Zhou Xing wanted to persuade him again, but he was interrupted by Gongsun Yan: "Manager Zhou thinks that the land rent for Yinhu has been reduced too little?"
"How about rent-free this year?"
Zhou Xing's face looked even more bitter. He didn't think it was too little! He felt it was too much.
However, Gongsun Yan deliberately asked this question at this time. It was obviously intentional. How could he dare to raise any objection? He knew that the young lady could indeed do such a thing as exempting the land rent.
He bowed his hands and retreated with a frown on his face, just thinking that he had learned a lesson from the loss of money. He thought in his mind that if he suffered a big loss this year, next year the young lady would not dare to act recklessly!
Seeing him exit, Gongsun Yan also reminded: "Manager Zhou, remember to organize people to find Uncle Zhao to learn how to grow this crop!"
Uncle Zhao naturally refers to Zhao Xi. Since the system steward appears as Uncle Zhao Yun, Gongsun Yan claims to be a junior and has nothing to do with it.
It seemed that upon hearing Zhao Xi's name, the bitterness on Zhou Xing's face faded a little.
If you ask who is the most respected person in Guzhu Manor now? The newly appointed steward Zhao Xi deserves to be the first person.
Even Gongsun Yan, the owner of the manor, was ranked second.
As soon as the new steward took office, he was introduced by Zhou Xing and became familiar with the stewards in the village, and then quickly started to get busy.
During the day, we took inventory of the treasury, copied the list of farmers, the number and location of acres, etc.
Thanks to his copying, Gongsun Yan could already check banker information directly in the system without having to trouble Zhou Xing to bring in bamboo slips for verification.
After finishing his busy work during the day and having breakfast in the evening, Zhao Xi would start various enlightenment courses.
The maids, servants, and stewards in the main house who have free time, including the soldiers who have moved to the newly built camp outside the main house, will gather in the atrium of the main house to listen to the lecture after having dinner.
Because there are too many people, the quality of teaching has seriously declined, so the objects of enlightenment have not yet been spread to shady households.
Aqing Alan will also take Gongsun Cheng and Wang Wu to attend the lecture.
The teaching materials are the Thousand-Character Classics and elementary school mathematics that Gongsun Yan had taken out before.
The pronunciation and origin stories of four to five characters are explained every day, and mathematics is taught the next day.
Zhao Xi is not a particularly good teacher. His classes are rigid and lively, and he cannot guide students' interest in learning in a simple and profound way.
But people in this era do not need him to guide their thirst for knowledge.
The most stupid and lazy people would not dare to let go of such a good opportunity, clumsily grabbing a small wooden stick and drawing on the sand.
One after another, the warriors who were fighting with knives and killing people on the battlefield were sitting on the pony, hunched over and relying on the candles or oil lamps lit next to them, and they were writing and reading stupidly.
Even Zhao Yun, Xia Houlan and others will go to the sidelines to listen to the lectures. It's not that they are illiterate, but when talking about the meanings of words, Zhao Xi will tell some relevant allusions and the background of their origins.
For someone like Zhang Ze who doesn’t like reading, it’s just a story.
But for Zhao Yun, Xia Houlan and others, these things have never been explained before, and they always feel enlightened.
Not to mention primary school mathematics and Arabic numerals, which they have not been exposed to.
The two of them would also sit in rows with Gongsun Cheng and seriously calculate the problem of one plus one.
Occasionally even Tian Kai would stroll back from Xishan Yingzhai to attend lectures.
Manager Zhao was not allowed to rest after class every day.
Ben arranged for him and Zhao Yun to live together in a guest courtyard next to the main courtyard, so that Zhao Yun could take care of him.
Unexpectedly, Xia Houlan shamelessly moved in with him. Every day, the two of them respectfully started the 100,000 Whys mode and began to ask Zhao Xi various questions and knowledge.
If Zhao Xi was not still an old man in the eyes of everyone and was worried that his health would not be able to bear it, he would have to stay up late, talk all night long, and other social routines in the Han Dynasty.
Fortunately, Zhao Xi is the system manager and has loaded enough knowledge to handle all kinds of miscellaneous knowledge.
For this reason, in just a few days, Zhao Xi's prestige reached the level of respect among Zhao Yun and others at Guzhu Manor.
