No wonder Cheng Xiaolian was surprised, according to the purchasing power of silver in the early Qing Dynasty, one tael of silver can buy 120 catties of 100 meters. For the market outlook, it is a matter of a few hundred yuan, but it is an agricultural society, everyone's food and clothing are created by themselves, and ordinary people save at home, and they can't save less than three or five taels of silver a year.

Geng Jingzhong's method is equivalent to taking away all the family's three-year income at once, and Cheng Xiaolian was of course surprised.

"What will happen if you don't pay these ten taels of silver?"

Li Yufa sighed: "If you don't pay these ten taels of silver, you will let them take away all the things that can be used at home, live poultry and livestock, iron pots and quilts, and they will not fall!" ”

Cheng Xiaolian was a little puzzled: "It's all like this, can everyone still hold back and not rebel?" ”

"Hou Sheng, do you think this is what Mr. Storyteller said about Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, who can immediately kill the white snake and raise an army when he talks about soldiers? Once the rebellion is the end of the bloodstream, not to mention that you look at the soldiers and horses in the city, who can beat the big guys, and endure it, everyone also saved some money in the good times in those years, this time they all took it out, at least there is a way to live, the old saying goes, the people do not fight with the officials. ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Cheng Xiaolian: "Hou Sheng, your truckloads of goods, when you get to the city, you will inevitably end up with a capital army, you have to think about it, it's not easy for the family to save some family business, but you can't just waste it." ”

"That's not possible, the merchants in the city have made an appointment with my family, saying that we want so many things at this time, if we don't deliver the things, wouldn't it be dishonest to others, we who do business pay attention to a letter, otherwise who is willing to do business with us?"

Li Yufa smiled bitterly: "Housheng, why don't you understand, if you pull this cart back now, those merchants in the city will be grateful to you, if you get these things to the city, those who are soldiers will be robbed, and then it will be yours or those merchants?" You pull it back, just ask someone to bring a word, this year it's messy again, you can't do business, if you want me to say you still go to Sichuan and Shu, I heard that the days over there are too peaceful, and the business is not too much, and you won't lose all your family business. ”

Cheng Xiaolian arched his hand: "Thank you for your advice, it's just that it's getting late, can you go to your father-in-law's village for a night?" ”

"Hey, our village can't accommodate so many people, anyway, there are a lot of people, from here to the northwest, there is a broken temple on the three-mile road, you will stay overnight, and you will return tomorrow."

Cheng Xiaolian stretched out his hand and tore off a piece of cloth: "The old man has no way to repay his kindness, talk about his heart." ”

Li Yufa laughed so hard that his face blossomed: "Then how embarrassing." He likes to gossip and find out the news, but no one has ever respected him, every time he takes what he says as a talking point, no one has looked at him at all, let alone give him such a heavy gift, now what he wants is to quickly hold this cloth back and let his wife see if he has nothing to do every day and chats around.

Cheng Xiaolian arched his hand: "It's not too early, let's go to the broken temple to rest, let's leave." ”

"Don't, after accepting such a heavy gift from you, I have to show you the way, otherwise people will say that I Li Yu is black-hearted." As he spoke, he led the way before his head.

Not only led the way, but along the way, he explained everything he could explain, what whose wine was delicious, whose lo-mei was a must, and he couldn't wait to take out everything he knew in his stomach.

"Uncle, the soldiers in this city won't come to patrol around at night, right?"

"Hehe, you think too highly of them, if you let them collect the cash, let them patrol, avoid this thought. Everyone is an uncle, who doesn't find a comfortable place to sleep at night, and runs to this poor country to patrol? ”

While speaking, he had already reached the broken temple, Li Yufa smiled bitterly: "This temple has never worked, at the beginning it was dedicated to Emperor Guan Sheng, and after worshipping, those who studied failed to make the list, and those who did business lost money." Later, it was changed to Zhang Jiangling, but it was good, it was smashed before it was established for ten years, and it was replaced by the land lord, the people came here, whether it was to ask for a harvest or a son, it was not allowed, and after a long time, there was gradually no incense, but fortunately, the place was big enough, and some homeless beggars would live in winter, and now the weather is still warm, and those beggars are begging for food in the city, and they will not come back at night. ”

Cheng Xiaolian smiled: "Thank you for your advice, it's not too early, it's time to go back to dinner." ”

Li Yufa knew that the goods in the caravan did not want to be shown to outsiders, in case the outsiders had bad intentions, it would be a disaster for the caravan, and he had a piece of cloth, and he was already satisfied, so he said goodbye and went home, Cheng Xiaolian gave Yang Youcai a look, and a team of people immediately went into the broken temple.

After a while, they came out: "As the old man said, there is no one, it just smells bad, there is a rancid smell." ”

Cheng Xiaolian laughed: "Don't think about it so much, it's good to have a place to live, sprinkle some lime we brought, I'm not afraid of other places in this place, I'm afraid of fleas." ”

So a group of people went to buy some wine and meat according to Li Yufa's words, and some people cleaned up the sundries in the temple, and found some hay outside and came back and spread it on the ground, and got a few pieces of cloth from the car to have a place to sleep peacefully.

Anyway, they didn't plan to make money, it didn't matter if the cloth was dirty, as long as there was such a reason to get through.

After everyone had eaten wine and meat, and there was no entertainment, they were ready to rest, when a brocade guard who was guarding outside the door walked in: "My lord, there is a dark shadow approaching us. ”

Yang Youcai scratched his head: "A dark shadow is afraid of a bird, just let him come, brothers keep an eye on it and see what he wants to do." ”

Cheng Xiaolian and Chen Chengan didn't have much to sleep, Cheng Xiaolian glanced at Chen Chengan: "We have to change our methods, I used to think that we could sneak into the city with a caravan, but now it seems that this is not the case at all, if we just enter the city like this, even if Geng Xianzuo is a pig brain, it is impossible for Zeng to raise sex to be a pig brain, so we have to be arrested and tortured." ”

Chen Chengan nodded: "But we got a good news, Geng Jingzhong's army is scraping the ground in Jiangling, as long as we operate properly, it is entirely possible to cause a riot, and even directly occupy this Jiangling City." ”

Cheng Xiaolian waved his hand: "I don't have much confidence that we don't need this trick for the time being, when the time comes, we will be able to get out, and the people near Jiangling will be bleeding like a river, although Geng Jingzhong is not the same, but the troops under his command are still not a problem to deal with the people." ”

(End of chapter)