The autumn wind blew down the leaves and dyed the paddy golden yellow.
Everyone who had planted the late rice was busy sharpening their knives, preparing for the joy of autumn. The old man was not idle either. He gathered a group of people to fish crabs from the ponds in the mountains. This was what Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan said in their letters. They left a small portion for the old man and sent the rest to Between the Clouds and the Water.
The old man was also waiting. The two thousand mu of land belonged to his family and was only used by Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Along with the letters, there were also eight crabs. The usage of each crabs was written in the letters, making the old man feel both curious and warm.
The crabs and prawns were scooped up one by one. The servants of the Bi Family cheered from time to time. The old man, along with his granddaughters Xin Er and Liu 'er, stood to the side and watched.
"Grandpa, do we eat the big crabs raw? I heard that they are better eaten raw. " Xin Er licked her lips and asked. She had not eaten crabs that many times.
Children were usually not allowed to eat things that could cause them to get sick. If they accidentally got sick, they might die. Only last year did she eat them a few times. They were the very small kind, skewered and fried. They made crunching sounds in her mouth, but there was no meat in them.
The old man patted his granddaughter's head. "Logically speaking, we should eat them raw or drunk, but Xiao Bao and Cuckoo said in their letters that we can't eat them like that. If we want to eat them, send them to Between the Clouds and the Water. They will cook them raw and drunk crabs. Otherwise, it is easy to get sick. Let's eat steamed crabs."
"Between the Clouds and the Water should cook steamed crabs. The food there is delicious." Xin Er now believed in Between the Clouds and the Water the most when eating. She would not eat the food cooked by her own chef.
"Okay, okay. Let's eat the food made by Between the Clouds and the Water. Don't worry about getting a stomachache. Send the first batch of fish to the yamen of Huayuan County and send some to Between the Clouds and the Water. Let them cook it first and eat it when they get back."
The old man dotingly agreed. In fact, he was also eating at Between the Clouds and the Water. There was a special recipe for him there. Seeing that nearly five hundred catties of food had been scooped out, he quickly sent someone to deliver it to the Zhang Family and Wang Family so that they could have a taste first. Later on, he would send more. According to the Zhang family's custom, if they had good food, they would share it with the villagers and the bailiffs.
In Huayuan County, Zhang Xiaobao, Wang Juan, and Li Xun were also waiting for the shrimps and crabs to be sent over. They wanted to have a big meal to satisfy their cravings.
The mountain road had been completed, but the other roads in Huayuan County still had to wait for a few months. There were too many people, but there were too many roads to be repaired. The yamen's account had money. In the beginning, there were 80,000 strings of coins. In addition to the various taxes collected later on, Zhang Zhong was confident that he could repair the roads to any place that had houses. Except for the houses that lived alone on the mountain, he could repair all the roads.
Not only did he repair the houses in the county, but he also specially built a main road in the surrounding counties. He directly hired people from the counties and discussed with them. After the autumn harvest, Lin County would provide manpower, while Huayuan County would provide tools and materials for road repair. He would also build several main roads in the neighboring counties.
The people in Lin County's yamen were secretly delighted. While they agreed, they also said that Zhang Zhong was a fool. He spent so much money just for the convenience of transportation. He actually helped Lin County repair the roads and kept some for himself. No one said anything. He foolishly took out the money to help others.
Of course, the people in the yamen in Lin County were just jealous, especially the yamen runners. While they said that Huayuan County's county magistrate Zhang Zhong was a fool, they envied the good life of the yamen runners in Huayuan County. Each of them carried a knife on their waist, rode a horse, and wore clothes that fit them neatly.
The yamen in Huayuan County actually hired a lot of people to wash the yamen runners' clothes every day. The yamen runners in other counties only had one set of clothes, and they were washed by their own family members. However, the yamen runners in Huayuan County had seven to eight sets, and they even had different seasons.
When doing things in the county, the yamen runners in other counties either bought food or bullied a small shop. However, the yamen runners in Huayuan County not only immediately brought food, drinks, and medicine, but also a small card with a number written on it. As long as they ate in a certain shop in Huayuan County, they could pay with the small card. There was a fixed number. When the time came, these shops would take the small card to the yamen to exchange for money or tax.
In this way, the yamen runners in Huayuan County could persevere no matter how hard the training was. In addition to the good food supply, they were all strong and healthy. If they were compared with others, the yamen runners in other counties would not be able to raise their heads.
In the contradiction of taking advantage of the situation and scolding Zhang Zhong for being a fool, Zhang Zhong sent the booklet of the tax and rent that should be paid this year, which caused an uproar in the imperial court. The people in the imperial court knew that the original county magistrate Wen had collected an extra year's rent. They thought that Zhang Zhong would write a booklet and say that it was reduced this year. Unexpectedly, it was five times the usual amount.
This news quickly spread to the surrounding counties. The county magistrates in these counties were all gnashing their teeth in anger. Huayuan County had sent so much, what should they do? They still wanted to find an excuse to reduce the rent and keep more for themselves. Compared to Huayuan County, if they dared to do this, they could forget about continuing to be county magistrate next year. They were not capable enough.
