The small road leading out from the east of the city has been connected and was officially put into use two days ago, but this is the first time for Manbao and the others to walk there.
After exiting the East City Gate, walk north, which is exactly the opposite of Huangzhuang. After walking for a while, there is a small road extending before it. People and livestock walk between the fields. There is a row of green grass in the middle.
, on both sides are pitted muddy fields, and on the other side are fields and ridges.
Unless you are walking, riding a horse or riding a donkey, few people walk this road. Manbao and the others have only walked this road three times. They try not to sit in a car each time, otherwise they may mess you up.
But now the road has been leveled and expanded to a large extent. The ridges on both sides have been leveled, filled with gravel, and then beaten with soil.
There are two lanes on the left and right, which are smaller than the official road, but still look like a flat plain, which is very comfortable.
Man Bao was riding on his horse and felt more and more comfortable when the wind blew him like this. He was even more satisfied with the road, "It is correct to build the road."
Bai Shan nodded and motioned her to look forward, and saw farmers on both sides of the road carrying burdens with a lot of vegetables in them. Seeing this convoy, they were a little timid and did not dare to go any further.
Stand on the edge of the roadside and wait for them to pass by.
Today is the third day that this road has been opened. The road is being built directly. People and livestock are not allowed to walk on the road.
But they passed by it yesterday. They heard that the East Gate into the capital from here is very fast. Once you enter, you will pass two squares and you will reach the East Market. You can get a place in the East Market by paying two cents.
Vegetables can be sold for eighty or ninety cents.
If they are lucky, they don't have to go to the East Market, they can just wander all the way from the two shops, buy some from the East and a little from the West, and they can sell all the vegetables without paying the two cents.
The main reason is that there is no tax on vegetables imported from the East City Gate.
Of course there is no tax on vegetables entering the East City Gate. Not only are there no taxes on vegetables, but also chickens, ducks, fish and eggs. This is an order issued by County Magistrate Guo recently in order to attract more people to use the East City Gate.
.
At least people from Wannian County have to go through the East Gate.
As the magistrate of Wannian County, he still has this little power.
There is no way, Chang'an County is too abominable. Wannian County is obviously a capital county like Chang'an County, but because the imperial city was assigned to Chang'an County, they are obviously at the same level, but Tang He just suppresses him.
The most hateful thing is that even if the west gate belongs to Chang'an County, the south gate also belongs to Chang'an County. Obviously the territory in the city is almost divided in half, so why should the Chang'an County at the gate of the city be ten thousand years older than them?
One more county?
Business travelers all like to take the south gate.
Few people visit the East City Gate.
Now it's better. He added an extra road to attract more people. Therefore, Magistrate Guo asked the village chiefs to publicize it in the countryside early and encourage everyone to send chickens, ducks, fish, fruits, vegetables, and vegetables to the capital.
He wanted the people under his command to be more upbeat, but they rarely saw such noble people, and such a convoy suddenly met on an empty road, which had just been opened, and they felt a little timid for a moment.
After he stopped, he hesitated whether to kneel down or not.
Man Bao looked at them curiously. When he arrived, he stared at their burdens and asked, "Are these cherries homegrown or wild? Are they sweet?"
The farmer was stunned for a moment, and then he forgot about whether to kneel or not, and replied: "Back to my wife, this is the fruit tree in my backyard. I dare not say it is sweet, but it is certainly not particularly sour."
He didn't dare say it was very sweet.
When Manbao heard this, he immediately asked: "How much does it cost per catty?"
When asked about the price, the farmer became less nervous and said with a smile: "Fifteen cents per catty."
It's more expensive than meat.
Man Bao took a look at it and still thought it looked good, so he said: "Here... can I try one first? If it tastes good, I will buy them all."
When the farmer heard this, he immediately picked a big and red one and gave it to her, and then looked at her expectantly.
Man Bao took a bite and found it was a bit sour, but it was much better than the wild cherries in their village. So he waved his hand and said, "I bought them all."
Anyway, there are many people today, so they are not afraid of not being able to finish the food.
When the farmer heard this, he immediately became happy, put down his burden, and borrowed a weight from someone nearby to weigh her.
Yes, they share a steel scale, and this scale is not theirs, it is borrowed by them and the village chief, and each time he borrows it, he gives him two eggs.
He calculated the pounds and quickly reported the number, "Three catties and nine ounces..."
He smiled naively at Man Bao and said, "Madam, one tael is what we gave you, and you are good for three and a half kilograms."
This is how they buy vegetables. Half is easy to count, but more or less is not. So if there is too much, they wipe it off, and if there is less, they add some.
Then he took out a big leaf and wrapped the cherries for Man Bao. Then he squatted on the ground and counted with his fingers how much three and a half kilograms was.
Manbao stood and waited.
After waiting for a long time, I found that he got stuck after counting the third kilogram. He touched the sweat on his forehead and continued counting with his fingers, and even pulled the person next to him.
It's difficult for them too.
They rarely sell anything. If the village chief hadn't kept saying that it's spring and the vegetables in the fields are growing fast, the people in the city have no food to eat. And now that there's a drought, the fields can't be planted for the time being. The east city gate won't accept people now.
If they don’t have enough money for the city’s vegetables, they wouldn’t be bold enough to send vegetables into the city.
But a kilogram of vegetables costs two or three cents, and no one buys vegetables for more than ten cents. People buy these cherries in one-two-one-tael packages, and when a round one suddenly comes, the farmers are very anxious.
Man Bao saw that he couldn't count, so he squatted on the ground and helped him count, "One catty is fifteen cents, two catties is thirty cents, three catties is forty-five cents..."
The farmer looked confused.
Man Bao then took out a bunch of copper coins, opened them, counted fifteen coins and put them in his hand, "This is a pound."
He counted another fifteen coins and put them on his hand, "This is a pound..."
Everyone gathered around to watch the fun. Even Chang Yu and Ming Da couldn't help but get out of the car and watch together.
Manbao counted another fifteen coins and placed them in his palm, "This is a pound."
The farmer said: "This is three kilograms."
Manbao nodded.
Then he counted another fifteen cents and put it on his other palm, and said: "This is the fourth catty, but you only have half a catty, so the money is divided into half, one for you and one for me..."
Man Bao puts one in the palm of the person next to him, and then puts one in his own palm. The eighth one is finished, and it happens to be in the opponent's hand.
She smiled and said: "That's half of it."
But the other party narrowed his eyes, "Why don't you have the eighth article?"
Man Bao smiled and said: "Half of fifteen cents is seven and a half cents. If you give me one or two cents, I will give you half a cent. After all, you should give me more."
The farmer was stunned for a moment, put away the money, saluted respectfully to Zhou Man, and retreated to the side with the others to wait for them to leave before picking up the load and leaving.
Manbao handed the cherry to Mingda and said with a smile: "This thing is sour and sweet for appetizers, you can eat some."
Mingda smiled and nodded, handing it to Chang Yu. Chang Yu hugged it and happily got into the carriage with her.
Manbao mounted his horse and said to Bai Shan, "Maybe County Magistrate Guo can ask the village chief to teach the villagers to count."
Bai Shan also nodded, "Education should not be limited to morality."