In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 914 The gloom and gloom

Old Wu and his wife each picked up a slice of meat and tasted it. Although they didn't react as dramatically as the three children, the satisfied expressions on their faces were enough to show how delicious the meat was.

"The things from Chenjia Village are really good!"

Wu Laoshi, who had only tasted it briefly, nodded and commented: "I've eaten pork before, and it was incredibly smelly and inedible. But the pork from Chenjia Village has no smell at all. It's completely different from the pork I've ever eaten."

"Yes!"

Wu Laoshi's wife nodded in agreement, "The pork sold in the market used to have a strong, unpleasant smell from a distance, but the pork from Chenjia Village is different. You can't smell anything even if you get close, and it's very fatty! The pork at the pork stalls has fat as thick as three fingers, and when you touch it, your hands are covered in oil."

Listening to his wife's description, Wu Laoshi and the three children couldn't help but swallow hard. The people of Xia Kingdom had a desire for oil and fat that was unimaginable to the people of Earth in their previous lives. Fatty meat was a more precious food to them than lean meat.

Unfortunately, the meat my mother bought wasn't fatty.

The three children thought this as they ate their slices of meat.

Old Wu could only fill his stomach with wheat porridge. His wife had only bought one pound of meat that day, not enough for the three children. Naturally, he couldn't compete with the children for it, so after tasting a piece of meat, he started eating wheat porridge.

While eating, he said, "Children, do you still want to eat meat in the future?"

"miss you!"

The three children answered in unison.

"If you want to eat meat, then help your father with the work properly. Once the land is well planted, your father will buy you meat, okay?"

"it is good!"

"Dad, next time I help you with chores, will you buy me three pounds of meat?"

"Three pounds isn't enough! We need at least five pounds!"

"No! Buy ten pounds! Two pounds each for us, and two pounds each for Mom and Dad."

"Haha! Okay, I'll do whatever you say. When the wheat harvest is plentiful next time, Dad will buy you ten catties of meat to eat."

The children's innocent voices echoed throughout the small house, resonating from Wu Laoshi's home to the entire Yongliang County, carrying the sounds of happiness from the people of Yongliang County.

…………

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Same people but different fates.

While the people of Yongliang County were enjoying the joy of a bountiful harvest, the people of Mingzhou, who had just finished their autumn harvest, showed no joy on their faces, but rather a gloomy and dejected expression.

For the past two years, Minnesota has been engulfed in flames of war. The protracted conflict has turned this land into scorched earth, severely damaging agricultural production. Vast tracts of land have been abandoned, and countless crops have been trampled by the army...

This resulted in farmers having a very poor harvest when the autumn harvest season arrived.

Even farmers in Liangzhou who didn't grow the expensive wheat could still have enough to feed their families thanks to Yang Zheng's land redistribution policy.

Meanwhile, in Mingzhou...

Although Yang Zheng also implemented the policy of distributing land, by the time he occupied Mingzhou, the spring planting season had long passed.

In other words, before Yang Zheng distributed the land, most of the farmland in Mingzhou was not in the hands of the common people, but belonged to the local rebels in Mingzhou.

It's acceptable to let the local rebels of Minnesota plunder, but it's clearly unrealistic to expect them to govern the area and manage production.

Therefore, a large portion of farmland in Minnesota was previously abandoned.

After Yang Zheng distributed the land, although the people of Mingzhou all received their own farmland, they didn't have enough time to sow it, which led to...

When autumn arrived, while the people of Qingzhou and Liangzhou were celebrating the harvest, many people in Mingzhou had no harvest at all. The entire Mingzhou was shrouded in gloom, and countless people were worried about where their food would come from the next day.

As the sun began to set and the city gates were about to close, a couple, their clothes soaked with sweat, managed to enter the city before the gates closed.

Walking along the somewhat desolate main road of the county town, the hungry husband, Wu Zhijian, asked blankly, "Wife, can we still survive?"

Wu Zhijian was from Wuming County, Mingzhou. His ancestors were wealthy farmers who owned dozens of acres of fertile land. However, by the time of Wu Zhijian's father, the family's farmland had dwindled.

By the time of Wu Zhijian's generation, the family's farmland had dwindled to just three mu.

Even with Wu Zhijian and his wife's hard work, the output of their three mu of land was still very limited, barely enough to support their family of four.

Even though they were struggling to survive, fate still didn't let them off the hook.

The arrival of the cold disaster made life even more difficult for Wu Zhijian's family of four, who relied on only three mu of land for survival. In the past, the four of them could still afford two meals of wheat porridge a day, but after the cold disaster, even one meal a day became a luxury. Occasionally, Wu Zhijian and his wife would have to go outside the city to dig up some wild vegetables to fill their stomachs.

That wasn't the end of it. After the cold disaster came war. A rebellion broke out in Mingzhou, which not only overthrew the imperial court's rule but also drove people like Wu Zhijian to the brink of despair.

They plundered the people without restraint, not even sparing the last bit of food left in their homes, causing countless people to starve to death and filling the entire Mingzhou with resentment.

Wu Zhijian's home was also looted by the rebels, and all their food and copper coins were taken. Fortunately, his wife was not bullied by those thugs...

But that's all there is to it.

With all the money and food in his home confiscated, Wu Zhijian could only work even harder in the fields, hoping that the harvest would be enough to feed his family.

Perhaps Wu Zhijian's efforts moved the heavens, for during the two years of war, the land he cultivated yielded a fairly good harvest. Although most of the grain he grew was taken away by the rebel army entrenched in the county town, Wu Zhijian was still able to feed his family of four with the remaining grain, allowing them to survive the difficult times in this chaotic world.

Compared to other displaced people in Mingzhou who had lost loved ones to starvation or death in the war, Wu Zhijian was undoubtedly lucky. He tenaciously led his family to survive until the rebels were defeated and until Yang Tianwang defeated the rebels, bringing hope to the people of this land.

Even during the most difficult and tiring times, Wu Zhijian never despaired. He always firmly believed that his efforts would move the heavens and that his sweat would make the fields grow more grain so that his family could have enough to eat.

But at this moment, Wu Zhijian was truly in despair.

Several months ago, under Yang Zheng's land redistribution policy, Wu Zhijian, whose family of four received 11 mu of farmland. Combined with his original 3 mu of land, he now owns a total of 14 mu of farmland.

The 11 mu of farmland that was supposed to be given to them was not planted with crops, but was abandoned and overgrown with weeds.