Chapter 48 Pills

Early in the morning, Ergouzi finished watering the ground, picked up a locust and threw it to the geese to eat.

Perhaps due to the drought, there are a lot of locusts this year. It’s already autumn and there are still so many locusts.

Fortunately, geese also like to eat locusts. Most of the locusts that flew up to Shekou Mountain entered the geese's bellies.

After more than half a year of feeding, those geese have grown up, and their white feathers are mixed with a few blood-red streaks, making them look even more gorgeous.

Gooselings are taller and more powerful than their parents.

Now I can fly one or two miles with Ergouzi on my back.

After Er Gouzi fed the goose, he rode a goose and flew down Shekou Mountain.

The house he wanted at the foot of the mountain has been repaired.

In fact, it is not too big. There are only three rooms in total, with stone foundations, blue bricks, and blue tiles.

He hired porters to pick these bricks and tiles from more than 20 miles away.

Fortunately, this is a disaster year, and labor is very cheap. Every 10 bricks brought are exchanged for one liter of rice.

An adult can carry 10 bricks per load and travel fifty miles back and forth, earning one liter of rice in one day. The savings can feed several people for one day.

Many people rushed to do this kind of work, even children as young as five or six years old participated.

Ergouzi opened the door and walked into the house. There were three houses here, one with dozens of stones of rice stored in them, all of which were rent collected last year.

One room stores some red date cakes and the like. When the jujube and persimmon trees on the mountain mature, they can bear fruit if they are watered enough every day.

He did not put these grains into the gourd, because in many cases, these ordinary grains were needed.

There is one main room left that is temporarily empty, with a wooden table and four benches set up.

Er Gouzi hadn't stayed in the new house for long when Ahu had already come looking for him.

"Master, there is no harvest in the fields this year. Can you reduce the rent?"

When Ah Hu said these words, he still felt a little uneasy.

After all, Zhang Youliang had already done this before. Although there was a severe drought this year, not a single grain of land rent was exempted.

Just considering everyone's financial difficulties, all tenants were asked to write IOUs and pay them back after a good harvest.

Ergouzi usually treats the tenants fairly and generously, and is quite like Huang Laocai.

It's not that Ah Hu is trying to make more money, but that even in a good harvest year, the tenants can barely survive and can't save food.

If I owe such a big debt again, I won't be able to pay it back in a few lifetimes.

"How much grain have been harvested this year?"

"Including my own acre of land, 51 acres, I harvested a total of 73 shi of rice."

Ahu answered truthfully, because the 50 acres of land at the foot of Shekou Mountain was relatively close to the water source, the harvest was not completely lost, and some seed costs were finally recovered.

"Is there any tax reduction from the government?"

"The government has issued an official document. This year's household tax, head tax, and sunshine tax must be paid. However, considering the lack of harvest in the disaster year, payment can be postponed for two years."

When Ah Hu said this, he felt even more uneasy and carefully observed Er Gouzi's expression.

The government didn't even reduce taxes, so why should he ask the landlord to give him rent exemption?

Ergouzi didn't speak for a long time, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, his expression a little embarrassed.

This year's rent is 100 shi of grain, enough to feed him for more than ten years.

According to the current price of food, you can exchange it for at least 20 Peiyuan Guben Pills.

Many warriors will beat themselves to death for these 20 Peiyuan Guben Pills.

He grew up stealing pig food, but he didn't have the kindness of Sima Yi.

I live a frugal life every day, even a meal of meat buns feels luxurious. When my pants are torn, I have to change them into pants and wear them for another three years.

It would be really heartbreaking if the land rent of 100 shi was just waived.

But seeing Ahu's cautious look, he couldn't bear it.

At the same time, he was calculating in his mind that to harvest 73 shi of grain from 51 acres of land, five or six shi of seeds alone would be used.

After excluding the household registration tax, head tax, sunshine tax and other miscellaneous taxes, there is still about 20 shi left, and Ahu's family can barely survive.

If you take away all the 73 stones of food...

The more Ergouzi thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and the feeling of unbearability and heartache were repeatedly intertwined.

"Forget it, this year's rent will be waived for you!"

"Thank you, boss!"

"Thank you, boss!"

Ahu lay on the ground and kowtowed to Ergouzi repeatedly, making a banging sound, and he didn't notice the blood dripping on his forehead.

"Thank you, boss!"

