On the way to the town, Xu Tianxin finally had the opportunity to have a general understanding of the town where he was.
It turns out that the area and population distribution of Helan Town are so large that it is well-known in Fucheng.
For example, there are more than 100 households in their village, Wangjiagou has even more people, Leijiawo is also in their early 100s, and there are as many as 12 villages in their town with more than 100 households, which means there are tens of thousands of people. Counting those small villages with dozens of households and the permanent population in the town, Helan Town is logically qualified to be established as a separate county.
But for some unknown reason, it is still managed by Pingzhou County.
Xu Tianxin speculated that the tax might be too low, or that the imperial court had other arrangements for the ownership of Helan Town or even Pingzhou County.
How should such a large town be managed? Their town is quite far away from the county, so they can't just go to the county to report everything.
Liu Laozhu saw that Xu Tianxin was very interested, so he explained: "There is a town office, called a government office. It is larger than the Hebo office I took you to that day. You will see it soon, on East Second Street. The biggest official is Zhen Ting, who is responsible for the uprightness of those of us."
Xu Tianxin immediately understood. In modern times, it is called a mayor, but here it is called a town pavilion. Liu Bang used to be the pavilion chief.
"Then does he have any rank?"
"Yes, our town is different from other small towns. They are serious people of the ninth grade."
Liu Laozhu has never told anyone that his dream has always been to be a town pavilion.
But they are so prestigious, no matter how upright they are, they still have a lot of salary.
Unlike Wang Lizheng, who has a background and looks down on a small town pavilion and a small salary, he can appreciate it. The main thing is that we don't make black money from killing people and selling goods. Isn't it enough to only have two taels of silver on the surface a month?
"Those of us who are upright have a lot to worry about all year round. We only have grain, fuel, and coupons (for travel), which are not enough to feed this old cow.
And if you have a good rank, you will have everything. They will pay for everything you can think of to spend money on. Even the common servants will pay four hundred copper coins a month. "
These words are indeed unimaginable for Mei Zhuang.
Liu Laozhu was envious every time he mentioned it.
Here, if you want to raise maids and servants at home, if it is not in the form of renting short-term and long-term labor, but in the form of buying and selling, you will have to pay a lot of common servant tax on the purchased servants every year. Unless the family is very rich, the thought of having to feed and drink the servants and paying a lot of taxes will make you feel like you are being taken advantage of. You should do the dirty work at home yourself.
Liu Laozhu turned to look at Xu Tianxin and gossiped: "Your uncle Zhao also has a rank. Apart from Zhenting, he is the only one in the town who has a rank. The rest are all called officials. Do you know this?" "
Xu Tianxin was in the live broadcast. Hearing this, he no longer watched his family members refresh their screens, and quickly shook his head at Liu Laozhu.
"I'll tell you later, he is from the ninth grade. He used to work in our town. What is a capital, do you understand?" Liu Laozhu also went to the county last time and heard other stories. I didn’t know until I mentioned it.
Xu Tianxin thought to herself that she should understand, because the family members in the live broadcast room responded every word:
That person, Wu Song, isn't he the head of the department, in charge of about a hundred people, and he belongs to the lowest level of the establishment.
That Zhao Dashan just transferred from his military position.
Some family members asked, from the ninth level, what level should Zhao Dashan be in modern times.
Someone answered: Deputy at the township level.
So for Xu Tianxin, the journey of a few hours is not lonely at all.
Liu Laozhu said here that she wanted to answer, but she also had to be distracted by watching her family members chatting in the live broadcast room.
When we arrived at the gate of the city tower where we used to go as a piao, there were still a lot of people coming and going in rags, and there were also a lot of cattle carts pulling people's feet.
Liu Laozhu first found the bicycle that went to Lei's home, handed the other party five coins and asked the helper to deliver a letter to Lei Lizheng.
The letter involves something extraordinary, Liu Laozhu is painting.
