The Jagged Empire of Daqin

Zhang Shou stared at him, good guy, this old man Zhuang really took himself for granted!

"30 taels!"

"90 taels!"

"Oh, junior, I won't bargain with you anymore. Buy it now, 50 taels of silver for one grain of grain. If you want to sell it, you can sell it. If you don't sell it, forget it!" Zhang Shou lost his patience and directly burst out a number.

Mr. Zhuang fell silent, with a pensive look on his brows. After a moment of contemplation, he picked up a cold teacup, took a sip, and then said, "Okay, then 50 taels a stone!"

Zhang Shou breathed a sigh of relief again. In fact, if Zhuang Lao still disagrees with the 50 taels of silver and one stone of grain, he will not just let it go, and will continue to add until Zhuang Lao is satisfied. There is no way, the only family in the world is Zhuang Lao It is rare to be able to grow this kind of food!

"How many stones are there?" Zhang Shou asked.

"This year is a bumper harvest. I harvested eight stones and seven buckets. I keep two stones and seven buckets as rations, and sell the rest to you. The grain is in the woodshed!" Zhuang Lao replied calmly.

Zhang Shou nodded, then turned around and shouted outside the courtyard: "Come on, move the food!"

As soon as the words fell, eight big men walked into the small courtyard one after another, and then led by Mr. Zhuang to the woodshed. The firewood was piled up on one side, and six sacks full of grain were piled up on the other. Shou showed excitement and hurriedly asked people to move out.

When the six stone grains were moved to the small courtyard, Zhang Shou asked people to bring in sixty wooden boxes. The wooden boxes were very delicate, with patterns engraved on the outside, and the wood was not ordinary wood. After that, Zhang Shou asked people to fill the wooden boxes with grain one after another.

Each wooden box can hold exactly one bucket of grain, and if sixty wooden boxes are filled, that is six stones of grain. As for why the grain is put into exquisite wooden boxes, it is naturally to create a noble appearance, otherwise it will be transported for a year. Car linen cloth grain, the price of grain has dropped virtually.

That's the packaging!

While waiting for the sixty wooden boxes to be loaded into the open carriage outside the courtyard one by one, Zhang Shou took out a stack of bank notes from his arms. Zhang Shou took out three banknotes with a denomination of one hundred taels of silver and handed them to Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang took the bank note with neither joy nor sorrow, and turned back to the small courtyard. Zhang Shou didn't have time to stay for long, and soon returned to Xianyang City with a team of horse-drawn carriages, and began to publicize with great fanfare.

Mr. Zhuang returned to the small courtyard, closed the gate of the small courtyard, sat back on the chair, stuffed three silver bills of one hundred and two denominations into his arms, and then lay down on the chair with his eyes closed. Food and clothing, no shortage of shelter, the only thing missing is relatives.

"Knock! Knock!"

Not long after Mr. Zhuang closed his eyes, there was a knock on the door. Mr. Zhuang opened his eyes and shouted impatiently, "Who!"

"Mr. Zhuang is me, Xiao Li!" A sonorous male voice came from outside the door.

Hearing the call from the visitor, Mr. Zhuang took a deep breath, got up from the chair unhurriedly, walked slowly to the front door, and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, he saw a young man in his 30s standing at the door. Outside, with a strong smile on his face.

The young man was wearing a black uniform with a waist, a black square hat, and a sword hanging from his waist.

Xiao Li, a small officer in the county government of Xianyang County, has only been an officer for two years. Since Xiao Li's home is nearby, he is the neighbor of Mr. Zhuang. It can be said that Mr. Zhuang watched Xiao Li grow up. The relationship between Xiao Li is also very good. When Xiao Li has nothing to do, he will come to him with wine.

When Mr. Zhuang was still in his prime, Xiao Li helped him a lot.

"Why are you here!" Mr. Zhuang still had an impatient look on his face, and he seemed to have no affection for Xiao Li, and Xiao Li was not surprised by this, and replied with a smile: "Just now the court issued a notice, specially Let me tell you!"

Xiao Li is very aware of the serious old man in front of him. This old man seems to be unreasonable, but in fact he is hard-hearted and soft-hearted.

"The imperial court issued a notice, what's the matter with the old man, it's all right, come here, come in and have a seat!" Mr. Zhuang said angrily, and turned back to the small courtyard after speaking, and Xiao Li quickly followed.

When Mr. Zhuang sat on the chair, Xiao Li smiled at Mr. Zhuang and said, "Mr. Zhuang, you may not be interested in the announcements issued by the imperial court in the past, but this announcement is different. Your Majesty said that starting from this year , The whole territory of Daqin implements nursing home and pension policies, commonly known as the two-care policy!"

