North and South groceries

"Auntie! Auntie!"

On the evening of the first day of February, among the low adobe courtyards in the north of Changle County, a boy of seventeen or eighteen was running left and right in the alley with a dusty linen bag in his hand. Entered a small yellow mud courtyard.

"I just left for a short time, why are you back?" His mother was washing dishes in the house, and she came out quickly after hearing his voice.

"I just got my wages, and I met the guy from the rice shop and the government to send corn. I waited for a few minutes and asked Qiao Dalang, and I got some from him." The young man said, putting the bag of corn on the porch. on a dilapidated bearded stool.

"Why do you buy so many at once?"

The elderly woman leaned forward and touched the bulging bag of corn. When she was young, she did a lot of sewing, her eyes were already blurred, and she could see things very close.

"Last month's wages were settled. According to 130 Wen per month, I worked with them for [-] days last month, and I got [-] Wen." The young man said with a grin.

"How much did the corn cost?" The woman was very happy when she heard about it. Although the county magistrate of Naluo said early in the morning that he could give three hundred wen a month, the money is really in his hands, which makes people happy very.

"Ninety coins, there are still forty coins left here." The young man touched the old linen belt on his body that had long been colorless. To his aunt's hands.

"You also keep a few to spend on your body." His mother said, holding the string of copper coins in front of her eyes, and rummaged through the knots.

"No need, I'm working in the government's mansion, and I don't need to spend money to eat in the mansion's cafeteria. You ask me, Aye, to go out and buy some meat and salt tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and tell my brothers and sisters to eat some good food, so why don't you be willing to spend it?" , I will be paid again on the first day of next month."

The young man walked out of the yard as he spoke: "I have to go back to the mansion, it's getting late, why hasn't Aye come back yet."

"Perhaps there are too many people fetching water, so it was delayed." The woman sent him outside the courtyard: "Be careful there, don't forget about your home."

"Hey." The young man replied, and quickly walked away.

The woman was standing outside the courtyard, clutching a bunch of copper coins in her hands, covering them with her sleeves, clasping her hands tightly, tilting her head slightly, squinting her eyes, until she could no longer see her son, and then covered the courtyard. He opened the door, walked slowly to the eaves, and carried the bag of corn, together with the copper coins in his hand, back into the house.

The two little ones below should really eat something good, and the old man's body is getting worse day by day.

Originally, in front of these three children, they had two sons, but they did not raise them. The older one was seven years old at least. In his infancy, he didn't even understand it, and it was because of his bad luck that he was born in such a chaotic and barren age.

Still, the youngest in the back is the toughest, just like the weeds on the prairie, it grows whenever the wind blows, and it was a thin and yellow one when I was young, but it has grown stronger in the past two years, and it seems to be the pillar of the family.

It's not easy for him, there is an elderly Yeniang on the top, and there are younger brothers and sisters on the bottom. It's all over this year, and the marriage has not yet been settled.

If it hadn't been for the passing of time and fate, her family's Saburo might still be a young man who knows no sorrow.

Think back to when she first married, how beautiful their Lu family was.According to legend, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty held a banquet at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain to entertain the leaders of the Western Regions, establish friendship, and demonstrate national prestige. Merchants from the Western Regions came here in droves.

The Lu family started to do business at that time, from a small household with little-known name to a well-known merchant, and her eldest son was born in the prosperity of this school, but unfortunately the good times did not last long. , the Sui Dynasty collapsed, and the dynasties changed. The hardships and hardships involved cannot be described in words.

When Weng Po was alive, she often told the younger generation in her family that the ancestors of the Lu family were Han soldiers who were stationed in the fields, and they were the first batch to come when Emperor Wu of the Han conquered the Western Regions.

That was a long time ago. There were so many soldiers in the past, who can tell where their descendants are scattered now, whether they are prosperous or ruined, or many families have long since lost their incense.

As for her natal family, when she was a child, she also heard the old people in the family say that she moved from the Central Plains and followed a local wealthy family on the road. There were more than 30 people in the family, old and young, who came here. Sometimes, half of them are not left.

At that time, the Central Plains was in chaos, and corpses were strewn across the fields. I vaguely heard the old man at home read a sentence: "In Qinchuan, there is no blood on the wrist, and only Liangzhou leans on the pillars to watch."

Liangzhou at that time was roughly the current Longyou Dao.

The old woman picked up a handful of corn from her sackcloth pocket, leaned closer to distinguish it carefully, the grains were plump, and the rice fragrance was strong, it was a rare good rice, no wonder the third son bought ninety cash back in one go, if they changed it, they would go Buying it at the rice shop is not such a price.

At this time, there was a "squeak" from the courtyard door outside, and then she heard her family Shiro's "Aniang, Aniang" yelling, and there was a burst of joy in that voice, obviously he had heard the news.

"Aunt, those people outside are saying that the county magistrate Luo paid the servants in the government's mansion today." Sure enough, the boy yelled and quickly entered the house.

"Your elder brother just came back." The woman said.

"Brother, why are you back? Isn't he going to be on duty for the next few days?" The kid yelled again.

"I must have taken time to run back while eating." Later, the youngest girl in the family followed into the house.

"I want you to come back earlier." The woman said.

"Mother, there are quite a lot of people on the street outside today, and they are all talking about brother and the others paying their salary." The little girl said and snuggled up to her mother.

"Aye couldn't bear to leave after hearing that." The young man complained.

"That's the problem with you, Aye." The old man in her family loves to be lively and listen to other people's conversations. Today, when the streets outside became lively, he couldn't walk the first time, let alone the two younger ones.

