"Oh, what's the matter?" Team Fu is on the right path.

Zuo Shaoyang checked the letter in his hand: "That's right, I wore a short shirt back on Guigu Peak, and when my scholar helped me change my clothes, I found a letter in the middle of the short shirt, which was for the general." There was also a fire paint seal, and I didn't dare to slack off, so I sent it immediately. ”

"Oh?" Team Fu took the letter, glanced at it, was slightly stunned, turned sideways, and looked carefully at the seal on the fire paint in the evening afterglow, suddenly stood up suddenly, walked quickly to the window, carefully looked at the stamped seal again, held the letter tightly, and said to Zuo Shaoyang urgently: "Where did this letter come from?" ”

"I got it from the mountains."

Zuo Shaoyang briefly said how he got the short shirt in Guigu Peak, and then handed over the short jacket.

Team Fu took it, looked at it, and said urgently: "Wait a minute, Gongzi, I'll report to the general!" ”

After that, without waiting for Zuo Shaoyang to express his position, he hurriedly entered the back hall.

Zuo Shaoyang and Bai Zhihan looked at each other, and they were really a little puzzled by Fu Teamzheng's expression, and sat back on the chair, holding the tea and pretending to drink.

After waiting for a while, a guard came from the back hall, clasped his fists and said: "Zuo Gongzi, Team Fu is asking me to send a message to you, thank you for sending the letter, this letter is very important, now the general has urgent military affairs to discuss, he has to accompany him, he can't come to talk to you, please go back first, remember to go to the Yamen room tomorrow morning to transfer the land." In addition, the team is making a special explanation, please do not tell anyone about this letter. ”

Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly agreed, and left the yamen of the state capital with Bai Zhihan. Team Fu was leaving in a hurry just now, and it was too late to ask about the rice seeds, so they could only ask another day.

On the way home, Bai Zhihan said in a low voice: "Young master, I didn't expect you to encounter such a thrilling thing at the peak, and you said it lightly. ”

Zuo Shaoyang smiled: "Don't tell the lord and wife, lest they be in a hurry." ”

"Yes!"

At night, Zuo Shaoyang still sleeps with himself in the box next to his pillow. After lying down, my head was full of wondering what the letter was, and I didn't have a clue when I thought about it.

Early the next morning, Zuo Shaoyang and his father Zuo Gui came to the county yahu room, and his brother-in-law was the scribe here, so they all knew each other. It's just that many of the scribes in the yamen died of starvation, and the rest of the scribes were swollen and went home and lay down. Because the general had an edict to handle this matter, Qian Zhixian could only send someone to call these scribes and go through the procedures for the transfer of land and property.

It stands to reason that the scribes should also take them to the outside of the city to indicate the fields and deliver them clearly, but the scribes are too weak to walk, and Zuo Shaoyang did not embarrass them, anyway, there are four maps for selling the fields, and the brother-in-law is the scribe of the county government portal, and he knows very well where these fields are.

Zuo Shaoyang discussed with the household department whether he could buy some rice, and the household scribes smiled bitterly, saying that all the grain in the yamen warehouse, including rice seeds, had been requisitioned by the officials and soldiers a long time ago, and now there was not even a grain of grain, so so many people starved to death by the scribes and the third-class officials. If you want to buy rice seeds, you can only consult with the officials and soldiers.

Zuo Shaoyang and his father Zuo Gui came to the yamen of the state capital to find Fu Teamzheng, and were about to ask the general if he promised to sell rice seeds to them. The little leader who guarded the gate ate the steamed bun given by Zuo Shaoyang the day, was very grateful, and told Zuo Shaoyang in a low voice, saying that Team Fu was out of the city with his personal escort team last night with the general, and he has not returned yet. Ask him if there's anything he can tell him. Zuo Shaoyang left a message with a try, saying that he wanted to buy rice seeds for farming, and that he wanted to plant rice fields at home, so he couldn't delay the farming time anymore. The little leader patted his chest and promised to bring the words to him. Zuo Shaoyang asked Ding Xiaosan to send them two steamed buns.

Zuo Shaoyang and his father Zuo Gui returned home, and discussed the method of recruiting tenants the day before, Zuo Gui thought about it all night, thought of an idea, and wrote a big notice and posted it on the wall next to the door of the pharmacy. That is, the place where the medicinal porridge is almsgiving. Then, ask my aunt Hou Puding Xiaosan to memorize all the contents, next to the porridge point, and read it out loud when waiting for the porridge, so that the hungry people who receive the porridge will know.

In the past two days, when he was free, Zuo Shaoyang still sat in the pharmacy with his father Zuo Gui and waited for someone to seek medical treatment, and now they are all running for their lives, even if they are sick, but if they are not seriously ill, who still has the strength to seek medical treatment, so after the famine, the number of people who come to seek medical treatment is gradually decreasing. In total, less than five patients came to the hospital in two days, and four of them fainted from hunger. After waking up with medicinal porridge, he had no choice but to send it away.

At noon, it was the time for the Zuo family to give alms to the medicinal porridge, and this was the first time Zuo Shaoyang saw the family giving medicinal porridge after he came back.

The officers and soldiers were weak to stand in both sides, holding swords, and the hungry people who received the porridge were even more weak like hungry ghosts, and the line was lined up until the entrance of the alley. Many of them are neatly dressed and gorgeously dressed, and they should be from well-off families, but they are either puffy as balls or emaciated. A pair of blank eyes stared, hoping that the team could speed up their pace and receive the life-saving medicine porridge earlier.

