His first pot of gold was discovered from Li Sanniang, and her personal maid Runniang was his concubine. He also worshiped Li Jing as his disciple. When Li Dejiang said that she had arrived in Yanzhou, Huaiyu also went there immediately
meet.
In front of the governor's office, Huaiyu unexpectedly saw an acquaintance.
"Why are you here?"
Mrs. Liu, who used to sell chopped buckwheat noodles at a roadside stall outside Lingzhou City, was carrying her young daughter on her back, one in her hand, followed by three others. She was standing in front of the government office carrying large and small bags.
Being driven away by state soldiers.
Seeing Wu Huaiyu coming out, the woman was very excited and quickly saluted, "We heard that Yanzhou is very good under your rule and can allocate fields and grant land, so we came here specially to join him."
At this time, another rough man came forward, hunched over and a little reserved. Behind him were a pair of old men, three and a half-year-old boys, and two girls.
The woman quickly introduced her and said this was her man, whose surname was An. The man nodded to Huaiyu, very nervous and cautious, and seemed to be afraid to speak loudly.
The old couple are their parents, the three boys are their sons, and the two girls are Liu's sisters-in-law.
This family of fourteen came to Yanzhou to settle down in Yanzhou.
"Isn't it pretty good where you are in Lingzhou?"
Lingzhou is much better than Yanzhou. There are channels there to divert water from the Yellow River for irrigation, and it is really blocked in the south of the Yangtze River. Compared with the sandy dry land and saline-alkali land in Yanzhou that rely solely on rain, I don't know how many times better.
"I can't stay there any longer. I have no choice. I thought of the envoy, so I came here to seek refuge." Mrs. Liu briefly explained the situation.
Originally, they had a large family and not much land, and they also raised some sheep. Mrs. Liu set up a stall on the roadside to sell chopped noodles. The family also farmed land for the landlord's family, and even her son helped herd the sheep.
Although it was hard work, I could barely make enough food and clothing.
But the hemp rope is cut at the thinnest part, and bad luck seeks out the poor.
First, the two cattle that the family rented from the landlord's house were lost. Now they had to compensate the landlord for the two cattle. Then the whole family searched everywhere. The old man broke his leg while searching at night. He asked for medical treatment and owed money to the drug store. The An family was ten years old.
The eldest son, who was four years old, was herding sheep for the landlord's family, and two of them were bitten by wolves, and he had to pay for it again.
But the An family had no savings, so they had no choice but to mortgage the little land and the dilapidated house at home to their creditors. They still owed a lot. In the end, the An family took a fourteen-year-old sister-in-law of the Liu family as a concubine to pay off the debt.
Apart from a few rags and baggage, this family of fourteen members actually had nothing.
After losing that little land, it would be very difficult to live as a tenant to the landlord's family, and the mediocre rent would still be inevitable. Mrs. Liu thought of Wu Huaiyu, who had eaten chopped noodles at her noodle stall several times, and thought he was a good person.
She also heard in the shop that Yanzhou was doing very well recently, so she proposed to give up her residence and flee to Yanzhou, and divide the fields and grant land to resettle her family.
If I open a noodle stall in Yanzhou and my children go to work to help out, maybe they will get better.
Huaiyu couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. This family was really unlucky. Bad things happened one after another. How could this family have experienced such risks?
"When we came to Yanzhou, we realized that there were so many people coming to invest now. It was too difficult to divide the fields and grant land. We had no choice but to come to the Yamen to look for Wu Shijun, hoping to give him a way to survive." Ms. Liu became more excited than before.
He was somewhat haggard and old, his face was full of helplessness, and his eyes looking at Huaiyu were full of prayers.
This family simply gave up their household registration in Lingzhou and lost their property there. Now they came to Yanzhou, but reality gave them another blow.
There are too many people coming, and now it is no longer possible to allocate fields as soon as they arrive. They say they have to queue up, but there is no hope.
They had nothing and were helpless in this foreign land.
In fact, there are many people like them.
It can only be said that they were lucky. The Liu family knew the governor Wu Huaiyu, and now they met again.
Wu Huaiyu was a more humane person.
Now that I have encountered it, I must help.
Huaiyu called the family members up to a shop in front, which was also a chopped noodle shop. He ordered each of them two bowls of chopped buckwheat noodles and a bowl of mutton dumplings.
"eat first."
Mrs. Liu was very grateful. Her husband was an honest man and his parents-in-law were even more honest. Mrs. Liu seemed to be better able to control the situation.
She was able to come to the state government office to look for someone just because Huaiyu went to her stall to eat noodles and gave her a few rewards. She was a relatively proactive person.
The current situation of her family may seem to them as confusing and helpless as the sky has fallen, but to Wu Huaiyu, it is really just a matter of lifting a finger.
If he had not met Wu Huaiyu, then the better way out for his family would be to find a powerful and powerful person in Yanzhou, join his family, give up his family status, become a tenant of the powerful person, and become a tenant for them.
The advantage is that at least there is a way to survive, but the disadvantage is that you lose your identity.
Or, they can only work in the salt field, sell salt, or do odd jobs, etc. This will make the family more difficult and very unstable.
The whole family has been hungry for a long time, and they all ate big noodles.
Especially the half-grown children, who devoured it voraciously.
When they finished the noodles in a hurry, Huaiyu asked them to add more noodles and soup so that everyone was full.
"Do you want to settle in Yanzhou and divide your land?"
Ms. Liu nodded quickly, and her husband Lao An couldn't help but nod as well.
