New Dream of Red Mansions

Xia Yuntian found the Zhuang Guanshi. Although Wang Xiyan's Zhuangzi is in Heilongjiang, they are also distributed in four different places. Each of the four Zhuangzi has a steward and four granaries. Every May, these four places will be closed. The team went south to transport the grain to Beijing City, Hebei, and even sell it there in Henan.

Now that Xia Yuntian wants to use these grains, he needs to know how much there is in total and how long the distance is. He has to clean up, at least no one can find Wang Xiyan. Most importantly, he has to find an excuse for the origin of this batch of grains. , an excuse that can convince the emperor.

"Master Hou, there are currently [-] shi of grain in the four granaries, and there is no shortage of labor for Zhuangzi. Where do you think the grain will be transported?" Manager Zhuang felt a little guilty. For Wan Shi, I didn't expect that after he arrived at Zhuangzi, he checked the accounts and found that two stewards took advantage of the previous high grain price and sold nearly [-] Shi.He had written to the girl before coming.

Manager Zhuang's eyes turned cold when he thought of those two people. The girl had been too gentle these past few years, making them forget the difference between a slave and a master.

Zhang Shicheng was overjoyed, this is not a small sum.Zhang Shicheng looked at Xia Yuntian with some doubts, saying, is the Wang family so rich?

Xia Yuntian knew more than he did, and said to Guanshi Zhuang: "I promised your girl to clean up her tail, so you just let people transport the grain to these valleys, and I will transport it away. I will find a reasonable excuse for Aunt Qin to get food."

Guanshi Zhuang heaved a sigh of relief, got up and saluted, "But according to Master Hou's orders." Guanshi Zhuang thought of the girl's new letter to him, hesitated for a moment and said: "Master Hou, my girl still has tens of thousands of taels of silver on her body. Tickets, what the girl means is to prepare some winter supplies for the soldiers, but my master didn't know anyone in this area before, so..."

Xia Yuntian thought for a while, nodded and said: "Thank her for me, I'm afraid I can't return the food to her, but I will find a way to return the silver taels, don't worry, it's not my money."

Manager Zhuang didn't refuse. Although the girl is rich, she can't use a lot of money, so she is still short of money.

Zhang Shicheng squinted his eyes, and his heart was about to move, "The Wang family is too rich, isn't it? An orphan girl can afford a month's rations for an army of 15?"

Xia Yuntian glanced at him, then turned around and said, "Didn't you hear what he said, all four of her villages are in Heilongjiang."

"What's the matter?" Zhang Shicheng was puzzled, "After paying the tax, there are still nearly [-] shi. How much land does this cost?"

Xia Yuntian looked at the map and said calmly: "Do you know how much money is one mu of land in Heilongjiang?"

"How many?"

"I heard that you can get an acre for only one tael of silver. It is a well-developed high-quality land. If it is a wasteland, it is cheaper than buying a barren mountain that is not much use in the pass."

Zhang Shicheng's eyes widened suddenly, how is this possible?In Guan, the top-grade field is five taels of silver per mu, while near the capital it costs eight taels or even more.After thinking about it, he felt relieved, "This is outside the customs, it's freezing cold, there are few people, and the land is cheaper."

Xia Yuntian paused, "Go and find two people from Heilongjiang."

Zhang Shicheng's eyes lit up, "I'll go right away."

The two veterans didn't expect that the marshal and the general took great pains to ask them to come here. They scratched their heads embarrassedly and said, "Marshal, there are few people here, but there is quite a lot of land. As long as you have the strength, you can go up the mountain with a shovel to open up wasteland." , the yamen doesn’t care, if you feel really sorry, just buy a couple of taels of wine and go there.”

Xia Yuntian and Zhang Shicheng looked at each other, "Is there no one buying and selling land?"

"Buying land?" The veteran's eyes flashed with doubt, and then he understood, "Marshal is talking about people from the city coming to us to buy land? There are, but there are few, and what they buy are all fertile land. If If they are not fat enough, they don’t want them, it’s better to ask someone to open it by themselves, take the money and tell the county magistrate, open as much as you want.”

"Then is there any big Zhuangzi in your place?"

"Yes, the biggest one belongs to an old landlord's house. There is a whole lot of land. But after his son became prosperous, he moved to the pass. Marshal, our situation is not peaceful. Once the line of defense is broken, the first We are the ones who suffer, so as soon as everyone has money, they go to the pass, and the land for planting will be desolate."

"Nobody bought it?"

"Who has the money to spend that money? Although the old land is much fatter than the new land, but with that money, it's better to buy more cotton clothes and build a better house."

