I traveled through time, starting with two acres of land and a dog

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of July again, and it was the start of the school year. Du Chenyu was over half a year old and could walk around in front of people. He dared to call daddy and mom in front of others. He was sensible and was called a "child prodigy" by the neighbors. However, his other abilities were not revealed yet, he was just smarter than ordinary children.

Because his father advertised everywhere that the Linshui Village School had lowered its tuition fees, all the children of common people, merchants and tenants could go to school for a year as long as they worked a total of six days' work for Yu Baochang and the teacher and paid for their own lunch. Many people came to visit their home a few days before school started and gave them some local specialties, so Du Chenyu's living standard improved a lot. Although everyone was not rich, there were still some cheap snacks. When school started, his father said that he would recruit more than 6 additional students, the older ones were 20-13 years old, and the younger ones were 14 or 5 years old. They were all arranged in an open house outside the school to learn to read.

Du Chenyu calculated that his family would need to add at least 60 day workers this year and plant at least 10 acres of land. However, where would his family get so much land? This problem has been bothering Du Chenyu in recent years. If he rents from Yu Yuedong, the rent is too expensive and not cost-effective. He asked his father what to do, and his father said to just rent from someone else.

Let's not consider this issue for the time being. We still have to plan to buy food after the autumn harvest. This is a big deal. Seeing that the rice in the paddy fields has gradually turned yellow, Du Chenyu called grandpa to release all the water in the paddy fields. This year, the paddy fields are planned to be converted to dry land and wheat will be planted in winter. Originally, two seasons a year was the basic planting method in the south, but in many areas, in order to conserve winter water, the paddy fields are empty in winter and are only irrigated with water all day long. Everything is planted. I remember that it was not until the 90s after the reform and opening up that most paddy fields were converted to dry land and two-season harvests were achieved under the vigorous promotion of the state.

Du Chenyu still insisted on reading for two hours every day and increased his exercise. With the improvement of nutrition, by the end of July, he was able to walk 4 to 500 meters. Sometimes he also practiced writing with a brush. After all, his calligraphy foundation in his previous life was still good.

After July comes August. Du Chenyu always remembers that the Xinhai Revolution broke out on October 10th in the Gregorian calendar, and the lunar calendar seemed to be after the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, he does not have a Gregorian calendar at present and cannot compare it, so he cannot be sure of the exact day when the Wuchang Uprising broke out.

At the end of the month, my father sold two adult goats to a traveling merchant for 9 taels of silver. He also sold the fat pig for New Year's meat to a wealthy family nearby, Yang Shoucai. Their family lived not far to the south of his house and owned dozens of acres of irrigated and dry land. The family was well-off. The Yang family planned to get their son married at the end of the year, so they bought the fat pig from their family and sold it for 7 taels of silver. My grandfather also took out the money he had saved for his father and second uncle to get married, which was worth 15 taels of silver and dollars. My father himself still had about 22 dollars, but it still wasn't enough to cover the price of 50 dan of grain.

In early August, my father went to Yu Yuedong's home and came back to tell him privately: "I said I was planning to do some business and was short of money, so I mortgaged the family's land deeds to Yu Yuedong. He was very happy and readily mortgaged 10 taels of silver, with an interest of 2 taels per month." In total, he raised about 90 silver dollars.

On the tenth day of August, my father got up early in the morning. He took Hu Laosi to Wuyingbao Township to buy food. He wanted to go, but he thought it was inconvenient to take him. It was at least 3 miles of mountain road, and it would take more than two hours each way.

They returned at about dark the next day. Du Chenyu was waiting for them at the intersection. His father brought back some cloth, salt, daily necessities, and newspapers.

After dinner, I told my father in detail in the yard about the purchase of food over the past two days. Yesterday they went to the market and rented a house in the backyard of Dr. Li's pharmacy on the street. Dr. Li is from Kejiaba, behind the mountain next door. Five years ago, he came to our school to learn literacy for a period of time. I am also half of his teacher, so when we went there, he was very enthusiastic and invited us to dinner. Last year, his father was sick, and his wife took the child back to take care of the old man. He was willing to rent out the rooms behind the store to two of us. We packed up the supplies this morning and added some fodder to the roof to prevent leaks.

