Zhu Dagui, the person in charge of the grain station in Xingkaihu Village No. 2, knew almost all of them, but among the three carriages that came today, except for the person in the first car, he recognized Zhao Xin in the second car, and none of the others. know.
However, he noticed that among the people sitting in the car, there was a little boy wearing a badger skin hat and a mask on his face; however, when his eyes swept over the other person's beautiful eyebrows, he realized that It's a woman.
Under the leadership of Zhu Dagui, the convoy drove all the way to the grain drying field, where the village's granary was also located. Unlike homes, granaries are built with steel frames, surrounded by painted wooden boards, and covered with reed mats on top. The floor of the entire warehouse is one foot high from the ground. This is mainly to prevent insects and moisture and facilitate ventilation.
At this time, a "sting" sound suddenly came from the big loudspeaker set up next to the grain drying field. After a while, as the prelude of the flute and the sound of the lock sounded, a cheerful tune accompanied by castanets began to sing.
"The green ridges, the lush green mountains, the harvest crops can't be seen to the edge, you can't see to the edge..."
Zhao Xin's body swayed and he almost fell off the carriage. He thought to himself, I will choke him, Lao Yu can do it!
At present, Deli is in charge of the folk missionary work in Beihai Town. He has recruited a wide range of talents among the refugees. Operators, storytellers, and even those who have worked as small singers are all included in the propaganda team. His main job is to go to the countryside to perform the operas and songs of later generations that he carefully selected and adapted.
It is said that the publicity team is currently rehearsing his adaptations of "The White-Haired Girl", "Chaoyanggou" and "Xiao Erhei's Marriage", and is preparing to start touring and performing in the countryside in a few days.
At this time, the wheat on the threshing floor has been collected and packed into bins, and the drying field is empty. After the carriage stopped, everyone worked together to get the heavy mechanical scale off the third carriage.
This thing is self-produced in Beihai Town. At first glance, it looks heavy and heavy, and it seems to be very simple to make. In fact, four kinds of steel are used in the material, forged steel, high carbon steel, plain carbon steel, and low carbon steel; in addition, the metering lever is Made of brass.
The long and short levers located at the bottom of the scale pan are composed of load-bearing levers and force-transmitting levers, both of which are cast steel parts. Whether it is a forged or cast lever, it must undergo aging treatment to eliminate internal stress before it can be machined. The arrangement of the pound knife on the lever should not only determine its position according to the force ratio relationship, but also ensure the relative parallelism and verticality of each cutting edge.
Because Chai Rugui and the other three are new this year, they are still settled according to work points, and Zhu Dagui assigns work every day. If you really want to wait until the land is divided, you have to stay in Beihai Town for half a year.
The three brothers and Liu Laoshuan felt strange as they squatted aside to watch the preparations at the grain station. In the Qing Dynasty in the south, grain was sold not with scales, but with buckets.
However, Chai Rugui noticed that some of the people at the grain station were different. They were just watching and talking to Zhu Dagui. One of them was very tall and smiled when he spoke, but Zhu Dagui, the village chief, looked cautious, so he asked: "Uncle Liu, what do those people do?"
Liu Laoshuan looked at it for a while and found that he didn't recognize it either, so he guessed based on experience: "80% of them are people from the civil affairs."
"Minzheng? Why did Minzheng come here?"
"I'm afraid that people at the grain station will play tricks on the scale. If the scale is inaccurate, won't our farmers suffer a loss?"
It is said that in the Qing Dynasty, when calculating grain, buckets were mainly used. The grain was placed in the bucket container, and then scraped with a flat ruler. When the bucket was flat, it was a standard bucket. In the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, buckets were of different sizes and had many standards, including "Cangdou awarded by the Ministry of Household Affairs", "Canghu", "Caohu", Jingcang Honghu, Tongcang Honghu, Jindou, In Guandong Dou, the corresponding volumes of each type are different. For example, the Guandong Dou was used exclusively for grain collection in the northeastern region in the early Qing Dynasty, and each standard dou equaled five liters of the Guandong Dou; while the Jin Dou, also known as the "Imperial Dou", was a special dou for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and each dou equaled 3.6 standard dou.
For example, if the grain consumption per stone in a certain place increases by 1.5 buckets, the "warehouse" in that place will be expanded by 1.5 buckets per stone based on the standard bucket; or the local "standard market bucket" will be used as the "warehouse". Due to the different sizes of "standard market buckets" in various places, the sizes of warehouse buckets vary from place to place; moreover, local "universal market buckets" are used instead of "warehouse buckets" to collect grain.
At this time, Gao Liugeng on the side asked: "Uncle Shuan, what is the algorithm for the government to collect grain without using buckets or scales?"
Liu Laoshuan said: "The regulations given by the grain station are one stone equal to 125 kilograms. Just use a scale to weigh it. It is better than the warehouse in the south government and does not bully people."
In the countryside, Li Qingwen had seen government officials playing tricks on warehouse buckets, and kicking the stems of stems was nothing more than childish. He said "Oh" and asked again: "Uncle Shuan, how much do you plan to sell the Wei family this year?"
