Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 391 Earn Money in the County and Spend Money in the County

Everyone calculated after hearing this, isn't it? Just picking mushrooms took a long time, and every time it rained they would go pick them up, picking them up for a whole day.

Not only that, there is also the time spent drying and sorting the mushrooms. Overall, each person doesn't make much money per day.

Seeing everyone like this, Xu Han quickly spoke out to comfort them, "But we earn much more in a day than ordinary people do. Ordinary people only earn 10 cents for a day's hard labor, which is not enough to buy a pound of pork."

This is the era, labor is the cheapest, and the most abundant thing is people who make money by doing hard labor.

Grandpa Zhao thought for a moment and said, "That's true. After all, ordinary people can't live in the mountains like us. They can hunt and pick mushrooms to make money."

"Well, now that we've finally earned some money, let's go downstairs and have a good meal."

"Yes, yes, yes, hurry up, it's already time for lunch. I had lunch early and I'm already hungry."

Hearing this, everyone stood up again, packed up and started walking out.

This time, the few of them did not go to the small restaurant they had visited at noon, but instead found a crowded place and sat down.

You can't go to that restaurant every day. There are other places selling food in the county town, so you need to change your taste.

A few people ordered five bowls of noodles and two dishes, and started eating.

The food in this restaurant couldn’t be said to be very delicious, but it wasn’t bad either. In the name of not wasting food, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan even finished the noodle soup.

Lu Chuan wiped his mouth and said, "I'm finally full. It's still early and it's not curfew yet. Let's go shopping and buy some things."

"Okay, let's go for a walk first and get some information."

There is a curfew in the county town, and the city gates are usually closed after dark. The curfew starts at nine o'clock in winter and will be later in summer.

Before the drought came, there was a night market in the county town. I don’t know if it still exists now. After finishing dinner, a few people started strolling around the county town.

After walking a few steps, they found that there were stalls selling food in front of them, and the shops on the street were not closed. It seemed that there was still a night market like before.

The group first walked around the night market, bought a lot of food, and then went into the grocery store.

Xu Han selected several large wine jars, some small wine jars, and then some daily necessities, and asked the shop assistant to help deliver them to the inn.

Lu Chuan suggested, "Let's go to the teahouse. It's very busy right now, and it's convenient for us to get some information."

"Okay, let's go order a pot of tea and take a break. We're really tired after walking around for so long."

After arriving at the place, Xu Han ordered some snacks and tea. Mu'er and Ze'er ate the food in their hands and looked around.

This is Muer's second time to come to the county town. The last time she came here was in the first half of the year, so her memory of the county town has become a little vague.

However, this time when Mu'er came to the county town, she didn't feel scared when she saw so many people at once.

Because he has always lived in the mountains, Grandpa Zhao is afraid that Mu'er knows too little about this society. In order to broaden his horizons, he often tells Mu'er about the outside world.

So when Mu'er came to the county town and saw these people and things, she felt a little strange but also very familiar.

Mu'er thought to herself that everything here was the same as her great-grandfather had said, except that it was not as prosperous as her great-grandfather had said. It seemed that only the capital city could be as prosperous as Grandpa Zhao had said.

Ze'er was not afraid when he saw so many people. On the contrary, he was very excited. He was chattering and laughing the whole time. Xu Han didn't know what he was laughing at.

Neither Ze'er nor Mu'er needed adult supervision and they played by themselves.

Xu Han and the other adults were listening to the noises in the teahouse, all of which were being said at once.

Although Yunhua had written letters to the Taoist priest regarding the war and court affairs, and everyone knew something about them, after hearing everyone talk about these things, they had a deeper understanding of the news.

A man in gray clothes said, "Have you heard? Now those who go to perform corvée labor not only have food to eat, but also each household will receive 10 coins of wages for the extra people who go."

Another man answered, "What? Ten cents, isn't that the equivalent of doing corvée labor and getting paid? This is good work, the pay is the same as doing hard labor, and you don't have to worry about not having work to do."

"No, the people who went to perform corvée labor in every household did not receive any wages, but they were provided with food. If a family member wanted to send one more person, the government would give them extra wages."

Another person interrupted and asked, "Is it really that good?"

"I heard it from the son-in-law of my second uncle's third son. He works in the county government. How could it be false? If you don't believe it, go and try it yourself and you will know."

The man who answered the call said unconvincedly, "I don't need that ten cents. This corvée labor service is not a good job. I won't go."

A man lowered his voice and whispered, "I heard that this corvée is for repairing official roads. Now there is a fight at the border. This time the official road must be repaired to quickly replenish food and grass at the border, otherwise the government would not pay for corvée."

Another man quickly echoed, "Yes, yes, I've heard that too. In previous years, only one person from each family had to do corvée labor, and wealthy families could use money to pay for the quota. This year's quota is much more expensive than in previous years, and it costs five taels of silver per person!"

The man on the other side exclaimed, "It's so expensive. In previous years, it was at most two taels of silver. This year, it has more than doubled. It seems that the situation at the border is not optimistic, otherwise they would not be so anxious to repair the road."

"Besides, it's already winter now. The weather is cold and the roads we build won't be solid. It would be even more troublesome if they freeze."

"What can we do? The official road is in such a dilapidated state now. We definitely cannot do without repairing it."

Another man said worriedly, "We don't know if the attack will reach us."

"We have finally settled down, please don't call us."

"We are not too far from the capital, but we are not too far from the border either."

The man in gray clothes said with a smile, "Oh, don't worry, we won't attack this side. If we lose this side, the capital will fall."

"That's true, but if a fight really breaks out, we might be the most intense one, since we are close to the capital."