Chapter 333 Focus on the Fields, Success or Failure Depends on Agriculture

Whether it is the imperial capital or this mysterious island, the stories here are too far away from ordinary people.

In the same October, the autumn harvest came in the third year of Hongzhi. What ordinary people care about is the harvest in their fields and the fruits of their hard work in the second half of the year.

South Zhili, Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

In the second half of this year, the weather in the south of the Yangtze River was favorable. Xuli, which owns 40 acres of fertile land, had a bumper harvest, with 1.5 shi of grain per mu, totaling 60 shi of grain.

After deducting one-thirtieth of the regular tax and excluding various miscellaneous items, the family was left with 50 shi of grain and 40 shi of rice after shelling.

It's just that the Xu family supports a scholar who spends a lot of money, and there are nearly ten people in the family to support, so they still have to live a careful life.

"It is true that this year is a good year, but with so many mouths at home, Xu Fu has to concentrate on studying, so don't think about adding new clothes. Let's save a little food. Only when there is food at home can we not panic. Wait for Xu Fu in the future If we are successful in studying, our lives will be prosperous!"

As a parent, Xu Li has his own way of life. In fact, it is mainly the ideas inherited from his father and grandfather. He gave instructions to his sons and daughter-in-law during dinner.

Although 40 shi of grain seems like a lot, in good years rice is cheap, so the amount of money exchanged may not necessarily increase. What's more, the amount of rice consumed by a family of ten is not a small amount, plus the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar need to be spent. In fact, they can live a normal life.

Due to the low productivity of this era, some mountainous areas are not suitable for growing rice. Even middle-class families are actually living a tight life.

Once they support scholars, a bottomless pit opens up in their homes.

Learning is valuable than anything else.

Many Yin families in Jiangnan are not short-sighted. They know that the only way out is to support a non-commissioned officer. Not only do they get preferential treatment from the court, but they also want to use the power of power to rise to the top.

Just like this, although they live a plain life, they also have the hope of becoming prosperous.

Chief Envoy of Guangdong, Haikang County, Leizhou Prefecture.

As the entire Leizhou Peninsula was affected by typhoons, this autumn's harvest was not good.

Kang Dahai, who owns thirty acres of land, has a weather-beaten old face. He looks worried as he looks at the harvest in the grain drying field, chewing betel nuts in his mouth over and over again.

In normal years, the yield per mu is 400 jins, but this year due to the impact of consecutive typhoons, it is only half of previous years, with a total output of 6,000 jins.

Four hundred kilograms need to be deducted from the regular tax. Including various miscellaneous items from the government, the food that the family can get is 14 kilograms.

Kang Dahai spat out the betel nuts in his mouth, and his saliva turned into blood. These 14 kilograms of grain could only sustain their family's livelihood, and they would not be able to buy meat for the New Year this year.

"This year's harvest is not good, so I will eat sparingly until next spring's harvest. Use as little oil and salt as possible. When I have some savings from changing grains, I will buy a dried fish for New Year's dinner. There will be fish every year!" "

Kang Dahai also revealed his plan during dinner, and this way of sustaining livelihood has been going on for several generations.

They eat meat in good years, fish in normal years, and soil in bad years.

Due to differences in land fertility, people in Jiangnan can still think of ways to support their children in education and make a fortune, but people in remote areas are more concerned about livelihood.

As for their way out, I'm afraid they can only sneak to the sea to make a living, engage in murder and smuggling, and then get rid of this kind of life of barely filling their stomachs.

It's not that they don't want to be a scholarly family, it's just that the harvest of hard work is right in front of them. No matter how hard they work, they can only fill their stomachs. The yield of this rice can't allow them to make any savings at all.

Chief Envoy of Henan Province, Fugou County, Kaifeng Prefecture.

As the management of the Yellow River continues, Zhao Laoshi's fields have been affected by flood discharges, and the crops that had just grown well were suddenly submerged in the river.

The family has been busy for half a year. Although they received tax exemption from the court, they only received one thousand kilograms of grain for the thirty acres in their name.

"The imperial court is regulating the Yellow River. As long as we survive this year, we can have enough to eat next year! Although we don't have enough to eat now, it is better than leaving home, so we all endure it and go outside more before the winter solstice. Digging wild vegetables to store food for the winter!”

