Guiyang Prefecture in Hunan Province is adjacent to Guangdong, and is clamped down with Yongzhou Prefecture in the southeast of Guangxi, because it borders Guangdong in the defense line of the Guangdong army, and Guangdong Lianshan and Lianzhou are integrated, and is set up as the Liangui Defense Zone, which is stationed in the Sizhi patrol battalion, and the telegraph line has been erected as early as possible.

Linwu County in Guiyang was connected to Lianzhou in Guangdong, and the Cantonese army set up a village at the junction of the two places, garrisoning a battalion, and even contacted many Yongzhou battalions of the Southern Anti-Thief Party set up by the official documents, preparing to erect telegraph lines in the past in order to support each other.

South Shuangxi Town, Linwu County, has a population of thousands, is one of the largest villages in Linwu, but the recent period is panicked, because Mr. Liu sold the fertile land of Shuangxi Village to the merchants of Guangdong, Mr. Liu is the largest landlord in Shuangxi Town, there are hundreds of acres of fertile land in Shuangxi Town, and the Liu family is known as the first in Linwu, and Mr. Liu has already moved to Changsha Mansion, leaving only Zhuangtou to help him collect rent.

Who knew that a few days ago, there were rumors in the town that Mr. Liu sold all the land to Guangdong merchants, and the tenant farmers who rented Liu's fields for long and short jobs immediately blew up the pot and changed the proprietors. Even if they are leased, will the rules such as land rent and land interest be changed?

In the past few days, these tenant farmers have come to Liu Axi, the head of Liujiazhuang, in an endless stream, and Liu Axi also smiled bitterly, he himself doesn't know where to go, where can he take care of the way out of these bitter haha?

There is a willow tree at the entrance of Shuangxi Village, an ancient tree that is hundreds of years old, it takes several people to hug it, the willow branches hang down, I am afraid that there are thousands of them, and the breeze blows, and the rolling green waves are rising.

At this time, Liu Axi hid under the roots of the tree and smoked a dry tobacco pouch, hiding out of the house, and the roots of his ears were finally cleaned.

"Hey, you're going to be okay when you hide?" Behind him there was a coquettish voice, and he didn't have to look back Liu Axi also knew who it was, his wife Chunyue.

The fragrance struck, and a young woman with a good face walked over and sat beside him with brisk steps, wearing a blue cloth jacket and pants, which could not hide her plump body.

Chunyue is ten years younger than Liu Axi, she was originally the concubine of the neighboring town Wushui Wu Master, she couldn't stand the abuse of Wu Lao and escaped from the Wu family, fainted in front of Liu Axi's door and was rescued by Liu Axi, a widower and a beautiful woman, ** did it really, and when Liu Axi knew Chunyue's identity, she was almost scared to death.

The martial family is powerful, and there are even sons who serve as commanders in the Hunan army, which is a big official who commands thousands of people, and no one can pity him if he is beaten to death if he cooperates with the concubine who escaped, let alone the concubine of the martial family.

But fortunately, Master Liu was very happy with Liu Axi, and personally came forward to compensate and lose money, and Master Wu reluctantly sold his favor, which was regarded as reselling Chunyue to him. Later, Liu Axi became husband and wife with Chunyue worshipping heaven and earth.

"What if you don't hide?" Liu Axi smiled bitterly, knocked on the cigarette pouch pole on the upper of the shoe, turned his head to look at Chunyue, and said, "Why don't we go?" ”

Seeing her husband's solemn expression, Chunyue was slightly stunned and asked, "Let's go?" Where to? Why go? ”

Liu Axi shook his head and said, "It's good to go anywhere, just don't be in Shuangxi Village." He didn't say what he said in his heart, for fear of scaring Chunyue, he received a letter from Master Liu, when Master Liu sold the land, the Wu family also wanted to buy it, but the bid was too low, so Master Liu sold it to a Guangdong businessman, only afraid that the Wu family would hold a grudge and turn over the old accounts.

"Are you hiding something from me?" Chunyue stared at Liu Axi for a moment.

Liu Axiqiang smiled: "How can there be? You're suspicious. "Even if you go away and fly high, you have to wait for the things in Shuangxi Town to be done, and you always have to explain to the new master, after eating the rice grain of the Liu family for so many years, you have to start and end to do things, right?

"You're lying, you have something on your mind, I can't see it?" Harutsuki frowned.

At this moment, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves, and the two turned their heads to look, and saw that the loess road coming from the south was dusty, and twenty or thirty riders were galloping towards them.

Liu Axi's heart tightened and he stood up: "Let's go back." Grabbing Chunyue's hand, he walked towards the village, Chunyue's already docile surname, seeing his frightened face, he didn't dare to ask again, and got up obediently.

But these riders came very quickly, and in a blink of an eye, they had already arrived at the entrance of the village, and they pulled the reins one after another, and in the neighing of the horses, a man in a green robe said loudly: "Dare to ask this old man, how to go to Liu Axi's house with Brother Liu?" ”

Liu Axi was slightly stunned, and turned his head to see that these riders had already dismounted, among them was a young man in a gorgeous costume, graceful and rich, with clear eyes like electricity, and he was a man, even if there were thousands of people, the first thing you saw was him.

"You, you're from Guangdong?" Liu Axi asked hesitantly.

The man who was the first to talk smiled and said, "Yes, my master came to see Zhuangzi." ”

The person who came was Ye Zhao and a group of guards.

Linwu's land was bought by Jiner's grandmother, and she used the dividends of the steel mill, she had to hand over the title deed to Ye Zhao, and Ye Zhao had no choice.

