Luo Yun didn't go out to greet him after all, and in the end, he didn't show up to meet the craftsmen who were recruited, and directly asked Aunt Mei to send a message to ask the fourth uncle to help arrange for them to live in the village first. It wasn't that Luo Yun was deliberately putting on a show, but when he saw the expressions of those craftsmen, he suddenly understood the intentions of the fourth uncle and Uncle Wu.

The Chinese have had such a habit since ancient times. The civilians who live at the feet of the Son of Heaven in Chang'an always feel that they are superior to other people, and their tone of speech is full of pride. And by extension, the state city looks down on the county seat; The county town looks down on the village; It is the same in the village, and the one on the flat land is not as good as the one in the mountains. So in this way, the civilians in the mountains of Luoyun are actually the most despised low-class farmers. Even if he marries his daughter, he will not marry him to the mountains, only the daughters of the people in the mountains desperately want to marry out. This can be regarded as a kind of hierarchical difference, and this difference is actually an economic difference. In the era of farming, the plains were always better for farming than in the mountains, and the more land was cultivated, the more harvests were naturally more, and the family conditions were definitely better than those in the mountains with just a few acres of land. Of course, such development is also inseparable from the development of commerce, and only by relying on businessmen can they obtain better daily necessities and improve their quality of life. And this requires climbing dozens of miles of mountain roads, where horse-drawn carriages are difficult to travel, and obviously there are no merchants coming. Occasionally, there are vendors, but they sell the necessities of life, and it is obviously impossible to improve the quality of life.

Therefore, if it weren't for the cash trading, these craftsmen who were invited back from the county town would not believe that the people in this kind of mountain village could afford to pay their wages; If it weren't for the high price, they wouldn't be willing to go so far to work. Even so, they don't look down on these five big and three rough mountain men. Just like a scholar looks down on the illiterate, these craftsmen who have some ability and can read also look down on Uncle Wu who only has brute strength.

Everyone wants face, and in the words of the fourth uncle and Uncle Wu, Luo Yun heard that he was the face of the village. At that time, Luo Yun was black and white because of the day's cleaning, if he went out to meet people like that, no matter how handsome he looked, half of his face would be lost. So for the sake of Li Jiazhai's face, Luo Yun ran back to the backyard in a hurry, instructed Aunt Mei, and hid in the house to change clothes. Aunt Mei is very experienced, and she understands the meaning of Luo Yun's words after listening to it. I tidied up my clothes, walked to the front hall, pretended to have just found out about Uncle Wu's arrival, and said a few gossips, without the slightest intention of inviting these people into the house.

In the end, the fourth uncle understood it, and asked respectfully, "Brother Yun is at home?" Aunt Mei replied with a slight hesitation: "The weather is hot, Brother Yun has been reading for a day, and he is bathing at this time." It's getting dark, fourth brother, if you don't have anything urgent, go back first, arrange a place for these people to stay, and come back tomorrow to ask Brother Yun what he means. The fourth uncle Li Zhenan showed a treacherous smile to Aunt Mei with those craftsmen on his back, and then took the initiative to say goodbye and leave, turning around and yelling at those craftsmen to go out. Pity these people after a day's journey, climbing the mountains for a long time, and when they arrived at the place, they were kicked out of the house without even drinking saliva. If they hadn't known about the jackals, tigers and leopards in this mountain, if it weren't for the fact that the fourth uncle Li Zhen'an had already said just now, if they were dissatisfied that there was not even a place to stay in this village, they would have thrown their faces and left. Right now, it's getting dark, sweating all over my body, and my hungry chest is against my back. Don't do it and leave? Not to mention whether you can mix it up and eat, I'm afraid I'll have to feed the wolf's belly when I leave the village alone.

What makes them feel suffocated the most is that the dedicated Aunt Mei knows that she has to do a full set of acts. As soon as they walked out of the courtyard gate, when Uncle Wu came up and wanted to talk, he deliberately said in a voice that they could still hear: "I still want to go in to see my young master who is sweaty, and I am still from the city, I don't understand the etiquette at all, and I am ashamed of them if they are not ashamed." You too, why did you bring it directly to the house, what should you do with the young master......"

