In autumn, the fruit is fragrant and Yizhou is busy picking. The rich are recruited from far away to look forward to the ski field, and the craftsmen are recruited to burn the jars frequently.
Before the night came, Zhang Zhong refused Qianghu's retention and left the village with Qianghu's son and daughter to prepare for related matters.
The next morning, Qianghu, who had sobered up, remembered what he said yesterday, and hurriedly summoned the adults and children in the village to the mountains to harvest the ripe fruits to help Zhang Zhong's family make wine.
While Zhang Zhong found three old men to discuss and send invitations to invite all kinds of dudes and rich little ladies to play here, while looking for craftsmen to burn kilns to make fermented fruits in a nearby place, notices were posted in the city to let the people in the city go as far as possible. Give hands to those who burn the kiln so that they can learn this craft and burn it by themselves in the future.
With the leadership of Qianghu, the people in his stockade worked hard. It's hard not to disturb others without disturbing others. The Qianghu who is wondering how to let other stockades also help picking fruits does not wait for the Qianghu to take the initiative to look for it. Others, others have come to find them one after another.
The people in the nearby stockade happily joined in when they learned that wild fruits could be exchanged for money and could help the official family who invited them to eat and drink to make a fortune.
Three days later, piles of fruit were sent to the city of Yizhou. Zhang Zhong’s family also hurriedly repaired the temporary residence. The adobe wall was stripped of a large section, and now they have not spared time to rebuild. They have to wait for the fruit. The harvest is almost done, and the local people will be hired after the autumn harvest is over.
One day later, the people Zhang Zhong sent out in advance came back from outside, pulled a cart of daily necessities, and began to pay the local people for the fruit.
This is all because the local people are used to bartering things. When Zhang Zhong received the fruit for money on the first day, Qianghu was worried. He didn't know how to go outside to shop with money, and was afraid that others would deliberately control them. Asking for money, told Zhang Zhong, it's better to exchange things for things before.
They all know how much their things are worth and are not afraid of being cheated.
Zhang Zhong was speechless at the time, can he not be deceived by exchanging things for things? When he heard Qianghu say that they had a fixed person to exchange, Zhang Zhong understood that it was controlled by others. Seeing that Qianghu looked embarrassed, he had to send someone out to buy something.
As a result, the largest and most comprehensive store in Yizhou City was created, which was responsible for exchanging with locals and purchasing various furs and medicinal materials at the price of 80% of the external goods, and the remaining 20% went to the transportation fee. among.
When the people in the nearby villages learned about the market and the price of the items they had exchanged in the store, they clamored to go out and kill the people in the shop where they exchanged items.
Lost it, the loss is big, a bear skin can be sold for fifteen pens, and even better, it can even reach twenty pens. The amount of salt bought with such a lot of money is enough for a village of a hundred people to eat for two years. There are still surplus salted bacon. They could only get a bucket of salt before, and they thought it was very cheap, so they could eat a little bit, which would last more than a month for the people in the village.
Zhang Zhong couldn't let them go out to make trouble, or he stopped them, and promised that in the future, the shops in the city would continue to provide all kinds of daily necessities, and he was responsible for collecting money and going outside to purchase the designated things.
Of course, this requires local people to become accustomed to using money as currency in the future.
The people resisted the grievance of being deceived, and began to work harder to pick Zhang Zhong fruit, and acknowledged Zhang Zhong's status in their hearts. A good official, he told himself and others about such important things.
At the same time, several people who are most proficient in Mandarin have been cleaned up. They are people who often take people out to exchange items. In Yizhou Mansion, they have large houses and many good places outside, not to mention everyone. I also understand what's going on.
After solving the income problem of the people in the nearby villages, Zhang Zhong began to prepare to let people at a distance know what happened here, but he didn’t wait for him to let people go to the villages farther in the mountains to find a way to persuade them. People knew what happened here by accident.
…
Gong Shi is the son of Gong Mu, the patriarch of Xiaoxiong Village. His father is old and he is ready to give himself the position of patriarch. But this year's outlook seems not so good. The continuous rain and rain made the grain grow less than last year's. Half good.
In addition, there was a fire accidentally in the stockade, which burned a lot of linen cloth and fur to be exchanged. I don't know what to do this winter.
I need to think of a way for the people in the stockade and take the people in the stockade to see if they can find something that can be done with strength. When winter comes, they can put in some food and cloth before returning.
At that time, the winter may be able to survive, and there is no need to freeze people with the rain.
With this thought, Gong Shi looked back at the strongest person among the twenty stockades walking behind him, then looked at the sky, seeing that it was about to get dark, and thought that there was a stockade not far from here, maybe You can go there for a good rest, or hurry up and live in the city.
