Chapter 93

"In our village, only a few hundred acres of land around the village are cultivated. The land outside is mostly wasteland. If we want to reclaim wasteland, it is better to do it in one place. If it is scattered, it will be difficult to manage."

It is inconvenient to connect your land with someone else's. It would be fine if the family is honest and law-abiding, but some people like to play tricks, either picking a few cabbages from other people's land, or trying to move the boundaries secretly.

Even though the Zhang family is now one of the most wealthy families in the village, ordinary people dare not act rashly. However, they cannot guard against people with bad intentions, as the people have always hated the rich.

Zhang Fangyuan said so, and Xu He immediately thought of a place: "Haitang Bay."

"There is a large wasteland at the other end. It is very wide, at least 60 to 70 mu of land. Villagers often go there to cut grass and feed their livestock."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed carelessly: "I was thinking of that piece of land, too, but..."

That is a holy place for young men and women in the village to have trysts. If their family buys it and opens it up, wouldn't it ruin the villagers' chances of getting married? What's more, the two of them were able to become successful in Haitang Bay, which is not just a wasteland to many people.

Xu He tilted his head and asked him, "Then we can only buy scattered land?"

"Never mind. I just like to burn bridges after crossing them."

After the two men decided on the land in Haitang Bay, they first went to the village chief to get the documents, asked someone to measure the area of ​​Haitang Bay, recorded the receipt, and after obtaining the village chief's fingerprint approval, they took the documents to the county government to handle the formalities.

Generally speaking, if the village chief is willing to give his fingerprints to give his permission, the people in the county government will not say anything or ask any more questions.

The first thing was to get past the village chief. If it were in the past, even if Zhang Fangyuan had money he might not be able to get the village chief to do things for him. However, he had helped the village run errands before, and now anyone in the village who wanted to sell fish or eggs had to rely on him, so the village chief naturally did not make things difficult for him.

Xu He brought a chicken, a duck, and a basket of eggs to the village to do his favors. He made the village head's wife happy, and the matter was done very efficiently.

"There are 68 acres in total. If the village chief hadn't been afraid that the county government would bring people to measure it, he would have only calculated 65 acres. He really knows how to behave."

Xu He carried out the cash box and took out the silver and money from it, so that he could pay Zhang Fangyuan when he went to the city to handle the formalities.

"The village chief is a good person. He wanted to give us a lower amount. But when we get to the county government, the people there wanted to give us a higher amount, adding 70 acres." Zhang Fangyuan carefully checked the documents written by the village to see if there were any discrepancies. He said, "I'm thinking of bringing something to the county magistrate. Otherwise, it won't be that easy to get it done."

Zhang Fangyuan had been to the county government office many times and was well aware of its nature. In the past, he always brought some things with him. But this time, if he didn't bring anything when doing something important, people would be unhappy.

Xu He said, "We have everything in our village, so why not bring a few chickens and ducks and catch a few fresh fish? Although these are the things we are sending to the village chief, and although these poultry may not look presentable, they are edible and can be used for human consumption, so it is not considered disrespectful."

"You're right. I'll bring two more jars of your homemade dishes. The most important thing is to pay the land purchase money in one lump sum, then things will be much easier."

"Okay." Xu He said, "Come and count the money."

It costs five hundred coins to buy one mu of reclaimed land, which may not seem like much, but for an ordinary poor family, it is enough to pay a whole family's taxes for a year. For this reason, many people sell their land, but very few can buy it back.

It takes a lot of energy and resources to reclaim wasteland. Generally speaking, the money spent will not be cheaper than the price of the fertile land that villagers usually manage.

For example, an acre of good farmland in the village costs three to four thousand coins. Poor farmland is a little more affordable, but still two to three thousand coins. This is the price in years of famine. In years of bumper harvest like now, the price would be even higher, at least one to fifteen hundred coins higher. The couple felt that it was not cost-effective to buy either good farmland or poor farmland.

It would cost thirty-four thousand coins, or thirty-four taels of silver, to buy all sixty-eight acres of land. In addition, taxes and fees had to be paid after going through the procedures at the county government. All miscellaneous expenses would cost another forty taels of silver to complete the purchase.

The family spent such a large sum of money, and Xu He remembered what each sum was used for, repairing houses, renting shops... Now there is another item to buy land. Fortunately, the two hundred taels of silver from selling the secret recipe were added to the account, otherwise Xu He would have felt bad for just spending the money.

After all, it is not as easy to make a profit from land as it is to make money from inns and shops. You still have to cultivate the land later. Zhang Fangyuan said that the land should be processed in autumn first, and then when the autumn harvest is over and the villagers have nothing to do, they can be called to help cultivate the land. By then, it will be easy to find people and the price will be low, so it is cost-effective.

Xu He naturally agreed.

"Then I'll go."