Mr. Zhuang frowned slightly, and said in a suspicious tone: "What nursing home, what pension? What are you talking about? Come on, Xiao Li, I haven't read the old man, so I don't understand. What do you mean?" , you just say it directly!" The more he talked, the more impatient Mr. Zhuang became.

PS: "Many brothers said that they were tired of watching war scenes, so the author focused on rewriting this branch plot. I hope it can be written well so that everyone can watch it comfortably. Monthly tickets, if you don’t have the financial means yet, just vote for recommendation!"

Chapter 846 Cold face and warm heart!

"Hey!" Xiao Li laughed and explained with a smile: "The meaning of this nursing home policy is that anyone over the age of 55 who has no children and no daughters can live in a nursing home, and the local government will hire someone to take care of them. It will be borne by the imperial court, there is no need to pay any money, it is all free, the nursing home has not yet been built, but the government has already started preparations, and it is expected to be completed in early March!"

"The idea of ​​the pension policy is that all elderly people over the age of 60, regardless of whether they have children or not, can receive a pension of one tael of silver every year. I heard from the adults in the yamen that the imperial court specially allocated 4000 million taels of silver for this purpose. It is dedicated to supporting the old man Daqin!"

After hearing these words, Mr. Zhuang's expression changed, and Xiao Li also laughed with a hint of ridicule at this time: "Mr. Zhuang, you said before that the policies issued by the imperial court are all bluffing. The pure purpose is to win the hearts of the people and make the soldiers work hard for the court, but you have nothing to say about the two-support policy, the court and Your Majesty really want to benefit the common people!"

All 36 members of the family died on the Yangguan battlefield except Mr. Zhuang himself. This made Mr. Zhuang feel a little hatred for the imperial court. He believed that everything the imperial court did was for their own benefit, and they treated the people like pawns. They were not sincere for the people at all. .

This idea, Mr. Zhuang has been telling Xiao Li that Xiao Li's father also died in the Yangguan battlefield. Now Xiao Li's family only has a wife, a son, and an old mother. The old mother is still in bed for a long time, as if it were someone else , will definitely become as hostile to the court as Zhuang Lao.

But Xiao Li didn't take it seriously, and always believed that the court and His Majesty were sincerely doing good for the people. His father died in the battle of Yangguan. The officers and soldiers of the Shang Dynasty, who received the imperial salary, also relied on the relationship between his father's death on the Yangguan battlefield.

Mr. Zhuang was silent, not knowing what he was thinking. Seeing that Mr. Zhuang did not speak, Xiao Li knew that he had touched Mr. Zhuang, so he continued: "Mr. Zhuang, it has been 20 years since the defense of Yangguan. Yes, you should let it go too."

"You shouldn't hate the imperial court either. It is everyone's responsibility to defend the country. Some children went to the battlefield and died for the country without complaint or regret. If you want to hate, you should hate the Jin Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty has long been ruled by us. The Great Qin Dynasty is destroyed, besides, Mr. Zhuang, you should ask yourself if the court has ever treated you badly, with such a court and His Majesty, and the current style of incorruptibility, Mr. Zhuang, you can secretly enjoy yourself!"

Zhuang Laobai glanced at Xiao Li, and said angrily: "What are you stealing, you are a lobbyist sent by the court, right?"

"Mr. Zhuang, you are joking. If the imperial court really sent me to be your lobbyist, that would be amazing!" Xiao Li said with a smile all over his face.

"Okay, okay, get out after you finish talking, it's annoying to watch!" Mr. Zhuang waved his hands impatiently.

Xiao Li smiled and bent over to make a salute, and said with a smile: "Then I'll go first, Mr. Zhuang, take care, if something happens, ask someone to go to the county government to find me, Xiao Li, I have nothing else to do, just run with both legs It's very fast, within less than a stick of incense, you can run back from the county government!"

"Crap, bastard!"

"Good Le!"

Xiao Li turned and left disheartened, but just as he was about to step over the threshold, Mr. Zhuang suddenly stopped, "Stop!"

Xiao Li turned around with a blank face, and looked at Mr. Zhuang with a puzzled face, only to see Mr. Zhuang slowly getting up from the chair, walking towards him, and asked expressionlessly: "What is your mother doing now?" Sample?"

"Oh, it's okay!" Xiao Li replied with a smile.

