Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 512
"Brother Ji! You go to the imperial store to buy ten catties of rice, but there is not enough rice at home!"

"Eh!"

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, when every household was preparing for the New Year, a woman's greeting sounded in a small Jiangnan courtyard in Shangguanqiao Town, Yangzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili Province.

Hearing this, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy came out of the ear room and came to the door of the kitchen.

The woman in a bijiaru skirt took out four ten-character Tianqi Tongbao from her arms: "Look at the price of rice. If it rises, you can buy as much as you can."

"Okay." Hearing this, the young man took the copper coins, and then walked out of the small courtyard.

Walking in an alley less than four feet wide, young Lang Ha breathed out a mouthful of white mist and rubbed his hands.

He looked around, only to realize that without knowing it, the white walls of the surrounding people had faded, but the white walls of his house had been painted before winter, which seemed out of place with the surroundings.

Shangguanqiao Town, like most towns in the south of the Yangtze River, presents a simple, clean and quiet style due to the river forming a street, which is a typical style of "small bridges, flowing water, and people" in the south of the Yangtze River.

Compared with other towns, Shangguanqiao Town has only developed for more than [-] years, but even so, it still completely preserves the style and layout of the original water town.

After saying this, Han's father asked how Han Li's life was, and told Han Ji not to be angry with Han Li, to be obedient, to read more books, and to strive for Enke to be selected as an official in the future.

"Then is there enough food in your family to last until the autumn harvest? If not, my aunt will add some for you." Han Li's heart is still relatively kind, and she is worried that He Qi's family will not have enough food when they go to such a far place.

Originally, he could barely support himself by doing some odd jobs, but since the drought this year, many people in the countryside have gone to work in towns, and the money his family can earn from working part-time has become less and less.

In the most conspicuous place in the imperial store, a bicycle and a tricycle were placed there, and the price of two taels and three taels of silver was written on the wooden sign below, which was staggering.

"Here..." Handing out four ten-character Tianqi Tongbao, the young man walked out to the entrance of the imperial shop with the rice in hand.

But when he walked to the door, he saw a long queue of people at the entrance of the town.

"Well... my father is going to take us to Luzon. The fields in the town have already been sold. I'm here to say goodbye."

"Tuk-tuk-"

"The price of rice is getting higher and higher. It's still four coins now. Maybe it will rise to five or six coins in the future."

"I saw many beggars when I went out today. I heard that they were all drought-stricken and had no jobs. The government would not let them beg, but let them move to the south."

"Yo, it's Brother Ji who opened the door. This is a letter from your family."

In the 12 years since the apocalypse, many people have moved in Shangguanqiao Town, but Han Ji has never felt it.

"One hundred and twenty miles, I heard your father said, it's a very prosperous place." Han Li is not a lady of the family, and she can't afford women's school, so she is less literate. Basically, Han's father married her Then teach her.

"If his annual salary can be 50 taels, our whole family will have no worries in this life. We can't finish eating meat at a time. You can also marry a wife and have children. Let me be a mother-in-law earlier."

The yamen servant was about to draw his sword, which startled the beggars, and they got up feebly and walked out of the town.

He walked out of the door and looked at He Qi who was walking out of the alley. He Qi also looked back at every step. The two young men were very reluctant, but everyone knew that this kind of thing was not up to them.

"That is to say, Long Live will succeed to the throne and King Qi will be in charge. Otherwise, your mother and I may not be able to live now."

"That's not true..." Han Li shook his head and explained: "In the early years, the family only had five acres of paddy fields left by your grandfather. Your father is a scholar and can't cultivate them, so he can only rent them out to others and charge [-]% of the land. rent."

"Tuk Tuk..."

A scrambled egg with tomatoes, a bowl of half-boiled chicken, a bowl of vegetables, and a bucket of rice weighing only one or two catties. This is their most grand lunch of the day.

"Being an official has to be tough. Your father said that if you become a ninth-rank official, his annual salary will be 50 taels. At that time, if the imperial court does not open an official school in Nanzhili, it will send you to the capital to study."

