At the end of the inspection, Wu County ordered him to return to the county office.

His carriage contained not only two gourds, one large and one small, but also a basket of grapes and a basket of yellow pears.

Mr. Liao, who was squeezed out of the carriage, could only huddle on the donkey cart with the two scribes, holding a duck pear in one hand and nibbling on it, while thinking about it.

His hometown is in a small village and town in Zhouhe County, which is about the same size as Chuanhe Town here, but the life of the people there is very difficult, not only forced by life, but also oppressed by the local squires and officials.

Originally, his family was doing well, but since the clansmen offended the relatives of the township, his family fell into misery.

Li Zheng will find various reasons to raise taxes on the Liao family. His family bought a new sickle and raised a chicken, and the township rank had to come to collect taxes. Even if a child wears a flower during the New Year's holiday, he will be reported to pay taxes.

In the end, his father and mother had no choice but to sell the land and come to Qinchuan County with him to live, barely surviving on his meager income.

Although his parents and him were poor in Qinchuan County, they finally didn't have to worry about it, but his eldest brother and second brother were still struggling to survive in that small village.

It would be nice if their family could live in Chuanhe Town, the people here are simple, Lizheng Village is also honest and honest, and with their own side to take care of, they don't have to worry about living a bad life.

Alas, when he returned to the county office, he would talk to the Ming Mansion to see if he could allow his Liao clan to come and settle down.

If possible, he let his people take root in Chuanhe Town, even if they let them go to the barren mountains to open up wasteland, it is better than struggling to survive in Zhouhe County.

Dongchen Village.

As soon as the Ming officials left, someone found the East Village and asked to buy cotton and cottonseeds.

These people are richly dressed, and at first glance they are the stewards of the rich and wealthy.

The people of Dongcun have already been explained by Li Zheng and Muramasa that they are not allowed to sell cotton and cottonseeds to outsiders, so they don't pay attention to these outsiders who look like stewards.

How do you know that these people do not give up, and raise the price of cottonseed to one tael of silver and a catty.

The villagers were in an uproar.

Someone couldn't resist the temptation, so he secretly sold fifty pounds of cottonseed and got fifty taels of silver.

After opening this opening, the steward came to him again and again and asked him to sell some more cottonseeds.

So the man sold another hundred pounds of cottonseed to the steward.

The paper couldn't hold the fire, and this matter was finally discovered and told to Chen Sanyou, the village.

Chen Sanyou was angry, and immediately found his eldest brother Chen Fu and asked him to give an explanation to the whole village.

That's right, the one who sells cottonseeds is the second son of Patriarch Chen.

Patriarch Chen was also very angry, and immediately called his second son, Chen Jiazhen, and asked him why he sold cottonseed privately.

"Isn't it just a hundred and ten pounds of cottonseed, what's the big deal." Chen Jiazhen said indifferently: "You can also sell it, one or two silver pounds a catty, it is more cost-effective than selling gold fungus, who is not a fool, can you see if you make money?" ”

Chen Fu angrily picked up a stick and chased after him and beat him.

Chen Sanyou was also angry, pointed at his nephew and shouted: "Do you know that this is required by the county order, and you lack that little money?" ”

Chen Jiazhen hugged his head to hide from his old father's bamboo stick, and did not forget to reply: "Can the county order him give us a tael of silver and a catty?" I'm not sick in the brain, why don't I make money, but I have to sell it to the government at a low price? ”

Chen Sanyou was speechless for a while, but he agreed with the words of the county order.

Once the cottonseed has been collected by the wealthy families, it will not be easy for the rest of the village to grow cotton.

Chen Sanyou didn't talk to his second nephew, and said directly to his eldest brother Chen Fu: "How many cottonseeds do you still have in your family, take them all out." At the beginning, the cotton seeds were all given by Jiang Sanlang, so I will return them all to the Jiang family, and your family will not grow cotton in the future. ”

turned around and came to harvest cottonseeds, but not a pound was gone, where did this make his old face go?

"Why?" Before Chen Fu could speak, his second daughter-in-law Han Miaoniang jumped up, "That's all ours, why give it to the Jiang family?" ”

Chen Fu slapped the table angrily, "Shut up for me!" ”

Pointing to the piles of cotton in the house: "These are Lao Tzu's cotton, and it's not your turn to call the shots!" ”

The family planted a total of six acres of cotton, harvested more than 2,000 catties of seed cotton, and estimated that 1,000 catties of cottonseeds could be peeled out.

Next year, he plans to plant another 30 acres, and according to 10 catties of seeds per acre, he will get more than 300 catties of cottonseeds.

The rest was originally sold to the county government at the request of the Ming government, but it turned out to be this file.

His old face was simply lost by his unfilial son.

At best, they are considered first-class households, and they are not much better than those third, fourth, and fifth-class village households. But what the second son did was not as good as the fifth-class household, it was too embarrassing, what face would he have to face others in the future?

Chen Jiazhen and his wife saw that their father was really angry, and they didn't dare to say anything, so they squatted on the ground and didn't squeak.

Chen Fu said to his younger brother Chen Sanyou: "You call someone to transport all the cottonseeds away, just leave me 300 catties, and leave it all at home and make trouble." ”

Chen Sanyou waited for the eldest brother's words, and immediately called a few people to transport all his cottonseeds to Jiang Sanlang's house for weighing.

In the next few days, Chen Sanyou collected cottonseeds non-stop and transported them to Jiang Sanlang's house for temporary storage.

Those in the village who have not planted cotton, if they plan to plant it next year, Chen Sanyou asked them to come over and register and reserve cotton seeds.

After the registration is completed, the remaining cottonseeds will be handed over to the county government officials, so that they can quickly transport them, and the county order will worry about who should be distributed.

After the autumn harvest ended, Sun Lizheng came to urge again.

However, the people of Dongcun don't need to urge, they directly take out the money to pay, and there are a lot of children.

Sun Li Zhengle said: "It's better to come to your Dongchen Village to collect endowments and worry, and you don't need to rush the second time every time." ”

Li Dayong and Li Eryong also laughed: "It's not thanks to our third brother Jiang, where do we get the money to pay if we don't plant golden fungus." ”

"That's it."

Sun Li was holding his hands behind his back and asked, "I see that many people in your village have built houses on the southern slope, and I will come and see it next year." ”

The assessment households wait for three years, and next year is exactly three years, and it is estimated that many families in Dongchen Village will have to re-evaluate the grade.

"Don't mind, Uncle Lizheng, our family is just building a fungus shed on the southern slope, not a house for people to live in." One argued.

Once it is rated as a medium or upper household, the annual tax will increase a lot, and the villagers are reluctant to move up to this household.

Moreover, in the event of a famine year, the imperial court provided disaster relief or something, and the upper and middle households could not share the grain, and only the lower households could receive relief food.

Sun Lizheng gave him a blank look, "The fungus shed is also your family's property, and it is also planned for tax purposes." ”

In fact, Li Zhengting coveted the golden fungus of Dongchen Village, but the people in this village were very grouped and refused to sell the mushroom seedlings.

However, the cotton in their village is also good, and they have quietly gotten some cotton seeds from the officials, and they will be able to plant some next year.

When Sun Li came to Jiang Sanlang's house, he saw his little girl lying on the table under the fruit tree teaching the two girls to read and write.

Ying Bao raised his eyes and saw that Li Zheng was coming, and quickly stood up: "Grandpa Li Zheng, are you here to find my father?" ”

Sun Li waved his hand and asked with a smile: "Yingbao, where is the big gourd in your house?" ”

He came here today to get a signature gourd for his second son's shop.