Li Yan and Hongniangzi climbed over a cliff and finally saw a village affiliated to Guangyuan. The location of this village is not remote, just one day outside Guangyuan City. Because it is relatively close to Guangyuan City, Zhu Jun can leave the city to deal with the problem here at any time. Therefore, there is no garrison here. Li Yan and Hongniangzi can sneak in here without being discovered by Zhu army.

"Madam Hong, everything you said to me last time was really what Baishui and Zhu Ba said?" Li Yan asked Madam Hong while walking. Last time he treated Madam Hong as a fairy, he made a joke. Madam Hong finally explained to him clearly that what she said was heard from Brother Zhu Ba.

Li Yan couldn't help but be shocked. He didn't know that Baishui and Zhu Ba actually had such experience, so he had the intention to meet Zhu Ba. In addition, Li Yan's family was mixed with the old and weak women who broke into the army and were all captured by Zhu Ba. He also had to come to find his family. This trip to sneak into Zhu Jun's territory became an imperative thing.

The Hong Madam didn't want to be recognized because she hadn't figured out how to face Ma Xiaotian. Although she took Li Yan into Zhu Jun's territory, she was hesitating whether to go directly to Guangyuan. Li Yan obviously saw her hesitation and couldn't help asking: "Hong Madam, are you lying to me? You and I are not a general under Zhu Ba, and Zhu Ba have never said what you said before, otherwise why didn't you take me to see Zhu Ba directly?"

The Hongniang was very distressed. She couldn't say, "I'm hiding from a man who pursues me." She had to say vaguely: "Now is not the best time to take you to see Brother Zhu Ba. Let's investigate in the nearby village first."

Li Yan is not a stupid person. Hearing a strange smell from her words, a hint of suspicion arose in his heart. Fortunately, the Hongniang is innocent and romantic, and he really doesn't look like a guy who likes to lie, which dispels many of Li Yan's concerns.

The two walked for a while, and the Hongniang suddenly remembered something and asked Li Yan: "You said your family was captured by Brother Zhu Ba, so what kind of family do you have?"

When Li Yan heard her question, a strange look flashed across his face, looking very gentle. But there was a hint of worry in his gentleness. He sighed in a low voice: "It's my wife, Tang. When I joined Li Zicheng, I brought Tang with me. She is a beautiful lady, well-educated, polite, virtuous and kind. She is very loving to me. When the rebel army was defeated, she was mixed with the soldiers and family members of the rebel army, and they were all captured by Zhu Ba's people. I don't know at this time...ah..."

Speaking of this, he thought of the thief soldiers in the 36th Battalion burned, killed and looted. After he compiled the children's song "Not taking food", the rebel army had already restrained. But he didn't know what the military discipline of the Zhu Ba Army was. If the military discipline of the Zhu Ba Army was the same as the previous 36th Battalion, his beautiful wife would have been afraid that she would have been... He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart and his whole body trembled.

In real history, when Li Yan defected to Li Zicheng, it was October of the 13th year of Chongzhen. At that time, Tang was dead and Li Yan's wife was already a Hongniang. However, because things happened in this world three years earlier than that history, Li Yan did not recognize Hongniang, but instead took Tang to Li Zicheng three years earlier. At this time, he and Tang were newlyweds, very loving, and could not hold the Hongniang in his heart, full of Tang's figure.

Seeing him worried, Hongmao smiled and sighed, "You can rest assured that Brother Zhu Ba is very good at leading troops. Zhu Jun has excellent military discipline and will never have any evil things to rape a woman, otherwise I would have turned against him long ago."

Li Yan didn't believe what she said, but he would rather believe what she said.

At this time, the two had already walked to the edge of the fields near the village, and saw a bustling scene in the fields. Almost all the residents of this small village were busy harvesting corn from the cornfield. The farmers carried huge back pockets, filled with corn they had just harvested, and their faces were filled with happy smiles.

Li Yan's heart moved and couldn't help asking, "Madam Hong, what kind of crops do they plant? Why haven't I seen it before?"

The Hongniang smiled and said, "You scholars do not have diligent limbs, they do not distinguish between grains, and they have many crops that they have never seen before."

Li Yan's face turned upright and said seriously: "I'm not the kind of scholar. I can tell the difference between grains. In fact, I know most of the crops, but this is the first time I have seen such things in front of me."

The Hongniang smiled and said, "This thing is called corn, well... Actually, I have only seen it grow when it grows. This is the first time I have seen it bear fruit. This is the new crop that Brother Zhu Ba introduced to Guangyuan this spring. According to Brother Zhu Ba, this crop can grow on very shallow soil layers and is very suitable for Sichuan. With this thing, the people will not go hungry."

Li Yan said "Oh" and asked excitedly: "Is this the so-called...productivity?"

The queen spread her hands and said, "Don't ask me, I don't understand much." She is a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old. Her favorite thing is to fight and kill, or recite poems and act cool. She is not very interested in economics, agriculture, and productivity. Li Yan asked her, and she naturally didn't know about it.

Li Yan also knew that he could not catch anything from this man's mouth, so he had to go and ask the farmers in person.