"Let's go!" After finishing speaking, Liu Xinchai rode a tricycle and left the door of Han's house. The boy of Han's family watched him go away, then turned back to the courtyard, closed the door and opened the letter.

"I don't know if I'll come back after leaving this time." Han Lishi also loves this kid who often comes to play with her son, and now she suddenly wants to part, and she is also a little bit reluctant.

[Those who relocate to Luchuan, Jiugang, Nanzhou, and Jiaozhi will receive six shi of food stamps for large rations and three shi for small rations each year. 】

【My son's achievements...】

Even if they are entertaining guests, they will only add a catty of rice, and then add a plate of leeks and eggs. This is already the best meal for them. They can't even eat enough for themselves. Only Zhengdan and Dongzhi can eat a full meal. , stained with meat.

"I will come back to look for Brother Ji when I have a chance." He Qi said solemnly to Han Ji, and then he looked at the sky, and bowed reluctantly:
"I'm leaving, I wish Auntie and Brother Ji a new year in advance."

Han Li was complaining, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face. It was obvious that he was very satisfied with the good news Father Han brought.

Han Ji had been to He Qi's house. Nine years before the apocalypse, He Qi's house basically only had three or four catties of rice for lunch, plus a pot of vegetarian dishes for lunch.

"The same goes for your father. He will be back in a few days, and he sent someone to deliver a letter."

It wasn't until the departure of his playmate He Qi that he realized the impact of the drought.

Apart from these, Father Han mainly explained some news he heard from his colleagues.

In the ninth year of the Apocalypse, Li Juren in the imperial town did not know what crime he had committed, and the imperial court ransacked his home and divided his land. The He family was allocated six acres of land, but the nine acres of land still could not support the six members of his family.

"I heard that there is a government school in Luzon, and each person is given three acres of cultivated land and seventeen acres of raw land. My family has a lot of people, and my father thought it would be a good deal to go to Luzon." He Qi explained.

As he said that, Han Li took the only chicken leg to Han Ji, and Han Ji couldn't help sighing when he looked at the chicken leg in the bowl: "I don't know how Qi Geer and the others will live when they go to the south."

"He Qi?" Seeing that it was his friend, Han Ji relaxed his vigilance: "You are..."

Listening to his words, Han Ji thought of the situation of eating at He Qi's house, and the situation at the bridgehead when he bought rice in the morning.

"When the year is good, we can receive more than 900 catties of rice, and when the year is bad, we can receive more than 700 catties."

But before he could look for a few more seconds, three government servants in strong attire, official scarfs on their heads, and wild goose feather knives on their waists came from a distance.

"In the final analysis, this field is different from ordinary fields. This is an official field. It is only distributed to the common people and only collected taxes. It is not bad to be able to produce so much."

"It's so tight?" Han Ji was a little frustrated, and He Qi was also helpless: "My father said that it was too late, and all the cultivated land in Luzon would be robbed, and then we would have to go further south."

He walked back to his own alley, and after knocking on the door, his mother opened the door.

"They are all the villagers who suffered from drought in the north. They couldn't find a job, and they had eaten up all the rice and noodles on their bodies. They couldn't do beggars, so they had to move."

"I heard that it was King Qi's government order. I really don't know why King Qi is so fickle. Obviously..."

"There are still a lot of letters today, so I won't keep them. When your father comes back, I will come to bother you again."

Outside the door, a messenger riding a tricycle was a little surprised to see the Han family boy, but quickly smiled and took out the letter from Han's father.

She walked back to the kitchen with the bowls and chopsticks, and Han Ji packed up the things, carried the rest of the bowls and chopsticks, and followed Han Lishi to the kitchen.

Looking at the luggage on He Qi's back, Han Ji had a bad feeling in his heart, while He Qi, who was standing at the door, was a little depressed: "My father is going to take us to Luzon, and I'm here to say goodbye to you." .”

When Han Li saw this, she couldn't help but sigh: "This He family is also unlucky. They have only lived a good life for a long time, and they have to leave their hometown."

"Officer, give me a way to survive. We're looking for a job here, and we'll leave when we have money. It's really hard to survive..."

After just a glance, he withdrew his eyes and put them in the imperial shop.

