When the Cao brothers came to the medical clinic for a review, the Lin family learned from their mouths how difficult it was to occupy an additional acre of land in Lianhua Village.
"Our village has more mountains than plains. Each household is divided into fields according to their head. Each adult male in the family is allocated one acre of fertile land and one acre of dry land. Women and children count as half a head, so they can be allocated half an acre of fertile land or one acre of dry land. A widow and an only son would be given the same amount of land as an adult male, and those with cattle could be given an additional two acres of land."
As Cao Tongguang spoke, he glanced at the group of people in the Lin family, "Your family has many men and cattle. According to the regulations, you can be allocated ten acres of fertile land and eight acres of dry land. However, the excess land in the village has long been distributed to each other." Every household is gone. Ding Maoshan asked you to ask the villagers for help, which is obviously a shirk of responsibility. Who is willing to give up the meal to others!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Lin family fell silent, and no one spoke for a long time.
That night, Mrs. Lin gathered the whole family together.
"If you have any ideas, tell me."
Boss Lin was the first to speak.
"Mom, I asked the villagers during the day. Everyone's land is not enough. Even if there are people who are willing to give up the land, the price offered is too high."
"How much money do they need before they are willing to sell it?" Mrs. Zhang poured boiling tea for everyone before sitting down next to her husband.
While Mrs. Zheng was breastfeeding her daughter, she paid attention to the movements here.
Boss Lin raised three fingers helplessly.
"You dirty-hearted people are taking advantage of the situation. Three taels of silver per acre of land, but this land can grow gold!" Zhao Ruoxia was so angry that she cursed, "Mom, let's not farm anymore, so we can open a medical clinic and then treat patients. If the cost is doubled, how can people not get sick if they eat whole grains? When the time comes, let the villagers hand over all the food they have worked hard for for a year, and our family will be like those landlords, just sit at home and wait for the food to be distributed!"
The more she spoke, the more energetic she became. She felt that she had come up with a great idea. She was about to say something more when she heard Mrs. Lin smash the tea bowl on the table with a "bang".
"You might as well stay in the house, what bad idea did you come up with!"
Zhao Ruoxia shrank her neck and pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. Is there anything wrong with her suggestion? There is no way to earn as much money from farming as opening a medical clinic, and there is no way to make a living from the sky as compared to living from crafts.
In the past half month, the Lin family's rheumatism plaster sales have been good, and people from the next village were even introduced. The family's grain tank was full for the first time, and even for breakfast, they were willing to throw millet into the pot to make porridge.
Lin Laoer pulled Zhao's arm, glared at her, and told her to shut up.
"Mom, how about we open up wasteland."
When Mrs. Lin heard her second son's words, her unhappy expression eased slightly, and this was when she thought about it.
However, Zhao Ruoxia rolled her eyes, clenched her back molars, pulled Lin Laoer's legs under the table, and whispered.
"Why are you so crazy? It's so easy to open up wasteland, why don't the villagers do it?"
Lin Laoer brushed her hand away and continued: "These days, my eldest brother and my third brother and I were collecting herbs in the back mountain and found several acres of mature wasteland. It seemed that it had been abandoned for at least three or four years. Fortunately, those few acres of land There is a culvert that leads directly to the stream. With a little care and loosening of the soil, it shouldn't be difficult to reuse it.
It's just that the harvests in the first two years may not be ideal, but it doesn't matter. Once the land is ripe, the grain production will increase. "
Tian Rui interrupted: "Dad, what is a mature wasteland? Is there a raw wasteland?"
Lin Laoer: "You guessed it right. Mature wasteland refers to crops that were planted on it in the past, but was later abandoned and slowly turned into wasteland. Raw wasteland refers to those areas that are overgrown with weeds and rocks and need to be fertilized." The shovel is reclaiming the ground bit by bit.
It is much more difficult to cultivate raw wasteland than mature wasteland. Even if the cultivation is successful, the grain yield will not be half of that of normal fields. If there is a bad harvest year, a year's hard work will be in vain! Therefore, ordinary farmers will not do such a thankless task. "
As long as it comes to growing food, no one can speak more clearly than Lin Laoer. He has always been taciturn and doesn't talk much. Now he is like a teacher, teaching farming knowledge to a few ignorant boys in the room.
When Lin Silang heard that this method was feasible, he had other doubts.
"Then are there owners of these lands? If our family opens up wasteland, do we need to pay taxes?"
The law of Daqian stipulates that the court pays taxes twice a year. Once in the summer, it collects money and silk, or uses corvee to deduct taxes; once after the autumn harvest, it collects grain according to the land under the family name. The more land, the more grain will be paid. .
But the next day, Cao Tongguang's eyes widened when he learned that the Lin family was going to open up wasteland in the back mountain.
He was afraid that the Lin family would get dizzy with anxiety, so he paid attention to that area.
"You guys have just arrived, so you don't know many things. The reason why that wasteland is abandoned is that no matter what you plant on it, it won't survive!"
"Why can't you survive?"
Lin Laoer was confused. He took another look in the morning. The land was soft and fertile, with plenty of sunshine and abundant rain. Although it was not fertile land, it was much better than ordinary dry land.
Cao Tongguang spread his hands and said: "How do I know? Anyway, if you are evil, you will die if you sow.
Since the land was cleared when I was ten years old, several families in the village have rushed to cultivate the rice. The seedlings died in the second month of planting rice. The fruits harvested by those planting corn were not half as big as usual. Even sweet potatoes were so easy to grow. Growing live plants also has a low yield and takes a long time.
As time went by, the villagers realized that they were getting half the result with twice the effort. They had to carry shovels to climb the mountain every day, and they no longer wanted to take care of the land. The last time they planted anything was three years ago. "
The faces of the Lin family suddenly darkened. Seeds also had to be bought with money, and they could not do business at a loss.
But Lin Laosan heard something else: "Brother Tongguang, according to you, anyone can farm this land?"
Cao Tongguang nodded: "This is still stipulated by the old village chief. Whoever wants to plant this land can take it. No money will be charged, but the tax for the annual autumn harvest must be collected normally."
He laughed out loud thinking about it, "No one dares to take over this hot potato. Over time, the village has forgotten those acres of wasteland. I advise your family not to take advantage of that land and save some money for manpower in the village." The serious thing is to buy a few acres of fertile land."
Lin Laosan didn't know as much as Lin Laoer about farming.
He turned around to look at his second brother's face, and saw that he looked as usual and frequently looked towards the valley. He seemed to be very interested in the acres of land on the mountain.
Before Cao Tongguang left, he seriously told the Lin family to give up thinking about the wasteland. If the family really couldn't raise the money to buy the land, his family could borrow some and pay it back when they had more money.
He really thinks about the Lin family, not only because Mrs. Lin cured his younger brother's ear disease, but also because he wants to make good friends with the Lin family. The Lin family has a large population, and both men and women are capable. The key is to be sincere, kind and of good conduct.
With such a family, there are only advantages and no disadvantages in making more friends.
