Traveling through the mountains and farming

The next day, early in the morning.

The sound of gongs was heard again at the entrance of the village.

Once again, the tranquility of the mountain village was broken.

Hearing the sound of the gong, the villagers hurried to the village entrance in panic.

This time, Lin Wan was no longer as confused as last time. After hearing the sound of the gong, she put down the breakfast she had just prepared and walked quickly towards the village entrance.

On the way, I saw many villagers looking even more nervous than last time, asking each other if they had come early to collect the autumn tax.

When I arrived at the entrance of the village, I saw Li Changren standing there holding a gong and beating it, with a boy of about seventeen or eighteen standing next to him.

There is also a table on their right, with writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on it.

At this time, Li Chongle, who was following behind, stepped forward, pulled Lin Wan's sleeve, and introduced her:

"Sister-in-law, the one standing next to Dad is my second brother Li Chongbai."

Suddenly, I heard the villagers shouting angrily: "Li Changren, are you sick? Can you hit this gong casually?"

"Yes, what's the urgent matter so early in the morning? Why do you come here to ring the gong?" Someone next to him echoed.

"That's right. I thought the autumn tax had come early. I was so scared that my shoes fell off."

Liu Datie said angrily, holding a shoe high in his hand.

Li Chongbai clasped his fists and said:

"My dear grandparents, uncles and aunts, we were wrong to ring the gong rashly, and we apologize to you. But we had to do this because we had an urgent matter."

Li Changren put down the gong and continued, "Yes, what my Bai'er said is absolutely right. I am anxious to pay the autumn tax in a few days. Since my family does not have enough grain, I specially invited all the villagers to come here. I plan to sell the fields and mountains at home."

Uncle Li, who had just arrived, heard this and hurriedly advised: "Changren, these fields and mountains are the lifeblood of our farmers. How can you sell them casually? Besides, haven't you already collected all the grain for the autumn tax?"

When Li Changren heard Uncle Li's question, a trace of panic flashed across his face and he was speechless for a moment.

Li Chongbai, who was standing next to him, saw his father's predicament and quickly said, "Granduncle, we are also reluctant to part with the land, but now we have no choice but to do this. If we don't sell the land, we will have no food to survive."

Li Changren regained his composure and said, "Fellow villagers, if anyone is interested, the price can be negotiated, as long as you can help me get through this difficult time."

He shook the deed in his hand and continued, "If you want, we can sign the contract now. I have brought the land deed and the land deed with me."

Here, the purchase and sale of land requires the buyer and seller to sign a contract to clarify key information such as the location, area, and price of the land. The contract needs to be signed by a middleman and attached with the land/land deed, and then you can go to the government to apply for a new land/land deed.

At this time, Zhang Daniu and Zhang Erniu in the crowd also echoed and declared that their family's fields and mountains would also be sold, and the reason given was also to raise money to buy grain and pay the autumn tax.

The incident happened suddenly, and the sale of land had a huge impact on the villagers who regarded land as their lifeblood.

As a result, everyone did not realize for a while that the existing silver and money could not buy food. After all, food was scarce nowadays and there was no market for it even if there was money.

I saw that Li Changren and the two brothers of the Zhang family were selling fields, land and mountains.

Those who planned to secretly escape to Jiangbei County also reacted.

Li Changren and his men wanted to sell all their land before leaving so that they could take the money with them.

Although there were rumors that Jiangbei County would distribute land, no one would complain about having too much land. After selling the land, one could take the silver to Jiangbei County and buy more land.

So at once, the other five families selling grain stood up and shouted loudly that they also wanted to sell their land.

Everyone complained that their lives were not easy and they did not want to be forced into military service because they could not pay the autumn tax.

At this moment, Li Chongle came up to Lin Wan and whispered:

"Sister-in-law, should we consider buying some land? This way, we don't have to buy food in the future and can grow our own food."

"If we don't buy it, none of us know how to farm." Lin Wan refused outright.

She was considering buying the mountain from Li Changren's family. The ash trees there could bring in a large sum of income every year.

Li Chongle then said, "Then buy a mountain. Dad's mountain is good. There are many ash trees. There are also ash trees planted on the Zhang family's mountain. I remember that a few years ago someone said that ash trees are suitable for making sticks and can be sold for money, so many families in the village followed suit and planted them."

He hadn't thought about it yesterday when he was picking ash flowers. Today, when he saw so many people selling their mountains, he remembered that a few years ago someone in the village promoted planting ash trees.

