Xiaofulang's farming space

At the end of the year, each family was busy, Xia Qingming and Song Hanfeng had piles of ledgers to look at, and their subordinates were scrambling with their own calculations.

Song Hanfeng put down a ledger, looked up at Xia Qingming and said with a smile, "In the past, you always said that you can't do business. It's not because of this material. It's all because of Xiaohan. If you look at yourself now, anyone will criticize you is a businessman"

Xia Qingming was taken aback. Since when did he begin to look at the shop, read the account books, and plan to become a businessman in the eyes of others?

Think about it and smile "I do more, Xiaohan can do less"

"It's time to eat, you two haven't finished watching yet." Luo Xiaohan opened the door and stuck his head in to look at them. "There are still some." Xia Qingming pointed to a stack of ledgers and said, "Don't look, let's eat first."

"Brother Song, let's go eat first, and then watch after eating."

"Okay, let's go"

When the two left the house, Song Hanfeng said, "I heard that several counties near Zhangzhou haven't even had a single snowfall this year. It looks like the Chinese New Year is coming, and I'm afraid it will be another drought year."

Seeing that both of them looked gloomy and did not speak, Song Hanfeng continued, "I remember my grandfather told me that when he was a child, he suffered three years of severe drought, and ten counties in a row had no grains harvested for thousands of miles. All the food was eaten, and there were no rats or insects in the house. People sold their sons and daughters, and even exchanged their sons for food. On the way to escape from the wilderness, starvation was everywhere. The food of the rich family not only robbed the food but also killed people, and then went up the mountain to become a grass bandit."

"Brother Song is right to be worried, but what can we do? We only hope that the court can make preparations early and we can survive the drought year. If Zhangzhou can't do it, let everyone go to Qingshan Village. There are some grains I have stored there. can always get through”

Speaking of this, several people were distracted and speechless for a while. If there was a three-year drought, it would be a matter for their family and one village.

As the saying goes, don’t be afraid of anything. In the new year, there is still a breeze in the sky, and the sun is shining every day. The weather in February and March is so hot that people are sweating. Tao Moxi can only bring up the matter of opening a warehouse to release food. Only this time someone objected

"Those unscrupulous people are used to eating food from the court, so in the future, won't they just wait for the government to release food and stop production?"

"The grain was released in March. If it rains during the rainy season in May and June, wouldn't the grain be released in vain?"

"This statement is wrong. After the severe drought over the years, the people will not be able to live. They will go to the mountains to become bandits and riots. We should make a decision early and let the people have trust in the court, so that nothing will happen."

"Hmph, the rioters are making trouble, it means that they have this idea in their minds, and they should be strangled."

"If the world is peaceful and there is no shortage of food and clothing, and the court is benevolent, how can anyone be willing to be a thief?"

"Enough is enough!" The emperor was overwhelmed by the quarrel between the two sides, and patted the dragon case

"If the people are in disaster, the imperial court should naturally save them, but what Liu Aiqing said is right. Whether it is a dry year has not been determined yet. If it rains during the rainy season, it is not good for the imperial court to empty the granary."

All the adults were silent and waited for the emperor to make a decision.

"Last year, the food distributed according to the head of the head can be saved until May. If there is still no rain in May, the food will be distributed like last year to avoid civil disturbances. Now an edict can be issued to let the people grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, etc. Drought Tolerant Food"

"Emperor Shengming" all the ministers listened unanimously

After leaving the court, Wei Qi and Tao Moxi went out together. When they met adults they knew well, they exchanged a few pleasantries. After leaving the palace gate, Tao Moxi said worryingly, "Several major grain-producing counties are drought this year, and the court is indeed short of food, but If food is not released, there will be disasters and chaos for the people, how can the court have the heart to see them suffer?"

"There must be a way before the car reaches the mountain"

"I have to go back and think carefully about how to deal with it"

In April, the imperial court promulgated several drought-resistant crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes in several states where the drought would be severe. At the same time, the movement of people was strictly controlled.

"Let's open it, let's open it even though we are not a rich businessman, let Xiaoyu count the rice stored in the cellar at home and in the shop, one bag of rice per day, don't we have chickens, ducks and sheep, and the bones can't sell much For a few dollars, we’ll put bone soup and porridge. When it’s time every day, you can eat it in the store, or you can serve them in bowls, and there’s one more thing, those rogues who take advantage of it and bully the people in the village don’t give it to them.”

There are a lot of skeletons in Liu Ning every day, chickens and ducks can be bought for two renminbi, sheep are more expensive, and a pair is only ten renminbi. The poor people in these ten miles and eight villages are sometimes greedy for meat. , so I came to buy less to satisfy my greed. Although I can't sell much, it is a good income. For the villagers, dozens of pennies a day is a lot of money.

"If you don't let them go, I'm afraid there will be trouble," Song Hanfeng said.

"I'll talk to Xiaoman about this, let Mr. Tao think of a way, can the porridge shed send two yamen servants to maintain order?"

Although the bone porridge would be delicious when cooked, Luo Xiaohan didn't want to make it delicious, because there would be a lot of people who didn't lack for food to eat it, and those who really needed it would lose a bite of food.

