Taoyuan Farmhouse Daily

Guozhou is a state with a large production volume. As early as when Taoyuan Village did not know how to use water mills, the rich and powerful families there had already started to use water mills and water pounders.This can improve efficiency, which can be used to make profits.In recent years, the development trend has been particularly fast, and natural hydraulic power alone is no longer enough, so they began to cut off the sides of the canal in order to install a large number of water mills, water hammers, etc.

Because of the prevalence of this wind, it even hinders the irrigation of farmland downstream and affects the agricultural production of farmers.Someone had made a fuss about this matter before. It is possible that the people who set up the water mill and the water pound were the rich and powerful, and the farmers had nothing to do.Water can only be fetched from far away for irrigation. Although it is a rich land, the life of the farmers is extremely miserable.

And this kind of interception has also caused hidden dangers. Usually, it’s fine. This time the heavy rain caused the water level to rise sharply, and it was too late to discharge the flood. The dam that had not been repaired for a long time could not bear the pressure and collapsed directly. .

"I'm just making calculations. The actual situation can only be known by sending people from the imperial court to investigate. But I think this must have a certain effect in it. In addition, the hidden dangers that have accumulated over time have now taken effect."

Everyone agreed one after another, and felt that such a guess was the most reliable.Because this is at home, everyone is not afraid of saying something taboo to be known by outsiders.

Second Sister-in-law Cao sighed: "It's no wonder that when my uncle agreed to help other villages build water mills, he asked so much and didn't allow them to build them privately. Is it also because of this?"

"That's not true. There are still relatively few private constructions. After all, there is not enough financial resources and they don't have as many fields and food as those rich and powerful families. Closure of the river is also expensive, so generally speaking, there is no need to worry. But it is also for insurance. It is better to strengthen management. Huge profits will make people crazy, if it is only spread in our area, it is fine, but if it is spread, it is very likely to cause disaster."

In Liangguo, the technology of using water power is not widespread, and some rich and powerful deliberately conceal such technology for their own benefit.According to some reactions from the imperial court, it shows that the emperor here is still very enlightened, and the previous agricultural tools such as threshers have been vigorously promoted.This shows that at least the emperor attached great importance to people's livelihood, but things such as water mills could not be implemented, and there must be conflicts of interest.And as the lord of a country, he is not a dictator who can do whatever he wants, and his behavior is also restricted.

The situation in Guozhou has always been complicated. Because of its abundance, it has formed its own power. Although it cannot compete with the emperor, it is not easy to intervene in the management. The construction of the canal has a lot to do with it.

Even the emperor was afraid, so naturally Chang Xile didn't dare to provoke her.If he spread the water grinder and other things and broke the monopoly of the local snakes in Guozhou, who knows if those powerful people will make trouble for him.So I can only restrain myself, I dare not spread this skill, and now it is within a small range.

Before, Chang Xile didn't want her family to worry, so only Father Chang, Li Zheng and a few clan elders knew the truth.And now there is nothing to hide. If such a big incident happened in Guozhou, according to the current situation, there may be hundreds of thousands of people affected by the disaster.

In this way, Guozhou is likely to be in chaos.

Now Guozhou is much easier to get here than before, so it is very likely that some victims of the disaster will come here.Although Chang Xile sympathized with these innocent victims, it would definitely not be a good thing for Taoyuan Village or even the entire Daoxiang County if this happened.

It would be fine if the imperial court provided disaster relief in a timely and vigorous manner, but according to historical records, if a large-scale disaster occurs, the situation will not be good, and there will always be turmoil.Those victims who are extremely hungry will be like locusts crossing the border, and the local people in the passing places will suffer.It’s okay in the city, surrounded by high walls and guarded by troops. Generally speaking, it can withstand one or two, but it is miserable in the countryside.

In particular, such disaster victims are often mixed with gangsters, and these people are often the ones who make chaos. Instead, the real poor people cannot get help.

Moreover, there will be plagues after the catastrophe, and the economic losses are immeasurable.

