Unconsciously and unconsciously, the autumn equinox has arrived, after the rainy season is over, the cool breeze is blowing, the blue sky is thousands of miles, the wind is beautiful, the autumn is high and refreshing, the osmanthus is fragrant, the crab fat chrysanthemum is yellow, it is a beautiful and pleasant season.

It's been a good year. The seedlings in the field grew strong, but they were all bent on their waists, because they were carrying heavy golden ears. The farmers happily harvested the corn so that they could store it before the cold dew arrived. Many bare-bottomed dolls were having fun in the fields, and from time to time they bent down to pick up the scattered corn grains and put them in the small bamboo pockets around their waists.

Tax collectors no longer collect rents from door to door, as in previous years, and the surname Suo set up a table at the entrance of the village for the farmers to pay on their own. This year, the Han Dynasty has been full of happy events, and the Son of Heaven has reduced and exempted the land rent three times in a row, making the already pitiful land tax in the counties of Gyeonggi almost non-existent, compared with the countless newly built workshops in Chang'an City and the increasingly prosperous eastern and western cities, the huge commercial tax paid is really not worth mentioning.

"Li Laohan, your family is only ten acres of inferior land, you don't need to pay so much, this year's land rent has been reduced a lot, not the thirty taxes of previous years." The tax collector looked at the field rent reported by Li Laohan, felt that the amount was wrong, and frowned. He didn't dare to overcharge, and he didn't have the intention of hiding it privately, if he lost his errand for this little corn, it would be too worthless.

"That's right, my mother-in-law has calculated carefully with a calculation, and it is indeed five buckets of corn grain." Li Laohan scratched his head and said with some doubts.

The tax collector shook his head, quite impatient: "Today, Zi Shengde, the land rent has been reduced to fifty-five taxes. In order to facilitate the calculation of the people, the surname Suo this year's field rent is 60 taxes, and the insufficient amount of taxes is insufficient by the merchants in the county. ”

"We have been going from house to house for a long time, and my family will pay the thirty stone harvest to five buckets of rice according to the rent paid by sixty taxes." The honest old man Li folded his fingers, recalculated, and smirked.

"What? Can your family's ten acres of inferior land harvest thirty stone millet grain? The tax collector's eyes widened with disbelief.

"What are you yelling about? Hurry up and collect the rent, I have to transport the newly harvested wheat to the workshop to grind into flour, and my boy is still waiting to eat the bread! Before Li Laohan could speak, a strong man with a tiger's back unloaded several baskets of corn from the ox cart and put them heavily at the tax collector's feet.

"Yo, why did Brother Zhang come to pay the rent in person, but if you give me an order, I will go to the door to collect it." The tax collector smiled and flattered. This strong man's name is Zhang De, he can be regarded as a figure in ten miles and eight townships, he used to be the personal guard of the flying general Li Guang, and killed many Hun barbarians, and later it is said that he beat a certain family in the army, and he was not punished under the protection of Li Guang, but in addition to his military status, he returned to his hometown to farm, and Li Guang also specially gave him thirty acres of fertile land.

"As far as your little arms and legs are concerned, you don't have two or two pieces of meat, in addition to being nonsense, what else will you do, I can't count on you." Zhang De slapped the tax collector on the shoulder and stunned him.

The tax collector grinned in pain, but he didn't dare to blow up the stab, this Zhang Dehe county lieutenant is a brother who can't be provoked. He hurriedly wrote down Li Laohan's field rent, and then counted the strong man's rent.

"My family's thirty acres of fertile land have planted twenty acres of millet and ten acres of wheat, and each mu can harvest almost four stones. The strong man grinned.

"Huh? Why do you want to grow wheat, the price of this wheat is a lot worse than corn, Brother Zhang is not panicked? The tax collector asked, a little surprised.

"What do you know besides eating and sleeping?" When Zhang De heard this, he said disdainfully: "Go back and ask your mother-in-law, is the wheat still the original price?" Knowing that the flour from wheat can be made into pasta and pastries, farmers who do not grow wheat regret it. ”

The tax collector scratched his head, he said that he had never taken care of the housework, and he had not eaten less pasta, but he did not know that the price of wheat had risen.

He hurriedly asked the accompanying officials and slaves to weigh the field rent paid by Zhang De, and asked suspiciously: "Brother Zhang, did you say that you can collect four stones of grain per mu of land?" Even if the wind and rain are smooth this year, it won't be so old than last year, right? ”

"Can I still lie? Since the use of chemical fertilizer, the seedlings in the field are like well-fed and well-fed babies, growing upward, the ears are big and tight, and the grains are full. A few days ago, I hit the corn grain, and I weighed a few acres, and the yield per mu was double compared with previous years, and I was almost stupid. Zhang De grinned.