Everyone wants to have their own land, and only with land can they be guaranteed.
Although it is said that if you abandon your residence and join a wealthy family, you will no longer have to bear the burden of rent and transfer, but you will also lose your identity, and Datang is a place where status is very important.
The status of farmers is actually quite high. After being a scholar, they are farmers. Farmers are good people. They can take imperial examinations, recruit soldiers, and have the opportunity to move up to higher levels.
But the lowly class of businessmen and industrialists do not have such an opportunity. Generally speaking, businessmen and industrialists do not prepare for the military service. They can neither take the imperial examination nor serve as soldiers, let alone serve as officials, and they are not allowed to ride horses.
Even the identity of a businessman is hereditary.
Once you fall into the lowly category, you cannot turn around.
"I'll make arrangements for you."
Although there are fourteen people in this family, there is only one senior member, Lao An. An's father is over sixty years old, and the eldest son is only fourteen and has not yet matured.
The other two sons are even younger. As for the two sisters-in-law and the five daughters, they are not only young, but also girls, so they are not eligible to share the land. The daughter Liu is also unable to share the land.
If they really want to divide the land, his family can only get 20 acres of permanent land and 80 acres of land. This is still the theoretical maximum limit for land division.
In fact, there are too many people in Yanzhou now, and there is not enough land to divide it. Wu Huaiyugang has arranged that the later people can only be divided into 20 acres of land first, and those with a large family can then be divided into 20 acres of land. And just this, it is estimated that not much can be divided
Home.
Liu's family is now a queue-jumping family.
Jumping in line is not a good behavior, but China has been a humane society since ancient times, and relationships are all about guanxi.
Wu Huaiyu called a court official and wrote a note asking the state government to make arrangements for the family. Lao An would be allocated a hundred acres of land, and his eldest son would be given half of it.
The family was given 150 acres of land, of which 40 acres were for permanent use and 110 acres were allocated to them. They settled in Yanzhou and were naturalized.
Although it is too late now, the land may be allocated to the mountains south of Yanzhou, but it is good to at least get land.
"To be honest, Sister-in-law Liu, your cooking skills are really good. I often eat noodles here in Yanzhou, but they are not as delicious as yours.
I suggest you return to your old job and open a noodle shop in the border market of Baicheng, so that your family can have more income."
Ms. Liu was very excited after hearing this, but she has no capital now. Even if she sets up a roadside stall, she can't afford it casually. The money she needs to pay must not be less than a penny, otherwise you won't be able to open it, and then open a shop.
She also needs capital, pots, pans, stoves, countertops, knives, buckwheat flour, etc. Her original equipment has even been sold to pay off the debt.
They really have nothing now.
"How about I lend you money and help you open a noodle shop in the border market of Baicheng?"
Mrs. Liu was moved, but her husband An Fugui hesitated and did not dare to accept it because they had nothing now and were afraid they could not afford the repayment.
When I hear borrowing money, I think of high interest rates. Ordinary people are very afraid of borrowing money. But An Jia was forced to abandon his hometown and leave his hometown due to debt. He even hired a sister to be a concubine.
"Understood," Huaiyu just laughed twice and stopped Li Dejiang from scolding them for being stupid. People of their status have no right to mock other people's caution from above.
"How about I invest some money and help you open a shop? It's like a partnership. I won't care about anything. We'll share the money we make. Even if we lose money, it's only mine."
Mrs. Liu hurriedly said, "If you don't think we are stupid, we can work for you and the wages can be cheaper."
Look at them like this.
Huaiyu shook his head.
"Forget it, I think it doesn't need to be that complicated. Why don't I say hello to Bianshi? You can also set up a noodle stall on the roadside outside the gate of Bianshi. I will lend you the expenses you need to set up the shop, but
No interest is required from you, and no repayment is required from you.
Just keep it with you. From now on, my friends and I will come over to eat noodles and make payments until we finish all the payments."
It was a small noodle-cutting business. How could Wu Huaiyu really care about the petty profit? He was just helping this woman. It was indeed not easy for such a big family, old and young.
Since I know you, I can help you.
He looked at the eldest son of the An family and waved. This young man was fourteen years old and considered half an adult, but he was quite thin. He looked quite loyal.
"I like your eldest son very much. Why don't you let him come to my side to be a servant, earn some food, and learn some skills? I will provide him with food and accommodation, three sets of clothes, shoes and hats for spring, summer and winter, and spring grains of wheat and millet.
Six dou each for autumn grain, wheat and millet, and six dou each for winter grain, wheat and millet."
Three stones and six tons of food per year, plus three sets of clothes, including food and accommodation. This treatment is considered a lot of money for a fourteen-year-old boy.
Although you can earn more than two stones by serving as a beacon guard for half a month, guarding the beacon is hard work and involves great dangers.
The conditions offered by Wu Huaiyu were not just random talk, but the current market price of hired workers in Yanzhou, and he only raised it slightly.
Earning three bushels of wheat per month is indeed very low, but this is only for a half-year-old child. If he joins a shop as an apprentice, he will only have room and board for the first three years, and will not even be able to return home.
Mrs. Liu and An Fugui were overjoyed and asked their son Zhuer to kowtow to Huaiyu in thanks.
"An Zhu'er, do you have a name?"
The fourteen-year-old boy has only had the nickname Zhuer since he was a child, and he has been called him since he was a child.
Mrs. Liu was a smart woman. When she saw this, she quickly said, "Zhu'er has never been too big. Please give him a name."
