It's a pity that grandmother Zhang has just left the capital, and no matter how Zhao Xiu shouts, she can't respond.

Zhao Xiu could only bite the bullet and go on it herself.

When she saw that there was a lot of rain this year, and people paid attention to digging ditches in the fields, she didn't expect that this year's rain would be so much, so she only let people follow the habit of previous years, and simply deepened the original soil ditch used for drainage, or used a hoe to dig a new ditch more than a foot deep in the mud. However, these ditches are earth ditches, washed by muddy water, naturally easy to deform, the water flowing from the upstream brings sand, gravel and soil, it will not take long to fill the ditches, and must be dug again, and the stone ditches are not comparable at all.

She now found that this method no longer worked, but it was too late to use stones to build the walls of the ditch, so she had to ask people to dig as large and deep as possible, and send people to patrol every day to see where the ditch was filled, and immediately dig it again. In addition, all farmland near the river was abandoned, and large rocks and other debris were used to raise the embankment to prevent the water level in the river from rising, flooding the embankment and overflowing the farmland.

The Zhao family's small second house has a lot of fields under its name, all of which were handed down by the county grandfather back then, so it is naturally located in the best location, or a large area is connected together, and the tenants are also capable and powerful. Zhao Xiu's improvement, the situation in the field is really better, the river outside no longer overflows into the field, the tenants also drained the excess water in the field early, and once the crops in the field are checked, whether it is cotton or rice, some of them can be saved, which is a blessing in misfortune. But one thing is certain, and that is that this year's harvest will be greatly reduced.

Zhao Xiu calculated the score. I was a little depressed. Even if the fields in Fengxian's hometown are not harvested, the fields in the field of the second house may not get any good harvest this year. I heard that there is a drought near the capital and in Shandong, and the crops are not growing well. There is a drought in the north, but it is raining too much in Shanghai, and it is really a house leak that coincides with overnight rain, so why can't it be balanced? It was the first time she was a housekeeper, and she hadn't come up with a way to open up sources and reduce expenses, just to deal with these natural disasters. It's a mess. Although my grandmother always said that I had a field in my hand, I didn't panic in my heart. But she realized more and more clearly that the days of relying on the sky to eat were not so easy, and she still had to think of ways to support her family without looking at God's face.

But that's another story. Now her attention is still on the matter at hand.

The small second house with a big family and a big business is still facing difficulties. Not to mention the rest of the clan. Although the local cotton grain has been lost, it will affect the cotton and grain business of the outer six houses, but they can go to other places to receive the goods, or find compensation from other places, and the problem is not big. Zongfang, Sanfang, these names have a lot of land. also because of the thick foundation, a loss of one or two years. At most, life is a little harder, so as not to hurt the vitality. The problem is that those small families in the clan have a small population, the family foundation is not rich, the field production is small, and there is no other income except for the production in the field.

Zhao Qixuan's family is in such a situation.

Zhao Qixuan's own family background is not very good, although in the past few months, because of Zhao Xiu, from time to time to get some Western gadgets and Western books to come back to please her, in exchange for a lot of money, but the family is still thin, he and his wife are bent on sending their son to study in private school, so they are still frugal, and the money they save is reserved for their son's study in the imperial examination in the future. The field was flooded, and his family did not have enough manpower to dig ditches, so he reluctantly hired a few people to help dig ditches and drain them. The couple went to the ground to take a look, and in the face of that tragic situation, they couldn't cry.

Zhao Qixuan saw that the situation in Xiao Er's house was fine, gritted his teeth, and came to beg Zhao Xiu. Zhao Xiu heard that he was pitiful, so he asked Lu Changxiu to inform his subordinates, and by the way, to help his family, Zhao Qixuan was so grateful that he was about to kneel on the ground and kowtow to her, Zhao Xiu persuaded him for a long time before persuading people to leave.

There are many people in the clan who are in a situation like Zhao Qixuan, and there are not many servants and employees in her small second room, can she help everyone? Then do you have time to take care of your own land? But if you help the owner and don't help the west, others will inevitably gossip and lose their temper. If you want to rely on the strength of your own family to help others, it will not work.

Such a large clan, with three rooms inside and nine rooms outside, there are hundreds of men with the same surname alone, and there are countless male and female servants and women under the name of each family, plus hired laborers and tenant farmers, not to mention a population of several thousand.

Zhao Xiu thought about it all night and finally made up his mind.

The first thing she did the next morning was to personally visit Zhao Jing and the Shen couple in the sect.

Zhao Jing and Shen have also been worried about the disaster recently, Zongfang is the rich man of the soil, relying on the production of the field to eat, this year's harvest is obviously not good, this is a natural disaster, everyone is like this, there is nothing to complain about, the problem is that the old man Yu is not at home at the moment, and when he comes back, he learns that there is such a big loss in the family, even if it is not the responsibility of his son and daughter-in-law, he will put the responsibility on their heads. But even if he knew that his father would do this, Zhao Jing could only do his best and do his best.

He has to worry not only about his own fields, but also about sending people to help the families of the clan who have been affected by disasters and are unable to save themselves. Although doing so will expand the loss of his family, and his father will definitely scold him even more when he returns home, Zhao Jing still feels that this is what he should do as a son of the sect, the Shen family was born in a prestigious family, and he was trained at a young age, and he also very much agrees with her husband's approach.