Mr. Zhuang glared at Xiao Li, "What a fart, I live next to your house, have you ever cheated me? I heard your daughter-in-law yelling in the morning, complaining that your mother is dragging down the whole family. Good news to you!" If you don't report your worries, if your mother's condition hadn't gotten worse, would your daughter-in-law have acted like this?"

"What!" Xiao Li's face changed, and he said angrily: "This bitch dares to scold my mother, see if I don't go home and slap her twice!" After finishing speaking, Xiao Li rushed to leave, looking at the posture , I want to go back and teach my wife a lesson.

Mr. Zhuang hurriedly grabbed Xiao Li's arm, and reprimanded angrily: "What are you cutting? The daughter-in-law hates your mother more!"

"You should also be considerate of your daughter-in-law. Your daughter-in-law is just complaining. After all, everything in the house is not done by your daughter-in-law. While taking care of you, your mother, and your son, you have to be busy with housework at the same time. This is more than that. Your daughter-in-law has to do some fine work when she has time, and earn some money to subsidize the family. Otherwise, with a salary of [-] yuan a month for your little officer and soldier, can you support your family of four? Can you stay in bed for a long time? old lady?"

Under Mr. Zhuang's preaching, Xiao Li's anger disappeared and turned into shame and guilt. At this time, Mr. Zhuang took out three silver notes of one hundred and two denominations that he had just obtained from selling grain from his bosom, After taking out the bank notes, he first took out one and stuffed it into his pocket.

"I want to keep some for myself. It's the coffin book. For the rest, you can hire a good doctor to treat your mother well. If you have more, don't take it back. It's a subsidy for the family. Yesterday, the old man saw that your son was thin. That's a lot!" Mr. Zhuang said while handing over two silver bills with a denomination of one hundred taels to Xiao Li.

Xiao Li saw that Mr. Zhuang actually took out such a large denomination banknote, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Mr. Zhuang, you are robbing the bank, right? 200 taels of silver, oh no, 300 taels of silver, my God, Zhuang Lao, what the hell are you doing!"

Old Zhuang's face darkened, "If the old man was younger, he would really go to grab the bank, but when the old man is old, don't worry, the money is the money he earned from selling grain just now. Boss Zhang is generous and gave a little more !"

The corner of Xiao Li's mouth twitched, and he said in disbelief, "Selling grain for 300 taels of silver is really unheard of!"

Mr. Zhuang couldn't help but kicked Xiao Li with his leg, and then stretched his head to look outside the door. Seeing that there was no one outside, he frowned and said cautiously: "Don't yell, remember, don't worry about it. Don't tell others this, I don't want to be robbed in the middle of the night!"

"Understood!" Xiao Li smiled coyly.

Mr. Zhuang pushed forward the hand that handed the bank note, "Do you want this money? If you want it, take it quickly!"

Xiao Li hurriedly took a step back, waved his hands again and again and said with a sneer: "Mr. Zhuang, I can't take this money. You earned it so hard, how can I take it? I, Xiao Li, sit up straight and don't eat what comes from me. "

PS: "Ask for a full order, ask for a monthly pass!"

Chapter 847 Can the crops last for a few seasons?

"My old lady's illness, I will find a solution by myself. Besides, I am an officer and soldier now, and I am regarded as a member of the government. If others find out that I took your money, it will be called a bribe!"

"Hehe!" Mr. Zhuang smiled sarcastically, "You really regard yourself as a person, and you still bribe, and you don't care what your status is now. You're just a broken officer and soldier, why don't you talk about bribery or not? of!"

"Take it quickly, the old man doesn't have the patience to yell at you, tell you, if you don't want it, from now on, you are not allowed to step into this courtyard, and when you meet in the future, you will be a stranger, and you will never communicate with each other from now on, you go to your sunshine Avenue, the old man walks on my single-plank bridge!"

Xiao Li's eyes turned red quickly, and the tears couldn't stop streaming down. He immediately bent his knees, knelt on the ground, kowtowed and cried, "Mr. Zhuang, from today onwards, you are my father. You don't have to go to the nursing home." Well, from now on, I, Xiao Li, will take care of you and take care of you till the end of your life!"

Seeing what Xiao Li knelt on the ground and said, Mr. Zhuang smiled gratifiedly, but quickly hid it, and said with an impatient look: "Okay, don't talk about this, get up quickly, you are really nice!" Open your eyes, why didn't you just hear you say that you want to give the old man a pension, it's really worthless!"

Xiao Li raised his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, dried his tears, then slowly got up from the ground, and said with a smile on his face: "I forgot what I was going to say just now, hehe!"

