Chapter 546: Nanko Daily Life (2)

After everyone receives the money, they all sign; those who cannot write sign with a mark.

Zhang Ping not only oversees the children's education in the village, but also the adults' education; children attend classes by day, adults by night.

This is essentially a night school, but they are all farmers, and few are eager to improve.

Therefore, even now, not many can write on their own, but a few crookedly manage to put their characters on paper.

Yet Zhang Ping does it with endless enthusiasm!

Lin Xiao also came over with his voucher, collected ten coins, and hopped, saying, "Teacher Zhang, I can buy some thread and needle to sew a new garment for my mother."

Zhang Ping patted the little girl's head.

Zhang Ping smiled and nodded, "Alright, after buying thread and needle, don't forget to learn to read well, so you can read more books and become a useful person."

In the crowd, everyone queued orderly to receive money, with no fighting, no noise, only smiles on faces and gratitude in hearts.

Many asked whether they could receive it every month thereafter; the village chief repeatedly emphasized that they could only receive it for three months.

An elder sister-in-law from Hubei collected the money and laughed, "This Nanko Yuan looks solid; it's far more reliable than the old fiat money. With the old currency, a box of matches cost a stack; this money can be used as proper currency."

"Exactly," the person beside him agreed, "I've heard Nanko Yuan can buy rice, flour, cloth; our future will have hope."

Li Tie received the money, raised the banknote and shouted, "Tomorrow I'll go buy a hammer, then I can forge more farming tools for everyone, clear wasteland, plant corn and potatoes, and we will never go hungry again!"

In Nanko there is no hunger, but many people's mindsets haven't changed yet; after all, it takes time, and changing a person is very difficult.

Logically, the land reclamation and farming tools, Jiang Anguo had already prepared them, and indeed that is the case.

However, Li Tie wants to privately grow something himself; Nanko does not forbid planting crops, but the premise is that one's own land cannot remain idle.

At the same time, not only must one farm one's own land, but also the communal land; for a village of five hundred people, that means cultivating 2,500 mu of land.

In reality the figure is lower, because there are adults and children; Nanko at that time allocated five mu per adult and three mu per child.

For example, Hexi Village actually reclaimed only about 1,700–1,800 mu of farmland.

When the North people were sent to the South, Jiang Anguo didn't consider collecting taxes, especially agricultural tax; he never thought about that issue.

In his previous life he farmed land, but he was young then, thought farming was fun, and knew little about paying taxes.

Later Chen Jiageng raised the farmer tax issue, and Jiang Anguo simply waved his hand and declared tax exemption.

Everyone immediately objected, then raised a question: what will the army eat?

This st Division stumped Jiang Anguo a bit; currently the army, including the st Division and all forces in the Nanko region, rely entirely on Jiang Anguo for food and supplies.

In other words, they depend on the WarSystem.

Yet with Nanko's territorial expansion and the front lines stretching, Jiang Anguo knows that supply becomes increasingly difficult.

Food is not lacking, but the transport of supplies along the North and South lines, and the Da Qili direction from Thailand, each supply route involves massive personnel and material.

But after Jiang Anguo proposed agricultural tax exemption, he found it indeed doesn't work.

Ultimately, after discussion, everyone settled on a compromise.

Each village, besides its own cultivated land, must additionally reclaim five hundred mu of land, collectively named the "Nanko State Farm."

In other words, the labor contributed on those five hundred mu serves as everyone's tax.

Hexi Town, besides its own 1,800 mu of cultivated land, also needs to reclaim and plant an additional five hundred mu, giving the village a total of 2,300 mu of farmland.

Relying solely on manual labor, planting that much land is indeed difficult.

Therefore, Jiang Anguo equipped everyone with tractors, averaging three tractors per two villages.

Why is it an average?

One tractor is a bit few, two per village is a bit many.

Thus, two neighboring villages combine their "Nanko State Farm" reclamation, so only one tractor is needed to complete the task.

On average, one tractor works ten hours and can reclaim 45 to 75 mu of land.

One tractor must handle 1,500 mu of cultivated land.

Moreover, Hexi Town also has five large water buffalo, which are important helpers for the locals.

Everyone are farmers and know that farm work never ends.

But this land is ours, so the future looks hopeful!

While the villagers gathered around the big locust tree, chattering about what to buy with the money, Zhang Ping and Chen Da quietly boarded a Transport Vehicle heading to Lashu.

"Teacher Zhang, do you think Lashu really sells flour?" Chen Da sat in the corner of the carriage, clutching the ten Nanko Yuan, his palms sweating, his tone full of urgency.

Zhang Ping leaned against the vehicle wall, nodded lightly, "It should be possible; I just asked the staff from Lashu, they said Lashu now has a dedicated shop with everything. Besides, this money is issued by Nanko, so it will certainly be accepted."

Both knew that buying anything in Hexi Village was too difficult.

Money that circulates is truly money.

If it can't circulate, it's no better than straw paper.

Everyone fled from the North, wandering destitute, bringing nothing; now they live in white‑walled, black‑tiled houses with only a blanket, two sets of clothes, and not even a washbasin.

Yet the village lacks even a small shop; to buy daily necessities they must go to Lashu ten kilometers away.

Chen Da sighed, his eyes full of hope, "My old wife is frail; on the famine escape we survived on bark and grass roots, she can't hold on any longer. I want to buy her a bag of flour, steam a few white buns; she longs for a hot bun."

Zhang Ping looked at his earnest expression, felt a pang of sorrow, patted his shoulder, "It will work out; when we reach Lashu, we'll buy flour first, then the paper and pen I need, without delay."

In fact, Zhang Ping had already planned; after receiving 15 Nanko Yuan, he intends to buy a fountain pen, a bottle of ink, and a few notebooks.

Previously teaching children literacy used charcoal on stone, which was inconvenient and not durable; with paper and pen, they can make literacy cards and compile textbooks, allowing the children to study properly.

In reality, Lin Yi, the chief logistics officer, is also gradually changing this situation.

However, at present everyone being fed is still an issue; with many tasks, Lin Yi cannot attend to such details for a while.

This Transport Vehicle was originally sent to deliver Nanko Yuan to Hexi Village and also to transport a week's worth of relief food.

Now, people coming from the North, whether from resettlement villages like Hexi or from Yangon and Mandalay, eat communal pot rice—just enough to fill the stomach, barely satisfactory, barely solving the basic need for food and clothing.