"Hurry up, hurry up, you don't need to sleep outside today, hurry up." Gong Shi shouted twice to the people in the stockade, and began to speed up, lowering his head and watching his feet move forward.
The people in Xiaoxiong Village also know about the mission that came out this time. They have never done so before. Facing the unknown, they have a little worry, and a little excitement and expectation. They are ready to go outside and do things well. Come back. Time is the time to become a hero in the stockade.
Therefore, they have been on the road for more than ten days and do not care about physical fatigue. They walked with their heads behind the future patriarch, hoping to get a good night’s sleep in the city, eat a full meal, and save enough energy to work. .
When it is almost night, the sky is overcast. Anyone familiar with the weather knows that there will be no rain. You may be able to see the stars in the middle of the night, and you don't have to worry about being soaked like the previous few days.
Just as the crowd speeded up again and trot forward, a lot of light spots suddenly appeared in front of them, shaking and illuminating the people nearby. It turned out that many people were holding torches and swaying there, and they didn't know what they were doing. .
With curiosity in his heart, Gong Shi couldn't help but stop, looking at the front in a daze, the people behind him also stood still and pondered together, the people in front did not rest early in the evening and what to do on the mountain.
After thinking about it for a while, Gong Shi, who really didn’t understand, began to move slowly, and when he got closer, he was relieved. The people in front knew that they were the people in the high mountain village who were ready to stay one night. Not only Only the adults and the little children were climbing up and down there.
When he found the other party, the other party also noticed that there was a figure shaking in his place. Because they did not have a light bulb, the other party's people could not see who they were. Soon a group of people gathered together and shouted at them in a messy voice. Up.
"Is Qiang Mountain or not, it's me, Gong Shi from Xiaoxiong Village." Gong Shi didn't want to misunderstand, and then let the opposite side shoot a bunch of arrows, hurriedly shouted, his voice echoing in the mountains.
After yelling, Gong Shi signaled the people behind him not to move first, and walked forward by himself. When he was within the range illuminated by the torch, the person on the opposite side finally relaxed his vigilance and walked out of the crowd to hold one. The man from the bow came to Gong Shi and said with a smile:
"Stone, why did you run over? Tired, hurry up, eat some fruit, wait for me to drink some wine, good wine, the wine that the new official surnamed Zhang wants to sell at the house of Zhang, picked fruit yesterday When I hit a deer, except for the official surnamed Zhang, the other half has not been eaten. It is just for you to taste the new seasoning. The taste is different from the previous one."
Qiangshan is very enthusiastic, and it makes Gongshi as if he doesn’t know Qiangshan. Generally speaking, if he hits a deer, he will have to take it outside to change things. Whether it’s deer skin or venison, the things they change are better than usual. Many, if you catch a live deer, it will be even worse. Why are you willing to eat it
What made Gong Shi wonder the most was what official came and gave him half of it. Could this new official be so powerful that he can control the people here
With the doubts in his heart, Gong Shi waved to the back first, let the people in the stockade come over, and asked Qiangshan incomprehensibly: "Which official is the newcomer? How many people do you bring?"
"The big official, the biggest official, the whole Yizhou will listen to him. Even the horse with the surname Fang will listen to him when he sees him. There are too many people. There are almost two thousand people in the city. The city wall was demolished to build a house there. Just built it, it will be able to live in, and it will have to be rebuilt when it is cold."
Qiangshan passed one of the fruit in his hand, took a bite of it himself, and chewed it as he talked.
After Gong Shi heard this, a trace of sorrow appeared between his eyebrows. He looked at the people picking wild fruits in the high mountain village, and said sympathetically: "Is there a lot of homes in his house? You can't beat them, and he was forced to go. There are a lot of things, I have nothing to eat, go to the mountain to pick wild fruits to eat? I don’t know if I will also go to my Little Bear Village to grab them. If I go, I’ll fight them."
"Fight." The people who came from Xiaoxiong Village also shouted passionately.
"Hahaha..." Qiangshan sprayed out all the fruits that he hadn't swallowed in his mouth, pointed at Gong Shi and laughed, with his other hand covering his stomach, it seemed really funny, even the people behind him were the same. Laughed.
Gong Shi didn’t think there was anything ridiculous, and his face blushed when he was laughed. At this moment, a seven-year-old kid in the Gaoshan village took out a piece of candy from a small pocket hanging on his body and handed it to Gong. Shi said in front of him:
"Uncle Gong, I'll give you candy. The new official is called Zhang Zhong. The youngest child in his family is called Xiaobei. Xiaobei is fun and there are a lot of sugar. This is called maltose. It smells of wheat in your mouth. Loyalty is a good official. The deer skins I called from my house made him a cushion. I took them to send it. His house also asked me to have a hot pot meal with such a big shrimp in it."
