The new book of the burning prairie star

It was not until lunch was delivered that Yang Biao realized that it was already noon. He hurriedly put the papers he had copied on the ground or on the table to dry, and sorted them one by one in order. Then he took the used brushes and inkstones to the pond in the yard to wash them. While shaking off the water, he walked into the house. When he saw that the papers he copied at the back had also dried, he piled them together with the previously sorted papers. Then he sat down to eat lunch.

"Brother Biao," the head of the village called from afar. Yang Biao's face was instantly filled with smiles as he watched the head of the village coming over in a carriage.

"The county government office is a bit far away, and the oxcart is too slow. I'm afraid it will be too late when we get there, and Su Zhubu will be off duty."

Yang Biao nodded and said, "I can trust the village head uncle to do the work." After saying that, he also got on the carriage.

When they arrived at the county government office, the head of the village first took out the land purchase contract he had previously written for Yang Biao and handed it to Su Zhubu. Su Zhubu was a man in his forties, very thin, with small but bright eyes. He took it and copied the information on it into the unified contract of the government, which is equivalent to the modern real estate certificate.

After copying, he opened the desk drawer, took out the official seal, pressed it into the ink box, and stamped it on the contract. The head of the village raised his foot and gently touched Yang Biao, who reacted and quickly took out two taels of silver from his pocket and handed it to the head of the village.

"One and a half taels of silver." Su Zhubu's voice was cold. The purchase tax collected by the Shang Dynasty was half of the money for buying land. The original intention of the court to set such a high purchase tax was that everyone could have land, everyone could have a house to live in, and to severely crack down on the behavior of concentrated land hoarding. The decrees issued by the higher authorities are good, but officials and rich people just like to buy land. They don't mind paying this half of the money. They rent them out or leave them alone, and sell them after a few years. The money they paid may be multiplied several times. The head of the village bent over, came to Su Zhubu, and whispered, "The weather is too hot, the officials have worked hard, and there is a lot of money for treating everyone to tea. I have to trouble Su Zhubu again," the head of the village pointed at Yang Biao, "open a new account for this kid."

"Are you going to be the head of the family at this age?" Su Zhubu looked at Yang Biao and asked in surprise.

"This kid's father passed away two years ago. If he had money to buy land then, he would have been able to get married long ago," the village head explained.

"Yes." Su Zhubu stretched out his left hand, and the village head hurriedly took out Yang Biao's previous household registration paper from his arms and handed it to Su Zhubu's hands with both hands. Yang Biao looked at the old thing. The last time he held it was when he went to the county town to register for the Tongsheng exam. At that time, his father was still alive, and Wang was far from being as domineering as she is now. Although there were occasional frictions between the families, everyone still maintained the necessary courtesy on the surface. It was just as the lyrics said: "The only thing that does not change in the world is that people are fickle."

The servant next to him went to find the household registration book of the people in Yangjia Village. Yang Biao took out another tael of silver and quietly put it into the hand of the head of the village.

After a while, Su Zhubu found Yang Biao's house, took a closer look, nodded, and confirmed that there was no problem with the record. He then took out a new household registration paper and copied it. After copying, he stamped it with a red seal, put the old one in the household registration book, and handed the new one to Yang Biao.

The village chief quickly put the silver in his hand on the table. Su Zhubu just took a look and said, "Li Zheng Yang, you are too polite. How is the harvest in your village this year?"

The village head hurriedly replied, "Thank you for your concern, Chief Su. There has been plenty of rain this year, and the harvest is good."

"There is a drought in the north this year, and the grain harvest is poor. The imperial court has decided to raise taxes to provide disaster relief to the north. I estimate that the grain prices in various prefectures and counties will increase by then."

"Thank you, Master Su, for telling me. I am very grateful!" The head of the village felt that today's trip was worthwhile. It seemed that the price of grain this year would definitely be good. Fortunately, the rice was harvested not long ago and some was still drying. No one in the village had sold it yet. Fortunately, the news came in time and everyone did not sell it too early.

"Well, if there's nothing else, go back." Su Zhubu picked up the abacus on the table and started to calculate the accounts in the account book.

"Then I won't bother you anymore. I'll take my leave now." The head of the village bowed to Su Zhubu, then took Yang Biao beside him and left.

The coachman parked the carriage in the shade outside the county government office and waited. Yang Biao couldn't help but complain in his heart that the county government office was too far away. But on second thought, it was true that the county government office was full of cars at the door, which would indeed be a blockage and inconvenience for people who came to do business. It was just too hot that day, and it was really uncomfortable to walk there.

The village head rarely came to the county town, and the weather was hot, so he went to Xinglong Teahouse to meet old friends and ask about some things. He told Yang Biao to go around the county town by himself, saying that young people should gain more experience, and if they found something they needed, they could go and buy it, and then he would pick him up at Xinglong Teahouse at twilight hour.

Yang Biao asked the coachman to drive the cart to the Chinese medicine shop first and bought some herbs such as Polygonum hydropiper, Poria cocos, licorice, quicklime, etc. Then he went to the rice shop and bought ten kilograms of glutinous rice and ten kilograms of soybeans. Finally, he went to the blacksmith shop. This iron pot must be bought, so that he would not have to borrow it from others for a meal after the house was built.

At first glance, he saw a bow hanging on the wall of the blacksmith shop. He was surprised, but his face did not show it. "How much is your pot?"

"One and a half taels of money." The blacksmith, who was hammering hard with his bare chest, looked up and said.

"Then how much does this bow cost?" Yang Biao pretended to take the bow casually, pulled it, and wow, it felt good!

"Five taels of silver." The blacksmith saw that he looked thin and weak, and didn't think he would buy a bow. But he still answered truthfully.

"What? Five... five taels of silver?" Yang Biao was shocked. This was too expensive. In ancient times, iron was controlled by the government and its price was high, which was known, but there was not a single bit of iron on the bow! "Is this bow inlaid with gold?"

"This bow is made of deer tendons. Deer are very difficult to hunt." The blacksmith explained why the bow was so expensive.

Although these scholars are lazy, no one would offend them. Just imagine if one day they pass the imperial examination and become a government official. If you have offended them before, they will find a reason to kill your whole family. It is too scary. You can't afford to offend them.