Chapter 214: If you can have food and clothing, you won't be in chaos

Zhang Yue was born into a family in his life, and the only time he has come into contact with ordinary people's lives is when he sent a lot of water in Kaifeng, but he knows in his heart how rare this eating meat is for ordinary people. Therefore, seeing that Lao Yang was courteous, he tried his best to refuse, but he still couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the other party, so he had to eat the pancake with beef.

Because it was boiled for nothing and there was no salt, the cow froze to death for more than a month, so the beef tasted a strong fishy smell, but the Yang family father and son didn't care at all, and actually brought out another urn of soju. And the hostess of the house, who cooked, had been busy in the kitchen all the time and did not show up. According to Lao Yangtou's words, there are guests in this house, and women can only serve under the stove. The coachman who came with Zhang Yue did not come in, and asked for a bowl of hot water and gnawed steamed buns on the car outside the door.

When Old Man Yang first met Zhang Yue before, he could show his true colors, and after a few glasses of wine at this time, there were even more words: "Our Yang family moved from Shanxi at the beginning, and at that time a rope was strung together, who dared not move?" When I just moved to Shandong, the imperial court still said that the money for settling down and the seeds and farm tools for cultivating cattle were actually all things. There are some lands, but they are all barren for many years, and my dead father and mother and I have worked day and night to reclaim twenty acres of land. ”

"The plague survived, the floods and droughts survived, but nothing was as bad as the four years of war were terrible. The army in the north was defeated, the army in the south pursued, and the army in the south was defeated, and the army in the north pursued it, and the people who killed and killed the most were the people, and we don't know how many people died in Shandong. At that time, our cellar was well repaired, and there were fewer soldiers and horses in Qingzhou, so we were lucky to escape. Dogs, these young people have not experienced the tragic situation at that time, and if you want me to say, since we can still live, don't get involved with those gods and ghosts! ”

Old Yang's words not only made Yang Gou'er lower his head, but Zhang Yue was also convinced. It's better to die than to live. This is the simple truth in the hearts of ordinary people. Today's Shandong is vast and sparsely populated, and vassal kings like King Lu of Han only occupy an area of 1,000 hectares, and the land is everywhere, and they are only afraid of famine, plague and natural disasters. As long as they can survive, who in this world wants to rebel and fight? Thinking of this, he felt more confident in his heart, so he smiled and nodded.

"The old man is right, how much wasteland can be reclaimed in three years of peace. How much food can be produced? If the year is good, the granary will gradually be full, and the cow will be able to be bought again after it freezes to death. There is a way to be a family of soldiers and bandits, if there is any trouble, in fact, they are still unlucky, if they all think like you, can the world be peaceful? ”

"Listen to what the little minister says!" Old Yang Tou was scratched by Zhang Yuedi's words, and he had to take the opportunity to teach Yang Gou'er a few words. But when it comes to the frozen cow, his face is still a little gloomy, "It's just that I'm so old, I'm afraid I won't see the day when I save money to buy cattle." Alas, the dog is no longer small. In the past, I picked and chose to see those girls who didn't like other people, but now two cows have died in our family at once, and his daughter-in-law is afraid that he won't be able to get it back for a while. ”

Zhang Yue saw that Yang Gou'er's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and quickly changed the conversation. Because he asked again: "Uncle Yang, since you had two ploughing cattle before, you can naturally be regarded as a solid family in this village." In addition to the official cattle, how many families in this village have their own farming cattle? But there is anyone else who can lend or lease a ploughing ox like the man before him? ”

Yang Gou'er said that he couldn't say that he was dad, so he was angry and buried himself in eating, this large plate of boiled beef was almost eaten by him alone, and when he heard Zhang Yue's words, he put down his chopsticks angrily: "The official cow in this village is too old to walk." Who can expect it to plow the land! There are four or five cows in the village, but they never want to borrow them, and although there are two families who have cows, they have to charge a hundred dollars a day to borrow! ”

"You're used to enjoying happiness, when you didn't plough cattle before, didn't you eat with my hands and feet? If you want to borrow cattle, didn't I just lend them to the right people at that time? This ploughing cow is a treasure, so naturally you can't just do it! ”

Seeing that this father and son were about to make trouble again, Zhang Yue hurriedly mediated a couple of sentences. I saw Yang Gou'er go out. He asked with concern: "Uncle Yang, if this year is not a disaster, it will be better." How many years do you have to save up a lot of money? ”

Although he drank a few more glasses of wine and his face was already red, Lao Yang's head was still sober. Tilting his head and thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said: "Xiao Xianggong is a scholar, and he thinks about the good in everything, even if he doesn't suffer from disasters, there is still forced labor!" There are many large and small rivers in Shandong, and this river has not been completely dredged yet. Take the Zishui next to us as an example, this embankment also has to be repaired every year, and the days of conscription take several months, how easy is it to save a cow? Even if the year is good, it will take at least four or five years to save a cow. ”

This Shandong year is really worse than Henan!

