Man Bao asked Yang Heshu curiously, "Isn't the Koufen field over there in your house Fenshan?"
"...No." He said in a deliberate manner, "It's the wasteland."
Man Bao then expressed his sympathy, "The wasteland is worse than the mountains. You see, this piece of wasteland at the foot of the mountain has also been assigned to my brother. It is full of rocks and weeds and shrubs. The trees on the mountain can be used as firewood. , Good trees can be used to make houses, furniture, and farm tools, but this wasteland is basically useless.”
Yang Heshu opened his mouth, wanting to say that the wasteland he was talking about was not like this, but could be cultivated.
But as the new county magistrate, he felt that he could not stir up the grievances of the people under his rule, so he kept silent.
He adjusted his mood and asked, "Then where are your mulberry seeds?"
Generally speaking, the land in Koubuntian will be relatively poor. If there is enough labor, some beans will be planted, and if there is not enough labor, most will be planted with mulberry.
Bai Shanbao said: "There are no mulberries here, only hemp."
Man Bao nodded, "Planting hemp on the ground or at the foot of the mountain is almost enough for my own household."
"Hemp is not worth much, why not grow mulberry?"
Man Bao rolled her eyes, she had never collected mulberry trees, she had never even seen silkworms, she had only seen descriptions in agricultural books, and her husband also said that people in Yizhou often planted mulberry trees.
Shu brocade is famous all over the world.
It's just that they are remote here, and only a few owners know how to raise silkworms, and most of them are only for their own needs.
In the final analysis, it is because there are many mountains and few lands.
This is what Mr.
Yang Heshu just came here, and he didn't understand this. He only felt that the former county magistrate and the local Li were messing around.
Isn't that from the imperial court
But this is not the most important thing. Yang Heshu asked, "If you don't raise silkworms, where did you get the silk that you pay every year?"
"We don't hand in silk, we hand in cloth and hemp." Every year, Man Bao calculates the homework for her father, and she is very familiar with these, she said: "One person pays two feet five feet of cloth and three catties. numb."
Yang Heshu rubbed his forehead and asked, "If you want to use silk, don't you have to buy it from other places?"
"Why do we use silk?" Man Bao looked at him curiously, "Our family only uses cotton, like my clothes, which are woven together with cotton and linen, so they are very soft."
Yang Heshu looked at Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang.
Bai Shanbao said: "My family's business is mainly in Longzhou, where we grow cotton, hemp and mulberry."
Bai Erlang said: "My clothes are all made by my mother, my mother has them."
Yang Heshu frowned and said, "It's better to plant some mulberry trees. Shu brocade is very famous, and you can earn a lot of money if you touch it."
As soon as he heard about making money, Man Bao cheered up and asked, "How to make Shu brocade?"
"First you have to plant mulberry trees, then raise silkworms, and then weave brocades after the silkworms spit out silk. A piece of Sichuan brocade can be sold for more than 3,000 yuan. The best ones are hard to find."
Man Bao said "Wow", "A piece of Shu brocade can be exchanged for a cow!"
This conversion made Yang Heshu stunned for a moment, and he reacted and asked, "Do you want to buy a cow?"
Man Bao nodded again and again, "We only have one cow in a mile. When it's our turn, the spring plowing is almost over. It would be great if my family could buy a cow by itself. It's a pity that there was a disaster last year. Now that spring has just started, the harvest of winter wheat is still in progress. Undecided, my father dare not take out the family money, but he is stingy, the family is so busy, he is not willing to buy meat, he only eats eggs."
Yang Heshu: "... Wasn't the imperial court exempted from tax last year?"
"Yes, but there is still not much food in the house."
Yang Heshu said hesitantly: "But I hear what you mean, your family's situation in the village seems to be pretty good?"
"Yes, my family's wheat was okay last year, so the harvest was slightly stronger than other families'."
Yang Heshu remained silent. If the situation of Manbao's family is not bad, let alone other families.
Along the way, Yang and Shu also knew about the harvest of the past year, and they couldn't say it well, and now they have begun to eat it mixed with chaff.
But now the spring plowing has just started. After the wheat is planted and after a cold wave, it is time to plant beans and sow rice.
This one is buckled, if you only eat bran swallowed vegetables, your body won't be able to bear it.
Yang Heshu asked Man Bao with a smile, "Can you take me for a walk around the village?" It was almost time for lunch, and he wanted to see what the villagers were eating.
Man Bao waved his hand and said, "It's useless for you to go back to the village now. Everyone is in the field. If you look for someone, you can only find children and the elderly. Let me take you to the field."
"Aren't you going home for lunch?"
"If you don't go back," Man Bao said, "Just take it with you and eat in the field. It saves time and effort, so why go home."
Bai Shanbao also jumped off the plank to follow.
When Bai Erlang saw it, he immediately put on his own pannier to follow, he also wanted to play, don't stay here to oversee the work.
There are not many people working in this area, and more people are on the side of Dawan and Xiaowan, where the land is the best.
Because last year's rice was too miserable, this year everyone subconsciously planted a variety of wheat, reducing the number of rice planted.
Everyone went to Qili Village, and when they came near Dawan, they saw people working in the fields, dotted all over the field.
Yang Heshu couldn't help but stop. The people here were different from the labor he had seen just now, but they were similar to what he had seen in the past two days.
They all use people to pull the plow, and at least two laborers are required to pull the plow and support the plow.
It’s okay if there are two adults in the family, one pulls the plow and the other holds the plow. Otherwise, the woman can only hold the plow, followed by a group of children working. This kind of efficiency can’t be called high.
If there are cows...
Yang Heshu asked Man Bao: "A cow costs three thousand dollars?"
"A little more, but it's not easy to buy." Since Man Bao wanted to buy cattle, he naturally asked Mrs. Liu to come out. Grandma is amazing, she can buy three heads at once."
Yang Heshu nodded.
Asked: "If there is a cow, will your family buy it?"
Man Bao struggled, "My father doesn't want to spend money at this time."
Yang Heshu knew what her father was worried about, thought for a while and said, "What if the Yamen is willing to pay on credit first?"
Man Bao's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Can it still be like this? Is there any interest?"
"You still know the interest?"
"Of course I know. I also know about loan sharks. People in casinos like loan sharks the most. They are all bad guys!"
Yang Heshu nodded, "It's against the law to release usury money, but people don't sue officials and don't prosecute them. Yamen is different from casinos, so naturally they don't ask for high interest, but they still need some, otherwise why don't they fight for it? Who, not to whom?"
Man Bao started digging through his small treasury, and asked, "When will I pay it back, and what is the interest?"