"I don't want to go to the capital, I just want to stay with my mother in Yangzhou." The young man turned the page and raised his head to respond.

"Father seems to be going to be promoted next year, right? This time he will be promoted from a ninth-rank official." The young man chatted while reading a book.

"In this severe drought, I don't know how many people will be driven away. From the beginning of spring to now, seven or eight families in this town have been moved away."

"That's naturally better than being in South Zhili." Han Li was afraid that Han Ji would not understand, so she explained to him:
"There are not many families with six acres of paddy fields like ours, and your father is an official at home. Earning sixteen or seven taels of silver a year is not bad."

"Han Lishi! The scribe Han sent you a letter!"

"Yes..." He Qi nodded again and again after hearing this: "It's not that the court divides the land, our family may leave at the beginning of the year."

It is such a lunch, and many people can't eat food, and they have to eat twelve or thirty yuan for a meal.

The gurgling water, the graceful arch bridge, and the unique buildings in the south of the Yangtze River all constitute a beautiful picture.

The small town is connected by bridges and streets, houses are built along the river, and green shadows are dancing. There are several stone bridges built in the Hongwu period across the river.

"There's no price increase, it's still four cents a catty of rice, here it's ten catties."

"It's not bad. It's almost like the He family. Although Mr. He and the sons of He's family can go to work, their family is irrigated, and they can harvest less than two thousand catties of rice a year. It's just right. Enough to eat."

On the way back, there are blue bricks and green tiles, thin streams, and quaint stone arch bridges.

"On weekdays, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea cost money. The two of them only receive work half of the time a year. If they can earn five taels of silver a year, they are already very popular."

"The price of rice has risen this year, and I haven't been able to save any money. I'm afraid I will lose my new clothes."

"To Luzon?!" Han Ji couldn't help but raise his voice, after all, He Qi was his childhood playmate.

"What did you write?" Han Lishi walked to the door of the kitchen, looked at the Han family boy expectantly, and he also opened the letter.

On both sides of the river, although it is cold winter, there are still many women hammering and washing clothes.

Under the stone bridge in the twelfth lunar month of winter, awning boats loaded with goods slide back and forth, and there are many laborers waiting for work on both sides of the bank.

"This year's severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River, the imperial court has exempted it for one year, but in other places it has been exempted for three years."

Just like what my mother said, if my father didn't eat in the Yamen and send home his monthly salary, I'm afraid their family would end up starving.

The second is that his official position was promoted in advance, and he was transferred to Zhenjiang Prefecture, which is relatively close to Yangzhou, to serve as the general secretary (tax collecting position) of Danyang County, Zhenjiang Prefecture.

"Who is going to Luzon?" Hearing that someone was going to Luzon, Han Li also came out.

These laborers are looking forward to it, hoping that a ship will stop to recruit workers so that they can earn money and support their families.

With her back to Han Ji, Han Li sighed:

A yamen servant yelled viciously at a dozen beggars squatting under the bridge. The group of beggars tightened their clothes, and one of them had disheveled hair, begging uncontrollably:

The Huangdian in Shangguanqiao Town is like most of the Huangdians, with rice, wheat noodles and meat, coal sauce and vinegar tea, as well as white cloth, silk, pen and ink, oil and salt and so on.

The woman didn't say anything, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

Although it is only a small town, when the young man walks in the alleys of the ancient town paved with bluestones and feels the tranquility, calmness and indifference of the ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River day after day, he will always feel a little calm in his heart.

The young man looked at it longingly for a long time, and then walked to the grain cabinet lonely.

That is to say, when Father Han eats in the yamen, besides his own use, he can also send back seven or eight hundred Wen every month. Otherwise, the Han family mother and son would not be able to eat such meals.

"Thank you, Uncle Liu. Would you like to come in for some tea, Uncle Liu? The boy just made it." The Han family boy took the letter and turned sideways to signal for Liu Messenger to come inside, but Liu Messenger waved his hand:

"We're leaving in a quarter of an hour. I came here to say goodbye to Brother Ji."

"Hmm..." Han Ji responded, and then asked again: "Mother, it seems that our family's life only got better in the ninth year of Tianqi, right?"

