Xiaoyao Nongjiazi

A simple threshing machine is obviously not enough. Ma Chongwen led the blacksmiths to hurry, and only a few were produced before the end of the autumn harvest.The effect is obvious, and the farmers who have used it say it is good. Even if those machines still have minor problems of one kind or another, they still cannot conceal the fact that they are easy to use.It's a pity that this year is just a trial, and I believe it will shine brightly next year.

Not long after the autumn harvest was over, several groups of people came from Fucheng, all of whom heard the news and couldn't help being curious, so they came to have a look. If it was true as the rumors said, they might as well buy some.

Based on this, there are not many people in each group, just to ensure that they will not be robbed at will.

So far, the workshops in Fucheng still have excess production capacity. Even if other tribes occasionally come to trade, they cannot allow the workshops to operate around the clock.Everyone is used to this. Apart from being busy with eating and drinking, I don’t care much about other things. It’s best to have a job. When you can’t start work, don’t worry, whether it’s helping the family or doing something you are interested in. , can pass the time very well.

"How is it?" Zhong Qingran sat in front of Zhong Qingshu, watching the grain tax he would pay this year, and finished counting the last sum.

"This is the ledger, you can read it yourself." Zhong Qingshu put down the ledger, relaxed his body, leaned back in the chair, and rubbed his swollen forehead.

Zhong Qingran picked up the account book, turned to the back, and glanced at all the lines of accounts recorded on it.Soon, he closed the ledger, put it aside, then picked up another ledger that Zhong Qingshu pushed in front of him later.

The previous one was the grain tax collected, and the latter one was the output of the fields under the official name of Fucheng.

Zhong Qingran didn't ignore it, he looked at it very carefully, and finally there was a smile on his lips.Putting the ledger on the table, he happily said, "This year's harvest is good!"

"Yes, there is more than enough to eat until next year's autumn harvest." After a while of pressing, Zhong Qingshu was no longer dizzy with a lot of books, and he responded easily. After thinking about it, he continued, "Actually, everyone The harvest of each household is more than reported.”

Zhong Qingran understood, but he didn't care too much: "Just treat it as a benefit for them!"

What Zhong Qingshu was talking about was the vegetable plots of each family. Vegetable plots, as the name suggests, are places used to grow vegetables, which are not counted in the scope of land tax collection.Most of the vegetable plots are used to grow vegetables, and only those who don’t have enough food to chew will grow some sweet potatoes to satisfy their hunger, which is not worth anything.

The situation is very different now. With the glass greenhouse, it can be grown all year round. It is a bit wasteful to just grow vegetables. If you can’t finish eating, you can only make them into dried vegetables or sell them to government-owned grocery stores.It's a pity that everyone is like this, and they can't sell much at all. It's better to buy a variety of crops such as rice, which are very rare in Hanhai Prefecture.This part is equivalent to net income, which is not taxed, and it is precisely these that are more valuable.

Knowing Zhong Qingran's character and seeing his casual appearance, Zhong Qingshu no longer entangled with this matter, and turned to other topics: "You asked the Shuangyan City Caravan to spread the news about Fucheng's recruitment, and now it has passed one or two times. Yue, until now, I haven't even seen a shadow of a person, what do you think is the possibility of this happening?"

Zhong Qingran thought for a moment, then spread his hands and said, "The words have already been released, and I don't know if anyone is interested in it."

After thinking for a while, Zhong Qingran crossed his legs, propped his left elbow on his leg, rested his chin with his palm, half-closed his eyes, and said casually: "In a month or so at most, we will enter the cold winter. The lower the possibility of success. If someone really comes to provide manpower at this time, I am afraid that there will be a big problem.”

Zhong Qingshu sat upright and looked directly into Zhong Qingran's eyes: "Then what will you do? Accept them all?"

"Take it, isn't there a shortage of people in Fucheng?" Zhong Qingran also put away his joking demeanor, and replied very solemnly, "Whether you are old or young, as long as your character is good, I will accept anyone who is not completely unable to work. "

"This year's grain harvest doesn't mean it will be the same next year. Are you afraid that you will accept a bunch of old and weak women and children, and the food supply will not be enough?" Zhong Qingshu leaned forward and put his hands on the table, showing no hint of a joke.

"Isn't it? Don't you think that all the tribes will join forces to dig a hole for Fucheng?" Zhong Qingran chuckled, "Aren't they afraid of making a trip in vain? I didn't say that everyone would be accepted."

"I reckon that your reputation has spread throughout Hanhai Prefecture. You must be very sympathetic to the behavior of the people. Now there is no tribal leader who doesn't know about it."

"What do you mean, they will really do this? Just for the slightest possibility?" Zhong Qingran's eyebrows moved slightly. Could it be that he really seems so kind-hearted?

