Holding a bowl, Huaiyu squatted like the warrior Ke in the front yard of the cave dwelling under the shade of the elm tree, drinking mutton bone soup. The view was wide and the scenery was great. The only flaw was that today's mutton soup was not as fragrant as yesterday, especially since there was no meat on the bones at all.
without.
But Lao Wu drank very well. Looking at him like that, it was hard to imagine that he was a military attaché of the imperial army.
Longqiao Fort is located on the river slopes on both sides of Longqiao. It has about three floors. The Wu family is on the top floor. He found that the cave dwellings on the top floor were obviously larger and the yard was bigger, while the ones at the bottom were obviously smaller.
.
"When they first came here to settle down, the fifty households of the Imperial Guard were divided into plots to build kilns based on their official positions and the size of their honorary officers."
Lao Wu was in Longqiao Fort, the highest-ranking officer in the Forbidden Army, and was assigned the rank of camp brigade commander from the seventh rank.
"Aniang, where are eldest sister and the others?"
"I went to pick mulberries, and I'll be back soon."
Agriculture in the Tang Dynasty can also be called the mulberry farming economy, a small-scale farmer model in which men farm and women weave. Longqiaobao mainly grows wheat and millet, as well as soybeans, millets, buckwheat and other grains. In Shanghai, they also grow mulberry, hemp, and raise crops.
Silkworms weave cloth, and the people are basically self-sufficient.
"When your land is divided, you will have to plant mulberry and jujube in the twenty acres of Yongye field. The government has regulations." Dad reminded him.
If you plant two mulberry plants in one acre of land and work hard to collect mulberry and raise silkworms, you can weave half a bolt of silk in a year. The court can adjust half a bolt of silk with one ding of silk and four feet of silk.
Another method is to recruit long-term workers, and the landlord will provide food and accommodation, and agree on how much grain they will provide for a year. They may also provide some meat to the long-term workers during the New Year, and all the harvest from the fields will belong to the landlord.
"Then I have to thank Magistrate Zhang later." Lao Wu has also moved here for ten years and knows the situation of Sanyuan very well. To the south is the plain beside the Qinghe River. This is the best land, irrigated land. The three in the north
The plateau is much worse, and the further north you go, the drier it gets.
However, in the early Tang Dynasty, many common people were allocated some fields, so most of them farmed some land on rent, and it was difficult to recruit long-term workers.
Huaiyu's face turned ugly, "Is the mutton bone soup today using the same bones that were chewed yesterday?"
But the result was good. The household registration was completed and the land was secured. Magistrate Zhang did not dare to neglect Cheng Chumo when he came to do things with Qin Wangjiao. He not only arranged the land immediately, but also specially selected the best land.
The entire land was originally the property of the unofficials, but now it is official land, specially allocated to them.
Ordinary peasant women produce about the same amount of silk cloth every year, partly due to the amount of mulberry and silkworms, and partly because of too many housework.
"This bone has no meat at all, and your dog won't be able to chew it if you pick it up, so there's no need to pick it up," Huaiyu said.
Huaiyu followed and looked there, oh, that mulberry tree had a crown like a canopy, tall and big.
In the early Tang Dynasty, both grain and mulberry cultivation were under extensive management, lacking fertilizers and labor, and there was no extra time and energy for repeated pruning.
Before the mutton bone soup was finished, Quhou San's family of the Wu family came back with Wu Liu, the eldest sister, and Aunt Wang, followed by the children of the Hou family of the Wu family, carrying large baskets of mulberry leaves, loaded with loads of mulberry leaves.
"We first went to Lijiazhuang to meet Li Zheng, and then we went to the county seat together to meet with Magistrate Zhang. Huaiyu's household registration was fine. Our land was the same as Uncle Liu said. There was no land to divide in the township. Magistrate Zhang
He was very helpful and asked Hu Cao to read the land files, and finally said that Huaiyu would be allocated 100 acres of land in Chang'ao, Bailuyuan, and I would be allocated 100 acres each in Fengyuan and Menghouyuan." Huaiyi was very happy, even though he got up early in the morning.
