Wu Chao: Take the whole family to escape the famine

While the uncle was cooking, Shen Yue and the others chatted with the old lady again.

This village is called Lengjia Village, which is twenty or thirty miles away from Zongyang County.

The villagers grow rice and corn to make ends meet and have no other income.

As we chatted, the sky became dark.

There were no lamps at home, so we had to build a bonfire in the yard for lighting.

After a while, the uncle's rice was ready. Each person had a bowl of fragrant white rice, plus a side of fried bacon and dried bamboo shoots.

Shen Yuyu looked at the rice and bacon in front of him, and his heart was struck hard again.

This rice and this bacon, they must not be willing to eat like this during the Chinese New Year, right?
How could people not be moved by using it to entertain strangers?
Looking at the uncle himself, there is a bowl of white porridge that is thin and light.

It seems that the little rice that the uncle borrowed just now has been cooked in this meal.

"Son, you eat. Mom has no teeth and can't eat hard food."

The old woman pushed the rice in front of her son and replaced it with the bowl of gruel.

Uncle Leng blushed and dragged the porridge bowl over again.

"Mom, just eat quickly and don't let the guests laugh."

Throughout the year, you can only have a hard meal during the Chinese New Year. Mom is reluctant to eat, how can she not eat without teeth?
But he was embarrassed to say it. To be honest, the guests didn't eat well anymore.

Old Mrs. Leng couldn't say anything more, but her eye circles couldn't help but turn red. She quickly greeted Shen Yuyu and the others with a toothless smile.

"Come on, come on, three kids, hurry up and eat some vegetables.'

Uncle Leng picked up the plate and distributed all the dishes to the four people without any explanation. He kept some bamboo shoots and peppers but not a piece of bacon.

"Mom, you eat to replenish your body."

"Kids, you should eat too. Once you're full, you can go on the road tomorrow morning, so you won't be hungry on the way."

Shen Yuyu couldn't swallow this meal.

Although the three of them later gave Uncle Leng a bowl of hard rice at their insistence, they still had a bitter taste from the food.

The three sons served the country, bleeding and sweating on the battlefield, while the mother and disabled brother at home had no rice to cook. She did not want to see such a scene in the Great Zhou Kingdom.

After eating, he boiled a pot of hot water to cleanse his face, and then Uncle Leng arranged for the three of them to stay.

He didn't have to worry about not having a place to live. His family was originally full of children and grandchildren, but once the army was drafted, all the houses were empty, which made him feel desolate.

Shen Yuyu got up early the next morning, planning to visit the village to see how many families had been drafted into the army and had not received subsidies or pensions.

During this visit, we discovered that only one son from each household was left, and all the others were expropriated.

"Two years ago, the conscription was so great?" Shen Yuyu was very puzzled, "Isn't it true that one member per household is recruited?"

That is to say, if a family has three sons, only one will be drafted, and the only son does not need to be drafted. She remembers that this law has never changed.

Shadow nodded.

"The princess is right, it is indeed the case."

"According to my subordinates' speculation, the officials here must have been instigated by others to disobey the law and recruit troops so recklessly."

In this era, men are very important.

Not only are they the most important labor force, but they are also relied upon for growth. If the men are taken away in this way, the population will definitely wither in the future.

Once the population dwindles, who will work? Who will fight?
How to increase national power? Isn’t it equivalent to digging one’s own grave?
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, even the most bellicose emperors would not dare to recruit troops like this.

"It seems that the officials here are either Wei Yuande's comrades or Zhu Xiangyu's comrades." Shen Yuyu narrowed his eyes.

Both of these two men had expanded their troops without any lower limit, so the officials here must have been instructed by them to dare to defy the rules like this.

These people must be found out and killed as a warning to others.

Of course, this matter cannot be solved in a short time. It must be taken slowly. What is more important now is how to solve the poverty in Lengjiacun.

Shen Yuyu looked around as he thought about it. Looking at the thin fields of seedlings, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"There are too few fields here. Even if there is no tax, there is no way to support such a large population."

"We still have to find a way to increase their income, so that we can fully help them."

It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. She understands this truth better than anyone.

"Yes." Shadow agreed, "Every household has only porridge to eat all year round. Life is indeed difficult, but can we open up wasteland?"
Shen Yuyu glanced around, shook his head and said, "How long does it take to chop down such a big tree? Besides, if the tree is chopped down, the roots are deeply embedded in the soil and cannot be dug out. Next year, new branches will sprout and grow. Opening up wasteland won’t work.”

"Then there's nothing we can do." Shadow shook his head helplessly.

In this kind of mountain village, what else can they do besides farming? If they can't open up wasteland, there is really no other way to help them.

However, Shen Yuyu didn't think so. She relied on the mountains to live on the mountains and the water. It was impractical to hunt ferocious wild beasts in the mountains. But as a modern person, she knew that the secrets of making a fortune were also hidden in the mountains.Shen Yuyu looked up at the forest, staring at the branches and leaves of the big tree for a long time, and suddenly showed a hint of surprise.

"Those? Are they tea trees?" He said as he moved towards the edge of the forest. When he got closer, he saw that they were indeed tea trees.