The bone porridge is just chop the bones into small pieces and blanch them, then cook them with salt and rice, because there is no seasoning to remove the fishy smell, so it is not very tasty, but people are so hungry that they can’t even eat a bite, Not to mention the meat. Although there is little meat on the bones, you can eat a few bites of meat in a bowl. Unlike other stores that put porridge sheds on the street, you can eat it in the store. Although the spicy duck in Zhangzhou is not big , but if you sit crowded, five or sixty people are not a problem.

After the spicy duck in Zhangzhou began to serve porridge, the spicy duck restaurants in other prefectures and counties with drought also began to serve porridge intermittently.

In May, the imperial court began to open warehouses to sell grain at a low price. It was still sold per head, even cheaper than last year. After living for a year, there is no need to have such a tragic ending like the severe drought 50 years ago. Nearly [-] people died in a severe drought, and several states and counties were empty as dead cities.

"Hurry up and take this pot of porridge out." Xiaoyu was in the busy back kitchen, watching the pot of porridge cook before being filled into a bucket and carried out.

After receiving Xia Qingming's letter asking them to serve porridge, every morning, Spicy Duck stopped serving breakfast and was busy making porridge. When the time came, they would start serving porridge. Only in the afternoon would they be able to open normally.

"The shopkeeper, Qiuxianglou and Fushanlou each sent a cart of rice."

Xiaoyu wiped the sweat from his brow, and went outside to write the names of these stores on the signboards. He must say "I got it" in front of the blind date. One thousand catties of brown rice"

The little guy is also a child from the surrounding villages of Qingyuan Town. The father of the family depends on his mother's work to earn money when he is sick. Later, he found a guy named Spicy Duck, and the family became much more relaxed. Here, he takes care of food and housing, and pays monthly bills. There is time off in rotation, and he also distributes clothes. His wages can all subsidize the family, which makes the family feel better. The field has not had a harvest for two consecutive years, and the family is already very difficult. This time the court sells grain, and many families have taken their property. Those who go out to buy grain, and experienced farmers know that if they are reluctant to buy grain now, they will risk their lives in the future.

Although the family bought food, they did not dare to eat it. If there is still a drought next year and the court does not provide relief, wouldn't they starve to death, so the spicy duck

After the porridge was put out, many people rushed over from home early in the morning. There was meat in the porridge, and they were very hungry. One meal would last them a whole day.

Qiuxianglou and other restaurants were inconvenient to serve porridge for fear of delaying business, so they sent rice grains. After Xiaoyu wrote to inquire, he wrote the shop that delivered the rice on the big red sign outside the shop every day, knowing that most of the country people were If you can't read, read it aloud when there are the most people

Although the imperial court tried its best to issue a series of decisions to reduce the losses of the people, but in September, there were still many people who prostituted their sons and daughters, and there were more beggars in Jinzhou City.

"It's a disaster!" Luo Xiaohan sighed, his stomach was already quite big, the doctor asked him to walk more, the weather was so hot all summer, finally in autumn, Xia Qingming took him to the streets, But the more I look at it, the more uncomfortable I feel.

One year of severe drought can barely pass, and two years, even with the help of the imperial court, the poor will be sad. If there is another year of drought, the tragedy of changing children and eating will probably happen again

Just as Luo Xiaohan was about to turn his head, the corner of his clothes was caught. A woman whose face could not be seen clearly shouted hoarsely, "I beg this lord to buy my son, as long as thirty catties of brown rice is enough." Luo Xiaohan stared at the woman , maybe life is too difficult, this woman's eyes have dried up and she has no tears, and she doesn't talk much about the tragic past, she just keeps begging him to buy a child, the child is also numb, probably has accepted the fact that she will be sold eventually , the price dropped from thirty catties of brown rice to twenty catties in a short time.

Luo Xiaohan's heart moved, he sighed, and nodded to Xia Qingming.

"Ma'am, come with us to the house to fetch rice," Xia Qingming said, and after speaking, he helped Luo Xiaohan to walk forward. The woman was stunned for a while, then got up and dragged the child to follow them slowly.

"This is fifty catties of brown rice. Carry it in a basket so that no one will see it and take it away." Xia Qingming took out a basket and opened it to show him the rice inside.

"Thank you, thank you, you are really good people." The woman took the rice with her thin hands, knelt down, and wiped the child's face with her sleeve. "Don't hate your mother, there is nothing you can do." She walked quickly at the same speed as her body, but the child stopped after two steps.

Xia Qingming called the servants and asked them to take the child to eat first, then wash it up and bring it to him and Luo Xiaohan to see.Xia Qingming entered the room and nodded to Luo Xiaohan, Luo Xiaohan leaned back on the bed, "I've been thinking about one more thing these days, which is

Are we going to form some family generals, usually used to run errands and deliver letters, to protect our safety, and you are the only one in the family who can fight at all."

"You need to buy more people, let me practice from a young age"

"Yes, you can rest assured that you have raised them since you were young. You can go to the street to see if the bones are good, you can bring them back and buy about [-]. They will be used in the home and nursing home. Look at us now, we have to borrow them for porridge. Yamen servants, the farm has to keep dogs, if you have your own people, you won’t be afraid of these things.”

Xia Qingming thought for a while and nodded, if there are people, Xiaoman can put two over there, so Xiaoman won't be arrested silently by Li Dongnian, and Luo Xiaohan won't be worried about walking alone on the street during that time.

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