A group of dark-faced, tattered-clad tenant farmers stood in the courtyard of the topaz family, each with uneasiness on their faces, but their attitudes were very resolute.

"The lord has always treated us very well, but the tenants have always been able to come and go, and we voluntarily quit the tenants, and there is no other reason, and please ask the lord for permission."

"I'm willing to quit too."

"I'll quit too."

A group of tenant farmers gossiped and never made a noise, but they had been determined to quit for a while, Huang Yucheng originally thought that they had been bewitched or threatened, but now it seems that it is far from what he thinks.

Huang Yucheng has a talent and fame, according to the practice of the national dynasty, he can be exempted from dozens of acres of land rent and a few people's body tax, which is the court's preferential treatment of scholars, but this Huizheng is out of shape in the middle and late stages of the dynasty, and the people with merit and fame are far more than the ones stipulated by the imperial court...... Zhang Juzheng made some adjustments and regulations on the preferential and exemption policy during his reign, and as a result, he died and liquidated Zhang Juzheng's political legacy, and served good things in a pot.

Now Huang Yucheng has more than 100 acres of preferential and exempt fields, and more than a dozen preferential and exempt dingkou, which are the capital of his life. If you win the lift, the benefit is an increase of dozens of times.

Some of the acres of land that are exempt from taxation are the hidden fields of relatives, which are the benefits that Huang Yucheng gives back to the clan, and half of them are his own acres, of course, as a Xiucai, he can't cultivate by himself, these people in front of him are tenant farmers who farm for him, Huang Yucheng does not need to pay taxes, and the yellow and white lists are exempt, as a Xiucai, some additional burdens can also be exempted.

In addition to the exemption from the field tax, there is also the exemption from forced labor, the Ming Dynasty's errand is not self-employed, but forcibly conscripted, such as the fireman in the city, the husband, the sedan chair man, all are forced by the government, once the service, may be protracted, and even have to travel far away from home, which is a heavy burden for every family.

Huang Yucheng's preferential exemption was given to his relatives, and they could be exempted from forced labor, while the tenant farmers still had to serve the same kind of forced labor, and they could not be exempted.

Even so, it is definitely much better to be a tenant for Huang Yucheng than to carry a job for an ordinary landowner.

"Well, if you must quit," Huang Yucheng said, "I have nothing to say, when you retreat, you will retreat." But why do you have to quit the tenants? ”

Huang Yucheng asked this a few times, these tenant farmers refused to say, seeing that he agreed to quit the tenants, a tenant farmer surnamed Huang was bold and said: "Our Huangzhuang's land and Guanzhuang are only separated by less than three miles, and the people have sold the land to Li Zhuang, through the canal and learned the method of farming, the harvest is more than four or five times that of our side, and the tenants are still the same division, Li Zhuang can also protect the tenants, not to let those yacha gang idle bullying, although they have to pay more taxes, it is still more cost-effective than here......

Huang Yucheng was dizzy for a while, and felt a surge of qi rush up.

He thought that he had always been good to the tenant farmers, and that he rarely bullied them, and that the proportion of his share was also very restrained, much gentler than that of ordinary landowners.

Unexpectedly, these people in front of them, for their interests, abandoned themselves with a single word.

"Master, don't be angry...... a tenant saw Huang Yucheng's face, and hurriedly said: "We can't help it, there are old and young, this year's Tianshi Lord also knows that the summer grain is an average of one and a half stones, and the autumn grain is a miscellaneous grain, and the harvest is greatly reduced, and one mu can not receive a stone, so if it goes on, after the delivery to the lord to rent grain, our family can only eat miscellaneous grains and wild vegetables, and I don't know if we can survive this winter." ”

"It's so bitter...... Even with the protection of the old man, the miscellaneous expenses have increased recently. ”

"In the past, it was said that Governor Han was too powerful, but now that Governor Zheng has been replaced, the official reputation is very good, but the tax is still high, I heard that it is to fight the Jianyu of Liaodong, master, when will this Jianyu be destroyed?"

Everyone was gossiping, and Huang Yucheng's face became extremely ugly, he waved his hand and said in a dry tone: "Go yourself, I don't need you here." ”

Huang Yucheng was angry, and after everyone left, he immediately went to the study to write a letter.

He heard that the new governor was about to take office, and he was ready to go to Datong to complain, accusing Zhang Han, the garrison commander, of wantonly annexing acres of land, and now he has mastered nearly 100,000 acres of land, and is still merging on a large scale!

After writing it, Huang Yucheng remembered that there were a few more years of the same year in the vicinity, and there were many more in the Acropolis, and he planned to find these same years to sign them together to strengthen his momentum.

"Uncle, forget it, right?"

Huang Yucheng wanted to ride out on horseback, but the old housekeeper at home grabbed the horse's head and didn't let him go.

