Traveling through the mountains and farming

Nowadays, no one in the village has the mood to eat breakfast or work in the fields.

Everyone was wondering with a worried look on their face how they could pay the autumn tax.

Even if all the money is paid, how can the remaining surplus feed the family?

Some people rushed to the headman's house to get the official verification done, hoping to go to the city to buy food as soon as possible.

However, they did not know that all the major grain stores in the county were now implementing limited supplies, and it was not their turn to come to the city from the village to buy grain.

Some families gathered together to discuss countermeasures intensely.

Someone suggested borrowing grain, but every household was not well fed these days, and after paying the grain taxes, there was probably not much grain left, so where would they get any grain to borrow?

Everyone racked their brains but couldn't come up with a practical and effective solution.

Uncle Li's family has already welcomed and seen off several groups of people who came to inquire about the situation of buying grain in the county town.

When they heard that they couldn't buy food even if they lined up several days in advance, they left dejectedly.

Uncle Li sent another villager to the gate of the courtyard. When he was about to close the gate, he saw Li Changren standing at the gate.

Li Changren had been here for a while. He was standing at the door thinking about how to borrow grain that he had discussed with Li at home before coming.

After some calculations at home, they found that their family's grain was only enough to pay the autumn tax.

If they really paid all the autumn taxes, they would have no food to eat.

But if you don't pay the grain tax of four stone and five dou, you will have to serve in the military for more than four years.

Finally, Zhang made some analysis and said that even though her uncle's family did not sell any grain, they still had at least 20 dan of rice.

But she completely ignored the fact that Uncle Li's family had several times more people than theirs.

She kept urging Li Changren to come and borrow food, claiming that if he didn't, their family would have to starve or watch Li Changren go to serve in the military and the family would break up.

Under her instigation, Li Changren also felt that borrowing grain from his uncle was a feasible option. He couldn't ask him to serve in the military.

It is for this reason that Li Changren is standing in front of Uncle Li, ready to start acting.

His face turned red, and he kept rubbing the corners of his clothes with his hands, brewing his emotions outside the door.

When Uncle Li saw him, he welcomed him into the yard and the two of them sat there.

After a long while, Li Changren stammered, "Uncle... I... my family doesn't have enough grain to pay the autumn tax, so I want to... I want to borrow some grain from you."

He tried his best to make himself look pitiful, because whenever he made mistakes when he was a child, as long as he acted pitiful, his uncle would easily forgive him because of his father's early death.

Uncle Li's face changed drastically, and he asked hurriedly, "How is that possible? How much grain did you sell that day?"

He knew very well the situation of Li Changren's family's fields. Logically, his family should have harvested more than 16 shi of rice in autumn. How could they not even be able to pay the autumn tax of more than 4 shi? After all, their family was small.

Li Changren's eyes dodged, and he stammered, "I... I've almost sold them all. I only have a little over three stones left."

After being questioned by Uncle Li, he did not dare to speak out about what he had discussed with Zhang at home, asking him to tell his uncle that he had sold all the grain and wanted to borrow four stone of grain from him.

But he also did not explain the fact that his family had enough grain to pay the autumn tax.

When Mr. Li heard this, he almost fainted from anger: "How foolish! Why did you sell so many? Don't you keep some for yourself?"

"I thought that after the autumn harvest, the grain in the grain shop would be on the market in large quantities, and the price would be cheap, so I thought about making a profit from the difference."

Li Changren lowered his head, not daring to look at Uncle Li, and explained in a low voice.

When he was selling the grain, he thought that there would be a lot of grain on the market after the autumn harvest, and the price of grain would definitely be cheap, so he could just buy it then.

He reserved grain according to the standard for paying summer taxes, and also reserved more than one month's worth of food for consumption, and sold the rest.

Uncle Li was so angry that he stood up, stamped his feet, and said bitterly:

"You, you, I couldn't stop you at that time. You only thought about making a profit from the price difference, but didn't think about what to do if something unexpected happened? Now you can't pay the autumn tax, so you come to me to borrow grain. How can I lend you so much grain?"

