Although this year's pro-ploughing is mainly done by Hongji, the two princes also have to help on the side. After a set of red tape, the father and son were very tired. And Zhu Houwei also thought of what to do next - farming. "The people take food as the sky" The common people can stay up when they are poor and tired, but if they don't have food to eat, they won't work.

Zhu Houwei is very dissatisfied with the current agricultural situation in the Ming Dynasty. After all, after listening to the hybrid rice made by Professor Yuan in later generations, it would be pitiful to look at the current yield of the two lifetimes. The grain yield of Daming is generally between 1 stone and 3 stone per mu. It is about 200 catties to 600 catties in later generations, and the output of later generations is almost 1,000 kilograms.

There is grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart, there is not a lot of grain around Gyeonggi, but the population is very dense, so a large amount of grain is transported from Huguang and Jiangnan every year, because at this time it is mainly transported from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which also forms a future interest group - Cao Gang. It was not until the fourth year of Yongzheng that the Cao Gang gained legal status, but its influence had already spread across the provinces through which the canal flowed. If the grain problem in Gyeonggi can be solved, it will undoubtedly reduce the status of the Cao Gang, a deformed product, and will also be conducive to the stability of the north.

If you want to grow food, you must first have land, and Zhu Houwei asked Liu Jin to know that the royal family also has land, that is, Huangzhuang.

Speaking of Huangzhuang, Zhu Houwei has to thank his grandfather Xianzong. "History of the Ming Dynasty, Food and Goods Zhi I" "Xianzong ascended the throne, and the palace was submerged into Cao Jixiangdi, and the name of Huangzhuang began from this". There is an official school in charge of Huangzhuang, and there is a head of the village and a companion. There are many sources of land in Huangzhuang. Among them, there are mainly the land of the grazing horse and grass factory that originally belonged to the official land of the state, the farmland that was recaptured by the relatives, the land that was encroached upon, the land of some officials and people who were donated by the "traitors" to the eunuchs in charge of the village, and the land that was not returned to the royal palace of the feudal domain. The amount of land occupied by the Imperial Estate is not fully documented. In the second year of Hongzhi (1489), Li Minyan, the head of the household, said that there were five Huangzhuang in the land of Jinnai, with a total of more than 12,800 hectares.

The Imperial Estate is the private treasury of the Imperial Family, and in addition to the Emperor's Zhuangtian, there are also the Queen Mother and the Crown Prince Zhuangtian. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also has a field, so when he was in Zhu's mansion, Zhu Houwei asked Zhu Houzhao for a field for experiments. As a result, Zhu Houzhao looked puzzled: "I have Huangzhuang?" How did I not know? Looking at Zhu Houzhao, who looked innocent, Zhu Houwei was quite speechless. Zhu Houzhao turned his head and shouted, "Liu Jin, do I still have a field outside the house?" Butler Liu was quite competent, and immediately replied, "Young Master, you have a total of 5 Zhuangtian outside the mansion, with a total of more than 800 hectares, all of which are near the capital. Zhu Houzhao said to Zhu Houwei with a sneering face, "I didn't expect that I really have it, you can use it as much as you want." Zhu Houwei was completely speechless to him, and asked Liu Jin directly, "How much do these five Zhuangzi produce every year?" Liu Jin continued to answer, "Second young master, this Zhuangzi produced 5,000 taels last year, and the grain was a total of 18,000 stones. "How much tax do you collect?" "Ten taxes and four."

Zhu Houwei turned his head to look at Zhu Houzhao: "You have never taken care of this Zhuangzi, have you?" Zhu Houzhao said innocently, "What do you do with this, besides, I haven't been out of the capital, how can I care?" Zhu Houwei had nothing to say.

After eating in the evening, Zhu Houwei said to Hongji, "Daddy, there is not enough food in Gyeonggi, but there are a lot of fields under cultivation. After all, the grain transported from Jiangnan is more expensive than the place of origin, and if the price of grain can be lowered, it will also be good for the poor people in the city. Hongji thought for a moment and said, "Why did you think of Huangzhuang?" Zhu Houwei replied, "The child is to see his father go to plough every spring, and he must attach great importance to farming, and the child and the eldest brother also want to share their worries for their father." Zhu Houzhao also nodded hurriedly.

Hongzhi looked at the two brothers, and said slowly, "I remember that the Zhuangzi of Houzhao is near the capital, this Huangzhuang originally had a part of Houwei, and now I will allocate 5 places on the left side of the capital for you two brothers to take care of, but don't go again if you miss your studies." "Yes," the two replied.

