Man Bao curiously asked Yang Heshu, "Isn't the Koufentian in your home Fenshan?"
"...No." He said carefully, "It's wasteland."
Man Bao expressed his sympathy, "The wasteland is worse than the mountains. Look at the wasteland at the foot of the mountain. It was also given to my brother. It is full of rocks and weeds and shrubs. The trees on the mountain can be used as firewood."
, good trees can also be used to make houses, furniture, and farm tools, but this wasteland is basically useless."
Yang Heshu opened his mouth and wanted to say that the wasteland he was talking about was not like this, but could be cultivated.
But as the newly appointed county magistrate, he felt that he could not provoke injustice among the people under his rule, so he remained silent.
He adjusted his mood and asked: "Then where are your mulberry seeds?"
Generally speaking, the land in Koufentian will be relatively poor. If there is enough labor, some beans will be planted, and if there is not enough, most of the land will be planted with mulberry and hemp.
Bai Shanbao said: "We don't grow mulberries here, only hemp."
Man Bao nodded, "Growing hemp on the ground and at the foot of the mountain is almost enough for my own use."
"Hemp is not valuable, so why not plant mulberry trees?"
Manbao rolled her eyes. She had not recorded mulberry trees, and had not even seen silkworms. She had only seen descriptions in agricultural books. Her husband also said that people in Yizhou mostly planted mulberry trees.
Shu brocade is famous all over the world.
It's just that they are remote here, and only a few families can raise silkworms, and most of them are just for their own needs.
In the final analysis, it is because there are too many mountains and too little land.
This is what Mr.
Yang Heshu, however, had just come here and did not understand this. He only thought that the previous county magistrate and the local people were messing around. He had never heard of allocating mountains to the common people for land distribution.
Isn't that from the imperial court?
But this is not the most important thing. Yang Heshu asked: "If you don't raise silkworms, then where do you get the silk that you have to pay every year?"
"We don't hand over silk, we hand over cloth and linen." Man Bao has to calculate the items to be paid at home for her father every year. She is very familiar with these. She said: "One person pays two feet and five feet of cloth and three pounds."
numb."
Yang Heshu rubbed his forehead and asked: "Then if you want to use silk, don't you have to buy it from other places?"
"Why do we use silk?" Man Bao looked at him curiously, "Our family only uses cotton. My clothes are made of cotton and linen woven together, so they are very soft."
Yang Heshu looked at Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang.
Bai Shanbao said: "My family's business is mainly in Longzhou, where we grow cotton, linen, and mulberry trees."
Bai Erlang said: "My clothes are all made by my mother. My mother owns them."
Yang Heshu frowned and said, "You should plant some mulberry trees. Shu brocade is very famous. You can make a lot of money if you get involved."
As soon as he heard about making money, Manbao perked up and asked, "How to make Shu brocade?"
"First you have to plant mulberry trees, then raise silkworms, and then weave the silk into brocade. A piece of Sichuan brocade can be sold for more than three thousand yuan. The best ones are hard to find."
Man Bao said "Wow", "A piece of Sichuan brocade can be exchanged for a cow!"
This conversion made Yang Heshu stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses and asked, "Do you want to buy a cow?"
Man Bao nodded repeatedly, "We only have one cow per mile. When it is our turn, the spring plowing is almost over. It would be great if my family could buy a cow by itself. Unfortunately, we suffered a disaster last year. Spring has just begun, and the winter wheat harvest is still there.
It's undecided. My father doesn't dare to use the family's money, but he is stingy. The family is so busy and he is not willing to buy meat, so he only gives us eggs."
Yang Heshu: "...Isn't the imperial court exempt from tax last year?"
"Yes, but there is still not much food left at home."
Yang Heshu said hesitantly: "But I hear what you mean, your family's situation seems to be pretty good in the village?"
"Yes, my wheat was pretty good last year, so the harvest was slightly better than other families'."
Yang Heshu remained silent. If the situation of the Manbao family was relatively good, let alone those of other families.
Along the way, Yang Heshu also learned that last year's harvest was not good, and now it has begun to be mixed with chaff.
But spring plowing has just started now. After the wheat is planted, after a cold wave has passed, it is time to plant beans and sow rice seeds. After the beans are planted, the winter wheat can be harvested and ready to be transplanted.
This one is fastened to the other. If you only eat bran-thick vegetables, your iron-clad body will not be able to bear it.
Yang Heshu smiled at Man Bao and asked, "Can you take me for a walk in the village?" It was almost time for lunch, and he wanted to see what the villagers were eating.
Man Bao waved his hand and said, "There's no point in going back to the village now. Everyone is in the fields. If you look for someone, you can only find children and the elderly. I'll take you to the fields."
"Aren't you going home for lunch?"
"If you don't go back," Man Bao said, "Just take it with you to eat. It saves time and effort. Why go home?"
Bai Shanbao also jumped off the board to follow.
When Bai Erlang saw it, he immediately picked up his own backpack and followed. He also wanted to go play and not stay here to supervise the work.
There are not many people working in this area, and more people work in Dawan and Xiaowan, where the land is the best.
Because last year’s rice crop was so bad, this year everyone subconsciously planted more wheat and planted less rice.
Everyone went to Qili Village, and when they reached the vicinity of Dawan, they saw people working in the fields, dotted all over the fields.
Yang Heshu couldn't help but stop. The people here were different from the workers he saw just now, but they were similar to what he had seen in the past two days.
People are used to pull the plows. Just pulling and supporting the plows requires at least two laborers.
It would be better if there were two adults in the family, one pulling the plow and the other holding the plow. Otherwise, the woman would have to hold the plow while a group of children would work behind her. This would not be very efficient.
If there were cows...
Yang Heshu asked Manbao: "How much does a cow cost three thousand yuan?"
"A little more, but it's not easy to buy." Since Man Bao wanted to buy cattle, he naturally asked Mrs. Liu to ask for them. She said: "There are so few cattle in the cattle market, and not many are transferred from the yamen, so only Liu
Grandma is so good that she can buy three heads at a time."
Yang Heshu nodded.
Asked: "If there is a cow, will your family buy it?"
Man Bao was confused, "My father doesn't want to spend money at this time."
Yang Heshu knew what her father was worried about, so she thought for a while and said, "What if the Yamen is willing to pay on credit first?"
Man Bao's eyes lit up and he asked: "Can this still happen? Is there any interest required?"
"Do you still know about interest?"
"Of course I do. I also know about loan sharking. People in casinos love loan sharking the most. They are all bad people!"
Yang Heshu nodded, "It is illegal to make loan sharks, but the people will not sue the officials. Yamen are different from casinos, so naturally they will not ask for high interest, but there still needs to be some, otherwise why won't we fight for it? We will pay it then.
Who will it not be given to?"
Man Bao began to dig into his small treasury and asked: "When will I pay it back and how much will the interest be?"