Chapter 120 Farming Is Not as Good as Working

After leaving the Duke's mansion, the Duke of Windsor drove lightly, with only the butler, changed into very ordinary cotton clothes, took a worn-out carriage from the back door of the Duke's mansion, and drove slowly to Canberra.

The scene seen along the way is not much different from usual, but if you look closely, you will find that the street is obviously a little deserted than usual.

In the past, the noise of hawking and hawking on the street was much less this time, and the number of people willing to stop and watch on the street was naturally much less.

If you look at both sides of the street, a lot of shops that were originally densely packed have also been closed at this time, and some of them seem to be in a hurry, and even the gates are not closed tightly. You can see that the inside is empty, only a few homeless people are lying Among them, regard this place as your temporary residence.

Seeing this situation, the Duke of Windsor couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Rickon, why do you think this is? Even if other places have increased business opportunities because of the damn new flying chamber of commerce, it doesn't mean that our southern province has no money to make. Why did these merchants just close here? The shop left here?"

The middle-aged man with the appearance of a housekeeper is the Riken in the Duke of Windsor's mouth. Unlike other people who are respectful and even trembling when facing the Duke of Windsor, this theory is calm in front of the Duke of Windsor. Although it is still respectful, it is nothing. Look in awe.

Hearing the Duke of Windsor's question, Rickon was silent for a moment, then swung the whip in his hand to make the carriage turn around.

The Duke of Windsor grew up with Rickon, knew that his temperament had always been like this, and didn't care if he didn't answer his questions.

But seeing Rickon turn around. The Duke of Windsor knew that he must have the answer in his heart. So also fell silent. While observing the situation on both sides of the street, he drove slowly out of the city in a carriage.

The carriage led the Duke of Windsor and Rickon out of the west gate of Canberra City, and then drove westward for two or three kilometers, and saw a large village with hundreds of households appearing in the before.

It was late spring at this time, and the southern province was close to the south of the mainland, and the wheat fields on both sides of the road had already appeared scattered golden colors.

Originally, this time should be the most important moment before harvesting. Farmers should go to the fields every day to take care of the wheat fields that are about to mature, but the Duke of Windsor glanced over. But I just saw a few scattered farmers in the wheat field, and it didn't mean they were busy at all.

The Duke of Windsor couldn't help frowning again.

"These lazy farmers are still lazy at such a critical time! Don't they know that the spring harvest is coming soon?"

Rickon turned his head and glanced at the Duke of Windsor, then shook his head: "My lord, it's not that they are lazy, but that they don't have many people."

The Duke of Windsor was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

Rickon pointed to the field in the distance: "Look, the people in this field are all old people, and there are no young people in sight."

The Duke of Windsor collected his mind and took a serious look at the surrounding fields, and found that it was indeed the case. Can't help being even more surprised.

"Why is this? What about the young people in the village? Have they all gone lazy? Or something happened? Rickon, what do you know?"

Rickon shook his head without answering. Instead, he drove the carriage to the edge of a field and jumped off.

In this farmland, an old farmer who looked to be at least sixty years old was bending over to check the situation in the field. After hearing the sound, he raised his head and saw Rickon jumping off the carriage and walking over.

"Brother, why are you here alone? What about your family? What about your son and wife? Why didn't you come?"

The old farmer glanced at Liken, although he could see that the other party might be different from himself, but his tone of voice and demeanor were very amiable, so he put down his guard and said with a smile: "They all went out to work, leaving me as an old man Take care of this little field at home with the old lady."

"Part-time job?" Rickon had a surprised expression on his face. "Where do you work? Don't you even plant fields?"

"They said they were going to a city called... what is Neil, and they said it was Xinfei..." Just after uttering these two words, a trace of fear suddenly flashed across the old farmer's face, he coughed twice, and put his back The words were swallowed back.

Rickon blinked his eyes and continued to ask, as if he didn't see the old farmer's movements at all: "You mean the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, right? The city of Nier, should it be the city of Saranir? Then The place is in Tular Province, it's a bit far from here."

Hearing that Li said the word "Xinfei Chamber of Commerce" without any scruples, which has almost become a taboo in the southern provinces, the old farmer relaxed for a moment, smiled and shook his head and said: "It's nothing to be far away, It’s fine if you can earn money. If you go there for a month, you can earn five gold coins for a minimum, and you can even earn ten gold coins if you have a little more. , and I don’t really want to leave here, I’m afraid I will go to work with my two sons.”

"Oh? Can you earn ten gold coins a month? That's quite a lot." Rickon raised his head and looked around, then asked again: "I see that the people in the fields are all old people like you, are you Isn’t it true that other families in the village are like yours, where young people have gone out to work?”

