Qinghe town has been quieter lately.

After the summer wheat harvest in the large farmland on both sides of the Xiaoqing River, only millet and soybean have not yet been harvested, and they are still verdant and green, and there is at least more than a month before they are ripe, which is the slack season.

Although the purchase of medicinal materials has come to an end, the farmers in Shiliba Village are still busy working in the mountains, because Lord Xiaolidian, who has been idle for a while, has opened another winery to buy some mountain grapes to make wine.

Wine is an absolute luxury for the bitter haha of being poor for several months a year without enough food, and the Qin Dynasty law also clearly stipulates that farmers are not allowed to brew wine privately, otherwise they will be fined five times, but even so, there is still a market for this kind of thing, because those aristocratic and wealthy businessmen have demand, and there are people in big cities who have been making and selling for many years, including the Manchu Dynasty civil and military ministers, there is no one who does not drink, of course, the common people also know that there is such a thing, and some bold people have secretly brewed a little local wine at home to ward off the cold in winter.

Therefore, the common people are not unfamiliar with such a thing.

However, it was the first time that everyone had heard of the use of wild fruits such as mountain grapes, and although the law prohibits private winemaking, it means that it is not allowed to use grain to make wine, and the emperor cannot control the use of mountain grapes to make wine.

It just so happened that today was the middle of the month, coinciding with the monthly fifteenth meeting, and the mountain people of the eleven villages to which Qinghe Town belonged came to the market with rattan baskets on their backs, in addition to selling some mountain goods, more of them carried baskets of green, red, yellow and purple mountain grapes to sell to the winery for some pocket money.

A large number of mountain people plus the villagers of Qinghe Town, the number of people is enough thousands, just a few hundred meters of Qinghe Town is very lively today, it can be called crowded, the noise and noisy sound is endless, plus there are cows and horses passing by from time to time, the narrow streets are almost impossible to walk.

Uncle Ma took a group of villagers from Xiaohe Village to the town with baskets and burdens, and slowly squeezed in the crowd to Chen Xu's residence.

"Wow, mother, it's so lively, it's much more lively than our village, there are so many people!" Xing'er was sandwiched in a group of people, holding Chen Jiang's hand and looking left and right, her little face full of excitement and excitement.

She was over seven years old, and it was her first time in town, so it was new to see everything, and many things were new to her.

"When you see your brother in a while, be polite, don't let people see jokes!" Chen Jiangshi repeatedly told the little girl, but his heart was also nervous, his son became the town's lidian, and he was already a big official, and the town and the nearby ten miles and eight villages were all under his control, how could so many people manage it? Bringing Apricot to town to see if he would cause him trouble?

"Don't be nervous, although Xiao Xu has become a pawn, he has always been polite to us, and he invited us to eat dumplings a few days ago, and I heard that the people in the town also respect him very much, and everyone must salute respectfully when they see him!" Uncle Ma walked next to him and said with a smile.

"If you say that, I'm afraid of causing trouble for him!" Chen Jiang said embarrassedly.

"Xiao Xu must not think like this, I just don't know how he makes wine from this mountain grape?" A villager next to him said.

"You'll know when you see him in a while, haven't you heard, the town's tax grain was almost ...... last month"

"Simao, you are looking for a draw!" Before a young man finished speaking, he was glared back by Uncle Ma fiercely.

Although nearly a month has passed since the grain tax was robbed in the town, Chen Xu went home several times and did not mention it, which may make Chen Jiang worried, although Uncle Ma and other villagers also knew something, but Chen Xu also told them not to say it when they went back, so most of the women, children, and children in the village did not know.

"Uncle, what happened to the town's tax grain? Could it be less? Chen Jiang asked nervously.

"No, no!" Uncle Ma shook his head again and again, and said with a smile, "It's just that a few mountain bandits who don't have long eyes want to rob them, but they were all arrested by You Jiao and the county lieutenant and all the soldiers, and they have already been imprisoned in the county jail!" ”

"That's good!" Chen Jiang let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's almost there!" A villager looked at a house not far in front of him and shouted, so Chen Jiang also quickly tidied up the clothes on his body and helped Xing'er to tidy up a new set of burlap clothes.

