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

Chapter 605: Attracting People

"I'll go to the market this afternoon."

Li Xiang sighed and planned to go to the market in the afternoon to see if there was any meat at a lower price. This was not only to satisfy his two children's appetites, but also for his own sake.

After eating a rather unappetizing steamed bun to fill his stomach, Li Xiang went out of his house and wandered around the neighborhood.

Now that the autumn harvest has just ended, most people have some free time, so when Li Xiang walks down the street, he can still see many acquaintances greeting him.

"Xiangzi, want to go for a walk?"

"Yes!"

"Old Li, how many kilograms of grain did your family harvest this autumn?"

"No more, no more."

"I estimate that Old Li's family harvested several thousand kilograms of grain."

"So many?"

"That's right, Old Li's family has much more land than us, and it's all fertile land."

"I'm jealous!"

"..."

Many neighbors cast envious glances at Li Xiang.

As neighbors, they knew something about Li Xiang's family situation and that Li Xiang had dozens of acres of fertile land left by his father, which yielded far more grain than they did.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Li Xiang grinned and sat down nearby to chat with his neighbors.

Before long, it was noon. The sun rose higher and the weather warmed up a bit.

"Damn it, it's finally warmer."

A man wrapped his clothes tighter around himself. It was already quite cold in Liangzhou in July, and most of the people gathered nearby were wearing thick clothes.

"I wonder when this cold disaster will end."

A man who looked to be around fifty years old said that although Liangzhou was cold in the past, it never got cold so quickly.

The weather usually doesn't get cold until September or even October.

However, since the cold disaster struck, Liangzhou has experienced cold weather in July, and even snow in August...

It can be said that the arrival of the cold disaster made the winter in Liangzhou even longer.

For the people of Xia, winter was a hundred times more terrible than summer.

Summer is just hotter and you sweat more; at worst, a few people die from heatstroke.

But in winter...

The people were poor and lacked warm clothing, having few means to protect themselves from the cold. Furthermore, they couldn't cultivate the land in winter, resulting in no harvest…

Taking Liangzhou as an example, almost every winter, a large number of people freeze to death or starve to death. After the cold disaster strikes, this number rises sharply and multiplies several times.

"Yes, this cold disaster is really leaving us no way to survive."

Li Xiang chimed in, "Fortunately, we have King Yang around now, so we don't have to pay so much tax. Otherwise, who knows how many more people would starve or freeze to death."

"That's right! If it weren't for King Yang driving away the imperial court, we probably wouldn't have been able to save even a few grains of our autumn harvest."

“The court has been invaded by dogs, and those corrupt officials should all have their heads chopped off by King Yang.”

"King Yang is really good to us!"

"..."

The neighbors echoed their praises, commending Yang Tianwang, also known as Yang Zheng.

Yang Zheng's rebellion brought real benefits to the people. Before Yang Zheng's rebellion, or rather, before Yang Zheng took control of Liangzhou, the imperial court levied about 40% of the agricultural tax on the people of Liangzhou. In addition, there were various exorbitant taxes and a large amount of corvée labor.

All things considered, the taxes that the people of Liangzhou had to pay amounted to about 6%.

After Yang Zheng took control of this land, the people only had to pay 30% of their grain tax, and there were no additional exorbitant taxes. The people's tax burden was reduced by a full 30%.

The reduction of 30% in taxes alone was enough to make the people grateful to Yang Zheng.

This is one of the reasons why Yang Zheng is so popular in Liangzhou.

As the conversation continued, the sun gradually set in the west.

In the afternoon, after chatting with everyone for half a day, Li Xiang touched his lower abdomen and felt a little hungry.

I only ate a few steamed buns in the morning, so my stomach was lacking in oil and fat, and I got hungry very quickly.

"I go first."

So Li Xiang said goodbye to his neighbors, returned home, took his money bag, and then went straight to the nearby vegetable market.

"Quack, quack, quack."

"Cluck cluck".

As soon as Li Xiang entered the market, his eyes were drawn to a particular stall.

Not far from the entrance of the market, a group of men were setting up their stalls, which were already filled with a large number of chickens and ducks kept in cages.

Upon seeing this, Li Xiang's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over.

As he got closer, the chickens and ducks in the cage became clearer in Li Xiang's view.

Unlike the chickens and ducks Li Xiang had seen before, the chickens and ducks at this stall were extremely unique. The chickens had golden feathers and were very large, completely different from the common gray-feathered chickens.

The duck is also covered in snow-white feathers and is about two sizes larger than common ducks, so you can tell at a glance that it must be exceptionally plump.

"Sir, would you like to buy chicken or duck?"

Zhang He, who was directing his men to set up the stall, saw Li Xiang approaching and hurriedly asked him in a warm manner.

After leaving Zhangwang Village, Zhang He led his caravan to Yongliang County, where they had just arrived.

"boss."

Li Xiang did not answer directly, but asked Zhang He, "What kind of chicken is this? How come it's so big? And this duck is also much bigger than any duck I've ever seen, and it looks much better too."

As Li Xiang asked his question, many people in the market noticed the unusual stall and gathered around, chattering amongst themselves.

"This chicken is so beautiful, with its golden-yellow feathers. It's so appealing."

"Yes! I've never seen such a beautiful chicken."

"This duck is quite nice too! Its feathers are snow-white all over; at first glance, you might mistake it for a swan."

"Boss, where did you get this chicken? It looks different from the chickens and ducks I've ever seen."

"..."

Faced with everyone's questions, Zhang He calmly pointed to the yellow-feathered chicken and said, "This chicken is called the yellow-feathered chicken. Its feathers are golden, symbolizing wealth and nobility. Its meat is tender and succulent, much tastier than the common gray-feathered chicken."

Upon hearing this, everyone subconsciously nodded in agreement.

Yellow was one of the most noble colors in the Xia Dynasty, as evidenced by the fact that the emperor wore a yellow dragon robe. Therefore, no one objected to the idea that the yellow-feathered rooster symbolized wealth and nobility.

As for the tender and succulent meat... although everyone hadn't tried it yet, they generally agreed that it was delicious.

After all, this chicken is big enough and looks very plump, so it will definitely taste better than the common gray-feathered chicken, which has more bones than meat.

"This is a white-feathered duck."

Zhang He then pointed to the cage containing the white-feathered ducks and said, "A white-feathered duck weighs about 10 jin (5 catties). After slaughtering and plucking, it can yield about 6 to 7 jin (3 to 3.5 catties) of clean meat. The meat yield is much higher than that of ordinary domestic ducks. The meat is firm and rich in oil."