The next day, when they came out of Master Yang, the two took their sister to Zhufu, took 5 students, 2 men and 3 women, and took a carriage directly to Huangzhuang outside the city in a low-key manner. On the way, I listened to Liu Jin's introduction, now go to the small Li Zhuang, more than 200 Zhuang households, 50 hectares of land, and then 10 miles to the north is Da Li Zhuang, there are more than 700 Zhuang households, 120 hectares of land, most of the Zhuang households of these two Zhuangzi are surnamed Li, and the eunuch Cao Luo is on the big Li Village.

The group arrived at Xiaolizhuang first, Zhu Houwei brothers got off first, and then led their sister to the village, at this time it was about 1 o'clock (1 o'clock in the afternoon), there were not many people in the village, most of the strong laborers were still working in the fields, only the old people were still there, and there were a few children, but they were all afraid of life, and did not dare to approach them, just stood far away and looked at this group of nobles. The three brothers and sisters wore very simple clothes, but they were followed by a housekeeper (Liu Jin) and 8 sturdy family members (guards), which made the children afraid.

The three brothers and sisters are still looking around, the village is not big, basically all houses made of yellow mud, and a few are thatched houses, the layout of the village is cross-shaped, the two streets are no more than 500 meters long, and there are houses on both sides of the street. The streets were just paved with dirt and then leveled out, but luckily it didn't rain today, otherwise the streets would have turned into muddy pools. After a while, an old man in his 60s walked over. He bowed to Zhu Houzhao, "I don't know what the little boy has to do when he comes to my Xiaoli Village." Zhu Houzhao replied: "My brother and sister have come to this place in the spring, which makes my husband bothered." "In this era, there is still a lot of respect for the elderly.

The old man replied with a smile, "It's okay, if there is anything, there will be an old man to answer a few nobles, see a few are a little tired, it is better to go to the old man's house to sit, drink a bowl of water, and let the old man talk about the friendship of the landlord." Zhu Hou glanced at Zhu Houwei, and then replied, "It's so bothering." "The little boy is serious, the old man is leading the way, and a few people are coming." The old man laughed

Zhu Houzhao turned his head and said, "Steward Liu came with 2 family members, and the others waited in the north of the village." "Although the village is cross-shaped, there are only two exits from the north and south, and there is only a simple fence around the village to prevent animals from entering the village.

The three brothers and sisters took Liu Jin and the three of them to follow the old man, and after a while, they arrived at the old man's house, which was a house on the street at the crossroads, which was relatively "luxurious" in the village, and the roof was at least full of tiles.

When they arrived at the old man's house, Zhu Houzhao asked the two guards to stand at the gate, and the three brothers and sisters only took Liu Jin into the old man's house. As soon as you enter the gate, there is a small yard, a house on each side of the yard, the house is not big, it is 2 rooms, except for the guest order, next to it is the bedroom. Now the doors of all three houses are open, and you can see the décor of the living room at a glance. There seemed to be nothing else but tables and chairs. The old man led into the hall facing the door, and near the back wall was a long table, on which there was a clay statue of the god, which had been a little old and the color on it had fallen a little, but it could still be seen that this was the god of wealth.

In front of the long table is a table of eight immortals, I don't know what kind of wood it is made of, but it looks very textured, and it is wiped clean. The old man sat down on the left, Zhu Houzhao sat down on the right, Zhu Houwei and his sister sat on the side closest to the door, and Liu Jin stood behind Zhu Houzhao. As soon as he sat down, the old man shouted to the inner room, "Old woman, you have come to the distinguished guest, pour a few bowls of tea." "It's coming, it's coming." An old female voice replied. The old man opened his mouth and said to the three brothers and sisters, "The old man's name is Li Deli, he is not the oldest in this village, but he is relatively high, and he is also familiar with the village. "Zhu Houzhao arched his hands" made the old man smile, my brother and sister three surnamed Zhu, the family is in the capital, rarely leave home, it is the first time to enter this village, my second brother is lively and active age, very interested in the people and things in the village, trouble the old man can solve my second brother's doubts. Zhu Houwei bowed his hand to Li Deli at this time and said, "It's troublesome, old man." Li Deli smiled, "It's okay, it's okay." At this time, an old woman came over with a plate, put a few bowls of tea on the table close to a few people, and said with a smile, "Which family is this, why do they look like porcelain dolls, and it makes people happy to look at." "What nonsense, these are all children of noble families, you think they are the same as you monkeys in the village." After the reprimand, he turned his head and apologized to Zhu Houzhao, "I'm sorry, this is my old woman, a country woman has never seen the world, nonsense, don't take it to heart." The old woman was not annoyed when she was reprimanded, and looked at the little girl with a smile. At this time, Zhu Houwei received "The old man's words are serious, this mother-in-law is a fast talker, we look at it and feel kind" turned his head to the little girl and said, "Isn't it?" The little girl immediately replied, "Yes, my mother-in-law looks very kind." After speaking, he smiled at the old woman. made her mouth close with joy, and let the three brothers and sisters see that her two front teeth had been honorably laid off.

