The man driving the car walked away talking to himself, leaving the mulberry carpenter stunned in place. He survived in the countryside, and he had long been accustomed to the narrow-mindedness of the villagers, and he had also seen a lot of small belly chicken intestines among the poor. In the face of the wolf-like tax collectors, the peasant households only had to plead bitterly. In order to fill their bellies, everyone is trying to find ways to work.

In the past, the tenant rent was 50% at every turn, and when the rent was paid, it had to be compensated for the loss. In order to make money, the doglegs who collect rent come up with tricks such as 'dry valley', 'wet valley', 'big bucket' and 'small bucket'. In short, only the poor can't think of it, and there is nothing they can't do. If the harvest is not good in a famine year, the landlord will even bring people to block the door, for fear that the tenants will flee and run away, forcing people to death.

The year is not good, and it is good for the village to sell their children and daughters, and it is common to hang themselves to seek death. The rich oppress the poor, and the poor and the poor have to fight. Everyone was like a bony wolfdog, staring at blood-red eyes looking for a chance to live. There are too many tragic events in the countryside to count.

And now there are people who are eager to pay taxes, and they are not at ease if they don't pay. Carpenter Mulberry shook his head, he couldn't understand it, but he took it for granted. "This world is different from what it used to be."

It was almost dark, and the mulberry carpenter walked around the village and went back. He now has several children separated from the family, and only his wife is around to take care of him. He lived in the dormitory on the construction site, and as soon as he entered the room, he saw that dinner was ready, and there were two or three side dishes on the table, which smelled sour.

"What's this?" The mulberry carpenter asked, staring at a dish he had never seen before.

The carpenter's wife steamed the steamed buns and brought them to the table, saying, "This is what I learned from the master of the canteen, and I said that it is vinegar and shredded potatoes." Hey, now this vinegar is expensive, and I can't even afford to put it more. If you taste it, it's very refreshing. ”

"Ah......, this is the potato." The mulberry carpenter heard about this new thing, "When we were in Fushun, we heard that there was an experimental field that was planted with this thing, and I heard that if an acre of land is served, it can produce a thousand catties." It is also said that this thing can be eaten as a staple food, and it will not reflux acid in the stomach if you eat too much, which is better than sweet potatoes. ”

After many times of seed potato cultivation and expansion, Li Shuwei took advantage of the Ministry of Agriculture's strong promotion of planting potatoes to officially usher in a large-scale harvest period. In the first half of the year, 500,000 acres were planted in the entire Liaoning Siwei, most of which were planted in Lushun and Jinzhou. Because you can plant two crops over there.

However, potatoes have higher requirements for soil fertility. At present, with only farmyard fertilizer, a piece of land cannot be planted continuously. Interplanting of corn and rotation of other crops is needed to increase yields and restore soil fertility. But even so, even in the case of seed potato degradation, three or four hundred kilograms of potatoes can easily be grown in one acre of land.

This yield stunned farmers all over southern Liaoning.

As a crop native to South America, it was the potato that fed the bellies of white Europeans. Before the large-scale cultivation of potatoes, famine was at every turn in Europe, and the life of the low-level farmers was extremely miserable. It was the appearance of the potato on the white people's table that allowed their population to increase rapidly and advance their civilization.

The Chinese thrived by intensive farming, growing rice and wheat. However, it is still necessary to supplement potatoes as a staple food. It has a high starch content and great nutritional value. It will be a powerful food supplement to the current era of war and chaos - Europeans are used to eating mashed potatoes, and Han Chinese eat it as a vegetable. However, eating it as a dish is not the best way.

At present, in addition to keeping seeds, the 'revolutionary army' has begun to work hard to make flour from potatoes like wheat. Once flour is made, it can be used in a wide range of applications. It's also easier to transport and store, so you can feed more people. A small amount of fresh potatoes are sold as a fresh vegetable to make the people understand the benefits of potatoes.

If you want fried potato chips, don't count on it, there is not so much oil.

The vinegared shredded potatoes are indeed not bad, and the mulberry carpenter's dinner is very happy. He asked about the price of potatoes and found that they were more expensive than ordinary vegetables. "I've heard people read the newspaper that these potatoes can be eaten for dinner." If it is compared with rice noodles, potatoes are much cheaper.

The carpenter's wife cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, and also said: "This thing seems to be beaten into flour and can be used to make noodles." I heard from the cook in the cafeteria that the guards in the neighborhood had started to eat this steamed bun made of potato flour, and they all said it was delicious. Dashuai is really capable, this thing can grow so much in one acre, and our people will never be short of food again. ”

Grain, grain!

For many people, having enough food is the greatest happiness. This multi-fold grain production is staggering. Carpenter Mulberry casually talked about chatting with people on the road today, and said that the fact that Dashuai did not collect grain taxes for two years turned out to be true. The people in the farm suddenly had a lot of food on hand, and they were a little dreamy and afraid at the same time.

"Some people are still thinking about paying grain to the marshal."

"There are also people who are asking how to buy land."

"It's a pity that the marshal said that the land of the 'revolutionary army' is only divided and not sold."

"A lot of people can't think about it, and when they have food, they want their own land."

