The Story of a Destitute Noblewoman Farming

People in other villages had already learned of this deliberately leaked news, but they were still worried. In addition, they had been busy delivering grain in recent days and had no energy to pay attention to the patients, so they still sent them to the foot of the mountain.

Lu Linlang also knew the current situation. She asked someone to secretly deliver some food to ensure that they would not starve to death in the next few days. She also began to count the food to be handed over.

Early in the morning, before daybreak, Lu Linlang and her men had already gotten up to pack up. Guan Ling also got up early and followed her to the county town.

The clan leader and the villagers had already placed their own food on a cart, and every family had to follow. Lu Linlang said something to the clan leader and set off early to go to the farm together.

Not all grain payments are made on one day. Every year, the people in the yamen will divide the payment for each town into several days. As long as the grain is delivered within the specified time, the task is considered completed. Before that, people from other towns have already come to pay grain.

Everyone gathered at the city gate. Many people had come today and were heading towards the granary. When they arrived at the city gate, it was just dawn. As soon as the city gate opened, everyone lined up one by one, pulling food into the city.

When they arrived at the granary, the people from their village were the first group to arrive. There were already people guarding the granary, and the officials and clerks were watching. Those in charge of money and grain sat together and registered one by one.

They had yellow books in their hands, which recorded the amount of land and population of each household in each village. The grain they paid was registered according to the books, and there would be runners responsible for checking the weight. They did not measure by weighing, but with tools such as liters, buckets, and hu.

The shape of a hu is like a cone, but it is not pointed at the top, but a small rectangle, and the bottom is a large rectangle. The capacity of a shengdou is smaller than that of a hu. A shengzi is an open box without a lid.

Depending on the amount of grain delivered, the officials would use different tools for measurement, which involved the issue of the proportion of the tools. The tools used by the yamen were generally slightly larger than those used by the people, and whether it was a full hu or an average hu depended entirely on the conscience of the officials.

Therefore, the patriarch specifically reminded everyone to at least prepare more food. If the servants felt that it was not enough, they could make up for it in time. Otherwise, they would have to carry it back again and come back when they had enough, which would be more troublesome.

Some families, in order to avoid making things difficult for the officials, would secretly give them some money when they were measuring, asking them to be flexible, to use a flat volume, not to overdo it, and not to underestimate the measurement of each container, as there were too many tricks involved. If they offended the officials, they would have to pay more grain.

"Miss Lu is here. The county magistrate praised her a few days ago. Since Miss Lu made her writing brushes, inkstones, and paper, the prices of books in Chongshui County have dropped. This is all thanks to Miss Lu. Please measure them carefully and don't make the wrong measurements for their village."

After greeting Lu Linlang, the county magistrate in charge of finances and grain said this to the people around him. This was a greeting, asking them not to go too far, as even the county magistrate had to consider Miss Lu's face.

"Thank you, sir. The county government's stationery supplies are still sufficient. We have produced a new batch and would like to ask for your help in testing so that we can continue to improve them." Lu Linlang also knew what this meant and was busy expressing her gratitude. The clan leader also showed a flattering smile on the side.

"The paper that Miss Lu sent is very good. It is no worse than the ones bought outside. And the inkstone, Miss Lu really has a good eye for gems. I never thought that Chongshui has such a good stone inkstone. We are really ashamed. If we had known about it earlier, wouldn't the people of Chongshui be able to make money in advance?"

"Thank you for your kindness, sir. I just stumbled upon this by accident. Now the pens, inkstones, and brushes in our workshop have begun to be sold to the outside world, but the production volume cannot be increased yet. It will take some time to adapt. When we have regular merchants in the future, the people of Chongshui will all benefit from them. Then we will have to rely on the help of the county magistrate and sir to build a workshop near the county town, and strive to make Chongshui's four treasures of the study also have a place in Daqi."

"Miss Lu is a visionary. We are all waiting for that day. The Lord said that as long as the people can live and work in peace and contentment, Miss Lu will be a noble person who respects water."

During the greetings, the officers were also weighing the grain one by one. They had received orders from the county magistrate not to fill the bags full, but to make them a little flat. In fact, it didn't matter if the grain was a little flat, but considering the dryness of the grain and everyone's greed, those who offended the officers or had a bad attitude would hand in more grain than others.

The people of Xishan Village were proud that the officers did not pretend to be as proud as in previous years because of Lu Linlang's attitude, but no one would show off at this time for fear of dissatisfaction from other villagers who came over.

Among so many people, Lu Linlang had to pay the most grain, simply because she had the most farms. However, because Lu Zhan also had a title, after her investigation, she found that Lu Zhan had indeed changed his name. Lu Linlang changed the name of the last farm to his, so that she could be exempted from part of the tax. The remaining farm was in her name. Lu Linlang did not take shortcuts and handed over all the grain as required. The court kept the grain for disaster relief or transported it to the military camp as military pay and food.

After paying the grain, they went to the side and had to pay various taxes such as head tax, labor service, substitute labor, capitation tax, agricultural tool tax, salt money, etc. These were all paid with silver. This year, the people of Xishan Village made money with Lu Linlang. Although they were heartbroken, they were still able to keep some silver at home, so they were already very satisfied.

When Lu Linlang heard about these tax items, she couldn't help but look sideways. Because of their family's title, they didn't have to pay any taxes except for grain. The Dahua sisters were not adults and had no male children, so they paid less taxes than the villagers. Lu Linlang paid all of these.

Guan Ling had been listening and watching carefully. When she heard that they had to pay so many taxes, her eyes widened. Seeing those villagers who could not make much money from farming on weekdays, but had to pay so much money, and even secretly rejoiced because they had more ways to make money this year and had extra money, she understood why Lu Linlang said that.

She knew the villagers' harvest from their crops, but most of it was about to be handed over. However, there were still many people in their families, some families even had more than ten people, who needed to eat every day. If they really relied on that little food to eat their fill every day, they would not be able to make it to the New Year. But after the New Year, it would be a long time before the harvest.

No wonder Lu Linlang had to find ways to increase grain production. She was forced to do so by the environment.

She continued to observe and found that when people from other villages came to pay grain, some officials would scoop out a full scoop. Compared to the people from Xishan Village, they paid even more. This was blatant bullying, but everyone was used to it and no one dared to complain, except that the sadness on their faces increased.

"Oh." Guan Ling sighed several times on the way back to the village.

"Chief, let's go to the farm first, and you can go back to the village later." Lu Linlang heard her sigh and did not try to dissuade her. Instead, she planned to wait for her to calm down and then go see Yunxi first.