"Mother, brother just came back with money?" Lu Silang asked.

"I know money." His mother said.

While talking, old man Lu also poured the water, closed the courtyard door, and entered the house.

"Just now when Sanlang came back, he brought back this bag of corn and several tens of pennies." The woman said when she saw him come in.

"Oh." Old man Lu replied, knowing that she was speaking to himself.

"I want you to go out and buy some salt and meat tomorrow, and come back with these two little ones."

"Got it."

"Eating meat tomorrow?!"

"Aye, take me with you tomorrow."

"Don't make any noise, wash your hands and face and go to sleep."

"Let me see this corn."

"The most excellent corn, I have just seen it, and I say it is the same as Qiao Dalang in the mansion."

"Now the government actually wants to buy rice to eat."

"Tsk, with those few people here, the mountain will be eaten away by them. Now if Luo County Magistrate and others don't buy rice themselves, what else can they eat?"

"Hey..." Old Man Lu sighed.

The expenditure of the county government depends on the household tax in Changle County.At present, apart from rent adjustments, the people of Tang Dynasty mainly pay land tax and household tax. The land tax is for grain, which is transported to nearby righteous warehouses.

There is no specific amount for this household tax. If you meet honest officials, it will not be much. If you meet corrupt ones, there will be many names there.

They in Changle County, although they can’t say that they extort money from the people, but in the past few years under their county’s jurisdiction, they have not paid less household tax. It's only the beginning of February, and the new county magistrate has to buy food with his own money. How many mouths in the mansion, if he is replaced by someone with a weak foundation, he will be overwhelmed for life.

"You think they can stop now?"

"I'm afraid there's something else to come."

"Hey……"

"I want to do so much, I fell asleep."

Two days ago, County Magistrate Luo took people to the post station, but his official document was not recorded. The post station’s Sun Postmaster said that it was lost, so County Magistrate Luo ordered people to report the matter to Guazhou Bing Cao. The post station was run by Bing Cao. Jurisdiction.

Early this morning, Fu Bingcao led dozens of powerful soldiers and surrounded the post station in their county. All the post chiefs and postmen in the post station were captured.

After all, they are also close to a military fortress here, and this post station even dared to lose the official documents of the county magistrate, so what else would they dare not lose, dare to lose the battle report?

As soon as this incident happened, the county magistrate and others all ran away, even the guards ran away, and what was left for the new county magistrate was an empty mansion and a pile of unreasonable case files.

Many people in the county were puzzled, why the new county magistrate was so powerful, and before he could do anything, all the moths in the county were gone.

After all, they had heard about the background of County Magistrate Luo, and it wasn't a great background. To put it bluntly, he was just a grassroots, and there was no strong family power behind him.

These people don't know that apart from family background, there is another thing called influence in this world.

Even if Luo Yong is demoted now, his influence is still there. This time he came to Changle County to serve as the county magistrate, so many eyes were fixed on this place. If such a thing happened at this juncture, those officials in the state would naturally You have to brace yourself.

The county magistrate, the county lieutenant, and others were all immersed in the officialdom. This time, seeing that Fu Bingcao acted so decisively and quickly, he knew that the wind was not right, and he didn't have the guts to fight it. Even if he ran away, some people brought their families They ran together with their mouths, and some ran out alone to avoid the limelight, and their family members were still in Changle County.

At this moment, on the county government side, the entire compound was brightly lit by blazing torches, and from time to time there were guards on duty at night patrolling around.

Luo Yong was also afraid that the boat would capsize in the gutter. Hearing that the county lieutenant and others were not easy, he was afraid that they would kill another carbine and rob the county government.So Luo Yong recently asked people to strengthen night patrols, and the county government compound was also burning torches all night and all night.

In an open space not far from the county government office, some craftsmen were still working on it.

There is no way, there is nothing to ask for in this county. I don’t know where the household tax collected last year has been taken by those people. This year’s household tax will have to wait at least after the summer harvest. Drinking, I can't lose my income. After much deliberation, I decided to make tofu first, which can not only earn some money, but also create jobs without much capital.

When it comes to this tofu business, County Magistrate Luo is very familiar with it.

A few days later, Jinchang Dunhuang and other places ushered in the first wave of porters selling tofu along the street. While selling tofu, these people did not forget to sell to others:

"The new Luo county magistrate taught us a lot of tofu dishes. If you have free time, you can go to Changle County and try our tofu dishes."

"We can buy three bowls of salted bean curd for one penny."

"There are also mapo tofu, crystal tofu, homemade tofu, stuffed tofu, smooth tofu...the restaurants and guesthouses can make them all."

"The government's tofu workshop also produces a batch of dried tofu every day. The taste cannot be eaten elsewhere."

"..."

On this day, in a wine shop in Dunhuang, several gentlemen were sitting by the window on the second floor, listening to a tofu vendor in the street downstairs talking to people about their tofu dishes in Changle County. I feel a little surprised:

"This hawker from Changle County can speak well."

"Tsk, these words come and go, I asked them, and they said they were taught by the county magistrate Luo." The son of the restaurant owner also came over at this time, looked out the window, and said with a curled lip.

"What else?" When those people heard this, they immediately became interested.

"Yes." The little boss said: "What kind of training course is Tao? Go and listen, and you can get two pieces of tofu for nothing."

"Where's you Aye?"

"I went to Changle County to attend classes."

"Can you take the master of the kitchen with you?"

"Bring two."