North and South groceries

Tang Jian and his party rested in Xu's guest house for two days, and then set off to the south again. Tang Jian himself did not ask Luo Yong for the firing method of this soil cement, and Luo Yong did not intend to offer it at all.

Before leaving, Luo Yong sent Tang Jian a set of cashmere sweater trousers, saying that they were made by girls in the village in the past two days, and then gave him and his followers some cashmere socks, peony cushions, and oiled paper umbrellas. etc.

"There is really nothing in the wilderness village. I hope Duke Tang and you gentlemen don't dislike it." Luo Sanlang cupped his hands and said to Tang Jian and others.

"Don't dislike it, don't dislike it." Tang Jian was playing with a folding umbrella in his hand, opening and closing it, and he couldn't put it down.

This umbrella is very exquisitely made, with a cyan oilcloth umbrella surface, and the cloth is high-quality silk cloth. Compared with those oilpaper umbrellas, it is obviously on a higher level.In addition, this umbrella can be as big as an ordinary oil-paper umbrella when it is opened, but when it is closed, it is only as long as a forearm. After tidying up the umbrella leaves and tying them with strings, it looks like the size of a child's arm, which is really delicate.

Seeing that the other party was satisfied, Luo Yongxin also breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't intend to make friends with Tang Jian, he didn't want to leave any bad impression on the other party.

After seeing off Tang Jian and his party, Xu Erlang asked Luo Yong: "Master, are we going to make more folding umbrellas recently?"

"Don't be busy with this, let's focus on farming. If you have spare capacity, burn more earth and cement." Luo Yong shook his head.

"If it goes on as usual, it won't take long for this folding umbrella to become popular in Chang'an City." What kind of person is Tang Jian? He brought this umbrella back to Chang'an City. Once he used it, Surely someone will follow suit soon.

Xu Erlang didn't want to let go of this good opportunity to make money. It was already September at this time, and winter would soon come after the autumn harvest. Their Xu's guest house would soon usher in a months-long off-season. Now that there was this business opportunity, he naturally I just want to make more money.

"Duke Tang may not keep that umbrella for himself." Luo Yong smiled and shook his head.

"Master is saying that he might dedicate that umbrella to the saint?" If Luo Yong didn't say it, Xu Erlang would not have thought of this.

"Who knows?" No one can say for sure about this kind of thing, besides, Luo Yong also knows very little about Tang Jian.

If we only talk about the social status quo, although there is a saying that there is no king in the world at this time, many famous families are still very noble, and there are even many people who look down on the background of Li and his son, thinking that they are not real nobles .

In the feudal dynasty in the usual impression, a courtier is performing official duties outside, and he gets something new on the way. Needless to say, it must be dedicated to the emperor. Ah, even a foreign relative or one's immediate superior, but at this time in the Tang Dynasty, the situation was a little different.

At this time in the early Tang Dynasty, there was still a relatively strong Wei-Jin style in the society. Everyone was more concerned about face, and flattery had not yet become a social trend.

At this time, many people value reputation more than real material benefits. Let alone Wei Zheng, I heard that every time he writes advice to the emperor, he has to copy a separate copy and take it to the history museum. , Let them write these words in the history books. I heard that Li Shimin was also very angry when he learned about this.

But in any case, it is still much better to have face and reputation than to be shameless.

The current social atmosphere is like this, whether it is a commoner or an aristocrat, everyone values ​​their reputation very much, and almost everyone has a sense of pride. Among them, Luo Yong is most impressed by a royal servant named Liu Fan.

The cause of the incident was Li Ke, the king of Wu, a son of Li Shimin. This guy liked to hunt on horseback and trampled on the crops in the common people's fields, so Liu Fan impeached him above the court.

Li Shimin protects the cub, he said, Quan Wanji helped my son, but he couldn't make him behave properly, he is guilty and deserves to die.

As soon as Liu Fan heard it, he immediately turned him back: "Fang Xuanling is assisting you, but I don't see you stopping hunting."

