Chapter 220 Sending Steamed Buns to the Whole Village
The average yield of ratooned rice in Dahe Village this time was more than 130 jin per mu. The village paid 1/15 of the taxes, which added up to more than 10,000 jin of grain.
The village headman called three oxcarts from the village, each with a flatbed cart towed behind it, but it still wasn't enough. So they had to take some of the carts to the town to hand them over and then transport them back twice.
Three oxcarts carrying several thousand kilograms of grain traveled from Dahe Village all the way to Ping'an County, attracting the attention of countless people.
The oxcart eventually stopped in front of the county government office.
Upon receiving the news, Master Yuan came out, his eyes wide with astonishment: "Zhao, this...this is..."
"Greetings, Master Yuan. This is the grain tax paid by Dahe Village." Zhao Lizheng smiled honestly. "It's a total of 13,400 jin. This is only one-third of it. The rest will be delivered later."
Master Yuan was overjoyed: "They voluntarily handed over the grain tax; it's truly worth the magistrate's special request for commendation for the people of Dahe Village!"
The county magistrate wrote a letter a few days ago to report the bumper harvest of ratooning rice. The entire letter talked about the achievements of Dahe Village, but never mentioned the efforts of the county magistrate himself. If it weren't for the county magistrate, Dahe Village would probably be the only place in Ping'an County to have a bumper harvest. As for Fenghuang County and Hekou County, they probably wouldn't even know what ratooning rice is.
The county magistrate, who had devoted himself to increasing grain production, made no mention of his own contributions in the post, but instead emphasized the contributions of the villagers of Dahe Village.
He felt sorry for the county magistrate.
But now, seeing the grain handed over by Dahe Village, he seemed to understand why the adults highly praised this small village.
All 36 villages in Ping'an County have ratooned rice and all have had a bumper harvest, but only Dahe Village voluntarily paid taxes.
Under Zhao Lizheng's leadership, this village is thriving, showing awareness and vision...
As Magistrate Shen walked out of the gate, his eyes welled up with tears when he saw so much grain at the county government office. This grain would be sent to Huzhou, to the provincial capital, and then distributed from the capital to places in need. He didn't know how much would reach the people, but it was better than nothing, and it would prevent countless people from starving to death.
"Of the more than thirty villages under Ping'an's jurisdiction, Village Chief Zhao is the one who gives me the least trouble." Magistrate Shen sighed, then his tone suddenly turned serious. "Secretary Yuan, draft a notice and give the order that each village collect taxes according to its grain yield, and deliver the collected taxes to the county granary within three days. Anyone who violates this order will be punished with a beating!"
"yes!"
Master Yuan immediately went to do it.
Apart from Dahe Village, no other village in Ping'an County ever thought about paying taxes. Every year, they have to hand over a portion of their rice, wheat, beans, and quinoa, but they don't have to hand over the vegetables and radishes they grow themselves. This time, the grain that unexpectedly grew in the fields, they also didn't need to pay taxes, and they dried and stored all the grain without a care in the world.
When the government order was issued, many villages united to openly resist it, with Lijia Gou and Guihua Village being the most vocal in their resistance.
This was exactly what Magistrate Shen had anticipated. He directly dispatched his constables to suppress the rebellion, arresting a few ringleaders and publicly beating them twenty strokes of the cane before throwing them into prison. This tactic of making an example of someone is always effective. Fearing imprisonment, the others voluntarily paid their taxes. However, these villages were not as lucky as Dahe Village; they had to pay one-tenth of the tax, which was the tax rate stipulated by the imperial court.
Ping'an County acted swiftly and decisively, while Fenghuang County, Hekou County, and Baiyun County directly adopted this model to collect tax grain. However, the situation in the neighboring counties was not very good, because not many villages had left stubble for the rice paddies. Only Fenghuang County was slightly better off. Other counties were considered lucky if they could collect three or four hundred catties of tax grain.
While the surrounding counties and towns were making a big fuss about ratooning rice, Cheng Wanwan was making steamed buns with her children.
The whole village gave her nearly two thousand catties of grain, and she wanted to give something back to the villagers as well.