He drew a big tortoise running in a car, followed by a group of little tortoises. I also drew a stone tablet of Wangjiagou Village, with a bastard without a head next to it. I want to tell Leili Zheng that no one is in charge of Wangjiagou Village at the moment. People are like dragons without a leader, so he painted a bastard without a leader.
Along with these two pages of drawings, the third page of white paper is just a short line of text. He wants a lot of livestock grass to feed the mules and cattle. He can exchange it for fish or buy it with money, but he must owe it first and pay it back at the end of the year.
Then Liu Laozhu pulled the bullock cart and drove Xu Tianxin and Meizhuang to the treatment center.
Xu Tianxin did not expect that the town office was quite large and looked much more formal than the Hebo Office.
The riverside house we went to that day was set up on the riverside. It looked like a house where ordinary people lived, with a large yard behind to store fishing salt.
There are the main gate, the ceremonial gate, the main hall, and the meeting hall. The main hall is the central axis. On the right is a big sign "Supervise Taxes", and on the left is the corresponding sign "Chasing Thieves."
Xu Tianxin felt that Grandpa Liu was using Uncle Zhao's name to show off his face.
Because Grandpa Liu suddenly introduced her in a loud voice: "The left side is all under your control, Uncle Zhao."
Following this sound, the yamen leader leading the way immediately turned around to look at her, then led them to the empty corridor between the two rooms to wait.
There's a row of stools and... drafts.
When did Xu Tianxin start feeling sorry for Grandpa Liu?
After sitting on the bench and waiting for two hours.
The government servant who led the way brought them three cups of hot water. Grandpa Liu was very happy and said to her and Aunt Meizhuang: "Normally when I come here, there are only nine cold days when someone can give them hot water. I will give it to you this season. It can be seen that For Capt. Zhao’s sake.”
Then the three clerks who handled the land deed and house deed tax finally came back. Liu Laozhu motioned to Meizhuang and Xu Tianxin not to follow them, and he waved his hand before going in.
Then Xu Tianxin saw Grandpa Liu bending down and smiling compensatingly at those clerks who clearly had no class, and then turned around and took the initiative to help them close the door.
The moment he was about to close the door, Xu Tianxin heard Grandpa Liu calling those people brotherly, chatting about New Year greetings, and saying that those three people were working very hard.
What's the hard work? From what the officer leading the way said, it seemed like he just came to work.
Xu Tianxin and Meizhuang looked at each other, thinking in their hearts: I don't know if it can be done. They bought the wasteland this time so as not to leave anyone with a clue. The procedure was quite complicated.
When she was at home, she heard her grandma say that she wanted Grandpa Liu to first pay for the acres of wasteland like buying wasteland, and then issue a certificate proving that the wasteland had too many tree roots to open up wasteland for farming, and issued a change. Use it to build a house, and then pay a room tax. This way, the land area costs less and the house is built reasonably, so that it all belongs to her family.
And if they buy wasteland directly for housing, the area they buy is too large. In that case, the inside and outside will cost double the money.
After burning the incense, Xu Tianxin saw Grandpa Liu waving his hand for her and Aunt Meizhuang to come in, but he was still coaxing the clerks: "Sorry for bothering you guys."
"Can you write?"
Liu Laozhu hurriedly came over to help Xu Tianxin and Meizhuang sign their names, "These are children from our village, I'll sign them."
But when he bent down, Xu Tianxin had already pressed his fingerprints and signed his name, and even helped Aunt Meizhuang write it too.
The three clerks looked at Xu Tianxin in surprise, but Liu Laozhu couldn't even think about the surprise, because he was blocking it with his body, signaling the two children to quickly pick it up with three official deeds stamped in red, and even his Pick up a portion as well.
While talking to the three clerks, he said: "Let's go, brothers, there is fragrance everywhere."
"You old guy, you have troubled us so much, and you are only ten miles away? How embarrassed are you?"
Liu Laozhu's face was full of smiles, and he gritted his teeth in his heart: "I said it wrong, what kind of brain do I have? I am old and talkative, so I must Liuhelou!"
