Time flew by quickly. Six days had passed since the Spring Equinox, but there was still no reward. Not even a sentence had been delivered, let alone a physical object.
"Bureaucracy, this is bureaucracy. Everyone knows that the plow is useful, but they are entangled with it for their own benefits. I heard that in the other counties of this prefecture, people started to make curved plows in less than two days after County Magistrate Cheng sent in the memorials. This means that they got the job done, but left the benefits to be shared equally."
Wang Juan sat on a stool and rested her chin on her hands as she complained to Zhang Xiaobao. Zhang Xiaobao also knew about this matter, but he didn't care. His face was calm, and he was more concerned about the fact that there wasn't even a single rain these days.
The small amount of water that rose when the snow melted had receded. Based on this, even if they built Between the Clouds and the Water on the other side of the river this year, it would be useless. When the water dried up, where would they go to enjoy the fun?
"Xiao Bao, think of a way. If the people in the prefecture take the credit and only give County Magistrate Cheng a little, won't we have no credit at all?" Wang Juan nudged Zhang Xiaobao.
"Okay, think of a way. This kind of thing is actually not that difficult. Ask Erniu to come here." Zhang Xiaobao saw that Wang Juan wanted him to solve this problem, so he had to put the matter of the restaurant aside for the time being.
Erniu led two people. After a few days of hard work, they finally finished all the stones. Except for the one that Zhang Xiaobao deliberately left behind, there wasn't a single complete stone left.
He didn't have anything to do these two days, so he helped make the sauce at home. Just as he finished making the sauce base, someone came to find him, saying that the young master had something to do. Erniu didn't dare to delay, so he put down the work in his hands and hurried to Zhuangzi. After being instructed by Zhang Xiaobao, he came out again and disappeared from the sight of the villagers.
After dealing with this matter, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan went to Cherries's place. Yesterday, a chicken laid eggs. Today, it seemed that more chickens would lay eggs. The eggs that had just hatched were still small, so they couldn't be used to hatch them. These eggs could be sold for money.
Originally, they should be put in the market here, but everyone was busy and didn't have time to go to the market. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wanted to see if the eggs were really small. If they were really small, they could be temporarily used for other business........
Cherries was now in a separate courtyard, which was full of chicken coops. Cherries didn't care about trivial matters. The chores were done by other people.
Before Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan walked in, they heard a chaotic sound from outside. It was the kind of sound that came after eggs were laid. It seemed that there were many chickens laying eggs today.
Standing outside the courtyard, the smell wasn't as strong as imagined, but Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan still frowned at the same time. They felt that this hygiene was a bit difficult to handle.
"Young Master, Young Lady, why are you here? The smell here is strong. Go back quickly. What if you get smelly? " When Cherries was checking the eggs, a gatekeeper came to report to her that the young master and his wife were here. She quickly put down the work in her hands and came out to persuade Zhang Xiaobao and his wife to go back.
"It's okay, Cherries. Did you get the cesspool that I specially asked you to get? Why is there still a little smell? "Zhang Xiaobao waved his hand indifferently and asked Cherries.
"It's built, it's all built. Well, according to young master's instructions, we wash it with water every day. But the chickens always need to eat, so they have to be discharged. There's no good way." Cherries also didn't know what to do. With so many chickens, it was a mess to manage.
Not to mention the inside of the chicken coops, even when they were outside, there were more than six thousand chickens. Eating and pooping along the way, there was chicken feces everywhere. Now she didn't know where to put it.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also began to think of a way. More than six thousand chickens, normally speaking, wasn't too many. Why was it so difficult to get?
"Can't we use sand to pave the ground?" Wang Juan thought of something first.
"It can be done, but the problem is where to put them. We can't keep them in the chicken coops all day. Where should we put them?" Zhang Xiaobao felt that it was a good choice to pave the ground with sand, but he was worried about where to put them.
Wang Juan thought about it again, and her eyes lit up. She said, "Why don't we put them on the mountain, cut the wings of the chickens, choose a good place on the mountain, and surround it with a fish net. I used to see how they raised stupid chickens like this.
En, it's settled. Cherries, buy some fish nets in a while and enclose a large area on the mountain. Send the chickens there during the day and bring them back at night. If it doesn't work, just directly build some chicken coops there. "
Cherries nodded and noted it down. This was indeed a good idea. Zhang Xiaobao also said at this time, "Also, go buy some lime and sprinkle some on the mountain every day. This way, the chickens won't get sick easily. Bring a few eggs over and let's see."
Cherries also noted this point down. She turned back and brought a basin with some eggs in it.
"It's really small. There are at least 11 of these eggs per jin. Good, good. After two days, when we have more eggs, we'll arrange for people to go to the county to see." Wang Juan looked at the small eggs that still had blood on them and nodded with satisfaction.
