(Collect!) ）

Several fast horses surrounded by three carriages from the avenue from afar, the peasants straightened up in the field and watched curiously, but saw that the group of people actually stopped on the side of the road, several women got off the car and looked around, and several men on horseback walked towards the field with a young man in their arms.

Song Nan nodded and smiled at the farmers in the paddy fields, and saw an old man sitting on the ridge of the field resting with a cigarette pouch, so he stepped forward and arched his hand: "Uncle, be polite." ”

The old man hurriedly got up, looked at Song Nan suspiciously, and replied, "This master, which one are you looking for?" ”

Li Daniu said on the side: "Uncle, the acres of land you cultivate are the land of my young master." ”

The old man was taken aback and hurriedly said: "It turned out to be the owner, it was rude." ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "This land is indeed mine." ”

The old man blinked and said vigilantly: "The owner, we have been covering the land for ten years, can you not let us plant, the rent can be paid a lot every year, we farm the land are honest ordinary people, but it doesn't matter who the land is sold to as the owner." ”

Li Daniu glared and said, "How do you speak?" ”

Song Nan waved his hand and said: "What the old man said is right, don't worry, the land will be planted for you, I just came to take a look." ”

The old man sighed and let go of his thoughts; Song Nan walked along the ridge of the field, but Uncle Zhong talked with the old man, and the old man was kind when he saw the new owner of the field, and Uncle Zhong was also a loyal old man of the same age, and he didn't hide it much.

This field has already been in the hands of Fan Heng to the left of Wanjiazhuang to cultivate, more than 100 households in Wanjiazhuang are tenant farmers, Fan Heng set up a steward in Wanjiazhuang, and let the steward in Wanjiazhuang handle the annual rent payment, which is also very convenient.

Fan Heng fell, and the tenant farmers also heard about the change of ownership of the fields, but the steward of Wanzhuang said that no matter how it changes, the matter of farming and paying rent will never change, and everyone does not have to worry about it; The tenant farmers were really only worried about whether there was any land to live on, and they didn't care at all about whose land they owned.

Song Nan listened to the news from Uncle Zhong and nodded: "This method is not bad, let's go find the manager, he has experience." If it doesn't work, let him take care of this land, let's save worry, Uncle Zhong can come to see the supervision occasionally. ”

The group walked to Wanjiazhuang near the left, such a group of brightly dressed men and women entered the village is an unprecedented thing, a young man with five or six beautiful and dignified women, followed by a few entourages with big shoulders and round waists, the momentum is really not small.

The people of the village were timid, and thought that something was wrong, so they hid in the house and did not dare to go out, and the women and children looked at the group of people outside through the cracks in the doors and windows, and envied the dress of these people; The curious weeping children walked with the crowd without fear of being far away, their eyes showing curiosity and excitement, and chirping and pointing.

Lu Qingli asked someone to take the food box, took out the pastries from it and shouted, "Come here, give you cakes to eat." ”

The children were too timid to step forward, Lu Qingli took the initiative to go over and stuff the pastry in their hands, the children first refused, and then they couldn't stand the temptation of the pastry and finally took the munch, and suddenly there was a sound of smacking and swallowing; These children are the children of tenant farmers, and their families are struggling to feed and clothe themselves, and they have never eaten delicious snacks such as pastries, and they all laughed in admiration.

"Second sister, come back to me quickly." A woman rushed over, reached out and took a dirty little girl with pigtails in her arms, hugged her, and threw her away in a panic.

Lu Qingli just stretched out her hand to give the little girl a pastry, and was stunned at this moment.

"This sister-in-law, I have good intentions, and I don't want your money, why don't I let the child eat?"

"Our family can't afford to eat, we're used to eating it, and if the children want to eat it in the future, where are we going to get it?" The woman's hair was in a messy bun and she muttered.

Lu Qingli was stunned, and turned back to everyone: "What is the truth of this?" How can anyone be such a mother. ”

Ye Fanggu smiled: "Forget it, it's just that people don't appreciate it." ”

Lu Qingli sighed: "There is such a poor place, these people are really pitiful; I used to think that our life was hard enough, but now I know that there are even more miserable people, look at these people, their clothes are patched, and their lives must be very poor. ”

The little county lord said: "Qingli is kind-hearted, otherwise how about asking your eldest brother Song to be merciful and get a few thousand taels of silver to distribute it." ”

Lu Qingli glanced at her and said, "If you want to scatter the silver, it's good for your Guogong Mansion to come, your Guogong Mansion is ten million times richer than our family." ”

The little county lord rolled his eyes and said: "I will scatter, I will scatter, Ming'er I will bring silver to disperse, and it is not a great thing, Song Nan, Ming'er, you come with me, I will bring a few thousand taels of silver to do good." ”

The two women were arguing, everyone was speechless, Song Nan shook his head and said: "It seems that there are more than 10 million people like this, can we save them?" And what is the use of giving money? How can you save a lifetime if you keep it for a while? If the money is spent, it will still be poor in the future, and it will not be a problem if it continues to be so poor from generation to generation. ”

"Well, there's no way to do it, who told them to be in a civilian home, and there's no way to do it." The little county lord nodded.

Song Nan smiled: "Fate? but I did not believe; Didn't I ever have a house surrounded by walls? That's not what they should be. ”

Dai Su'er, who frowned, said softly: "It's better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish, silver or something is really not of great use, the key is to work their own, or there is some good way to help them." ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "What I said is that let's go find out where the housekeeper is first, and ask about the situation." ”

The group was about to inquire about the steward's residence, but they saw a few people walking far away on the road in the village, and heard someone say loudly from a distance: "Song Dongjia is coming, why don't you inform in advance, and the villain greets you early, this is damned, snub the owner." ”

Several black-clothed men trotted over a chubby middle-aged man, who had delicate skin like a girl, and his face was full of white flesh, and his cheeks trembled when he ran, and beads of sweat appeared on his head.

