Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Tian Sefu.
Because they were selling steamed cakes, they didn't have time to go home to make lunch, so Xu and Zhu found a ridge and sat on it to eat steamed cakes.
Thinking of Ji Feng who was herding pigs, fortunately when Ji Xu packed four steamed buns for Feng Fuzhen in the morning, he thought that there were too many steamed buns today and they might not be sold out by noon, so he packed two more for Ji Feng so that she could fill her stomach when she was hungry. This also solved the lunch problem for the three of them.
After eating the steamed cakes, he took the half bamboo tube and asked the people in the fields for some water to drink. Then he continued to sell his food along the fields until he came to a stretch of fertile farmland covering thousands of acres.
Looking around, I saw that all the people working here were men, most of them wearing half-worn soap-colored short shirts.
The man who was bending over to harvest rice was different from the ones I had met before. Not only was his hands and feet nimble, but he also treated the rice with great care and would not make big movements that would cause the ripe rice grains to fall into the soil.
The men in this field were different. They all looked too lazy to move. Every time they cut a handful of rice, they would throw it aside, showing the energy to vent their anger.
I saw that in that field, like the fields I had seen along the way, there were square, sloping-walled threshing buckets. The men carried the harvested rice to the threshing buckets and beat them against the edges of the buckets, and the rice grains fell off and landed at the bottom of the buckets.
However, upon closer inspection, there were still quite a few grains of rice hanging from the stalks, so they were thrown away and not threshed thoroughly or cleanly.
"My dear, buy some white jade steamed cakes. They are soft, delicious, and filling."
When they heard Ji Xu's hawking, they all turned their heads to look, drooling, but continued to harvest and thresh rice with their heads down, and no one came to buy.
Some of the men wore ochre felt scarves and ochre shirts with words written on the back. Ji Xu had learned official script and could recognize that the words written on the back were "Xia Li" or "Li".
Looking closely, they still had shackles on their feet. Compared to those wearing white short-sleeved shirts, some of these men had particularly bold eyes, staring straight at Ji Xu's basket.
In the adjacent field, a woman who had just bought steamed buns waved to her.
"Girl, don't go over there. That's government farmland. Some of the people in the fields are former night watchmen. They are all registered peasants. They are nothing special.
Yes, they are criminals who have committed crimes and are serving their sentences. They were transferred from the county jail by officials to serve hard labor."
The woman pointed out to her that those walking back and forth on the ridges of the fields were the supervising officials.
So that's how it is. Nowadays, adult males start serving in the military at the age of twenty and continue until they are twenty-three. They have to serve one month of forced labor every year. The military service is now also called "geng". For example, those who do labor in the fields are called "gengzu".
Starting from the age of 23, they have to serve as material officers, knights, and ship captains for one year. These are called "garrison soldiers"; they will serve as "guard soldiers" guarding the government court for another year; and they will serve as "garrison soldiers" guarding the border for another year.
Only in this way can one be considered to have completed the service. Except for some people who enjoy the privilege of exemption from service, or who can afford to find a substitute to "take the shift", most civilians have to perform the labor service themselves.
The night watchmen who were serving their sentences were assigned to harvest rice in the government's public fields and had fixed meals at regular times, so how could they afford to buy steamed buns out of their own pockets? And even if the prisoners who were still serving their sentences wanted to buy them, they had no money on hand.
Therefore, even though there are many people working on this thousand-acre farm, they cannot do business.
Ji Xu looked at the officials not far away. Although they might buy it, this public land was occupied by both military personnel and prisoners, as well as officials. The control over outsiders' involvement must be strict.
To be cautious, Ji Xu retreated in time, wiped the sweat from the sun with his sleeves, and had to walk further away to sell his goods somewhere else.
In the public fields in the distance, I saw the farm steward Zhuang Gaiyi patrolling back and forth, holding a whip and urging people to
"Hurry up! Be quick, we must finish harvesting the rice tomorrow!"
As he spoke, the whip hit the prisoners, causing them to cry out in pain.
The Price Stabilization Office was pressing for this batch of rice. It was heard that there was a drought in Guandong, and the price of grain there had risen. As the saying goes, the price of grain affects all other prices. The Price Stabilization Office was responsible for managing grain prices and had a transportation team in each county. They would buy grain when the harvest was abundant and sell it when the harvest was scarce. They stabilized grain prices by collecting and selling grain in different places.
The equalization and transportation teams of the Chang'an Price Stabilization Office in the capital, stationed in Yangzhou, had to purchase a large amount of autumn rice and transport it to Guandong to stabilize grain prices. Naturally, the grain from public fields was the first to be collected.
The county officials did not like the people from the Price Stabilization Office and just told Tian Shefu to cooperate with the officials from the Price Stabilization Office.
But what was a Tianshoufu? He was a minor official who looked after the public fields. He usually lived in a small thatched cottage by the fields. When the rice was ripe, he was responsible for guarding against petty thieves who came to steal the rice at night.
It would have been fine if he had asked the people from the Price Stabilization Office to transport the rice on time two days later. If there had been any delay, the county would naturally have blamed him, a small official, for the consequences.
