In April, Fanjiazhuang ushered in a bumper harvest of winter wheat.
Although there was little rain last year and the harvest in the dry fields with poor irrigation was poor, the rivers near Fanjiazhuang did not stop flowing. Li Zhi's dry fields relied on three rivers for irrigation, and they were all well fed. After one winter, the harvest was good.
Mr. Ni from Deyuan New Village also had a bumper harvest. He is a good man. He knows how deep to plow the fields and when to apply fertilizer. He can harvest one stone and two buckets of grain per acre of dry land. He and his wife share the land.
We rented forty acres of dry land and harvested forty-seven shi of wheat by April.
The money for cotton-padded jackets and farm tools was settled with the General last year. This year, we only need to deduct the land rent of fourteen dan and one dou of grain to the general, deduct one stone and two dou of cattle silver, and then deduct the one-stone house money returned to the general.
That's enough. Boss Ni can leave thirty shi and seven buckets of grain. The four members of Boss Ni's family eat 11 shi of wheat a year. Boss Ni can still have a balance of 19 shi and seven buckets of grain. He leaves two
This year's winter wheat seeds will be used as seeds for this year's winter wheat. Boss Ni still has a surplus of seventeen shi and seven buckets of grain.
Now that it has been nearly two years since the Tatars invaded, the price of food in Gyeonggi has returned to normal, almost two taels of silver per stone. In the general's cheap grain store, Boss Ni exchanged seventeen stones and seven buckets of grain for thirty-five taels.
Money.
This was a large sum of money. When he went home with thirty-five taels of silver, Mr. Ni was a little nervous for fear of being robbed.
These days, a set of cotton summer clothes only costs four cents of silver, a set of winter clothes only costs one or two and a half cents of silver, and a live chicken only costs one cent of silver. Thirty-five taels of silver can keep Mr. Ni and his family from lacking anything.
In the days when he was well-off, his income level was almost the same as that of the workers in Li Zhi's workshop.
Li Zhi's waterwheels and irrigation canals changed the fate of 10,000 farmers.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was no shortage of farmland or land. What was lacking was organizational ability and water conservancy projects. What was lacking was the power to defeat the pretenders. Li Zhi had the power to repel nearby pretenders and the power to protect his own industry. He organized some water conservancy projects.
The project has helped farmers get rid of poverty and become rich.
When farmers got rich, they not only bought land, but also built houses. The next day after Mr. Ni exchanged his money, he went to find the masons to expand the family house. However, Mr. Ni found that he was late. The two thousand masons stationed in Fanjiazhuang had already arrived.
They were hired out by the farmers who had a great harvest.
The first reaction of farmers who have had a good harvest is to expand their houses. Boss Ni wants to make an appointment with a mason, so he has to queue up.
Boss Ni shook his head and returned to his yard, only to see his cousin Meng Yousan sitting in his house with his wife.
As soon as Boss Ni saw his cousin coming, he knew his purpose and said loudly:
"Cousin, wait a minute while I buy a duck to entertain you!"
Without saying a word, Boss Ni went to the town market and bought a duck to entertain Meng Yousan. Since the wheat matured last spring and farmers had income, a small town has been formed two miles north of Deyuan New Village.
Those who sell vegetables, meat, chickens and ducks serve the wealthy farmers in several nearby villages.
After this year's winter wheat harvest, the farmers have become richer and the town has become more lively. The butcher in the town kills a pig every day, and the chicken and duck sellers are even more sinful. They don't know how many chickens and ducks are killed in a day.
.
In the evening, in Mr. Ni's house, Mr. Ni's family of four and Meng Yousan and his wife had a sumptuous dinner. There were dry-fried bacon, braised duck, various vegetables, rice wine bought in the town, and
Full rice.
Meng Yousan and his wife were used to suffering, and their mouths watered when they saw such food. They wolfed down the food and howled as if they had been hungry for days. This look frightened Boss Ni's son so much that he didn't even dare to pick up vegetables.
Although Ni's family of four does not eat meat every day, after this month's harvest, they still eat meat every three days. The Ni family is much calmer when they see a table of meat. Compared with Meng Yousan and his wife who are gobbling up meat, they are on a lower level.
