The happy little days of the Ye family

Autumn is the harvest season, and the autumn harvest is the most important day of the year.

A few days before the autumn harvest, Mrs. Ye began to ask Mother Ye to cook meat every day to feed the family in preparation for the autumn harvest.

During the autumn harvest, no one had time to go to town to buy meat. Father Ye made a batch of dried fish in advance and sold them in town, making a small profit.

The family has also prepared a lot of bacon and dried fish in advance, and there is no shortage of duck eggs.

The students in the school are all nearby farmers, and the school has also begun to take farming holidays so that the children can go back and help.

On the first day of the autumn harvest, seven members of the Ye family came to the fields early.

The four adults of the Ye family plus Ye Donglin were responsible for cutting the rice, while Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin were responsible for bundling the cut rice.

Bundling rice is relatively simple, but the speed of cutting rice cannot keep up with the speed of the two siblings. Ye Qingqing simply took a sickle and cut the rice together.

It's still a bit cool in the morning in autumn, but it's not that hot to work in. It's hard to work in the afternoon when it's hot.

Therefore, when farming is busy, everyone is willing to get up to work before dawn, rest for a while at noon, and wait until dark at night before going back.

From the second day of the autumn harvest, Ye Qingqing stayed on the drying field to dry the rice and drive away the sparrows that stole the rice.

Ye Qingqing held a long bamboo pole and beat it on the ground from time to time to drive away the sparrows that came to eat the rice.

Drying rice is already very easy compared to harvesting rice, so those who dry rice on the drying field are mostly favored children and pregnant women.

The Ye family only has 3 acres of paddy field, and it took the family two days to harvest it. After harvesting rice, it’s time to harvest corn.

Mr. Ye drove the donkey cart to transport the corn to the drying field. It was indeed much easier this year with the donkey cart.

During busy farming days, women were used as men and men were used as livestock. Having a donkey greatly reduced Ye's father's burden.

We harvested 2 acres of corn from the dry land, 5 acres of sweet potatoes, and 5 acres of corn from the small back hill.

It was already 20 days after all the grain taxes were dried and put into the cellar.

秋收的粮食和夏收差不多，3亩的水田收了1500斤的水稻，2亩的旱地收了1640斤的玉米棒，5亩的沙地收了6000斤的红薯，小后山的5亩坡地收了3200斤的玉米棒。

After the autumn harvest, the 5 acres of slope land originally planted with corn in Xiaohoushan will also be planted with rapeseed.

Father Ye invited two brothers from the Tang family to help. Together with Mr. Ye, the four of them planted 4 acres of rapeseed in five days.

At this time, the 10 acres of rapeseed nearby were all in full bloom, and the small yellow flowers were swaying in the breeze. The sea of ​​yellow flowers was very beautiful.

However, this field of rapeseed flowers can only be viewed from a distance. If you get closer, you will find many industrious little bees collecting nectar. If you are not careful, you will be stung.

When Father Ye drove the donkey cart back to the village, many people gathered under the banyan tree at the entrance of the village, discussing something noisily.

Father Ye was a spectator and drove his donkey cart towards the crowd.

Before I even got close, I heard that taxes were going to be collected.

The tax collector is currently collecting taxes in Crescent Town next door, and he should be coming to Taohua Village in about ten days.

The annual fixed taxes include grain tax and poll tax, and corvee is once every two years. The corvee was collected last year, but there will be no corvee this year.

The imperial court levied grain tax at a rate of [-]%.

Normally, one mu of paddy field can harvest about 400 kilograms of rice in one season, and one mu of dry land can harvest 700 kilograms of corn in one season. Taohua Village belongs to the south and can be planted twice a year.

In previous years, grain taxes were collected based on the harvest of 800 kilograms of rice from one acre of paddy field, 1400 kilograms of corn from one acre of dry land, and 2000 kilograms of sweet potatoes from one acre of sandy land.

The mountainous land is taxed at 20 cents per acre. The small back mountain is wasteland and can be exempted from tax for 5 years. The tax starts in the 6th year.

The slope at the foot of the mountain is classified as a barren mountain according to the land deed, and it is also exempt from tax for 5 years.

The land deed for Xiaohoushan is 150 acres, and starting from the sixth year, a tax of 3 taels of silver has to be paid every year.

There are so many mountains in Taohua Village, but no one buys them to plant fruit trees or timber because they cannot afford the taxes.

Fruit trees and timber need to be planted for many years before they can be harvested. The initial investment is too much and the income is uncertain. People in the village are more willing to buy paddy fields or dry land.

The corvee was held every two years, and each period lasted for one month. One adult man from each household served in the corvee.

There are many rivers in Weihai County, and the corvee basically cleans the rivers, and occasionally builds city walls.

Whether it was cleaning rivers or building city walls, they were all doing hard work, and those who served in corvee returned more or less injured.

If you don't want to do corvee, you can pay 2 taels of silver to be exempted from corvee, but most people are not willing to part with this money.

Cleaning up rivers and building city walls is not military service. No one will die. At most, it will make you tired and suffer a little. A month of gritting your teeth will pass quickly.

Mr. Ye served in the corvee several times when he was young. Every time he came back, he was thin, black, and with injuries.

Old Mrs. Ye was very distressed. After her family started raising pigs, she stopped letting Old Ye Ye do the corvee work. She had to pay money every year.

At this time, every household was one and the family was rarely separated because of the need to perform corvee and military service.

The Ye family has been passed down for several generations. Before Ye's father came of age, he had to go every time he served as a corvee. It would be much easier if he went in turn like other big families.

When Ye's father came of age, he went to work as a clerk in a grocery store. If he joined the labor force, he would not be able to keep his job. Ye's father had never been to the labor force since he became an adult.

Fortunately, the Ye family has the skill of raising pigs, and Ye's father can bring back money from the grocery store every month, so he can get this money.

叶家3亩水田要收240斤稻子的粮税，2亩旱地要收280斤玉米的粮税，5亩的沙地要收1000斤红薯的粮税。

Grain tax can be paid in grain or money. The Ye family does not have much land, so every year they pay half of the grain and the remaining half in money.

There is more grain harvested in Xiaohoushan this year. Mr. Ye plans to pay all the grain tax this year.

除了粮税还有人头税，3岁到14岁每人缴纳20文的人头税。15岁为成年人，15岁到50岁每年缴纳60文的人头税。

Ye Donglin is 13 years old, Ye Qingqing is 11 years old, and Ye Xilin is 9 years old. The three of them are charged a head tax of 20 cents a year. The four adults of the Ye family are all charged a head tax of 4 cents a year.

In head tax alone, the Ye family had to pay 300 Wen every year, and families with a large population would pay even more.

The weather has been good in recent years, and the fields in Taohua Village are relatively fertile. The village is not far from the town. Young adults in the village can also go to the town to work as part-time workers, and the villagers' lives are not bad.

Every household in the village was honest and prepared food or money in advance and waited at home for officials to come.

If the family is really in trouble, relatives and friends in the village can also help.