Northern Dynasties

Chapter 19
The next day, Li Tai got up a little late and was not in good spirits.Simply save the morning exercise, save energy and save some food.

Last night, he tossed and turned, thinking about the farming plan for a long time.But in fact, the main land in his previous world was even scarcer than in the current world, and he had almost no practical experience in farming.

But out of the dignity and sense of superiority of the traverser, he still felt that he was only one land away from Baye Kecheng. The Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty were all local chickens and dogs, so there was nothing to worry about!
Regardless of whether this arrogance is justified or not, this mentality is really commendable, at least it can make him positive and energetic.

Gao Huan, the overlord of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, was not born with a golden spoon in his mouth, but he was determined to defeat the boss and mess with whoever he was. He was so panicked that he almost shot his own son to death. His perseverance finally brought down the Erzhu family. , instead.

Li Tai doesn't dare to compare himself arrogantly to Gao Huan, but who is not an ambitious young man who dreams of being Lu?

Breakfast is no longer meat balls, but a steaming bowl of noodle soup, but it can still fill your stomach.

The municipal management of Huazhou City is so-so, but some rules are strict.The market does not open early in the morning and cannot be entered until the afternoon.

Li Tai was full of a sense of crisis in his heart, so he was naturally reluctant to waste time. After breakfast, he set up a desk in the front hall, ordered the servants in the central part of the house to enter in turn, asked them what skills they had, and prepared for the next one. Prepare talents for the great cause of farming.

"Long skill... Excuse me, sir, what is a long skill?"

"Besides eating and drinking, what else do you do? Plowing the fields, planting mulberries, weaving hemp, carpentry, firing pottery, and making scorpions, should you be able to do the same?"

Li Tai really didn't know exactly what skills the ancients needed to survive. He asked people around him, and coupled with the classification of items in ancient books he read such as "Qi Min Yao Shu" and "Heavenly Creation of Things", he also sorted out some farming development. required job category.

The one who entered the hall to be questioned was an old Xianbei soldier. He was still a little dumbfounded when he heard Li Tai's enumerated questions. I never use it, but, but I know how to raise sheep, and I also know how to ram walls, build fences, make bricks..."

"It's a long-term plan, what's your name?"

This is obviously a veteran of the city. Although he has no basic farming skills, he is also proficient in many acrobatics, which can be regarded as a talent. Li Tai lowered his head to record it, and then asked the next person: "What's your plan?"

After such a round of cross-examination and sorting out, it was morning before I knew it.The door servant passed the news that it was He Basheng who had sent someone to visit, and he quickly put down his business and went out to greet him.

"My lord sent servants to send off eighty soldiers, half male and half male. Please check with your lord. I also told you that I was ordered to patrol the east this morning. I will not be living in the city these days. Please wait for my lord to visit. If the manpower is still insufficient, Just tell me again!"

"Enough, enough! Please thank Grand Master He Ba for me. When Grand Master returns to the city, he must come to the door and thank you!"

Li Tai looked at the trilogy that filled the vestibule with mixed emotions, and even seriously suspected that these old military leaders were stuffing people into him one by one, probably because they couldn't afford to support them.

But even if they can't afford it, they can be exempted or sold, and if they are willing to give it to themselves, it can be regarded as a favor.Moreover, in addition to these soldiers, He Basheng also added a cart of twenty shi grains, which really made Li Tai very grateful.

Because he had to go to the military camp outside the city to meet up, He Basheng's personal soldiers left after delivering the personnel and supplies, and Li Tai returned to the front hall to continue the reorganization and interrogation work.

After noon, Gao Bailing and Shi Helande, who went to Daxingtai Mansion to handle matters related to the pastoral awards, returned and brought back the deeds of the pastoral awards.

The deed only said that Shangyuan Township, Wuxiang County was assigned to Tianyuan, but did not specify the specific area.However, according to the estimate of the land equalization system in the Northern Wei Dynasty, a man can be awarded [-] acres of open fields and [-] acres of mulberry fields.

"Where is Shangyuan Township?"

Li Tai held the document representing the starting point of his hegemony and asked, and Holland beside him said with a smile: "Shangyuan is located on the east bank of Luoshui, thirty miles west of the current state city, and it is a famous fat town in the state. But when the wind and rain are favorable, there will be more than six or seven stones of grain harvested per mu!"

Li Tai was very excited when he heard this number, but he also thought that the Western Wei Dynasty's measures were all small and placed in a unified and wealthy dynasty, so the so-called yield per mu might be halved.

With this document, he can go to the countryside to claim his farmland at any time. The most urgent thing right now is what to have for dinner.

Li Tai came from a rich descendant, he was used to eating three meals a day, a bowl of noodle soup for breakfast, and now he was quite hungry, so he put away the paperwork, collected some money from the mansion, and left home with Gao Bailing and others enter the market.

With the experience of yesterday's outing, he specially brought a few Hu servants this time. With these Hu soldiers leading the way, he did not encounter any harassment along the way.

