Rebirth of the backing and eating mountains

The days passed quickly, and the crops in the field began to mature after a month.People in the village are busier.Instead, Anxuan's family was idle because they didn't have much land.Qin Feng took the opportunity to go to the town a few more times to buy all kinds of things needed for the marriage.Song Chu couldn't stay idle, and followed An Rubao to the back mountain.The two visited a mountain several times back and forth.An Rubao has a general plan in mind, and will implement it next spring.

As for An Xuan, most of his energy was put into the back garden, concentrating on taking care of those cabbages and radishes.He had little contact with farming since he was a child, and he learned while doing it, but he seemed to be doing it.

With the autumn wind, almost in the blink of an eye, the crops in the field were ripe.The whole village threw itself into the upsurge of harvesting.Busy villagers can be seen everywhere in the village, whether it is a man, a father, a brother, a husband, even the older brothers and sisters are not idle.Walk against the stars every day, go back under the stars, eat some food when you get home, and fall asleep right away.Continued the next day.

Fortunately, such a busy day is only once a year. Looking at the full crops in the field, there is only too little, not too much.I am happy even after working so hard.

An Rubao has observed that if this Qingshan Village is on the earth, it is probably located in the north.However, the crops are slightly different from the earth, and most of them grow rice.Similar to the upland rice on the earth, it is sown in spring and harvested in autumn.After harvesting, plant wheat again, sow in autumn and harvest in spring.Of course, there are also corn, sorghum, millet and so on.

After half a month, the crops in the field were taken back home one after another.The population in the family is small, and the harvest is slow, and there is not much left.After that, it is threshing and drying, some of them are sold to the grain store to be exchanged for money, and some of them are received in the warehouse for their own food.

This year is considered a bumper harvest year, with good weather and more grain harvested per mu, which can be sold for more money. The villagers are very happy.The seven tenants delivered the tenants to Anxuan's house on time.According to different land grades, the crops planted are different.First-class land and medium land are suitable for planting rice.Plant some other crops in inferior land.Therefore, the rentals sent by each family are also different.In the end, a total of 78 shi of rice, 22 shi of corn and sorghum, about 110 shi of soybeans and other beans, and about 120 shi of others.[-] and six stones are not enough.But one hundred mu, based on the average yield of four shi per mu, [-]% also has [-] shi.What's more, this year has a bumper harvest.

An Xuan remained calm, his eyes flicked over everyone's faces.Some of the men in some families felt uncomfortable—they knew how much grain they had produced and how much rent they should pay.Because of the land tax, the husband of the family has been worrying about it, and he must have tampered with the rent.They didn't know about this matter, but when Zuzi said it, they didn't know, so they couldn't hang on to it.

An Qing was the first to stand up and said: "This year, my family produced nearly 71 stones of rice, seven and a half stones of corn sorghum, one stone of millet, one stone of soybeans, and about one and a half stones of other beans. My family is short of rent, and I will go back to get it. "The men from the other families got up and left together, but An Minglu stood still.

An Xuan sighed secretly, and smiled at An Minglu: "Minglu, your family has a good harvest this year."

There was a smile on the bronzed face of Anming Road, and he said: "The peasants depend on the sky to eat. God is lucky this year. The crops grow well, and the harvest will naturally be good. Unlike the people in the city, the peasants can make money by buying and selling. The food, clothing, housing and transportation of the elderly, children and the whole family depend on the grain grown in the ground. If they grow well, they will have enough to eat. , There are nine people in his family. In the early years, there were more than [-] acres of land in the family. Later, Anqing’s grandmother fell seriously ill. To raise money for medicine, and just in time for the Anshan people to buy land, they sold it to your family. Later , the people of Anshan leased the land to his family to grow, and gave his family a way to survive. They are grateful to your family in their hearts. Anqing's husband is quick-tempered and small-minded, but he is not bad-hearted. Although the family is difficult, In the past few years, I have done my best to serve Lang's father and aunt, and the whole family has taken good care of them. The other families are similar. There are some people who care about every detail, but their hearts are not bad. I may be a bit rude when I say this, farmer Your knowledge is short, you have a lot of adults, let's see if you can... take more care of that."