The little baby said and gestured, looking very excited.
The doubts in Gong Shi's heart were even greater. He looked at the things handed over by the baby of the Qiangshan family. He wanted to refuse, but also wanted to figure it out. The thing was peeled off, the inside was a translucent thing, and a layer of glutinous rice paper was glued on the outside.
He knew that this thin layer of paper could be eaten, but it was only wrapped in something that was good for eating. He couldn't restrain the doubts in his heart. Under the expectation of the little boy, he threw the candy into his mouth. A sweet, honey-flavored sensation filled the mouth immediately.
"Uncle Gong, isn't it delicious? I still have a few more." Xiaowazi looked forward to others sharing the joy of candy with him.
Gong Shi suddenly had the feeling of reminiscing the few times he had eaten sweets when he was a child. It was really so happy. This sweet was obviously better than what he had eaten when he was a child. He wanted to take it out and put it into the little boy's mouth again. No, I can only hold back this thought and ask:
"Is this sugar expensive?"
"I don’t know, one of Xiaobei’s brother called Xiaoman said that this candy is made by himself, can’t be bought, and can’t be changed. I know that Xiaobei’s home is very beautiful, and there are bright lights inside. , It’s a pity that I can’t get in. There are three layers, and the blanket inside feels very smooth.”
Where did the little baby know the value of this candy, he only knew it was delicious, and he also knew that the house of Xiaobei was beautiful. The courtyard where the house was placed was the first to be repaired. The ground inside was very smooth stone, which could illuminate the shadow of a person.
Gong Shi looked at the little baby but couldn't understand it for a while, so he looked towards Qiang Mountain and waited for Qiang Mountain to give a lecture.
Qiangshan’s life has been better recently. The fruit has been exchanged for a lot of things that I usually need, as well as beautiful porcelain bowls. I have always been in a good mood. Seeing Gong Shi look over, he laughed twice and told Gong Shi about the past few days. matter.
From Zhang Zhong bringing people over, to eating, drinking, and having fun outside the city, and then collecting fruits and making wine, new shops, and things that were often deceived when changing things before.
The more people in Gong Shi listened, the more surprised they were, and the more they listened, the more they didn't dare to imagine. Where is such a good official? The former surnamed Fang has never asked anyone to drink, sing and dance, let alone exchange things for wild fruits that no one wants in Manshan.
Every year when winter is approaching, the people surnamed Fang start to walk in the villages one by one, let the people in the village pay the rent, but also pay the tribute. If it is not for his pitiful appearance, he will not give it at all, he There is not much to be produced on the piece of land that I divided, the worst land.
The newcomer is so powerful that he doesn't mention renters and tribute matters. He collects the fruit when he comes up and sends the good things outside to open a shop in the city. How do you plan
"Stones, since the fruit can be exchanged for things, do we no longer have to look for work outside, because the people outside are not good, they always bully us, and let the people in the stockade pick the fruit and send it."
A person in Xiaoxiongzhai was smarter, and he immediately thought of the crux of the problem, and moved to Gong Shi's side to propose.
Gong Shi wasn't a fool either. How could he not think of this, but he had other thoughts in his mind, so he asked, "Can you also change the tribute?"
"Yes, this year Gaoshan Village is going to pay more tributes, and the rest will be used by the official surnamed Zhang. Qianghu's village also said that even if other villages don't pay, they will take care of it."
Qiangshan said generously.
"In this way, the official surnamed Zhang is the same as the official surnamed Fang. We are also used for fear that we will not pay the tribute to the court to cause trouble, but it is just a benefit first."
Gong Shi analyzed.
"You melon baby, really should the official surnamed Zhang be the same as the surname Fang? The surname Zhang is not afraid of not being able to hand over things. Yesterday when I brought someone to deliver fruit, the official surnamed Zhang stood in front of the shop watching. It just so happened that the imperial court came quickly to deliver the imperial edict, the imperial edict, something written by the emperor.
Guess what, if you change to another official, you can’t make an incense case, take your family and kowtow. The official surnamed Zhang doesn’t care at all, so he took it, opened it, and threw it directly to the servants behind, the person who gave the imperial decree. With a smile on his face, he didn't dare to mention anything disrespectful to the emperor.
Are you afraid that you won't be able to pay the tribute? Also, after the fruit is delivered, I will ask someone to inquire about it. Guess what, he is not the only official who came this time. There are several officials of the third and fourth grades. Later I heard that the imperial decree was written for the old man in his family. Officials are all second-rank officials, as well as the mother in the family, who is also second-rank.
Even a little boy named Xiaobao who I’ve never seen has a sixth-rank official position. The people I sent out heard three old men say that the emperor felt that the road was far away, and he would not give the money to Fengshang. He didn't even give the official uniforms, and he only brought a few goldfish bags, saying that other things were for his family to prepare. "
Qiang Mountain pretended to be mysteriously talking gossip, and the crowd listened in the same mysterious manner.