The emperor was very angry, but he didn't do anything to Liu Fan on the spot.

So, although it is indeed a feudal society right now, it is somewhat different from the feudal societies that will follow.

Those clan children are indeed an extremely unfair existence for some civilians who want to get ahead, but I have to admit that many of them are indeed backbone and demeanor.

Under such circumstances, whether Tang Jian would dedicate that umbrella to His Majesty the Emperor is really hard to say.

Many dynasties in later generations, even until the 21st century, were taken for granted by people, but at this moment, this may not be the case.

Xu Erlang picked at his stubble, thinking in his heart, what if Tang Jian really dedicated that umbrella to His Majesty the Emperor, but within a few days, they got a lot of folding umbrellas and sold them in Chang'an City. To get the hands of young and old men from rich and noble families, this... seems a bit inappropriate.

Forget it, let's burn more soil cement.

Although his master has not said anything yet, many villagers in Xipo Village have already started discussing road construction. If a concrete road leading to the county can be built this winter, then their village will be It will be much easier to sell the silken bean curd than it is now, and the transportation cost will be greatly reduced.

If this matter is decided, then they will use a lot of soil and cement this winter. Even if the business of Xu's guest house enters the off-season, the brothers and they will work together in the cement workshop, and they will still be able to earn some income.

As for the work in the field, they have recently recruited a lot of helpers from the city at the rate of two cents a day plus two meals, so that they can save a lot of money.

At first, I was worried that Master would blame them for being lazy, but I didn't expect Luo Yong to be very supportive after learning about this incident, and said that some of the money was just for spending.

These disciples have been used to being frugal since childhood, and this time, if it wasn't because the work was too much for them to do, they would not spend money to hire people.

Although they couldn't understand Master's teachings for a while, they all listened carefully. In many cases, it took a long time before they could truly understand the truth of what Master said, so Master's words always That's right, even if they still can't accept it for a while.

These disciples' trust in Luo Yong was somewhat blind, and Luo Yong himself knew this.

In the past, Luo Yong didn't like being trusted in this way. He always felt that once he accepted such wholehearted trust, he would be responsible for the other party's trust. He didn't think he could bear such a responsibility, and he didn't at all. willingness in this regard.

After all, things are different now. Now Luo Yong can calmly accept such trust, draw strength from these trusts, and correspondingly, bear their expectations and reliance on themselves.

Whether it is giving or taking, it takes courage. Luo Yong is still in the learning stage.

After being delayed by Tang Jian and others, another two days passed. On the other side of the sheepfold, several disciples of Luo Yong were going to harvest rice that day, and the autumn harvest work in the village was also in full swing. Luo Yongsuan Forget it, starting to make the threshing machine at this time, it should be too late, so let's talk about it next year.

The corn in Chang'an City is about to ripen. At this juncture, it would not hurt to keep a low profile.

The harvest of those Champa rice is not bad, but there is still a big gap with the densely packed golden rice fields covered with heavy ears of rice that Luo Yong has seen in later generations.

At this time, under normal circumstances, one mu of landed grain is only about two hundred catties, and there is no comparison with the rice fields of later generations that often cost thousands of catties.The ears of rice grow sparsely, and the grains of the rice are not full, giving it an aura of barrenness.

"I didn't expect that this kind of rice could really be grown." Luo Yong's disciples were very happy.

Rice is very precious in Lishi County. There is no local production, and it has always been transported from the south. At this time, they have grown the rice themselves. How can they be unhappy.

"The output is not as good as millet." Du Gou regretted.The millet referred to by the locals refers to the unhulled corn.

In this era when the main goal is to fill the stomach, the yield is naturally the most important. This Champa rice has a high promotion value in the southern mountainous areas. It can be planted in dry land, and the growth cycle is short. It can be planted twice a year.

But in the north, in a place like Xipo Village, it must not be able to grow for two seasons. I don't know if it is because of insufficient temperature or some other reason, and the yield is not too high. In this way, naturally there is not much promotion value.

