novelaction Chapter 668 The Entire County is Your Tenant
Chapter 668 The Entire County is Your Tenant
"I have to thank your family for that. The ones we get are cheaper than those from other villages. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to buy so much."
The villagers handed over all the grain one after another, and all the grain for this year was harvested.
No one dares to buy on credit. After all, this is not a one-time deal and people will need it again next year.
At last count, a total of more than 76,000 kilograms of grain were collected, including more than 10,000 kilograms of beans, mostly soybeans, as well as various other beans.
Zhou Guo asked people to separate the grain from the beans. In addition to being eaten, these beans were mostly used as feed for cattle and horses.
The unused parts can be sold in the shop.
There were two large granaries, but neither was full.
But looking at the granary full of grain, no one in the family was willing to leave.
Li sighed and said, "I never thought that one day we would have so much food at home, with the warehouses full and full, enough for our family to eat for ten years."
No one spoke.
Everyone was thinking, if there had been so much food when they fled, they wouldn’t have starved.
Zhou Guo said: "Okay, let's go out. By this time next year, maybe the other granary will be used."
Zhou Mi looked at the large granary and said, "This granary can at least hold a few thousand more tons of grain. It's like a bottomless pit. How much grain would it take to fill it up? Why build it so big?"
Zhou Guo said: "Why not build it so big? If it can't hold more, we can build more later? This granary can be built bigger, but it can't be built smaller, it's troublesome."
Zhou Mai nodded. "That's right. It's much easier than adding more buildings later."
The servants on the farm have been happy these days, as if it were a festival. They watched the ox carts loaded with grain being brought back from outside and moved into the granary. They filled the empty granary bag by bag, and also filled their future days.
At least I don’t have to worry about going hungry anymore.
They were worried before. After all, their master didn't have much land, and they had so many servants and so many mouths to feed, how could they survive relying on the mushrooms in the mountains and the shops? Food was not cheap.
Now seeing that the family’s granary is full, all of which was exchanged for the fertilizer they fermented, everyone feels it is worth it and all the hard work before is nothing.
The old man smiled and said to Zhou Guo, "These are just a dozen villages. If the entire county, or even several nearby counties, come to the farm to get fertilizer next year, I'm afraid these two granaries won't be enough."
Zhou Guo said: "No hurry, I haven't thought about expanding this fertilizer outside yet. After all, I have limited manpower and insufficient materials for composting. I have to solve these two problems before I can expand it."
Otherwise, if production cannot keep up, everything else will be empty talk.
When Old Master Zhao heard that all her grain had been collected, he was curious about how much had been collected and insisted on coming over to take a look.
Zhou Guo didn't stop him. He let him watch if he wanted.
The old man looked at the grain in the warehouse and his eyes widened. "This, this is all what you exchanged for fertilizer?"
Zhou Guo said, "Yes, that's all the food that can be obtained from the sixteen villages plus you, the big customer. You alone asked for four hundred dan of fertilizer, and a small half of the food here was brought in by you."
The old man said, "Isn't it too little to ask for only 400 shi for your thousand acres of land? Shouldn't you ask for more next year?"
The old man said, "I don't own all the thousands of acres of land. Some of it is in the hands of tenants. What do I need so much for?"
Zhou Guo disagreed, "How can you say that? Even if your land is rented out, you can't just ignore it. You come to buy it, and it doesn't cost money anyway. When it's fertile, it's just like food. You can just split it in half, and neither side will suffer a loss. Don't you think so? The key point is that the harvest has also increased."
The old man thought about it and felt that this method was feasible. He said, "You are right. I will try it next year."
Zhou Guo thought of the thousands of acres of land in his hands and asked, "Grandpa Zhao, are all the lands in your family in our county?"
The old man shook his head. "How is that possible? There are also some in other places. How can all the land be in one place? It's not easy to buy. I bought them little by little later when I had money. If there is no land in my county, I will buy it in other counties, or even other prefectures. As long as there is land, it will be fine."
Zhou Guo clapped his hands, meeting a fellow traveler, and said in annoyance, "You are right, you know the situation in my family. There are more than 40 servants, plus more than 50 of us family members. There are so many mouths to feed every day, but we only have 20 acres of land. Can you see if there is any land for sale? Can you introduce me to some?"
The old man looked at her and then at the old man beside him without saying anything.
The old man said, "I didn't ask you to pay, so who are you showing this expression to?"
The old man muttered, "If I could find someone to sell the land, wouldn't I know how to buy it myself? Why would I tell you about it?"
Zhou Guo was helpless. "You already have thousands of acres of land, why do you want to compete with me who only has 20 acres of land? I have so many people in my family waiting for food. How can I feed so many mouths without land?"
The old man pointed at the granary and shouted, "You say I have a lot of land, but look at your granary. You have the fat in your hands. Not to mention the villages within a dozen miles, even the entire county, the entire prefecture, and the entire Yunzhou are all your tenants. You can have as much food as you want. Why do you have to compete with an old man like me?"
Zhou Guo opened his mouth but didn't utter a word for a long time.
The two of them looked at each other, and it seemed that there was some truth to it.
She sighed. Although she could use the fertilizer in her hands to exchange for food from others, she always felt uneasy without her own land.
If one day these people no longer need to gain weight, then these things will be useless.
After much thought, I feel that I still need to have my own land.
Since the old man was unwilling to help, the topic was not mentioned anymore. Zhou Guo was not disappointed, which was normal. If she were to do so, she might not be happy about it either.
But the old man was unhappy. He refused to go fishing, hunting or playing at his farm even when the old man asked him to, and he was not in a good mood.
The old man was very depressed and went home in disappointment.
Zhou Guo laughed, "Master, he's already an old man, why don't you pay attention to him?"
The old man said, "Who thinks he is a big landlord with a bunch of servants at home? I don't have the time to go up the mountain and down the river with him every day. The vegetables in the vegetable garden are waiting for me. Let him have fun."
Li was watering the strawberries in the pottery pot in the corridor. Small buds had already grown and they would have fruits to eat in half a month. Seeing that the old man had gone home so soon, she was curious, "Why did he leave? Normally he wouldn't go home until dark."
Zhou Guo said: "He is busy at home. After all, he is a big landlord. How can he play every day?"
Li nodded and didn't care. She looked at the strawberries in the jar and said with a smile, "Your idea is really good. They will bloom soon and we can eat them in a few days. It looks good to hang them like this, but it doesn't look good. Why not move them to the vegetable garden?"