Whenever there is a big event, the Lizheng of each village will call everyone to have a meeting in a specific place to talk about it. Dafang Village is under the big camphor tree in the middle of the village. For example, during spring plowing, people are reminded to plant quickly so as not to miss the season, when autumn is dry, people are reminded to pay attention to fire prevention when entering the mountains, when the autumn harvest is announced, when to pay taxes, or when the imperial court wants to conscript soldiers and corvees, etc., they are all notified by Lizheng.
However, things like conscription and corvee are rare, and they are usually regular spring plowing and autumn harvest. At this time, something is announced, but it is still an important matter, so it has to make people a little suspenseful. No wonder Grandma Sangu sighed.
Lian Fangzhou said: "Don't worry about him! Anyway, we will know when the time comes! We are all half-grown children, so we may not be able to deal with anything!"
The third aunt thought about it, and it was true, so she stopped thinking about it.
In the evening, Lian Fangzhou, Lian Ze, and Uncle Li and Aunt Zhang came back first, washed up briefly, and made an appointment to go down to the big camphor tree together.
When they arrived, there were already a lot of villagers standing sparsely under the big camphor tree, and everyone was discussing what would happen in twos and threes.
But obviously, Li Zheng's tone was very tight, no one knew what would happen until the last moment. This kind of discussion and speculation is just to pass the time!
More and more people gathered, and it was densely packed and noisy. Lian Li and Mrs. Qiao also came. They saw Lian Fangzhou and Lian Ze standing with Uncle Li and Aunt Zhang. Turn away from looking at them.
After a while Zhang Lizheng finally came, stood on the high stone platform under the big camphor tree, glanced around, and asked loudly as usual, "Is everyone here?"
Everyone replied in a chaotic manner: "It's all here! Let's talk!"
Zhang Lizheng coughed, and said in a loud voice: "Everyone be quiet, be quiet, listen to me!" After shouting several times, the people below finally quieted down and stared at Zhang Lizheng intently.
Zhang Lizheng said slowly: "The news just came from the county government. The government has sent out two new seeds and asked all of us to try to plant them next year—"
Before finishing a sentence, there was a "boom" below.
"What? New seeds? Is this reliable!"
"Try planting? Use our own field?"
"Nonsense! You don't need your own field to plant!"
"That's impossible! What about the crops? If you don't grow crops, you will starve to death next year!"
"I think it's the same. Now we're being forced to grow something that doesn't know what to do. When the time comes, the government won't care if we have nothing to eat?"
"You're dreaming, who cares about the life and death of our common people in the government!"
"Hey, stop arguing, stop arguing, I haven't heard what Zhang Lizheng said!"
"..."
Zhang Lizheng was not in a hurry when he heard the commotion from below, as if he had expected this kind of reaction from the big guy, he stood on the top and watched calmly, quite calm and composed.
"Hey, why did this happen? I don't know what kind of things are planted here, but what can be bigger than grain? Alas!" Aunt Zhang also sighed.
"Is there any way to do this? The government has already spoken, can we not follow through?" Uncle Li is an honest man, after thinking about it, he said: "At worst, let's burn more charcoal and save more money. Then we can buy food and eat it." Not hungry."
This made some sense, so Aunt Zhang nodded, and she was not so nervous and entangled.
However, she was still a little sad, because she originally thought that this year would be a good year and she could buy a lot of things, but now it seems that she has to make a new plan.
Lian Fangzhou smiled and said, "Uncle Li, Aunt Zhang, let's listen first, it might be a good thing!"
Both Uncle Li and Aunt Zhang chuckled, both of them had the same thought: Can the government do something good? It's a good thing someone rushed to do it long ago, as for this!
Zhang Lizheng saw that the big guys were almost chattering, so he called everyone to be quiet again, and then said: "These two things, one is called potatoes, and the other is called cotton. Potatoes can be eaten as food, and cotton is used to make clothes." …”
Having said that, there was another "boom" below.
Even Fangzhou's mind "boomed", and he suddenly raised his head to look at Zhang Lizheng, secretly suppressing his excitement.
Potatoes, cotton, those are really good things!
However, no matter how good something is, it has to be discovered by others, and that's a good thing! For those who have never seen it, then not necessarily!
For example, the villagers who were in a state of agitation at the moment were extremely angry when they heard it.
"I've planted it all my life and never heard of beans growing in the soil. Who cares! Just call it peanuts!"
"It's definitely not comparable to Peanut, and I'm too embarrassed to call it that name!"
"That kind of cotton is even more outrageous. Flowers can also be used to make clothes, so let's wear tree leaves!"
A burst of laughter broke out in the crowd. But after the laughter, there was even more excitement and anger.
Everyone agreed: the government is simply deceiving people too much! This is clearly to kill the farmers!
"Sister, don't be afraid, let's burn more charcoal with Uncle Li, and next year, I can go hunting in the mountains!" Lian Ze thought that Lian Fangzhou was worried and frightened, and quickly whispered.
"Sister is fine! You don't have to worry!" Lian Fangzhou smiled at him.
Everyone's resistance far exceeded Zhang Lizheng's expectations, and Zhang Lizheng lost his patience a little bit, so he said loudly: "Stop arguing! Listen to me! Are you arguing enough? You don't need to get seeds if you complain?"
Seeing that he was really angry, and the words sounded helpless but true, they all stopped in frustration.
"Zhang Lizheng, you have to think of a way for everyone! You can't do this! The whole family will not be able to drink the Northwest Wind next year!" Someone begged with a bitter face, and won the unanimous support of everyone.
"How can I not know your difficulties!" Zhang Lizheng sighed and said, "But this is the decision of the imperial court. Each of our three southwestern provinces will choose three counties for trial planting, and our Yuhe County is one of them. , What is there to say? You come to me for ideas, who can I go to? I’m not the same as you, I have to grow! Whoever wants to be able to do so, okay, then I will be reported to the county government , don’t blame me for not reminding you earlier!”
After Zhang Lizheng finished speaking, everyone fell silent, lowered their heads in frustration, and frowned.
"Zhang Lizheng, don't all the fields of each household have to grow these two things?" someone asked.
Everyone cheered up, and looked up at Zhang Lizheng in unison: Since you can't escape, let's plant, at least leave some room for the big guys to grow food!
Zhang Lizheng saw that everyone was being manipulated, and his expression became more relaxed, and he said: "The government is still very considerate of the big guys, how could it be possible to do this? Half of the fields of each household grow potatoes and cotton, and the rest Whatever you like to plant, come back and get the seeds from me! Potato seeds cost two cents a catty, and cotton seeds cost five cents a catty!"
"Ah, more money!" Someone exclaimed.