Yang Dingrui, who was watching the chickens in the yard, said that Zhang Qianhu only asked for three meals of food because he was concerned about Mr. Liu's face.
"Eggs are taken away as soon as they are laid. Eggs are taken away as soon as they are laid. There are fewer and fewer chickens around. You see, it is unhappy and thinks there is something wrong with the chicken coop."
"I probably didn't have this idea before. I always had food to eat, but now I have no food. I am so hungry that I can't even open my eyes. I flap my wings and want to fly high and fly out of the chicken coop."
Yang Dingrui was studying the rules of chickens so much that Liu Chengzong, who was sharpening his knife, also followed the chickens and said: "If it eats meat, let it kill chickens and do it, because it thinks that chickens are called to eat anyway. Those who kill must die, and there is nothing wrong with being killed by chickens.”
Hearing this, Yang Dingrui stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The boy can be taught. You have to let him eat enough. After he is full, find him two companions. Then Zhaoli will be able to recover on his own and will not come out of the cage again..."
Before he finished speaking, Liu Chengzong's smile stopped abruptly, because Liu Chengzong stood up as he spoke. After speaking, he took a knife and threw a small iron bowl on the ground. He bowed and took the hen out of the cage and killed it with one knife.
Drain the blood cleanly.
"It's hard to find a companion. After all, people are not chickens. There is no food in northern Shaanxi. Come on, sir, let's make soup. It's very fragrant."
Zhang Qianhu did indeed have a meal at the Black Dragon King Temple Mountain as he said, and then headed north with food and food.
This was revenge, so Lu Bin, who had escaped from Laomiaozhuang, also followed. His injuries were not healed yet, so he could only serve as a guide.
The officers and soldiers were delighted to have a guide, and they planned to attack in the morning.
Liu Chengzong looked at the sky and estimated the distance of the Wei Suo army. They should be still on their way, not far from the old temple village, and might have chosen a place to rest.
This battle will end by tomorrow evening at the latest, but no one knows what the outcome will be, let alone whether the outcome will be good or bad for Xing Pingli, which makes him unreasonably upset.
I'm so restless that I want to eat something good.
In the hall, Liu Xiangyu's face was as dark as water. Chengyun sat at the end to calculate the accounts, how much grain the clan had, how much stone grain could be harvested from the land this summer, whether the existing grain was enough to last until the summer grain was handed over, and whether the remaining grain could last until the autumn grain was handed over.
To be precise, what matters is how to buy food appropriately.
Sixteen blooded chickens were taken and plucking the feathers. Liu Chengzong washed his hands and stood up and walked into the hall. When he saw his cousin's expression thinking hard, he knew that the financial situation of the clan was not good.
"It's definitely not enough to harvest the grain. We use 44 shi for growing grain on our 420 acres of land. The maximum for summer grain is 300 shi. We need to leave 58 shi for regular taxes and growing grain, leaving 240 shi. There are more than a dozen people and a dozen large animals, which can last more than half a year."
This is because the land in northern Shaanxi is thin. Even a family with a hundred acres of land on this land is still not a big landlord, because one hundred acres can only produce a harvest of forty acres in Guanzhong.
"But my second uncle wants to calculate the land rent from here. I don't think so. The food is only enough for his own use. What about the government apportionment? That's higher than the regular tax."
The official tax rate in the Ming Dynasty was very low. This was the tone set at the founding of the country. Emperor Taizu set a basic official tax based on the annual expenditure at that time, and the official tax rate was one for thirty. Later generations would not increase the official tax rate.
However, with the new founding of the People's Republic of China, the country is peaceful and the people are at peace, the number of acres is fixed, there is no hidden land, and the positive tax collected is just enough to spend. This will inevitably lead to a decrease in the number of acres in the mid-term and later, and the positive tax is not enough to spend.
Then the smart court created the extra system of Yin Chi Mao Liang, which means that if you don’t have enough money to do major things in the first year, it doesn’t matter. If you have a deficit, you can do it first, and save it for next year to make up for the deficit with extra money.
The three additional rates proposed to deal with the post-establishment funds are not high at all when mixed with the regular tax, only one per fifteen tax.