Okay, this mountain people, there are really a lot of courtesies, tomorrow I want to see what this 'Young Master Yun' they keep saying looks like, if it doesn't look as good as Ma Xiaoer next door, I just don't want this salary, and I want to stink these poor mountain cuos in the county.

After dinner, the fourth uncle Li Zhenan came to Luo Yun's house with a torch, and Luo Yun was drinking tea and listening to Uncle Wu talk about entering the city. After Aunt Mei welcomed the fourth uncle in, she also sat aside and listened. Facing the second uncle and the third uncle, Aunt Mei also avoided it. But the fourth uncle Li Zhen'an, it is said that the fourth sister-in-law was all told to him by Aunt Mei.

Luo Yun didn't care about the craftsmen, so he first carefully inquired about the second uncle's grain payment and the third uncle's business with Father Zhang. Listening to the narration of the two uncles, Luo Yun slowly had a score in his heart.

The second uncle's food really doesn't need Luo Yun to worry about, after all, the second uncle has been dealing with the government for more than ten years, and after Luo Yun's father died, the second uncle also justifiably took the position of Li Zheng in the county government. And the rent paid is ...... This has to say how remote Lijia Village is, and how peaceful it is. There has never been any case that required going to court, and there has never been tax evasion, and of course the government does not know if it has been evaded. I heard that no one has ever been to Lijia Village in these official errands, and they may not know how to go. It has always been Li Zheng who regularly runs to the county government, and the people in Lijia Village, that is, Luo Yun's father and these uncles, are simple but not stupid at all. The fields cultivated in Lijia Village registered by the county government are still inherited from the Sui Dynasty, when Lijia Village was first established. Of course, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, especially after the change of county orders, the heads of Lijia Village also reported the increase in the number of households in the village, but the county failed to allocate them the corresponding land.

The Juntian Decree promulgated at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty stipulates that Ding men (21 years old Ding men) and middle-aged men over 18 years old shall each receive 100 mu of land, of which 80 mu shall be divided into fields and 20 mu shall be Yongye fields. Although there are less than 100 households in Lijia Village, it is obvious that there are not so many fields that can be cultivated. If it is really evenly divided, each family will only have dozens of acres of land. The implementation of the equalization system was not thorough, and the county government did not care, so Lijia Village still handed over grain according to the initial amount of fields. And these extra families with foreign surnames later became tenants of the Li family, cultivating the Li family's fields, except for rent, they did not need to pay additional taxes, and occasionally took on some labor for the Li family. This way of life is obviously a lot less to bear, before the war, the main force of the village is the Li family, so the people with the surname Li Jiazhai can be said to have been protected by the Li family, and some of them have become in-laws after so many years, and naturally everything is the head of the Li family.

After saying so much, in fact, Luo Yun understood one thing: it turned out that he was also a 'Diao Min' who evaded taxes, no wonder he saw the grain cart entering the city so little, and sighed that the second uncle smiled so strangely when the tax was really low.

Luo Yun didn't plan to be that tax hero, not only would he not get benefits, but the whole village would be able to scold him to death. And when he learned that the Tang Dynasty had changed three county commanders so far, this situation was not discovered by the yamen. Even when the three county commanders inspected the territory after they arrived, they didn't come here because of the remoteness of the mountain roads, Luo Yun really felt ...... They are not to blame for the tax slippage.

After listening to it for a long time, Luo Yun suddenly reacted to what he had to do with it, and interrupted the fourth uncle, who was still explaining the situation of the rent adjustment in the whole village, Luo Yun asked his own question: "Why did the fourth uncle say it in such detail, I don't understand this." ”

Luo Yun just asked casually, but he didn't expect the fourth uncle to rub his calloused hands, hesitate for a moment before saying: "Isn't this what the second brother specially instructed when I came back, saying that he was in a hurry at the time, and he didn't tell you about it, so let me come back and explain it to you." ”

Luo Yun didn't understand even more: "How to pay taxes in the village has its own second uncle in charge, what does it have to do with me, I don't even know what is planted in the field, what does this make me understand?" ”

