Chapter 1630 Long Vacation
Apart from anything else, even Old Zhou is not a hard-hearted person.
Mr. Zhuang nodded and said, "There's another reason the Ministry of Revenue agreed so quickly to hand over the official land to you. That's because Yongzhou was hit by a drought this year. While ordinary people are fine, as they have some food stored at home, and if they tighten their belts, they can get through this year, I'm afraid the tenant farmers are in a tough spot."
Therefore, tenant farmers are more difficult to manage. If the Ministry of Revenue can manage less land, there will be less trouble. If it were not for their duties, they would be willing to hand it all over to individuals.
Sure enough, Mr. Zhuang received a reply to the application form he submitted soon, and the Ministry of Household Affairs directly completed the procedures for them. Coincidentally, their official land had actually been distributed in June.
There were still crops on the land, which were the income of the previous officials, so they did not belong to them yet.
But most of the crops in the fields have been harvested now, so the Ministry of Revenue directly gave them the address and documents, and asked them to find the village head according to the address to check the official fields.
Because of Zhou Man's relationship with the young master of their Shangshu family, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue also gave an additional reminder, "If you want to hire tenants, it's best to arrange them before the Double Ninth Festival. Otherwise, it will be difficult to find tenants after the Double Ninth Festival."
For the Ministry of Revenue, the most difficult part of managing official fields was not the lack of land, but the lack of manpower.
Mr. Zhuang took note of this matter and then went back to tell his three disciples.
Mr. Zhuang said, "That's perfect, Bai Shan and Bai Cheng. In the future, you will both start as local officials. This time, you should start by managing the tenant farmers. But before that, you must first find tenant farmers who are willing to rent your land."
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang felt that there was no problem at all. In Luojiang County, as long as there was land, why worry about no one farming it?
Old Zhou thought the same. He had just learned about this from Mr. Zhuang, and immediately had Zhou Dalang pack up. "When Manbao returns from his vacation for Mid-Autumn Festival, we'll go to Yongzhou and take a look. I heard from Mr. Bai that Yongzhou is very different from our Luojiang County. The fields there are vast expanses, with very few hills, and the official land allocated to officials is cultivated land."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Dalang went back to pack his things. As he was packing, he felt something was wrong and ran back to ask his father, "Dad, we are all going to Yongzhou to farm. What about our land?"
Old Zhou fell silent and began to touch the pipe on his waist again. Seeing this, Qian patted his hands and said to Zhou Dalang, "Second and third sons are at home, what are you afraid of? Third son is a good farmer. If anyone fails to do so, Third son will not fail either."
"But there are too few people with just my second and third brothers. We have so much land at home, and we also have medicinal herbs grown on the mountain..."
"The second son is here. If he's too busy, he'll hire someone else." Qian Shi wasn't too worried about this. She said, "As for you, Mr. Zhuang, it seems it's difficult to find people to farm in Yongzhou."
Old Zhou said, "We have land, but we lack people to farm it. Didn't you hear what Master Bai said? Yongzhou is the secondary capital. Do you know what a secondary capital is?"
Qian really didn't know.
Old Zhou didn't know either, but he would brag, "It's a very big city. How can such a big city be without people? If there are people, there will be people who farm. Don't worry."
Seeing how proud he was, Qian Shi became even more worried. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I'll go with you when Manbao leaves the palace."
"What are you going to do?" Old Zhou grumbled, "You're not feeling well. You can't travel back and forth."
"I'm already well again. It took me twelve days to get from the village to the capital. Why should I be afraid of the half-day journey to Yongzhou?"
Old Zhou really couldn't convince Qian about the family matters, so when Qian decided to go, Old Zhou really couldn't stop her.
As a result, Qian not only went by herself, she also made an appointment with Old Madam Liu, "I heard that the palace has a long Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Old Madam, why don't you go to Yongzhou to have some fun? We are from the countryside and have little experience. We would like to ask you to go and give us your opinion."
Their family had only hired temporary workers, never even permanent workers, let alone tenant farmers.
There is only one landlord, Mr. Bai, in the village. However, there are no tenant farmers in Qili Village. At most, they have worked as temporary workers for Mr. Bai, so they don’t know much about the market.
Even Qian would be timid and afraid of unknown things, so it would be better to have someone who knows the matter to guide him.
Madam Liu agreed without much thought. She smiled and said, "It just so happens that our family also has a farm outside Yongzhou. It's still hot now, so why don't we live there? There are a lot of fruits and vegetables ripe now, so it would be nice for us to enjoy some of them."
Qian had no objection, so everyone agreed.
Manbao and her friends were released on the evening of August 13th. They had only attended school for three days this time in the palace. Manbao cheered all the way from the main gate to the west courtyard to find her sister-in-law, shouting, "We're on leave. This time we can have five days off!"
Xiao Qian came out of the house in surprise and asked happily, "Really?"
Manbao nodded vigorously, "Your Majesty will celebrate with the people on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, so the palace will have to prepare tomorrow night, and his family will also move back from Daming Palace, and we will have a holiday."
He continued, "On the sixteenth, we will be summoning envoys from various countries, which will make for two more busy days. So we will take five days off and won't return to the palace until after the eighteenth."
After calculating for a moment, Xiao Qian asked, "But isn't the 20th the day Young Master Bai gets married? And you're going to enter the palace on the 19th?"
Man Bao chuckled and said, "We had anticipated this, so we asked for leave from Kong Jijiu and Xiao Yuanzheng before leaving the palace. We won't be back to work until the 21st."
That's why she is so happy. She has a full seven days of vacation.
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were also very happy and ran back to tell their families about this great event. Bai Erlang was not worried at all and even invited his brother to go to Yongzhou with them to play first and come back at the age of nineteen to prepare for the marriage.
Bai Dalang slapped him on the head and said, "I don't expect you to help me with anything. At least don't make things more complicated. I'm getting married soon and you're still going out to play. Who will take care of all the things at home?"
Bai Erlang rubbed his head and said, "Dad has already bought you a house and replaced the furniture inside. What else do I need you for?"
Bai Dalang was about to count to him on his fingers, but suddenly thought why did he tell him this in advance?
So he said, "You'll know when you get married. If getting married is as simple as you think, why did Dad postpone the wedding date to the 20th?"
Bai Erlang turned and ran out, shouting, "If you don't want to go, forget it. I'll go with Manbao Baishan and the others. But don't worry, I'll bring you some delicious fruits."
Mr. Zhuang also wanted to go. Manbao also called Lijun and Liru. She told her father, "Dad, Lijun will have to help you manage such a big account on the land from now on, so let Lijun go and take a look. Liru has been too tired from studying medicine recently, so she should go out for a walk too."
Old Zhou said, "Tell your fourth and fifth sisters-in-law to go as well. The crops in the fields should have been harvested. I want to see if there is much weeds in the fields. If there is a lot, we should tidy up the fields first to prepare for the winter."
Fang and others who wanted to go out and have fun: ...
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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