The sky was still bright, Li Guolou was already walking in the yard, moving his muscles and bones, he nodded to Huang Kaohao, who had also gotten up to work, and the two long-term workers said hello to each other.

I thought to myself: The landlord Lao Cai Huang is really diligent and thrifty, and he hired two long-term workers, so he treated them as cattle and horses, and did not let them sleep lazy in winter.

If Huang Kao arranged for the two long-term workers to do it, he went to the village office with Li Guolou, because Li Guolou was urging him to take the household registration information of the villagers before he was willing to eat breakfast.

Huang Yishi also got up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast, but before he saw Huang Yueshi walk out of the room, Li Guolou nodded and said hello to Huang Yishi, and did not ask Jin Erzi to get up. I left the mansion and walked to the village office to the east, the chickens and dogs in the village were barking, there were already people walking on the road, the rural people were used to getting up early, and the villagers saw Huang Kao, hurriedly bent down and bowed, showing respect.

There is no shortage of firewood in rural areas, as long as they go to the forest to cut firewood, they can pick up a big load, so there is a firewood room in the yard of every house. Most of the rooms of these ordinary people are bungalows, some of them have straw roofs, and there are no tiles. The courtyard walls are also made of stones, and some are surrounded by wooden fences, so that passers-by can see everything in the courtyard.

Li Guolou had to probe his brain in the courtyard of each villager, which wasted a lot of time, which made Huang Kaohao very dissatisfied.

Huang Kaohao stopped again, looked impatient, and said: "Chief Li, please hurry up, you have to ask the villagers about the situation, let Huang Bing accompany you later, I still have to work." ”

Li Guolou hurriedly walked to Huang Kaohao's side with a hippie smile on his face, and said: "Huang Cunzheng, I'm just interested in rural life, you people here all raise chickens and ducks, and the living conditions are quite good." ”

Huang Kao glanced at Li Guolou, sneered in his nose, and said: "What is it, Chief Li, you don't even understand this, most of the chickens and ducks raised by the villagers have to be called errands, and usually no one is willing to kill them to eat, even eggs, ducks and eggs." ”

Li Guolou didn't understand and asked, "How can this be a deal?" ”

Huang Kao pointed his fingers and said: "Sir Li, there are still errand servants in the village, they will buy these things, they can all be converted into copper coins, each family has a tax that should be paid, there is a book to remember the number, and you can't default before the end of the year, otherwise you will be punished." Only the surplus is the villagers' own, otherwise the servants will come to collect debts. ”

Li Guolou said: "Oh! Huang Cunzheng, you must be a loan shark. ”

Huang Kao smiled and said, "Chief Li, how ugly it is to say that usury is good, this is to ask the villagers to help, and I don't want to be a big landlord, why do you want so much land." It's very hard to maintain long-term workers, if you don't stare at them, they will be lazy, I can't be busy alone, I want my wife to manage people, and I'm afraid that they will steal men, just maintain the status quo. ”

Li Guolou was snickering in his stomach, he didn't expose Huang Kaohao's disguise, people are insatiable, people like Huang Kaohao just want more and more land, and their lifelong dreams are also on the land. There are already more than 600 acres of land in the village that belong to Huang Kaohao's family, and villagers are hired to farm for his family. Huang Kao is a village leader, and he must conceal the number of acres of his own land, this kind of trick is the same everywhere, and it is easy to do things that harm the public and private interests.

Today's Qing Dynasty law, landlords also have to pay taxes, there is no such thing as Meng Yin, the official eunuch landlord class, only by concealing the land to benefit. The official errand of measuring the land is fat, you can eat and drink everywhere, and make a fortune easily, but the state has regulations, generally the whole country has measured the land in five years, which is the rule formulated by the Yongzheng Emperor, and it is precisely because the Yongzheng Emperor implemented the practice of apportioning into the mu that the Chinese population will explode (in ancient times, the poor could not afford to raise too many children, most of them killed the newborn children, and another errand of the midwife was to kill the child, a very cruel reality, never mentioned in the book). In the past, the state paid taxes on the basis of heads, and after the implementation of apportionment into the mu, as long as the people could afford to raise children, they would give birth to a lot, and at first the people were still rich and happy, but in the later years of Kangxi, the ills appeared, and the Chinese population suddenly tripled (more than 200 million people), and in the agrarian society, it became difficult to bear the pressure of such a large population, and the average person had less and less land, and the people's lives became poorer and poorer, and only then there would be the White Lotus Rebellion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, and wave after wave of peasant uprisings, so that the Qing Empire endured internal and external difficulties.

Li Guolou's family is not a big landowner, they are no longer interested in land, so Li Guolou also looks down on Cun Zhenghuang to do well in the exam, this kind of countryman even drinks and talks about the gains and losses of land. How much is an acre of land worth here, at most forty or fifty taels of silver, generally between twenty or thirty taels of silver, and a dozen taels of silver can buy good land in a disaster year. If Li Guolou had bought land and become a big landlord, he would have been a hegemon a long time ago.

Along the way, Huang Kaohao told which piece of land belonged to his family, and which family relied on his kindness to live until now, and did not go to the situation of ruining his family, so the villagers would love him so much when they saw him. Li Guolou listened, nodded frequently, and praised Huang Kao, a great good man in Huang Village.

Speaking of the topics that Huang Kaohao was interested in, he no longer urged Li Guolou to go faster, but stood on the ridge with Li Guolou to watch the scenery of the field.

There has been no war in Jingshi for nearly two hundred years, and the earthen fence of the village has been dilapidated, and many farmhouses have been located on the outskirts of the village, and the scattered layout makes the overall appearance of Huangcun not very good.