Xu Tianxin saw on the land deed that it was written that her family's share of eleven taels of silver had just been spent. If they were to treat guests, Grandpa Liu would spend the money himself.
In the private room on the second floor of Liuhe Building, Xu Tianxin took advantage of the waiter to serve the food and squeezed in together. Through the live broadcast through the screen, he could see that Grandpa Li Zheng had already drank half a jar of wine. The waiter was carrying jars of wine up one jar after another. I guess it was designated today. Will get drunk.
Family members in the live broadcast room lamented: It is unavoidable in modern times, let alone in this hierarchical ancient times, it is really difficult to do something.
Xu Tianxin silently exited the private room, but the waiter stopped her at the stairs, handed over two oil paper bags and said, "Your grandfather bought these for you. He said if you don't want to take a walk, just wait downstairs. If you want to take a walk, come back in an hour." Find him.”
Xu Tianxin told him to go out to buy some things. When I opened the oil-paper bun downstairs, I realized it was a meat bun stuffed with pork and green onions.
She has never eaten pork since time travel. Not to mention, it smells so good, the oil has soaked into the skin of the buns.
Moreover, she and Aunt Meizhuang had four buns each.
Liu Laozhu: He could treat those people to dinner, but he still needed the money for the buns for the two children downstairs.
Xu Tianxin only ate one, and wrapped the remaining three in oil paper, planning to take them home to her grandma and aunt.
Meizhuang ate two, and there were two left. She planned to go to the village to get into the arms of the aunt and leave. Are you asking her for a man? She used to be delicious, but she was too used to being attracted to men. She is changing.
But today is destined to be a bad day for everyone in the live broadcast room.
Meizhuang was waiting outside with the bullock cart.
Xu Tianxin was urged by her family to buy the toothbrush and toothpaste that she had longed for. Grandma brought money this morning and told you to buy it home, but when she walked into a little red rouge shop, she received a cold reception.
The proprietress of the rouge shop knew at a glance that Xu Tianxin was not a customer group.
Because her hair and skin are shaped by her parents, how can this girl afford to buy anything in her store even if her hair is as bad as dead grass?
She also has dark skin, which means that she has been engaged in physical labor for many years since she was a child. It also means that the girl in front of her has no possibility of the miraculous encounter described in the storybook, such as a girl from a certain family who is in trouble. What's more, he was dressed in such shabby clothes, with one or two patches on his body... The landlady was counting the patches on Xu Tianxin's body.
So when the shop girl was going to greet the customers, she stopped her.
"busy?"
"Shopkeeper, I want to buy tooth powder. Where is it? Can you take a look?"
Xu Tianxin really couldn't tell which small clay pot contained tooth powder, and he didn't even have the experience in his memory.
At this time, she was quite surprised. These bottles and jars were so beautiful. She wanted to see more of them and show them live to her family.
Is this little basket filled with the legendary bath beans?
That seems to be nectar water.
Xu Tianxin's hand unknowingly touched a small gourd-shaped ceramic jar. She was about to ask what was in it. She really liked this small jar. The proprietress of the rouge shop snatched it away and covered her mouth with a handkerchief. He said: "This is facial polish, it costs two taels of silver. The cheapest tooth powder costs half a tael of silver. When you buy the tooth powder, you need to buy it with a toothbrush. Do you still want to read it?"
Xu Tianxin is the rouge shop that left the two different voices of the family members in the live broadcast room.
One is: just buy it, let her open it and look at it, lay out all the tooth towels one by one, and let her wait for the boss. Damn.
One is: Don’t buy it, this is something awesome for her, something amazing, the designated toothbrush looks like a shoe brush, if you want her crappy thing, we can make it ourselves at home.
What Xu Tianxin was more disgusted with was that the landlady covered her mouth with a handkerchief, as if she was afraid of some strange smell on her body.
She didn't buy it. She had salt. She couldn't use willow branches to rub her teeth and rinse her mouth when she got back.