Speaking of Jiner's grandmother is a unique vision, after the railway from Shaozhou to Hengzhou is erected in the future, although the railway will go southeast Chenzhou, but Linwu is not far from the transportation hub, and there are many small coal kilns here, so it is very promising to buy land here.

Ye Zhao came to the border of Hunan, called the handover of the land, in fact, he wanted to really take a look at the rural life situation in Hunan, and Ye Zhao also knew that his impression of the countryside in this era came more from historical materials, coupled with hearsay and some imagination, sometimes seen in person, often contrary to his own imagination.

And how to grasp the hearts of the people and spread this set of things in Guangdong and Jiangxi is already a problem that has to be considered.

Now in the capital, the six kings not only set up a new army, but also prepared to set up an ordnance bureau and a shipyard bureau, in the contact with the countries of Europa, the envoys to inspect and buy machinery have already set off, so if it continues, I am afraid that the domestic situation will become more and more complicated.

If you don't speed up the pace, I'm afraid that you will be left far behind by the six kings, after all, Guangdong's industry and commerce have just started, and Jiangxi is even more wasteful, with the resources of the two places, how to compete with the entire Qing Empire? If the Six Kings Westernization Movement is effective, it will be even more incomparable.

It doesn't take much time to come to Guiyang from Guangzhou, although the railway from Shaozhou to Guangzhou has not been fully opened, and the southernmost end has not yet been laid, but Shaozhou to Shapu has been opened to traffic, ride a horse to Shapu, change to a train, and then change horses to Shaozhou, it is only three or two days.

In Shuangxi Town, Ye Zhao hopes to truly understand the living conditions of tenant farmers and hired workers in this era, rather than relying on imagination.

When he saw this swarthy middle-aged man claiming to be Liu Axi, Ye Zhao smiled at him and turned around and said, "Show him Liu Zichan's letter and land deed." ”

Listening to the young man call Mr. Liu's name, Liu Axi did not feel a trace of abruptness, but felt very natural, took the letter handed by the man in the green robe and read it, casually flipped through a few local deeds, Liu Axi hurriedly returned it with both hands, and said respectfully: "Please come with the little one and check the Liu family's mansion." ”

Ye Zhao smiled and nodded, walked side by side with him, and asked, "You have been taking care of this house all the time, right?" ”

"Yes, after the master went to Changsha, he wanted to live in the East Courtyard and help deal with the field chores."

Ye Zhao nodded and said, "Then it's business as usual, you, what should you do in the future, just like when Liu Xiaolian is here." ”

Liu Axi was stunned, and his steps slowed down by half a beat, "The little one, the little one is kind to Master Xie, but the little one plans to leave Shuangxi Village, if it weren't for the old man to come, the little one would have left a long time ago." ”

Ye Zhao nodded slightly: "In this way, everyone has their own ambitions, and I don't force it, but I want to trouble you to recommend a steward, isn't it a good director of the local Zhuang Tou?" ”

"Yes, the little one understands."

As he spoke, he saw that the ragged people around him were gathering more and more, although he saw that Ye Zhao's guards did not dare to approach, but they all followed, and their eyes looked at Liu Axi eagerly.

Seeing this, Ye Zhao said to Liu Axi: "You tell everyone that all the rules remain unchanged, so that everyone can rest assured." "I wanted to reduce the rent of the land to a few percent, but when I first came to the road, I was afraid that it would scare people, and there were few people who believed it, thinking that there were many people who wanted to engage in tricks to exploit them, so it was better to keep it unchanged.

Liu Axi was stunned, and admired this in his heart, seeing how powerful this old man was, he didn't even ask, he knew what was going on.

Then he turned his head and shouted: "Everyone, this is our new proprietor, Master Jing, his old man has just given grace, all the rules are the same, everyone is gone!" ”

These ragged villagers immediately let out a burst of cheers, and soon spread throughout Sungai Township.

If the Liu family's house is in Guangzhou City, it is a sparrow house, but there are two entrances before and after, tile houses and brick walls, and there are stone lions in front of the courtyard gate, which is naturally a high-ranking family in the countryside.

Liu Axi led Ye Zhao around the courtyards, and even took Ye Zhao to count the cattle and farm tools, in this era, wealthy tenant farmers may have farm tools, but most tenant farmers and hired workers have to rent the owner's livestock and equipment.

Ye Zhao didn't know before, looking at Liu Axi's number of hoes and plowsticks in the utility room, he couldn't help but be a little stunned, such simple means of production are great property in this era?

"Master, do you think the number is right? It's just a hoe, it's the small one who accidentally jumped on it, and the small one has already lost money, and it can be found in the ledger. ”

In fact, the hoe was broken by a long-term worker, and Liu Ah took pity on him for his poverty and counted it in his own account.

Ye Zhao nodded slightly and said, "It doesn't matter. ”

Liu Axi hurriedly said: "This, why doesn't it matter?" Master, I've been a head farmer for 20 years, but I haven't made a mistake. ”

Seeing that his black face suddenly turned into a sauce, Ye Zhao smiled and said, "So, I hope you will work for another twenty years, but unfortunately, you have already found another job." ”

Liu Axi bowed his head and was silent.

At this time, a well-dressed peasant man suddenly ran into the courtyard, and was immediately stopped by the guards.

He said hurriedly: "Brother Xi, you hurry up, the martial arts family is coming, it must be coming for you, you go quickly, it's too late to leave!" ”

Liu Axi's face turned white all of a sudden, but there are still a few things in his hands that he hasn't explained, what can he do?

Seeing the look of fear in his eyes, Ye Zhao frowned and said, "Martial artist? Who? ”

(To be continued)