The first stop in the countryside is, of course, the city. The small Hongyuan City has only 1,000 households and a population of more than 4,000, half of which are poor victims recruited from the interior in the past two years.

Lu Fangzhu introduced: "These people have rented land outside the city and planted barley and millet to survive. ”

While listening and strolling around, Zhao Ran did not walk the houses along the street, but walked through two lanes inward, chose a family of adobe houses, and signaled to Lord Lu.

Lord Lu Fang stepped forward to call the door, and an old woman came out to open the door with her infant child in her arms, looking at Lord Lu Fang at the door in disbelief.

Lu Fang said: "Old woman, our new abbot Zhao of the White Horse Academy came to your house to take a walk and see the situation of your family. ”

The old woman was stunned for a moment, and she didn't know what to say, so she let the two into the house in a panic.

When Zhao Ran approached the house, he saw that the room was simple, there was no household goods, a straw mat was spread in the corner of the ground wall, and a rag quilt was rolled on the mat. There was a stove in the middle of the house boiling water, and there was some hay and dung burning underneath, and it smelled bad. Fortunately, the only wooden window is open to allow for ventilation, otherwise it would be really unbearable.

The most valuable thing in this family is probably the iron pot on the fire. Zhao Ran stretched out his head and looked at the pot, there were a few grass blades in a pot of water, and under the grass blades, he could vaguely see the number of millet rice.

The old woman hurriedly invited Zhao Ran to sit opposite the fire, the baby in her arms cried, and she quickly scooped a spoonful of millet soup from the pot with a wooden spoon, blew it cold on the side of her mouth, and poured it into the baby's mouth in small mouths, and was a little busy for a while.

Zhao Ran looked around, stunned for a long time, and a sadness welled up in his heart.

Since recruiting displaced people to open the Junshan Temple in Xiaojun Mountain, Zhao Ran has not seen such a destitute family for many years, even if he went to Lizhou the year before last, the life of those Lizhou mountain people is much better than this.

Lord Lu asked: "Old woman, where is my father? What about Da Zhuang? Where is Da Zhuang's daughter-in-law? Why is she not at home?"

The old woman replied: "Da Zhuang and his father went to work in Beicheng, and the daughter-in-law went to wash clothes at Master Luo's." ”

Zhao Ran asked, "What kind of work?"

Lord Lu replied: "It should be to repair the city wall for our White Horse Temple." ”

Zhao Ran understood, two days ago, he read the documents of the White Horse Courtyard, and knew that it was now a farmer's leisure, and the courtyard transferred fifty stone Chen rice from Chang Ping to continue to build the city wall of Hongyuan County, which should now be the main direction of raising the north city. This is Yuan Hao's efforts, and he repairs a section every year during the slack time, which plays the role of cash-for-work.

Zhao Ran asked: "How much grain can a worker get?"

The old woman said: "If you go to work and take care of the rice, you can still get back two millet balls every day." ”

Zhao Ran frowned and said, "It's too little." ”

The old woman said: "Enough, very good, can pull the baby up." ”

Zhao Ran shook his head: "Where are the two millet dumplings enough for your old man and children to eat together?"

"I eat less, the baby eats more, it's enough. ”

"Who is Master Luo?" Zhao Ran turned his head and asked Lord Lu.

Lu Fang said: "The restaurant with 'Qianli Xiang' on the main street is his, he is a merchant from the capital, and he has been in Hongyuan for just a year. This old man Luo is also kind-hearted, and his business is not doing well, but he has hired many ladies to help with laundry, dishwashing, mending clothes, and taking care of food. I know this person, and he once told me that he wanted to close the restaurant after working for half a year, and he couldn't earn money. But if he leaves, all these people who work for him will starve, so he will pay some money every year, insist on opening the business, and have the right to help. ”

The old woman also said a few good words about Master Luo next to her, and praised Yuan Hao of the White Horse Courtyard.