"Who knows? Let me see, it's fine if they don't come, but if they do come, you might really accept it all." Zhong Qingshu's eyes flickered, and his tone of voice was almost certain.

"Am I being so obvious?" Zhong Qingran wondered.

"Not really, at least, Qingzhu can't see it." Zhong Qingshu returned to his relaxed expression before, "Haven't you been worrying about the population of Fucheng? Unless other tribes don't do this business, otherwise, in order for you to accept Now, they won’t be so stupid as to take all the old people, at least some children and young adults. It’s not okay to accept them at that time, and it’s not okay not to accept them, you will be embarrassed.”

Having said this, Zhong Qingshu paused for a while before continuing to speak: "I don't understand why you are so obsessed with the population? With Fucheng's current size, other tribes dare not take it lightly. Once someone attacks Come here, even if we lose the enemy, we can retreat to the vast sea. Who would like to face an enemy that is difficult to kill?"

"You are right. The problem is, I don't want Fucheng to be limited to a passive position. To realize your idea, you can only pray that other tribes will not join forces, but what if?" Zhong Qingran's eyes were far away, as if through a window, through the The city walls converge at a certain point, "only Fucheng itself is strong enough to completely solve this problem."

"Then there's no need to accept everyone. Is there such a hurry?"

"Ha, Qingshu, why are you so serious? This is all our private speculation, who knows if it will come true? Maybe it will be like before, and no one can receive it." Zhong Qingran laughed, but it was A word of guessing, the two of them took it so seriously as if they were considering a big matter, he felt admiration for both of them.

Zhong Qingshu didn't smile at all: "This matter is very likely to be true. Once I entertained a tribal caravan, and when I walked through an alley after the discussion, I happened to listen to it. This kind of thing is a conspiracy, not a conspiracy , is not a secret, whether we know it in advance or not, it seems that it will not hinder the execution of this matter."

Hearing this, Zhong Qingran suddenly restrained his smile: "Are you sure."

"Ah."

Zhong Qingran lowered his eyes, and his eyes fell on the slender fingers. The room was silent, except for the barely audible light breathing of the two of them.After a while, Zhong Qingran said with firm eyes: "I'll ask people to prepare more food and charcoal. There is no need to build a new house, and Shangqingfang is enough."

"Qing Ran, I don't know what to say about you anymore." Zhong Qingshu sighed, "You accept all the people that other tribes don't want. How do you make outsiders think of you?"

"Isn't this just right? The leader of Fucheng is so talkative, there are probably many tribes who want to take advantage of each other. As for who will take advantage of whom, who will know until the end?" Zhong Qingran sneered, got up and bid farewell to Zhong Qingshu.

"Hey, daughter-in-law of Chuanzi, have you heard? Starting tomorrow, the squadrons of the City Guard will take turns leading teams into the mountains to collect goods from the mountains. Are you going?"

"Go, why not? As long as we hand over [-]% of the harvest, the rest will belong to us. With such a good thing, how can we not go? This year's harvest is good, but according to the way we eat now, at most we will eat it until the end In the spring and summer of the year, if I don’t save more, I feel very panicked.”

"Okay, I'll bring my guy with me tomorrow, and we'll be together with yours tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'm busy, see you tomorrow."

Conversations like this are everywhere.

After more than a year of hunting and picking in the back mountain, the harvest is getting less and less. If you want to have a good harvest, you must go deeper.There, only groups of hunters and guards dared to enter, ordinary people rarely set foot.

This time, with a large number of guards accompanying him, he went to the untouched mountains and forests, and the rewards can be imagined.More importantly, they will go north along the outskirts of the mountain forest, and there will be a carriage outside to pick up the goods, so they don't need to carry them back.In this way, a trip, the harvest will be unimaginably rich.

There are many things that can be eaten in the mountains, many of which can also satisfy the hunger, and Fucheng is so mobilizing this time, the goal is to focus on these foods to satisfy the hunger.

In view of the fact that there may be tribal caravans coming to trade, Fucheng must have enough left-behind personnel. The guards sent only one-third, forming two teams, with city residents who were willing to travel. then set off.

Also busy are the fishermen.Zhong Qingran would not force them to go to sea, but once he conveyed his intention to save seafood, the frequency of fishermen going to sea increased significantly.

Not only that, even the elderly and children often go to the sea in their free time, so as to save more winter supplies for their families.

Fucheng is near the sea, and there are no people visiting the beach except Fucheng people, and the coastline is very long. Therefore, even if there are many people appearing on the beach every day, everyone can still return with a rewarding experience every time.

In one night, the entire Fucheng City turned into full swing.