"Dongjia Renyi!"

"Get up, this year is going to be difficult for everyone, just survive this year and wait until it rains next year."

Ergouzi said, took out a pack of red dates and stuffed it into Ahu's arms.

"Take it back to coax the child. Your boy seems to be only five years old. He has done a lot of work with you all year round. He will be a good farmer when he grows up."

Ahu held a bag of red dates and left with a lot of gratitude.

Ergouzi was left alone to sit on the bench in a daze for a while, then he locked the door and went out.

During this period of time, I was practicing in the mountains and didn't go out much for most of the year.

The various medicinal materials I bought last time were made into Peiyuan Guben Pills, and they were all eaten by me.

The higher the cultivation level, the more spiritual power is required, and the effect of Peiyuan Gubenwan is getting weaker and weaker.

After all, Peiyuan Guben Pills are just ordinary medicinal materials, not even elixirs.

He read in the "Essays on Cultivation of Immortality of the Great Zhou Dynasty" that it was mentioned that some professional alchemists could refine elixirs into elixirs with amazing results.

However, the government strictly controls the alchemy technology, and only the prefecture and county governments can set up special alchemy institutions.

Alchemy technology must be strictly kept secret, and any leaker will be confiscated and exterminated.

Only the government can collect medicinal materials, organize alchemists to refine pills, and then distribute them to various places, sell them in a centralized manner, or reward meritorious personnel.

Therefore, the price of pills is extremely expensive, and you can't buy them even if you have money.

At least, he hasn't seen any place selling pills in the county town. This time he can ask Sima Yi when he enters the city.

As long as it is in Anchang County, he should know a thing or two.

Er Gouzi has already walked onto the official road at this time, and found that there are many more refugees and beggars on the road than before.

Generally, tenants will not become refugees as long as their families have a way to make a living.

Refugees are people who can't survive and take risks. In the eyes of the government, they are no different from bandits.

On the way, he saw a refugee lying on the side of the road, and he was not completely dead, and was carried away by several refugees.

As for what he was doing, he could guess it, as he had heard many people talk about it before.

These refugees would do anything to survive.

It is not winter yet, and it is estimated that there will be more refugees after winter, if it does not rain.

After entering the city, he walked to Huichun Hall and found that Sima Yi was really not doing his job.

He actually cooked a big pot of porridge in front of the pharmacy, and a group of people in ragged clothes were queuing up to get the porridge.

There were so many people here that Er Gouzi simply did not even enter the door of Huichun Hall. He carried the sack and went to other places to stroll around, and came back in the evening.

He took a casual look at the market. Now grain is sold for 50 wen per liter, and one stone is five taels of silver, which is several times higher than the same period in previous years.

The price of people is much cheaper.

At the market, you can buy a child of about 8 years old with only one dou of rice.

In previous years, it would cost at least several taels of silver, and beautiful ones could be sold at a high price of 20 taels of silver.

Nowadays, the fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls in the market who can give birth to babies and work in the fields can take away two dan of grain.

There are also young wives who have given birth to children and rent them to other families to give birth to children, and they only need two dou of grain a year.

Thinking of the 100 dan of land rent that he exempted from Ah Hu today, which is worth 500 taels of silver, and can buy at least 50 wives, he felt a little sad again.

He was like waving his hand, and 50 wives were missing.

At this time, he saw a scarred man with a few men who bought more than 20 people in the market in one breath.

And there was no limit on men and women, all of them were in their teens and twenties.

Er Gouzi took a look with a little curiosity using the Qi-Looking Technique and found that the man had a strong breath in his body, at least he had the third level of Qi training.

The scarred man looked only in his thirties, but he had already cultivated to the third level of Qi training. In the whole Anchang County, he was also a young genius.

As for Er Gouzi, who is only 17 years old and at the fourth level of Qi training, he is a special case. He eats so many good things every day and has some self-awareness.

This scarred man is also a master among the immortal cultivators. Why did he buy so many people at once?

However, this matter has nothing to do with Er Gouzi, and he doesn't like to ask around.

He walked until it was getting dark and bought two meat buns at the bun shop for dinner.

Originally, I bought 10 meat buns every time, but thinking about the loss of 100 stones of food today, I decided to eat fewer meat buns.

He ate while walking, and when he arrived at Huichun Hall, he found that it was finally quiet here.

Then he walked in.