Chapter 111 Are You Planting Golden Carrots?

Tian Baoshan pretended to be calm and said, "Boss, I am wronged. The harvest in the past two years was not good. I only harvested hundreds of kilograms of radishes and cabbages. I didn't make any money. But I have never cheated you."

Shen Zhi sneered, "The farm owner doesn't even blink when he tells a lie. I admire you. What did you just say? It rained the other day? The harvest was bad? Why, we are not in the same Qingzhou Prefecture? It rained in your area, but mine was fine. In the past two years, all parts of Qingzhou Prefecture have had good harvests, and the imperial court has collected taxes and grain faster than in previous years. How come the harvest is bad in your area? You only get 100 kilograms of radishes and cabbages from 100 mu of land. Are you growing golden radishes? They are so delicate, but I can easily grow a palm-sized area and get more than 100 kilograms."

Tian Baoshan lowered his head to hide his ferocious expression. He secretly cursed the little peasant girl in front of him. She was an ignorant person. If she offended him, she would not be afraid of being kicked out of this village. The lives of more than a hundred people in this village were in his hands. With these hundred people, he did not believe that he could not beat these people in front of him.

"Humph, I respectfully call you the boss just to give you face. You just got this farm by chance from the King of Huainan using some inferior means. But the hundreds of people in our farm are not yours, and you don't have our indentures. If you don't like us, I will take my brothers and leave." Tian Baoshan turned to his brothers and said, "Baojiang, go and tell everyone else to come back and pack their things. Let's go."

Tian Baojiang is the youngest brother of the village head. He said with disdain, "Brother, why should we leave? We have been in this village for decades. Every brick, every tile, every blade of grass and every tree here is our contribution. This damn girl is picking on us as soon as she comes. Let's teach her a lesson."

"Yes, big brother, there are so many of us, we are not afraid of them. Our indentures were burned in the Huainan Palace a long time ago, and I was the one who set the fire secretly." said the second brother Tian Baolin.

Tian Baoshan's eyes widened. He didn't expect that it was his second brother who burned down the Huainan Palace. However, he understood immediately. His second brother must have gone to look for the indenture contract, and when he hadn't found it, he simply burned it. Thinking of this, he raised a sinister smile on his face. No matter where the indenture contract was placed, the whole palace was burned down. He would be a free man from now on, and he didn't have to be afraid of anyone.

Eunuch Cao narrowed his eyes dangerously and ordered the guards behind him: "Tie up these blind people."

The guards took the order and went down, quickly found ropes, and tied up the Tian family members.

The Tian family struggled and cursed. Tian Baoshan's wife Li cursed even more: "Who do you think you are? You are shameless robbers. You stole the farm from our master. You will be struck by lightning when you die."

Eunuch Cao's face darkened. Meng Ting knew that Eunuch Cao was really angry, so she stepped forward and slapped Li twice, making Li's eyes dizzy.

"You are an old woman who follows the rules. You are good at making money. I heard that you claimed to be the old maid of Huainan Palace and came from the palace. You tricked the common people into coming here to learn the rules of the palace. Years ago, we sent someone to give you the letter from your former master Yang Wannian. How come you didn't read it?" Eunuch Cao said.

Tian Baoshan narrowed his eyes, thinking of a letter. It seemed that Zhuzi had indeed given him a letter, but he was busy at the time and threw it away. When he remembered it, he could not find it. Now that he heard the man's question, he thought that the content of the letter must be very important.

Tian Baoshan turned to look at his daughter Tian Zhenzhu and asked sternly, "Zhenzhu, did you take the letter? You are the only one who always sneaks into my study."

Tian Zhenzhu's eyes flashed with guilt, and she replied weakly: "Dad, I saw that it was a letter from the eldest son. I wanted to see if he missed me, so I took it away secretly."

Tian Baoshan was almost mad at his stupid daughter, who couldn't read a single word and yet stole the letter, causing him to miss out on important information.

Eunuch Cao snorted coldly, "You don't respect your master that much. Your master still cares about you and asks me to take good care of you. You don't know your place. This manor was offered to the emperor by Yang Wannian when he went to the capital to file a complaint. The emperor also rewarded him with silver according to its value. How come you say that the emperor has become a robber and used inferior means to rob the manor. Bi Ming, slap this shrew's mouth for me."

Tian Baoshan sat down on the ground. It was over. They were the emperor's men. No wonder Tian Baoshan didn't recognize them. Since Cao Gonggong and his party came to Shitou Village, they have been wearing the clothes of ordinary people for convenience.

After a while, the scene was filled with Li's pig-like howling and pleas for mercy.

Eunuch Cao winked at the guards behind him and said, "Go and gather everyone else."

The guards received the order and ran to different places.

Less than half an incense stick of time passed, and the guards returned with a large group of people. Everyone stood in an orderly manner on the field, and it seemed that they often lined up.

Eunuch Cao walked to the front of the team and said, "Now that everyone is here, I will be bold enough to say a few words. This is Yixiang Jun, who was personally appointed by the emperor. The emperor has already awarded this farm to Yixiang Jun. From now on, Yixiang Jun is your master. You must be loyal to the master. If you betray me, I will sell you out."

Eunuch Cao walked around the team, walked up to a man with shifty eyes, and said, "Tell me, what's your name, and what did you do just now?"

The man lowered his head and looked at Tian Baoshan, but Tian Baoshan was so scared that he didn't even look back. The man stuttered and replied, "My name is Tian San. We went to water the crops in the field."

"Oh," Eunuch Cao looked at Tian Baoshan meaningfully, "Your village head just said that it rained a few days ago and the fields are very muddy."

Tian San wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "I remembered it wrongly. I went to the fields to plant taro."

Eunuch Cao gave him a cold look and said, "Your village head said that the fields were planted with cabbage and radishes before the New Year. It seems that you are all talking nonsense. Come, drag this deceiver away and give him 20 lashes of the cane."

Tian San was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "I deserve to die, please forgive me, sir."

The guards didn't care about that. They just followed the orders of Eunuch Cao and pulled Tian San aside and started to beat him with a stick. Tian San screamed in pain and kept asking the owner of the Tian Manor to save her. But the owner of the Tian Manor was busy with his own affairs and had no time to care about him.

Eunuch Cao pointed at another woman and asked the same question. The woman dared not hide it and said that she was weeding wheat, which had been planted in October last year.

I asked several people in a row, and they all gave the same answer. These slaves were really bold. They pretended to obey but secretly planted wheat. They saw that the harvest would be in two or three months, but they needed land to plant potatoes immediately. The Great Xiao Dynasty attached great importance to agriculture and cherished grain. They would definitely not destroy this batch of wheat and then plant potatoes.