.Or put the wool into the yellow sand and rub it with your hands or tools to achieve the effect of removing grease.

After the wool has been washed and dried, it must be opened into a loose state where the individual fibers are separated and some impurities are removed for spinning.The ancients flicked the wool with a bowstring, which was called flicking wool.Finally, the wool fibers that have been initially processed can be spun and weaved after smoothing and rubbing.Finally, it is dyeing and finishing, and wool spinning is finished.

Now in Kelanzhou, there are many such family-like handicraft workshops. After the first start of work, the harvested wool is usually divided and washed, and then transported to Wuzhaibao, where a lot of interest can be obtained. Therefore, many wealthy households act quickly.In addition to earning their own money, they also accidentally increased employment opportunities in many places.

But a family workshop like Mrs. Sun is just one of the many people in Kelan Prefecture, and people like Yang Ximei are just one of the many female workers.

(End of this chapter)