Ding Xiaosan had already memorized the contents of the notice, but it was actually very simple, just a few words: "The Zuo family of Guizhitang has 130 acres of fertile land outside the city, and now recruits tenants, and the tenants rent one stone per mu. If you are interested, please contact Guizhitang. ”

After the notice was posted, coupled with Ding Xiaosan's incessant loud preaching, it can be said that every hungry person who received the porridge heard it, and the voices of thanks and praise continued, but until a large bucket of medicinal porridge was all distributed, no one came to register for the lease.

Zuo Shaoyang was very puzzled and incomprehensible, and stopped a few hungry people to ask why they were unwilling to rent, whether they felt that the rent was too high.

Several hungry people expressed their deep gratitude, and they all agreed that the rent was very reasonable, and everyone was the standard. However, their answer made Zuo Shaoyang speechless anymore, and the man in brocade told him that they were from the city, and they had never farmed, and after eating up the rations of one bucket per person, they also had the cheekiness to beg for porridge to receive relief, so most of the people queuing up to receive porridge now were city residents, and they would not be able to farm. Most of the peasants who fled into the city starved to death, and the remaining small number of croppers who fled into the city were already extremely terrified of Hezhou, the hungry city of death, and once the war was suspended, they all wanted to escape immediately and find a way to live.

Zuo Shaoyang didn't tell his parents the news, so that they were confused but still hopeful, it was better than no hope.

After the porridge was over, it was already afternoon. Zuo Shaoyang went to the yamen of the state capital again, and the little leader quietly told Zuo Shaoyang that the Fu team had already escorted the general back and discussed the military situation with Lord Assassin Shi and others. After Zuo Shaoyang gave the little leader of the guards two more steamed buns, he asked him to report and tell Fu Teamzheng that he wanted to buy some rice seeds.

The leader of the guards went in, came out again after a while, and told Zuo Shaoyang with a smile that the Fu team had already reported to the general, and the general said that this was a trivial matter, and he had already agreed, just let him come tomorrow morning to receive rice seeds.

Zuo Shaoyang was pleasantly surprised, he didn't expect things to go so smoothly, he didn't say how much to buy, and people agreed with their mouths, which was really happy. The depression at noon was suddenly swept away, and with rice seeds, at least there was hope.

Zuo Shaoyang rushed home and told the news to his father Zuo Gui and his mother Liang and others, and everyone was very happy. Zuo Shaoyang decided to immediately convene a farming meeting to discuss the issue of spring ploughing.

Aunt Li has decided that the whole family will stay and help the Zuo family farm, plus Miao Peilan, who can farm, there are four brothers of the Li family and Miao Peilan, a total of five people.

Li Dazhuang's three brothers and his mother, Aunt Li, have relied on the Zuo family's medicinal porridge for more than two months, although they are swollen, but at least they have saved their lives. In the past two days, they have concentrated on improving food and increasing nutrition in the old house of the Qu family, and their physical strength has recovered quickly, and the edema has begun to reduce, so the Li family's gratitude to the Zuo family is even heavier, and when they heard that they were going to venture out of the city to sow seeds, they all agreed. Counsel together.

It is not known what the 50 acres of Yamen are, but he has gone to see Zuo Shaoyang's original 80 acres of fertile land, and the cultivation rate of these 80 acres is not high, only a small half of it has been rented by tenants, and most of it has been abandoned for several years. Due to the lack of management over the years, it is necessary to carry out land preparation, ploughing and other work. And the small half of the farming, the tenants have fled, and now they are also abandoned and left unattended.

At present, there are only a few laborers who can be mobilized, and it is now the end of March (lunar calendar), and the fields sold by the government are all inherited by no one and returned to the imperial court, and these must be abandoned land, so most of the 130 acres of fields are land that has been abandoned for many years, and there is too much work left for them to prepare the land, cultivate the land, soak the seeds, apply fertilizer, and sow seeds, and they must plan well before acting.

Zuo Shaoyang and his father Zuo Gui and Liang, brother-in-law Hou Pu and sister Fennel, as well as Miao Peilan and Aunt Li's family of four, as well as slaves Bai Zhihan and Cao'er, participated in the spring ploughing planning meeting.

Everyone heard that the Zuo family had now received 50 acres of fertile land from the government to offset the debt of the bandages, and they didn't know whether to congratulate them or feel sorry for them, so they didn't say anything for a while.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Today's notice was posted, and I was expecting to invite someone to help with farming, but so far, no one is willing to help us." The family's 130 acres of land can only rely on the people of us here. Please help me figure out how to prepare for spring planting? ”

At this moment, the conversation box finally opened.

Li Dazhuang generally does carpenter work outside, and the farm work in the field is mainly responsible for the second brother Li Erzhuang. Li Erzhuang said: "If you want to sow seeds, you must sow now, otherwise you will not sow until the first half of April, then after the frost falls, the autumn harvest will be harvested, and the rice will not be full to harvest, if it is delayed, it will fall and affect the harvest." ”

Li Erzhuang's younger brother Li Sanzhuang said angrily: "I can't sow seeds now, the land has been abandoned for so long, and I haven't turned over the land yet, how can I sow seeds?" Isn't it for the birds to sow rice and plant it now? The soil should be ploughed and prepared first, and then the seeds can be sown. ”

(To be continued)