The several seeds I bought from the peddler have already sprouted and grown.
A field of chives and a dozen cabbages that can be used to make cores grew.
Chinese cabbage is a northern vegetable that is durable in storage. It is also a rare vegetable in small mountain villages and no one grows it here.
When the vegetables just sprouted a few months ago, Yingbao transplanted them and planted them in the small vegetable patch in her own yard.
The chives are grown and cut twice, and then fried with eggs, which tastes very delicious.
The cabbages are now more than two feet tall. Originally, each plant spread out over a large area. Later, Chunniang wrapped them up one by one with straw ropes so that they could better wrap the core.
It has snowed these days, and Chunniang has cut all the cabbages and piled them in the house.
The other two packets of foreign seeds have also grown.
There turned out to be more than a dozen cotton trees and a few unknown small vines.
The first time Yingbao saw cotton in her previous life was in the garden of the Governor's Mansion, where it was treated as an ornamental flower.
The flowers of the cotton tree are very beautiful, with a bright pink color. Because it is a foreign variety, a large area of it was planted in the garden of the palace.
It’s a pity that the growth period of these flowers and trees is only one year. After the flowers fade and bear fruit, their branches and leaves wither.
At that time, Yingbao was relatively free in the mansion. Because she was interested in the cotton wool from the cotton tree, she often went to pick it.
Finally, he picked a small basket, pulled out the cotton seeds, and used the cotton wool in the basket to make himself a cotton-padded jacket.
Later I learned that this kind of cotton tree was also planted on many noble farms. The cotton wool picked from it was very valuable and could be used to spin yarn and weave cloth.
Now, her dozen or so cotton trees have blossomed and borne fruit. The fruits have burst open, revealing large balls of snow-white cotton wool.
Yingbao picked all the cotton and piled it in a basket, filling the entire basket.
She dug out the withered cotton stalks with their roots and piled them aside for heating.
The cotton seeds were peeled out and planted again, all in the black soil. It is estimated that they will sprout soon.
By next spring, her family should have a large amount of cotton seeds.
Nowadays, cotton cultivation is not yet popular in the Great Qian Dynasty. Even after more than ten years, it is still concentrated in the manors of a few aristocratic families.
At this moment, even the nobles probably didn't have many who were planting cotton. So she had to seize the opportunity and grow cotton first.
You should know that most of the cloth on the market today are linen and ramie, a small part is silk and satin that only aristocratic families can use, and there are also thick velvet blankets woven with various plush fibers such as wool and rabbit hair.
Even though the Jiang family now had a lot of money, their fur quilts and mattresses were only stuffed with some reeds or loosened straw and linen, which could barely keep them warm when used as a covering.
As for cotton-padded coats, wealthy people would fill them with animal hair and duck feathers, or directly use animal fur to make cloaks.
Most poor people just fill their homes with prickly reeds, hemp straw, etc.
Now that I am fortunate enough to obtain cotton seeds from a foreign country, I would be really sorry for God's favor to it if I don't grow them.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!"
"Every household, listen up! The imperial court has ordered that every household pay an additional two liters of rice for top-quality land! And one liter for inferior land. You must pay the full amount within seven days. Those who violate the rules will be treated as criminals!"
The village guard wearing a straw hat beat the gong and shouted again and again, walking past the doors of all the villagers before moving on to the next village.
After the village guard left, the villagers left their homes one after another, full of complaints.
"As expected, they are collecting grain again. Are they going to let us live?"
"Oh my god, we only have 200 to 300 kilograms of grain left. If we hand it all over, our family will die."
"I'm going to ask Muramasa, how are we going to survive this?"
Several villagers even covered their faces and cried bitterly.
"Come on, let's go ask Chen Sanyou. It's only been a few days and he's collecting grain again."
So, dozens of villagers came to Chen Sanyou's house and complained.
"Uncle, where is our grain? We sold most of it when we paid taxes last time. Now we only have a little over two shi left. There are seven or eight people in our family, and we depend on this little grain to get through the winter. Can you talk to the head of the village and ask us to get more food next year?"
"Yes, Sanyou, just go and tell him."
"We really can't live like this anymore."
Chen Sanyou was so annoyed by the noise that his head was about to explode. He said impatiently, "Okay, okay, listen to me. This is a decree issued by the imperial court. What can a small villager like me say?"
"But you also work for the court, Uncle Chen, you can't just ignore us."
"Yes, Sanyou, go ask the head of the village. If we hand over all the grain, everyone in the family will starve to death..."
"Muramasa, you can't just ignore our lives."
"Wuwuwuwu...his Third Uncle, please help us talk about it..."
"Uncle Chen, you are the only one who can talk to the head of the village, why don't you go and discuss it with him..."
Chen Sanyou was upset by the noise of everyone talking. He said with a sullen face, "Since you are not satisfied with me as the village chief, my term will end next year, so you can choose whoever you want."
He was fed up with this torture. This happened several times every year, and Chen Sanyou was already exhausted.
He was reprimanded by the head of the village for not collecting taxes enough, and was scolded by the villagers for collecting too much. Alas, he was already half buried in the ground, why should he endure this suffering
The Jiang brothers also heard the village guards urging them to pay grain, so they calculated the amount they had to pay, reluctantly measured out enough grain, and sent it to the town on a cart.
Jiang Sanlang had a total of sixty acres of land, twenty acres of high-quality land and forty acres of lower-quality land, including mulberry fields in the north and dry land in the south mountains.
But no matter whether these fields are used to grow crops or not, as long as there is so much land in your property registration book, you must pay taxes based on the acreage.
This time, Jiang Sanlang had to hand over a total of 80 liters of grain, which is nearly 200 kilograms.
Two large sacks of rice were taken away from the family’s warehouse at once. He was heartbroken, but he had no choice but to pay the tribute.
In the past few days, the village guards who were in charge of collecting grain had been beating gongs and shouting every day. After five or six days of shouting, many villagers still could not pay their grain.
Early the next morning, Li Zheng Sun led a dozen village guards to collect taxes from house to house.
In the freezing cold winter, the villagers whose food was taken away wailed and lay on the snow crying bitterly.
Some people were beating their chests and stamping their feet in grief, and the children beside them were crying loudly, it was so miserable.
Yingbao held Youyou's hand and watched this scene, and she also felt heavy in her heart.
The villagers' remaining food rations were taken away, and they didn't know how they would live in the future or how their families would survive the entire cold winter.
One family was the most miserable. There were several children in the family. The oldest was only twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest was only three or four years old.
In his previous life, this man was forced to go out to chop firewood and sell it on a snowy day. As a result, when he was carrying the firewood down the mountain, he accidentally fell down the slope and was stabbed in the thigh by the firewood. He was found frozen to death on the mountain a few days later.
Later, the woman also hanged herself, leaving four helpless children wandering around the village, begging from one house and getting a bucket of rice from another. In the end, only the two older children survived.
Seeing the tragedy happening again, Yingbao felt a knot in her heart.
He returned home dejectedly and locked Youyou in the deer shed. Yingbao went back to the house and lay on the kang, then went into the cave to plant crops again.
Originally she didn't want to plant because it was too tiring, but today's scene made her heart palpitate and she realized the importance of rice.
There must be no shortage of food at any time.
From now on, she must store a large amount of rice and flour in the cave before she can feel at ease.
…
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