Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

Not every official in this dynasty was like Shen Liu. Fortunately, they were in Liaodong Prefecture and were protected by Shen Liu. If they were in other prefectures, who knows what would have happened.

Xiaolan and Shengxuan were standing in line in the paddock waiting to pay their grain. There were soldiers guarding the paddock on all sides, and there were soldiers inside helping to carry the grain.

Although they had to pay taxes, the people did not show any sad expressions on their faces. Instead, they all had smiles on their faces, because after paying the taxes, the remaining food would belong to them.

The people who had paid the grain earlier said that General Shen Liu's people collected grain strictly in accordance with the regulations of the Great Qi Dynasty. They would not collect more from them, nor would they collect miscellaneous fees for transporting the grain. Everyone was naturally happy.

When it was Xiaolan's family's turn, Shengxuan brought Xiaolan forward. The tax payment required the signature of the head of the family on the document. For such a big event, Xiaolan naturally wanted to join in the fun.

The soldiers carried in bags of grain to be weighed. The accountant used an abacus to calculate and said, "Sheng Xuan, the wheat and soybeans you grow on your land, as well as the fish and rabbits you raise, all of which are counted as taxes. How do you plan to pay?"

Sheng Xuan and Xiao Lan looked at each other and said, "All will be settled in wheat."

The accountant nodded and was about to speak when a soldier trotted up to him and whispered something to him. Then he changed his tone and said, "We raise rabbits together with General Shen. The money General Shen earns is also for his soldiers to have enough food. This part doesn't count. In the end, your family has to pay 3,500 kilograms of grain. You can take the rest back home."

Xiao Lan frowned and asked the accountant in a low voice, "Is this General Shen's leniency?"

The accountant raised his eyelids and glanced at Xiao Lan. Before he started to speak, Xiao Lan continued, "Although the rabbit breeding business is jointly run by my family and General Shen, the land is mine. According to convention, the land occupied should be calculated according to the yield per mu."

The accountant looked at her in surprise, "General Shen is a third-rank officer and does not have to pay taxes." Then the accountant saw that Xiao Lan had not left yet, so he whispered to her, "This is what Lord He meant. If you have any questions, go ask him in person."

The weather was dry this year, but thanks to Shen Liu who opened the reservoir to release water, the harvest was still acceptable. General Shen also sympathized with the people who had just recovered from the disaster, so the taxes collected this year were not heavy.

After Sheng Xuan signed the document and put his fingerprints on it, the father and daughter took the food and went home.

Xiaolan's family has many people. Although the wheat harvest is good this time, after deducting the tax and the wheat seeds sold, the remaining is not enough for the whole family. The beans at home can be eaten, but Xiaolan wants to use them to make tofu, so she is reluctant to eat them.

Zhang was very satisfied with the result of paying taxes. She had a different idea from Xiaolan. In the past, her family could only eat half full after paying taxes from farming. At that time, she was living under Cui, and Cui had the final say on all food distribution.

Although the harvest this year was not good, the family was able to keep so much grain. If it were not for the beans for the tofu workshop, the grain grown at home would not be eaten up. How could she not be happy? The beans were provided to the tofu workshop. After the tofu workshop made money, it would buy some coarse grains such as millet. At that time, coarse grains and fine grains were mixed together to eat, which could not only satisfy the craving but also fill the stomach.

Shen had the same idea as her mother. She counted on her fingers for a long time and finally said with a smile, "We have so much food at home. If we eat half full, we can eat for two years."

Xiao Lan heard this and twitched her lips. "Grandma, look, when did my family ever eat half full?"

Shen's meal was true. After the family arrived at Sheng Xuan's house, they were all well fed. Three meals a day were all dry food, and they were always full. Even in times of famine and war, they never went hungry.

Shen looked at the children around her. There were many children in the family, especially the half-grown ones. Although they were small, they were very hungry. There is a saying that the half-grown ones can make their parents poor. The children were growing up and could eat, and the family was willing to work hard on the food. After careful calculation, the remaining food in the family was not enough to eat.

"If we eat like this every day, the little food left at home won't be enough." Shen said worriedly.

"Grandma, don't worry. When the food is gone, we can just spend money to buy more."

In the past two years, the Sheng family has been spending money to buy food. This year is the first time to eat food grown by themselves, so Xiao Lan said this without any pressure. And she really has no pressure. You know, the tofu workshop and soap workshop at home are making money. Although the jerky workshop has not started to generate income, it is not a matter of time. When she sells the jerky, she can exchange it for some southern rice from the merchants. In this way, the family can eat rice every now and then. Xiao Lan is happy just thinking about it.

"Child, the money in our family didn't come from the wind. I think we should save as much as possible. How about we change our three meals a day to porridge?" asked Shen.

Xiao Lan jumped off the kang and said with a smile, "It's up to you. I just want to be full."

Shen smiled and asked Zhang, "You said you and Shengxuan are so honest, how come you gave birth to a cunning person like Xiaolan?"

Zhang smiled and said, "I'm curious too. If she really hadn't crawled out of my stomach, I would have doubted where she was picked up from. But our family is grateful to Xiaolan. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be able to live such a good life now."

After paying taxes, almost no ordinary people can afford to sell grain. The remaining grain is usually kept at home and saved for next year. Only wealthy families and small landlords have surplus grain to sell, but these people usually cooperate with grain shops and do not usually sell in retail.

Therefore, if Xiaolan's family wanted to buy grain, they could only go to the grain store. But this time, Xiaolan said that the family was not in a hurry to buy grain until she came back from Xingyuan Prefecture.

He Mingyu counted the rabbits in her shed and said, "There are only about 6,000 rabbits that can be sold. This is too few."

Xiao Lan's mouth twitched as she said, "Even if you think it's too little, you have to look at how big my land is. My 80 acres of land is already overloaded with so many rabbits. If these rabbits weren't picky eaters and would eat chopped dry wheat straw, I would have made these rabbits into jerky long ago. You know, I still have nearly 10,000 little rabbits here."

He Mingyu pulled a piece of grass and held it in his mouth, snorted twice and said, "Your place is not enough, so you can buy more land to expand."