He only has one pair of eyes and one mouth. He can work faster by shouting. But once he looks away, those who want to slack off will still slack off. After all, they are not harvesting rice for their own family. Who would be willing to work so hard?
Zhuang Gaiyi took out a whip and used just the right amount of force to whip him, causing pain but not so much that he would be unable to work.
When Ji Xu saw the scene, the whip fell on the man, who screamed in pain, and he couldn't help but frown.
Nearby, I could hear the men complaining:
"For breakfast, I only eat half a bowl of bean porridge. It's more water than beans. How can I have the energy to work..."
"That's right, the pressure is so intense, these past two days of hard work are really not for human beings."
Tian Shaofu had just put away his whip and rolled it around his waist when he heard a few words whistled into his ears. He couldn't help but clench his fists. Those cooks in the pavilion were really greedy. They collected the money according to the standard, but did not prepare the meals according to the standard. Knowing that these people were prisoners, they served two buckets of extremely thin bean porridge for breakfast. Thirty people had to share it. If they were not full, who would be willing to work hard?
Turning my head, I saw a supervisory clerk on the opposite ridge taking something from a girl. It looked white, plump and soft. I took a bite and it looked like pasta, but I didn't know what it was.
The girl took a coin from his hand, and Mr. Tian immediately understood what he meant and shouted:
"Leave immediately! No outsiders are allowed to enter here!"
The food was being sold on public land.
It is said that after Ji Xu heard the warning from the woman in the field next door, he left. It was only when the clerk beckoned him that he came in and sold it to him.
Now, when I heard about Tian Shefu's expulsion, I saw a man with a rough and dark face and a burly figure. He was wearing a square stone-blue coarse cloth turban and a short black hemp jacket. In order to move more quickly, he had white cloth strips tied around his trouser legs.
The shout could probably be heard ten miles away, and scared Ji Zhu so much that she hid behind her, fighting like a little mouse. Ji Xu patted his sister behind him and told her not to be afraid, and then he cooperated and picked up the willow basket and left.
The clerk who had bought the white jade steamed cake was also frightened, but then he thought about it and realized that he was a county jailer, sent to supervise these prisoners, and not under the supervision of a farmer with a salary of 200 hu. So he relaxed his mind and ate the steamed cake while smiling and saying:
"Don't be upset, Mr. Stingy. I called this girl over here. The food they sent from the pavilion was just some kind of food to keep people occupied. The bean porridge was gone after I peed. I bought some steamed buns to fill my stomach. Don't tell me, these white jade steamed buns are really delicious. Mr. Stingy, why don't you buy some and try them too?"
"Wait." Tianshoufu Zhuang Gaiyi called her.
"Did you make these steamed buns yourself?" he asked.
"Exactly."
"Let me see." said Tian Sufu.
Ji Xu lifted the linen cloth, revealing the smooth and delicate steamed buns in the basket.
"It's delicious and filling, and it gives me energy to work." She listened to the jailer's complaints.
At that time, the pavilions located in the villages were also called Xiangting, and the pavilion chief was in charge of all the affairs of the pavilion. The pavilion also had houses and kitchens, which not only provided accommodation for civilians who were away from home, but also served as a reception for officials. For example, the food for their public land was provided by the kitchen stewards in the pavilion.
The farm steward had just been urging the prisoners to hurry up with the harvest, but there were a lot of complaints from below, and Ji Xu heard a lot of it while he was standing there for a while.
Therefore, she specifically emphasized the filling effect of steamed buns.
"Being well fed might be more effective than a whip."
Was he saying he shouldn't whip those lazy men? Zhuang Gaiyi then took it seriously. He saw that the girl was thin, with a wooden hairpin in her hair and a half-worn jacket. She was protecting her sister from behind, but she herself was not afraid in the face of danger. If it were someone else, they would have collapsed in fear after being yelled at by him.
He stayed here all year round, his face was tanned and rough, and his voice was hoarse. Ordinary thieves did not dare to steal the public land he was in charge of.
"Count them, how many are left?" He did not confirm what she said.
"There are fifteen white jade steamed buns left, and twenty-five brown sugar ones left."
"I want them all." Zhuang Gaiyi said.
The jailer was surprised and said, "That's about forty in total, each one the size of a bowl. No wonder you're so strong and energetic that you could eat so many in one go."
It is said that the reason why Zhuang Gaiyi was able to be the farm steward was because he was born with extraordinary strength.
Two years ago, a wealthy family in the county held a tripod-lifting competition. A tall bronze tripod was placed in front of the door. Whoever lifted the tripod above his head could get a hundred coins.
Many strong men from all over the country came to the scene upon hearing the news, but their arms were so strained that they could not move the cauldron at all. In the end, it was lifted above the head by a fifteen-year-old boy. That man was Zhuang Gaiyi, a butcher covered in blood.
Later, when the county magistrate heard about it, he recommended him to guard the public land where thieves were rampant. Believe it or not, ever since Zhuang Gaiyi became the farm steward, the public land has been peaceful and has never been robbed.
Zhuang Gaiyi said, "It's not enough for me alone. Give one to each of the thirty men in the field as lunch."
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Remember to collect Wenwen, love you [hug]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