Liu Laoshuan smashed the mouth of his pipe and said with a sullen expression: "Forty stones, five thousand catties."
As mentioned before (see Chapter 216), the basic pricing of grain in Beihai Town is based on the grain market in Jinan Prefecture. Nowadays, people in Caobang send news about the price of grain in the pass to Sheyang Lake every month, and then send it back to Beihai Town. Although there have been some fluctuations in the past two years, it has always been around the baseline of 1.5 taels of silver per stone.
However, because the Qing government deployed troops outside the customs, the price of rice rose sharply. The price of rice rose from 2.1 taels per stone to 3 taels, an increase of more than 40%. This is mainly because the Eight Banners soldiers still mainly eat rice for two meals a day.
Liu Laoshuan sells forty shi of wheat for 60 taels of silver. One Beihai Town silver dollar is 7.46 grams. The silver content is the same as the clear 925 silver. Five coins correspond to one tael, so Liu Laoshuan's income this time That's three hundred Beihai silver dollars.
Li Wenqing said in astonishment: "Selling that old man? What if there is a disaster?"
Liu Laoshuan said with a smile: "Young man, if you don't sell it, your house won't be able to fit it in. The west wing of my house is full of grain, and the public warehouse in our village also has a lot of it. If you don't sell it and wait for worms to grow? Last year, my house sold it. We have made three thousand kilograms, and the prince is kind to us people. We can't sell the old grain, but we can keep it for our own consumption. When we have saved enough money in two years, my family will also build a large blue brick house with two entrances and a courtyard. Live the life of a landlord."
Chai Rugui and the others were shocked when they heard this. They didn't expect that farming in Beihai Town could be so rich. But Liu Laoshuan also said that it was hard when we opened up wasteland two years ago, especially in winter, when the white-haired wind blew, so we could only stay in shacks. The next year, with the help of the civil affairs, the village gave Each house was built with wooden tiles.
At this time, all the men, women, and children from the second village gathered in the grain drying field, one after another. The women were all sitting on small benches, holding awls and needles, either picking up shoe soles or mending clothes, and slapping their running children.
Men from various families either gathered together to laugh and chat, or gathered around to watch others play chess or the newly learned checkers. The farmers have been busy for most of the year, and only then can they take a breather. They sell their grain and buy things, and they are all preparing to have a good year.
"Everyone be quiet," the music played in the loudspeaker had ended, and the people at the grain station held up a tin horn and began to call the names.
"Start calling people now! Li Fugui~~"
"Come on!"
"Hu Quanfu~~"
"Here it is!" A villager who was playing chess was about to lose when he heard him being called. He then messed up the chessboard and said, "I'll come back to clean up after I sell all the grain!"
"Bah! I'll wait! You stinky chess piece! Even counting this one, you owe me two white pieces." The dime coins in Beihai Town are die-cast from copper-aluminum alloy. Because there is more aluminum than copper, it is also called " "White son".
Two people are called at the grain station at a time. After the person named passes by, he first reports the amount of grain he plans to sell. After the people at the grain station complete the registration in the book and press their fingerprints, they then take people into the warehouse to take samples with grain spies to check the quality. Moisture.
Usually at this time, the supervisor of the civil affairs will be on the side to inspect. His task is not only to ensure that the scale is not tampered with, but also to verify the quality of each bag of grain.
After Gu Xuan has determined that the quality is good, the next step is to randomly check and weigh, which must also be carried out with the participation of civil affairs supervisors.
The supervisors sent by the civil affairs are randomly assigned by drawing lots the day before departure. People at the grain station generally don't know who will be sent to supervise, so it is very difficult to join forces so far.
After the random inspection, the civil affairs supervisor will first put a blue stamp on the outside of the grain bag for sale, indicating that the bag is sold, and then issue a four-part document, two copies to the farmer, one to the supervisor, and one to the farmer. One copy is retained; then the farmer can go to another table to settle the payment with the second copy of the receipt. Because people often change the quantity temporarily when selling grain, the trucks pulling grain will be sent after all statistics are completed.
The grain drying field was crowded with people, laughing and laughing. Zhao Xin and Zhu Dagui were sitting on the wooden piles under the wooden wall outside the warehouse, talking in low voices, only ten meters away from the grain drying field.
The four people beside him, including Chen Jishan and Yin Bingwei, raised their eyes and looked around from time to time. Soon, when Chen Jishan glanced at Chai Rugui and the other three people, and was about to continue staring at the two fake Hezhe people, his pupils suddenly shrank, and his eyes turned to Chai Rugui and the other three people, and his eyes narrowed.
Although these three people were squatting on the ground like other old farmers, they seemed to be loose, but in Chen Jishan's view, the three people's posture was like standing on a low pile, with their knees slightly buckled in and their feet gripping the ground, they could jump like a leopard at any time. go out.
The three of them, Chai Rugui, have practiced martial arts for many years, working hard all the time, and their daily movements have been developed over many years. However, after coming to the second village these days, they found that no one here understood this, so the three of them relaxed their vigilance.