"Hey, it's not that the second brother heard you say that you have to pay for the salary of the craftsman to repair the pool, and he thinks it's not appropriate, so let me tell you this, so you know that there are actually some families in our clan. You want to repair the pond for the good of the whole village, and you can't let your own junior contribute to this matter. After speaking, the fourth uncle patted the handrail and smacked his lips, "Actually, it's all a family, what are you doing with this, who can make you lose it." ”

Luo Yun was silent again, shook his head, raised his head in the uncertain gaze of everyone, didn't answer the fourth uncle's words, and asked instead: "Fourth uncle, still tell me how Daddy Zhang's things are selling?" Why didn't they come back together? ”

"I didn't make do with the third child, you better ask your Uncle Wu."

Uncle Wu groaned for a while, looked up at Luo Yun and his wife, and said, "As soon as we entered the city, we broke up with the patriarch, and the third uncle took Zhang's carpenter's family, me and Mu'er, Li Huan, and Li Kun and the boys directly found a small carpenter shop in the county. Then he showed the boss the Quyuan plough and the furniture we brought, and then the third brother directly offered to cooperate. The little boss also knew the goods, and the business of his shop was not good, so after the discussion, he directly toasted the apprentice wine to Carpenter Zhang. The third brother and I summed it up, and felt that when Brother Yun would definitely have something to sell in the future, it would be better to buy and sell in partnership than to directly accept the apprentice and get closer, so I asked Carpenter Zhang to agree. Na Ding Lin was also sincere, and the next day he set up wine, invited the neighbors to testify, and bowed to Carpenter Zhang in public and called the master. ”

Luo Yun sighed in his heart when he heard this, this Ding Lin is either obsessed with carpenter's craftsmanship, or he is very smart and knows how to seize opportunities. But no matter what it is, under the moral constraints of this era, since he has worshiped the teacher, he can be regarded as half of his own person. It's really a lot easier to sell those wooden things in the future. Besides, the third uncle seems to be very experienced in business now, knowing that his things are easy to sell, but he knows what kind of people to cooperate with. Partnering with a small carpenter shop like Ding Lin really ensures that you are maximizing your interests. "I didn't expect Daddy Zhang to come back with an apprentice when he went out, hehe, there are still a lot of things for him to be busy in the village, don't be busy teaching the apprentice and forget to come back."

Uncle Wu nodded: "Don't worry about this, they are still busy and can't leave." When I came back, Carpenter Zhang specially asked me to come back and tell you that he would definitely come back when the patriarch returned to the mountain. Seeing that Luo Yun nodded and said no more, Uncle Wu continued: "Carpenter Zhang's family took Zhang Lin to make some Quyuan ploughs in that small shop, and then the third brother took us to pull Quyuan ploughs to find people who were farming near the county seat, and sold them to them, and asked the patriarch to bring a pair to the county office. Uncle Wu paused slightly, and his tone was a little excited: "I heard that the chief of the county saw the patriarch, and it seems that he praised it very much, anyway, the patriarch was very happy to come back that day." ”

The fourth uncle took over the conversation: "Hehe, it's not just happy. The second brother has been dealing with the government for ten years, when has he ever let the master book praise him so much. I was so happy when I came back that day, I got a pot of wine and went back to the house to drink it secretly. ”

Luo Yun smiled faintly when he heard this, the difference in class. This is not just a county order, just a small master book of words can bring such a big impact to the people at the bottom of life, if you find a way to let the emperor give yourself a holy decree in the future, is it not Li Jiazhai to glorify the ancestors?

Shaking his head to shake off his lustful thoughts, looking at the happy appearance of the three adults in the room, he couldn't help but smile: "Didn't the yamen say that a prize would be awarded to the second uncle or something to encourage him?" ”

"Luo Yun, do you really dare to think about it, what about the prizes, how many compliments can we get in so many counties in our county. You can't be too greedy. The fourth uncle's words were a lesson, but in fact, they were also a kind of pride, but Luo Yun was really dissatisfied when he heard this. If you can let the master book come down and praise the second uncle in person, it means that the county order is a discerning person and knows the benefits of this quyuan plow, which is conducive to the production of farmers, and there is no burden on anything, as long as it is reported, it is a real achievement. Needless to say, the reward of the imperial court, if there is such a credit that cannot be faulted, then the next promotion will be stable. I gave him such a big benefit, and the county order actually let his subordinates pass away with a few words of praise, is it too much to look down on him as a mountain man.