The tax collector opened his mouth wide, and his face was full of remorse: "It's a big loss, my father-in-law asked to rent some fields last year, but I thought it was too tiring to farm, so I didn't agree." If you really plant more than ten acres, you can pay more than my annual rank. ”

Zhang De glanced at him and said disdainfully: "You are a lazy bone, don't dream in vain, and keep the rank of dozens of stones with peace of mind to live a good life." ”

The tax collector was speechless, and seeing that the officials and slaves had finished weighing, he hurriedly made a book and asked Zhang De to press a handprint on the bamboo slip.

"It's done, I have to go to the water mill workshop to change the flour for the boy at home. When you go back to the county office, you send me a message to the county lieutenant of your house, and ask him to come to my house to drink, and say that I got a musk deer in the woods. Zhang De saw that he was on the three poles, gave an order, and drove the car away.

It wasn't until noon that Zhang De rushed to the water mill by the river. Seeing the bustling crowd outside the workshop, he reluctantly parked the ox cart on the side of the road, walked into the grass hut on the side of the road, spent a few dollars to buy a pot of bad wine, and drank it slowly.

A sharp-beaked monkey-cheeked vendor at the next table, his eyes wandering as he looked at the ox cart on the side of the road, came up and asked, "This old man, do you want to change the wheat for flour?" ”

Zhang De put down his wine glass and glanced at him: "If there is anything, just say it." ”

The vendor didn't think it was wrong, pointed to more than ten carts outside the grass house, and said with a smile on his face: "The little brother came early and bought more than 100 stones of flour." If the elder brother wants to change the flour, the younger brother is convenient, and he can exchange one stone of flour for two stones of wheat for the elder brother, how much is exchanged for how much, what is it? ”

Zhang De was stunned when he heard this, looked at the crowd surrounding the door of the workshop courtyard on the third floor and the outer three floors, and said after a while: "Okay, there are just two stones of wheat on my car, so I will exchange it with you." ”

The small eyes of the traders suddenly narrowed into a small slit with joy, since the major grain merchants sold flour in various counties in Guanzhong, and now this wheat is in great demand. In the early Han Dynasty, corn was the main food for the people in Guanzhong, and the price of wheat was only half of that of corn, so most of them were planted in a small area.

Many water mills built this year have exhausted all the wheat accumulated in Guanzhong for many years, ground it into flour and sold it to various counties in Dahan, but the supply is still in short supply. The grain merchants who had no choice but even brought in wheat to Guanzhong and then shipped flour. It's not that they don't want to grind flour on the spot in other counties, it's too labor-intensive, and the quality of the flour milled by animal power is very poor, far less delicate and uniform than that of water milling.

However, there is a serious shortage of craftsmen in Tian's Commercial Group to build water mill workshops for grain merchants, and the hundreds of water mill workshops in Guanzhong alone have not yet been completed. If you want to build it in the rest of the counties, I'm afraid you will have to wait until after the beginning of spring next year. And if the people of Guanzhong want to plant more wheat, they will have to wait until the beginning of spring next year. There are very few farmers like Zhang De who have planted ten acres of wheat, and most of them have heard some rumors in advance.

Seeing that the autumn harvest has begun, major grain merchants have naturally taken the opportunity to rush to buy wheat. In the past, the water mill mill grinded flour for the people, and the price of five buckets of flour was made according to one stone of wheat, but recently it has risen to one stone of wheat for six buckets of noodles, and even some big grain merchants even offered a high price of seven buckets. Many small traders naturally seized the opportunity to wait outside the various water mills, first buying flour and replacing wheat with wheat for the people who could not wait for a long time, so as to earn some price difference.

Zhang De is not stupid, he naturally knows that this vendor can make a lot of money from him, but he doesn't care too much. He was born in the army, and his family has 30 acres of fertile land, and he can hire a few helpers when he is busy farming, and he doesn't care about these small differences. Now that these people are waiting to grind noodles, it is better to quickly change with this vendor and go home early, so as not to miss dinner.

One is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer, and the transaction is naturally smooth. Zhang De drove an ox cart and hurriedly rushed back with a stone of flour, and the boy at home was still waiting to eat noodles. Since the mother-in-law learned to make pasta, the wide dough is poured with piping hot pork, and then spread some minced meat, not to mention how fragrant.

（…… The relationship between chapters, this chapter is a little less word, brothers, forgive me) (to be continued.) )