North and South groceries

When Hao Cishi and Tu County Magistrate came to Xipo Village, Luo Yong was leading a few children to stew persimmons in their grocery store. They did not have persimmon trees. Recently, they saw that other people’s persimmons were ripe, so they exchanged some grains for some. come back to eat.

"Master, Governor Hao and County Magistrate Tu are here. I saw them coming in from the entrance of the village just now." Luo Yong's disciples were changing straw for the pigsty that day. The family yard came to report to Luo Yong.

"Hey, here we come." Luo Yong quickly got off the kang, put on his pair of dusty linen shoes, and pulled his heels as he walked. When he reached the gate of the courtyard, Governor Hao and County Magistrate Tu also arrived. .

Luo Yong bowed to the two of them, Hao Cishi told him not to be too polite, and then the two of them followed Luo Yong to the hall.

After being seated, Governor Hao first conveyed His Majesty's verbal praise to Luo Yong, and then said that the saint took pity on his experience and gave him five hectares of fertile land, telling him to cultivate the land well and raise the young at home.Luo saluted to thank you.

After finishing business, Luo Yong asked the two of them to have dinner at his home. Neither of them responded, and chatted a few words about swallows flying on the heated kang, soil dung, etc., and then got up to leave. It stayed for a while.

The half-sized pigs in the Luo family are round and pleasing to the eye. The pigsty has just been cleaned and is not very dirty.

"It looks really good to be a pig." Hao Cishi praised after carefully observing the growth of those pigs.

"Apart from pig breeding, what else should we pay attention to in this method of raising pigs?" County Magistrate Tu asked Luo Yongdao.

"It's not very particular, that is, the pig food should be cooked before feeding, and the wild vegetables and wheat bran and bean dregs should be cooked at the same time." Luo Yong replied.

"Very good." After hearing this, Governor Hao nodded and praised again.

After these two left, two other minor officials stayed behind, and when Zou Lizheng came over, they measured the land for Luo Yong.

One hectare of land is [-] mu, and these five hectares of land are [-] mu. Luo Yong never dreamed that one day he would become a big landlord with [-] mu of fertile land. There are few people, and ordinary people have hundreds of acres of land in their homes.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the land equalization system was implemented. Each small household was granted [-] mu of land, of which [-] mu was Yongye farmland and [-] mu was mouth-sharing farmland. Yongye farmland could be inherited by descendants, but mouth-sharing farmland was different. was taken back by the government.

The [-] acres that Luo Yong acquired this time are all Yongye Fields, assets that can bless his descendants.However, although it is [-] mu of good land, in the past two years, the number of people here has basically increased unabated, and there is no extra good land that can be allocated to him. In the end, except for a few tens of mu, it is better The farmland and the rest are all sloping land, and Luo has to use himself to open up wasteland.

After plotting the field, it was getting late, so Luo Yong left Zou Lizheng to have dinner with the two county officials.A pot of yellow stewed chicken, a pot of corn porridge, a pot of pancakes, and a few side dishes, made several people's mouths full of oil and satisfied.

After the meal was full, Luo Yong stayed the three of them overnight, but all three refused. It is the autumn harvest season, no matter whether it is Zou Lizheng or the county officials, no one should be free. Go back to sleep tonight, and have to continue working tomorrow .

"Zou Lizheng, don't rush to go. Recently, people from Xiaohe Village are pushing pig manure to exchange bean dregs every day. Let me help you see if there is anyone who hasn't returned at this time."

When one of Luo Yong's disciples saw that Zou Lizheng was going back to Xiaohe Village alone, he hurriedly said that it was going to be dark at the moment, and Zou Lizheng was so old, who could safely ask him to walk such a long way back at night alone.

"Zou Lizheng, it's okay for you to stay here for one night. The two of us will leave first. There are still many official duties in the county." The other two said they were about to leave.

Luo Yong and others sent the two of them to the entrance of the village, and told them to be careful on the road. After all, it was such a long road, and it was very dark at night.

"Why do you need to worry, the two of us have traveled farther than you on this road." The two petty officials raised their arms and waved them, and they headed towards the county together.

Right now is the harvest season, and the county officials have to go to the countryside to collect taxes and fees. In this season of the year, they don’t get up early and stay late, wishing to break their legs. There are not so many people in the county government in this poor place. The horse-drawn carts and ox carts are available, so walking around in the dark at night is really common for petty officials like them.

"Lin Er, do you think we should also ride two Yanerfeis?" The two brothers walked side by side on the winding dirt road, with weeds growing on both sides of the road, and occasionally passing a piece of farmland. It was getting dark, and I couldn't see what was growing in the field, I could only smell it.