"My lord, today's market is so lively, Qinghe Town hasn't been so lively for many years!"

In front of an old wooden house on the street, Chen Xu and Niu Dashi stood at the door and watched the bustling farmers who were selling back and forth.

"Hehe, as long as the world is stable and the grain harvest is abundant, Qinghe Town will be more lively in a few years, and when there is money next year, double the width of the street, and then use sand and gravel to pave it well, look at this ash, there is no way to get angry!" Chen Xu said with a smile.

"It's easy to say that laying sand and gravel, but it is a lot of trouble to widen, and these houses on the street have to be demolished!" A pavilion chief answered.

"Then build a new street to the east, many of the old houses in this town are about to collapse, and those who are willing to relocate will make up some of them, and I will subsidize some more, it shouldn't be too difficult!" Chen Xu replied easily.

In this era, the burden of the peasants is very great, in addition to the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes, there is also a very terrible thing to do with forced labor, going out to build roads and digging ditches for half a year at every turn, if you want to fight a war may even be several years, and you can't go back to say two things, plus the agricultural production technology is backward, the grain planted is not enough to satisfy the stomach after paying taxes, hard work for a year, most of them will be hungry for a few months in the end, so in addition to the villagers in this town to earn money, they can buy some clothes and other daily necessities, The mountain people in each village are basically the same as when Chen Xu first came, one poor and two white, there is no decent clothes at home, let alone belongings, there is a thatched house that leaks wind and rain is not bad, and now there are still a lot of poor people in Shili and Eight Villages than his family, and there are also families living in thatched huts or caves built with branches indiscriminately, and there is no complete pottery found in the house, Chen Xu has inspected several times, and he can't bear to look at it, and he will be depressed and can't sleep for several days when he comes back.

This later generation preached that the Great Qin Empire, which was known as extremely powerful, was actually a poor mess inside.

Prosperity, the people suffer, death, the people suffer!

But even so, all the peasants still worked diligently and resentfully, without anything else, just to survive.

The so-called would rather be a peace dog than a troubled person.

No matter how poor you are now, as long as you don't fight, as long as you persevere, there will always be hope.

After Chen Xu became the leader of Qinghe Town, it was just over a month.

But he has given hope to the whole town.

Free distribution of tools to make threshers, open a medicine workshop, open a mill, open a carpentry workshop, expand the blacksmith shop, repair the primary school, a pottery workshop in the town was also expanded by him, all the workshops have recruited a few apprentices, I heard that the poor families who do not have a crockpot and rice basin to cook at home will give out one or two pieces for free, and some time ago to dig medicinal materials, almost every household in ten miles and eight villages has more or less gotten dozens of money, although the money is not much, but it is enough to alleviate a family's salt consumption for a year, Saving a little and buying two burlap or cheaper kudzu cloth to make a few sets of clothes is barely enough.

This is hope, the hope that comes from extreme poverty, even a little bit, enough for all to see and feel warmth that has never been seen before.

Because I have never heard of a lidian like him, who does so many things for the villagers in the town without any benefit, let alone the old lidian before, I have never seen him do a good deed in his life, every time he is either a tax or a husband, poking at the sore spot of the poor.

Therefore, Chen Xu's reputation in the town has been very high recently, and all the villagers and villagers have to stop and salute respectfully when they see him, which is respect from the heart, not only for this young man who once killed the big snake, but also for his gratitude.

"Xiao Xu~Xiao Xu~" There were suddenly several excited shouts from the crowd, Chen Xu looked over, and suddenly a smile appeared on his face, beckoning and shouting: "Uncle, here!" ”

"Brother~" A villager lifted the apricot high from the crowd, and the little girl saw her brother and immediately danced in the air excitedly.

"Apricot!" Chen Xu hurriedly jumped off the stage and squeezed into the crowd, and then saw Chen Jiang, who was a little apprehensive.

"Mother~ You're here too!" Chen Xu hurriedly bowed.

"I've seen my aunt~" Niu Dashi hurriedly saluted in a neat gray linen coat, and then looked at Xing'er with a smirk on her face.

