newbobooks Chapter 931: Crying Poor
Chapter 931: Crying Poor
The two men were defeated and looked at Magistrate Yao who was standing beside them. "I gave you so much, shouldn't you share some with me? You can't monopolize all the good things for yourself."
Zhou Guo didn't owe them anything, and they were not his colleagues, so he had no obligation to do so. But it was different for Lord Yao. They were all officials in charge, and since they hadn't spent any money on this, it wouldn't be excessive to share some of it.
Lord Yao said hurriedly, "Well, we can discuss this later. The key thing now is to see how the harvest of Mr. Zhou's land is in the first year, so that we can have a rough idea."
Zhou Guo led them forward.
Although the land for planting wheat only occupies a small part, the land is more than 400 hectares. Even if it is only a small part, it will take a while to finish it.
Seeing the sweat dripping from their faces, Zhou Guo kindly said, "The rest of the land is still far away. We can't reach the end in half an hour. Anyway, the front is similar to these. Although the weather is cool now, it's not easy to walk under the sun. Let's go sit down, eat something and drink some tea."
The two county magistrates looked at Lord Yao.
Lord Yao looked at the two of them and said with a smile, "Okay, then we'll bother you, sir. We can just take a break at your farm."
Erpang brought a few horses, and Zhou Guo and a few others rode back to the farm.
Refreshments have been prepared in the pavilion.
Zhou Guo invited them to sit down and said, "It's the busy farming season now, there's not much good food on the farm, please don't be disgusted, just eat what you can."
Several people looked at the things on the table.
There were all kinds of snacks, fresh fruits, dried meat, roast duck, braised goods, duck heads, duck wings, and duck bodies, all on the table.
Lord Yao said with a smile, "My lord, you are joking. If you still say there is nothing, then I will be eating pig food all day long."
The other two county magistrates nodded as well. They all shared the same plight. Several counties were poor, and like the people there, although they could afford food, they did not have any good things on a daily basis. They were not as well off as the average small landlord, let alone a wealthy family like Zhou Guo.
Zhou Guo said, "Your Excellency, you are flattering me by saying that. These are some of the good food sold in Yunzhou. You can try them first. Lunch will have to wait a while."
These apricots and pears were shipped from Chengding. There were not many in the first year, so after they were sent to Songxian Village, there were not many left. Zhou Guo simply asked his subordinates to distribute them.
Everyone can eat one or two, which is much more cost-effective than selling them.
Several adults took their own food, you took fruit, I took cakes, and he asked for duck food.
Zhou Guo took a sip of tea, picked up a duck head and started to chew it without caring about her image. Among so many ducks, she actually preferred to chew the duck heads.
When Lord Yao saw it, he finished eating the apricots and picked a duck head. He took the first bite and was immediately impressed by the taste. He nodded as he ate, "This duck head is really good. I have never eaten a duck head like this before."
"Really? Then let me try it."
When the two county magistrates saw it, they became curious and started eating the duck head after finishing the food in their hands, without making a sound.
Dashu brought a tray with a few jugs of wine on it, and Xiaoshu wanted to fill them up for the group.
Lord Yao waved his hand and said, "No need for you, we can do it ourselves."
Zhou Guo nodded, and Xiaoshu retreated tactfully.
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "I don't have any famous wines here, but my old man likes this wine very much. He likes to use it with braised dishes. You gentlemen, please try it."
Several people hurriedly poured themselves a cup, took a sip, and laughed.
Lord Yao said, "Thanks to you, young master, I normally can't drink such good wine. I usually drink wine that costs more than ten or twenty coins per pound."
Zhou Guo said helplessly: "Sir, you really are here to cry poor, so what? I'll donate some money to you?"
It's really unpleasant to hear that you are living a hard life every time you say something.
The two county magistrates who were eating hard were almost choked. They looked up at Zhou Guo and said, "How dare you say anything?"
Lord Yao was not angry either. He laughed and said, "You know what kind of life I live. If you really donate some to me, I would be more than happy to do so. Everyone knows that Master Zhou has nothing bad in his hands. Even the grass seeds are good..."
Zhou Guo shouted, "Stop, stop, sir, we have already agreed that I will only give you the grass seeds once, but not the rest. I have a lot of land and so many livestock that need fodder. I don't even have enough for myself."
"I know, I know. We have a good relationship. I am just nagging you, but I am not asking you to give it to me."
Zhou Guo was silent. This Lord Yao must have become familiar to her over the years. He treated her like his own child, summoning her when he wanted and dismissing her when he wanted. He even asked her for things.
The two of them seemed to have lost each other, even though she was the one asking him for things in the early years.
The group ate and drank delicious food for a while, then went out to check on the rice, which was growing well.
Among them were grain seeds that were collected from the experimental field last year and planted separately on one side. Zhou Guo took them to see them specially. It could be seen with the naked eye that they were different from the new seeds planted this year.
Obviously much better.
A county magistrate asked, "How much rice can be harvested from one acre of land?"
"Why do I think the rice is growing better than the wheat?"
Zhou Guo said: "The rice still needs to grow for half a month. It's too early to say how much we can harvest from one acre. I bought this rice seed from someone else and cultivated it for so many years. Now the annual yield per acre is indeed a little better than the wheat we have."
Compared with the south, water resources in the north are not as abundant. Rice cannot be grown in some places, and there is very little land available for growing rice.
Lord Yao's eyes lit up and he said, "Then wouldn't it be just right for the water conservancy projects I'm building in the salty and bitter land? When the land is ready, we can plant rice, too?"
The yield of rice is better than that of wheat. Given the conditions, it is naturally more cost-effective to grow rice.
Anyway, many refugees came from the south and knew how to grow rice.
Even if they don't know how, there's no harm in learning it. It concerns their own food supply and farming. These people have been farming for several lives, so there's no reason why they can't learn it.
The other two county magistrates looked at each other and then at Zhou Guo, "Sir, you must give us some of the wheat seeds when the time comes. Of course, we will pay for them."
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "Of course you can. Once this crop of rice is harvested, there will be enough rice seeds for next year. You can use money or grain to buy or exchange them then."
It's impossible for it to be free. She also needs to eat. This is not a charity and she is very poor now.
Despite this, several county magistrates were already very surprised, because such rice seeds were not available to ordinary people even if they were rich.
Although they didn't know the details of what happened to the new wheat seeds in her hands, they knew the general idea.
They strolled around for a while and had a sumptuous lunch at the farm.