Zhao Xiu knew Zhao Jing's behavior, and he appreciated it very much, although the elder brother of the clan had an unreliable grandfather and an unreliable father, he himself could indeed be called a good person, and he was also dedicated to the clan, but this effort was not the place.

She advised Zhao Jing and his wife: "All the families in the clan have been affected, but some of them are lighter. Some were heavier, and Brother Jing sent money and food to the worst families to help them support themselves. What about those who are a little less miserable, but also miserable? If they ask the sect for help, will Brother Jing also send money and food? If it is given to them, it will be slightly better off than them, but not much better? How much food does Brother Jing's family have to support so many people? I once heard someone say that if you don't suffer from widowhood, you will suffer from inequality, and Brother Jing has helped some people. Will those people who have not received your money and food complain? ”

Zhao Jing was dumbfounded when he heard this, but he thought about the situation in the two days of the clan. He couldn't help but be gloomy. Zhao Xiu's words were not untargeted, and some clansmen had already seen him ask his wife to send money and food to those families who had been severely affected, and they also came to the door to ask for money and food. The man began to run on him as he spoke. said that he was buying people's hearts, but he didn't really think about his people. But what can he do?

Shen looked at her husband's expression, and naturally knew what he was sad about, so he said to Zhao Xiu: "My sister's words are certainly reasonable, but even if some people in the clan complain, we can't do anything, we can't just stand by and watch the affected clansmen just because someone complains, right?" Anyway, we still have some silver in our house. If you can help someone, you can help. ”

Zhao Xiu said disapprovingly: "Our small second room also has a family background. I also helped the affected clansmen, and frankly speaking, even if the whole clan was given a piece of money and food, our family would not be unable to take it out, but there was no reason for this. Natural disasters and man-made disasters are not certain, this year's flood, next year's drought, maybe in which year, something will happen, affecting the production of the land, can we only be expected to support the tribesmen every time? At the beginning of this year, if you encounter natural disasters in the future, will your sect still take the silver out? What about our small second room? How much money can you have in your sect to withstand such an expense, and the money in our small second room didn't fall from the sky? It is justified for you to occupy the name of a clan house and subsidize the clansmen, but in the long run, will the whole clan not have to make money, anyway, there is no food to eat, just count on the clan to give alms. Our little second room doesn't even have the name of the sect, and the situation is even worse, directly overpowering the sect, how can you deal with yourself at that time? ”

Zhao Jing's face turned pale by her: "That...... How's that good? He is not worried that the small second room will overwhelm the sect room, but the situation that Zhao Xiu said is really likely to happen, even before the flooding this year, the clan does not produce, and there are not a few clansmen who only expect to fight the autumn wind from the inner third room or the outer sixth room to feed the whole family. The pressure on the second room is greater than that of the sect, the name of the county grandfather in the past was too loud, and the clansmen have long been accustomed to touching the light of his old man, even if he is dead, the old lady Zhang is still there, and in case of trouble, he expects the second room to come forward, and the Zhao family will not be able to cultivate excellent children to take over.

Shen saw that Zhao Xiu had already had an idea, and hurriedly asked, "What is the best way for my sister?" Say it quickly, let's see it in detail. ”

Zhao Xiu smiled slightly: "What good way can I do?" It's just a stupid idea. Brother Jing also knows that the situation in our field has improved now, and the ditch has been dug temporarily, and there are people who regularly inspect it, even if the water floods into the field, it can be remedied in time, which is the advantage of being overcrowded. There are thousands of our people, including the master and the servants, and the tenants, and if we can unite them, we may be able to remedy the waterlogged crops in the fields of the people. If you can't save it, then the sect will come forward, unite all the houses, have money to pay, have food to pay, and have the strength to contribute, and you can always help those people who have been severely affected by the disaster. Isn't it better than the two of us fighting alone? ”

Zhao Jing's eyes lit up, didn't they? With the strength of the whole clan, no matter what they do, it is stronger than the two of them, and this is the strength of the entire clan, and there is no need to worry about draining their own family funds in the future, and others will not be able to gossip.

Shen Shi also very much agreed with this construction, and was happy for a while: "Dad is not at home, we can't stop him with this method......" Only then did he realize that he had said the wrong thing, and he hurriedly shut up, his face red. Speaking ill of her father-in-law is not what a good daughter-in-law should do.

Although it should not be done, it is also true. Zhao Jing glanced at his wife apologetically, turned to Zhao Xiu and said, "Sister Lao is bothered, this is what our clan should do, but you are a girl to speak, the foolish brother is really ashamed." But rest assured, your idea is excellent, and it will not only be useful for this disaster, but also for future clan affairs. Over time, it has become a common practice, the clansmen love each other and support each other, why don't our Zhao clan have a day when they are revitalized again? ! ”

Zhao Xiu smiled, revitalized again? Except for the appearance of her grandfather, the county grandfather, how could the Zhao family really revitalize? If the clan can really do what Zhao Jing said in the future, love each other and support each other, I'm afraid the Zhao clan can achieve real "revitalization", right? (To be continued......)