Farming at the beginning, I rely on business to counterattack and become a princess

Chapter 16

The paddy has to be hulled before it becomes rice.

There is a rice mill in Wenjia Village, which is jointly opened by several big households in the village and the Zhangjia rice store in the city. The mill mainly husks the rice produced by several big households, and also buys rice from the surrounding ten miles and eight towns.

The majority of the mill's capital is the Zhang family in the city, and the Zhang family has more than 40 mu of land in Wenjia Village, all of which are handed over to tenant farmers for cultivation.

The rice of the landlord’s family is sent here for shelling, and some rich peasants with a little more land and middle peasants with a small population, such as Wenxiang’s family, will also send their rice to the mill for shelling, and the mill charges a certain fee.

As for ordinary poor villagers, they are not willing to spend money to go to the mill to shell their shells. They all use stone mills or stone mortars to grind and pound rice by themselves.

Except for the 32 liters handed over to the government, most of the twelve-stone rice harvested by Wen Xiang’s family is stored in urns or earthen pots in the form of grain. They take five or six buckets of rice every month to shell and hustle enough to provide enough food. The mill only charges five money.

There are relatively few non-staple foods in the village, and most of them can only rely on staple food to satisfy their hunger. Five or six buckets of rice per month are not enough for young and strong laborers, but Wenxiang eats less staple food, loves green vegetables, and eats porridge half the time and rice half the time Yes, I can get by.

Farmers don't have much free time throughout the year. After finishing their tax work, they have to start preparing for planting in the second half of the year.

Because of the fertility of the land, only rice is planted here for one season, and soybeans, edamame, and peanuts are generally planted in the second half of the year.

Last year, the government started to promote the cultivation of sweet potatoes, yams, and jade, but no one dared to eat crabs: If the government says you can plant them, do you?This honest man has not been tricked once or twice.

It is the custom in Wenjia Village to grow beans and peanuts, and no one dares to try new crops lightly.

Smell the fragrance but not be afraid, this sweet potato is easy to grow and has a high yield, of course it is planted.

Although her family has successfully got rid of the haze of corvée, the security chief may have another way. She feels that besides making a small amount of money, the top priority is to make a small amount of money.

Growing high-yielding crops is a way to go without finding other ways to make money.

Wen Dao, who was praised by the patriarch and got rid of the corvee, was very happy, so when Wen Xiang proposed to plant sweet potatoes, he did not strongly object and agreed to go to the town to find Mr. Situ to learn about it.

"Brother, what does this Si Tujun do?"

"Lord Si Tu is the agricultural official in the county government responsible for teaching people how to farm."

"I haven't heard of it, so is this official?"

"(⊙o⊙)..., it's not too big or small, it's from a ninth-rank official." Wen Dao was dumbfounded by the question.

"From the ninth rank? Is the magistrate the seventh rank?"

"correct."

Hehe, from Ninth Grade!That's the lowest grade, and the big brother's requirements are really not high.

It has been almost a year since Wen Xiang came to Yongjia, and he hasn't carefully studied the government structure here, so he took advantage of this to ask: "Brother, what is the year name this year?"

"14 years of Yongjia."

"Oh, the emperor—" Wen Xiang lowered his voice and asked secretly: "Brother, do you know the name of the emperor?"

"Hush! How can you ask the emperor's name!"

"Hey, I know, I understand the rules, and now there is no one around, so you can tell me secretly."

Wen Dao frowned, the little girl's request was a bit outrageous, she wanted to know why the emperor's name was taboo, she didn't want to tell her, but she was worried that the lawless girl would ask others indiscriminately, so she had to tell Wen Xiang again and again: "Just keep it in your heart, don't worry about it." Don't say it.

As a result, Wen Xiang successfully got a strange name——Emperor Yongjia Xiao Mingzhen.

She thought: This is indeed a strange world, but if it is strange, it is strange, and being a prophet may not be a good thing.

Wen Xiang turned around and put the matter behind her: "Brother, do you think we can meet this Lord Situ when we enter the city?"

"Yes, I heard from the patriarch that Master Situ works outside the county government office. Go there and make sure you can see him."

It is better to hit the sun than to choose the day. The next day, the brother and sister went straight to Chengnan County.

When the two came to the county government office, they saw that the gate was closed tightly, and there were not many ghosts around; a big drum was set up at the gate, and if the drum was played, someone would definitely answer the door.

However, only a fool would beat the big drum, and it's not that they need to be beaten. The two of them had a tacit understanding and looked to both sides, but besides the wall, there was still a wall.

The brother and sister looked confused, and the big drum was not allowed to be beaten, so the two searched along the fence, and went around to the back door of the county government office before seeing the so-called "office outside the county government office".

The county government opened a back door, and there were two shops next to it. There were a lot of people at the door, and many people were dragging or carrying rice to rush here. It seems that this is still a tax office.

The two squeezed in from the side of the tax booth, only to find that there were not many people in the shop, only people in twos and threes, standing or sitting there bored, compared with the tax collectors at the door, That's really a tired dog, and a flustered idleness.

Seeing someone coming in, all eyes "swipe" and focus on Wen Dao and Wen Xiang.

"My lords, good afternoon. I want to visit Lord Situ." Wen Dao said a little nervously.

