It's June, the mountains are blue, and the leaves are turning red. However, the strong sunlight sprinkled on the earth, and it scorched itself. Around noon, the air seemed to be melting, flashing layers of 'ripples', like microwaves on the surface of the water.

Patches of early rice swayed their plump ears from time to time, like a fluctuating golden ocean.

It's late summer, and it's the season for early rice harvest.

In the golden sea of rice, the heavy rice Hui weighed down the rice stalks and bent over, a gust of wind blew, and a kind of harvest joy rippled in the ups and downs of the rice waves.

Another bumper year. In the fields, many farmers are bending over and moving step by step in the fields.

This is a grange twenty miles outside Jinling City, it is the busy season of farming, the weather is still hot, now it is just about midnight, the sun's rays have become scorching, the people in the fields are wearing only a single coat, many of them are showing their strong and dark backs, and they are about to bend down to harvest the rice with full ears.

Farming is always the busiest time for croppers, and the people get up early before dawn these days, have breakfast, and go down to the ground with the first rays of sunshine. Don't look at the fact that they have only arrived now, but they have been busy in the fields for a long time.

Eyes fell on the land near the country road. An old man with his two sons finally finished cutting a rice field, beat his sore back, the old man straightened his waist and beckoned to his two sons: "Mountain, sea, you also come up to rest." ”

Dashan was a stout young man in his twenties, with an honest and honest appearance, and he smiled honestly when he heard his father's shouts. The sea was only twelve or thirteen years old, and his face was still childish, and when he heard his father's words, he happily agreed: "Hey, Dad, I'll come now." ”

Dashan glared at the younger brother and replied to the old man: "Dad, you rest, I and the third child are not tired." ”

Adults in their twenties, who have experienced the hard times at the beginning, how can they not know how to solve problems for their families? is not as unworried as the third child who has lived a good life since he was a child.

The eldest grandson and youngest son, the lifeblood of the old man.

Liu Laohan glanced at his youngest son, and was a little hesitant for a moment, but he also knew that his son couldn't do it. Especially Liu Dahai doesn't have the talent to go to school, and his body is not strong, a few years ago, there was a boy scout in the town, and this kid pretended to be sick and didn't want to go, he was not a motivated person. Graduating from this school is also the life of going home to farm. Now you can't just worry about the distress.

"It's good, it's good." Hearing his son's reply, Liu Laohan finally agreed, took the basket from the ox cart tied to the ground, and now took out the water jug inside and poured himself a bowl of cold white water. I took out a bun from the basket and ate it.

Liu Dahai glanced at his second brother unhappily, carried a sickle, looked at his father, who was no longer silent, and had to return to the field dejectedly. He didn't want to do farm work, because all this was seen by his classmate Luo Hao.

The latter is the richest family in their village, and the acres of land in his family are not as good as their family's less than seventy acres, so Young Master Luo Hao is just standing in the field to supervise the laborers, and he will never do this kind of behavior that seems to be a loss of his share.

Liu Dahai felt that his face was on fire, although he knew that Luo Hao couldn't see him, he always felt that there was a gaze on him.

Two quarters of an hour later, Liu Dashan and Liu Dahai returned from the field. The brothers took up the water that their father had poured and drank it freely, then rinsed their palms with water, grabbed the meat bun and devoured it.

Now that life is better, you can see a lot of meat on weekdays, and you will not be reluctant to do so when the farm is busy.

Although the Liu family can only be regarded as an upper-middle class family in the village, this is because Liu Dajiang, the eldest of his family, joined the army in his early years, because he was a military family, he divided the land more. But sixty or seventy acres of land, and all of them are high-quality fertile fields, if they were placed in the Zhao and Song dynasties in the past, they would be like a small landlord.

During the Zhao and Song dynasties, the same seventy acres of land in Qilu may have been just a rich peasant, but in Jiangnan it was a small landlord.

Lu Qi's agricultural tax was far less high than that of Zhao and Song, and the peasants' income increased, so they would naturally not be sad in those days. Therefore, Liu Laohan is very satisfied with the current life. Sitting on the ground, looking at the yellow rice, the deep wrinkles engraved on his face by the years cannot hide his joy, and the joy should not be too strong.

Liu Dashan is a sunken man, he suffered hardships when he was a child, and he is satisfied with his current life. Among the father and son, only Liu Dahai is different!

That's like the post-80s generation in later generations, who have never suffered hardships, at least they have not been hungry since they were children, and their mentality towards food is completely different from that of their father and brother. After devouring two large meat buns, he drank another bowl of water. After calming down his breath, Liu Dahai looked at the rice fields that were still half, and the color in his eyes was full of disgust.

The Great Qi swallowed the world, the people became rich, and the prices were gradually rising. The prices of clothing, use, and drink are all rising, but the price of food is not rising. Whether it is the most basic food, or salt, or meat, eggs.

The reason is simple, the grain from the South Seas is pouring into China more and more year by year.

You must know that in later generations, Southeast Asian countries were all grain exporters. That is the world's largest grain producing and exporting area (country).

Now Nanyue has been turned into Jiaozhou by Emperor Lu, and even the city of Zhancheng has been destroyed, but other countries are still there. Whether it is Fang La, Chai Jin, Li Jun, Zhong Xiang, Wang Qing, etc., all of them take inexhaustible grain as the largest export product, and boats of grain pour into the Central Plains like a sea of grain.