Xia Yuntian glanced at Zhang Shicheng and asked, "How much grain does your acre of high-quality land produce?"

"It's done well. There are more than three stones per acre of wheat, and the millet is about the same. If the corn is doubled, there will be more potatoes. We have to sell the wheat and millet here in exchange for winter things, corn and potatoes. The sweet potatoes are the ones that are left to eat." The veteran said in a depressed mood, if it weren't for such a difficult life, how could they have come to serve as soldiers?

Outside the customs, it is not easy for a child to survive, and it is even more difficult to support a child. When he can run, he has to prepare his cotton clothes and trousers. Every year they work hard, and the money they get is just enough to buy things for a year. What's more, the seed money for next year and some money for future changes will be left behind.

Zhang Shicheng frowned, "Since the yamen's restrictions on land are not strict, can't you cultivate more? Listen, your land here is quite fertile."

The old soldier smiled wryly, "General, I don't know, we have few people, and there is only so much work that one person can do, and the wheat and millet are too cheap. I heard the soldiers in the pass say that the price of wheat in the pass is two or three of ours." What’s more, cotton and other things are too cheap, and the Tsarist soldiers can’t stop harassing us, we can’t get rich even if we want to.”

Xia Yuntian and Zhang Shicheng stopped talking immediately. Wang Xiyan's four villages are all in the southern part of Heilongjiang. Is she also guarding against this situation?

Waiting for the people to go down, Zhang Shicheng said with admiration: "It's very courageous. It is indeed more cost-effective to set up a Zhuangzi in Heilongjiang than in the customs." The output of Heilongjiang is even higher than that of some places in the customs. No wonder the other party can take out so much food at one time, it should be newly collected food that has not had time to sell.

Maybe they were lucky.

Xia Yuntian got the answer he wanted to know, so he concentrated on researching it, pointing to a gorge in the northwest: "This is a good place, I entered it by mistake before, I hid the food there, and arranged it again, it should be We can hide it from Wang Ziteng, and send someone to quietly collect some old grain that has accumulated over the years, but it is mixed with the new grain and placed on the surface."

"What's the reason?"

The corners of Xia Yuntian's mouth curled up slightly, "I remember that in the 23rd year of Tianming, the Holy Master led the army to defeat Jijihar, and Jijihar was once stationed near there."

The corners of Zhang Shicheng's mouth twitched slightly, "If the Holy Majesty knew that it was Ji Jihar who saved his soldiers more than 20 years later, what do you think the Holy Majesty would think?"

"The Holy Majesty will be very happy." Xia Yuntian moved a few times, and quickly made a plan in his mind, but our people can't wait too long, where is the prince?

"I've sent someone to investigate, and I will report back as soon as there is news."

"Then let's transport the grain from the village first, and we must be very careful along the way. We will use all of our people."

Zhang Shicheng hesitated for a moment and said, "What about Geng Zhongxian? Can he keep such a secret?"

"You don't need to tell him. If he asks, he will tell us that we are going out to find food, and the barracks also needs to be guarded, so we will leave him behind. Be careful of Tsarist Russia in the past few days. If you go down, it will get colder and colder. "

Zhang Shicheng gritted his teeth, "I don't think Tsarist Russia looted because the cattle and sheep on the grassland were frozen, but because they had evil intentions. They obviously have a better castle. Hmph, if they can fight all the way, I think they will dare Don't dare to be so arrogant!"

Xia Yuntian's eyes flickered slightly.

At this time, Wang Ziteng had just washed up, drank hot tea, ate two bites of snacks, and asked his deputy, "How long will it take to arrive at Marshal Xia's place?"

"It will take about ten days to return to my lord."

Wang Ziteng nodded and said: "Everyone is tired too, and it is snowing heavily now, so we don't have to leave so early tomorrow, the time given by the Holy Majesty is still ample, I think it will be fine if we can arrive in about fifteen days, even if it is Later, Marshal Xia will understand, the weather is getting worse and worse."

The deputy also looked at the gloomy weather outside with some melancholy, and sighed: "Yeah, looking gloomy, I'm afraid it will snow again in a few days. Then the lord will take a rest and go down to make arrangements."

Wang Ziteng nodded, looked at the sky covered by dark clouds with a smile, and thought to himself, I don't know what happened to His Majesty?I heard that since the beginning of winter, the imperial physician has been invited four times. This is still recorded. If it is not recorded... Wang Ziteng's heart is a little heavy. He knows that the Wang family is on the emperor's side. If the emperor really wants to What's the matter, the third prince, the fourth prince and the eighth prince are not vegetarians, I'm afraid they veterans will be the first to suffer.I don't know how the prince is doing now...