A dozen battalion leaders led more than 6,000 rebel soldiers, forcing farmers in nearby villages to harvest wheat for them.
These people were all refugees recruited the year before. They were recruited temporarily to cultivate the land in the flooded area. Once the reservoir fills up, most of the area will be submerged.
However, according to Yang Mansion's business habits, even if these people are disbanded in the future, they will be given other job opportunities. We will try our best to accommodate those who can, and we will definitely not drive away things.
These people are timid farmers who dare not resist under the bright swords and guns of these soldiers. They can only harvest, thresh, dry, and winnow.
Seeing sack after sack of dried wheat being loaded onto the carriage, the farmers' hearts were dripping with blood.
It was agreed upon with Yang Mansion that for these wheat, Yang Mansion provided seeds, irrigation water, guano and manure, farm tools and pre-harvest rations.
Farmers contribute their own efforts and are responsible for field management.
When grain is harvested, within one hundred catties per mu of land will be distributed directly to farmers. For more than one hundred catties, farmers will get 30%, and the Yang family will get 70%.
The yield per acre of irrigated land is calculated as three hundred kilograms. The farmer gets 160 jins, and the Yang family gets 140 jins. This ratio is much better than the market. On one side, landlords and tenants, on good land like irrigated land, the distribution ratio is mostly six for the landlord and four for the farmers.
Unexpectedly, the Yang Mansion provided so many things, but was willing to take less than the villagers. They were still very excited. The only condition is that Yang Fan can give either banknotes or silver dollars to buy the wheat. Bankers are willing to accept these two currencies. Because purchasing power is strong.
Unexpectedly, after half a year of hard work, rebel soldiers came during the summer harvest and wanted to take away all the wheat. Farmers were harvesting and working while weeping. This year, with the addition of guano fertilizer, the wheat has grown like crazy. The golden waves of wheat are something these people who have been farming for generations have never seen before.
In this era, the wheat in the dry fields grew sparsely. The sight of such dense and straight wheat grains, resistant to lodging, large and long ears, and huge grains makes people happy. The old dealers all predicted that the output would exceed 500 catties.
These bankers were so excited by this news that they couldn't sleep all night. They count on their fingers how much food their families can get, or how much they can sell it for.
Cui Dazhuang's family of five rented and cultivated 20 acres of wheat land. He, his wife, and three and a half grown men went to the fields together. He estimated that with such good irrigated land, if one acre of land could harvest 300 jins of wheat, his family would be able to get 3,200 jins of wheat. At least 2,500 pounds of flour can be obtained.
This is twenty-one loads of flour. It's worth at least 53 taels of silver.
He never dreamed that such a good thing could happen.
As the autumn harvest was approaching, his old uncle was already at the end of his crop. The old man excitedly estimated that the yield of such a good wheat field would exceed 500 kilograms per mu. After all, where are the dense plants, huge ears of wheat, and plump grains?
Where have our ancestors seen wheat fields growing so well? The old man has lived for seventy years, so this is an eye-opener. As soon as the news came out, the bankers were almost crazy with joy.
Five hundred kilograms. Cui Dazhuang was excited to find out that with this yield per mu, he would get at least eighty taels of silver from this summer's harvest. After all, flour now costs two and a half taels of silver.
But all this was in vain, when the good master's family was caught up in the war.
Cui Dazhuang's family cried while working, feeling as if their grievances and anger were burning through their chests. The rebels have been here for two days. The grain harvested yesterday has been put into sacks after a day of drying. It was said that it would take at least two days of exposure to the sun before it would heal, but these rebels seemed to be afraid of something and hurriedly moved away the half-dried food.
No one dared to speak, those bright swords and guns did not recognize anyone.
At this time, his eldest son, fifteen-year-old Cui Shitou, suddenly stopped harvesting and looked ahead in horror. They didn't even care about the scolding of the rebel soldiers who were watching their work.
Cui Dazhuang stood up and took a look. In the wheat fields in the distance, groups of people were squatting, and then the militiamen covered by the wheat fields were rushing towards this direction quickly.
He knew these people, they were from a nearby town. them and themselves
These temporary tenant farmers are different. They are all Master Yang's domestic slaves. They live a prosperous life, and I heard that they don't have to pay any rent for growing Mr. Yang's land.
A strong man in his forties waved his hand at him and motioned for him to squat down.
He knew this man as Chu Shengshan, the captain of the militia team. He was also a blacksmith and had asked him to repair his hoe several times. Add some iron and repair the head of the plow stick again.
He covered the mouth of his eldest son who was about to scream, and told the whole family to squat on the ground.
"Damn it, you lazy fools, get up and work quickly. We won't be able to finish cutting this land today, so watch your skin carefully." The rebel scolded.
As he spoke, he picked up the whip and whipped it randomly. His clothes were torn and his skin was torn apart.
He held his three sons close to his chest, blocked the whip with his back, and allowed the insurrectionist to whip him without making a sound.
Seeing how stubborn he was, the rebels drew their knives and walked over. She grabbed his bun and pressed the back edge of the Yanling knife on his neck with one hand, preparing to slit his throat.
At this moment, there was a burst of bow strings, and a row of crossbow arrows were shot, and they were in front of them in an instant. The rebel soldiers who were watching the farmers working in the fields were suddenly hit by crossbow arrows flying at high speed, and the huge impact sent them flying backwards. Then it hit the ground hard.
The mandarin duck jackets they wore had no effect. He was immediately shot backwards by a crossbow arrow.
At this time, the rebels finally realized that a powerful enemy was coming. They gave up on the farmers and rushed forward with swords and guns.
At this time, since they were exposed and a surprise attack was impossible, these militiamen immediately stood up and rushed over.
Gao Cangjin was riding on a tall horse and saw militiamen wearing various civilian clothes and holding swords and guns coming from a distance. He shouted loudly: "Don't panic, don't panic. They are just ordinary people."
However, he was soon slapped in the face.
These farmers rushed out of the wheat field and immediately formed a formation of thirty people.
Ten people held shields and swords, ten held nine-shot blunderbuss, and ten held spears.
These people had fierce eyes, looking at these rebels as if they were enemies.
The soldiers from Fenwu Camp just rushed up, trying to teach these country bumpkins how to fight. There was a burst of fire. In the wheat fields ahead, patches of fire came. A dense plume of lead shot out of the musket.
These country bumpkins fired the nine-shot gun as soon as they came up. Suddenly, a large number of the rebels were killed.
These soldiers have been without pay for a year and a half. He had long lost his fighting power. When he saw the Yang family's private soldiers being so fierce, he shouted, turned around and ran away.
Gao Cang Jinqi's face turned pale, he raised his sword and hacked two deserters to death. But it was of no use. The others continued to run away, just going around him.
