Chastity Layman

  Chapter 331 House Leakage Meets Continuous Night Rain

  The Mid-Autumn Festival has not yet passed, but the weather is getting colder every day.

  Qin Qiong sent a letter from Lingwu and said that it was snowing in Hetao, not only in Fengzhou, but also in Lingwu. It's only August, and it's snowing heavily.

  The snowfall was too unexpected. There had been several frosts before, and the crops froze to death. Then the snow came again, and the crops in Lingwu Field were almost destroyed.

  It didn’t snow in the capital, but there were frosts one after another. Every morning when I got up, the ground and the roof were all white, and the ground was frozen hard.

  Qin Lang also had to put on mink and bear skins hunted from the Xianbei Mountains.

   Breath into ice.

   "Why is it so cold today!"

  Chengqian's nose was red with cold, and his nose was runny.

  Severe weather anomalies.

  The crops in the field were frozen to death, the wheat hadn’t fully grown and matured, and the beans were still a little shriveled, but now they were all dead.

   Facing this sudden frost disaster, the common people wanted to cry but had no tears. They thought that this autumn would be another harvest year, but who knew that the harvest would be a month away, but such a natural disaster occurred.

  Qin Lang received reports from various Zhuangzi that the crops in Guanzhong Zhuangzi were dead this year and had to be harvested in advance.

  The production has been reduced by at least 30%, and these early harvested grains are of poor quality and difficult to preserve.

  Qin Lang asked Zhuangzi to start harvesting on sunny days, and then dried them for storage.

   It’s better to collect some than nothing. When there is a shortage of food, you can always satisfy your hunger. It’s just a pity that this year’s sweat.

   "It's too cold, and people's lives are hard."

  After breakfast, Qin Lang took Chengqian to the Zhuangzi on the **** of Changle. In the farm, the chicken and duck sheds had already started to burn fires in advance to keep warm, but there were still many chickens that were frozen to death by the sudden drop in temperature.

   Added wheatgrass to pigpens.

   "The Zhuangzi immediately started to build a heated kang. We must ensure that everyone in our Zhuangzi has a heated kang to sleep at night and can keep warm."

The kang is warmer and saves more firewood. In the Guanzhong area, because of the large population, the use of firewood has always been a big problem. For example, in Chang'an City, the consumption of firewood is large, but firewood is not easy to transport. If you don’t sell salary for a thousand miles, you don’t sell rice for a thousand miles. If you sell firewood for more than a hundred miles, you will have no money to make, and the transportation cost is too high.

  Changan is also located in the Guanzhong Plain, with a large population, resulting in high firewood consumption and high prices. For the people who live on firewood, firewood is a large expenditure cost.

  This even led to the rapid reduction of vegetation in Guanzhong, and soil erosion continued to increase.

  The imperial court has a special hook and shield office. Under the Si Nong Temple, it is responsible for supplying firewood and charcoal to the court, government offices, and officials.

   "The home base is on the kang, and the expenses will increase a lot."

   "That can't make people freeze. If you don't burn the kang, the weather can't stand it, and you will freeze people."

  Qin Lang's family now has many farms. These manors not only grow wheat and rice crops, but also develop chicken, duck, pig and sheep breeding, and even do some manual processing, so the population is quite large. This year, many northern slaves were brought in from the north.

  Many people consume a lot, but there is no way.

  Looking at the Zhuang Ding who shrank their heads and necks from the cold when Zhuang Zi went to the cafeteria to eat, Qin Lang asked Zhuang Tou to improve quickly.

   "Look at these people, they are still wearing such thin clothes. We need to give them winter clothes, which should be thick. And their shoes must also be kept warm. In addition, the quilts they cover at night must be prepared."

   Zhuangtou nodded quickly, "It's too early this year, so I was caught off guard."

   In Zhuangtou’s view, these slaves are very precious. If one of them freezes to death, it will cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most of them were sent just this year, and now they are frozen to death.

   "In the cafeteria, we will burn a few more fires to keep warm when we eat in the future, and we will freeze everyone."

The situation in the Qin family's Zhuangzi is not bad. After all, Qin Lang is a people-oriented person, and he is not the kind of person who is reluctant to spend money, so now the Zhuangzi took out the money and urgently started repairing the kang to buy firewood, and bought fabrics and cotton for winter clothes. be come.

  But those free people nearby are not as happy as the Qin Family Villagers.

  Many children were still barefoot, wearing single clothes, their faces were blue from the cold, their noses were running profusely, and even their hands and feet developed many chilblains.

  The days just got a little better, and I ate a few dry meals, but this catastrophe happened again.

  The people are desperate.

  When Qin Lang went to visit the nearby villagers, many villagers even proposed to sell the land to Qin Lang, and then become a client and be a tenant farmer for the Qin family.

   There are even more straightforward and decisive ones, who propose to directly serve as a trilogy or servant to the Qin family, so that they don't have to bear taxes, let alone suffer.

Because they lived next to them, they saw that the tenants and even the servants of the Qin Family Manor lived a good life. They are building kangs for them, making winter clothes and buying firewood.

  Compared, they, the good people of Tang Dynasty, are like poor slaves.

  The slaves of the Qin family are still under the care of their masters, but they are left alone.

   Faced with everyone's request to sell themselves into slavery, Qin Lang definitely couldn't agree. Although it was a good thing to do if you love me, but this kind of thing can't be done.

   "I have to find a way to help everyone!"