At this time, when he heard Gongsun Yan mentioning Zhao Xi, Zhou Xing's expression softened slightly. He hoped that such a reliable Mr. Zhao would also agree to the crop replacement. It would be no problem.
Thinking of Zhou Xing's promise, he went to Zhao Xi to make an appointment.
Watching Zhou Xing leave, Gongsun Yan sighed. Changes are always accompanied by obstacles, but now it's better.
While comforting herself, she looked at the warm stove at her feet.
He picked up the stove standing next to him, wrapped his fingers in his sleeves, and lifted the lid on the stove.
Use a torch to turn over the sweet potatoes that are roasted on the hot coals until the skin is dark.
Guessing that the heat was about the same, they were all placed on the yellow paper that had been laid out on the conference table one by one.
Then Gongsun Yan closed the lid of the warm stove, put down the stove, and looked at these dark, sweet roasted sweet potatoes with his face in his hands.
"It's obviously delicious! Why don't you want to plant it?" She poked it with her sharp nails and said to herself.
"What's delicious?" Xia Houlan, who had just walked into the meeting hall, asked in a sharp voice.
He and Zhao Yun were standing in front of the door, wearing military coats and raincoats, taking off their rain hats.
The attendants and child servants guarding the door immediately reached out and took their wet bamboo hats.
Alan, who was carefully practicing calligraphy on a small bamboo card in a corner of the parliament hall, also hurriedly got up and went to the copper stove in the corner to pour hot water.
The two of them strode in while brushing away the raindrops that leaked from the gaps in their cloaks.
"I'm back." Gongsun Yan smiled at him and asked, "Are you cold?"
The two of them have also been very busy recently.
After the main camp was established, in addition to the original training of Baima Yi Cong, the troops were reorganized.
Among the villagers, especially the descendants and nephews of the old generals in Gongsun Zan's army, many young tribesmen joined. After a little training, the outstanding ones became military households, and they were no longer just tribesmen attached to Guzhu Manor.
In this way, the two of them and Zhang Ze, who had returned from Lingzhi, were too busy to keep their feet off the ground.
It was raining heavily today. In this era when colds can kill people, it was naturally impossible to continue to ask the soldiers to train in the rain, so Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan continued to inspect the manor wall.
Although protection issues were considered during construction at that time, many gaps were left in the planning.
Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan did not train soldiers today, so they continued to ride on horseback to explore the manor's defense loopholes that might be invaded.
The two of them sat down, one on the left and the other on the right, under Gongsun Yan. Gongsun Yan each pushed a roasted sweet potato in front of them.
Gongsun Yan made up his mind to promote the planting of sweet potatoes, so he held a tasting party first.
I thought everything would go smoothly, but I didn't expect that everyone agreed with the deliciousness of this new crop. But except Zhao Yun, no one believed that this thing could really produce 4,000 kilograms per mu.
"Good stuff." Xia Houlan rubbed his hands. He didn't know why his calloused hands were so hot. He picked them up and gently tore open a little of the roasted black shell to reveal the golden flesh inside. "Thank you, madam, for the reward.
"
The sweet smell unique to sweet potatoes suddenly became more intense.
Gongsun Yan was also a little greedy when she smelled it. She just touched it and quickly threw it away. The hot sweet potato burned her fingertips red, and she hurriedly raised her finger to blow on it.
Seeing her like this, the three people in the room laughed at the same time.
Alan gave Zhao Yun and Xia Houlan hot tea soup and towels for wiping water, and then prepared to pick sweet potatoes for Gongsun Yan.
Zhao Yun had already taken a step ahead of her and wiped his hands with the cloth she gave him.
Picking up a hot sweet potato, he peeled off the charred outer shell of the roasted sweet potato, then wrapped it in yellow paper on the table and handed it to Gongsun Yan.
"Thank you." Gongsun Yan would not refuse such a kindness, so he pursed his lips and said thank you with a smile.
"Madam, you're welcome!"
Zhao Yun is a very steady and peaceful person in non-war times, and sometimes he even has a good temper that gives people a docile feeling.
Gongsun Yan watched him quietly picking sweet potatoes with lowered eyes, and hurriedly lowered his head and took a bite of his own, resisting the urge to reach out and touch his hair, and then his tongue was severely burned by the sweet potato.