Wan Jiaojiao's eyes widened and she asked: "Isn't the auspicious snow heralding a good harvest? Is snowing in winter a good thing? How..."
"Everything has a limit."
Boss Zhang of the inn sighed and said: "This snow alone has been falling for half a month. People are found freezing to death outside the city every day. Let alone a good year, what crops can be grown in the fields now?"
Does it look good? It’s all frozen to death.”
“Snowfall in winter is a good omen for auspicious times, but if it snows continuously, it’s not auspicious snow, it’s a snow disaster or a snow disaster.”
Boss Zhang's words made Li Chen frown suddenly.
When other people encounter such heavy snow, the most they can complain about is the cold weather and the difficulty of traveling on the road.
But in Li Chen's case, he had to consider whether the heavy snow would cause a real snow disaster. Once a snow disaster occurred, it would be a large-scale disaster with extremely wide coverage.
This disaster is no less severe than droughts and floods.
"How many fields does my father-in-law have?" Li Chen asked.
Old Liu raised his head and looked at Li Chen. He didn't have much knowledge. He just felt that the young man in front of him was dressed in an extraordinary way. The cloak made of the fur of an unknown animal was priceless. He was so noble in front of him.
Li Chen, he replied solemnly: "I have two acres and three thirds of land, old man."
Li Chen nodded in understanding.
Being able to own more than two acres of land is not bad at all.
"Are the harvests in the fields just like these sweet potatoes?" Li Chen asked again.
Old Liu Tou said bitterly: "They are all the same. The ones I have are relatively good. They were collected before this snowfall. They were not fully mature at that time and many people were reluctant to collect them. But who knew that it snowed heavily overnight and everything was frozen.
It was too late even if I tried to grab it, other people’s property was rotting in the ground, but I managed to grab some of it.”
"But if these sprouts turn black, you can't eat them," Li Chen said.
When Old Liu Tou heard this, his voice became choked up and he said, "What about that? Farmers can only survive on this, right?"
Li Chen looked at the child who had finished drinking the porridge and felt a little more energetic. At this time, he was timidly pulling Lao Liutou's trouser leg and hiding aside. He had a big head, a thin body, and limbs like sticks. This was obvious malnutrition.
symptom.
"Are all the people nearby like this?" Li Chen asked again.
This time it was shopkeeper Zhang who answered.
"They are all similar, but there are even worse ones. If the family can't solve the problem, they have to mortgage their land and ancestral property. After the mortgage is completed, they can only go begging for food."
During the process of asking and answering, Li Chen's brows became more and more furrowed.
He seemed to see the disaster caused by a huge snowstorm spreading throughout the north of the Qin Empire.
"The government doesn't care?" Li Chen asked.
"No matter what, why don't you care."
Li Chen felt a little comforted by Old Liutou's answer, but before the comfort could fully rise, he heard Old Liutou continue: "We farmers have no experience planting sweet potatoes for the first time. We only know that they are not cold-resistant.
But it is not clear how cold-resistant it is, but the people in the government are very knowledgeable. They have long known that today's heavy snow will cause all the sweet potatoes to rot in the ground, so they collected the grain tax early, saying that the imperial court was at war, and the treasury
It’s all gone, today’s harvest needs to be harvested early.”
"What can we do? Many people went to the Yuanwai and borrowed grain from the landlords. Now all the grain in the fields has been frozen and cannot be collected, but the government has not suffered any losses... But we ordinary people, grains
Chapter completed!