Fortunately, if Guozhou wanted to get to Pumpkin Mansion, if he wanted to take a shortcut, he had to go through the waterway. The dry road had to climb mountains and mountains, and it took a lot of time to get there.Therefore, the possibility of a large number of disaster victims coming is not very high. If Xiaobo is encountered, Chang Xile feels that it can still be handled.

But the most hopeful thing is that the disaster should not be too serious, otherwise no matter where it is, it will be affected.

But Chang Xile's expectations were finally shattered. The Shen family heard the news from the mansion that the disaster in Guozhou was very serious, and it could be said that the people were in dire straits.The emperor was furious and wanted to investigate thoroughly, but at this time, the rich and powerful in Guozhou refused to help the people, not to mention that they deliberately raised the price of rice following the disaster, making the local people miserable.

To make matters worse, the imperial court wanted to open a granary to release grain, but unexpectedly the granary in Guozhou was empty!

The prefect of Guozhou ran away with his family immediately after the disaster, and now the court is trying to hunt him down.Now the court is adjusting food everywhere, calling on everyone to donate clothes and money, and even the harem concubines donate their jewelry to contribute to the disaster relief.

Although this is mostly a show, it is also a gesture to show the emperor's firm attitude, and it also reflects the seriousness of the disaster.

Although Guozhou is adjacent to Pumpkin Mansion, it is a large plain. Once a flood occurs, the loss will be very large.Moreover, it is the granary of Liangguo. If something goes wrong, the whole Liangguo is in turmoil. It is no wonder that the DPRK and China are now in chaos.

Plagues are easy to breed after floods. Chang Xile wrote down how to prevent plagues after the floods in a letter overnight, and asked the Shen family to help pass it on to Song Wancheng in the capital.Qin Zhong also sent a point, as well as the former imperial envoy, etc., hoping to do his part to prevent the loss from expanding.

If something happens in Guozhou, they will not have a good time.

Not only that, he also left the food hoarded by the Chang family over the years, enough for the Chang family to eat for a year, and let the Shen family transport the rest to Guozhou by merchant ships.

The Shen and Pei families did not take the opportunity to make money in the country like other merchants this time, but did their best to rescue the disaster. Most of all the rice and grain stores under their banner were closed, and they usually shipped to Guozhou if they didn't need money.Both Shen Pei's family were the first to plant corn and sweet potatoes, and last year they had a bumper harvest and stockpiled a lot.This time it just came in handy, which also made the amount of donations very considerable and huge.

The two families did this because the imperial envoys sent to Guozhou this time were their own people, so they were quite relieved.Otherwise, there will be no sound when the thing is thrown, and it may not be able to enter the mouth of the victims, and it will be a big loss.The Shen and Pei families will do their best to help the disaster. Most of the reasons are not because of compassion, but because they want to take the opportunity to help themselves.

There is nothing wrong with this kind of thinking, at least it is really being done, and it can save many people.

And Chang Xile also wants to do her part, but it's not for her own sake, to prevent the victims from going out because of starvation, which is also to avoid disasters.

Chang Xile thought very clearly, donating a little now is just losing some money, but if the victims of the disaster came, it would not be so simple.Not only food and so on cannot be kept, but life is likely to be threatened.Although Taoyuan Village is easy to defend and difficult to attack, if a large number of disaster victims attack, it will not be able to withstand it.

Taoyuan Village is well-known, everyone knows that it is very rich, and there is no army guarding it, so it is very likely to become a target of devouring.

Because of the publicity of Li Zhenghe clan elders, the villagers also knew why Chang Xile did what he did, and they also asked for the opening of the village's grain depots, all of which were used for disaster relief.

But Chang Xile refused. This year's harvest will definitely be bad, and no one knows what will happen next year. If they take it all out, they may starve themselves by then.Although they have some money in their hands, because of the disaster in Guozhou, the price of food in the entire Liang Country will skyrocket, and no amount of money will be enough.

