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Chapter 6 Life is so hard

Ever since he got caught in the rain and caught a cold, the family, which was already caring about Yunjing, became even more careful about him.

Yun Yu still takes care of him every step of the way, but she will never go out on cloudy and rainy days, nor will she go out at noon in the scorching sun. She will not take Yun Jing on the road at night. She will definitely arrive home before dark, even in dangerous areas such as waterside.

Won't go!

They try their best to prevent any accidents from happening.

Afterwards, Yunjing listened to his parents chatting and learned that he almost died of the cold and fever. The doctor said that he could survive it just because he was being naive.

Regarding the doctor's statement, Yunjing did not think it was exaggerated, because in ancient times when medical conditions were backward, life was too fragile, as fragile as duckweed without roots, and it might be gone at some point.

He was in a coma for two days and three nights. The family kept watch over him without closing their eyes, for fear that the child would be dead when he fell asleep...

In modern times with advanced medical conditions, a small cold and fever are not a problem at all, but such a small cold almost killed Yunjing. Although he survived, the family not only emptied their savings, but also owed money to the town.

Going to a medical clinic costs only one or two eight cents, which makes an already poor family even worse!

The main reason is that some medicinal materials are too expensive, especially those used for babies like him, so there is nothing to be careless about.

How much is one or two eight cents of silver?

Equivalent to one hundred and eighty copper plates.

It sounds very little, right, but you have to know that at the current price, one kilogram of coarse grain costs one copper coin, which is equivalent to one hundred and eighty kilograms of grain!

It seems that there is still not much, right? Then, from another perspective, the current productivity is low, and the yield of one acre of rice is just over two hundred kilograms, and that is under good weather conditions.

In other words, the grain output from one acre of land can barely pay off the medical clinic's debts in one year.

"My family has more than 20 acres of land. It seems that it is not difficult to sell the grain from one acre of land and pay back the debt to the medical clinic, but that's not how the account is calculated..."

Yunjing was filled with sorrow when he thought about the fact that his family was in debt because of his medical treatment.

The longer he stayed in this home and the more information he learned, the more he understood how difficult the life of poor farmers was.

In a blink of an eye, it was already the autumn harvest season. Yunjing was sitting in a basket covered with straw under a willow tree at the edge of his field. In the field not far away, his parents and grandfather were harvesting mature rice.

There is obviously no high-yielding hybrid rice in this world, and there are no chemical fertilizers that can increase production. Even farmyard manure is not used, and there are no herbicides and insecticides. The only way to increase production in fertile land is probably plant ash.

Therefore, Yunjing felt sad looking at the rice in his field.

There are no heavy ears of rice. The plants are slender and thin. Can you believe that the ears of rice are pointing straight up like wheat? Moreover, the grains are not full, and they look malnourished at first glance.

Based on the scene in front of him, Yunjing seriously doubted whether one acre of rice could yield two hundred kilograms.

It's a year of hard work, in the wind and rain, from early morning to late night. In the previous life, with this little output, a farmer would have given up work long ago. He probably wouldn't even be in the mood to harvest.

However, for poor farmers like Yunjing's family, it is a living ration. The weather has been smooth this year, which can be called a bumper harvest...

The harvest is always joyful, and the smiles on the faces of my parents and grandfather cannot be faked. Even if they are sweating profusely, even if they are too tired to stand upright, their faces are full of happiness.

When he thought of the grain output of at least one thousand kilograms per mu in his previous life, and then looked at him in front of him, Yun Jing really didn't know how to describe his feelings.

Congested.

In view of the current food production situation, Yunjing has given up hope on his own other food crop production, which will definitely be less than this.

His family's paddy fields are all planted with rice, while the dry land is planted with soybeans and wheat. There are almost no other cash crops...

There are no oxen, no plows, no fertilizers, no threshing machines, everything depends on hands...

“It’s too far away from intensive farming, but things will definitely get better in the future!”

Yun Jing watched silently, thinking in his heart.

