Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 882 - 729: The Generous Court (Monthly Ticket Request and Subscription!)_2

Chapter 882: Chapter 729: The Generous Court (Monthly Ticket Request and Subscription!)_2

Chang Dahao couldn’t help but be stunned, thinking to himself, why is the court so generous?

Thirty days and sixty sheep, how much money would that cost?

By the side, someone had already heard the words of the Liang surnamed Wenshu, and thus the entire camp instantly resounded with a cacophony of howling wolves and wailing ghosts, cheers echoing far and wide.

※※※※

What Chang Dahao didn’t know was that, at that moment in Xuanfu, there was another man surnamed Chang, a minor flag bearer at the Weisuo Institute, gleefully carrying the money he had earned from selling sheep back home.

This man was named Chang Qing, and the first thing he did upon returning home was to throw the seventeen strings of silver coins he had in his pocket onto the dining table, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"What’s this? Shiny, is it silver?" Chang Qing’s wife, Madam Lv, exclaimed as she grabbed one of the strings of coins.

Upon handling it, she realized the silvery coins were very light, probably not made of silver.

She examined them more closely and saw that the coins were marked with "Weixin Tongbao" on the front and "one wen" on the back.

They also featured an engraving of wheat stalks, the craftmanship of which was intricately beautiful, and the edges bore tooth marks.

Within this string of coins, there were also over thirty larger coins, all marked Weixin Tongbao, but the inscriptions on the backs varied: "five wen," "ten wen," "twenty wen," "fifty wen."

Madam Lv was endlessly surprised, "Are these coins? Where did they come from?"

"Of course, this is the money from selling sheep." Chang Qing stroked his beard and smiled, "This is new currency minted by the Court, three sheep were sold to the Court in total for thirty-five strings. I also exchanged the copper coins I got from selling animal hides for these. In total, two strings and seven hundred wen."

As he spoke, he took out another twenty similarly shiny coins and placed them on the table.

Chang Qing’s three sheep were bestowed upon him following a great victory by the County Prince of Fenyang over the Meng Wu people during a battle near Datong.

Originally scrawny, Chang Qing’s family took a year to fatten them up, and then they bred lambs and sheared them for wool twice.

Chang Qing kept a young ewe and some half-grown lambs, selling the others in the town.

Raising sheep was actually profitable, for last year, merchants from the south came to buy wool in large quantities, offering quite high prices.

However, due to a poor yield in their fields this year, Chang Qing had no choice but to sell the sheep to alleviate his family’s financial pressure.

"Thirty-five strings? That high?"

Madam Lv was startled, as the price of a sheep was usually just over eight strings, roughly more than eight taels of silver.

She picked up the coins from the table again, noticing they were similar to the others but without square holes, and the patterns were even more exquisite. The inscriptions had been changed to "Weixin Yinbao" and "one yuan."

"Is this silver?"

Madam Lv weighed the silver yuan in her hand, finding it to be the weight of one tael. She put it in her mouth and bit down, discovering it was harder than normal silver.

"Husband, why not exchange more for this type of silver yuan? Why switch to these silver coins?"

Previously, during the era of the Great Ancestor and Emperor Taizong in Jin, the Court had issued a series of paper money called "baochao of Jin."

That was just a way to cheat people, ultimately exchangeable for nothing.

"You, a woman of the household, what do you know?"

Chang Qing coldly laughed, "The knowledgeable shopkeeper in town said the quality of these silver yuan is not up to standard, containing other materials, only eighty percent pure silver. But these coins are likely made of aluminum. In the past, aluminum powder was highly valued, nearly worth its weight in gold.

This time, the Court inexplicably decided to use aluminum for minting coins, and who knows if they’ll regret it later. Look how bright and pleasing the color is? Besides, an official in our Qianhu Yamen even mentioned that in the future, the Jin will collect tax only in this type of aluminum coins. In no more than three years, copper coins and silver taels will be banned from circulation in the market."

Chang Qing spoke with a proud expression, "This time the Court was gathering sheep in the town, and everyone preferred to trade for aluminum coins. But this type of coin, even the Qiuhu Office doesn’t have much stock. I still had to use old relationships to exchange these seventeen strings."

But at that moment, Chang Qing was unaware that the Ministry of Works had produced these seventeen strings of aluminum coins with total costs and labor expenses not exceeding one string.

He didn’t realize he had been sheared by the Court and was still self-satisfied as he poured himself a cup of tea, "In a few days, I need to go to town again. It is said the Court will soon send another batch of new coins, and I must exchange all the silver and copper coins at home for this type."

The Jianshu at our Qianhu Yamen advised us to continue raising sheep, the more the better, as the Court will continue to buy at high prices in the future. They’ll buy more wool too, with this year’s merchants from the south expected to purchase even more."

He was also specifically instructed that those sheep that like to eat grass roots should be slaughtered and sold early, to maximize the wool yield, while the ones that don’t like grass roots should be kept for breeding. This was a direct order from the County Prince of Fenyang, who wants us to breed better sheep. I don’t quite understand, but since it’s from the County Prince, it must be taken seriously,"

Madam Lv was invigorated by this, their family’s twelve lambs, already half a person tall. By October, they should be able to harvest wool once.

In the Weisuo Institute, the fields had nothing to do with their family, and the twelve acres of dryland they had cleared could be taken away by the Court at any moment.

Only these domestic animals truly belonged to them.

"Also, I’ve heard this year’s annual stipend from the Court will be ample! By year’s end, the Court might also distribute land to us."

Chang Qing spoke indifferently as he sipped his tea, his eyes shining, "The County Prince of Fenyang has already petitioned the Court to distribute the military lands from Weisuo equally among our military households. A minor flag like me could receive a hundred mu of land."

Madam Lv’s hands froze upon hearing this, and the silver yuan ’clanged’ as it fell to the ground.

Chang Qing continued unconcernedly, "Although these military lands are not for sale, half of the crops grown on them would be ours. I’ve heard that the north Zhili has already started the distribution, overseen by the Shangshu from the Ministry of Punishments!"

"I thought, with this year’s crop failure, life would be tough. But if the Court indeed distributes the land, then our family’s days will take off. The County Prince truly is benevolent, not only formidable in battle but also compassionate to us grassroots military households."

At this moment, Chang Qing took a deep breath, composing himself, then looked at his wife and his two not yet adult sons, "You all go out later and spread the news within the banner, let everyone also enjoy it. Furthermore, from now on, we must properly care for the crops in the fields. Since the Court is so generous, our family mustn’t be ungrateful!"

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