The child came out. In the end, the four members of the Ni family seemed to think that Meng Yousan and his wife were too miserable and refused to compete with them for food. They only put down their chopsticks after eating a bowl of rice with a few pieces of vegetables.
Before Meng Yousan could react, he stuffed meat into his mouth and said, "Eat, why don't you eat meat?"
Boss Ni took a sip of rice wine and said calmly: "You eat, we have eaten meat in the morning, and now we have no appetite."
Meng Yousan saw Boss Ni drinking, and then he remembered that there was a bowl of wine in front of him. He quickly raised it and took a sip. The fragrant rice wine entered his stomach. Meng Yousan breathed a sigh of satisfaction and said loudly: "Donkey Hair Ball, this is
People’s lives are so miserable over there in Baodi, I didn’t even eat meat during the Chinese New Year this year!”
Mr. Ni laughed, lit the cigarette with a fire sickle, and smoked slowly, waiting for Meng Yousan to finish his meal.
Meng Yousan looked at Boss Ni who was smoking dry cigarettes with a confused look on his face, and secretly thought that the Ni family was so rich that they even smoked dry cigarettes. He had only seen this kind of dry cigarettes once, from the master in the village, and had never seen such dry cigarettes before.
Smoked.
Meng Yousan felt shocked by all the differences he saw in Ni's house. If he had seen Mr. Ni smoking in the past, he would have snatched the dry cigarette away and smoked a few puffs at the word "Ni". But now he looked at the wealthy Mr. Ni
, Meng Yousan felt a sense of class disparity, as if he saw the village master and did not dare to do anything for a while.
Meng Yousan then remembered that he was so embarrassed eating meat, so he slowed down the chopsticks in his hands and ate slower.
Boss Ni waited while smoking. It wasn't until Meng Yousan burped and put down his chopsticks that Boss Ni said, "My cousin came to my house with my cousin, right?"
Li Zhi's 10,000 tenants are very wealthy, and their fame has spread to several neighboring counties. The poor tenants nearby all hope to come to Fanjiazhuang to farm for Li Zhi, and there are too many people who want to come. So Li Zhi recruited the second
To recruit a batch of farmers, it is required that the first batch of farmers must act as guarantees to ensure that there are no spies involved.
Meng Yousan eagerly wanted to enter Fanjiazhuang to do business, so of course he had no choice but to ask Boss Ni to be his guarantor. Without Boss Ni as his guarantor, Meng Yousan would not be able to enter Fanjiazhuang even if he wanted to be Li Zhi's tenant farmer.
Boss Ni licked his lips and said: "To tell you the truth, cousin, there are already five relatives who have come to beg me to be my guarantee. You are the sixth." After a pause, Boss Ni said: "But
According to the rules of the General, I can only protect one family this year. It will be difficult to deal with whoever I protect or not!"
Meng Yousan looked at Boss Ni longingly and said: "Boss Ni, we have been playing together since childhood. You can't make sense if you don't protect me from entering the village!"
Boss Ni took the last puff of the dry cigarette, then knocked on the leg of the table to knock out the burned tobacco from the dry cigarette, and said: "You are right, let's play big together. Ever since we were little, you have looked down on me.
They call me Nee, but they have never bullied me! And everyone else has taken advantage of me because I am an honest person!"
Boss Ni put the dry tobacco on the table and said: "So, I will protect your family, Meng Yousan! This year, you will go to Jinghai County to plant 40 acres of dry land with canals!"
"real?"
"Can I still have a holiday? Tomorrow I will take you to the city to be a surety!"
When Meng Yousan heard what Boss Ni said, he jumped up from his chair with excitement, squatted on the chair, and said loudly: "Boss Ni, you are so loyal!"
Boss Ni's words changed the fate of Meng Yousan's family. How could Meng Yousan and his wife not be excited? Meng Yousan's daughter-in-law clutched Meng Yousan's pants tightly, and her eyes were so excited that she shed tears.
"The child's father is fine now and can have enough to eat."
Meng Yousan glanced at his wife, and couldn't help but shed tears. He hugged his wife's head and said, "My dear mother, you will have a good life now! Our two daughters will not starve!"
Boss Ni looked at the excited Meng Yousan and his wife and said nothing. He took out some more shredded tobacco from the cigarette bag, put it in the mouth of the pipe, lit it, and took a puff slowly.