"You are?" Song Nan frowned and asked.

"Villain Wan Jue, you must be Song Dongjia, look at this appearance, figure and bearing, you are really a rich and noble old man......"

"Do I know you?" Song Nan was a little surprised.

"How can you know the villain, but the villain knows you; The villain is the person of this Wanjiazhuang, who used to manage the rent of the field for the old owner, and later heard that the field was transferred to the Song Dong family, and the villain was happy for three days and three nights without closing his eyes, and finally had the opportunity to work for the Song Dong family. No, I planned to visit the owner's house a few years ago, but the old man in the family was sick and died, and I didn't have time to go; Unexpectedly, Song Dongjia came in person. ”

Song Nan frowned, this person spoke a little oily, and there was a fake touch in his bones, and he really didn't like it.

"Are you the one who was in charge of this thousand acres of land before?"

"It's the villain, the villain has been in charge of this land for the owners for more than ten years, Song Dongjia, don't worry, I'm here to keep an eye on you, don't want to pay less rent for these mud legs, you can rest assured."

Song Nan nodded, Wan Jue stretched out his hand and said: "The owner and the lady hurry up and take a rest, I'm afraid they are all tired, prepare some vulgar refreshments for the owner and the lady to cushion their stomachs, and later the little one will prepare a banquet, please, please." ”

Collectively known as Song Nan's 'ladies', Lu Qingli and Ye Fanggu are nothing, and the little county lord is also happy to hear it, but Dai Su'er's master and servant blushed with shame.

Everyone followed Wan Jue to the village, and after a while, they turned around a thatched hut, and suddenly opened up in front of them, and a magnificent courtyard appeared in front of everyone, with blue bricks and black tiles, high walls and big trees, compared with the low and dilapidated huts around, it was obviously extremely incongruous.

"If you give up the simplicity, the owner should not be surprised." Wan Jue said humbly.

Song Nan smiled: "Is this still called a cold house?" This courtyard is about to catch up with my house in Beijing, and Wan Guan is rich in the mountains, and I'm afraid distant relatives are also indispensable. ”

Wan Jue's face turned red and said: "It's not the owner's meal yet, come and come, please inside, please inside." ”

Everyone entered the courtyard, and the courtyard was cleaned, and there were seven or eight servants and maidservants standing to greet them, with the demeanor of a large family; There was tea in the hall, but the women didn't want to eat the food of Wanjia, so they put the pastries and fruits they brought on the stone bench and stone table in the courtyard, and made tea and sat around to rest.

Song Nan and Uncle Zhong and the others sat in the hall, and Wan Jue answered Song Nan's questions while making tea for everyone.

"How many households are there in this village?"

"Back to the east, more than 100 households, seven or eight hundred people; The land planted is the land of the owner, more than 700 acres of paddy fields, and the rest is mountainous. Our fields here are fertile, the rice yield is not small, the owner has a good vision, and buying the fields here is buying a cornucopia. ”

"Cornucopia? How come I see that all the people in this village are hungry, and the grain yield is high? ”

"It's not our fault, the mud-legged are the laziest; Our paddy fields here are fertile, and the yield should be more than that of the neighboring fields, and the rain irrigation is sufficient, but these mud legs are not good at farming, and the yield is only one or two buckets more than elsewhere, which really shouldn't be; However, Song Dongjia, the villain has already thought about it, and he will increase the rent this year and force them to contribute, otherwise it will be a waste of the owner's good land. ”

Song Nan frowned and said, "How much is the yield per mu?" ”

Wan Jue said: "The yield per mu is about two stones, two or three buckets, the official tax is a bucket, and the owner collects one stone, and they can also get more than one stone per mu. ”

Song Nan quickly calculated, six or seven hundred acres of paddy fields, each household rents sixty or seventy acres of land, that is to say, the annual balance is also seventy or eighty stone rice, how to calculate that there are thirty or forty taels of silver every year, even if it is the standard of living in the capital, ten taels of silver a year is enough for the whole family to eat and clothe the family, not to mention several times the income.

Song Nan suspected that there was something greasy in it, the people here didn't want to be fat and oily at all, and this Wan Jue's words were a little unbelievable. After asking a few more words, Wan Jue replied fluently, Song Nan felt that there was nothing to ask from this Wan Jue's mouth, so he said: "Thank you Wan Guan for taking care of things, you have to worry about the things here, as usual, I will send the income of the acres to my house every month, Uncle Zhong is the housekeeper, and I will report to him." ”

Wan Jue smiled like a flower on his face, nodded and said, "That's natural, don't worry, you have picked my skin with one less rent." ”

Song Nan smiled and nodded.

Wan Jue killed chickens and ducks and Zhang Luo wine and food, but the women did not want to eat at Wan Jue's house, they had to go out for a picnic, Song Nan did not want to be too close to Wan Jue, and wanted to find an opportunity to ask the villagers the truth, so he smiled and said: "Wan Guan, the female dependents originally came out to enjoy the spring, and they also brought food out of their own house, so they still don't bother Wan Ju, so I will leave." ”

Wan Jue tried his best to keep it, but he couldn't keep it, so he had to personally send everyone out of the village, walking in the village, the villagers saw Wan Jue and Song Nan and others together, they avoided it, and closed the door from a distance, and Song Nan didn't have a chance to talk to the villagers.

Wan Jue sent out of the village, saw Song Nan and his party go to the nearby hillside to enjoy the scenery, turned around and instructed several families around him: "Say hello door to door, and the people in the fields outside should also say hello, if anyone dares to talk nonsense to Song Dong's family, Lao Tzu will pick up his house, take his land, and cut off their way of life." ”