This is why Chang Xile asked everyone to store up more grain at the beginning, and the grain used for processing in the workshop was collected from the money earned, and controlled everyone to exchange grain for money.Because once there is a disaster, inflation is easy, and the money in hand becomes worthless.

The reason why Chang Xile did this was not because he was always cautious, but because he had read the county chronicles of Daoxiang County and neighboring counties, as well as the government chronicles of Pumpkin Mansion, as well as relevant information and historical books that could be collected from other places.Although he didn't need to take the scientific examination these years, it didn't mean that he was idle and had been studying these.

Because of the Shen family's help and his own reputation as a juror, he got a lot of information.And these materials also made him realize the importance of hoarding food more deeply, because although a good country has been developing in a good direction as a whole, major disasters and minor disasters have never stopped.Either the imperial court caused trouble, or God was not strong enough to always cause something to make the people feel uneasy.

So just in case, he called on everyone to stock up on grain, and Gongzhong also built a granary, which must be full to last the entire Daoxiang County for a year.

Although the people in Taoyuan Village didn't quite understand why Chang Xile was so cautious, they all firmly believed in the principle of not panic when they had food in hand, so no one had any objections.

"The price of food outside is skyrocketing, and the price in the mansion is already five or six times higher than usual, and it's still going up!" Chang Xisheng returned and told what he had seen and heard in the mansion and the county.

Everyone's eyes widened when they heard this, and Mrs. Wang said in disbelief, "Why did it suddenly increase so much!"

After the catastrophe, food prices began to rise. Although the range was not small, it was still within everyone's tolerance, but now it has suddenly increased so much, which is unacceptable.The instability of food prices is the initial manifestation of turmoil. If it cannot be stabilized, there will be chaos later.

Chang Xisheng said indignantly: "It's not those profiteers! They know that Shen Pei's family has donated food, and they understand that the food in this mansion is in short supply, and this year's harvest is definitely not good, so they started to go up desperately. And the city It is also rumored that our Liang country has encountered a catastrophe this time. This year, the harvest will definitely be reduced, and the grain will not be enough to eat. The granaries in various places are still empty. If you don’t buy it now, there will be nowhere to spend your money. So the people in the city are still going crazy. The same price, when I first got there, it was two or three times, but when I came back, it became five or six times. This price increase is really a blink of an eye, and the rice brand changed as soon as it said it would. There is no room at all. The price difference between the first person and the last person in a team can be two or three times different!"

Grandma Sun slapped her thigh hard, "These days! It's killing the common people, isn't it?"

Father Chang frowned, "It's all like this, and the government doesn't care?"

Chang Xisheng sighed: "The disaster situation in our mansion is also very serious, and we have to take care of the Guozhou side. The yamen is almost in chaos, and we can't get out of it. Besides, if people say it's too expensive, don't buy it, no one will buy it." No pressure. These people are just taking advantage of this time to make a fortune, and they don’t care about anything because of red eyes.”

The Chang family is no longer the illiterate farmers a few years ago. Everyone has studied with Chang Xile and learned a lot of truths. When they heard this, their hearts were pulled.

If it goes on like this, there will be chaos.

Everyone has just had a good few years, and the future is full of hope. How can we bear it, and now we are going back to our original shape.

Chang Xile thought for a while to comfort her and said, "The imperial court is not free now. After all, the Guozhou disaster has also seriously affected all parts of the country. After a while, these profiteers will definitely not be allowed to succeed. Let's just wait and see."

"Yes, the current emperor is a wise king, and he will definitely not let these profiteers play tricks!" Chang Xiwang agreed.

Others also echoed one after another, and even began to put their hands together for blessing.

Seeing that Chang Xisheng hesitated to speak, Chang Xi asked, "Second brother, what else is there, why don't you speak up?"

Chang Xisheng sighed, and looked at Mrs. Wang, "Didn't I go to the county this time, and the price of grain in the county has also increased dramatically. Many villagers have gone to the county to sell grain. I also saw Mrs. Wang Brother. From the looks of it, I'm afraid that most of the family's food has been shipped out..."

