After settling down, Xu Wanning did not rest, but took a few people to the fields.
Zhuangzi in the Chengyang Marquis Mansion did not have such a large area before. Later, the first two Chengyang Marquises either bought or leased the surrounding fields, and gradually connected them into one area. Now it has a scale of 150 or 60 acres. .
A normal household can only have two or three acres, but the Chengyang Marquis Mansion covers seventy or eighty farmers.
Xu Wanning walked on the field ridge, and Chen Ming followed him and introduced, "The cotton planting just started today. According to the schedule, it must be planted in seven days."
Xu Wanning: "There are more than one hundred acres of land, and there are only eight tenant households. Will it be a rush in seven days?"
"It's a little bit rushed, but it's like this every year, so there's nothing we can do about it." Chen Ming chuckled.
Xu Wanning stopped talking.
Looking up, one hundred and fifty-six acres of fertile land are large and vast, and the tenants are bending over to plant cotton in the field. In the vast fertile land, only their tiny backs can be seen.
They work hard, but they are not working on their own fields.
There is no idle land all over the world, and farmers are still starving to death.
Continuing to walk forward, we came to a tree. There were four two- and three-year-old babies sitting under the tree, and another baby who was still in swaddling clothes was crying loudly.
Maybe it was because some children were crying, or maybe the two- or three-year-old dolls started crying too when they saw strangers approaching.
Some people shouted inarticulately, "Mother" and "Grandma".
Chen Ming explained with a smile: "These are the children of those tenant farmers."
"Why don't you watch it at home? It's so dangerous to put it here." Qing Xing said, "There might be a snake here!"
"Haha, there's no one at home, so I'd be more worried if I left it at home." Chen Ming explained, "It's better to bring it here. It will make you feel more at ease."
As soon as he finished speaking, two women ran over from the fields.
When he saw Chen Ming, he hurriedly called out to the steward, then looked at Xu Wanning, who was wearing an elegant dress next to him, and rubbed his muddy fingers in a daze.
The baby in Xu Wanning's arms shook and stopped crying. Chen Ming pointed to one of the young women wearing a headscarf and said, "Young madam, this baby belongs to the Sun family."
When the two women heard this, they immediately saluted: "Young Madam."
"Stop being so polite." Xu Wanning shook the child gently: "This child has wet himself. Go back and change him quickly."
Mrs. Sun quickly took it, and the baby felt wet in her hand.
The child has wet his swaddling clothes, and the clothes there...
Mrs. Sun felt sorry for her child and blamed herself.
"Young lady, your hands..."
Xu Wanning waved her hand, "It's okay, go back quickly."
Mrs. Sun thanked Xu Wanning, then she hugged the child and led the other child away quickly.
The other one was older. After he came over, a child hugged his leg and called grandma. The woman had no choice but to carry the crying grandson into the field.
There were two dolls left under the tree. Seeing that their companions had been taken away, they continued to cry.
Xu Wanning immediately took out two pieces of pastry and divided one piece each: "Stop crying, okay? Eat this, it's sweet and delicious."
A timid girl, with tears on her dirty little face, was hiding behind another little boy, looking at Xu Wanning timidly.
The little boy was brave. After taking the pastry, he took a bite, grabbed another piece from Xu Wanning's hand, and handed it to the little girl behind him.
As expected, the two of them stopped crying after eating something delicious.
Soon another older child ran over, hugged his younger siblings and left.
Xu Wanning was no longer in the mood to watch, "I'm a little tired, let's go back."
Also, the young madam raised in the mansion has never experienced such hardship. Chen Ming smiled and said, "Young madam, please come this way."
On the bare land along the way, one or two tenants were bending down to plant. Their backs were bent like shrimps. Even when they were resting, their backs were so bent that they could not straighten up. They would only stand for a while, and then immediately bend down to continue working.
There are also some teenagers and half-grown children in the fields, following the adults, busy, no one dares to be lazy.
"How many acres of cotton do you plan to plant this year?" Xu Wanning asked.
Chen Ming smiled and said, "Young Madam, this year we will plant 154 acres of land into cotton."
"Grow them all? Aren't you going to leave some for them to grow vegetables and food?"
"It did happen in previous years, but this year the Marquis said that cotton in Kyoto will rise sharply, so this year we will plant all cotton."
Xu Wanning suddenly understood why Du Shi had let her come here.
"So, they don't know that they have no land to grow food and vegetables?" Xu Wanning pointed to the hunched tenants.
Chen Ming nodded and smiled politely: "Young Madam is the master of the Hou Mansion and the master of Zhuangzi. Naturally, I want Young Madam to give orders, and they will definitely listen to Young Madam."
Although Dai Viet's laws do not explicitly state that tenants can grow grain and vegetables on their customers' fields, it has long been a common practice that each tenant household be allocated two acres of land.
In previous years, Zhuangzi has always practiced this.
But this year not a single bit of land was left for these tenants.
So what do they eat this year?
Do you have to go to the market to buy a small green vegetable?
Don't let these tenants cause trouble!
No wonder Mrs. Du was reluctant to let Cui Yunfeng come over. These tenants were making trouble, but they had to fight to the death. Of course, Mrs. Du was reluctant to let her son suffer and get injured.
"Now that you have made a decision, as the young lady of the Chengyang Marquis Mansion, I should inform everyone." Xu Wanning said.
Chen Ming smiled and held up his hands, his eyes full of ridicule.
The Marquis and his wife are really shrewd. The young lady thinks she is smart and wants to use her power to suppress others, but she never thought that those tenants don't care who you are. If you make them have no food, they will fight you to the death.
Chen Ming is not worried that this matter will not be handled well. Xu Wanning will not be able to handle it well, and there is also the Marquis. The Marquis will come to the rescue!
Xu Wanning didn't know what Chen Ming was thinking, so she returned to the place where she stayed.
Qing Xing scolded: "This person named Chen did it on purpose. If you let the young lady do this evil thing, those tenants will eat us alive!"
Hongmei also said worriedly: "Miss, this job is very difficult."
Xu Wanning waved her hand, "Don't worry about it. Let's play for a few days and talk about the rest later."
If she doesn't say it, Chen Ming dares to say it?
Now that he has spoken, he will not say it even if he is killed.
When the time comes, the tenants will leave two acres of land without growing cotton as in previous years. Isn't Chen Ming worried?
When he is anxious, he will naturally ask Xu Wanning to give this order. The initiative is in his own hands.
and……
Xu Wanning smiled and told Hongmei: "Everyone will come back for lunch at noon. Please ask the women from those eight families to come to my place."
"Miss, do you want it?"
Xu Wanning smiled mysteriously: "Win people's hearts."