Mr. Zhuang gave Xiao Li another blank look, and directly stuffed the bank note in his hand into the latter's arms, then pushed Xiao Li out of the door, closed the door mercilessly, locked Xiao Li out, and pushed Xiao Li out of the door Once again, Xiao Li was moved and cried bitterly, and secretly swore in his heart that from now on, Mr. Zhuang would be his own father, and he must treat him well!

Soon, Xiao Li left in front of the small courtyard in a hurry, returned to his home immediately, and told his daughter-in-law and old mother who had been ill for a long time about Mr. Zhuang sending money to see a doctor. They were all moved and said that they wanted to visit the door to thank them.

Since Mrs. Xiao Li couldn't get up, Xiao Li and Xiao Li's daughter-in-law did the thank you. But when the two came to the small courtyard, after knocking on the door for a while, there was no response from the courtyard. Xiao Li, who was worried about Mr. Zhuang's accident, , Climb over the wall and enter the courtyard.

After entering the courtyard, Xiao Li finally understood that Mr. Zhuang had gone out. Seeing this, Xiao Li could only take his wife home first, and wait for Mr. Zhuang to come back to pay his respects.

Where did Mr. Zhuang go?

Three quarters of an hour later!

Xianyang City, Prime Minister Zuo's Mansion, and the Court!

In the court hall, Zhang Feizi, an old man in his sixty-fifths, was at the top of the list, wearing a black official uniform. There were several old people sitting on both sides of the hall. Come to see, these old people are decent people.

The hall was very quiet, no one made a sound, and the old people sitting in the hall were even more fearful and sweating, while Zhang Feizi silently reviewed the official documents, completely ignoring these old people. Dazed and puzzled, they didn't know why the top officials called them together in their eyes.

step..step...step..

At this time, there was a burst of footsteps outside the hall, and everyone, even Zhang Feizi, looked up, and saw two officers and soldiers from Prime Minister Zuo's mansion leading an old man into the court hall. Rough wrinkles, dark skin, wearing a relatively expensive dark gray patterned brocade dress, wearing a hair-tie copper crown on the head, restraining the graying hair, and a copper hairpin is inserted into the copper crown as a fix.

It was Mr. Zhuang!

It turned out that as soon as Xiao Li left his house, Prime Minister Zuo's officers and soldiers came to the door, saying that Prime Minister Zuo wanted to see him. Mr. Zhuang was shocked when he heard that, Prime Minister Zuo wanted to see him?Could it be that the government found out about the rice seeds?

The panic-stricken Elder Zhuang then asked the officers and soldiers why Prime Minister Zuo wanted to see him, but the officers and soldiers refused to answer. scene.

When Mr. Zhuang walked into the courtroom and saw the old people sitting on both sides of the hall, he was a little surprised, because he knew all these old people, without exception, they were all masters of farming in Xianyang City, and more than half of them were still working as masters in the middle school , teaching farm students to farm.

Seeing this, Mr. Zhuang was even more puzzled.

What the hell is the imperial court trying to do?

Just when Mr. Zhuang was puzzled, one of the officers and soldiers who brought him here bowed respectfully to Zhang Feizi and said, "Sir, Prime Minister Zuo, Mr. Zhuangyanzhuang in the northern suburbs has been brought here!"

Zhang Feizi nodded expressionlessly, and at the same time waved to the two officers and soldiers who brought Mr. Zhuang forward: "You two step back for now!"

"Obey!" The two officers and soldiers bowed in unison in response, then turned around and left the courtroom. After the two officers and soldiers had left, Zhang Feizi said to Zhuang Lao with a smile on his face: "Zhuang Lao's name is like thunder, please Take your seat!"

Seeing Prime Minister Zuo Zhang Feizi being so polite, Mr. Zhuang was overwhelmed by flattery, and hurriedly bowed down to salute and replied, "Prime Minister Zuo is absurdly praised, I dare not be a grassroots!"

"Take a seat!" Zhang Feizi didn't want to say much, and motioned to Mr. Zhuang to take a seat again. Mr. Zhuang nodded and sat on a seat not far from him. After Mr. Zhuang took his seat, Zhang Feizi looked around at everyone, counted heads, and After mental calculation, Zhang Feizi made sure that everyone was present.

After confirming that all the farming masters inside and outside Xianyang City had arrived, Zhang Feizi straight to the point said to everyone: "Now that everyone is here, the truth will be down to business. The truth is known. You must be very puzzled that you were invited to Prime Minister Zuo for no reason. Even a little terrified!"