Li Yan knew the skills of talking to ordinary people very well. He acted like a passerby, greeted an old farmer in front from afar, then acted as a polite scholar, and smiled and said, "This uncle, I am a juren who fled from Henan to Sichuan..."

Speaking of this, he deliberately paused and waited for the old farmer to react. The old farmer was stunned and after savoring Li Yan's words, he immediately became respectful and quickly gave a big gift: "It turns out to be a juren..." There are not many people who know literacy these days. In such poor villages, even if they know a few words, they will be respected by everyone. People like Juren who knows "great knowledge" are like gods in the hearts of the old farmer.

Li Yan quickly helped the old farmer and said, "Uncle, Wansheng saw you harvesting crops happily. He was curious and took a few more glances, but the more he looked, the more strange it became. Wansheng had never seen such crops in Henan. What exactly is this thing?"

When the old farmer heard his question, he smiled and said, "This thing is called corn. It was sent by General Zhenxi to the village to teach us how to grow it."

After hearing this, Li Yan changed his mind: It was indeed something that Zhu Ba made. It was called Yumi. It was the same as what Hongniang said.

He asked again: "Uncle, I see you all are happy. Is the harvest this year very good?"

The old farmer was obviously very interested in this topic, and his face was full of pride. He laughed and said, "Yes, yes. The harvest this year is really great. Old man, I have never harvested so many crops. This time... haha..."

Li Yan beat the snake and followed the stick and asked quickly: "How much have you collected this year?"

The old farmer smiled and said, "My family has two acres of mountain land. I have collected this number..." He stretched out a finger, gestured one word, and then stretched out five fingers, comparing one word.

Li Yan thought: Sichuan is mostly stone mountains, and the mountain is formed by large stones. A layer of thin soil on the stones. If you plant crops on such land, it would be good to harvest dozens of kilograms per acre of land. Then he said, "Two acres of land have a total of 150 kilograms?"

The old farmer obviously knew that he would guess wrong, and his face suddenly raised his face and said with pride in his eyes: "Master Juren, you guessed wrongly, I collected 1,500 kilograms of old man."

"What?" Li Yan was shocked: "Two acres of 1,500 kilograms?"

His shocked expression was exactly what the old man wanted to see. People, who do things that are proud, like to let others guess it on purpose, and then get pleasure from the other person's surprised expression when others guess wrong. For example, you were originally a poor man, but one day you were suddenly promoted to the official position and returned home and said in front of your wife: "Wife, your husband has been promoted, guess what have you been promoted to?" The wife guessed: "Are you promoted to office director?" At this time, the husband would say proudly: "You are wrong, I was promoted to mayor directly." Then the husband could appreciate his wife's shocked expression, which was really a pleasure.

Li Yan's expression seemed to see a poor man becoming a rich man overnight, and his face was filled with shock.

The old farmer thought proudly: I knew you would be scared, hahaha. After he made fun of someone, he felt relieved, and then his simple side was revealed. After looking at Li Yan and Hong Madam for a few glances, he smiled and said, "Look, you guys have walked many mountain roads? They are both simple and simple. The juren seems to be a little hurt. If you don't dislike it, just sit at the old man's house. The old man cooks corn to entertain you."

When Li Yan heard him say this, he was shocked again. After following Li Zicheng, he had traveled thousands of miles and traveled all over the country. All the people he saw were poor. When a guest came to him, the people often stayed silent and did not dare to entertain him. Moreover, if a distant relative came to you in this year of disaster, he would definitely be unable to get along with you and wanted to help you. The family could not be overwhelmed, so where did the food come from to help others?

Unexpectedly, the old farmer of Guangyuan met him, and was not close to him, so he actually invited him to come to the door and said he wanted to entertain him for food. Thinking of the old farmer saying that he had only collected 1,500 kilograms of grain, Li Yan suddenly realized in his heart that this is exactly "if the granaries are full, the etiquette is known, and if the food is enough, the honor and disgrace are known." Because there is endless food, the food is not enough, so there is room for distribution to the poor. Because there is no need for food and clothing, the food is too short to care for others who are short of food and clothing.

Li Yan seemed to feel the power brought by the three words "productivity". It is a positive energy, which can change a person from beginning to end. For example, the old farmer in front of him has given him a happy smile and a capital to be kind. Can he stand here today and speak up straight to a juren. Isn't it because he feels proud of the wealth he has in his family?

Li Yan followed the old farmer and entered his home. The old farmer was obviously very poor and had few pieces of furniture in his house. However, there were many golden corn cobs on the yard, and a large handful of hanging under the eaves were hung under the eaves to let the sun bake the corn. The old farmer smiled and said, "There are too much corn and you will not be able to finish it in a while. Brother Zhu Ba teaches us that if you put the corn in a bright sunny place and dry it in the sun, this thing will not be broken and can be stored for a long time."

Li Yan said oh, and seeing the old man having a great time talking, he asked with courage: "Uncle, I heard you just said that this is under the jurisdiction of General Zhenxi. Does this general Zhenxi collect taxes from you? Is the taxes heavy?"

