As the sky turns white in the east, the roosters in the farmers' houses begin to crow, and a middle-aged couple snoring in a thatched hut is awakened by the roosters' crowing.
"Child's mother, get up!" The middle-aged man rubbed his eyes and pushed the woman beside him awake.
"Oh!" The woman crawled up with a grunt, her hands and feet were numb to the body of the katsura, the woman put on the clothes, the hair casually smoothed out, and drilled into the kitchen to make breakfast for the whole family.
The middle-aged man put on his clothes and went to his own pit to relieve himself, the pit at home is newly dug, the original family urination and defecation are in front of the house and the back of the casually solved. Since March, the village came to a technical guide, the middle-aged man specializing in their own home dug a pit, this pit is for the accumulation of fertilizer only.
The middle-aged man is a native of the throat mouth, his ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years, but whether it is the middle-aged man, or the middle-aged man's father and grandfather, planted a lifetime of fields, but never knew that you can use to pour manure to improve the fertility of the field. His grandparents planted fields to accumulate field strength by crop rotation, that is, if the family planted forty acres of land, they only planted twenty acres each year, deserted twenty acres of long grass, and in the second year, planted in the fields with long grass, and the fields that had been planted in the last year were left idle to restore the strength of the land, and this kind of cultivation is called crop rotation.
The village came to the technical guidance know a lot, farmers as long as there is what do not understand to seek advice, that technical guidance as long as the books in the hands of the flip, always find the answer to the farmers. The village is in the technical guidance of the guidance, the fields of the summer harvest mu yield yield much higher than in previous years. Knowing that as long as the manure of people and livestock watered to the field can maintain the strength of the field, the middle-aged man will be all the fields of the family planted crops, but the crops planted are different from the previous year's soybeans, and corn, but potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, the original traditional crops only planted soybeans, corn is not planted again.
The middle-aged man's family's forty fields have also changed, the original fields are owned by a feudal lord in Wei, the middle-aged man is considered to be renting, and every year he has to pay one-third of the harvest of the fields to the feudal lord, in addition to paying taxes on the fields, he also has to bear the corv้ service, auxiliary military service, last winter the place was occupied by the army of the State of Wu, the vast majority of the fields were returned to the state of Wu, and after the beginning of the spring, the new young governor of the county will be the land re-allocation, the middle-aged man's family was only allocated half of the original fields, and most of the farmers in the village are also like this. After the beginning of spring, the new young county magistrate redistributed the land, the middle-aged man's family was only allocated half of the original fields, and most of the farmers in the village were the same, the extra fields were temporarily deserted, and it was said that they were to be allocated to the refugees and the retired soldiers in the army.
Farmers had a strong opinion about losing half of their fields at once, but the new county governor collected a very low tax on the fields, only one-tenth of the harvest, and farmers did not have to serve in corv้ or military service, and they could apply for a loan from the government to raise cows, horses, and goats while planting their fields.
Farmers can afford to raise sheep, cattle and horses can not afford to raise, because the value of cattle and horses is very high, the purchase of cattle and horse cubs money is very much, raising livestock and need technology, in case of the death of the livestock raised, is equal to the family's bankruptcy, farmers have the money do not dare to take the risk, not to mention the throat of the Weizi people, is still struggling to subsistence line, the farmers did not dare to have such a thought. Cattle and horses have always been the livestock that only noble families could afford to raise.
After the arrival of the new county governor, he posted announcements on the walls of Qucheng and Throat Mouth Cities, encouraging farmers to raise cattle and horses as well; farmers who had a letter of credit issued by a local person of prestige could go to the officials to receive cattle, sheep and horses or cubs, and they could also receive a loan for rearing; the cattle, sheep and horses, the money for the cubs, and the loan were to be repaid in three years, and if the livestock died in the course of raising, the officials would help to bear half of the loss, and when the cattle and sheep were reared, the officials would buy them at market price, and farmers could also buy and sell them freely in the market.
The middle-aged man was not well versed in raising cattle and horses, but the official government would volunteer to help raise the farmers to provide breeding technology of the public, so that the middle-aged man has the courage, the middle-aged man love to do a hundred days of dreaming, always fantasizing that his family will one day also be able to brocade. If he succeeded in raising cattle and horses, the reward would exceed the income from his fields. His two sons and two daughters were growing up, the eldest son was already fourteen, and the eldest daughter was already twelve, and in five or six years' time, his sons and daughters would have to discuss their marriage, and without money and silk at home, how could he find a good wife for his sons and a good husband for his daughters?