After visiting in the past few days, Zhang Yue has completely understood it at this moment, and after a moment of silence, he explained: "Now that political envoy Lord Du asked the emperor to issue a reclamation order again, and after reclaiming the wasteland, he will establish a land deed, and cultivate for five years without paying grain and paying taxes. Reclamation of two acres, the government and the seeds in a year, a year to borrow cattle for a month, now Jinan has begun to implement, our Qingzhou Mansion is about soon. ”

As soon as he heard this, the old Yang's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh heavily and said: "This dare is good, everyone refuses to open up the wasteland, just because there will be no sweetness for a while, and it may be wasteland. ”

"What is good, the words of the government can also be believed!"

With this rough voice, the black coarse cloth bib outside was revealed, but a man in his early thirties strode in. He was wearing a short ochre jacket, with a square face and wide eyebrows, but his lips were extremely thin, and after a glance at Zhang Yue, he sat down on the stool where Yang Gou'er had sat at the table, and said angrily: "Uncle, what do you have to say to a scholar who is a pedantic scholar, they have merit and fame and are supported by the imperial court, of course they speak for the imperial court!" Just now the dogs told me, this will lend you a ploughing cow for nothing, you have found out so many truths! If you want me to say, everything is empty, and the harvest is the most important thing! ”

"That's right, it's true that everything is open space, and the most important thing is to have a harvest!" Zhang Yue saw that the big man ignored him, but he was not annoyed, and only said to the old Yang Tou, "Even if the official decree is good, it is inevitable that there will be omissions in the future." It's just that it's better to do better than nothing, and it's better to have a field than no land. The more land you plant, the more you will reap the grain. ”

The man looked at Zhang Yue at this time, and saw that Lao Yang Tou didn't pay attention to him at all, but asked Zhang Yue about the details, but he didn't feel interested. However, sitting and listening to Zhang Yue's explanations one by one, he gradually became interested. After all, although he also believed in the teachings taught by the Buddha's mother, if there were tangible benefits to the reclamation, he would naturally not abandon them. In the end, he couldn't help but interject: "This reclamation is just that, what does this village mutual aid association mean?" ”

"The so-called village mutual aid association is actually a few village elders elected by the villagers, and everyone contributes a certain amount of money according to each family, which can be used together to buy cattle seeds and farm tools, or can be kept for emergencies. Which superfluous things that are not useful, such as broken stools, such as rotten rakes, such as pots and pots that cannot be used, can also be taken to the mutual aid association, which are brought together to communicate with each other, maybe you have two less woods for the bed in your house, and you can use the broken stool, for example, if you want to do other tools, you can use the rotten rake, isn't it just right? ”

The more Lao Yang listened, the more fresh he felt, but he still had doubts in his heart, and immediately said frankly: "What Xiao Xianggong said is probably what he heard in the government, this sounds really good, I'm afraid of tossing it." Just like in our village, if you pool your money to buy three or five ploughing cattle, who to lend them to or not to whom you don't lend them, the things you take out are good and bad, and you are afraid that it will not be easy to arrange them at that time. ”

"That's why I said that we have to elect someone who everyone can trust to set the charter, and the government is just a middleman. Besides, at the beginning, everyone may not be able to trust each other, and there may not be many of them, but there are ten people, and each person can get together a hundred dollars, and there will be consistency, and then they will be able to do consistent things. If there are 100 people, 100 each, then there are 10 times, and you can do 10 times......"

Zhang Yue said a lot in one breath, not to mention that the old Yang Tou was stunned when he heard it, and he only nodded, and even the man who was disapproving at first also listened. When Zhang Yue casually said that the Fang family, a big clan in Qingzhou Mansion, could provide farming cattle to the government from the beginning, and the government would lend them to families who had not cultivated the land, and send people to help build this mutual aid association, the two were even more surprised and happy.

Although there are a lot of big families in Qingzhou Mansion, the only one that the people can trust is this Fang family who has always been kind and charitable!

Now Lao Yang Tou is worried that Zhang Yue casually said that he was fooling the old man, and then repeatedly asked if it was true, until Zhang Yue repeatedly assured that he was still a little uneasy, and when he heard that the Qingzhou Mansion would post a list, he immediately patted his thigh and decided to go into the city tomorrow to see what was going on. The man couldn't sit still at this time, saying that he was looking for someone to discuss, so he stood up and left.

When the nephew left, Lao Yang Tou smiled at Zhang Yue again: "Little Xianggong, you are well-informed, I will go to the city tomorrow to read the list article, but I still have to ask you carefully!" ”

"Since Uncle Yang can trust me, after entering the city tomorrow, he will go to the first house at the west end of Jinxian Street, and say to the gatekeeper that he will find Zhang Yuanjie!" Zhang Yue squeezed his eyes with a smile as he spoke, "But tomorrow I will also go over to see the excitement, Uncle Yang, you may meet me there." Don't worry, I won't say anything, you'll know when you see it tomorrow. ”