Unlike the rumors in the government, the county did not report that there will be no food this year, but has been proclaiming that the court has been actively providing disaster relief, that a large amount of food will be available soon, and that the price of food will be stable by then.If you don't step up selling grain now, you will lose money by then.Now this price is rare in decades, which is very exciting.

Seeing that the price of grain is so high now, the farmers in the vicinity were moved by their reluctance to sell grain because they saw that the day was not beautiful.Many people, like the Wang family, sold all their food in order to earn the difference.Thinking that although Daoxiang County was also affected by the disaster, it was better than outside, and because a lot of corn and sweet potatoes were planted, I felt that I would definitely not be hungry, so I took the opportunity to sell grain.

Mrs. Wang was stunned, and it took a while to realize, "I sent a special message back to tell them not to sell grain! Why are you still selling it!"

Chang Xisheng sighed: "Before, Lizheng wandered around and asked other villages not to sell grain. At that time, Lizheng in those villages agreed. But the price of grain is too attractive now, and there is no way to stop people. Stop people The way of making money is to destroy people's lives. I didn't stop it, but my sister-in-law replied to me like this. He also said that we will live a better life, but we will not see them well."

Now the Chang family has everything to say, and the Wang family had a quarrel before, and Mrs. Wang has ignored it over the years, so everyone does not shy away from it, and Chang Xisheng will tell the truth directly.

Mrs. Wang was so angry that she was trembling all over. Over the years, she was no longer as resigned as she used to be. She just got used to it and couldn't really leave her parents aside.There is always a subsidy on weekdays, but it is no longer like before, and Chang Xixing has never been to Wang's house again, expressing his position.

The Wang family has been quite honest these years, although they like to take advantage of their in-law relationship with the Chang family from time to time to seek convenience, but nothing has happened after all.These years have been pretty good, at least not worrying about food and clothing.

But I didn't expect that my mind was still so confused, and I was still bewildered by that little money.

"They are really confused!" Mrs. Wang didn't even know what to say, she already knew the virtues of her family, she was a short-sighted master.It's not that she hasn't thought about helping in these years, but she is lazy and ambitious, and she knows that she can't afford to make money in front of her. She is completely different from other sisters-in-law and family members, so she can only give up.

On the contrary, she took over all the younger ones in the family and let them study in Taoyuan Village, hoping that the next generation of her family would not be destroyed anyway.But at this point, the Wang family thought that the Chang family had forgotten the past, and wanted to come to the house to have fun, and blamed Mrs. Wang for letting the child live in the old house instead of the Chang family compound that they had been coveting for a long time.

Mrs. Wang immediately became angry and asked them to take the child back.The Wang family is not willing, they know very well that the children will not only have a good future in Taoyuan Village, but also save some food now!Because of this incident, the Wang family also had no chance to enter Taoyuan Village, and they could only pick up their children at the entrance of the village.

The Wang family had resentment in their hearts but they dared not speak out. Chang Xile is now the master of Juren, and their family has to rely on Mrs. Wang.They also understood that this daughter was not left to be manipulated, and the uncle had never even seen them, and the grandson did not kiss them, so he could only behave with his tail between his legs.

This time he even said this to Chang Xisheng, it seems that he was lost by the high food price, and started to suffer from the problem of shallow eyelids again.

Chang Xile's expression was not good when she heard the news. If something really went wrong, it would be due to internal and external troubles.

At that time, people in other villages will be so hungry that they will have no food to eat, so why not swarm into Taoyuan Village?Many people in these villages work in Taoyuan Village, so it will be very troublesome to deal with.

"Are there many people selling grain?"

"It seems that there are quite a few, but the familiar faces are sisters-in-law and brothers. The others are relatively unfamiliar, and they are not those who often deal with our village. I think Lizheng's previous lobbying has played a role. Everyone knows that selling grain at this time It's not a wise move, most of the food sellers at this time are those people that we usually look down on."