Du Chenyu specifically told his father about collecting newspapers several times, and told him to help collect them when he went to the market. He said that he entrusted Dr. Li to help collect them because the government has recently tightened control over some newspapers, and there are not many places to buy newspapers in the special zone, so it is more difficult to collect them. He looked at the "Journal of Sichuan University", "Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine", and "Sichuan Official Gazette". There are also a few incomplete copies. He sat on a stone by the roadside to read, and first carefully compared the date on the "Sichuan Official Gazette". It was issued on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, and it was recorded on August 1911, 8 in the Gregorian calendar. He immediately calculated today's Gregorian calendar time on the ground. His father was very surprised when he saw it and asked:

"What are you calculating?"

"Calculate today's Gregorian calendar time," Du Chenyu replied.

"What is the Gregorian calendar?" my father continued.

Du Chenyu raised his head, a little confused, and then thought that the Gregorian calendar was not yet popular, and it was called the "Western calendar or the Western calendar."

"It's the Western calendar, the way foreigners record dates," Du Chenyu thought for a moment and replied.

"I know this. Nowadays, many young people in cities use the Western calendar to keep track of time," my father explained.

After thinking for a while, my mind felt a little confused and I felt a little sleepy. Children cannot use their brains for too long, so I chatted with my father about other things.

After dinner, he said to his father, "Dad, go to Chief Yu tomorrow and plead for mercy. Just say that the kid is too skinny and malnourished at home. The old man wants to go fishing in the river. Please take care of him in the future. I will definitely pay half of the tax for fishing."

After that, Du Chenyu asked his mother to find some dry bamboo outside and light a big fire so that he could read the newspaper. His mother went in the dark and brought in two bamboos to burn in the fire, then continued to clean up the dishes.

After the bamboo burned, grandpa made torches out of the bamboo and held them up to illuminate the way. Du Chenyu began to flip through the newspapers in the light of the fire. These newspapers were all quite worn out. He took a look and found one was the Sichuan Official Gazette, which was a little newer. The date recorded was the first day of the seventh lunar month in the year of Xinhai, which was August 1911, 8 in the Gregorian calendar. Today is July 27, which should be September 1911, 9 in the Gregorian calendar. Looking at this date, the Wuchang Uprising was on October 14, and there were still 10 days left. He glanced through the rest of the content: it mainly talked about how the Railway Protection Movement was suppressed with all its might by the Governor of Sichuan. There were a lot of traditional Chinese characters, which he could not recognize in full. He planned to read it carefully tomorrow.

Put down the newspaper, fix the torch, and prepare to eat. There will be fish soup tonight. Du Chenyu also drank a little, and let his mother drink more of the rest, thinking that he will have enough food for tomorrow.

The next day, the sky finally cleared up. When Du Chenyu woke up, his father had already gone to school. In his mother's arms, after having breakfast, he began to think. Du Chenyu sat alone on a small stool at the door and read the newspapers in the newspapers. The newspapers were basically about how Zhao Erfeng suppressed the Railway Protection Movement and how he suppressed the Revolutionary Party. There was also a particularly worn-out newspaper that introduced many things about the Revolutionary Party. This kind of newspaper was prohibited from circulation. After reading it, he studied by himself.

It has been more than 8 months since I came into this world. I can barely walk and talk, but it is too difficult to grow up smoothly. In the darkest era of the Beiyang warlords in China, the country was in pieces, natural disasters and man-made disasters were rampant, and plagues were rampant. How could I survive? The area in northern Sichuan was even poorer, and bandits were like locusts. What should I do? I must accumulate strength to survive.

Land is the foundation for survival and accumulation of strength. Currently, more than 50% of the mountains, forests, land and rivers around Quanbao belong to the rich village chief Yu Yuedong. Half of the fishing tax is paid. It is difficult, very difficult to change all this!

Looking at the barren mountain ridge on the left side of the house, there are about a hundred acres of land along the river, more than ten acres of cultivated land by the river, woods in the middle, and about 20 acres of wasteland near Du Chenyu's house. This land belongs to the rich man Ma Jingui next door. His family has about 40 acres of dry land and several acres of paddy fields. There are two long-term workers and a working ox in the family. The only son teaches in the primary school set up by the Baizhangguan Inspection Office. He comes back once a year. The family is still relatively wealthy. Should we use some means? After a while, a plan came to mind. "Let's do it this way," he said to himself with a smile. Anyway, it is not illegal to spread rumors in this era.