In order to have a better life in the future, the middle-aged man wheedled the matriarch to vouch for him, and went to the official to receive a mare and a foal, and five head of sheep back to raise, and in the middle-aged man's village, only the middle-aged man had the guts to do this.
The middle-aged man urinated and ran to the side room to wake up his children, the youngest child was seven years old and could do some work for the family. Hearing the children's hip and soprano dressing sound, the middle-aged man left the side house, drilled into the mare and foal cover the barn, hold some soybean to the manger to feed the two babies, and will be scattered to the next door of the barn of grass to the five sheep, four sheep are ewes, are pregnant with the sheep cubs, and a few days after the birth of the sheep cubs will be born, the number of livestock in the middle-aged man's home will increase. When the children woke up and had breakfast, the mare and foal would be led by the children to graze in the grassland on the outskirts of the village. The middle-aged man loved the mare and foal as if they were the apple of his eye.
The middle-aged man had tended to the livestock at home, and a melodious horn sound came from the distance, that was the signal for the soldiers at the mouth of the throat to get up, and every day at this time, the soldiers would listen to the horn to get up and train.
The middle-aged man squinted and looked into the distance, he envied those soldiers in his heart, the treatment of those soldiers let the middle-aged man is very greedy, but unfortunately he is not in the recruitment conditions, but his eighteen year old brother-in-law good luck, at the end of last year when the General Wei conscription, was recruited into the army, and now in the army well-fed and well dressed, every month there are five gold soldier's pay can be taken to the age of twenty-five years old retired, will also be receiving a discharge, but will also be divided into Twenty acres of good land to cultivate, brother-in-law after the discharge of the share of good land and he is the same, are thirty years of the period of time, in the middle of this as long as the planting of crops, pay taxes every year on the line, if you do not plant deserted, the field will be the official retrieval of the children and grandchildren will never have the opportunity to share the land.
The middle-aged man's brother-in-law's body stout, into the army as a sword and shield hand, every morning training, noon practice word, afternoon continue training. Last month brother-in-law vacation, had brought gifts to visit, the middle-aged man found his brother-in-law thin some, black some, but the essence of the better than ever.
"Ah Father!" The middle-aged man's eldest son came out with his clothes on and hurriedly greeted his father when he saw him.
"Big cub, after breakfast, take your brother to graze farther away, the grass near the village is not tender." Only the middle-aged man in the village had the guts to go to the government on credit to bring back livestock to be stored, but in the surrounding villages, there were several farmers who also went on credit, and once there were more livestock, the grass near the village was not enough for the livestock to feed on, so they had to graze farther away.
"Child knows." The middle-aged man's eldest son responded to his father's request and wandered into the pit to urinate.
The middle-aged man looked at the big son's skinny figure, sighed slightly, if the big son's body is strong, after two more years, the middle-aged man would like to let his own son go to be a soldier, but unfortunately, the malnutrition from childhood has made the big son's development very skinny and weak. I heard that next year the throat mouth of the city will open a school, all children over the age of six can go in to literacy, my eldest son next year is only fifteen, is not considered an adult, is not it also can go to school? If you learn to read and write, you can become an official, and the treatment of an official is also very favorable, for the weak body of the eldest child, it is a pretty good road, even if the eldest child can not go, the youngest child is within the age. Even if the eldest child can't go, the youngest child is within the age. Not only do you not have to pay the tuition fee to go to school to learn to read and write, you can also have a free meal at noon, and the eight-year-old child can't do any heavy work at home, so it's not a big deal to go to school for more than ten miles to the city.
The middle-aged man heart for the two sons planning, as for the two daughters, he did not think much, one is the daughter later married is someone else's family, two daughters can help the family work, has been indispensable help, he will earn more money for his daughter more dowry, for them to find a good man home, has been the biggest responsibility for them.
The middle-aged man went to wash his hands and face, and returned to his room, his wife had already made breakfast, and when the middle-aged man sat down on the futon, the woman had already brought the breakfast to the wooden board in front of the futon, and there was no table in their house, and all the food was put on top of the board, and the family ate around the board.