In recent years, the nearby villages have relied on Taoyuan Village to make money, including selling grain, doing labor, etc., and not everyone in Taoyuan Village will do business with it, especially hiring people to do work. good quality.They will not deal with village tyrants like that. Even if they correct their evil ways, they will have to go through strict scrutiny, which is much more troublesome than others.

Taoyuan Village is very confident in doing this, and those people who are usually arrogant do not dare to speak out at this time.

There was a family who was rejected before, because the family was not good-natured, they usually like to steal chickens and dogs, and they often touch porcelain everywhere.I am used to being domineering on weekdays, so I can't stand it.So I have been insulting Taoyuan Village behind my back, slandering Taoyuan Village everywhere that there is corpse oil in the food.They are the tyrants in the village, typical rascals and there are many males in the family, Li Zheng can do nothing about it.

Chang Xile didn't talk nonsense with them, and directly sued the family, and threw them into prison without much effort.Although it was only a small punishment and released after half a year in prison, it is necessary to shed a layer of skin when sent to prison in this era.Being so completely honest, he never dared to provoke her again, and other people who had opinions on Taoyuan Village did not dare to say anything.

The title of Master Juren is not a decoration!

Later, everyone saw how powerful the Taoyuan Village's security team was, and it made people dare not offend Taoyuan Village.

Hearing this, Chang Xile was quite relieved. In this way, most of the people related to Taoyuan Village should not be blinded by the immediate interests, so if anything happened later, it would be easy for them to solve it internally.

"Whose family harvested the grain? Could it be the Qian family again?" Ding Sansao asked.

Chang Xisheng shook his head, "That's not true. Now that the Qian family is headed by Qian Xin, I heard that they are much more kind than before. This time, the person who caused these troubles was Wu, the one who sold the coffin. He has connections in water transportation, and he probably planned to take over the coffin. The grain is sold in the government in exchange for the price difference."

Father Chang shook his head and sighed, "Businessmen take more profit than righteousness."

Chang Xixing was afraid that Chang Xisheng would not be pleased if he heard it, so he hurriedly said: "That's not all, I think the Shen and Pei families are extremely kind, and we have been doing business now and nothing has happened."

Father Chang nodded, still with a sad face, "I hope the court can handle it properly this time, otherwise we ordinary people will have a hard time. After all, there are still few people like the Shen Pei family."

Who knows, things just didn't go as smoothly as everyone expected.

Emperor Lei Ting was furious and wanted to thoroughly investigate the corruption situation in Guozhou, and raised food and sent it to Guozhou for disaster relief. The original situation has gradually eased, but at this time there are still people who want to take advantage of the chaos to rebel!

This person was the emperor's uncle, King Pingning.

King Pingning has always kept a low profile. He has never expressed his attachment to the throne in the past, and he has always supported the late emperor and the emperor. He has won the emperor's trust, which is why he was allowed to come to this rich place.

No one thought that King Pingning would turn against him, and it was at such a time.King Pingning swallowed all the food that had been transported before, and did not use it for disaster relief, but instead used it as food for his own army.

Not only that, the victims of the disaster were also driven out, and they wanted to use these victims to stumbling the imperial court, and then took advantage of the chaos to establish an independent country.

The previous donations from Shen Pei's family and Chang Xile were all in vain, and victims from all over the world flocked to Pumpkin Mansion.The Pumpkin Mansion had been emptied out for disaster relief before, so there was no food to be given in the city, and those merchants were unwilling to provide food, so they had to close the gates of the city.

The disappointment and anger in the hearts of the victims can be imagined because they have been hungry for such a long time and traveled across mountains and rivers to come here, but they were locked out of the door.Many people died of starvation or illness. Although they knew that King Pingning was responsible for this disaster, their hungry stomachs could no longer allow them to think too much. They just wanted to attack the city and fill their stomachs.

There are hundreds of thousands of victims, and Pumpkin Mansion is in jeopardy.