However, this little incident is nothing to Meizhuang. No one in the village brushes their teeth. She is a bit more particular, rinsing her mouth with plant ash water or charcoal water.
But when Xu Tianxin was driven away by the waiter at the bookstore again, Mei Zhuang felt a little uncomfortable.
Because she could guess from the fact that Xu Tianxin signed the contract for her just now, and that she had settled accounts for the village faster than Liu Jingdong, who was a serious student, that Tian Xin was extremely smart at a young age. If Tian Xin could be sent somewhere to learn how to make an abacus and buy a few more books to learn from, Tian Xin would be more than enough to become a great shopkeeper.
Meizhuang wondered: How many books should I buy? She doesn't understand any of this. She still has the last five taels of silver left by her parents here. Should she go back and persuade her aunt to buy books for Tian Xin? No matter how difficult it is, don't delay the child's study.
Mei Zhuang thought that he could learn it by reading a book, but there is a saying that there is a golden house in a book.
Finally, the day ended with Meizhuang carrying Liu Laozhu home.
The car floor was also covered with Liu Laozhu's vomit.
When Mrs. Xu heard from Meizhuang that her granddaughter was asked by the waiter at the bookstore if she wanted to buy a book, and if she didn't want to buy it, please leave; when she heard from Meizhuang that her granddaughter didn't even buy tooth powder because she was wearing shabby clothes, and she was looked down upon by the damn old ladies at the rouge shop in town. ; When her granddaughter said that Liu Laozhu was embarrassed by the people who handled the land deeds, she remained silent for a long time.
The next day, she and her fourth uncle once again stirred up trouble in the village.
Mrs. Xu waved her arms and directed the villagers: "Pick sauerkraut, pickle pickles, hug more horse straw, hug more urala grass, pick more mushrooms, use all the money in your hand to buy food, start signing up to buy now..."
The fourth uncle, leaning on a walking stick, called to the strong laborers: "The leader of the harvesting team went up the mountain to cut the purlins and put the beams on them. Each family turned in their adobe bricks, and the boys dug the foundations. The straw roofs were made of loess for the walls, and the loess Kang was stronger than the bed. I’ll build a house like this!”
The people in the village were confused. They had a hunch that their Erdaohe Village had contracted some big work. They didn't realize that Li Zheng came back drunk last night.
At this time, Liu Laozhu abandoned everything in the village and started walking around writing IOUs and arrears.
He knocked on the door of the Bai family of a wealthy scholar in Shiliba Village. The Bai family had a clay pottery workshop, and explained that he wanted to buy a lot of large jars and use the defective ones for his own use, that is...
The head of the Bai family accepted the message. It was not easy to sell anyway, so use it first and calculate the money at the end of the year.
Liu Laozhu hurriedly wrote an IOU, feeling extremely grateful.
On this day, Liu Laozhu also wrote an IOU of seven taels of silver to the well-drilling team, and six IOUs for Li Zheng, who helped collect adobe seeds in each village, exchanging fish for adobe seeds.
But he settled all the brick money for the adobe kiln first.
Because he saw that there were many boys from Erdaohe Village working in this black brick kiln.
These boys are eating black dry food that can kill you if you eat too much, and drinking soup that is no better than swill. Their daily wages are only twenty copper coins and they don't go home. People say it’s nice outside, but it turns out they’re all here.
I heard that I can't go back now, and the black brick kilns don't pay the workers, which is making people bear with the stupid boys.
So when Liu Laozhu was buying bricks, he negotiated with someone. If I want so many bricks, I can pay them all in one lump sum, but you must pay the wages to the boys in my village and let them go immediately.
And here in Erdaohe Village, many boys working in the black brick kiln also saw Liu Laozhu. But to be honest, they didn't have any hope for Li Zheng, and they didn't even complain about their grievances. They just continued to work numbly.
But they never expected that soon the owner of the brick kiln would ask everyone to stop.
"People from Erdaohe Village, come here to pay your wages, and you are here to take you home!"