Therefore, Luqi's domestic grain prices have always maintained a relatively low level.

As for meat and eggs, people raise chickens, ducks, and pigs in their homes. The number of cattle and sheep farmers is increasing day by day. Therefore, the supply of meat and eggs is increasing every year. Especially in the areas near the sea, there are seafood and whale meat hitting the market, close to the northern Xinjiang region, and there are cattle and sheep on the grassland to fill it, how can the price rise greatly in this case?

In terms of eating, the price of sugar in popular foods is still at a relatively high level. The others are high-end ingredients, which have no reference value.

Compared with the rise in the price of cloth and silk, in the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River, it is not cost-effective to grow grain, and it has been hyped up by many newspapers.

In the midst of such sounds, the number of fields planted with mulberry trees and cotton is increasing. The amount of grain and rice flowing into the Central Plains every year can only rise every year.

Later, the British economist Jevons described it this way in 1865: "The plains of North America and Russia are our corn fields, Canada and the Baltic Sea are our forest areas, Australia is our pastures, Peru is our silver mines, South Africa and Australia are our gold mines, India and China are our tea plantations, the East Indies are our sugar cane, coffee, and spice plantations, and the southern United States is our cotton plantations." ”

This was the great cause of the British Empire. Although the current Lu Qi is still far away, he already has that little sign. Because of the relationship of "interests", the current Lu Qi can only develop towards this continent.

The huge benefits of mulberry cotton are far better than those of grain crops, and the planting area of the former is inexorably increasing, while the planting area of the latter is decreasing more and more, and this is all due to interests.

If there is less food, then subsidies can only be introduced from outside. Just like in the official history, the Southern Song Dynasty had the reputation of "Suhu is ripe, the world is full", but in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it often suffered from food shortages. "Isn't that the reason why the land in the south of the Yangtze River is used to grow mulberry cotton cash crops?

However, now Lu Qi is even the "land of Jiang, Chu, Lu, and An", and is planting cotton, soybeans, mulberry hemp and other cash crops in a large area.

As long as the South Seas can be replenished, that is the best material source.

Now Lu Qi can say: Nanyang is my granary, Nanyang is my forest farm, Nanyang is still my sugarcane and spice plantation; Japan is my silver and gold mines, and India is my cotton plantation.

But that's all there is to it, far worse than Great Britain in its heyday. The pastures, tea, and even even the ones still depend on the local production of the Central Plains. Even sugarcane, the main source of sugar and cotton, is still homegrown.

Yes, even a person like Liu Laohan, the seventy acres of land in his family have been divided into several parts. There are those who plant alfalfa, those who plant mulberry trees, those who plant cotton, and finally those who grow rice.

"Dad, you rest for a while, I'll go down first." Liu Dashan said.

"No, together, together. Tell the junior to rest for a while. Liu Laohan looked at his youngest son and said lovingly.

But Liu Dahai is no longer willing to work, and he can't watch his father and brother go to the ground and rest by himself. "No, Dad, I'll go down with you."

But the palms of his hands holding the sickle were hot and painful, and his back was sunburned, and he also felt hot. Liu Dahai had too much reluctance in his heart, but he couldn't say a word.

When he was about to bend down to cut rice, Liu Dahai's eyes glanced at random, and saw thirty or twenty men in Xuanyi riding high-headed horses and holding a carriage from the country road in the field.

What kind of person is this, such a person would come to the field? Liu Dahai couldn't help but stare at the carriage with curiosity, but inadvertently saw two familiar shadows - one was the mayor of the town, he had seen it more than once, and the other was Luo Hao's father.

Two men who had been very beautiful in the past were now following the carriage like servants. Liu Dahai quietly watched them walk past their fields, and he saw that the big men around the car seemed to be more angry than the mayor and Luo Hao.

At this time, Liu Dahai's heart was like a hurricane, setting off a monstrous wave. This kind of life, he can't think of the majesty, if he can become a person in the carriage...... Liu Dahai slammed a spirit. I don't dare to think about it, he can't think about that kind of status, he just wants to have the majesty of a man in Xuanyi, and that's it.

But why did he become a man in a dark coat next to the nobleman? Is he capable of writing or martial arts? Is the heart more than the work, or the wisdom is three points better than Zhuge ?

No. Liu Dahai has nothing.

He is really like a waste wood in the future generations at this moment, and after seeing the success of the big man, all he can do is to YY in his heart.

"The grain hurts the peasants, and the grain hurts the peasants. Although the people in the countryside have food and clothing, no worries about food and clothing, and decent housing, mulberry cotton encroaches on the fields of rice and wheat, and the people plant more mulberry cotton for profit, which is not a good thing. A childish voice spoke.

"It seems that the fifth brother has a plan in his heart."

"Haha, the third brother laughed at this, how can my father's test be so simple? The younger brother can only say that he will do his best. ”

"Alas, the fifth brother has always had excellent grades, and he has been rewarded by his father many times, and his brain is much stronger than your second brother. What's the point of mentioning your third brother today? In the future, those who become brothers will be rewarded......"

The curtain of the car window was blown by the wind, and there was a faint sound spilling.