Since Chen Xu woke up, the situation at home has been getting better day by day, the food is good and nutritious, the new house is also at ease, and the little girl has slowly grown flesh, no longer the kind of thin and thin person who can be blown down by a gust of wind, her cheeks are full and there is a natural flush, plus she is wearing clean and neat new clothes, her appearance has been reborn.

"I've seen my brother~" The little girl bowed respectfully, and then threw herself into Chen Xu's arms, and at the same time rolled her eyes at Niu Dashi, "You laugh so stupidly!" ”

"Haha~" The surrounding villagers and Niu Quan and others all laughed loudly.

"Xiao Xu, the town is so lively today, I come to catch the market a few times a year, but I have never seen such a lively situation!" Uncle Ma couldn't help but sigh loudly.

"This year's wind and rain are smooth, the summer grain is harvested, it seems that the autumn grain will also be harvested, everyone is happy to come to join in the fun, by the way, buy and sell some mountain goods, hey, why did you get so many mountain grapes?" When Chen Xu spoke, he watched a villager put down his basket and saw that it was full of purple, red, green and yellow mountain grapes from the leaves lifted, and couldn't help but say in surprise.

"I heard that you have opened another brewery in the town, and while it has been relatively idle recently, we went up the mountain for two days, adding up to a hundred catties, and I got it for you!" Uncle Ma said with a smile.

"Okay, carry me to the brewery, and weigh you there!" Chen Xu squatted down with a smile and patted his back, Xing'er climbed onto his back with a cheer, hugged his neck and refused to come down no matter how Chen Jiang scolded him.

"Mother, there are a lot of people in the town, I'm afraid that it will be crowded, so I'll carry it on my back!"

Chen Xu led the way with Xing'er on his back, Ma Dabo and others followed behind with a basket, and the winery was in the west of the village, that is, in the upper reaches of the Xiaoqing River, where the water quality was clean and there was no pollution from the villagers' lives in the town, and the possibility of success in cleaning grapes was greater.

When a group of people arrived at the brewery, it was already overcrowded.

In and out of the small courtyard are farmers carrying baskets and carrying burdens, all of them are ragged and rough-skinned, both young and old have dark faces, many people look skinny, although almost all of them look malnourished, but their faces are almost smiling, and the people who come out are more or less holding a few yellow and clear copper coins in their hands, obviously very satisfied.

When Chen Xu and others came in, several villagers with backpacks saw it and hurriedly saluted and said hello.

Inside the courtyard there is a pergola and a thatched hut made of wood and stone.

A bunch of people were weighing the mountain grapes in the pergola.

Seeing Chen Xu, everyone stopped and turned around to say hello.

"Okay, everyone!" Chen Xu put the apricots down, and then walked over to take a look at the mountain grapes picked by these mountain people, although the ripeness was not too uniform, many of them had turned purple and black.

Mountain grapes are more in northern China, less in the south, Henan is in the middle, it can be regarded as no more and no less, and the quality is not high or low, Chen Xu's hometown is called Wulazi, which is a kind of wild berry that he often eats when he was a child.

And because the mountain grapes have not been selected and cultivated by cuttings, the taste is very weird, that is to say, some are very sour, some are very sweet, and the taste is not easy to predict without artificial screening.

The ripening period of mountain grapes is also relatively long, from June to September of the lunar calendar, and the ripening time of each vine and even each bunch of grapes is not the same, the result is that some of the vines are still flowering, some are ripe, even if a bunch of grapes are some green, some yellow and some purple, it looks colorful, so these mountain grapes are cleaned after harvesting, and then the purple and black ones are picked off to make wine, and the green and yellow ones can only be discarded, but Chen Xu sees the appearance of these mountain grapes now, I felt that almost half of the green and yellow color was lost, so I decided to try making vinegar after a little thought.

I remember seeing a couplet from a food factory before: the wine jar is good, and the vinegar jar is sour.

Then some people deliberately read it as: the wine jar is good for vinegar, and the jar is sour.

It can be seen that winemaking and vinegar actually have the same effect, that is to say, if the wine is not brewed well, it will become vinegar if you are not careful.