Yu Xiaocao said confidently: "The emperor is for the sake of his country forever, and the little county king is for the successful completion of his errand. Tell me, what is it for me? Isn't it just to earn more money so that the family can eat and clothe themselves warmly without poverty?" Is it? Our family has more than ten acres of land, and not one mu of grain has been planted. The price of grain is so expensive now! The locusts are still a disaster in the field. If we want to plant grain, we must at least have the spring of next year, and the harvest will have to be next summer. This For nearly a year, we have to buy high-priced food, although our family has earned some money, it is not enough for the whole family to chew for a year!"
Liu thought that the price of coarse grains in the town had risen to more than 100 renminbi, and the price was still rising by one a day. The food hoarded at home can be eaten until autumn. Although the yield of these corn and potatoes is quite high, they do not have any control over them, and they have to hand them over to the court. Hearing the youngest daughter's analysis, the family's hearts became heavy, and the delicious potatoes lost their taste in their mouths.
Zhu Junyang saw everyone's expressions in his eyes, he ate a piece of potato in braised pork, swallowed it slowly, and then said: "It makes sense! But, you missed one point!"
"Which point?" Yu Xiaocao felt relieved after shouting, and ate hot and sour potato shreds in big mouthfuls. In her previous life, this dish was her favorite, and she never got tired of eating it.
"You forgot that I'm still here!" Seeing that she was eating with gusto, Zhu Junyang put a chopstick into his mouth, and continued, "My lord never treats his subordinates badly! I saw the two carts of goods in the yard." Is it? A cart of white rice and a cart of white noodles! At least two thousand catties, enough for you to eat for a while, right?"
When the Yu family heard it, it was more than two thousand catties of fine grain! Assuming that one person eats 15 catties of grain a month, the current size of the family adds up to 12 people, and they would have to eat nearly 200 catties of grain a month. If it was more than two thousand catties, it would be enough for them to eat for more than half a year!
"The King of the Little County is mighty!" Yu Xiaocao was so happy that she almost jumped up, and gnawed hard on his face a few times. However, remembering that this is ancient times, it would be shocking to do so. Let's keep a low profile!
Zhu Junyang looked at the little girl with dog-legged appearance, snorted, and said again: "My Lord is the Minister of Disaster Relief personally appointed by the Emperor. The imperial court has allocated money and food, and it will be distributed to various state capitals soon. My Lord has already investigated Yes, Tanggu Town is the hardest-hit area, so we should focus on disaster relief in the more severely affected areas first."
Yu Xiaocao said worriedly: "However, the capital is also affected, how much food can the treasury provide?"
"This is not something you can worry about!" Zhu Junyang took another mouthful of hot and sour potato shreds, and fell in love with the hot and sour taste. There will be no shortage of food!"
After hearing this, the Yu family felt relieved, and they were grateful to the emperor who loved the country and the people, and said a lot of good things.
With more than a dozen free laborers, the Yu family's corn was rubbed out in three days and packed into uniform-sized sacks. Ten mu of land, a total of nearly 18,000 catties were harvested. That is to say, the average yield per mu is 1,800 catties.
We must know that the current grain output is very low, and it is very high to harvest 500 catties of wheat per mu. The yield per mu is 1800, what does this mean? For example, if the original income of one mu of land can support two people, then the current one mu of land can support six or seven people! Do the math, with such a high-yield crop, why worry that the common people can't eat enough
Yu Xiaocao's family discussed it and decided to sell the corn and potatoes at the price of good seeds. A catty of corn costs one hundred coins, and Zhu Junyang only collected 15,000 catties of 18,000 catties of corn, leaving 3,000 catties for the Yu family to make seeds and rations. In this way, the corn Yu family alone has an income of 1,500 taels. The price of potatoes is two hundred taels per catty, and five thousand catties of potatoes is one thousand taels.
Although for the current Yu family, two thousand five hundred taels of silver is not as much as the yearly dividends of Yu Xiaocao Zhenxiu Restaurant. But after thinking about it, the 11 mu of land actually has an income of more than two thousand taels a year, which is definitely the first share of the Ming Dynasty. Ahem, of course, except for Yu's early watermelons.
Now, in addition to the 2,000 catties of fine grains brought by Xiaojun Wang, the Yu family also has 3,000 catties of corn and 600 to 700 catties of potatoes, plus the hoarded grains in the warehouse. Yu Xiaocao didn't have to worry about the money in her hand anymore, because she bought high-priced food and swished away from her.
The Yu family's corn and potatoes were not affected by the disaster, and they still had a bumper harvest, and the yield was so high! Zhu Junyang couldn't sit still, he hastily arranged disaster relief matters, and took a few carts of corn and potatoes to the capital to claim credit! !
The food for disaster relief arrived in Fucheng, Jinwei Prefecture three days later. The magistrate knew that the disaster relief minister Yang Junwang was in Tanggu Town, so he naturally transported the grain to Tanggu Town first. Five days later, truckloads of food for disaster relief arrived at the county government office in Tanggu Town.
