It is not a good choice to visit Gangnam County in autumn, because the green mountains and green waters are gone by this time.

But if you think that you can't see anything, you're wrong. Not to mention the stream, not to mention the maple leaves on the mountain, or the breeze to roll up the dead leaves and fly towards you, it is a kind of enjoyment.

It's a bit contradictory to say this, just like the mood of the prince at this time. Because after all, it is a tolerance, but at this time, it has become an outing with Xie Shence, and there will be some uneasy conscience.

The prince's guard of honor walked according to the established route, and was left far behind at this time, and Xie Shence and the prince were about to arrive in Suzhou City.

"Taihu Daze irrigates the entire Jiangnan County, and the grain in Jiangnan County is enough to support the needs of the three provinces. This year's God-given kindness, Huaiyang Dao harvest, my Dajin dilemma should be eased a lot. ”

The prince and Xie Shence have been out for two days, and the scenery on the road has become much more interesting under Xie Shence's dictation, and the most gratifying thing is the golden ripe rice.

Xie Shence smiled and agreed: "It's all Your Majesty's blessing." ”

The prince also smiled, and then said, "I really want to try it myself." ”

"Why don't you try it?"

Try it, naturally, try to cut rice.

After walking for more than ten miles, the two came to a village, where someone happened to be harvesting in the autumn.

Xie Shence lied that the two of them were hungry in their stomachs and were willing to spend half a day in exchange for a meal, and an old man looked at the two of them and nodded.

The prince's five fingers don't touch the spring water, and naturally he doesn't know how to talk to these people who have been making a living on the land all their lives, and the task of talking naturally falls on Xie Shence's shoulders, so while there is still half an hour to eat, Xie Shence and the old man talked.

"Old man, this field belongs to the village?"

"It's everywhere, most of them are military officials in the city. The village has only a small plot of land over there. ”

The old man stretched out his thin, rough black hand and pointed to the northeast corner.

The rice in that field is growing well, but the area is really small.

"Most of them only have one or two fields, and where is there enough to eat? Not to mention the taxes paid to the imperial court. Therefore, ninety percent of the blockbuster that Gongzi saw was a martial official. If it weren't for this year's harvest, I'm afraid that next year, there would be all martial arts officials here. ”

Xie Shence listened to these words, and naturally understood the stakes.

The landlord rented the land to tenant farmers, who were technically not enough to be self-sufficient, and then collected the rent. The farmer's annual income has to be removed from rent and taxes, and the last thing to get is his own.

And the rent of Jiangnan County, Xie Shence roughly understood, is four out of ten. With the addition of taxes, the farmers can only get three or four at most.

If it's a good year, it's fine, but once it happens to be a disaster year, it's miserable. In order to pay rent and taxes, it is normal for families to be ruined and to sell their daughters.

The small-scale peasant economy has always relied on the harvest of the sky. The peasants all used their hair to drop themselves on the cliff to live.

However, it is much better than Hebei Province.

"It turns out that this piece is all from the village" The chatterbox opened, and the old man slowly opened up, coupled with Xie Shence's very skillful answering, although the prince couldn't interject, he gradually understood something.

"It doesn't stop raining. Seeing that it is already about to be full of ears, they are all in a hurry, and the strong laborers in the village are all out together to repair the weir and open the ditch, thinking that even if it rains heavily, it will not hurt, but I am afraid that the rain will not stop, otherwise the ears will not be watered to death. Who knew that although the rain stopped later, the upstream embankment was completely submerged. ”

"Didn't you look for the government theory?"

"Found! Why didn't you look for it? But it's useless, the documents for the samurai to open the embankment were approved by the government. Besides, they said that they had sent two officials down and had given them advance notice and would not accept compensation. Instead, they accused us of planting blame and slandering people with impure intentions. ”

"What about the official errand?"

"Where is there any official errand, the two of them didn't go out of the city, they just fooled around for a day, and the notice was also posted at the entrance of the village by a half-year-old child. But at that time, the rain had not stopped, and who knew when the notice would be blown away and dirty, and no one would see it. ”

"That lawsuit later"

"Naturally, I lost. Then, in order to continue living, he had to sell his land at a low price and rent it to grow food. Two years later, it's what it is now. ”

The prince and Xie Shence sat on the ridge without any image, holding a large bowl of yellow bitter tea, listening to the old man with thinning hair tell the history of the field in front of him.

After the old man finished speaking, he asked, "The two are also the sons of a big family, right?" ”

Xie Shence smiled slightly and said, "My cousin is from Jinyang, and I am from Huaiyang Dao." Travelled. ”

The old man smiled dryly, arched his hand and said, "That boy doesn't talk much, and he can't hear his accent, but he is from Kyoto, and he is disrespectful." ”

The prince smiled and arched his hand, which was regarded as a return gift. did not take the old man's respectful expression and perfunctory movements to heart.

"It's you, Gongzi, who is speaking from my Huaiyang Dao, I'm afraid it's from Jiangbei, right?"