After hearing this, one of the people in Xiaoxiong Village said, "Is it true that the emperor did not treat his family badly, and he didn't even give him a reward."
"I think you are also a melon baby." Qiang Shan glanced at this person, and then said: "This shows that the emperor is not apart from his family, so it's not good for him to be an official? Isn't he daring to treat the imperial decree like that? At that time, I could see clearly, just like throwing a rag.
Hearing my words, this year the renter can not pay it. If it is paid, it will be paid to the official surnamed Zhang. He may not be used to eating, and he does not care about the grain, but the tribute can only be more than that. Don’t take the tribute. To threaten him, or don't have to get angry with him, the few villages on my side disagree first. "
"That is, pay, you must pay, there is little food, but the tribute is large, and it’s useless to keep it in your hands. It’s better to give it to him. According to you, he really doesn’t care if he can give tribute to the capital. The emperor didn’t give it either. Did he give him a prestige? Two arrived, but we didn’t hand it over to him. He was unhappy, thinking that we didn’t treat him as a brother, and told the emperor, if we change a place, who else will collect the fruit?"
Gong Shi finally wanted to understand. As for whether Qiangshan lied to him, he would know if he looked down below.
As soon as he thought of going on, Gong Shi moved his mind and said to Qiangshan: "Why not, let me take a part of the fruits you are picking now. One person carries a basket and sees if I can change it. Oh, I have to wait until tomorrow. We will pick the fruit together first, and then go tomorrow."
"No, there are people at night. I can deliver it once in the middle of the night. I can deliver it once before dawn. One person and one basket will be given to you. Go and see. This shop is open for twelve hours, and there is another place. Calling a hospital, it is also open for twelve hours.
When you go down, go to the hospital and have the doctor inside to get your pulse. If you are sick, you will be given the medicine directly. This medicine does not cost money, and it is said to be included in the 20% benefit of the exchange of fur and other things. "
As soon as Qiangshan introduced Gong Shi and others to the situation in the city, he motioned to the people in the stockade to put a large basket of wild fruits for each of them.
With the hope of a good life in the future, Gong Shi led everyone and Qiang Mountain to thank you and descended towards the mountain.
After walking a lot, they felt that their bodies were full of strength at this time. They walked one by one for more than half an hour, and finally came to the foot of the mountain. They could see the palace city in front of them from a distance, and they had already listened. Then came the sound of singing and musical instruments from the brightly lit place outside the city.
Occasionally, when the wind blows over there, they can still smell the aroma of meat and wine, which makes them suck their noses after walking for a long time.
The crowd couldn't help speeding up, and wanted to go down and see what was going on.
When they got closer, Gong Shi and the others finally heard clearly. The toast song that was sung there turned out to be a toast song that I had never heard before, but it was indeed a song by myself, and I don’t know what kind of instrument it was. The cooperation is very good, and people have an urge to jump on a paragraph when they hear it.
When he could see the face clearly with the light, Gong Shi found another person he knew. This person was squatting outside next to the person using the musical instrument. It seemed that he wanted to learn.
The man also felt that someone had put his gaze on him, turned his head and looked around, and when he saw Gong Shi, he immediately stood up and greeted him.
"Stone, you also heard the news and ran, just right, rushed all the way, first drink a glass of wine, this wine is good, after a glass of dizziness, and then eat two grilled fish, then I will take you to find a place to rest."
"Qianghu, you are not staying in the stockade, you are running down here at night." Gong Shi put down the basket full of wild fruits, rubbed his shoulders and looked around curiously.
"Just come down today and take a look at my two children. When they have dinner and sleep, I will come out to join in the fun." Qianghu waved vigorously to the person in charge of the wine delivery, and said.
Gong Shi didn’t understand why the two children of Qianghu’s family had to go down the mountain to see. He scanned the people in front of him who were dancing and singing, then looked at the people around him, and asked Qianghu: "I don’t mean there are An official surnamed Zhang is here, where's the person?"
"I didn’t come out today. Do you want people to stay with you? That’s an official, with official duties. From now on, I’ll be fine here. Except for the rain, the outside of the city will be like this every night. I want to sing. Just sing, and dance if you want, but it is said that after the Chinese New Year, you have to prepare your own wine and eat as well."
Qianghu took the wine from others and handed it to Gong Shi, feeling a little bit about the situation here.
Gong Shi also likes to drink, that is, he is reluctant to drink. Now he doesn't need to change things. He happily grabs the glass of wine, lifts his head and pours the wine into his mouth, then coughs vigorously, his face flushed and stiff. He boasted "good wine".