At this time, Zhang Zhong did another stupid thing. He negotiated with the surrounding counties to rent their land to grow vegetables in the winter. Some of the materials needed would also be sent from the yamen. The yamen would spend money to buy the materials first. When the time came, they would sell them to the Zhang family at a higher price. This was done under his own name.
The county magistrates were happy. Zhang Zhong rented a thousand mu of land at once. He only rented it for a few months and paid fifty copper coins per mu. If he wanted to grow vegetables on so much land, the materials would cost several thousand strings of coins. Even if the price was increased by twenty percent, he could still earn a thousand strings of coins.
This was a thousand mu of land in a county. When the time came, he would need to hire the local people to help with the farming. In a few months, the hired people would earn more than a year of farming. While they were scolding Zhang Zhong for being a fool, the county magistrates were also relieved. They also wrote booklets and increased the amount of money that the county had to pay this year to the highest, which was twice as much as the previous years.
They originally wanted to keep some for themselves, but after being forced by Zhang Zhong's booklet, none of the county magistrates dared to keep more. It was not worth it to keep less. As a result, all of them were tortured to the point that they almost went crazy.
They scolded, hated, and liked Zhang Zhong.
Not only that, Zhang Zhong also asked the Zhang family to open a game shop in a few counties. They also used the maps of those counties. Some of the work of making figurines was given to the poor people in those counties. They also ordered a large number of handicrafts in those counties. All of the poultry and livestock in those counties were bought and sold at very low prices.
It was also because of this that the money earned by the surrounding counties was enough for them to double the amount of money that they had to pay this year. With the rent doubled, the people's lives were good enough. Someone secretly calculated for Zhang Zhong. The money that he had spent these few times added up to less than forty thousand strings of coins.
That was forty thousand strings of coins. How much land and population could it buy? Just like that, it was used by Zhang Zhong to take care of the neighboring counties.
Every day, things from other counties were transported in carts. Zhang Zhong arranged for people to build more than a dozen large warehouses and put things in different categories. The poultry and livestock were directly slaughtered and frozen. For a time, the restaurants in Huayuan County began to buy all kinds of blood tofu. The yamen runners also brought it home every day.
There was also a road connecting Yaowang Mountain to Tonglin County. While Zhang Xiaobao and the other two were waiting for the crab and training people, a small team of five carts came from that side.
"Xiao Bao, tell me, what is your family doing? This is the first time I have seen a charity like yours. So much money is given to others for free. "
Li Xun's eyes followed the movement of the five carts. He touched Zhang Xiaobao beside him and asked.
Zhang Xiaobao shook his head and said, "I don't know. Maybe my father feels that he is leaving, so he wants to give more benefits to the people here. The lives of ordinary people are not easy, so he wants to help if he can."
Li Xun thought for a while and felt that other than Zhang Xiaobao's reason, he could not think of any other reason. He glanced at the training people and said, "I don't know when the crabs and shrimps will come. I have to use the crab eight pieces you gave me well."
"It should be soon. Grandpa Bi will definitely send the crabs that he caught before here. Don't worry. I will make you a few more dishes." Zhang Xiaobao was also tempted by Li Xun's question.
Li Xun stared at that side. When a team of carts appeared there, Li Xun said to Zhang Xiaobao happily, "They are coming. They are coming."
"That can't be?" Zhang Xiaobao squinted his eyes and looked. He felt that it did not look like the team that the old man asked people to send things.
"What can't it be? It's my gift to you. There are 20 carts. You can't usually see it here, so I asked people to send it here from other places. It should be 22 to 23 carts. But on the way here, the outermost carts can't be eaten and can only be thrown away. This thing is good. I am planning to plant it in other places so that there will be vegetables to eat in winter. "
Li Xun waved his hand in that direction.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were curious. The team gradually approached and stopped in front of them. The curtain was lifted. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were stunned at the same time, then they became happy.
Li Xun walked over and took one. "You haven't seen it before, right? White Song is grown in Hebei Province. It is not convenient to transport it here, so no one transported it. The production this year is large, so the management hopes to plant more in more places. In the past, there were also some in other places with different colors.
I know you always want to get something that you have never seen before, so I sent it to you. The taste of White Song is better than other cabbage. These are enough for your family to eat in winter. "
"White Song? Cabbage? No, why did it come out in this season? It should be a few days later. " Zhang Xiaobao touched the cabbage with his hand. He didn't expect to be able to eat cabbage. This thing has a large production and can be preserved for a long time.
"So this is it? Ye Liu Wang Jian is preparing food. It's just cabbage, but it's called White Song? No wonder we couldn't find it. Now it's good. We can make pig dishes. " Wang Juan also reacted. She looked up a lot of things and wanted to find all kinds of useful and familiar things to use. But she didn't expect that the ingredients for the pickled cabbage that she always wanted to eat in winter were right next to her.
"Yes, this is it? Do you know how to eat it? It can be fried or stewed with tofu. "Li Xun nodded and said," Of course it's in this season. Otherwise, when are we waiting? "
"You are a prodigal. You can plant some other vegetables first, then this. This thing is cold resistant. You wasted the opportunity to plant other things. Do you have seeds? Get me more. Also, get all the new things that have appeared elsewhere. Things like stir-fried tofu and stewed tofu. I will tell you how to eat them. "
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