vrcanaries Chapter 142 Selling Horses
Chapter 142 Selling Horses
"Wow, this is what porridge without bran tastes like. When I have money in the future, I will drink this kind of porridge every day." Zhou Gu said and then took another sip happily. He had forgotten that porridge without bran tasted so good.
Li smiled and said, "Well, it's great that you have this ambition."
Zhou Mai said, "We still have to eat dry rice without bran and white flour buns without wheat bran."
This wish is a bit too big.
Li said, "Then you have to work hard. When you earn a lot of money and buy some land, plant all millet and wheat on the land, and your granary is filled with as much grain as Zheng Xiucai's, then you can eat these."
Is it the same as Zheng Xiucai’s house?
Everyone recalled the possessions of Zheng Xiucai's family that they saw when they fled out of the village. All the carts that passed by were his, all pulled by animals, and piled with grain, like a landlord.
"How much land is needed to harvest so much food?" Zhou Gu sighed, thinking that his family might be in trouble. He was afraid that he would not be able to earn back the money he earned from so much land.
Everyone fell silent. Everything is expensive these days.
Zhou Guo thought about the money he had in his hand. It was more than fifty taels, and he didn't know how many acres of land he could buy. After all, there was a lot of land and a sparse population here, so the land should be cheaper than in the south.
Li was also counting the money in her hands. No matter what, the most important thing was to buy a few acres of land after settling down.
At the same time, everyone was discussing with their families what to do after settling down. They planned to build a house, find wives for the children, and use the remaining money to buy a few acres of land. Everyone was full of hope for their future life.
But they didn't know that their team had already been noticed.
There is nothing special about it, but those dozens of horses are particularly eye-catching.
"Sir, look, it's them. I don't know where this group of refugees came from, but they have thirty-four horses. We don't even have that many horses in our government office."
The one called the Lord looked down from the city gate, saw the group of horses at a glance, and frowned.
The people around were still saying, "This is too eye-catching. Do they know how dangerous it is for them to walk on the road with these horses? I don't know how they got here. There are so many bandits outside. Didn't they encounter any?"
The master looked at them for a while and said meaningfully, "Maybe he did. I just don't know if those bandits are okay."
Xu Xiaobei should be very happy to have such a powerful group of people, who were able to snatch horses from the bandits. He immediately thought of how to accommodate these people and turned around and went downstairs happily.
They waited at the city gate for five days, and fewer and fewer people came.
Five days later, Zhou Guo and others finally met the government officials.
A large group of yamen runners rushed out from the city gate and surrounded the newly built platform tightly.
Not long after, some people came out. The first person walking in front was a man about forty or fifty years old, wearing a scarlet official uniform. Behind him followed a row of subordinates, and the group sat down behind the table on the stage.
Someone nearby shouted, "Refugees, come forward, line up, and register."
At first no one dared to move, and no one knew what they were doing. Looking at the situation, it was probably not a good thing.
"Hurry up, get in line, register."
Still no one moved, the refugees pushed and shoved back.
Zhou Guo was very happy, and she pulled her family and the village head forward. She was too lazy to queue with so many people around.
But these people did not move, and the yamen runners did not tolerate them. They stepped forward with knives raised and rushed over there, "Hurry, hurry, hurry, go, don't you understand?"
The queue formed in an instant.
"What's your name, where are you from, how old are you, how many people are there in your family..."
The refugees answered with a confused look on their faces, and were allowed to leave after answering. It seemed that nothing serious had happened, and everyone was relieved to see this.
It was Zhou Guo's turn. Zhou Dacang was at the front. After asking the people, he didn't let him go. Instead, he looked at the group of horses behind him and asked, "Are these horses yours?"
"Yes." Zhou Dacang was a little puzzled. "It's ours." They had snatched it from the bandits, and now it belonged to them.
"What do you want to do with all these horses?"
"I can do whatever I want, like pulling a cart or plowing a field."
"It's better to plow the field without an ox."
"...Alright, that's about right."
"Okay, let's get down."
Zhou Dacang went downstairs without understanding why he was asking this question, and felt a little uneasy.
It was Zhou Guo's turn. She answered the question again. The man on the other side nodded, waved his hand and let her go. She watched him add her name and age after Zhou Dacang, and their relationship was gone.
Zhou Dacang pulled her over and said, "What do you think this guy means? Is he interested in our horses?"
If that's true, what should I do?
Zhou Guo frowned, not sure what they meant. "It doesn't look like they want to rob us. Maybe they want to trade us for the cow?"
"Trade with a cow? How much is a cow? How much is a horse? Who would be willing to trade?"
There was exactly one horse for each family in the team. The Zhou family was special. Zhou Guo and Zhou Dacang, who contributed the most, each had one horse, so it was just enough for each family to share.
Everyone was planning to sell these horses. After using the money to buy cows, there would still be a lot left.
The head of the village came down and found them and said, "Why does that gentleman keep asking me about the horses? What do they mean? Should we offer these horses as a sacrifice?"
Offer it?
No one said anything. They had fought so hard to get this, and now they were just giving it away for free?
The head of the village sighed and said, "I know everyone feels bad, and I feel the same way, but this is the government. They have their eyes on our horses. If we don't hand them over, I'm afraid we won't have a good life in the future. We can't win if we go against the government. If they find a reason to arrest us, where can we go to seek justice?"
These words made everyone even more silent.
Zhou Guo said: "Even if we have to pay, we can't pay it for nothing. We have to get some benefits and talk to him."
"Yes, that's right. Why should we give it to them for free? We risked our lives to get it back."
After a discussion, everyone felt that the most important thing at the moment was to get a good piece of land. If they could get a cow in return, that would be even better. If they could get some extra silver, that would be a great joy.
The head of the village told the news to every household. When everyone heard that the horses could be exchanged for a good place and a cow, no one was unhappy. In their hearts, the horses were far inferior to the cows.
The village head took Zhou Guo to find the adult in charge of registration and told him their request.
When the man heard that they wanted to sell the horse to them, he was stunned for a moment, and then he said excitedly: "Okay, okay, I got it, you go down first, I will come to find you later."
He turned around and left in a hurry to find an adult.