Today, the crops in the field are almost finished harvesting, leaving only a small number of cold-resistant vegetables, which looks rather bleak.

Both Dianbai and Minglei had been sent out, and Jian Mingyu took on the duty of patrolling outside.In Fucheng, apart from the two eagles, there is no one who is more sensitive than his five senses.The birds and beasts brought back by Zhong Qingran are still young, so they won't be useful for the time being, and next year, they can serve as vigilance.

Hanhai Prefecture is almost flat, and Jian Mingyu can see very far through a telescope.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the city guards who had dispersed quickly approached Jian Mingyu.

"There is a situation, go back to the city." Jian Mingyu turned his horse's head and rushed out first, a dark light flashed in his eyes.

Soon, there was a sound of neat hooves behind him.Jian Mingyu didn't need to look to know that the city guards were right behind him.

As the last city guard entered Shangqingfang, the city gate was quickly closed, and the closing time of the other two squares would only be earlier.

Jian Mingyu stood on the archery tower, held up the binoculars, and kept watching the southwest of Fucheng.There, there were a bunch of black and dense figures, marching towards Fucheng.Because they were far away, they couldn't see clearly, but judging from the moving pace of the figures, Jian Mingyu could be sure that the speed of this group of people was very slow, and they didn't look like they were riding horses or making carriages.

Jian Mingyu frowned, and observed for a while, as if thinking of something, his entangled mind suddenly relaxed.Even so, he did not put down the binoculars, and still stared straight ahead.

The waiting time was very long. Some impetuous city guards, after seeing the crowd crawling like turtles, wished to give them a few more feet, so that they could speed up a bit, and stop dawdling like this.

The city guards standing on the wall couldn't see very clearly, they could only roughly distinguish that the moving shadows were all people, but Jian Mingyu and the captains were not.They each had a telescope, and as the crowd approached Fucheng, they could clearly see their every move.

In fact, those people's speed is not slow, but in this huge team, many people are walking on their legs, which gives people the illusion that they are moving forward step by step.

Jian Mingyu knew it in his heart. After he gave the order for the guards to gather, he didn't send out any more instructions.The guards lined up neatly behind the gate, one by one standing upright, no one shook his head, looked at others, the training for the past year was obviously fruitful.

Time passed by every minute and every second, no matter how slow the walk was, even if the distance was less than ten miles, there would be a moment when the walk would end.

The visiting team was well versed in the way of getting along among the tribes, stopped at a safe distance, and sent people to the city gate to express their intentions.

Jian Mingyu glanced over the dark crowd in front of him, and explained to the city guard who was guarding the gate.Soon, under the attention of everyone, the gate slowly closed to both sides.

Seeing the imposing city guards lined up on both sides of the road, everyone in the visiting tribe couldn't help but be surprised.Most of the tribesmen in Hanhai Prefecture are relatively brave, but it is rare to see such a uniform team like the city guard.They look more like soldiers, which are clearly different from other tribes.

Jian Mingyu led him to the courtyard that temporarily served as the reception room, and Zhong Qingran hurried over later.

There were not one but three tribes who came this time, all of them were middle-level tribes. Their purpose was obvious, which was to dump the slaves they brought along while trading with Fucheng.

Although Zhong Qingran was mentally prepared and made arrangements in advance, what he didn't expect was that the people they brought over would look like this.Sallow and emaciated, that's fine, if these people hadn't had to hurry, they might even have saved their meals.

Zhong Qingran's face was sullen, and his complexion was very ugly, but he couldn't say anything, he didn't have that position.This world is so cruel, this is not the first time he has seen such a scene.In this world, they are not the only ones suffering. He has nothing to do but do his best to help everyone.

"I heard that City Master Zhong needs servants. I wonder if these people can be seen?"

Zhong Qingran didn't respond immediately, his eyes swept over the pile of numb people in the courtyard one by one, and then he brought the three chiefs of the tribe back to the meeting room: "I think you are well aware of how these people are, I don't know what price you have in mind?"

The three looked at each other, and one of the older people spoke on behalf of the three.

"Is your price too high?" Zhong Qingran did not hide his dissatisfaction, and the irony in his tone was very obvious.

"It's easy to talk about, City Lord Zhong, don't get angry, isn't that how you buy and sell goods? I made an offer, and you can counter the price!" The speaker obviously had a good temper, and he didn't get angry at all, with a smile on his face all the time.

"Among those people, I see that many of them are sick. The rest are either old or young, and not many are young and strong. Look, they are all skinny. I took them for work. , not as a grand master! Before I can contribute, I have to treat their illnesses first, and also give them health care. After a month at most, winter will come, and I will raise them for half a year in vain. Why do I bother?" Zhong Qingran His face was full of anger, and he spoke very straightforwardly, without any twists and turns.