The old man smiled and said, "Calling, how can officials not collect taxes from us? The juren really likes to joke..." He paused and said, "General Zhenxi collects 30% of our taxes."

"Thirty percent?" Li Yan frowned slightly: "It's quite heavy..."

The old man tilted his head and smiled: "It's not too heavy. It's much lighter than the previous magistrate of Guangyuan. We used to pay 50%...uh...60% more tax."

Li Yan was silent. Of course he knew how the officials of the court collected taxes, so he whispered: "So, General Zhenxi is not too heavy to collect."

The old man smiled again: "Don't think that the general Zhenxi collected only 30% of the charge, which is less than the previous court... The old man should settle the score for you. In the past, the old man's two acres of land could be collected by 200 kilograms, and the court would draw 60% of it. That is, 120 kilograms were collected."

"Now... the old man collected 1,500 kilograms of land for two acres. The general of Zhenxi took away 30%, which means 450 kilograms!" The old man smiled when he said this: "Do you think the court collected more, or the general of Zhenxi collected more?"

Li Yan's heart suddenly moved: No wonder Zhu Bajun's military appearance was so neat. The soldiers were all wearing uniform clothes and holding neat weapons. They all had enough food and drink. It turned out that their taxes were so high that they could actually collect 450 kilograms from such an old farmer's house. If the whole people of Shaanxi were added together, Zhu Bajun would be really rich.

Li Yan found that he was not smart enough, and his taxes were lighter than the court, but he actually collected more things than the court... Sure enough, this was another problem with productivity. Because he produced more, he could collect a little tax and collect a huge amount of military expenditure.

He thought for a long time and slowly understood it in his heart, but he said, "Uncle, I don't know if you have ever heard a nursery rhyme. The nursery rhyme says to open the city gate to welcome the King of Chuang. If the King of Chuang comes, you will not pay grain. Have you ever thought that if you don't pay grain... you can get 450 kilograms of grain."

He thought that the old man would definitely agree with this sentence, but he didn't expect that the old farmer had a disdainful expression on his face and said with a smile: "What's so great about not paying food? I've heard this song. I heard it came from the south. A few days ago, I heard that the rebel army was in the south... The old man hesitated whether to go to the rebel king at that time. Now he only realized that it was right that he didn't go there."

He patted the corn on the cob and laughed: "If the old man went to the King of Chuang, even if he didn't pay the grain, he would only plant two acres of land. Now, the old man paid 30% of the grain, and there were still 1,000 kilograms. Hahaha, the old man is not a melon seed, how could he not calculate this? "

Li Yan was speechless, and his confidence in his children's song had dropped to the bottom. He finally understood why Zhu Ba said that his idea of ​​"not paying food" was fundamentally wrong... The fundamental idea of ​​"not paying food" was "saving", while the idea of ​​"improving productivity" was "making money". It was obvious that earning money was better than saving. "Second Inspection" could not make a person rich, but hard work could make people rich. Wealth was never saved, but earned.

Li Yan chatted with the old farmer for a while. The corn cob had been cooked. The old farmer handed one to Li Yan and Hong Niangzi. The two of them held the corn cob and chewed it for a while. It smelled so good that it tasted great.

The Hongmao had no idea and was only concerned about filling her stomach. However, a huge wave broke out in Li Yan's heart. He didn't know where he was, and his mind was full of productivity. He didn't notice at all. The old farmer gave a few winks at his son. His twenties son quietly opened the back door and ran out to the back of the house.

That night, Li Yan and Hong Niangzi rested in the old farmer's house. Early the next morning, the two of them said goodbye to the old farmer. The old farmer sent them out of the yard and left them out of the village, and then they returned.

Li Yan and Hong Niangzi walked side by side on the loess road for a while, and couldn't help but sigh: "Hong Niangzi, please take me to see Brother Zhu Ba. I have a lot of things to say to him, and I still have many questions to ask him."

Hong Niangzi wanted to agree, but when she thought of Ma Xiaotian... she hesitated again. It was nothing to go back. Brother Zhu Ba did not feel sorry for her. She also wanted to serve Brother Zhu Ba again, but what should Ma Xiaotian do? He said he liked him, but he hadn't figured out how to face him yet. What should I do?

The Hongniang was not sure what to do, and when she was struggling, she suddenly heard a loud shout from the side of the road: "It's the man and the woman, they are spies from the rebel army, and they are promoting the children's song of "not paying food"... Hurry up..."

Hearing this voice, Li Yan and Hongniang turned their heads and saw a young man standing next to the road, which was the son of the old farmer. It turned out that the old farmer heard Li Yan talking about the children's song "not paying food", and said that Li Yan was a spy sent by the army to spread the children's songs. Zhu Jun always killed such spies quickly and had already informed all the people under his rule. He had to report them immediately when he found such people.

The old farmer's son pointed at Li Yan and Hong Niangzi. Behind him was a large group of Zhu's soldiers. There were also many encircled soldiers jumping out, and in an instant, surrounded Li Yan and Hong Niangzi at the core.
Chapter completed!