When Chen Xu got home, Xing'er had already cooked the fish, Chen Jiang asked about Erxi with concern, Chen Xu ate fish with soybean and wild vegetable porridge, told Erxi about the poisoning, and told Xing'er not to eat indiscriminately in the future.

After eating, the sun was already high.

After Jiang Chen finished cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks, he carried a rattan basket, picked up a hoe, and prepared to go out with apricots.

"Mother, where are you going?" Chen Xu suddenly felt abandoned.

"My mother and I went to the field to weed, I was supposed to do it a few days ago, but my brother broke it, so it was delayed for a few days, and if I didn't weed the wheat seedlings, I wouldn't be able to grow wheat, and I couldn't collect the grain and pay the field tax, and the pavilion chief would arrest our family to repair the road!" Apricot explained very sensibly.

Uh, Chen Xu was stunned for a moment and quickly picked up another hoe and said, "I'll go too!" ”

"Xu'er, you're not completely healed if you fell and injured yourself, let's recuperate at home for two days first, weeding is not too tiring, I'll go with Xing'er!" Chen Jiang also said.

"Mother, I'm fine, but I can't remember where our family's field is, so I'll go and take a look!" Chen Xu couldn't help but follow.

After walking a few hundred meters down the river, a large area of farmland appeared in front of me.

"Brother, this is our family's field, a total of twenty-seven acres, ten stone of wheat and wheat every year, my mother is too busy alone, and the rest is not enough to eat......"

Xing'er pointed to the farmland to explain to her amnesiac brother, but Chen Xu looked at the farmland full of weeds with a confused expression.

Is this a field? Looking at the lush greenery, in fact, almost all you see are all kinds of weeds.

Moreover, this large area called the field is actually a river beach, which is randomly surrounded by stones and dirt and then divided into two parts, half of the wheat and the other soybeans, that is, soybeans.

Walking into the field, the wheat is about a foot high, most of it has been tasseled, but the long can only be described by a cold and nest, under the invasion of weeds, not only short but also very small, and Chen Xu has seen the wheat varieties in later generations, the wheat ears are only about one-third, and peel off an ear of wheat and take a look, there are only about ten grains in an ear of wheat, almost one-third of the later generations, but the yield is almost less than one-tenth of the later generations.

Chen Xu remembers very clearly, his family also grows wheat, harvested in June every year, and is a chemical fertilizer, a pesticide and a herbicide, all that can be seen is wheat, and the harvest of an acre of field is only about 500 kilograms, which is converted into the measurement unit of the Qin Dynasty, that is, sixteen or seven stones, so the maximum yield of this mu in front of him will not exceed two stones, that is, sixty kilograms, or even less than fifty kilograms, although now an acre of land seems to be slightly smaller than an acre of area in later generations, but the yield per mu is 100 catties of grain......

Chen Xu had a feeling of wanting to die.

And looking at the situation in front of you, it is completely the rhythm of looking at the sky.

A beach is fenced off and sprinkled with seeds, and weeds are removed when you have time, and if the river swells, the beach may be flooded and there will be no harvest.

And even if it is this kind of unpredictable income, the Great Qin Empire still has to collect more than ten stone of land tax, accounting for almost one-third of all income, and other harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are not counted, and it is estimated that half of them can fall into the hands of farmers in the end.

Twenty-seven acres of land according to the normal income, the yield per mu is 100 catties, a total of 2,700 catties, half of the hand, that is, 1,300 catties, a family of three, each 400 catties, 365 days a year on average, can eat a catty of coarse grains with shells every day, but in fact, only half a catty of later generations, for this era without too much meat food, just eating coarse grains is obviously not anti-hunger, especially the young adults who have to work, it is not enough to eat.

(Note: In the Qin Dynasty, a catty was about 253g, which was equivalent to half a catty of 250g in later generations, and one stone was almost 30 kg in later generations.) ）

What's more, there is a proverb that says half the size eats the poor.

A boy like Chen Xu, who is fourteen or fifteen years old and growing up, is completely a rice bucket and a bottomless pit, and no matter how much food he has, he can't eat enough, otherwise he won't be hungry and go up to the tree to dig out the bird's nest and make a tooth sacrifice.

However, since he has traveled to this dark era and a destitute family, Chen Xu has no extra choice.

The Qin Dynasty not only imposed a lot of taxes and miscellaneous taxes, but the government strictly controlled the population in the countryside, and the car bandits and road blockers ...... Well, there are also a lot of bandits, all of whom are composed of slaves and homeless people who can't survive and don't want to be captured by the government to do hard labor.

Let's weed, Chen Xu accepted his fate, tied his trouser legs and sleeves with weeds and began to pull weeds in the wheat field.

Half a day passed in a flash, and the sun quickly rose to midheaven.

Chen Xu was sweating profusely, Jiang Chen and Xing'er were also drenched in sweat, but the mother and daughter both clenched their teeth and said nothing, especially Xing'er, her little hands and face were covered with mud, and her face was cut by weeds with a few fine scars, but the little girl didn't shout at all.

Although Chen Xu was already dizzy from hunger at this time, looking at such a strong apricot, he could only smile bitterly and continue to persevere.

Seven-year-old little girl, in the future is still wearing beautiful dresses in elementary school, eating bread, eggs and milk every day, unhappy to lie in the arms of her parents and coquettish, hugging the rag doll to listen to the story to sleep, but in front of her, the same age, but early has become an important labor force for the family to work, and according to the Qin law, all the people over the age of seven in the family must start to pay the Ding tax, although it is not high, but it can also be regarded as seven years old has reached the age of participating in manual labor, becoming the country's semi-formal population.

The people of the Qin Dynasty did not eat lunch, and had two meals a day, morning and evening.

So this insistence is close to three hours, seeing that the sun has begun to set westward, the time is about four o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Xu is already hungry with his chest against his back, Xing'er has long been unable to hold on to sit on the ridge of the field and chew a handful of white weed roots to satisfy hunger, Chen Jiang can't hold on, and then announced the end of today's labor.

Staggered out of the field, Chen Xu lay on the river beach with a puff and gasped desperately, trembling slightly.

Not only is he hungry, but his body is also very weak, and his thin arms and legs are not suitable for this kind of physical labor.

However, the results still look good, and with the efforts of the three of them, about five acres of weeds have been cleared, and as long as the weather is good, it will be almost all done in four or five days.

In the field cleared of weeds, the wheat seedlings look sparse but also much fresher.