He is still too young and can only watch and not be of any help. If he doesn't cry or make trouble and doesn't cause trouble to his family, that's the greatest help he can do.

Because they are afraid that natural disasters such as storms will cause no harvest, every household is working hard to harvest grains. Even if the neighbors are only separated by a field ridge and they don’t have much communication, every minute and every second is of great significance to the current farmers.

are particularly important.

Therefore, even Jiang Susu, who specializes in taking care of Yunjing, has to take him to the fields to help during this season.

Fortunately, Yunjing is really well-behaved, which allows them to concentrate on harvesting the crops without having to distract too much from him.

The harvest season was busy and short. God took care of it and did not bring disaster. I spent most of the month busy, and every household in the village finished harvesting and returned the grains to the warehouse.

However, this does not mean that the harvested food is yours!

Agricultural civilization and feudal system require taxes.

That day, when the tax collector came to Yunjing's house, he was so sad that he wanted to burst into tears.

Perhaps it has become a habit. The tax collector just came to go through the motions, making an announcement and then went to the next house. But when those people representing the authority of the dynasty appeared, everyone in the whole village, including Yunjing's family, had no gain on their faces.

of joy.

Grain tax is levied based on land production, not land production per mu!

One acre of paddy field requires a tax of 100 kilograms of rice. Yunjing's 11 acres of paddy field requires a tax of 1100 kilograms of rice. The tax is still required to dry the water and separate the shriveled part!

One acre of dry land requires a tax of sixty kilograms of grain. The Yunjing family has 12 acres, whether it is beans or wheat. The requirements are the same as rice, and the water needs to be dried and the shriveled parts need to be separated.

How can such a tax rate be described by the word "heavy tax"?

Of course, it’s okay not to turn over the grain, but the money can be converted into the current market price and used as grain tax.

As for whether farmers cannot afford to pay taxes due to various reasons, this issue is not something that officials need to consider at all. They just issue notices. Why don't you try to pay taxes?

But the damn thing is, whether you use money to pay tax or food to pay tax, the farmer needs to personally send it to the town responsible for taxation!

Without means of transport, the journey of dozens of miles would have to be carried on shoulders and backs.

After a year of hard work, most of the food was turned in as taxes, and the rest...

It’s not necessarily yours!

Why do you say that?

Because people living today have to pay taxes in many places. If your family gives birth to a child, I’m sorry, you need to pay extra tax. Your family needs to build a house? Haha, there is also a building tax, even if you marry a daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law.

Gotta pay taxes...

There are so many different things. I don’t know how to describe my mood after learning about these cloud scenes.

He has seen the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in ancient times.

However, he didn't know whether he should be grateful that this country did not collect taxes for the next few decades...

What kind of fucking world is this!

No wonder, no wonder there are acres of mountains and forests behind the village, but no villager is willing to expend effort to cut down trees and build houses. They would rather live in a ruined house with mud walls than expend that effort.

Because you have to pay taxes when building a house!

So, in order to treat him, the Yunjing family owed the town's medical clinic one or two or eight yuan of silver. Is it still a small debt?

It can be said that it is really a heavy figure that makes people almost breathless!

His family has 23 acres of land, and the tax on paddy fields is 1,100 jins, and the tax on dry land is 720 jins, which adds up to a total of 1,820 jins. After paying the taxes, his family has only 1,000 jins of food left.

About 200 kilograms, this is the family's ration for the next year.

However, with only about 1,200 kilograms of rations, nearly 200 kilograms had to be sold to pay off the debt!

The remaining one thousand kilograms of grain, in the absence of oil and water, can be ignored by the three adults in his family. Yunjing is still young, and even if each of the three adults only eats one and a half kilograms of grain a day,

That's forty-five pounds a month, and in a year...

Not enough to eat, far from it, far from enough to sustain next year's harvest.

Not counting other sources of income, just this food will have to bear the burden of accidents such as illness in the next year!

Life... is too difficult...


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