Lin Wan was once again impressed by Li Chongle's business acumen, which once again coincided with her ideas.

He lowered his voice and discussed with Li Chongle.

Finally, it was determined that five of the seven households had ash trees planted on the mountain, while the other two households had bamboo forests on the mountain.

Lin Wan decided to take over all these mountains and treat them as an investment in fixed assets.

Whether it is the ash trees or the bamboo forests, they both have considerable value to her.

While Lin Wan and Li Chongle were discussing, the people who were selling their land became more and more excited.

They begged their fellow villagers hard, hoping that they could help them buy the land.

Under their earnest pleas, the other villagers felt somewhat reluctant.

Finally, depending on the family’s savings, they can buy some paddy fields and dry land.

In this way, paddy fields and dry land were bought one after another, more or less, but no one was interested in the mountains.

Because this place is located in a mountainous area with relatively rich mountain resources, each villager owns approximately ten to twenty acres of mountain land.

Moreover, in ancient times, mountains usually had a lower output value, so no one was willing to buy them.

At this time, a crisp voice was heard.

"I want to buy some mountain land, but I don't know if the price can be negotiated."

The voices asking if anyone wanted to buy the mountain land suddenly stopped.

The scene suddenly seemed to stop.

Everyone's eyes followed the voice and focused on Lin Wan.

At this moment, many people are thinking:

"A person who doesn't have any land wants to buy a mountain instead of a field?"

Someone immediately asked, "What price do you think is appropriate?"

"Four hundred coins per mu. If possible, I can pay for it now."

I just heard that the price they quoted for the mountain land is six hundred coins per mu.

In fact, Lin Wan was not particularly clear about the market conditions of the mountains here.

But she knew that no matter what she bought, it was always a good idea to bargain first. Even if she couldn't cut the price in half, she would have to get some off at least. Anyway, no one was willing to buy the mountain land yet.

"I'll sell it." Li Changren agreed immediately.

He was thinking that the most valuable thing on the mountain was the ash trees that he had planted a few years ago, but this year the ash trees were infested with insects and were covered with white frost.

As a result, the mountain becomes less valuable.

As long as I can sell it, even if I can get a little money back, that would be good.

Besides, they are leaving tonight, so if someone wants it, just sell it at a low price.

“I’m willing to sell it, too.”

"I would like that too."

……

Seeing that Lin Wan was about to sign a contract with Li Changren, everyone else expressed their willingness to sell at the price proposed by Lin Wan.

They all rushed to ask her if she still wanted to buy the mountain land.

Some people even said that their mountain land was adjacent to Li Changren's and could be connected together, which would be easier to manage.

Some people also said that their mountain was close to the back mountain of Lin Wan’s house, which would make it convenient for her to take care of it.

For a moment, everyone rushed over to surround Lin Wan, trying their best to promote their own mountain land.

Uncle Li next to him became anxious when he saw this, fearing that Lin Wan would be persuaded by everyone and agree to buy these mountains.

He hurried over and said:

"Lin Wan, if you want to buy land, you might as well buy paddy fields and dry land."

After hearing what Uncle Li said, Lin Wan smiled and said, "Uncle, don't worry, I have my own plans."

However, those who were promoting the mountain land were not happy. "Hey, Uncle Li, mountain land has its own advantages. You can't say that."

"That's right, Uncle Li, the mountains can be of great use."

Everyone started arguing with each other, and the scene was a little chaotic for a while.

Finally, when Lin Wan said she wanted both, everything calmed down.

The seven families' mountain land together amounted to about one hundred acres, worth a total of forty taels of silver.

Lin Wan thought that those vast tracts of ash trees were such a great bargain!

The villagers were stunned by Lin Wan's action of taking out forty taels of silver.

And it’s even more unbelievable that they bought mountain land.

Everyone was discussing whether Lin Wan made a lot of money selling ice jelly, but they felt it was a pity that she used the money to buy Shan Di, and at the same time they felt a little more balanced.

He felt more relieved when he thought that even if Lin Wan had money, she couldn't buy grain to pay the autumn tax.

Lin Wan didn't pay attention to the discussions of the people around her. She wanted to get the deed done quickly and then go home with her two siblings to the mountains to make money, as her family's savings were running out.

The two parties signed the contract on the spot, and Uncle Li signed as a neutral person.

Those who did not bring the mountain land deeds also went home quickly to get them, collected the money and gave them to Lin Wan.

In this way, Lin Wan owned another hundred acres of forest.