Cherries didn't know what the young lady and young master wanted to do with these eggs. Usually, no one was willing to buy such small eggs. There were so many of them per jin, and just the shell alone took up a lot of weight. She originally planned to make these small eggs salted and sell them at a cheaper price in the market.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn't explain to Cherries. After they finished looking, they went elsewhere. This year, not only did they have to raise chickens, but they also had to let the farmers raise more pigs. The lotus flowers in the pond were planted, and the fish were also put in. They all bought the three-inch fish. If they were too small, they would be eaten by the ducks and geese.
When the pigs were raised, the feces could be used to feed the fish. At the end of the year, the fish would be fished out. After cleaning the bottom, the bottom would become the fertilizer for the next spring plowing.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn't understand the matter of catching pigs, so they had to let the farmers figure it out by themselves. When they needed money, the owners would pay first. When they killed the pigs and sold them for money during the New Year, in addition to the owners' capital, they would also pay some interest. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn't refuse, but they lowered the interest very low.
When the two of them passed by the small river in front of the courtyard, they found that the water level had dropped again. This time, the two of them became nervous and didn't have time to think about anything else. They found people to continue digging the pond, and even destroyed a piece of land.
A few days later, in the county town of Sanshui County, a few women and children appeared on the streets with a small cart. They looked for places with a lot of people and didn't block the shops behind them. They stopped the cart, got the underlings to start a fire, and began to hawk their wares.
"Jianbing fruit, two copper coins for one jianbing fruit. Buying soybeans and charcoal."
This kind of hawking began to appear in Sanshui County Town, and there were so many of them. This made the common people curious. What were these things? It seemed to be food, and the price wasn't expensive. Those who had spare money on them took out their money to buy one to try.
The woman first scooped a spoonful of noodle soup and poured it on top of a jianbing fruit. She swept it with a small bamboo slice, and a jianbing fruit came out. Then, she cracked an egg on top, flipped it over, and smeared the chili sauce on top. She put two youtiao inside, rolled it up, and wrapped it in a piece of oil paper. Even if it was ready, she could add some more for those who were willing to eat chopped green onions and coriander.
That person received it in his hand, and it was still warm. He took a bite, and it was crispy, spicy, salty, and sweet. All kinds of flavors were in his mouth. After a while, he finished it, and still wanted more, he asked for another one.
Since someone started, the others also bought one to try something new. In the end, all the noodles and eggs on the small cart were sold. Other than money, they also exchanged a lot of charcoal and soybeans.
The women were overjoyed. They had actually earned more than twenty copper coins in one day. The charcoal they collected could be used to light the stove when they continued to sell pancakes the next day. As for the soybeans, they had collected enough to send to a warehouse beside the yamen. The rest of the money was theirs.
County Magistrate Cheng was also paying attention to this matter today. He casually stopped a person selling jianbing fruit and asked him a few questions. After asking clearly, he let the person go. He then said to the deputy county magistrate beside him.
"Zhangjia Zhuangzi has done us a big favor this time. These women usually don't have much work to do at home. Now that they have an additional income, the county's tax revenue will be increased by a lot."
"Milord is right. The chickens in their farmstead have just laid eggs, and they are all small eggs. It is the most cost-effective to sell them. When the commoners live better lives, there will be fewer troubles. The Zhang Family's farmstead has also made a lot of profit this time. To sell pancakes, we have to use that thing called youtiao. If we want youtiao, we have to buy vegetable oil from them. We also have to buy eggs from them. With the harvested soybeans, we have to pay back the money for the carts and pots bit by bit.
After we pay back the money, we have to repay the debt. "The deputy county magistrate also praised. This ability was not ordinary. It seemed that they had given away the profits, but in fact, they had found a bunch of people to help Zhuangzi earn money. As long as they sold jianbing fruit and made money, Zhuangzi would also make money. The more people there were, the more money Zhuangzi would make.
"It's good to make money, and it also helped us solve a lot of problems. This year's tax revenue is much higher than previous years. I don't believe that the higher-ups will be able to take away this credit."
As they were talking, County Magistrate Cheng talked about the credit. The people in the province had already spread the manufacturing method of the curved plough to the entire province. They also reported to the higher-ups and returned the two official orders sent by Sanshui County to them. They asked them to rewrite them.
Although they did not say why they had to rewrite them, the county magistrate and the chief registrar knew that it was to give credit to the higher-ups. The people in the county did not want to give credit. This kind of credit would be gone if they were given credit. Therefore, this matter was delayed, and the higher-ups were not in a hurry.
"Milord, don't worry. Those in the imperial court will naturally know. The people in the province can't hide it even if they want to. When the imperial court sends people down, we will tell them."
The deputy county magistrate comforted County Magistrate Cheng. He said it casually, but he knew in his heart that this matter was not so simple.
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