Zhu Houwei said to Li Deli, "I don't think the people in the village seem to be very rich, and those children are also dressed very shabby, is it that the harvest has not been good in recent years?" The old man's face became a little serious, and he said, "In the past few years, the wind and rain have been smooth, the harvest is okay, and in addition to paying the field tax, the others in our imperial village will pay the head tax, and the days are okay." ”

"How much tax do you have to pay for that acre of land?" Zhu Houwei continued to ask

"The field tax is ten taxes and four, the poll tax is collected according to the person, each person is called 5 dollars of silver a year, like the old family, in addition to me and the old wife, there are 2 sons, and now they are all married, the eldest son has 3 babies in the family, and the second son has 2 in the family, and the annual poll tax has to pay 5 taels and 5 dollars. The family rented a total of 50 acres of land, and they could collect about 100 stone of grain in a year, and after paying the field tax, there were still 50 stones left. ”

"That's not right, there should be 60 stones left after paying the field tax, the price of grain in our capital has always been higher, a stone of grain can also be sold for 1 tael of silver, 11 people eat about 30 stone a year, and there is an income of 30 taels of silver if the rest of the grain is sold."

The old man smiled bitterly, "You are the young master who lives in the noble house, where do you know the filth in this market, the old man is old, and he has a little face in this village, so he boldly told you, when paying the field tax, he said that he would pay forty percent, but when he weighed it, there would be a kicker to kick the fight, and this bucket was also a big bucket in and out of the small bucket, so it was basically to pay more than 5 points, as for the grain, it was not allowed to be sold outside, and it could only be sold to the father-in-law of Guan Zhuang, one stone and 2 dollars of silver, and the poll tax was paid this year. There's nothing left. ”

Hearing this, the two brothers' faces were a little unsightly, and the little girl also felt that the life of the old Li family was not easy, and her little face became serious.

Zhu Houzhao asked at this time, "Dare to ask the old man, what is the saying of this kicking and kicking people?" ”

Li Deli said slowly, "This kick bucket is to kick the weighing bucket, when paying taxes, the bucket should be piled to the full, and the top should be piled into a small spire, and the kicker will come to kick the bucket hard, and the grain on it will fall to the outside, at this time, it is necessary to continue to load grain into the bucket, and there is a man named Yan Yijiao under the Gonggong of Guan Zhuang, and the foot will go down, and the grain of one stone can be kicked off 3 buckets." ”

Looking at the heavy expressions of the two brothers, Li Deli comforted, "It's nothing to have a hard time these days, the most feared thing for poor families is to get sick, and when they get sick, they have to borrow money everywhere to see a doctor, and it's okay if they are cured, but if they are not cured, they will be empty, but our village will come every year in the past few years." Doctor Li didn't have this medical skill, and the medicine was very cheap, and the village could survive. Seeing that Li Deli seemed to be very satisfied, the two brothers felt even heavier.

After a while, Zhu Houwei thought of something and asked, "What is the name of this Doctor Li, is it called Li Ziyu?" "No, it seems that everyone who is called Li is called Doctor Li, but I don't remember the name."

"Li Yanwen, is his name Li Yanwen?" Zhu Houwei asked again

"Yes, it seems to be this name, Doctor Li comes every year, but the time is uncertain, and I haven't been here this year."

The two brothers smiled at each other, and they were still very impressed by this doctor who was very helpful to their father's condition.

Almost understood, Zhu Houzhao and Lao Li said goodbye after a few words, before leaving, the old woman also gave the little girl a piece of their own woven square handkerchief, the two brothers hurriedly thanked her, the little girl was happy to take it, take it and ask the old woman, "Mother-in-law, do you see if I look good with it." The old woman said, "Good-looking, you are the best-looking girl in the world." The three brothers and sisters said goodbye and left, while Li Deli stood at the door and watched them go away with a smile.

Several people arrived at the north of the village to meet, set off again, and headed for Da Li Zhuang.