After hearing what he said, An Xuan understood that he was afraid that he would annoy the other families because of the short rent, so he took the land back in a fit of anger.He has also learned about the situation of these few families in private, and their characters are not bad, otherwise Dad would not have rented land to them back then.He also reconsidered the matter of the land tax, but it was inevitable to beat it.

Soon several families sent the short rent.This time, he made up for more than six stones.An Qing lowered her head and said, "My husband is ignorant, so don't take it to heart, brother An Xuan."

An Xuan looked at the few people standing awkwardly in front of him, they were all honest men, all of them bowed their heads with red faces and remained silent.What I wanted to say, I swallowed back.What An Minglu said is right, it's not easy for farmers, that's all.

He cleared his cough and said, "I've thought about it. I'll live in Rubao's name in two days for your family's [-] mu of land. You still have to pay this year's land tax, and next year it will be all on our behalf." It's over...you don't have to thank me, thank Minglu if you want to thank me. We were chatting just now, and he told me about your family's situation and let me know your difficulties. It's not easy for everyone, and I understand it too. Okay That’s it, let’s leave it at that, go back and tell your husbands, and make them happy too. Also, don’t forget to tell them that the rent cannot be shortened next time.”

A man hurriedly said: "No, no, we will not be short of the land tax." Several men were overjoyed, and their hearts were moved and excited.The family has been struggling to receive the food from home. They didn't show it when they didn't pay the land rent before. After [-]% of the land rent has been paid, they have to pay the land tax, which is a bit embarrassing.Thinking that everyone rents land as well, but Anming Road does not have to pay land tax. Compared with them, it is much more relaxed than them, and I always feel a little bit stuck.Now, An Xuan also spared them. In addition to being pleasantly surprised, he thanked An Xuan and An Minglu again and again.After staying for a while, I couldn't wait to say goodbye, and rushed home to tell my husband the good news.

An Minglu knew in his heart that on the one hand, Anxuan's move was out of the desire to help several families, and on the other hand, it was to win back popularity for himself-because of the land tax, several families that had a good relationship with him all looked at him. I was born——I am also very grateful.

An Xuan sent a few people out, then turned and went back to the backyard.Qin Feng was leading the children to look at the grain in the granary, their eyes were as bright as stars, and their faces were full of joy.

Qin Feng was twisting a grain of rice. When he saw him coming in, he beckoned and said, "Come and see, this rice is really good, fragrant and white, much better than what we ate in Yuxing City." An Xuan laughed. : "The rice in this area is known as fragrant rice. It is famous for its sweetness." Song Chu also said: "I heard from the old man that the rice here was used as tribute rice in the early years, and it was eaten by the emperor."

Qin Feng smiled and said: "Yes, that's a good relationship. Let's have a good taste of this new tribute rice today."

To be honest, Qin Feng and An Xuan were a little worried when they looked at the rice.The rice delivered by the tenants is actually unhulled, and they don’t know how to hustle the rice at all.

It was Song Chu who went to the warehouse to find the mortar and told them how to pound rice.An Xuan washed the mortar with water, and together with Qin Feng An Rubao, he learned how to pound rice.

Pounding rice is both technical work and physical work, and An Rubao's small body will not be able to support it in a while.Qin Feng and An Xuan took turns pounding, and it took half an hour to pound a small pot of white rice.

Song Chu took a dustpan, dusted out the rice bran, and carefully picked out the stones in the rice. Although the rice grains were a bit broken and uneven due to uneven force, An Xuan and Qin Feng looked at the white rice in front of them, and were very happy for a while. Forget about being tired.

Qin Feng took the rice and went to the kitchen.An Xuan picked up the wooden pestle to continue pounding.Song Chu looked at him suspiciously, and said, "Father, there is a stone mill in the village. I think Ah would like to try it today. If there are not many, it would be faster to use a stone mortar."

The wooden pestle that An Xuan raised stopped in the middle of the road, and he was stunned for a moment before putting down the wooden pestle pretending to be calm, patted the dust on his body, walked out with his hands behind his back, and said, "Cough...that, I think it's quite fun .” Naturally, he wouldn’t tell Song Chu, he didn’t even know there was such a thing as a stone mill.