"If your father didn't work as a clerk in the Yamen, I'm afraid our family would have to move out."

"Who can survive like this? Don't they all have to be forced to move to the south..."

As for Han Ji, after reading the letter, he asked his mother, "How far is Danyang County from us?"

"To go to Luzon, it takes at least 25 to [-] days. After arriving, you can almost plant the land. After planting the land, my father and my grandfather will open the land, and I can also study in government schools."

The surrounding residents are not surprised by this, but after the yamen servants drove the beggars away, some people could not help complaining:

"Leaving your hometown...chi chi chi..." The employee shook his head, and the young man could only look at the villagers at the entrance of the town, and then walked home with the rice in his arms.

Even if Tianqi divided the land after nine years, the He family could only occasionally eat meat by doing odd jobs, but the food was enough.

At the dinner table, Mrs. Han Li said embarrassedly to Han Ji. After all, in her opinion, Han Ji is also the pillar of the Han family in the future, and he is sensible, so she is naturally guilty.

According to the rules of imperial court immigration, the six members of their family can share [-] mu of cultivated land, [-] mu of raw land, plus two cattle.

Mrs. Han Li suddenly whispered, comparing the left and right neighbors of the family: "The Li family and the Zhang family both have seven or eight people, but they only have eleven or two taels a year."

"It's okay, mother, the new clothes at the beginning of the year are quite comfortable, so there is no need to change." Han Ji seemed to be unable to eat because of He Qi's departure, and ate very slowly.

"Let's talk about it first, I just had a meal." Han Li felt a little embarrassed, but He Qi shook his head:

After his mother heard it, she responded with a bit of a joke: "It's better to go to the south. If it wasn't for your father to become a second-rank official, we would have left long ago."

"That's it?" Han Ji couldn't believe it, it seemed that he was used to hearing about his father's annual salary, and he didn't know much about other people's annual income.

Eating meat every now and then is already Han Li's biggest expectation for life.

Both Han Ji and Han Li knew the situation of his family. Originally there were six people in the family, but there were only three acres of Susukida in the family, so they could only rely on his father and grandfather to do some odd jobs to survive.

"Zhengdan New Year..." Han Ji bowed back, and when he looked up again, He Qi had already left.

"It's a good thing the price hasn't increased..." Heaved a sigh of relief, the young man weighed ten catties of rice on his own, then weighed it with his own scale, and then weighed it with the official scale after confirming that there was no problem.

When he came to the entrance of the Huangdian, the young man saw the notice board hanging on the roof of the Huangdian.

Speaking of her husband, the woman also sighed: "Alas...for a salary of 12 taels, he went to Fengyang Mansion to work as an errand. I don't know how long he can come back after saving a few days off this year."

"How about it?"

Speaking of which, Han Lishi and Han Ji had almost eaten, Han Lishi put away the bowls and chopsticks, and the two ate up the food.

"Why not? You don't know that in the first year of Taichang, the price of rice rose to eight cents a catty, and many people starved to death in Huaibei."

"Who are those people? Why are you queuing up?" The young boy asked the employee in the imperial shop, and the employee also looked down at a novel, and responded without raising his head:

"There are only three people in our family, so in the ninth year of Tianqi, we didn't get much land, so we only allocated one mu, and rented it out to others for farming."

In addition, his grandfather is already fifty-nine this year, and working part-time is not an option, so relocation is the fastest way for a family like them to become rich.

They whispered to each other about women's homes, and some men sitting in the gazebo toasting wine talked and laughed loudly.

"Your father became a scribe, so our family can have a meal of meat every day."

The young man was holding a copy of "Yanshan Arithmetic", while reading it, he was chatting with his mother.

"That's enough. Huangdian bought my land with ninety shi food stamps." Speaking of food, He Qi smiled.

Father Han explained that he would return around the twentieth of the twelfth lunar month and arrive at home around the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month. This time he had saved up 21 days of vacation, which he only accepted on the tenth day of the first lunar month.

Walking on the bridge, the pedestrians on the bridge are wearing cotton-padded cloaks, the women are wearing a small felt hat, and the men are either square scarves or ordinary square scarves.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Han Li, who was cooking in the kitchen, wiped his hands quickly, but the Han family boy had already got up and walked to the door.