After eating, it was also dark. The mulberry carpenter's wife lit an oil lamp in front of the earthen kang and chatted with the mulberry carpenter while collecting the soles of her shoes. Just as they felt sleepy and were about to fall asleep, a dog barked outside the house. After a while, I heard someone shouting outside, "Carpenter Sang, are you at home?" I'm old Li, I want to discuss something with you. ”

The mulberry carpenter was so strange that he went out to open the door in his clothes. A dry and thin old man came in outside the door, not young. He led the people into the main room and sat down, and asked, "Old Li, what is the matter with you running here in the middle of the night?" ”

Lao Li Tou is a person from a nearby farm, with a large family of more than a dozen people, seven or eight laborers, and a full house of children and grandchildren. He was in his sixties, and it was rare for him to live this long age. All the people in the surrounding ten miles and eight towns have to call him 'old man'.

After Lao Li Tou sat down, he asked, "Mulberry carpenter, I heard that you know Dashuai?" ”

Carpenter Sang was startled when he heard this, in the past, he would proudly boast that he and Zhou Qingfeng had known each other in Fushun, but now he didn't dare. If you talk nonsense again, others will either laugh at him for bragging, or feel that he doesn't know what to do. Zhuanghu people like to chew their tongues behind their backs - who is the handsome? Do you deserve to know too?

The mulberry carpenter waved his hand again and again, not daring to say that he knew Zhou Qingfeng. But Lao Li Tou seemed to believe that he had a deep background, "Your Mulberry carpenter's sons and daughters are all promising, and the eldest son is still a senior official in the guard." Not long ago, he came to see you, and the guards he brought with him were very strong, and the villagers saw it. Your little girl Xiu'er graduated from high school, and I heard that she made a concubine ...... for the minister's leader. ”

"The secretary, the secretary, is the secretary of Minister Yin of the Ministry of Education. It's a job, not a concubine. The girl in my family is inconspicuous when she is small, why is she taken a fancy to the minister, and it is strange that I am also a father.

But since people can afford my family, there is nothing they can do. "Mulberry carpenter is now low-key and low-key. It is a good thing that his children have a good life, but he does not dare to talk nonsense outside, lest he make a big fuss.

Find a maid or something for the traverser, and it will not affect it directly, so the administration department says that it is to train secretaries for leaders. Sang Xiuer had barely obtained a high school diploma, she was handsome, and she was not very old, so she was selected. But in the eyes of outsiders, this is to be a concubine for the leader.

Carpenter Sang emphasized the 'secretary' on his lips, but he was still very happy in his heart, after all, this was a minister-level official. Even if you are a concubine, it is not an insult to the family. It's just that Lao Li Tou doesn't know what a 'secretary' or 'secretary' is, he only feels that the mulberry carpenter is capable and well-informed, so he continues to ask: "I just want to ask, does the marshal really want us to pay this year's grain tax?" ”

"That's for sure." Mulberry carpenter said categorically, "Last year, hundreds of thousands of people fled to southern Liaoning, and the marshal said that he would let everyone reclaim the famine, and he would not pay taxes for two years. This year is the first year, and you don't have to pay next year. At most, they paid for the cattle, grain, seeds, and farm tools that they owed on credit. And only half of it is paid, and the remaining half is paid next year, and there is no interest. ”

"Is the extra food really for us?" Lao Li Tou asked, "This has never happened before. ”

"Didn't those agricultural technicians say that if you feel that there is a lot of food, you can sell it to the big handsome. The people sent by the commander to collect the grain are at the various hydraulic processing points, and you send the grain to threshing and hulling, and by the way, you can sell the grain. The price is all public, and the purchase price of 100 kilograms of hulled wheat is one yuan and two dimes. That's a fair price. ”

In the late Ming Dynasty, agricultural production in Liaodong collapsed, and a large amount of land was abandoned. The grain outside the customs needs to be received from inside the customs, and the price of grain is abnormally high, and it costs three or four taels of silver and one stone at every turn, and even seven or eight taels when it is expensive. But now that the 'revolutionary army' is developing southern Liaoning, this year's grain harvest has been bumper, and grain prices have plummeted. The purchase price of one yuan and two dimes is not high, but it is not low.

Especially now, due to the popularization of a large number of manpower and animal power agricultural machinery, the labor intensity of farming has been greatly reduced, and the per capita cultivated area has also increased several times. On average, a laborer can easily serve 20 or even 30 acres of land. According to the current yield per mu, this is almost 20 yuan of income. Excluding the loan to be repaid, there is at least ten dollars.

That's silver!

For ordinary farmers, there is often no money at home, and it would be good to have a few copper plates to buy some oil and salt. Everything else is up to you. For example, cloth has to be spun and weave by itself. If the family is poor, the female dependents have no clothes to go out - there is a sentence in Du Fu's "Stone Entrenchment" that 'there is a grandmother who has not gone, and there is no end to the skirt', which is not a joke.

At present, collective farms are being set up, and the forces of hundreds of peasant households are gathered to carry out productive labor. This year, even the average household income of a family of three is at least a dozen yuan. For people who are used to being poor, this money is really hot, and they don't know how to spend it?

The collective farm where Lao Li Tou worked had already finished harvesting, and he had sold a lot of surplus grain. He has a family of more than a dozen, and after getting rid of the old and weak, he still earned seventy or eighty silver dollars at once. This is simply a huge amount of money, and it immediately went from abject poverty to the rich stage. His distress was, "This money is all given by the handsome, but we have been poor all our lives, and we don't know how to spend it?" ”