For dinner, Qin Feng steamed white rice with new rice. The hot white rice exudes the unique fragrance of new rice and the unique sweet fragrance of fragrant rice, which whetted everyone's appetite.That is, in the early Song Dynasty, everyone ate an extra wrist meal.As a result, the whole family spread out on the chairs after the meal, unable to move.In the end, it was Song Chu who got up and cleaned up the dishes.

The next day, after breakfast, the family packed a bag of rice, carried it on an old horse, and went straight to the mill.There are two mills in the village, one in the South Village and one in the North Village.The mill in South Village was not far from An Xuan's house, so they decided to go to this one.But when we got to the ground, we found that several husbands were waiting there, waiting to grind the first bag of new rice this year.If you want to grind, you have to line up.

It is estimated that the situation of the mill in Beicun is not much better there. Qin Feng decisively decided to wait here by himself. Anyway, there are horses, so there is no need to be pushed. He told Anxuan to pick her up at noon, and let the others do what they should do. .

An Xuan took a few children home, An Rubao saw that it was still early, and discussed with Song Chu: "It's still early, why don't we go to the mountains to have a look, there should be some mountain fruits and mushrooms in the mountains now, let's go pick some .By the way, the little red fruits we ate last time haven't given them a taste yet, so we just picked more."

Song Chu glanced at him, remembering An Rubao's unexplained change of face, and said in a somewhat unhappy tone: "The fruit ripens quickly, and it's gone by now." An Rubao also thought of what happened that day, coughing He said: "Hey, well, there should be other delicious food, right?" Song Chu pretended to think about it deeply, and then said, "Now the hazelnuts on the mountain are just right." An Rubao hurriedly said: "Then we Let's go pick hazelnuts, by the way, and the autumn... catalpas you mentioned, they should be ripe. Let's gather more and see if there are any others."

Song Yi came over and said, "Brother, Brother Rubao, you are going up the mountain. Take me with you, I want to go too." An Ruyu poked her head out from behind him, and joined in the fun: "I will go too, Bring me."

An Xuan came over, one hand in each hand, dragged them into the house, and said: "You two are good, stay with me at home."

An Rubao and Song Chu looked at each other and smiled.The two found two baskets in the warehouse, and Song Chu asked An Rubao to bring a cloth bag.The two walked eastward talking and laughing.

After crossing the river, the two went straight to Chushugou.Catalpa ditch is much shallower than Yangyu, and the mountains are not too high. Most of the tops of the mountains are covered with catalpa trees.The catalpa tree is shorter than the walnut tree, and the fruit is smaller than the walnut, but the outer skin has the same thick flesh as the walnut.Wipe off the outer layer, and the inside is the same hard shell as the walnut.

The catalpa tree has reached its ripening season, a lot of fruits have fallen on the ground, and the trees are densely packed.Song Chu put down his back basket, climbed up a tree after a few steps, shook the branches vigorously, and the catalpas, which had been unable to hang on the branches for a long time, fell down with a crackling sound.

An Rubao watched Song Chu's up and down lightly on the tree, and his heart went up and down, until Song Chu jumped down from a tree, looked at the ground, and said: "It's almost there." He was relieved , bent down to pick up the catalpa on the ground.

Even though the catalpa fruit is small, this place is full of a basket and a half.An Rubao picked up the full basket and said to Song Chu: "I'll put it down the mountain, you wait for me here." Song Chu nodded, found a tree root and sat down.

An Rubao carefully walked down the mountain with a basket on his back.The back basket was really heavy, but it was still able to hold it at first. When he left Song Chu's sight, An Rubao grinned and moved down.He was very fortunate that the mountain was short, otherwise he would not be able to carry it down.

After finally carrying the basket down the mountain, An Rubao was panting and sweating profusely.Sitting on the ground panted for a long time before I had the strength to stand up.After pulling some grass to cover the basket, he rested for a while before climbing back again.There is no heavy weight on the body, but it is much easier.

Just as he was walking up quickly, he suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Rubao!" An Rubao frowned, looked back, and saw a few brothers climbing up behind him at some point, and the leader was waving at him.He looked familiar, but he didn't remember it after thinking about it.