The middle-aged man's house not only does not have any furniture, even dishes and chopsticks are not much, food is basically with a large clay pot, a family of big and small grabbed with their hands to share the food.
After the middle-aged man sat down, his four sons and daughters arrived one after another and knelt down on a futon, which was woven from grass, at the bottom of their father's head.
"This corn smells so good!" The middle-aged man's three older children didn't make much noise while they ate, except for the youngest, who was lively and always talked while he ate.
"Don't eat too much." The middle-aged man smiled as he instructed the little child, who was the youngest and most loved by the couple. The little child would overeat his favorite things to eat a bad stomach.
The morning meal at the middle-aged man's house was boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn; the potatoes were from May, the sweet potatoes had just been harvested yesterday, and the corn was not yet ready for harvest; it was the tender corn that had been picked in passing when the sweet potatoes were harvested yesterday.
"Father, we will have this food every day at home from now on, right?" Xiao Er devoured and nibbled on the corn, which was tender and sweet, and tasted better than both the potatoes and sweet potatoes that he had originally thought were very tasty; the potatoes had been eaten from May to September, and Xiao Er was already a bit tired of them, but Xiao Er didn't dare to say that he was tired of the potatoes; after all, this time last year, the family was still starving, and had to often fill up their stomachs with bitter, wild vegetables.
"It should get better and better, it will never go back to the original." The middle-aged man's hand paused, nowadays being able to eat a full meal every day was something the middle-aged man had not enjoyed for nearly five years.
"Children's father, today is the market, you bring some sweet potatoes to the market to exchange for some salt back, well, if you can exchange for some cotton cloth is even better, the day is going to be cooler, the child has to make some thick clothes." The woman came out from the kitchen and brought a pot of boiled water for her family, the technician who came from the village said that not drinking raw water will make you less sick, since the people in the village listened to the words of the technician, they all switched to drinking boiled water, the chances of having a stomachache are much less.
"Wait I'll go borrow a wooden cart from Old Man Wang." The middle-aged man nodded, Elder Wang was a farmer in the village who knew the carpenter's craft, that wooden cart was something he had seen elsewhere, and went home to build himself, carrying things on a long road was very labor-saving.
"Elder Wang must have gone to the bazaar himself, if our family wants to change things, their family will do the same." The woman skimmed her lips and reminded her husband.
"Then I'll pick two baskets to exchange some, and then two more baskets in the middle of the month, there's a bazaar every ten days anyway." The middle-aged man didn't care if he couldn't exchange it all at once.
"This can also be." The woman thought about it and felt that it could only be like this, but she added, "I'll go with you in the middle of the month, I'll also pick two baskets to go, there are too many sweet potatoes at home, it's good to exchange them for money and silk and come back to put them away."
Middle-aged man home in May when the harvest of potatoes, because the yield of potatoes had been exultant, do not want to wait until the harvest of sweet potatoes, the yield is more than potatoes, pay off one-tenth of the tax, potatoes and sweet potatoes piled up a house, potatoes have been sold one after another almost, sweet potatoes have not yet begun to sell, and then a month or so, and then there will be a potato harvest, potatoes can be planted in two seasons a year, and in addition the corn will also be harvested.
The bazaar is located in the territory of Wu on the side of the Zhao-Wu borderline, it was set up after the arrival of the newly appointed county governor, it is stipulated that the beginning, middle and end of each month will be the trading days, the merchants and farmers at the mouth of the pharynx will put their commodities and crops on the bazaar to buy and sell, and the merchants and people from Zhao will also come over to trade through the Zhao border, there is a fee for passing through the Zhao border and there is no fee for the Wu country, but they just have a stall on the bazaar, and they must pay the tax. Taxes, there are two specialized tax collectors there to collect taxes, those who have paid the tax, will receive a cardboard, the cardboard has a date, only valid on the same day, after that it will be invalid, if you do not pay the tax in the bazaar trading, you will be punished by confiscation of the traded goods. Because the tax was not much, the farmers could afford it, and there were not many tax evaders, but of course, if they evaded the tax, they were miserable, and the tax collectors were very conscientious.
The middle-aged man picked two baskets of sweet potatoes, walked more than ten miles to the market, in front of the market to pay the money, received a tax tag, into the market, find a conspicuous place, will be put down sweet potatoes, waiting for people to trade with him. The middle-aged man put down the sweet potatoes, surveyed the surrounding area, found that the market than the last time there are more people, the number of traders to trade seems to have doubled.