Zhao Ran chatted for a few words, then turned his head and asked the old woman: "Old woman, how many acres of land is your family divided outside the city?"

The old woman replied, "Three acres and two points." ”

Zhao Ran was a little surprised: "Only three acres and two points?"

The old woman said, "It's already good." ”

"How's the harvest going, how much grain has you harvested this year?"

"I took four stones. ”

The yield per mu is more than one stone, and this output will definitely not be able to support the old woman's family of five, Zhao Ran asked again: "How much grain did you accept?"

"I handed over a stone and a half. ”

Zhao Ran gasped, this field endowment is really not low! Especially as a farmer who has just been granted land, it should definitely not be so heavy. He turned his head to look at Lord Lu Fang, waiting for Lord Lu Fang to explain.

Although Lord Lu Fang is not the account office in charge of tax collection, he also knows a little, and hurriedly said: "Abbot, the White Horse Courtyard will take one out of ten of the ten fields this year, and all kinds of consumption will be added to three percent, and the grain she said is one and a half stones, I am afraid that forty percent of it is not collected by the White Horse Courtyard." ”

The old woman interjected: "Yes, there are six buckets for the Xia people." ”

Zhao Ran was stunned: "Xia Ren?"

Lord Lu Fang was sweating profusely, and when he saw that the old woman couldn't say a word clearly, he hurriedly said: "It's the party member who lives in this Qiongxi town." Originally, these fields belonged to them, and when the White Horse Courtyard was first established, it was planned to re-measure and divide the fields, but these party members did not do it, and there were quite a few troubles. Later, after the Zeng Prison Yuan took office, he said that we had just arrived and should focus on the overall situation, so they recognized their deeds on these fields, so that they could let the newcomers rent the seeds, and rent two buckets per mu. ”

Zhao Ran was angry: "Dare we absorb the population from the mainland, are we here to be tenants for them?"

"Uh......" Lord Lu didn't know how to answer, so he had to be embarrassed and silent.

Zhao Ran asked again: "The 28,000 mu of cultivated land outside the city has been leased to Han Min? But when I came, most of them were abandoned, right? And they are all by the water, they are good fields, what is going on?"

Lu Fang said: "For those good fields, the party's asking price is too high, ranging from four to six buckets per mu, and these Han people can't afford to rent it. ”

"It's empty, and they don't plant it?"

"They don't plant, these fields were originally planted by the people of the three tribes of Baima, Chama, and Xiaohe, and these party members were originally nobles from the Red Plains and would not work in the fields. ”

"What about the three tribesmen, why don't you go down to the mountains to farm?"

"In the past, the party members took the people of the three tribes as slaves and drove them to farm, but now that the slaves have escaped, who wants to come back? The year before last, the party people also found Abbot Zeng and Yuan Jianyuan, saying that they wanted our Ming army to send troops to capture all the slaves of the three departments and return them to them. ”

Zhao Ran couldn't believe it: "They dare to mention this request?"

Lord Lu Fang smiled bitterly: "That's what they really mentioned, but they were rejected by Abbot Zeng." Abbot Zeng said that all races are equal, and one clan should never be allowed to be enslaved by another. ”

Zhao Ran nodded: "And then what?"

Lu Fangzhu said helplessly: "But the party members made a big fuss, and once surrounded the White Horse Courtyard. Abbot Zeng personally took us to the three departments, and persuaded them to go down the mountain to farm for the party members, but the three departments did not agree, and said that they were in a hurry, and they drove us down the mountain, and all the way down, we were spitted on the body and did not know how much thick phlegm. After going down the mountain, there was still a department following the abuse, and the situation was very critical at that time, and I wanted to transfer troops to protect it, but the abbot refused to let me. ”

"Oh, what did he say?"

"Abbot Zeng said that those who have the world in their hearts must have a spit and self-drying demeanor, don't look at the humiliation today, but when the day of peace in Hongyuan and the people of these tribes live a good life, they will remember our good. ”

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