"The flying swallows are not cheap." The other person held his hands in his sleeves and shrunk his neck. The temperature here began to drop in September. After today, it might start to frost at night.

"Walking on two legs alone is also suffering." The man said just now.

"Isn't it just suffering." This walk lasted for several hours, running outside all day long, how can I not suffer.

The two of them could still go back together, but Zou Lizheng didn't even have a companion, and he didn't dare to ask him to walk at night alone. In the end, two of Luo Yong's disciples drove him back in a donkey cart.

After seeing off these two groups of people, it was already dark, Luo Yong went back to his yard, and saw that the oil lamp was still burning at the grocery store.

"Brother, the persimmons haven't been stewed yet." Siniang Wulang and the others were still waiting there.

"Is it all in?" Luo Yong smiled and went into his grocery store.

"It's all set up." Several children moved aside to make room for him.

"Let me take a look." Luo looked into the jar with his probe, and saw that there were indeed a small half of orange-red round persimmons neatly arranged inside, so he said, "Let's light it up and simmer it."

The brothers and sisters carried the jar to the stove, first took a handful of hay and lit it, then threw the burnt hay into the vat, quickly covered the mouth of the vat with a piece of oil paper, and used the oil paper quickly. The thin rope was tied tightly on the mouth of the tank, and several pieces of old cloth were covered.

In this way, even if the persimmons were stewed, the mouth of the vat was sealed, and there was no fresh air in the vat, the fire was quickly extinguished, leaving only half of the vat with thick smoke, which Luo used to ripen them. Persimmons, most villagers in Xipo Village ripen persimmons in this way, and they also use turbid wine to ripen persimmons, but after all, not every household has wine.

Luo's family does have wine, because fermented bean curd is to be made, and the stock of turbid wine has never been sold out at his house. The reason for doing this is just to add something new to these children.

Luo Yong is quite familiar with incubating persimmons. When Grandma Luo was around, every year when new persimmons came out, she would buy a lot of them and keep them at home. If they were well stored, they could be magnified for half the winter. When she wanted to eat them, she would take them A few came out to hatch.

There were a lot of fruits in that era, and bananas and apples were very common. Grandma Luo was reluctant to put bananas or apples in directly. Before hatching persimmons, she went to the fruit stand to buy a few bananas, and the grandparents ate the bananas first. , Leave the banana peel, put it in a plastic bag, put it together with the persimmons, put it in another cardboard box, throw it under the bed, take it out after ten days, and the persimmons will be ripe and soft.

Now it's the seventh century, bananas and apples, not to mention used to hatch persimmons, the little ones at home don't even know what they taste like.

Apples are probably still being grown in the royal garden at this moment. The name seems to be Pingpoguo. As for bananas, I think there should be some in the south, but the traffic is really inconvenient at this time. From them to Chang'an, you can walk It only takes a month, and I don't know how long it will take to go from Chang'an City to the tropical south. The regenerated bananas should be cut down and transported to them.

"Sanlang, what do we use to grow the [-] mu of land?" Compared with this jar of persimmons, Er Niang obviously cared more about the [-] mu of land she newly acquired. , she also attaches great importance to the land, and in addition to having to sell the land for food, she is even more attached to the land.

"Yeah, what would you like to plant?" Luo Yong said with a smile.

Speaking of the [-] mu of land, Luo Yong thought of what Hao Cishi said before, the holy god gave him five hectares of fertile land and asked him to cultivate the land well. Is there any hidden meaning in these words?

Maybe it's better to delay setting up a branch in Chang'an City...

·

In the city of Chang'an, Du Qilang hadn't returned yet, and the peony cushion Luo used hadn't yet become popular in the city.

Yan Erfei, who was brought from Lishi County earlier, has penetrated more and more deeply into the lives of Chang'an people as time went by.

Early this morning, the morning bell has passed, and the morning drum has not stopped.It was time for all the workshops in the city to open their doors and lift the ban. Apart from those traders who got up early to do business, there was another group of people in this city who had to get up very early, and that was the officials who went to court.

For the convenience of going to court, many officials choose to live in a place close to the Taiji Hall. Correspondingly, the housing prices in that area are naturally high. I had no choice but to go a long way. This distance will naturally lead to a long journey when I go to court in the morning.

"What a coincidence, Lu Taishi."

In the early morning, the sky is not yet clear, and the breath of autumn is already in the air.At an alley far away from the gate of the palace, a Yan'er Fei turned out nimbly. The rider saw someone wearing an official uniform riding Yan'er Fei coming here from the other side. Look, I found out it was an old acquaintance.

"It was Chen Neige." The other party also greeted him.

The two chatted a few words, did not stop, and rode Yan Erfei to the Tai Chi Hall together to go to court, and a busy day began again.