At this moment, Chai Rugui and the others suddenly felt the cold hairs on their bodies exploding, and the energy in their bodies was rising. They knew something was wrong, so they pretended to be casual and glanced around. Their eyes soon fell on Chen Jishan.
I saw that the man was less than six feet tall, wearing two gray cloth clothes of an "official" in Beihai Town. He was standing unobtrusively behind the civil affairs official opposite Zhu Dagui. His knees were slightly buckled, and he was smiling at the moment. Looking at the three of them, the aura exuding from their bodies was like a mountain, pressing down on them like a mountain.
You must know that Chen Jishan is no longer the simple martial artist he was a few years ago. After years of training in the military camp and fighting on the battlefield, both his momentum and martial arts have already been perfected. After he returned from Irkutsk this time, Zhao Xin planned to let him join the training team and then be promoted to battalion commander.
However, Chen Jishan heard that Zhao Xin planned to go to the village in disguise to investigate the people's situation, so he asked to follow him on another trip. Zhao Xin thought about it and agreed. After all, having a master next to you will make you feel more at ease.
The two Qing spies in Xingkaihu Village No. 2 have not been arrested so far. Zhao Xin’s order to the General Administration of Public Security was to follow the clues and catch them all. So when Chen Jishan entered the village, he focused all his attention on Zhunise and Qibukadai. Unexpectedly, he discovered three masters.
"Master!" The three brothers were suddenly shocked. They had only seen this kind of momentum from their master Chang Naizhou. After observing the other people next to the man, Chai Rugui and the others found that except for the man who was talking to the village chief and a thin little man wearing a hat, the others were all Lianjiazi; a few people stood there, Faintly surrounding the sitting man.
Gao Liugeng began to mutter in his heart again, who in Beihai Town would be followed by several boxers when they go out? According to Liu Laoshuan, that person was just a minor civil affairs official. Does Beihai Town need to send experts to protect even a small official when he goes out?
wrong! This is so strange.
On the other side, Chen Jishan waited for Zhao Xin and Zhu Dagui to pause in their conversation, then interrupted and asked: "Village Chief Zhu, are the three over there from your village? When did they come?"
Zhu Dagui looked up and said with a smile: "The people who came here last month from Kaifeng Mansion are all fellows from Henan."
"What are they called?"
"Well, the one on the far left is the eldest, his name is Chai Dazhuang, and the two next to him are sworn brothers, one is called Gao Liu and the other is Li Wen."
"Chai Dazhuang, Gaoliu, Li Wen..."
Chen Jishan muttered the names of the three people back and forth, which attracted Zhao Xin's attention, so he casually said: "What's wrong?"
"Sir, these three people are not ordinary farmhands. They all have great skills."
When Zhu Dagui heard this, he quickly said: "I know this. They said that before coming to Beihai Town, I learned the moves from others in the village for a few years."
Chen Jishan shook his head and said: "It's not just a few years, it's not even a dozen years that I can't develop this momentum."
Only then did Zhu Dagui understand what was going on, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He quickly said: "What are you talking about? How about reporting it to the official?" As soon as he said the words, he immediately remembered that there was no one in front of him. big.
Zhao Xin reached out and patted Zhu Dagui on the shoulder, signaling him to calm down, and then said: "Don't panic, it will frighten the villagers and make them more chaotic. This way..."
Half an hour later, Chai Rugui and three others followed a villager to the courtyard of the village office. Because the three of them earn money through work points, they can do whatever the village chief arranges.
When they entered the yard, Chai Rugui and the others were about to go into the kitchen to chop wood and boil water as instructed, when they saw the curtain of the main room lift, and the thin man they saw just now walked out, followed by two more.
The three brothers' eyes suddenly froze, and they turned back to look at the courtyard door. Unexpectedly, two people were already standing at the door, with two guns pointed at them. Gao Liugeng knew that it was a short musket unique to Beihai Town, which could fire several shots in succession. He had seen it on the security police of Whale Harbor, but the shape was different.
A sneer appeared on Chen Jishan's lips, he walked to the steps and looked down at the three brothers. The two people behind him also took out guns and pointed them at the three people.
Chai Rugui's heart skipped a beat, but he still held up his hands with a calm face and said, "What are you doing? Didn't you ask our brothers to come here to boil water?"
Chen Jishan said: "Stop pretending! I didn't do anything just now because I was afraid of shocking the villagers. Tell me, where did you three come from? What is the purpose of coming to Beihai Town?"
Li Qingwen curled his lips, realizing that the three of them had already revealed their traces. He crossed his arms and said, "What did you say? What if you don't say anything?"
Chen Jishan said: "If you tell me, go back and live a peaceful life; if you don't tell me, then we will fight."
Li Qingwen said: "Haha, there must be rules for dealing with each other, right?"
Chen Jishan said calmly: "Okay! If you win, you can go back and forth wherever you want. Beihai will send gifts out of the country; if I win, then stop talking nonsense."
"Hahaha, okay, I'm really knowledgeable. I've never met such a crazy person in my life." After listening to Chen Jishan's words, Li Qingwen chuckled, took off the jacket he was wearing and threw it on the ground: "Then give it a try Bar?"
