At the foot of the hillside that Cao Shuo pointed to, there was a small village.

According to the standards required by Cao Shuo, this village can be said to be small, and at most it can only accommodate more than ten families.

When he came to the entrance of the village, Cao Shuo jumped off his horse and walked into the village with Yuan Fang, Wang Yan and others.

It was still early in the evening, and the villagers had not yet returned.

There are only a few women with big bellies in the village who are busy chopping wood.

The women were chopping wood and laughing and talking about something.

"There's a guest coming." A woman found Cao Shuo and the others and said to the others.

Several women stood up, and the oldest of them asked Cao Shuo and the others, "Where are the guests from?" ”

The women were all pregnant, Cao Shuo clenched his fists and arched his hand and said: "We are passing merchants, and we are planning to go to Shouchun, when we pass by here, we heard someone give advice, saying that there are a lot of medicinal materials in the mountain, and we want to go up the mountain tomorrow to see." There is only one village nearby, so I wonder if I can spend the night here? ”

"Guests come from afar, of course they can stay overnight." The woman said, "It is only in the evening that all the people of the village return." ”

"The village doesn't seem to be big." Cao Shuo asked, "Can you ask how many families there are here?" ”

"Thirteen households, forty or fifty people live." The woman said, "Most of them are women, and there are only five or six men. ”

"So few people." Cao Shuo said: "I think the other villages are quite large, and it is said that the new villages built by the order of the Marquis of Huainan are inhabited by less than 100 families. ”

"The guest may not know yet." The woman said, "Those are the villages outside, and there are fewer people in the villages near the mountains. At first, the government wanted us to move outside, but everyone got used to relying on the mountains and forests, and the new village could only be built at the foot of the mountain, so there were not many people. ”

"We've got a lot of people here." Cao Shuo said to the woman, "Can you stay at night?" ”

"The guests are relieved." The woman said, "There are only a dozen of you, and in a few years there may be no vacant rooms here, but now you are not afraid." ”

"What's going on in a few years?" Cao Shuo asked as he pretended not to understand what the woman was saying.

The woman turned around, smiled at each other with the other women, gently stroked her round belly and said, "Since Huainan Hou came here, life has been much better, and he also let us have more children." Having a child, both men and women, will bring a lot of benefits. My family has calculated that a few of us have three or five children each, and our family is full of livestock, so I don't know how easy life will be. ”

"That's what my sister-in-law said." Cao Shuo asked with a smile: "It's not that there are a lot of women in the village, why are there only a few sisters-in-law?" ”

"Although there are more women than men, they still have to eat and the land must be planted." The woman said, "We still eat the grain we received from the treasury. Although you don't have to worry about food and clothing, you can't always count on the treasury. What's more, Huainan Hou said that as long as this year passes, if there is a bumper harvest in various places, there will be no more grain transfer from the treasury. Those lazy people who don't work hard and don't even plant the land make them starve to death. We're not lazy, we're not going to starve to death. ”

"That's right." Cao Shuo nodded: "Although there will be grain in the treasury, after all, it is not as delicious as the new one." And if the treasury is empty, everyone can only go hungry. ”

"The guest's house is not close to here, is it?" The woman asked.

"Not close." Cao Shuo said: "It's hundreds of miles away. ”

"No wonder the guests don't know." The woman said: "In the past, when Yuan Shu was here, let alone giving birth to children, the big guys couldn't even eat, and a few of us were still nesting at home with bare buttocks at that time, where did we dare to talk and laugh at the door like now." ”

In front of Cao Shuo, the woman actually said that they had nested in the house with their bare buttocks, and Yuan Fang and Wang Yan, who were following Cao Shuo, felt a little embarrassed.

"Sister-in-law, can you give us a place to live now?" Cao Shuo said: "After walking all the way, I am indeed a little tired. ”

"Guest, come with me." The woman led Cao Shuo to the outside of the two houses: "What about these two?" ”

"Can you give three rooms?" Cai Ji, who followed behind Cao Shuo, said: "There are a lot of us, and there are two rooms to live in, so it will be a little crowded. ”

"There's another one over there." The woman pointed back and said to Cai Ji: "It's just a little far away from these two, I'm afraid you won't be able to take care of each other." That's why I didn't lead you through. ”

"Since you came here to spend the night, is it possible that you are still worried about your sister-in-law?" Cao Shuo said with a smile: "I'll lend them that room, and when we leave tomorrow, we will give the house money together." ”

"What do you want?" The woman said, "It is not easy for the guests to travel, and it is nothing to spend the night overnight. ”

After thanking the woman, Cao Shuo said to Cai Ji and Wei Tu: "You go to live in the room over there." ”

He said to the two female fire dancers brought by Wang Yan: "You two live next door to us. ”

Entering the room, Yuan Fang looked at the furnishings in the house and asked Cao Shuo, "Husband, are all the houses here newly built?" ”

"It should be." Cao Shuo said: "The exterior walls of the rooms are still very new, and the inside of the houses is very clean, the key is that these houses are built of stone, and the exterior walls are painted with white plaster, which should have been built recently." ”

"The whole Huainan is full of such houses?" Yuan Fang asked.

"Not only Huainan, but also Lujiang, Xuzhou and other places in the future, will have to build such residences." Cao Shuo said: "Although it has a drawback, it is not as warm in winter and cool in summer as adobe houses, but the walls are not easy to crack, even if there is a hurricane, earthquake or something, it will not collapse so completely." ”

"The husband is really thoughtful." Yuan Fang said: "I just don't know how much money it cost. ”

"When the money is gone, you can make it again." Cao Shuo said: "If there are no people, if you want to gather more people, you can't do it in one or two years." As long as there are enough people, am I still worried that Huainan will not prosper and become rich and strong? ”

"What the husband needs is a man." Yuan Fang said: "The marching army and the recruitment of civil husbands are all men. ”

"Where did a man come from without a woman?" Cao Shuo said: "You know, everyone has to climb out of a woman's crotch. I want not only more men, but more women. The multiplication is endless, and when the population is large enough, no more rewards are given, and the people are free to give birth. However, in the last twenty years, it is still necessary to promote their multiplicity, and with the current population, once there is a big war in the future, I am afraid that I will not even be able to recruit soldiers. ”

"It's still early, husband, should we go out for a walk?" Yuan Fang asked Cao Shuo.

(End of chapter)