'If there is any good in the future, I will not give it to him.'" At this time, the county magistrate, who was enjoying himself in the back hall of the county ya, would never have thought that the reward he was happy for a while and ignored made him almost lose a greater credit in the future.

"Speaking of which, the county government didn't say anything about it, and a few errand servants bought a few more zigzag plows from us, but they gave them the price. But the third brother was very happy, and dragged us to a farther village to sell, directly saying that the county government had bought our plows, and then selling them to those farmers really saved a lot of tongue. "A straight person like Uncle Wu can't understand this kind of sales principle of upward and downward effect, but Luo Yun didn't expect that he, the third uncle, would even understand this, it seems that he said that he has been studying how to buy and sell since he was a teenager is indeed not a lie, he is really sales-minded.

"What about anything else besides the Quyuan plow?"

Uncle Wu frowned: "The third brother originally wanted to sell those tables and chairs to the restaurant, but the largest Yuebin Building in the county didn't want it, and the small restaurant didn't need it, so it didn't sell it." I went to the house of a few friends of the patriarch of the chaise longue and bought a few. There are also wooden brushes and toothbrushes, which are selling well, and the county's cabinet shop (grocery store) has asked for a lot of goods. ”

None of the furniture was sold to Luo Yun's surprise, and then he thought that he was still wondering if there were any new clothes in Chang'an City when he was drying clothes during the day, and understood that he had overlooked one point, the spread of new things needs a process from top to bottom. What the emperor likes, the ministers naturally like, the officials like it, and the people below naturally follow suit. If you really want to promote these new tables and chairs, you have to go to Chang'an to sell them first, and Chang'an's restaurants and wineries are all used, and by extension, the state and county will naturally follow suit.

"I didn't think about this matter well, so let the third uncle ...... Well, I'll discuss it with him again when the third uncle comes back, so don't sell it yet. But in this case, isn't the money for hiring craftsmen enough? Luo Yun originally wanted to tell the third uncle not to sell it, but suddenly reacted, this is not a mobile phone, except for waiting for the third uncle to come back, it is to send someone to make a special trip.

"The money is still enough, as soon as Li Huan's kid got the money, he ran to find the craftsman, or the second brother knew about it and pulled him back. We're going to build a pool, and those masons on the street can fix the roof or something, but they don't know how to fix it. The second brother took him to find a familiar knife and pen officer in the county, and he found the four craftsmen after his introduction, and it is said that they took over the work of repairing the city gate in the county last year. They are the leaders of the long-term and short-term workers in the county, and they take the lead in the work distributed by the county government. This time, if it weren't for the full wages we paid, we would have the face of the previous master bookkeeper...... Luo Yun, you also saw the face when they came, they just looked down on us mountain people. The fourth uncle said, and finally gritted his teeth.

Luo Yun smiled faintly when he heard this: "Fourth uncle, don't worry, pretend that Luo Yun will still be will, and tomorrow will definitely kill their arrogance first." Otherwise, they won't be able to give us a down-to-earth job. ”

"This is a group of people who have been in the yamen's ear room for a long time, and they are all like those yacha, all of them look down on people. Rest assured, I know how to deal with such people. Today I gave them a dismount, and tomorrow I will clean up for Luo Yun. Just by virtue of the appearance of our Luoyun, he is also a handsome son when he arrives in Chang'an City, how can people like them be underestimated. Full of confidence in Aunt Mei, the three men in the room glanced at each other and looked at each other speechlessly, and then the fourth uncle and Uncle Wu both looked at Luo Yun with an appreciative gaze and looked up and down.

Facing everyone's eyes, Luo Yun rolled his eyes and reluctantly accepted that he had become the image spokesperson of Li Jiazhai.