Mr. Zhao, the magistrate of the county, also came from a poor family, and he deeply understands what natural disasters mean to ordinary people. He worked tirelessly with the officials sent by King Yang to distribute the relief food to every village, especially the four villages that were hit hardest, with a larger proportion of food. Dongshan Village is one of them.
On this day, the bronze bell of Dongshan Village rang again. The villagers gathered in the open space in front of the village chief's house, and everyone was beaming after the dullness of the past.
County magistrate Zhao personally took charge of the grain distribution in Dongshan Village. A few days ago, the Minister of Disaster Relief, Yangjun Wang, ran to Dongshan Village every day, saying that he was investigating the disaster situation on the spot. The King of Yang County attaches great importance to the Yu family in Dongshan Village, how does County Magistrate Zhao not know? If the disaster relief matters in Dongshan Village are properly arranged, more than half of his work will be completed!
The smile on the village head's face could not stop, and he said loudly to the villagers: "The emperor is wise, sympathetic to the people in the disaster-stricken area, and brought us relief food, which solved our urgent needs. The emperor is really a good emperor who loves the people like a son!" Long live the emperor, long live, long live!"
As he spoke, he knelt down towards the capital and kowtowed three times earnestly. The villagers also followed behind the village head, kowtowed sincerely, and shouted: "Your Majesty, long live long live long live!"
The village head got up tremblingly, looked at the villagers and continued: "The first batch of food for disaster relief has arrived. After Master Qingtian Master Zhao, together with the officials for disaster relief in Beijing, the food will be distributed according to the head. Adults share ten Five catties of grain, and ten catties of grain for each child. Half a child will eat me up, and those over thirteen years old will be counted as adults!"
The villagers immediately burst into cheers. Fifteen catties of grain per person, if you save it, you can eat it for two months! If you buy it in the town now, you can't buy fifteen catties of grain without two or three taels of silver! Although the villagers of Dongshan Village had some savings in the past two years, they still couldn't bear such a high price of food!
The village head asked County Magistrate Zhao, "Master Zhao, do you have anything else to say?"
County magistrate Zhao stood up, and his Ruju gaze scanned the villagers around, and the original whispers quickly quieted down. County magistrate Zhao nodded in satisfaction and said, "Villagers! The difficulties are only temporary, and the disaster will eventually pass! The imperial court attaches great importance to disaster relief, and appointed Yang Junwang as the imperial envoy to supervise the disaster relief! Villagers, don't worry, The fleet of Yangjun Wang’s voyage to the west has already gone to the south to buy grain. Yangjun Wang said that the bought grain will be sold to the people at the cost price, and they will not make a copper coin from it! If you stick to it for two more months, two In a few months, cheap grain will be put on the market, and those profiteers who raise grain prices privately for huge profits will not last long!"
After hearing this, the villagers cheered like thunder again. The prestige of King Yang has reached an unprecedented height in Dongshan Village.
The village chief was also extremely excited, but he suppressed the turmoil in his heart and calmed down the emotions of the villagers: "Folks, we have a good emperor and a good official! Next, everyone line up to receive food! Don't fight or don't fight!" Grab, everyone! Seniors and kids in one team, adults in one team! Everyone hurry home and get the guys!"
The villagers dispersed in a rush, and the Yu family was also among them. Originally, according to Yu Hai's intention, they didn't want to receive the relief food. However, I was afraid that doing so would be too eye-catching and make some people think about it! If an adult has 15 catties of grain per person, if he persists for two months, he can only guarantee that he will not starve to death. If he wants to eat a full stomach, it is impossible!
If the Yu family doesn’t go to collect the grain, why don’t they tell the villagers “I have grain in my hands”, and when the time comes, the east family will borrow a few catties, and the west family will borrow a few catties. For the villagers, who do you want to lend it to? There are more than 30 households in Dongshan Village, no matter how much food they have, they can’t borrow enough!
After such an analysis, the Yu family decided to keep a low profile. They went home, took the baskets and pockets, and returned to the open space in front of the village chief's house. At this time, the distribution of food had already begun, and the two teams went out crookedly!
Yu Xiaocao, the twin sisters, brought their younger brother, Xiao Shitou, and Liu Yan'er led their younger brother, Liu Fangping. Under the leadership of old Yutou, they lined up in the team of old people and children. Yu Hang hesitated at the side. He is thirteen years old, but his twelfth birthday has not yet passed. If he is in the adult line, will anyone say something? After weighing it for a while, he still came behind the little sister and joined the child's camp.
When the people in the nearby village saw it, they couldn't help but praise: "The Dahai family really knows how to teach children, and Xiaosha (Yu Hang's nickname) is really a good and sincere boy!"
There were those who disagreed, and the man curled his lips and said, "I'm almost starving to death, so what's the point of being honest? One person is missing five catties of grain! Five catties of grain is enough to feed the whole family for several days!"
The others fell silent. In the face of natural disasters, nothing is more important than saving lives.
The person who distributes the grain is a person from the yamen, holding a utensil called a bucket in his hand, inserting it into the grain cart, taking it out and smoothing the top with a board, a bucket weighs fifteen catties. For the elderly and children, a smaller bucket was specially made, and a bucket weighed ten catties. In this way, one person, one bucket, the speed of food distribution will be greatly improved.