"The rice you grow yourself is more affordable than buying it from outside." Luo Yong is already very satisfied with being able to grow rice. In this era, the north does not produce rice at all. In the Northeast, where rice is abundant in later generations, the people there will Son is still living a life of fishing and hunting.

There is no threshing machine. After the rice is cut, everyone will use the threshing bucket to thresh it.

This threshing barrel is a bucket-shaped square wooden barrel with a large opening on the top and a small bottom bottom, about half the height of a person.When threshing, the threshing bucket is carried to the head of the field, surrounded by several people, holding the stalks in their hands, and slapping the sides of the threshing bucket to knock down the rice grains. If it is clean, you have to stroke it with your hands.

Although Luo Yong did work on weekdays, he was still no match for his disciples. After harvesting the rice for a while, his hands were hurt by the thorns on the rice grains.

Fortunately, there was not much rice. The seeds Du Gou brought back were not many, and Luo Yong distributed them to his disciples to plant them. Although they took good care of them, they only got less than sixteen buckets of rice in the end.

When these disciples leased the land used by Luo, the rent agreed in the contract was [-]% of the harvest, which is also the current general market situation.

But on the basis of this [-]% rent, many owners will add some miscellaneous fees, and some people will even force the tenants into private slaves. Compared with Luo, it is much better here.

The situation of these rices this year is a little special, because the seeds of these rices are quite precious, and they are provided by Luo Yong.

Luo Yong's disciples only left a small amount of rice for the next year's grain, and most of the rest was given to Luo Yong.

Originally, according to their idea, it would be great if they could leave half a bucket of seeds, but Luo Yong asked them to keep a bucket of seeds each, and one of them planted the best, Luo Yong also gave some more, a total of five buckets. Every family has more than five buckets, so what Luo Yong has in his hands is only a load of rice left.

This golden load of rice made the children in the family very happy. In the past, my elder brother asked someone to buy rice from the county, and each time he bought only a small amount of one or two liters, which was enough to cook one or two meals of rice porridge. Yes, this time I got such a full load of rice, how can I be unhappy.

After the rice was dried, it was stored in two large urns in the house. On the first day, Luo Yong took out half a bucket, put it in a stone mortar, and pounded it carefully. That night, he cooked a pot of fragrant white rice.

The sweet aroma of white rice wafted all over the yard, making the children in the family circle around the stove with hunger, which made Luo Yong a little funny.

Half a bucket of rice is said to be a lot less, but it can't resist the large population of their family. In the end, they were divided, and each person only got a big bowl. If he wanted to add a second bowl, it was gone. When I was full, I had to eat another one or two pancakes.

On one side, the brothers and sisters ate their heads together, on the other side, outside the Luo’s courtyard, next to the side courtyard wall, two new rooms were built a while ago, and Mrs. Zheng lived in the front one with her youngest daughter. one.

The mother and daughter were also eating at this time. On the kang table were two bowls of white rice, a plate of fried pickles with oil residue, and a large bowl of reeds with soup.

The little girl began to swallow her saliva when the smell of rice wafted from the courtyard of Luo's family just now, she couldn't hold back any longer at this time, she set the meal, picked up the rice bowl and ate it into her mouth.

Mrs. Zheng smiled, and didn't say anything to her, but she herself didn't eat the bowl of rice, but took a piece of mixed noodle cake from a basket at the top of the kang and ate it.

"Aniang, why don't you eat rice? It's such a big bowl, I can eat one bowl." The little girl swallowed the rice in her mouth with a grunt, and said to her Aniang, with a little excitement on her face expression.

Luo Sanlang and the others are really kind. She was a little worried that the mother and daughter might not be able to eat the rice today, but she didn't expect to make them two big bowls. It's all over the top.

"You can eat." Zheng said to her with a smile, she took the mixed noodles cake in one hand, and took some reeds with chopsticks in the other hand to eat.

"But you want to keep it for sister and the others?" The little girl is not stupid, she has noticed that Auntie has slowly started to save rations recently.