When an ordinary person earns three hundred shi of rice and grain per year, he will never be overwhelmed by the regular tax of 35 or 6 shi. What crushes the common people is that when his annual income is only 50 shi, he still has to pay six shi.
Because the income is no longer enough to eat and drink.
What's more, there is another important tax, levy.
Transporting money and grain, repairing city walls, repairing government offices, and hiring people to knock on clappers and watch the clock... are all servants, and they are also the legal obligations of the people of the Ming Empire.
If you want to farm and you don’t want to go, you can only pay the bank and pay the grain to hire someone.
Calculated, it is much more expensive than regular tax, and the types are different.
The old man had collected taxes and knew this very well, so he waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about the distribution for now. The land rent will be calculated according to the regular tax. We will think of a solution after the distribution. Didn't Dalang and the Lion bring back the food?"
After saying this, Liu Xiangyu thought that the dozens of stones of grain would be kept for the village's frontier troops to eat. He tapped his fingers on the table in distress: "Your father-in-law can sell as much grain as he wants. Prepare to buy grain."
Chengyun nodded and said, "I think so. We can only buy grain. However, the price of grain in Huifucheng has risen. It's an expensive time. I'm afraid I won't be able to buy it if I don't have four or five taels of rice and wheat."
Liu Chengyun not only raised the problem, but also put forward the method to solve the problem: "It is better to cross the river into Shanxi. My father-in-law wrote a complaint to the rice merchant in Fucheng, and he recognized it. The price of food in Shanxi is high, so it's okay." It won’t cost two or three cents per bucket of rice.”
"The same silver can buy twenty shi here and fifty shi over there. The things my brother brought back are valuable. Even if you deposit them, you can cover the principal. Maybe you can make a fortune when you come back."
Yang Dingrui, who followed Liu Chengzong into the hall, was fascinated by what he heard and couldn't help but say: "On the four hundred miles journey to Shanxi, there is an uprising by King Hun Tian on the way to and from Yanchuan. Dozens of stones of food can easily be robbed."
"But if you go to Fucheng, you still need twenty or thirty people to protect you, not to mention it's expensive. Even if you hire a porter in Shanxi, it's just one stone and eight coins of silver."
The carrier was obviously not convinced about the price. He put the brush in his mouth and held it in his mouth. Mr. Liu, who was sitting at the top, worriedly said: "I'm afraid if I pay one tael per stone now, others will also He may not be willing to move from Jin to Qin."
Cheng Yun thought well, clapped his hands and said, "If that doesn't work, go to both sides. I'll go to Shanxi, draw a map of the city for Brother Shizi, and ask him to find merchants to buy food. Anyone who dares to rob will fight with them!"
Liu Chengzong sat on the last chair and listened, looking at the yard in trance. Listening to the family planning money and food made him feel an unknown fire in his heart, and he put his fists on his legs and clenched them tightly.
People have been calculating over and over again, but there is no good solution. During the disaster years, they worked hard to build water conservancy projects to fight drought, and farmed the land for half a year, but in the end there was not enough for their own food?
"Our family is like this, how can other families survive?"
Liu Chengzong still couldn't hold back and interrupted everyone's thoughts. He shook his head and said: "Now, let alone bringing food across Yanchuan, even if someone brings one or two hundred shi of food across Heilong Mountain, sir, brother, do you think he can do it?" Take away the food?"
"Will Zhang Qianhu ask someone to take the food away, or will Brother Cao ask someone to take the food away? No one can take the food away from here. When we go out to buy food, the officers, soldiers, thieves, and villages we meet on the way are all Enemy, food is life, it is useless to just pay for food."
What Cao Yao said couldn't help but echo in Liu Chengzong's mind.
'The world will only get worse and worse. Like your postman brother named Li Hongji, if you want to be an obedient citizen, you will only starve to death. '
'You deserve to wait until you are too hungry to think of anything else, and you should rob others while you still have the strength. '
Liu Chengzong didn't say anything more, and went out to ask Shiliu to go to the blacksmith shop to get the newly made knife grid for him.
He knows that people are like that chicken, no matter whether you can survive or not, you will die sooner or later.
But do you really have to be a thief and rob to survive?