When Li Changren heard this, his eyes dimmed instantly. He squatted there with his hands on his head and began to cry, saying that he should not have ignored the advice and sold the grain a few days ago.

"Uncle, I really regret it. I shouldn't have ignored your advice and sold the grain a few days ago. Why was I so foolish at that time? I only thought about the little money in front of me. What should I do now? The autumn tax has to be paid, but my family can't pay it."

As Li Changren spoke, he simply sat down on the ground and wiped his tears with his hands. He looked extremely miserable.

At this moment, he was half expressing his true feelings and half deliberately acting pitiful.

Uncle Li felt very uncomfortable when he saw Li Changren like this. He sighed heavily again and said helplessly:

"Changren, it's too late to regret now. But now that you're asking me to borrow grain, I have no money to help you. Although my family doesn't sell grain, we have so many mouths to feed, and the little food we have is very limited."

After hearing what Uncle Li said, Li Changren couldn't help but tremble. He seemed a little bit unable to believe that Uncle Li would directly reject him.

Although he knew that what Uncle Li said was true, he still wanted to fight for it. He moved over and knelt down to hug Uncle Li's legs, crying and sobbing:

"Uncle, please help me. I don't want to serve in the military. It's more than four years and I will die."

Uncle Li was touched when he saw Li Changren crying so sadly, but he really couldn't use the food that kept his family alive to help him. On one side were his family and on the other were his relatives, so he couldn't make a decision.

He slowly bent down and helped Li Changren up, then patted him on the back, his eyes full of confusion.

Then, Uncle Li shook his head helplessly and sighed deeply:

"Well, you should go back first. I have to think of a way to see if I can get you to pay the autumn tax first."

When Li Changren heard that Uncle Li was willing to help, he quickly wiped away his tears, anxiously told Uncle Li to help him borrow four stone of rice, and then turned around and went back.

Aunt Li, who had been standing at the entrance to the main hall, came over and patted Uncle Li, who was still in a daze, on the shoulder:

"Oh my god, he dared to ask for four stone of grain. Old man, are you planning to lend him grain? I tell you, I don't agree. If you lend him grain, our family will starve. It was he who sold the grain that led to the current situation. How can we rely on others for everything?"

Aunt Li continued, "Besides, you see, he didn't even consider buying food in advance, but just wanted to borrow food from others. Even if he wanted to borrow food, it wouldn't be his turn. Lin Wan is more anxious than him, right? Lin Wan has no land, no food, and she didn't ask to borrow food. But he just came here selfishly to borrow food."

Uncle Li shook his head helplessly and said, "Ah, I know that, but he is my nephew after all. I can't just watch him go to serve in the military."

Aunt Li frowned and said, "We can't ignore ourselves. We have a big family to support. But he sold all his grain, pocketed the silver, and borrowed grain from others to pay the tax."

At this time, a cool breeze blew, making the leaves rustle, and both of them fell silent at the same time.

Aunt Li sighed and continued to ask:

"Then how much food are you going to lend him?"

In fact, she was thinking that it would be better to lend the grain to Lin Wan instead of lending it to Li Changren. After all, the grain would not last for several months after paying the tax, and the whole family would then starve.

Uncle Li pondered for a moment and said, "I also know our own situation, but Changren is our nephew after all, and we can't really ignore him. How about this, let's lend Changren a stone of rice, let him pay the autumn tax first, and then we can work together to find a way to get through this period."

Aunt Li nodded helplessly, "This is the only way. I have to ask Lin Wan about the situation and see if she has any grain to pay the tax."

She thought she couldn't just ignore it, so she reluctantly agreed.

Then she sighed and went into the house, leaving Uncle Li sitting in the yard with a sad face.

Li Changren, who thought he had borrowed grain, didn't know that his family was also being borrowed grain.