A few days ago, a Dinghu man told them that her younger brother went to the gate of the city to ask people in Xipo Village about their mother and daughter. Mother has already sent someone to send a message back, telling them that she has settled down here, so that the siblings should stay at home and not run around outside.

After that, A Niang started to save food. The little girl thought that with the amount of meals given by the Luo family, she could save at least half of each meal for her sister and the others, but her A Niang stopped her and said Tell her to eat well, if she is hungry and pale and emaciated, people will think that the host has treated them harshly.

So over the past few days, the mother and daughter have saved some of the most durable pancakes, and they are not in a hurry to bring them home.

Seeing these two bowls of snow-white and fragrant rice today, Mrs. Zheng finally couldn't hold back anymore.

After learning about her mother's plan, the little girl put down the rice bowl in her hand with some reluctance, pushed it aside, and then went to get a mixed noodle cake to eat.

Mrs. Zheng didn't stop her, she smiled and touched her daughter's cheek, and the little girl also smiled at her cutely.

The mother and daughter ate some miscellaneous noodles with a bowl of reeds, and then Mrs. Zheng took out a piece of oil paper from a slightly rough wooden cabinet at the end of the kang, made a few gestures with her hands, and finally cut it out. I picked up three pieces of oil paper of the same size, and kept the rest in the cabinet.

The two of them wrapped the stir-fried pickles with oil residue that had not been touched much on the kang table in rice, wrapped them in oil paper, pinched them slightly tightly, and put them in a small basket together with a few pancakes saved in the past few days ...

On the second day, at noon.

"Sister! Brother! Look at what Aunt has brought us!" A seven or eight-year-old boy carried a small Gailan in his hand, and quickly crossed the alley and rushed into his courtyard.

"What did Auntie bring us?" A thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl came out of the main room.

"Guess?" The kid smiled and walked into the room with a basket in his hand.

"How can I guess?" Hearing that Auntie brought them something back, the little girl was also very happy, reached out and patted her sore shoulder, turned around and followed back to the house.

"Brother, guess what?" The boy was obviously overjoyed.

"I can't guess." On the kang in the main room, there was another young man sitting at the table peeling a small piece of bamboo. Since his aunt went to Xipo Village, the three of them have been making bamboo chains at home to earn money.

"I know you guys won't be able to guess it." The kid couldn't help himself at this time, and without further delay, he lifted the lid and took out three rice balls wrapped in oiled paper, and the three of them divided one for each of them.

When the layer of oil paper wrapped outside was opened to reveal the white grains of rice inside, the two older children in the room were also very surprised.

Although they have also heard of Luo Sanlang's reputation, but the Zheng mother and daughter are going to raise pigs for others after all, it is inevitable that they will suffer some hardships there, but they did not expect to have such good food.

"...this rice is really delicious."

"I heard people say that some rice was planted next to Luo Sanlang's sheepfold this year, and the rice must have come from there."

"Aniang and the others must not be willing to eat..."

"Sister, is this rice delicious?"

"Yeah! It's delicious."

"When I earn money in the future, I will buy it for you."

"You should be more peaceful and make more bamboo chains at home."

"I won't go out in the afternoon..."

"Did Auntie come back with a message?"

"Let's just say they're doing well over there..."

"..."

The three siblings were eating rice balls and talking, the youngest child was talking endlessly, her elder sister listened patiently, and the older boy was eating rice balls by the window quietly, only occasionally Say a word or two.

Outside the window is the backyard of his house. There is a small vegetable bed in the yard, and a new clump of carnations was planted this spring.It is already the middle of September in the lunar calendar, the temperature is getting lower and lower every day, there are no vegetables in the vegetable bed, and the small bamboo bushes are still green.

In the room, the little boy was wearing shabby clothes, holding a rice ball in his hand, and while eating, he was talking happily about how much money he would earn in the future, and how much delicious food he would buy.

It's just that he is still too young, so he doesn't understand that there may be many delicacies in his life in the future, but there may not be a single meal that can truly compare to this moment, held in his hands. This rice ball.