"Oh, I am." A person who was tinkering with things on the shelf turned around and replied, he was a little surprised when he saw Wen Dao and Wen Xiang: this is not likely to be someone who will come to him.

After Wen Dao babbled and expressed his intention clearly, Si Tujun already smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, these sweet potatoes and yams are good things, I heard from Fucheng that they came from the other side of the sea, and the harvest is very high. "

"How tall is extra tall?" Wen Xiang interjected abruptly.

Uh——, how tall?If he knew, he would have planted it by himself, and he is still talking nonsense with you here, these two people are here to make trouble, Si Tujun is a little unhappy: "In short, it is taller than soybeans and peanuts, what do you know, girl! "

"That's right, what do you know about movies, you little girl?" The boring people next to him immediately sang a duet echoing Si Tujun.

"Yes, yes, I don't understand." Seeing that something was wrong, Wen Xiang immediately curled his eyelashes, blinked his eyes and began to act cutely: "Master Situ——, this potato and jade grow What's it like?"

"What does it look like?" Si Tujun twirled his beard and smiled awkwardly but politely. He didn't know, but don't be afraid, he has the seeds sent by his superiors.

Si Tujun led Wen Dao to the corner, pointed to a pile of things and said, "Hey, these are the seeds of sweet potatoes, artichokes and jade."

Wen Xiang poked his head and looked, hehe, apart from sweet potatoes, the other two are sprouted potatoes and moldy corn kernels. I don’t know if the seeds that have been ravaged like this can still be planted?
Wen Dao was also stunned by the terrifying shape of these seeds, and the scene was a little silent for a while.

Seeing that the idiot who came to the door was about to retreat, Si Tujun tried his best to turn the tide: "The seeds here are all free. If you are willing to plant them, then you only need to pay [-]% of the land tax at the beginning of next year."

"Is this true?" Wen Xiang's eyes lit up, but she couldn't help but speak out.

Si Tujun didn't know why this girl kept interrupting, but the adult standing next to her kept silent.

Last year, Fucheng issued the task of promoting the cultivation of sweet potatoes, artichokes and jade, but it is not so easy to fool the common people. He has been trying his best to promote them. From last year to this year, no one is willing to be the first to be taken advantage of.

At the beginning of the year, the county magistrate had already said that no matter what this year, the sweet potatoes, yams, and jade must be planted in the ground, otherwise he would have to take his hat off.

What is he worried about?I wonder if it's time to "sacrifice my life to feed the tiger": just take a small piece of my own land and try to plant it.

Unexpectedly, today a fool actually offered to deliver a pillow to the door. It was really someone delivering a pillow just as he was about to doze off, so he had to sell it no matter what.

"Of course it's true. I can assure you of what the county magistrate said in person." Si Tujun slapped his chest hard, almost swearing.

Unfortunately, I heard that even though he was a half-baked farmer, he was not able to plant this terrible seed in the ground, so he showed embarrassment: "Lord Si Tu, this——, let the villain go back and think about it first." .”

"What else are you thinking about? Such a good thing, others can't even look forward to it."

"My lord, this——, I'm afraid I still have to go back and report to the adults at home." Wen Dao said, and he wanted to turn around and leave.

"Hey, don't go, don't go!" Si Tujun didn't care about etiquette, he grabbed Wen Dao's arm, and Wen Dao backed up again and again, and his body fell backwards. little lady.

Seeing this scene, Wen Xiang couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Brother, why don't we give it a try."

"Little sister——" Wen Dao quickly winked at her.

"Brother, you see that Master Situ is so enthusiastic and sincere, we should not disappoint Master Situ's kindness."

"Well, little girl, you are so right." Si Tujun let go of Wen Dao, turned to Wen Xiang, and praised repeatedly.

"Lord Si Tu, our family only has four acres of land, and now we can only try to plant two acres of land, do you think it's okay?" Wen Xiang returned with a smile.

"Okay, okay, no problem." Si Tujun repeatedly agreed, two acres of land is already very good, after all, the good people who cooperate with the government so well, can't let them have nothing to eat, we still have to leave some food for them.

"Come on, come on, let me register for you." Si Tujun's sweet potato, yam and jade planting record book finally came in handy.

"Master Situ, this land tax is only [-]%, is it [-]% of the four mu of land? Or is it [-]% of the two mu of land?" Wen Xiang asked again.

"Well, I'm afraid if it's based on two mu of land—" Si Tujun didn't finish his sentence.

Wen Dao immediately struggled and said: "Then let's forget about it." After finishing speaking, he wanted to drag Wen Xiang away.

"Oh, what's the rush, I haven't finished my sentence yet. It's the usual practice. However, since I hit it off with this little brother, I will naturally give you special treatment. It will be counted on the basis of four acres of land." In order to attract customers, Mr. Situ spared no expense.

After Si Tujun completed the registration, Wen Dao was dying and struggling, so he could only stretch out his trembling fingers to press his own fingerprint on the record book.

After Wen Dao signed the "Deed of Sale", Si Tujun immediately put away his baby record book, and then waved his hand to signal Wen Dao to pick the seeds himself: choose whichever you want?Take as much as you want?Anyway, there is no next one.

(End of this chapter)