"If you can't survive, move! There are officials from the Migration Department at the entrance of the town. They honestly took the food stamps and went to the south. Don't disturb the lives of the people in the town!"

In her perception, Shangguanqiao Town is already very prosperous, and she has never left Shangguanqiao Town. Like most people in this era, a town may be the most prosperous place they have ever been to.

"Yeah, promotion, I just don't know where to go." The woman responded, but then laughed: "It's not very useful to be promoted, it's just three or two years more salary."

"Your mother, I have been counting on your father to be a ninth-rank official in this life."

In the end, He Qi disappeared in the alley, and Han Li, who was standing behind Han Ji, couldn't help sighing:

Not to mention the raw land that needs to be opened up, the [-] acres of mature land alone will allow his family to stop working and farm at home with peace of mind.

【Four words and a catty】

He Qi explained it, and Han Ji couldn't help worrying: "How did you go to such a far place?"

For example, the imperial court will open the official school in Nanzhili within five years, so they don't have to save money to go to the capital.

Pedestrians were in a hurry, and there were some ragged people squatting at the entrance of the stone bridge, with a pottery bowl in front of them, hoping that passers-by would give a penny or two.

Suddenly, the door was knocked again, and a childish voice sounded, and Han Ji got up immediately when he heard it.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look down at the bowl of chicken soup that was still half full.

"Brother Ji!"

Around the young man, some Confucian scholars shook their heads and sighed and walked away. After hearing this, the young man was also very puzzled, but he still walked towards the only imperial shop in the town with the forty Wen coins in his arms.

This bowl of chicken soup that they can't finish is probably the meat that those people haven't tasted for months...

He walked quickly to the back of the door, and pulled the door bolt open. What appeared in front of him was a young man in a sash and a bag on his back, who seemed to be going on a long journey.

Han Ji opened the letter and read out the contents of the letter written by Han's father word by word. Generally speaking, this is a letter from home.

"Ninety stones? Isn't that just over six taels of silver per mu?" Han Li thought it was a bit small, but Han Ji responded quickly.

Han Ji turned around and went home. When he locked the latch, Mrs. Han Li had already put all the food on the stone table in the courtyard.

After returning home and closing the door, the woman walked to the kitchen with the rice in her arms, muttering:

"Although you can't eat meat all the time on weekdays, it's okay to have a full meal. If you live a good life, then your father will be admitted to Enke in the second year and become a scribe."

The conversation between the mother and the child was ordinary. After the woman took the rice, the young man also walked into the courtyard.

The young man also wanted to see these beggars. After all, in his memory, six years after the apocalypse, there were very few people begging along the streets in the town.

"Plus your father polishes pens and writes couplets for others, so there is no shortage of rice at home."

"Okay, okay, let's go, don't talk."

The woman lit the fire and cooked, and the smoke rose from the chimney. The young man went back to the study and took out a tea stove and put it on the stone table. He added a few pieces of coal and made tea.

"Probably not." The young man sat on the stone bench in the patio, watching his mother busy in the kitchen.

"Go, go! There are regulations in the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", you are not allowed to beg along the street! If you want to eat, go to the nursing home in the county!"

"Ten catties of rice." Holding the official scale and the rice in the cloth bag, the young man walked to the counter, and the employee of the imperial shop at the counter also weighed the rice, and replied after confirming that there was no problem: "Forty Wen .”

"He family boy, are you going to Luzon?" Looking at the familiar face, Han Li also raised his voice.

Thinking of this, Han Ji put the bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen, looked up at Han Li who was working with his back facing him, and said seriously: "Mother, don't worry, I will definitely be a ninth-rank official when I grow up, so you can enjoy yourself."

"Hehe...Okay, mother is waiting for you." Han Li smiled happily, and then the mother and son began to wash the dishes.

It's just that compared to the smoke and fire in their kitchen, the row of ragged victims at the entrance of Shangguanqiao Town, waiting to move to the south, looks particularly sad...

　The afternoon update is still the same, 05:30

　　
　
(End of this chapter)