   Chengqian also had a serious expression, "How can I help? There are so many people!"

   "It's definitely not enough to rely on personal strength, and the court still has to come forward."

   Chengqian is willing to use money to help the victims, but Qin Lang thinks this is not the best way.

   Meals should be eaten in one bite, and things should be done one by one.

  Qin Lang reported to the court that the disaster was serious, and at the same time, he also began to use the power of the East Palace and the Qin family to rescue the victims.

  The Jiade Bank and Jiade Pawn under the name of Donggong both began to provide a special disaster relief loan to the victims. The money was used to help each family of the affected people build a kang and buy a certain amount of firewood.

  In any case, we must first ensure that no one will freeze to death.

  After a family has a kang, at least they can survive the night.

  The township also called on the people to unite and help each other. Qin Lang arranged for people to provide technical guidance, and then the village organized the villagers to buy materials and build pits together.

   Try to build a kang for each household as quickly as possible.

  The response from the government was also quick. First, it repaired kangs for free for all orphans, widows and disabled people, and sent charcoal to make up for their houses.

  The Qin Family Villa in Changlepo.

  In the morning, long icicles hung from the eaves.

  Cheng Chumo quickly closed the door again as soon as he entered. He rubbed his hands and went straight to the stove.

   "This **** weather, who would have imagined that it's only mid-August."

"yes."

  Qin Lang sat in front of the stove and warmed his hands.

   "Your stove is good." Sitting silently in front of the stove, Cheng Chu felt the warmth, and couldn't help but make a sound.

   This is a tin stove, very simple, but very practical. During the daytime, the stove can be used for heating, boiling water and cooking, and the whole room can be very warm.

  Of course, there are many disadvantages, firstly, it takes up space, and secondly, there is a lot of dust and smoke.

  But compared to being warm, that's nothing worth mentioning.

  Actually, a noble family is not afraid of winter.

  Winter is the most unfair to the common people, because the nobles have fur and charcoal fire, and their houses will not leak air everywhere. Some people even have flues in their houses, so the whole house is warm.

  But the life of the people is not so easy. The north wind shaves like a knife, and they still have to go out to work. Even if they stay at home, there are leaks everywhere.

  It's freezing cold, and the clothes on my body can't keep any warmth.

   "Get me two sets of your set!"

  Cheng Chumo finally felt warmer, and he stopped shaking when he spoke. He thought Qin Lang's stove was very good.

   "Where did you buy it?"

   "Homemade."

  The tin stove and the tin chimney are paired with the tin kettle. This tin heating set is indeed very good, but it is a waste of iron after all.

  Since it is something that costs money, it has nothing to do with ordinary people.

  Ordinary people's homes don't even have an iron pot, let alone the iron stove, iron has never been cheap. Of course, for Cheng Chumo, the son of a Duke, and a fifth-rank military officer, it's not worth mentioning.

  Because there was no source of iron materials, Qin Lang simply made this business with the Donggong team, built an iron workshop, and recruited a group of blacksmiths, who are now producing the iron stove day and night.

  The sales volume is still good, the weather is so cold, families above the middle class, especially those in Chang'an City, are willing to buy a set of this thing, although it costs a little money, it is worth it.

  As for the poor, it would be good to directly burn a fire pit, or get a pottery brazier.

   "What are you talking about? Isn't it charcoal?"

  Cheng Chumo was surprised to see Qin Lang pick up a black thing and put it into the stove, "Why does it look like black soil or stone?"

  He originally thought that Qin Lang was burning good charcoal, so there was no smoke.

   "Carbon, this thing is very rare."

Coal is also coal. It is not widely used in Chang'an City, but some blacksmiths have some. Qin Lang bought some and had someone process it into briquette according to his requirements. full.

   "Stones can also be burned?"

"Um!"

  Qin Lang had already inquired about the coal merchants from the blacksmith, and then sent someone to find out where the coal mines were located, and planned to dig a large amount of coal.

  Coal was already used in large quantities in the Song Dynasty. It is said that Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty, used a huge amount of coal, and it felt a little foggy.

  Although coal pollutes a lot, it is better than cutting down all the trees in Guanzhong.

   "Why do you need such a long chimney, can't you not use it?" Cheng Chumo felt that the iron chimney was a waste of iron and increased the cost.

   "There is a chimney and the stove won't smoke, so it burns well."

  Of course, the main reason why Qin Lang engages in chimneys is because he burns charcoal here. Whether it is coal or charcoal, a too closed environment is likely to be poisoned.

   "Many people have froze to death recently." Cheng Chumo sighed.

  Of course Qin Lang knew this long ago, and also knew that many people died of freezing in this cold current.

  He is doing his best, but his efforts are still limited. He can only sigh and keep the two things of cotton and coal in mind, and he has to step up the promotion of cotton and coal mines.

  Now the imperial court is making every effort to promote heated kangs. Like Jiade Bank, Kaiyuan Bank and Royal Bank have released low-interest loans for disaster relief to the people, allowing governments at all levels to organize materials and the people to contribute to build heated kangs together.

  The imperial court worked hard, but many people still froze to death.

   "It's not yet the coldest time!" Qin Lang sighed, it's only September, if the cold current of this evil sect this year gets worse, how cold will it be in the next three or nine days?

  For many people, after the fire pit has been repaired, the available firewood is also a big problem, especially for those who buy charcoal living in Chang'an City, this year's charcoal will increase greatly, and the price may also increase significantly.

  (end of this chapter)