"The truth can tell you that it is definitely not a bad thing to invite you to come. You should be bold and don't be nervous. The purpose of the truth is to ask you, is there any way to make the crops last for more than two seasons? ? Or, can one mu of land produce several times more food?"

That's right, Zhang Feizi invited a well-known farming boss in the city to ask if the crops could grow for more seasons, or to multiply the grain several times. Zhang Feizi didn't have much hope for this, but just followed the process.

"A variety of seasons?"

"How is this possible, absolutely impossible!"

"Yeah, this is simply impossible!"

"It's not impossible to grow more grains on one mu of land. As long as you take care of it carefully, you can generally grow a few buckets more grains than ordinary fertile land, but it is absolutely impossible to grow grains several times!"

PS: "Yesterday was the [-]th update, will today be the [-]th update? Oh no, today is the [-]th update, yesterday was because the author was not feeling well, and one chapter was missing!"

Chapter 848 Zhang Feizi's Art of Observing People and Observing Colors!

"Your words are wrong. Mr. Zhuang produced eight stones of grain on one mu of land last year, and I heard that the grain grown by Mr. Zhuang is as white as jade and as big as gravel, and it sells well in Xianyang City. , it seems to sell for 100 taels!"

"Old Man Zhuang's hand is truly a miraculous hand!"

"That's right, Mr. Zhuang's skills are beyond compare!"

All the farming masters talked about it, and they all thought that it was impossible for the crops to grow for multiple seasons. As for whether they could grow several times the grain, these farming masters talked about Mr. Zhuang, and they looked at Mr. Zhuang with envy and hatred in their eyes.

It is no secret that Mr. Zhuang's one mu of land has grown eight stones of grain for two years in a row, so most people know it very well.

Zhang Feizi, who was in the first place, couldn't help being surprised when he heard the comments of these farming masters, eight stones of grain per mu?This is four times the output of ordinary fertile farmland. Is this farmer so amazing?Thinking of this, Zhang Feizi looked closely at Mr. Zhuang who was sitting at the end.

As Prime Minister Zuo, he has a lot to do every day. He doesn't know the specific situation of folk farming at all, and he doesn't know any farming masters. He sent someone to invite them because his subordinates mentioned the names of famous farming masters. Therefore, he only knew about these farming masters in advance. Experts are famous, and they don't know what skills they can have. For example, they don't know that Mr. Zhuang can produce eight stones of grain per mu.

He was originally not optimistic about this matter, and he immediately had hope. If he does this matter well, firstly, His Majesty Longyan Dayue, and secondly, the Great Qin Dynasty will no longer be afraid of the food crisis, and it is possible to remove his left character. The next word is the prime minister.

Elder Zhuang, who was sitting at the end, heard the discussions of these farming masters, and couldn't help but feel uneasy, with a look of sadness on his face, thinking to himself, what if Prime Minister Zuo forced himself to tell the truth?

If the court really wants to force itself, then let the secret rot in the dirt!

Mr. Zhuang made up his mind to pay attention, he would rather die than tell the truth!

After making up his mind, Mr. Zhuang's expression became firm, but what he didn't know was that Zhang Feizi had noticed his nervous and sad expressions just now. After all, Mr. Zhuang was a small man, and Zhang Feizi was sitting in charge. All his life in the officialdom, the eyesight of observing people and colors is not comparable to that of ordinary people. No matter how well a small man like Mr. Zhuang hides his emotions, he can't escape his sharp and old-fashioned eyes.

But although Zhang Feizi noticed the strangeness of Mr. Zhuang, he didn't expose it. Instead, he pretended to know nothing and asked, "Can Mr. Zhuang really make an acre of land grow eight stones of grain?"

As soon as the words fell, Mr. Zhuang immediately got up from his seat, bowed down and saluted with a blank expression, and replied: "Caomin can indeed make an acre of land grow eight stones of grain, but it takes a long time of careful care, and a little slack. cannot succeed!"

"This kind of work not only needs to be careful, but also very complicated. Only the grassroots know how to do it, and it is difficult to teach others. Because the grassroots are old, they can't cultivate surplus good land, so they can only plant one mu of land!"

Hearing this, Zhang Feizi remained calm, but he couldn't help laughing in his heart, because he only asked Mr. Zhuang whether the matter was true or not, but he didn't ask if he could teach others, or if he could grow a few acres. The ground, but Mr. Zhuang himself said it impatiently.

This is enough to show that Mr. Zhuang has a secret in his heart, and he is unwilling to share it. He wants to use this sentence to block the next question.

"That's such a pity!" Zhang Feizi shook his head regretfully and sighed!