Just run non-stop.
"This is an ancient mulberry, isn't it? Shouldn't the mulberry we grow for silkworm cultivation be short? About one person tall, and pruned every year?"
To the north of Sanyuan are mountainous areas, such as Huangtumao, Huangtuliang, and Huangtugou. There is no flat land. At that time, Li Yuan paid 30,000 yuan to the Imperial Army and gave them the best land in the seven counties along Baiqu in the Weibei Plain.
, many people who returned home after the war could only become tenants of the Forbidden Army, or migrate to the northern plateau or mountainous areas.
"You will soon allocate another 300 acres of land, probably to the northern plateau. There is water shortage and drought there, which is worse than the land here. We can't grow it if we are far away, so we will have to rent it out."
"Okay, but it won't take much land to plant seventy trees. At most, they can be planted in the corners of the land."
Some merchants hire special people to weave. The professional weavers are very fast. One piece of weavers can be weaved every day, and the quality of the fabric is more than five feet. The powerful ones can cut five pieces in three days. The old weavers can even weave in the dark at night without being affected. Those top-level weavers can
The craftsmanship of the complex and expensive astigmatism damask is worth tens of thousands of dollars each. They can complete one piece in two months.
Lao Wu said that their land on the Qinghe River side is well irrigated by white canals, and can produce at least one stone and a half per acre. Twenty acres of mulberry trees are planted with grain, and in a good year, they can still harvest fifteen stone of grain.
"Hehe, although men farm and women weave, it is not easy for women. During the busy farming season, they have to help in the fields. They have to wash, cook and take care of the family every day. They also have to sew and mend clothes and shoes. They can only find time to weave at night every day.
"
This statement made Huaiyu very suspicious. Planting two or three mulberry trees in one acre of land?
Lao Wu pointed to the river slope under the yard, "Look, there are several mulberry trees there. Look how much space one mulberry tree takes up!"
"It's not that easy to hire people nowadays."
"Son, what kind of woman are you looking for? I'll help you find her. Get a wife early, bring in children early, and get more helpers." Lao Wu reminded his son, hoping that his son could settle down as soon as possible.
In addition, the advantage of mulberry trees is that they can be interplanted with grain, and each mu of mulberry land can yield about half the normal grain yield.
"How are things going?" Lao Wu stepped forward to greet him.
The Wu family were landowners, but they also lacked people and fertilizer. In addition to dozens of acres of mulberry, elm, and jujube trees planted on the 300 acres of land, the remaining 200 acres, excluding the leased land, were divided into three parts for rotational cultivation and rest.
Maintain soil fertility.
It turns out that this is to ensure national tax revenue.
As for the mulberry trees in the Tang Dynasty, they have always been tree mulberries. The kind Huaiyu mentioned is the ground mulberry of later generations. It needs to be regularly pruned, cut off the stems and leave branches. This can control the growth, facilitate picking, and even produce leaves early every year.
The yield is high, but it requires more fertilizer and more manual and careful management.
The father shook his head, "You can plant whatever you want in the Koufen field, but you have to plant mulberries and dates in Yongye field. In the past, Yongye field was called mulberry field. The government stipulated that at least fifty mulberry trees, ten elm trees and ten elm trees should be planted in twenty acres of Yongye field."
If the land is not suitable for planting jujube trees, you can plant other trees instead, but this must be done within three years after the land is allocated."
"The land was granted by the imperial court. If you don't abide by the law, the imperial court can naturally take back the land and let the trees be planted. The reason is simple, because the people also need silk cloth in addition to food for food and clothing. In addition, the imperial court's rent is mediocre, and the rent for each den of land is two
Stone millet, and Tiao is two feet of silk and three taels of cotton every year. If we don't plant mulberry trees, how can we raise silkworms and weave silk, and how can we turn in Tiao silk?"
