inspire-indiana Chapter 956: Being stretched thin
Chapter 956: Being stretched thin
She had made good plans. There were several large households in Nanhe now, and they were in need of manpower everywhere. Like her, the large households hired short-term and long-term workers, and in addition to providing meals, they also had to pay wages. She could earn some money in a winter.
The Lord of the Mansion was overjoyed and said with a wave of his hand, "Of course, we can't ask Master Zhou to pay for everything. We can still gather together the farm tools. Every household in the folks has left some. The shortage is not big. I can ask the North for some and make up for it. The most important thing now is grain seeds. Although the North can also provide some, it is not much. After all, the bulk of it has to be reserved for the front line, and this part cannot be touched."
Several places in the north were quite willing to lend the land to Nanhe, but the negotiations took a long time, and by the time everything was settled, the time for farming had passed.
Winter wheat cannot be planted, so we can only wait until next year to plant spring wheat.
Zhou Guo expressed his understanding. "Yes, the Northland is the foundation now, and it is managed by several people. But after the beginning of next spring, if the spring plowing in Nanhe is successful and the weather is good, there may be a good harvest next autumn, and we will be able to recover. By then, it will become the second food base for the army. So, sir, you have to help me. Nanhe is so big, there is a lot of land, and there are not many people now. You have to help me sell fertilizer to every household so that the harvest will be greater next year."
The Lord of the Mansion assured her, "Don't worry, I will definitely help you. Even if it's not for you, but for the sake of so many people, I have to help you."
He paused here and said, "Hasn't your winter wheat already been planted in those fields? You also hired so many temporary and permanent workers, all of whom are from Nanhe. You must need fertilizer on those fields. When they see how good your fertilizer is, as long as you tell them that you can sell it, how can they not rush to buy it?"
Zhou Guo: "...Do you know how much land I have? Do you know that I have started to grow winter wheat?"
Seeing that she looked unhappy, the Lord of the Mansion immediately waved his hand and explained, "I don't know how much land you have, but you have such a big operation, supporting tens of thousands of people at once, providing them with food and money every day, it's hard for people not to pay attention. I have to know who is the boss behind this, right? This way I can find out about you, and I know that you have a few pieces of land, but I didn't go out of my way to find out."
Zhou Guo said: "It doesn't matter if you know. Anyway, Nanhe has more land than just me. Others have more land. Besides, I haven't done anything bad. I have so much land, and I have a clear conscience."
The Lord of the House nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes."
But he had a clear conscience. These lands were not for the Zhou family to cultivate. They were clearly for the soldiers at the front and for the Xu family's army. Even if she bought all the land in Nanhe, he would not dare to say a word, let alone there were only a few pieces of land.
Zhou Guo sat for more than an hour, politely declined the lord's invitation to dinner, and went out.
Both parties are happy.
The Lord of the Mansion looked at her from behind and sighed, "I never thought that someone so young could have such great abilities and could feed hundreds of thousands of troops on her own."
Then she thought about it and calculated carefully, and found that a small number of people in Nanhe were also raised by her.
When Zhou Guo returned, he wrote a letter to Hu Zi, asking him to transport another 200,000 shi of grain south, and the Nanhe government would send people to pick them up.
Two hundred thousand shi is not a small number, and we must use those stored in the cave.
Er Pang said, "Master, didn't you say that the food in the cave was for the front?"
Zhou Guo said: "It is true that it is reserved for the front, but 200,000 shi can still be allocated, and the harvest in the north is not bad this year. If it really doesn't work out, at most the north will provide half and we will provide half.
The problem in Nanhe is quite serious now. We need to recover here as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we keep dragging down the North, the North will be dragged down sooner or later. Only when this side is better, the North will be better. If the front line is better, the territories we have conquered will not only rely on the North. "
And to be honest, compared to the North, the vast plain of Nanhe is indeed more livable, more suitable for living, and richer. When the time comes, supporting the army will be shared with this land, and it will not be so difficult in the North.
She wanted to develop this fertile land as soon as possible.
Erpang went out after receiving the letter. Although 200,000 shi was a lot, their family was not without it. After using these 200,000 shi, they still had several more 200,000 shi in their hands. By next year, there would be more 200,000 shi.
Zhou Guo locked herself in the study room and looked through the account books. Not only was there a record of every income, but every expenditure as well. No matter whether it was money or grain, she knew exactly what it was used for and where it was spent.
Nowadays, there are many people to support, and the daily wages are huge.
The money from crabs won’t last long, but fortunately the money from round fish will soon come out, and there are pine mushrooms in winter. Together, they will be enough to make ends meet for a few months.
We won’t need so much manpower to work in the fields in the winter, and it will be difficult to keep her around.
After finishing these things, she took Erpang and others to the county town.
The old man stayed in the mansion and probably wouldn't want to leave the back garden for a few days.
The first place we have to go is a relatively wealthy county where I visited a few months ago. There is a farm here.
I haven't been here for a few months and the county town has changed a lot. At that time, it felt like everything was shabby and there were not many shops open on the streets. Although there were more people on the streets than in the provincial capital, there were still not many.
Now most of the shops on both sides of the street are open, including restaurants, inns, drug stores, cloth shops, grain shops and grocery stores.
There are a lot more pedestrians on the street.
There are a few vendors at small stalls, but business is not very good. It takes a long time for someone to come up and inquire, and they may not even buy.
Zhou Guo sighed. This place has been so deserted for several months. There are really few people. All the people were killed in the war.
I don’t know how many years it will take to recover.
The grain shop is not on the main street. It is quite big and has a backyard. There are three or two customers in the shop at this moment.
They all buy black noodles.
Just buy a few kilograms.
When the shopkeeper saw Zhou Guo coming, he immediately came forward and asked, "Master, why are you here?"
Zhou Guo walked straight to the counter, "How are you these days?"
"It's OK. As a grain store, food is the most important thing for people. People can make do with what they wear and what they live in, but they still have to buy grain. Since we opened, we have been the cheapest grain store in the county. Although many grain stores have lowered their prices to the same level as ours, many people are still willing to buy grain from our store. Business is pretty good."
After listening to these words, Zhou Guo opened the account book. The grain shop has always kept the same price. After deducting all the costs, he could only make one or two cents, or even half a cent, per pound.
She didn't think about making money, but by making small profits but quick turnover, at the end of the year, all the grain shops combined could make more than 100,000 or 200,000 taels, which was enough.
Just like that, someone came to buy brown rice, and he bought two stone at a time.
She looked at the income from the previous few days. The most she earned on one day was thirteen strings of coins, three cents, and three hundred coins. Over the past few days, she rarely earned less than ten strings of coins.
A big county is a big county. If things can recover, by next year, a shop like this will probably have an income of more than 20 strings of cash a day.
This income is already very good.
The grain shop had good income, but the mountain product shop was much worse.
No one.