Li Guolou sighed, "Huang Cunzheng, your security protection here is too poor, no wonder two little girls were abducted and tricked, you should manage the road into the village well, so that this kind of tragic thing will not happen again." ”

As soon as he talked about this, Huang Kao broke out in a cold sweat, his village was in a precarious position, and the public security situation was not good, and he was the first to eat noodles as the head of a village. On such a cold winter morning, Huang Kao took out the handkerchief in his sleeve to wipe his sweat.

Huang Kaohao defended: "Sir Li, I have no choice, I don't have any money!" The earth fence is full of loopholes, you can enter and exit anywhere, plus some villagers want to enter and exit their own places, but also dig holes in the soil fence, I know that I didn't do a good job, now we have set up a security team here, and there are patrols every day. I have promised the chief that when the spring comes, I will repair the earthen fence. At my own expense, I will definitely repair the earthen fence to the watertight. ”

Li Guolou admonished: "Huang Cunzheng, do you know what kind of earthen buildings were built in Shandong in order to deal with the Twist Army? The Twist Army passes by like a locust, and nothing will be left for you, like your body bones, as long as you meet the Twist Army, you have to be cannon fodder. Don't just think about buying land, you have to learn to survive, one day there will be a war here, you have to convert your big mansion into a tulou, you have to buy guns, form your own militia, red tassel guns, big knives to use farts, long outdated. In this way, everything you have is your own, otherwise one day you will be robbed of everything, and you will be worse than Tian's. ”

Huang Kao was unconvinced: "Chief Li, don't scare me, isn't the twisting army about to end?" Why do I have to spend so much money? ”

Li Guolou pointed to the sky and said: "Huang Cunzheng, there are unforeseen circumstances in the sky, people have good and bad luck, you don't want everything you have to become empty, you have to become strong, just have silver hidden in the cellar, it is scrap metal." ”

Huang Kaohao nodded and said: "Chief Li, others have said what you said to me, but it is not as good as what you said, what you said is a little reasonable, then I will rebuild my big house during the spring construction, and then let a few trustworthy hired farmers live in my house." It's just a gun, hehe······ Chief Li wants to help find a few good guns. ”

Li Guolou patted Huang Kaohao on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, Huang Cunzheng, I won't fool you with an arquebus, get you the latest flintlock pistol, a good gun that is not afraid of wind and rain, no one will dare to fight Huang Cun's idea in the future, you are the big hero of this area." ”

As if seeing a bright future, Huang Kaohao no longer wants to be bound in a small land, it turns out that his hometown can still be built so beautiful, he was moved by Li Guolou's words, and he was about to hemorrhage and spend money on construction.

Li Guolou is the best at encouraging people's hearts, and a bit of nonsense will make Huang Kao toss blindly, and Saion's gains and losses are just a thought. As for Li Guolou's nonsense, how much effect does it have? Now I can't see it at all.

Li Guolou just wanted Huang to take the exam and carry out construction in his hometown, so that the people of Huang Village could have a safe place to live. I didn't expect that there would be blessings and disasters, of course, the "blessing" was that the local people had the opportunity to earn money to support their families, and the "disaster" was that it increased the labor burden of the people in Huangcun. In addition to the cost of materials to be bought back from outside, the cost of labor can be saved if Huang Kao is good, and it is natural for "relatives and friends" to spend less money.

After taking the household registration information of Huang Village at the village office, Li Guolou and Huang Kao went back for breakfast together, and it took only ten minutes to go back and forth, and the two of them walked for three quarters of an hour. Talking happily all the way, pointing to the winter scenery of Huangcun to express feelings, no matter how beautiful it is, it is still the beauty of the hometown, and the fragrant mountains in the distance add to the beautiful style.

After talking for a while, Li Guolou finally cut the topic to the topic and asked: "Huang Cunzheng, how many families are there in your village, how many people are there, and are there many outsiders?" ”

Huang Kao didn't have to think about it, he memorized this kind of problem very well, and blurted out: "There are two hundred and thirty-one households in our Huang Village, and the population includes the two missing little girls, with a population of 893 people, 490 men, 403 women, of which 355 are strong laborers, and if the women who can work are also counted, 307 people will be added to it." ”

Huang Kaohao also said that the contradictions between the aborigines in the village and the people who moved from outside the village all relied on his appeasement to let the whole village live a happy life. Therefore, he is indispensable to take the helm in Huangcun, and only when he comes to be a villager will he be convinced.

Li Guolou took the household registration booklet and flipped it casually, with these numbers that Huang Kao said well. As for whether there are hidden households? That's hard to say, Huang Kaohao won't tell him unless he gets evidence.

The so-called hidden households are hired farmers who work for large families, they have no land, and they do not need labor or military service, but they cannot move around without a household registration, and they belong to the blind stream, and they are people with no social status. Many of the rich and powerful people in the family are also hidden households, and the state cannot control this kind of person, for the country, this kind of person is useless, does not contribute to the country, only serves the master, and some are another name for outlaws.

Li Guolou will not offend the head snake, otherwise he will not be able to move an inch here, and dozens of militia groups in the village will be able to keep an eye on him, and no one will talk to him. Unless a brigade of officials is sent to enforce the law, Li Guolou has not taken out the card ticket until now. He doesn't want to use the card ticket in his pocket anymore, so he sends a favor to Huang Kao, so as not to let Muramasa Huang take the exam well and be embarrassed, and the name of the defendant or suspect is written on the card by the government, which is very embarrassing for people with status and status, and it is a big stain on life.

Some officials in the government went to ask for bribes when they got the tickets, and did not escort the suspects or defendants to the yamen, Li Guolou couldn't do this kind of thing, and he no longer regarded Huang Kaohao as a suspect.