Chapter 347: The Imperial Court Arrives, Escorting Potatoes
Chen Xinghai and his three friends originally wanted to occupy a courtyard each, but they felt it was too empty, so the two brothers lived in the courtyard on the east side of the second courtyard, and the two sisters lived in the courtyard on the third courtyard.
A room was reserved for Meng Qingying in the third courtyard, where she would occasionally stay.
There are still two courtyards left for entertaining guests.
The rest of the servants were distributed in the first three courtyards, usually two people in a room. Like Lingyun, they had a room to themselves, which was much more spacious and comfortable than the old house.
As for the old house, it just remained vacant.
However, every few days Xiao Ying would send someone to clean and keep it clean and tidy.
The defensive formation and spirit gathering formation in the old house were removed. Xiao Ying and Ling Yun rearranged them in the new house. Their power was even stronger than before, comparable to the sect's mountain protection formation.
That night, everyone had their first meal in the new house to celebrate moving into the new home.
At night, Yulan, Baizhi, Shuyue and other servants gathered together to chat, and their words were full of satisfaction.
"This house is really nice."
"Yes, and it's close to the academy and the clinic, so we can meet often."
"Then I'll have to come back and stay more often. Besides Aunt Luo, the clinic is full of men, so I can't even find anyone to talk to."
"I heard that my wife will start building Yingfeng New Village after the New Year. It will be built in this area. It will definitely be very lively then."
"Madam is someone who can accomplish great things. It's definitely right for us to follow her."
"Yes, I heard that Madam will be going to Shangjing soon. Maybe we will have the chance to go back to Shangjing in this lifetime."
"I don't want to go to Shangjing. The people here are simple and kind, much better than those in Shangjing with all the twists and turns."
"I don't want to go to Beijing either. There's nothing wrong with staying here for the rest of my life."
“…”
Seven or eight girls chirped like cheerful orioles.
Their voices were not loud, but Xiao Ying heard them clearly. It was the first time that Xiao Ying heard what was in their hearts.
It is not surprising that these servants, who were carefully trained by the royal family and were used to intrigues and schemes, would like the simple environment here.
However, she must go to Beijing, so it seems that she will have to carefully select some people when the time comes.
By the way, the people sent by the court to collect potatoes should be arriving soon, right?
Coincidentally, the next day, the people sent by the court to transport potatoes arrived.
This time, the Minister of War Shen Kuo sent two military generals, one named Huo Tianhao and the other named Xie Lin.
Huo Tianhao is from the imperial court, and Xie Lin is a captain in Xizhou. The two of them are jointly responsible for this escort.
Along with Huo Tianhao came two masters of the sixth level of Qi Refining, both of whom were dispatched by the emperor from the Mingwei of the cultivator army, which shows how much he valued them.
In addition, there were 3,000 soldiers and over a thousand grain carts, more than half of which were outside Yingfeng Village alone. It was a huge and spectacular sight.
That day, Ning Yuanze ordered the entire county to harvest potatoes.
Even though it was Chinese New Year, people didn't dare to delay, and they could make money by selling potatoes.
The villagers of Yingfeng Village are also busy harvesting potatoes. Every household has planted a lot this season.
For example, Chen Qingfu's family planted more than ten acres of crops, and some families with less land planted at least two or three acres. It is not easy to harvest all of them.
Huo Tianhao and Xie Lin asked the soldiers to help. With the participation of several thousand people, the harvest was completed in less than two days in the entire county.
Then came the weighing, which took quite a while.
Fortunately, the results were encouraging. The average yield per mu reached more than 6,500 kilograms, and the total potato yield in the county exceeded 2.5 million kilograms!
Even though Huo Tianhao and Xie Lin were mentally prepared, they were still surprised by the number.
The more potatoes we have, the more we can send to the border, and the soldiers won’t have to go hungry.
The emperor ordered the collection of 80% of the total amount, which was 2 million jin. With so much grain, both of them were worried that the grain carts they brought would not be enough.
"The Emperor has ordered that 80% of the total potato harvest be collected, and the price must not be lower than that of wheat, so the price is six coins per pound."
"I hope every household will calculate the amount to sell according to this ratio. No more, no less. You will definitely get some money."
When the final price was announced, some people were happy and some were worried.
I was happy that the court still gave me the money, but I was worried that the price was a little lower than I expected.
Especially the villagers in Yingfeng Village, they have never sold at such a low price. In the past, it was at least ten cents per pound.
Now it was Chen Jie's turn to appeal to people's emotions and explain things to them logically.
In the end, the villagers all expressed their understanding. These were sent to the soldiers at the border. Without the protection of the soldiers, how could they have peace?
Even if it's six cents per pound, they can still make a lot of money.
The person who earns the most in the village is naturally Xiao Ying. In addition to the fields in the village, she also has fields in the mountains.
The people handed over 70% of it to her, so she had at least 200,000 kilograms in her hands. If she sold 80%, she would still have 160,000 kilograms.
Calculating this way, there is actually nearly a thousand taels of silver!
The second largest amount came from Chen Qingfu's family, who sold nearly four hundred taels of silver, and the whole family was grinning from ear to ear.
Chen Jie, Chen Afu and others whose families had many people and much land also made a lot of money, more than three hundred taels of silver.
Of course, most of them were around two hundred taels, but there was at least one hundred taels, which was much better than the last time.
In addition, the people who stayed in the mountains with Xiao Ying also sold their surplus potatoes to the court, but the quantity was not large, and they only made a profit of a dozen to more than thirty taels.
There is no way to deal with the things in the Immortal Palace, but I can sell them directly to Xiao Ying and make more money.
Compared with Yingfeng Village, the people in other villages and towns are far worse off.
Some only planted a dozen kilograms, some planted twenty or thirty kilograms, and even those who planted one acre produced very little. They all regretted it at this time.
Some of them were not enough to eat themselves, so naturally they had no way to sell them, and Huo Tianhao and others did not force them to do so.
Two million kilograms of potatoes were loaded onto thousands of grain trucks, but there were still more than 100,000 kilograms left with no place to load them. It would be too time-consuming to mobilize more grain trucks at this time.
Unexpectedly, when the two cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refining went to the granary, they found it empty.
Huo Tianhao and others were very shocked, but Xiao Ying guessed that these two people must have storage bags, but he didn't know the specific size.
The tenth day of the Lunar New Year.
The grain transport team finally set off and headed north in a mighty force.
Many people in Yingfeng Village went to see them off, and even looked forward to their next visit, as they still had a season of potatoes to harvest.
However, there are not so many this season, and most of them are fields that were previously reclaimed and planted. But no matter how small a mosquito leg is, it is still meat.
"Madam Xiao, now that the villagers have money, they've all started asking me when Yingfeng New Village will be built. They all want to build new houses."
Chen Jie was so happy that his face was grinning from ear to ear. Now that the New Year was almost over, everyone seemed a little restless.
Xiao Ying smiled and said, "No rush. The person I'm waiting for hasn't arrived yet. Once they arrive, we'll start planning the village. It will probably be done in the next few days."
"First, let everyone decide what kind of house to build, or we won't be short of money when the time comes."
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