"You let go!" Huang Yucheng said angrily: "I'm a showman, what does he dare to do to me as a martial artist?" However, I heard that Han Fuyuan died in his hands, if it is true, I will go to Jingshi Fuque to complain, I don't believe that the country can fall into the hands of such a martial artist! ”

"It's not that I'm afraid of what ......will happen to Zhang Shoubei," the old family said: "I'm afraid that the people around who want to be tenant farmers will be dissatisfied with our family because of your uncle!" ”

"Huh?" Huang Yucheng paused for a moment and said: "Zhang Han forced people to sell land and annex acres, and if I stand out for it, will I be dissatisfied?" ”

"If the uncle who came to quit today, if the uncle must not give them back, what do you say they will do?" The old family said: "Uncle, forget it." ”

"Zhang Han's land is overpaid, but he has gained some water conservancy." Huang Yucheng got off the horse, his eyes were full of unconvinced light, he thought for a while, and said: "Go to the cellar and get those ingots of silver, I want to find someone to dredge the canal, and we will also bring water in, I don't believe that the harvest at the beginning of next summer will be worse than him, when the time comes, I will look at these guys, regret it or not!" ”

……

Zheng Zhilong woke up early in the morning, and together with a few brothers, he washed the tooth shabu and tooth powder produced in Li Zhuang.

The weather is getting colder and colder, and everyone has to adapt much more than when they first came, at least even Zheng Zhibao, who has the worst temperament, is not calling to return to Pingdo.

Li Guozhu came this time, and he picked all the capable people among the young people, and it was also a coincidence that he brought most of the manpower of Shibazhi a few years later.

"This tooth powder and tooth shabu are really good." Zheng Zhibao muttered while brushing his teeth: "Since I used this thing, my teeth have never hurt." ”

"If you wipe your tooth with green salt, it won't hurt anymore."

"I don't like green salt, it's still good for this thing, the tooth powder is said to be synthesized with a lot of herbs, and it has a sweet taste, and I've eaten a few bites."

"You ......"

Zheng Zhilong couldn't cry or laugh, but when he said this, his heart was also relaxed.

Everyone was a little hesitant during this trip, going thousands of miles north, arriving in an extremely unfamiliar environment, and dealing with a group of strange people, I don't know what Zhang Han's temperament is here.

The result was very smooth, and now the details have been negotiated, if it weren't for Li Guozhu's plan to spend the New Year here, and then leave when the spring is warm, in fact, everyone can already leave and return to Hirado.

"I heard that Zheng Shaolai is still in the sea of Liaodong, and they will wait for us in Tianjin after the next year." Zheng Zhihu said casually: "That ship, Lord Zhang, has already bought it, named it Tiancheng, and sent us to Pingdo, and then to Taiwan for a while, and then go to Nanyang." Next year, the other two ships will continue to deliver ironware, and the Tiancheng will run in Nanyang and Pinghu, Taiwan, and Tianjin. ”

"Actually, running back and forth like this," Zheng Zhilong pondered, "It's better to use a small boat, it's more dangerous." ”

"I heard that I want to bring more people." Zheng Zhibao said with some disdain: "These people here in Datong are powerful, but they are all landlubbers, I have heard about it, there are many people who have never even swam in the river, Lord Zhang wants to call these people to go on the boat to learn, I think it is better to recruit more in our Fujian is true." ”

Anyway, after staying on Li Zhuang's side for a long time, the three brothers of the Zheng family already have enough respect for Zhang Han.

Some things, at first glance, are just surprises, and then they don't feel very good, maybe Hirado can do this, and then after looking at it for a long time, I can see some doorways, and I know that these things on Li Zhuang's side, Hirado can't get them out of it.

"People here are really good at farming," Zheng Zhihu said: "An acre of land is at least three or four stones, and if our fields in Fujian can harvest so much grain, many people will simply not go to sea." ”

Zheng Zhibao snorted coldly and said: "That's because there are few places for you to go, Jiangnan and Huguang are both highly productive, and the harvest in the north is high near Lizhuang......"

The three brothers wiped their mouths, gossiped, and sat down to breakfast.

There is a stove in the house, which is much more comfortable than the cold outside, and breakfast is provided uniformly.

Whether it is an officer, a soldier, a worker, or a clerk, most of them eat in their own large canteens.

Li Guozhu and others were taken care of the southern taste, and Zhang Han specially asked someone to invite a Fujian cook from Zhangjiakou to come over, and Li Guozhu was very moved by this matter.

In the morning, it was a big bowl of millet porridge per person, hot on the stove, steaming.

Each person has a plate of beans, a plate of peanuts, a small plate of salted duck eggs, a small plate of sliced bacon meat, and a large meat bun in front of each person, a fine dough cake, and a small millet porridge pipe.

Of course, this breakfast is very different from the taste of Fujian, and no matter how good the cook is, it is difficult for him to have no southern ingredients.

"This Li Zhuang is good for everything...... Zheng Zhibao ate breakfast, and said dissatisfiedly: "It's just that there is no seafood, and there is no food to eat in winter, I inquired the day before yesterday, a cucumber was sold for one or two silver, and it was robbed when it came up, and those officers didn't please their wives, and they were scared to death, and Lord Zhang also gave them dividends, the cucumbers, eggplants, vegetables, such expensive methods, they all rushed to buy them." ”

In fact, there are large cellars in the army, which store all kinds of vegetables and fruits, which can maintain the temperature and humidity and keep the vegetables fresh for the maximum time, but in any case, the vegetables in the cellar cannot be compared with the fresh vegetables just picked from the greenhouse.

In this cold weather, if you can eat newly produced vegetables, as long as you don't care too much about silver, of course, you are rushing to buy them.