The new rice from the regenerated rice tastes better than the first crop, and it can be sold at a higher price in her personal online store system.
I exchanged 70-80 jin of recycled rice for 100 jin of white flour and started making steamed buns. I could make about 2,000 steamed buns, and give about 10 to each household. Although it's not as good as 10 jin of rice, it's enough to represent my feelings.
Interpersonal relationships are built on give and take, which fosters connections and strengthens bonds.
There were so many steamed buns to make that the whole family pitched in to help. Eggs and goat milk were specially added to the flour to enhance the sweet aroma. The strong ones were in charge of kneading the dough, the careful ones were in charge of making the buns, and the ones who knew nothing were in charge of watching the fire. Cheng Wanwan was in charge of steaming the buns. Two thousand steamed buns had to be steamed in dozens of batches. While the buns were being steamed, the children were also arranged to deliver them to each household.
The villagers were deeply moved when they received the steamed buns from Cheng Wanwan's family.
"Aunt Dashan is getting better and better at dealing with people. Just a few months ago, she was a ruthless woman who abused her daughter-in-law."
"Why bring up the past? Da Shan's family is all different now. They live in big houses, ride in horse-drawn carriages, study and learn martial arts. It looks like they're about to change their social standing."
“Grandma Dashan is getting richer and richer in business, and she doesn’t look down on us farmers anymore. Look at these steamed buns, they’re big, white and fragrant.”
"I just took a bite, and this steamed bun definitely has eggs in it, and it also has a milky aroma."
"Doesn't she keep a ewe at home? She must have put goat milk in the steamed buns. Tsk tsk, they're so delicious, even better than the steamed buns sold in town!"
A discordant voice came from the crowd: "Hmph, you think you can be bought off with a few steamed buns? Look at how pathetic you are!"
"Aunt Zhang's family is rich, they probably wouldn't even look at our steamed buns," Zhao Sidan said with a grin. "Then I'll take Aunt Zhang's steamed buns to Grandma Zhu's house. Bye, bye!"
Zhao Sidan, carrying two large bowls, rushed into Old Lady Zhu's house.
Granny Zhang glared angrily: "You, Zhao Sidan, you little rascal..."
She also sent ten catties of rice to Cheng Wanwan's family, and she was entitled to a share of the white steamed buns!
"Auntie Dagang, the Zheng family has power and money, so their steamed buns must taste better than Aunt Dashan's, right?" Aunt Wang said with a forced smile. "It's normal that you don't like these steamed buns. When will you have your niece bring some steamed buns from the Zheng family for us to eat?"
Granny Zhang snorted, "The Zheng family wouldn't even look at steamed buns. They eat delicacies from land and sea, things you can't even imagine. When the opportunity comes, I'll have my niece come back and show everyone what the world is like!"
While eating steamed buns, the villagers surrounded her and continued to ask, "Tell us exactly what those 'delicacies' are."
The aroma of the steamed buns wafted over, a blend of white flour, eggs, and a rich milky fragrance… Granny Zhang's mouth watered instantly, but fearing ridicule, she swallowed it back, clinging to her pride. She then began to vividly describe the delicacies: “Land delicacies include bird's nest, bear paws, beef… whatever's expensive, we eat…”
Cheng Wanwan brought out the last batch of steamed buns, using an extra-large bowl, with ten buns in each bowl.
She stood at the door and called out, "Si Dan, come back!"
Zhao Sidan ran back quickly and took the large bowl from Cheng Wanwan's hands: "I haven't delivered to Master Yu's and Master's families yet. I'll deliver it to Master Yu."
He turned and ran away.
Cheng Wanwan took ten steamed buns to the old house.
She had seen He Xiao sitting in the courtyard drinking tea, but she didn't know where the tea came from. She went closer and took a look, and found that it was actually the leaves of the persimmon tree in the village. It was the first time she had ever known that persimmon leaves could be used as tea.
She became even more certain that He Xiao must have come from a wealthy family, otherwise he wouldn't have the habit of drinking tea.
She paused for a moment, bought a packet of Silver Needle Tea from the mall, and carried it inside.
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