There is only one commercial city in Huazhou City, which is located in the west of the city.The market is separated from the outside world by fences, and you can see armored soldiers stationed in front of the city gate from a distance.

Gao Bailing counted more than a dozen pieces of entry money according to the head of the market, but until they entered the market, no one came forward to collect the money, only a team leader warned them not to make noise in the market.

"Xi Dynasty doesn't collect city money?"

Gao Bailing threw the counted coins back into the money basket on the car, with a surprised expression on his face.Apparently, the Hebei market has received too much market money, which made him feel at a loss.

Li Tai thinks that this may not be because the Western Wei government is sympathetic to the people. Due to its difficult financial situation, it does not collect relevant city taxes.

After entering the market, Li Tai was not in a hurry to go inside. Instead, he looked around at the gate of the market, until his entourage came to ask him, and he said strangely, "Why is there no current price of list materials in this market?"

An old Kansai in the entourage said: "There may be a big market in Kanto, but there has never been such a thing in Kansai. The people who buy and sell in the market are all from nearby villages. Integrity is the foundation. Whoever wants to cheat or cheat will not be allowed to leave the market alive. Destroy the country style!"

Li Tai couldn't help sweating profusely when he heard this, and felt more and more the toughness of the people in Kansai.

Although the rules of the market are simple, the atmosphere is good. What you see when you enter the market is a vegetable market, with several rows of shops lined up, but most of them are mats or carts set up as a stall, looking at the temple fairs or festivals that will be seen in future generations. Daji, although lively, is not messy.

Gao Bailing asked people in the market, and learned that the grain market was still on the southern edge of the city, so the group went to buy grain first, and then wandered around.

Although the scale of this market is small, there are many types of goods. Li Tai saw along the way that there was a meat market inside the vegetable market. Several skinned sheep were hung on wooden racks, and the smell of smell was blowing in the wind.Further to the south are various hand-woven cages and utensils, as well as many dusty pottery.

The area of ​​the grain market is not small, almost accounting for nearly half of the entire market, and the types of grain sold are also varied.

Five grains, sesame seeds, etc., common grains and coarse grains in later generations, except for corn, are almost all displayed, as well as elm coins and other plant seeds and tubers that Li Tai has never seen before.However, the processed rice noodles are not displayed outside, and are only sold in shops.

"My fellow, how much is the current price of soybeans and bean grains?"

In line with the principle of shopping around and not being taken advantage of, Li Tai got off his horse, walked to a stall, and asked, pointing to a can of soybeans.The bean was smaller and shriveled than what he saw in later generations, and it looked a little stunted.

The grain seller was a dark-faced middle-aged man, who seemed not used to Li Tai's kind address, and looked a little timid at the sight of others, so he raised his hand after a while and said, "No money..."

Are the folks in Guanzhong so enthusiastic?

Li Tai was greatly surprised when he heard the words, and before he had time to rejoice at the opportunity to take it for nothing, the fellow who was panting for words had already said: "Just cloth, one bucket of bean and one piece of cloth!"

Cloth is a relatively rough hemp fabric, and it is also the most common material for civilians to wear. A piece of cloth forty feet, calculated on the basis of eight feet per person, can also cut clothes for five people, but it can only be exchanged for a bucket of twelve catties of soybeans. For future generations, it is only a little over five catties.

Although Li Tai didn't understand the value exchange of different commodities and labor, he also felt that the price was a bit expensive.Soybeans, a basic crop, can grow when sown on the ground, but the process of making cloth is much more cumbersome.

"How much is that piece of cloth?"

Li Tai didn't want to make a joke about why not eat minced meat, so he asked again.

"for free!"

The fellow was still gasping for breath, he raised a finger and said, "A bucket of bean!"

Li Tai suddenly felt that his IQ had been insulted, so he turned around and went to another stall, pointing to a sack of barley and asked, "What's the market price of this barley?"

"Three buckets of wheat, one piece of cloth!"

The fellow answered straightforwardly, and Li Tai asked again: "How about the discount?"

"for free!"

It seems that the ancient small peasant economy was still accustomed to bartering.

Li Tai felt emotional in his heart, and casually pointed to several other items to ask the price. Although the fellow was annoyed by him and only asked if he would buy it, but seeing that there were so many of them, he just patiently answered them one by one.What is used to measure transactions is cloth without exception. The worst thing is that even the crock pot of elm money only costs three sticks of cloth!
The fellow villagers don't care about money, and for a while Li Tai couldn't figure out whether it was the nostalgia, or whether these fellow villagers deliberately played tricks on him as a foreigner. Is this melon ripe?"

"This lord thinks he is a visitor from a foreign country. It's not that the locals are reluctant to sell their goods. It's just that there is a lot of bad money in Kansai, and it won't last long in the market!"

At this time, a spectator who had been observing them for a long time came up and said to Li Tai, "Guan Lang is a man of manners. He must buy a lot of materials. It is difficult to collect them all in scattered markets. The small shop in the back is a certain mansion. There are everything you need, and many famous people in the city provide supplies, why not go to the shop and discuss the matter?"

(End of this chapter)