Her grandmother in the countryside loved picking tea seeds and pressing tea oil, so she recognized it better than anyone else.

There are wild tea trees all over the mountains and fields, with branches thicker than washbasins, and the trees are densely covered with tea seeds.

If this happens in autumn when the tea seeds are ripe, the cracked and peeling tea seeds will be able to be swept away with a broom.

At this time, both Jiang Yuyu and Shadow followed, and they were a little puzzled when they saw Shen Yuyu looking at the tea forest with an excited face.

Jiang Yugu said strangely, "This is indeed a tea tree, but what can it be used for? The fruit it produces is astringent and cannot be eaten at all."

"Yes." Shadow agreed, "If we can eat, everyone will not be hungry."

"It's true that tea seeds can't be eaten, but they can be used to squeeze oil." Shen Yuyu affirmed, "The oil they squeeze out can be sold to Tianxia Commercial Bank. This kind of oil is good, and the fried vegetables are more fragrant than anything else."

Although Yingying and Jiang Yuyu were a little in disbelief, they knew that it was impossible for the princess to talk nonsense, and they immediately became happy.

"Let's go back to Uncle Leng's house." Shen Yue said and strode away from here.

Soon, the village head of Lengjia Village and the clan leader of Lengjia Village were invited to Uncle Leng's house, and the villagers were also surrounded outside.

The village chief and clan chief looked in disbelief after hearing Shen Yue's words.

"Is what Miss Shen said serious? Is it true that tea fruit can be squeezed for oil and sold for money?"

"Miss Shen will really send someone to teach us how to squeeze oil? Do we need to charge money?"

"If we need to collect money, we won't be able to get it, so we might as well forget it."

The village chief and clan chief looked a bit unconvinced in their words, and the villagers next to them also looked suspicious.

Sending someone to teach them how to extract oil and buying the extracted camellia oil at a high price, how could such a good thing happen?
"Maybe he is a liar." The onlookers began to whisper among themselves, "He must be defrauding people of money under the guise of teaching us how to get rich."

"Hmm, that must be the case, otherwise why would you tell us if there is such a good way to make money if we are not relatives?"

"No wonder I went around asking about the recruitment situation in the village in the morning. I must have seen that there are few men in our village, and I think women are easy to coax and want to deceive us."

Everyone was talking about it, but no one believed Shen Yue.

At this time, Uncle Leng and Grandma Leng took a step forward with red faces and defended Shen Yue, "Village chief and patriarch, I see that these three children are honest and will not lie to us. Everyone, please believe them."
Although the mountain people are also afraid of being cheated and are wary of others, the villagers also trust each other.

After listening to what Uncle Leng and Grandma Leng said, the village chief looked at Shen Yuyu seriously.

I feel that this girl does not look like a bad person, and the sincerity on her face cannot be fake.

Then he asked tentatively, "Miss Shen, do you need our money to do this? If not, then let's give it a try."

Shen Yuyu smiled and said, "No money required. Not only is there no money required, I will also give you a deposit."

"No money? Issue a deposit? Really?"

The scene immediately became excited, and everyone was ecstatic, with hope shining in their eyes.

Tea trees are all over the mountains and plains. In autumn, you just need to carry a basket to pick them up, and you don’t need a penny of capital. If you can really squeeze out the oil and sell it for money, wouldn’t everyone find a way to survive? No longer need to starve and freeze?
They looked at Shen Yuyu expectantly, hoping that she was not joking and that what she said was true.

Shen Yue smiled calmly in front of everyone's expectant eyes.

"of course it's true."

As he spoke, he took the bundle handed over by Jiang Yuyu, took out a bag of broken silver and put it on the table.

"Each household should pay a deposit of two taels of silver first. When the tea fruits mature and the tea oil is exploded in autumn, I will send someone to buy them."

All the money has been taken out, how can this be false? The village chief and the clan chief were so excited that they almost shed tears.

Uncle Leng and Grandma Leng also burst into tears.

Grandma Leng held Shen Yuyu's hand with red circles under her eyes.

"When I met them yesterday, I felt that I had a close affinity with these children. I didn't expect that you were actually sent by God to help us~
"Well, if my grandchildren who were taken away were here, they would be so sensible." As she spoke, the old lady wiped away her tears again.

Shen Yuyu felt sad again after hearing this. She hoped that after Lengjiacun became wealthy, the old woman's runaway daughter-in-law could come back and reunite with her family.

Shen Yue didn't know how to comfort her, so he nodded heavily to the old lady.

With the village head and clan leader present, each household soon handed out two taels of silver and signed a "Tea Oil Purchase Deed" to purchase the tea they squeezed out at a price more expensive than lard. Oil.

In addition, considering that tea seeds need to be sun-dried before oil can be extracted, and a large open-sun terrace is needed, Shen Yuyu decided to leave the construction of the sun-dried terrace to Uncle Leng.

Uncle Leng waved his hands repeatedly.

"Uncle can't do this. My leg is disabled and I'm afraid of causing trouble!"

"It won't be a mistake." Shen Yuyu looked at Uncle Leng's legs, "I know medical skills, maybe I can heal uncle's legs."