Lao Wu took a sip of the soup and reminded his son, "You have never planted land before following the old path, right? You can only plant two or three mulberry trees in one acre of land. There are mulberry trees for every ten steps, jujube trees for every step, three feet for one tree, and eight trees for every foot.
You can’t plant too much in one row.”
Things are done well and everyone is happy.
"Can't we not plant? Can we plant other things?" Huaiyu thought of the few boxes of luggage he brought, which contained many seeds. When he was in the mountains, he and Lao Tao also opened several acres of wasteland to plant corn and potatoes.
You can basically be self-sufficient by growing some millet and millet, as well as four-season vegetables such as pumpkins, beans, peppers, and tomatoes.
"Can't you hire someone?"
After dividing the land equally, you should plant these seeds yourself.
Even if you can't plant three hundred acres of land, you can still keep it in your pocket. Even if you rent it out, you can still have a rental income.
Compared with the Weibei Plain on the Qinghe side, the conditions in Sanyuan are much worse.
An ordinary household can cultivate about forty acres of land. If they plant another twenty acres of mulberry and raise ten baskets of silkworms, it is already the maximum production limit. If the year is peaceful, they can still maintain food and clothing after paying rent after harvest.
, a slight surplus.
"Only twelve or three bolts of silk and five or six bolts of cloth are woven in a year?" Huaiyu asked.
Although the warrior Ke was an old soldier, he came from a poor family and was very familiar with farming and mulberry farming. He passed it on to his son without reservation.
“A household can grow about fifty mulberry plants, raise ten baskets of silkworms a year, produce about twelve kilograms of silk, twelve or three bolts of silk, and plant some flax, and can weave five kilograms of cloth.
Six horses."
The name of Sanyuan County originally comes from the three plateaus in the north, Menghou Plateau, Feng Plateau and Bailu Plateau. Guanzhong is a plain area, but there are also many plateaus.
There are also those who usually hire fewer long-term workers and hire more short-term workers to help when the farming season is busy.
"Why?" Huaiyu thinks this rule is a bit strange. Why is it not mandatory to plant trees?
"Magistrate Zhang said that we should go there when we are free, and he sent someone to take us there to collect the land."
Hou San's eldest son Shitou is seven years old today. He is as long as a charcoal. "Erlang, take these bones back and wash them. You can make soup again."
"Mulberry seedlings are small when they are first planted, but they will grow and they will not be pruned every year. There are 240 square steps per acre, and there is one tree per ten steps. A maximum of three trees can be planted, and usually two trees are planted.
When the tree is young, plant some more beans.”
In ordinary people's homes, if there are Ding, they will rent and tune out the mediocrity.
Hou San's eldest son Shitou put down the mulberry leaves and came over to help Huaiyu collect the bowl. After taking the bowl, he also picked up the sheep bones thrown away on the ground piece by piece and put them back into the bowl.
But if the land is not entirely owned by oneself, but belongs to a tenant farm or a landlord's house, and one still has to pay rent, then one can only make ends meet.
As soon as they entered the hospital, Wu Huaiyi and Cheng Chumo came back with them.
"Everyone is tired after going out early in the morning. Let's drink some mutton bone soup quickly."
Landowners have a lot of land, so they usually rent it directly to others and collect the rent. Some also hire people directly. There are two types of hiring. One is to hire workers. The landlord will provide the fields with seeds and even cattle and farm tools. In the end, the harvest will be the same as the landowners.
The guys agreed on a share of the property, and because the landlord produced a lot of things, the landlord got more from the share than from direct renting.
Shitou nodded, "Don't worry, Erlang, my dad and I cleaned it several times before cooking it yesterday. It's still clean!"
Huaiyu felt his stomach churn a little. Although he was not a very particular person, he had never eaten this kind of twice-cooked mutton bone soup.
Lao Wu was very calm next to him, still sucking a piece of sheep bone.
Cheng Chumo chuckled a few times and said, "We ate a few steamed cakes in the county town and our stomachs were still full, so we stopped eating."