"Rotten Elm, there are more farmers coming to trade crops this time, what if they can't sell them?" On the hillside not far from the bazaar, there were two people riding their horses and looking towards the bazaar, and near the hillside there were a hundred or so knights in soldier's clothing.
"No calling me a rotten elm!" Huo Si Zhong glared at Wei Qing in annoyance.
"Oh well, Sheriff Huo, the farmers at the mouth of the throat have a bumper crop, what are they going to do if they can't trade it off?" Wei Qing idly changed his words.
Hearing Wei Qing address his position, Huo Sizhong somehow felt that Wei Qing had a kind of flirtation within.
"How can it not be traded off, there are merchants who will acquire it."
"Merchants from the Zhao side?" Wei Qing questioned, most of the merchants from Zhao came to the bazaar to purchase salt, cloth and various kinds of departmental goods produced in Wu, crops were not purchased, and even if they were purchased, most of them were bought back to taste the freshness.
"No, it's merchants from our side, two merchants have opened factories at the mouth of the throat and in Qucheng, processing plants for sweet potatoes and potatoes. They will buy these agricultural products in large quantities, well, in the future, rural goods probably won't all be bought and sold at the bazaar, farmers will go to their factories to trade directly." Potatoes and sweet potatoes could be ground into flour and made into broad noodles and vermicelli, and sweet potatoes could also be processed into dried potatoes, and after processing, these things were more easily transported and stored for a long time, so they could be sold through Zhao to the capital of Tianzidu and other vassal states.
"Rotten Elm, you have a lot of tax revenue, isn't it possible for you to allocate more money to the army, and first help the Throat Gate to set up the barracks outside the city." Wei Qing's face was a bit curt.
Huo Sizhong frowned: "Not this year, the Northwest County can't even balance its income and expenditure, let's go to next year, the second half of next year can help you build a military camp outside the city."
"That's too late, it needs to be repaired in the first half of next year, or else there's no place to house the soldiers I've recruited." Wei Qing protested that all the army's expenses were allocated by Chu Chao Hui's Military Prime Minister, but the construction of the barracks required the cooperation of local finances.
Wei Qing and Zeng You only brought more than three thousand soldiers to go north to conquer, occupied two cities of Qucheng and Throat Pass, the defense force is too little, the two men went around to recruit, now the soldiers in Qucheng has five thousand, Wei Qing here also has more than four thousand, the Throat Pass is a very important pass of the Wu Kingdom, the guarding force must be more than the Qucheng are, Wei Qing has already reported to the Chu Chaohui, is ready to recruit the number of soldiers to eight thousand, the Throat Pass within the city of the military camp can at most accommodate five thousand people, eight thousand in number, in any case, can not stay.
For the sake of border security, Wei Qing prepared to build a new barracks at the nook of the Throat, which would house the newly recruited soldiers and at the same time echo with the Throat to defend against Zhao's invasion.
"The first half of next year ah, then I have to think of a way." Huo Sizhong stroked his forehead, Northwest County was financially strapped, and he was now dreaming of money falling from the sky just like Zheng Yuming.
Wei Qing saw Huo Sizhong promise to think of a way, and with his understanding of Huo Sizhong, he knew that things could most likely be accomplished.
"Tonight the local nobles invited us to a banquet, this time you'll have to go." Wei Qing tapped his hand with his riding crop and squinted at Huo Si Zhong.
"This kind of social gathering is the last thing you want to go to, but you have to go." Huo Si Zhong frowned. Although half of the nobles in Throat Mouth and Qu City had been wiped out, half of them remained, and the power of this group of people could not be underestimated in the area, and Huo Sizhong, as the local administrator, had to get on good terms with them.
Huo Si Zhong's government office was not set up in Throat Pass, but rather in Qu City, but Huo Si Zhong took the bazaar in Throat Pass seriously and stayed in Throat Pass City half the time. For invitations from nobles on both sides, Huo Si Zhong would usually excuse himself with the excuse that he was on official business in another city. But excusing himself more than once wouldn't work, and three invitations would always require him to go to the last one.
Wei Qing looked at Huo Sizhong with a smile, he could already imagine Huo Sizhong's expression after he went to the banquet, because this time the nobles would be overly enthusiastic, and would overwhelm this antiquated rotten wood.