"Yes, you can earn a few gold coins or even ten gold coins in a month when you go out to work, and you can earn more than a hundred gold coins in a year. If you stay here to farm, you can fill your stomach with the rest after paying the rent all year round. Not bad, not to mention gold coins, not even silver coins. Let you choose, how do you choose?" The old farmer asked.

Rickon hummed, and nodded: "I would choose the same way. But is it really reliable to travel so far to work? What if something unexpected happens..."

"Tch, what could be unexpected." The old farmer curled his lips. "Anyway, those of us are cheap lives. If there is a chance to earn real gold coins, of course we must seize it. Besides, the factories over there seem to be new flying merchants..."

Speaking of this, the old farmer still paused, looked at everything, and then lowered his voice and continued: "It seems to be related to the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce. You always know the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce, right? They are such a rich and big chamber of commerce , so you won’t lie to us people.”

Rickon was a little strange: "You seem to know the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce very well? How do you know about this Chamber of Commerce?"

The old farmer's reaction was even more strange. He glanced at Rickon in surprise, then looked around again, but this time he forgot to lower his voice, and asked directly: "Isn't it too strange for you to ask this question? Why should I Can’t you know about the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce? The products of the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are so useful and cheap, if I don’t even know about this, then I’m too ignorant.”

"Oh? How did you know that Xinfei Chamber of Commerce's products are easy to use and cheap?"

"Didn't the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce and other chambers of commerce come here once before, and they brought a lot of good things. In addition, before the governor issued the ban, many other merchants brought in a lot of things. Now we have Quite a few. Compared with those sold by profiteers in Canberra, these things from the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce are particularly useful no matter what they are."

Speaking of this, the old farmer suddenly seemed to think of something, hesitated for a while, and then asked: "Actually, when I heard that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce came, it was planning to invest in building some factories in our city of Canberra, right? You said If the Governor-General didn't issue that ban and let these factories be built, then my two sons wouldn't need to go to work as far away as Tular Province..."

"So...you don't agree with the governor's ban?"

"Yeah, this ban is not beneficial at all..." The old farmer suddenly raised his eyes, looked at Rickon vigilantly, and quickly waved his hands. "No, no, no, I didn't say anything, so don't make wild guesses. It's up to the governor to issue any ban, and it has nothing to do with us."

Rickon nodded, and didn't continue to ask any further questions. Instead, he chatted with the old farmer about the upcoming spring harvest.

The old farmer was also a little worried about the coming spring harvest.

In the past, every spring harvest, the family worked hard, but it took a full month to barely harvest the ten acres of land under their family's name.

Now the two sons and daughter-in-law, and even the eldest grandson, who is half a son, have left together. With him and his wife alone, the two old men and old ladies, I am afraid that at most they can only harvest two acres of grain.

"But it doesn't matter. Now my son and the others are living a better life. We two old guys just collect some food for ourselves, and we don't need to be so tired."

"What about renting food?" Rickon asked.

"Rent grain? At worst, buy some grain and turn it in. Anyway, the eldest son wrote back that the big ship from the Duchy of Standing brought a lot of cheap grain. With their current salary, they can buy several hundred catties a month. Enough to pay the rent."

Rickon was speechless for a moment.

The old farmer sighed again and continued: "Well, actually, I heard from relatives who came to our house last time that the Xinfei Chamber of Commerce has some kind of farmland magic machine. It is said that it doesn't take half an hour to harvest an acre of land with that thing. .It would be great if the governor didn't have this ban, and if we bring in some farmland magic machines, we won't have to worry about what to do with the fields."

Rickon and the old farmer looked at the green wheat fields with a little bit of golden yellow. They were silent for a while, then waved goodbye to the old farmer and returned to the carriage.

The Duke of Windsor has been watching the conversation between Rickon and the old farmer through the curtain of the carriage, and because the distance is not far away, he has received all the content of the conversation between the two in his ears.

After Rickon returned, the Duke of Windsor looked at the vast farmland in front of him for a while, and then he lowered the curtains and fell silent.

After a while, the Duke of Windsor suddenly let out a faint sigh.

"Rickon, I have one thing for you."

"Grandpa please tell me."

"I heard that there is a Cantona chamber of commerce in the Kingdom of Lampari, which is responsible for harvesting farmland. Go and contact them."

Rickon glanced at the Duke of Windsor and nodded in response.

The Duke of Windsor opened the curtains and stared at the old farmer in the field for a while, then sighed softly, signaling Rickon to start the carriage and leave. (To be continued..)

ps:   (I actually forgot to post it yesterday...)