CHAPTER 1644: CHAPTER 1619: PU VILLAGE

Manbao and the others ran too fast, waiting for Old Zhou and the others was impossible. With the sun so big and bright, waiting on the road would be too boring.

So they asked along the way until they reached their destination.

It was quite a big village, looking about the same size as Dali Village. The houses weren’t very orderly, and amidst the boundless wilderness, a few homes were sporadically scattered.

Manbao reined in Chiji, turned around in place twice, glanced around, and pointed to the large settlement, saying, "That should be it. Let’s go over and have a look."

The three of them galloped over, Daji followed with two guards in the back.

As soon as their horses reached the village entrance, the children watching the grains there immediately jumped up. Half stood far away under the trees or eaves to watch them, while the other half turned and ran back into the village.

It seemed quite similar to their village. After Manbao rode to the front, she exchanged glances with Bai Shan and then dismounted her horse.

Manbao took a pouch from her body, poured out two pieces of snacks, and felt a bit embarrassed to hand them out, seeing all these children.

Bai Shan patted himself down and could only find a few more snacks.

Bai Erlang looked at them disdainfully, took out his own pouch, and poured out a dozen candies.

The children’s eyes instantly lit up.

The three distributed these candies and snacks among them and asked, "Is this Pu Village in Qiyang County?"

Even children knew the names of the county villages, so they nodded, "Yes, who are you distinguished guests looking for?"

Manbao smiled and said, "I’m looking for your Chief."

While talking, a few adults followed a throng of children and came over in a grand manner.

The elder at the forefront wore wide sleeves, obviously the Chief.

In rural areas, only the landlords or Chiefs would wear wide sleeves.

It was heard that most of Pu Village were tenants, without wealthy landlords like Old Master Bai.

So Manbao smiled and stepped forward, paying respects with filial propriety, while the other party quickly scanned their clothing and glanced over the horses behind them, naturally noticing the tall and burly Daji and the three guards.

The Chief also smiled, returned the courtesy, and then asked, "Who are the young ladies and gentlemen?"

Manbao quickly pulled out her official seal and the document given by the Ministry of Revenue from her sleeve. It was actually a thin sheet of paper with the Ministry’s stamp, stating the range and location of her official fields.

"I am Zhou Man, here to inspect my official fields."

The Chief looked at Zhou Man in surprise. He knew the official for the fields under his jurisdiction had changed again. He’d heard it was a compiler and an imperial doctor, which brought him some relief; he never expected the other party to be a young girl.

He glanced at the paper in his hand and hesitantly asked, "Do you intend to manage the fields yourself, madam?"

Manbao laughed, "I want to have my family take care of it. Of course, in the future, I’ll need the Chief’s support."

Having grown up in a village, Manbao knew how important the Chief’s support was.

However, the Chief chuckled and said, "You’re joking madam, what could I do to support you?"

He came to his senses quickly, folded the document he had read, and returned it to Zhou Man. He took a straw hat from his son’s hand, put it on, and said, "Since madam is here, why not let me show you your official fields?"

Manbao readily agreed.

So everyone turned and headed out of the village.

The villagers quickly knew that an official was here to inspect their fields, which impacted everyone’s livelihood, so many followed along.

The Chief quietly observed Zhou Man and her companions. Seeing their composed expressions, apparently unconcerned, he did not disperse the villagers.

Manbao’s thousand acres of official fields weren’t all here; most were here, while other parts were in two other regions and villages. Since those two spots were small, Manbao came here first.

At this time, the crops in the fields were all harvested, and the fields were either empty or overgrown with weeds.

Manbao and the others had all farmed before and grew up in villages, often witnessing spring planting and autumn harvesting. They could guess how well the tenant farmers worked by looking at the fields.

At this moment, the recently harvested fields were full of weeds.

Manbao walked into the field, kicked the weeds with her toe, then squatted to pull them. She put in a lot of effort, but they wouldn’t budge.

Bai Shan squatted down, dug a handful of soil, and after pinching it, said to Manbao, "It’s all cultivated soil, just not frequently tilled, so the soil quality isn’t good."

The Chief standing by raised his eyebrows slightly, turned to look at Bai Shan, noting his attire was the most luxurious, with elegant dark patterned silk, only a sleeve embroidered with a semi-visible crane, looking the most noble among them.

He didn’t expect him to know about farming.

Manbao nodded, looked into the distance and realized the place was full of weeds. It gave her a bit of a headache. Her father wanted to turn the soil and bury the weeds for overwintering, and she thought her brothers’ backs would likely ache a lot.

Manbao shook her head and asked the Chief, "From where to where are the boundaries of these official fields?"

With such a large block of land, it was impossible to walk it all, but the Chief could point out the general area to her, indicating any gaps belonged to ordinary villagers.

Although others’ land occasionally interspersed the area, her official fields could mostly be connected together.

The court was able to connect such a large piece of land; it seemed they bought quite a few places from people.

Manbao had questions in her heart and wouldn’t be happy without asking, "I heard the court buys land back from the people. Were these all villagers’ lands before?"

The Chief paused slightly, then laughed, "That’s not it; this used to belong to a General Liu. It was from the previous dynasty, and beyond that is hard to trace back. In my grandfather’s time, it was said every few years a new wandering leader would be here, today it was this General’s, tomorrow it was that Lord’s. After the current dynasty was established, the court took back this whole area and later distributed it to officials as official fields."

The Chief explained, "We all moved here after losing our land and have settled here for only a decade or so."

Manbao was curious, "Then where is your homeland?"

The Chief said, "Not too far, still in Qiyang County, just on the other end."

Bai Shan asked, "Why did you lose your land?"

The Chief was silent for a moment, then squeezed out a smile and said, "Through the overwhelming grace of the Emperor, our land was bought by the court."

Manbao and the others: ...

Manbao nodded, followed the large tract of dry land down, walking to the fields, saw the land in the fields was cracked and fissured in large sections, the cracks were large, and realized drought here was quite severe.

She asked, "Was there a locust plague this year?"

"Yes, but it wasn’t severe," the Chief also glanced at the cracks in the field, knowing these young masters and officials understood farming, so he didn’t hide it, "You can’t see many locusts now, but when the children run into the grasslands, they all fly up."