Zhao Laoshi adheres to the spirit of hard work of his ancestors. Although he was weak from drinking, he still gave a speech to encourage everyone.

The soil in the area they live in is good, but it is located on the side of the Yellow River, so river problems occur frequently. Sometimes there is a good harvest, and sometimes there is no harvest.

We are now in a special period, and we can only choose to endure hardship for the present. We just hope that next spring will have a good harvest, so as to get rid of the current precarious life.

This is how we live in this era. Good or bad life depends entirely on the yield of agricultural products on the land, and the yield is almost determined by God.

It is in this golden tenth month that the entire land of China is filled with joy and sorrow.

Although literati have always exaggerated the prosperous times, the Anshi Rebellion directly exposed the lies of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Outside the Chang'an city where singing and dancing were flourishing, there were people dying of hunger everywhere.

Well, the people are suffering!

Death, people suffer!

…

Regardless of the period, although some people have enjoyed the prosperity brought by the peaceful and prosperous times, low productivity is destined to require more people to carry the burden forward.

It's just a pity that ordinary working people have never had a voice. History is written by literati, and even good and bad are defined by literati.

The Zhou Dynasty was obviously a slave dynasty with low productivity. However, under the vigorous exaggeration of the civil servant group, it became a benchmark for governing the country.

Miraculously, both the Zhou Dynasty of Wu Zetian and the Later Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms appeared. It seems that the Zhou Dynasty was really an era where everyone had enough food and clothing.

To this day, even though the Ming Dynasty has fixed titles for the six ministers, the officialdom still adheres to the Zhou Dynasty titles.

The Minister of Personnel is called Tianguan or Dazai, the Minister of Industry is called Da Sikong, the Minister of Rites is called Da Zongbo, the Minister of Household Affairs is called Da Situ, the Minister of War is called Da Sima, and the Minister of Punishment is called Da Sikou.

Although it has undergone several changes, "Zhou Rites" has always occupied an important position in political thought. The subjective view is that the troubled times collapsed due to the disintegration of "Zhou Rites", while the prosperous times originated from the return of "Zhou Rites".

As for Confucius, whom they regarded as a saint, they attributed his failure to being born in troubled times, and a unified dynasty restoring "Zhou Rites" would create a prosperous age.

But now everything is quietly changing. Today's emperor does not blindly pursue Zhou rites, but focuses on the productivity of the entire society and the people's food bags.

The light of history cannot only shine on the prosperous city of Chang'an, but must also focus on the ordinary people who work hard and look at their specific harvests every year.

The words are divided into two parts. The deserted island highlights the value of crop seeds.

Regardless of whether it was gold, silver or gold ore, it could not be used as a bargaining chip to stay on the island until Li Wenyan took out the very valuable soybean seeds.

After Li Yanwen was blindfolded, he was escorted back to their camp by this group of people.

At first, the road ahead was still soft sand, but soon turned into solid soil. He even walked up a slope, and the road became more difficult to walk toward the back.

But when he reached a soft place, he clearly felt that there were more people nearby, and there were still women's voices all around him. It was as if he had arrived in a kingdom of women.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew across his cheek, and the black cloth tied around his eyes fell off.

What appeared in front of us was a village with peach trees planted everywhere. Looking around, there were women, and many of the women were naked.

At this moment, his brain was buzzing, and he did not expect such a scene at all.

Huh?

The big-assed woman noticed that Li Yanwen was looking at her, and turned around to look at this completely unfamiliar young man with confusion.

Li Yanwen was kicked hard from behind, and he immediately fell to the ground. Fortunately, the ground was soft black soil, so he was not injured.

Just this glance gave him some information.

He realized that this was a gathering place mainly populated by women, and judging from the age of the peach trees, they should have been living here for a long time.

Although he has read Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring", this place is full of weirdness. How did this village come into being? And why can it continue to this day?

"go in!"

Before Li Yan could realize anything, he was treated rudely again. Before he was taken to a cell, the woman behind him kicked him in and locked the door.

"What are you doing? I won't wash it!"

Just when Li Yanwen was still wondering why he didn't see his two companions, Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren, Zhao Kuo's voice came from outside.

Li Yanwen found that the cell was surrounded by earth walls on three sides, but the bonding points of the earth walls had detached, so he could observe the situation outside through some wall holes.

Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren received special treatment. A source of clear water was brought from unknown sources, and the two of them were arranged to bathe in a pool.

"Brother Zhao, since you've come, let's be safe!" Wang Shouren is a very clean person. He was feeling uncomfortable from being soaked in sea water, and now he started to take off his clothes with great enjoyment.

Zhao Kuo was worried, so he lowered his voice and said seriously: "Could they deliberately let us two clean up, and then..."

At the end of the sentence, he made a gesture of wiping his neck.

Wang Shouren had already taken off his clothes and got into the water. He looked very calm and said: "Life and death are determined by destiny! If there is any regret, I am afraid that I will not be able to serve the imperial court in this life!"

After all these years of experience, he is no longer so obsessed with becoming a saint, but he wants to use his talents to follow the current Mingjun Hongzhi and create a prosperous age for China.

But in a twist of fate, it was obviously a meaningful overseas trip, but the three of them ended up on this desert island to avoid the traitor Cheng Si.

Now, the three of them have become prisoners of this mysterious force, and they have no idea whether they will be killed or chopped up after taking a bath.

"I must escape. That bastard Cheng Si is definitely not dead yet. I must go to the emperor in person to expose Cheng Si's crimes!" Zhao Kuo, a man who hates evil as much as he hates hatred, said immediately and hatefully.

Li Yanwen had been squatting in front of the hole in the wall and peeping. Although he could see the situation in the bath clearly, he was a bit far away, so he couldn't hear clearly what the two of them were muttering.

He also doesn't want to die here, and he still has a sacred mission to complete.

Although he knew that he would never be able to become a royal doctor in his life, he always felt that he would make some achievements in medicine, or perhaps raise an outstanding descendant.

As night fell, it seemed very quiet outside.

Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren had just been arranged to enter the cell, but they were called out one after another, leaving Li Yanwen alone and freezing.

Originally, I thought that Wang Shouren and Zhao Kuo were called away for questioning, but they were still nowhere to be seen until midnight.

Li Yanwen had a pair of panda eyes, and he angrily questioned the woman who came to deliver food in the morning: "What have you done to my two brothers? What did you do to my two brothers?"

The woman's face flushed, and she immediately dropped the food and fled without looking back.

In fact, it was not only Li Yanwen who was looking for people. The Governor of Donghai, Xu Shiying, also sent Huo Hai and other capable generals to shuttle among various islands, and also wanted to find the missing Wang Shouren and others.

However, there are countless islands in the vast ocean. How easy is it to find this place?

Beijing in December was covered with ice and snow at this time.

The biggest disaster in the capital this year was probably the smallpox epidemic at the beginning of the year. That epidemic not only forced the closure of various districts in the capital, but also took away some infected people.

It was just that the court's epidemic prevention measures were appropriate, which prevented the smallpox epidemic from causing large-scale infection, and then the court gradually promoted the prevention and treatment method of vaccination.

Although the epidemic recurred in May, the court was always able to firmly control the situation, causing the smallpox epidemic to become a less important memory in everyone's mind.

On the contrary, the plan to export cotton cloth has been carried out in an orderly manner. Especially after the crackdown on the financial industry, more and more powerful capital has entered the textile industry, thus promoting the development of the entire industry.

Now, whether it is planting cotton, becoming a textile worker, or private capital engaged in textile sideline business, they can enjoy the dividends of the booming textile industry.

In fact, the capital is not limited to the development of the textile industry. Since a large number of ordinary people have received dividends, the consumer market in the capital has been promoted invisibly.

Not to mention the large number of young textile workers who buy cosmetics, like Zhao Laosi who renovated his house with years of savings, he also invisibly boosted the consumer market in the capital.

Now facing the upcoming Spring Festival, everyone's pockets have become full, and even frugal people want to have a lively Spring Festival.

For the Chinese people, if they are alone, they can be casual, but if they can make their wives and children happy, they will naturally not be overly stingy.

"Luxury house for sale at 20% off!"

"Prime location, 20% off for sale!"

"Next to the university, 20% off for sale!"

...

History seemed to repeat itself, and there was a sudden surge in house sales in the capital, but this time they didn't know in advance that the court was about to introduce new measures, but just that the annual financial meeting was about to be held.