"The old man has a good experience! It is the people of Chuzhou. ”

"Haha, where is the experience, it's just familiar. I want to come to Xiao Lao'er more than ten years ago and went to Chuzhou City, at that time, Xiao Lao'er had sharp legs and feet, was a armor guard, and walked fifty or sixty miles of mountain roads without panting"

The gray-haired old man talked about Yong again.

"Grandpa! Meals are going to be ready. ”

A girl in cloth stood on the other side of the ridge and shouted.

The old man hurriedly agreed, and then invited the prince and Xie Shence to prepare for the table.

Walking through the field, Xie Shence watched the girl walk all the way and shouted, shouting from the west to the east, those people occasionally raised their heads in response, most of them still buried their heads, and said that they knew, and then when they hid in the clouds by the sun, they quickly cut more, and it would be easier in the afternoon.

The prince and Xie Shence walked to the pergola, put down the tea bowl, and then went to the stream to clean their hands.

When many peasants saw the two of them washing their hands on it, they consciously walked down and washed their faces, hands and feet.

Just looking at the clothes and two horses, they knew that the two of them must be from a wealthy family, and they could not be said to be the children of a big clan, and the natural class gap made them envious at the same time, but also unconsciously maintained awe.

Xie Shence wiped his hands on his body, and secretly laughed at himself in his heart, what to go to the field and talk to the farmer aunt about "how this year's harvest is" is all extravagant hope. In fact, if you are walking on a horse, no matter how far you go, the people of the country will avoid you when they see you. What mingles with the people is not more than a thousand years later.

And even in that time and space, in such a scene, sometimes those who dare to come forward to speak, and what they say are still trained against the script for more than half a month in advance.

That is, only old people who have seen the "big world" dare to talk and laugh with the two. However, not only Xie Shence, but even the prince also found out, and when the old man was talking, he also tried to pay attention to the faces of the two of them, for fear of saying something taboo.

On the dirt slope, the girl stood in front of the two of them, holding a white handkerchief in her hand, her cheeks were slightly red, and she hesitated whether to speak.

He was dressed in gray cloth with a black apron, black cloth shoes at his feet, and a big braid on his head, wrapped in a red handkerchief.

The crown prince and Xie Shence stood in unison, thinking that she must have something to say.

"Grandpa has something to say, don't be surprised by the two sons, if there is anything wrong, please bear with the two sons, don't laugh at the shallowness of the farmer's knowledge."

The prince asked, "Have you ever read?" ”

The girl was taken aback, and said in her heart that this accent is really good, how did he see it? Then his cheeks turned even redder and he said, "I've been studying at the school for a year, and I recognize a few words." ”

The prince nodded, stretched out his hand and said, "Wipe my son's hands?" ”

The girl was startled, and said in her heart that this person was really rude and direct. Annoyed and a little happy, thinking that he couldn't say such a thing anyway, but fortunately he said it first.

Hurriedly stuffed the handkerchief into the prince's hand, and then ran away.

Xie Shence smiled, and the prince wiped his hands clean, then put away the handkerchief and walked towards the pergola.

Meals in the busy farming season are always more hearty, especially this year is a big year, so there are chickens, ducks and fish on the table full of scars.

The crown prince sat at a table with Xie Shence, the old man, and a man in his prime, and the rest of the people scattered.

As the head of the village, the old man naturally expressed his gratitude to the god of wind and rain before eating, and then spilled a glass of wine on the field.

A green onion crucian carp, a fat duck, a bowl of green vegetable tofu, a bowl of eggplant with two cloves of garlic, and a plate of peanuts are a simple and hearty lunch.

The simple farmer eats a lot of food, and it can be seen that the amount of wine is not small.

Because the harvest would continue in the afternoon, the middle-aged man was slightly embarrassed and unsatisfied put down his wine glass, and watched the prince Xie Shence and the old man continue to raise their glasses.

However, no one of the three drank three glasses.

The food was very enjoyable.

The girl was behind the stove, pulling the rice grains in the bowl with a little boy of six or seven years old, looking at the joke.

The few pieces of meat in the boy's bowl obviously couldn't satisfy his appetite, and he took a bite of rice aggrievedly, and he had to look at Xie Shence three or four times.

Xie Shence, has he found any truth? Even the prince noticed it, and looked behind the stove twice.

The girl was so ashamed that her face was about to stick to the bowl, and the little boy was aggrieved tears rolling in his big eyes.

The man in his prime was already a little embarrassed, and it was even more embarrassing at this time. looked at the child's mother's side, but the child's mother didn't pay attention to the situation here.

The old man didn't see it.

"Come here." Xie Shence beckoned.

The little boy stubbornly turned his head, then held the bowl in his arms with one little hand and wiped it on his face with the back of the other little hand.

The prince looked at the girl and nodded, and the girl pushed the little boy and whispered something, and the little boy reluctantly turned around and dragged on.

"Sit here."

Xie Shence patted the stool, so the little boy sat down, and continued to bow his head to pick up the rice, occasionally looking up cautiously, his big eyes flashing under the black forehead.

Xie Shence smiled slightly, and the prince ate by himself.

The little boy eventually ate the duck leg he had always dreamed of, and half of his face was covered with oil.

(PS: Ah, chapter one!) I'm really good at writing country love stories)