"In that case, as long as City Lord Zhong pays this price, these people will belong to you." After discussing for a while, the three of them negotiated a new price, "Master Zhong, we took them all the way to Fucheng, you have to leave them for us." Would you like some soup?"

"No, it's still too high. You don't accept gold and silver, as long as you buy the real thing, Fucheng gives you a preferential price. You sell it at a high price, but we sell it at a wholesale price. If we go back and forth, we will lose a lot." Zhong Qingran didn't agree. , He will not do a loss-making business.You can't be too greedy in life, you can almost get it.

The three of them came to the side hall next to them again and discussed in low voices about the price of the servants.

"You said, can it really be sold?"

"Whether it's possible or not, let's try it. It's the best, and it can't be a big deal to pull it back."

"You said it lightly, and if you take it back intact, the leaders still won't make fun of us? No matter what, you have to sell some of it. At least you have to earn back the food money spent on them these days."

The three quickly reached a consensus and came to the chamber again.

As a result, this time, the deal was also unsuccessful.

After doing this three times, they were not bothered, and Zhong Qingran was also.Since the conditions they offered were still unsatisfactory to him, he might as well make the bid.

"If the price you are asking now, I can only buy a small part, and you will have to spend time and effort to bring the rest back. How about this, if the price is lower, I will take them all. You also know that Looking at the entire Hanhai State, I am afraid that few people would dare to ask for such a manpower, so I just look at them pitifully and can barely accept it. If you miss this time, these manpower may fall into your own hands. But don’t you Really take me for a fool, my money didn't come from the strong wind." Zhong Qingran's anger gradually subsided, and the price they offered this time was finally not so outrageous, and if it was lowered again, he gritted his teeth and accepted it.He thought for a while and offered a price.

The three of them had already negotiated the reserve price, and Zhong Qingran's price was still within their acceptable range, so it was difficult for them to negotiate the price with Zhong Qingran for a while before finally finalizing the price.

"Master Zhong, since this matter is over, what do you think?"

It was the older man who spoke, and judging by their appearance, they were probably afraid of long nights and dreams, and wanted to get rid of the hot potato in their hands as soon as possible.In this regard, Zhong Qingran was not surprised at all.For those people, if they feed them for an extra day, they will consume an extra day of food. What's more, a few people are seriously ill, and maybe a few people will be lost overnight, which is not a small loss.

Now that it's been agreed, Zhong Qingran doesn't make things difficult for them.He no longer had a blank face, and got up first and walked into the yard.

At this time, a long table has been set up in the courtyard with several decorations on it.Zhong Qingran sat down in front of the table, and said in a slightly louder voice, "Line up in line and walk past the table one by one."

Before the crowd could react, the people of the three tribes had already shouted at the servants of their respective tribes, and each lined up in a line, starting with the tribe of the elder just now.

A person walked in front of Zhong Qingran, and his still immature voice could be heard from time to time.

"You, stand behind."

"The same to you."

……

As more and more people were called out, the eyes of the three tribal chiefs were astonished. In order not to be seen by others, they all closed their eyes halfway to avoid prying eyes.

At the beginning, the three of them were calm on the surface, but when the last one came out, there was already a huge wave in their hearts, and they almost couldn't maintain their calm expressions.These few people were all carefully selected by them, and they were preparing to break into the interior of Fucheng. Unexpectedly, they were stopped outside the door before they entered Fucheng. It took only an incense stick of time, and none of them escaped.I don't know if it's a coincidence, or if Fucheng has a special method of screening and fine-tuning.

The three hoped it was the former, but they could only think about it this way.Who can take the position of the person in charge, which one will be as stupid as a pig?How lucky is it to pick out all six or seven people?The possibility of this is so slim that even they themselves can't convince themselves, let alone the tribe standing behind them.

After going through the people, except those who were called out, Zhong Qingran took in the rest.The three of them didn't say anything, since Zhong Qingran saved face for them and didn't point it out on the spot, if they still messed around with luck, they would be really stupid.

After this matter was settled, Zhong Qingran didn't need to come forward to talk to Jian Mingyu about the remaining caravan trade matters, and he took the roster and sent someone to settle these newcomers to Fucheng.

Zhong Qingran was a little puzzled, those three tribes were all medium tribes, yet they brought almost two hundred people.This number is too large, and Walin Village, which is also a middle-level tribe, has a good relationship with Fucheng, so it can't afford so many people.

At the beginning, he personally went to Walin Village, but he only brought back a dozen people. This was based on the fact that they wanted to form a good relationship with Fucheng. If not, he might not even have these people.What's more, among these people, most of them are elderly, old, weak, sick and disabled, and one more disabled will be all right.