Zhang Fangyuan took the money and rode out the door. Xu He cleaned up the house and was about to pick up the two children. Now there were two more servants in the house, one named Gancao and the other Huangqi. He felt more relaxed than when Wen Zi was around.

He didn't go to the son's room. Gancao came over first and said, "Husband, someone has come to our house. It's a fellow villager."

Xu He then turned around and went to the central hall, and sure enough, there were two villagers there.

"What's the matter with you guys coming here?"

The villagers now feel a little cramped when they come to Zhang's house. When there are many people, they just gather in the yard and won't go into the house. The house has a tall gatehouse and a spacious hall, and they feel embarrassed to go into the house when they are covered in mud and sweat.

Seeing that it was not Zhang Fangyuan who came out to meet the guests, he was relieved and said directly: "When Boss Zhang brought the merchants from the city to the village, he told us men that the silkworm farmers don't have to worry, and Boss Zhang will find a way when the time comes. It's autumn harvest now, and the silkworms raised earlier in the family have already spun silk into cocoons. I don't know when Boss Zhang will bring the merchants to collect the goods."

"After this batch of silk is collected, we will have more money on hand so that we can raise the second batch. The weather starts to get colder in autumn, and we won't be able to raise silkworms until the beginning of winter. I thought we should raise another batch while the weather is good now."

The villagers were relatively polite, but they were afraid that the Zhang family, on whom they relied, would turn against them. Then they would have no choice but to take the silk to cloth shops in the city to trade. Without connections, not only would they not be able to sell it at a good price, they might not even be able to find a boss to buy from, so they immediately went to the Zhang family to ask.

The couple was busy buying land some time ago and forgot to notify the family raising silkworms.

Xu He said, "Which families' silkworms have produced silk? I'll go with everyone to take a look. If the quality is good, I'll buy it directly."

The villagers were so happy when they heard this that they stood up immediately and said, "That's great. We thought the first batch of silkworms wouldn't be raised well, but this year the season is good, the crops are good, the mulberry leaves are lush, and the silkworms are also well raised. Not many are wasted."

"That cocoon is a big one!"

As he was about to go with the villagers to see the silk cocoons, Rui Jin and Rui Li ran out of the house, and when they saw Xu He was about to go out, they started to make a fuss and wanted to go out too.

The villagers were very fond of the two cute babies and urged Xu He to take the children with him. Xu He shook his head helplessly, thinking that they would just stay in the village, so he called Huang Qi, who was stronger, to go with him and take care of the children.

Ruili lay on Xu He's shoulder: "Where are we going?"

"Go and see the silkworms at my aunt's house."

"What are silkworms? Can they be eaten?"

Xu He was furious as he looked at Ruili, who had his eyes wide open and a look of anticipation on his face. It was as if this child was not fed enough at home.

"No, the silk produced by silkworms is used to make clothes."

"Oh~ that's a shame."

Ruili drooped on Xu He's shoulder for two seconds, then looked up and saw his silent brother being held by Huangqi from behind. He opened his mouth and started talking to his brother again.

The cocoons of mulberry silkworms are mostly oblong in shape, with white silk covering the surface, and this layer of fluff can be used for reeling.

Xu He picked up two silk cocoons and examined them for a while. This year's cocoons were large and fair in color, and were indeed of good quality.

The two little ones had never seen silk cocoons before and were very curious. They wanted to break free from the adult's arms to look at the cocoons in the basket. However, the shorty lying on the ground with his chin up was not even as tall as the basket, so they had to crawl back into the adult's arms.

Xu He gave Ruili a silk cocoon. The child held the snow-white cocoon carefully, sometimes tilting his head to observe it, sometimes leaning forward to smell it, and having a lot of fun.

"But we have to sell them by the cocoon?"

Xu He saw that the cocoons were good and didn't say anything else. He asked the villagers directly about their sales methods. He was more inclined to buy the cocoons directly. If he collected silk, the prices varied and paying was also troublesome.

I think the villagers have also taken this into consideration. Although the price of reeled silk is much higher than that of silk cocoons, it is also extremely time-consuming and laborious. If the skills are not good, a lot of good silk may be wasted. So they plan to sell the cocoons and then reel the silk and sell it after the silkworms have been raised for a long time.

Seeing that the villagers also meant the same thing, Xu He told them the price: "We charge 60 coins per pound for silk cocoons here. If the price is suitable, we can pack the cocoons and send them to the house."

The market price of silk cocoons is approximately between 80 and 120 wen, but that is the retail price. Naturally, there are also negotiated purchase prices within this range.

Xu He did not offer a high price. If his family was in the cloth business, they could have made an extra ten cents. After all, the cocoons they collected had to be sold to merchants. If the purchase price was too high, they would not be able to make any money, and their work would be in vain.

The quality of silk varies. Two hundred to two hundred and fifty silk cocoons make up one kilogram, and it takes about six kilograms of silk cocoons to produce one kilogram of silk. If the silk is sold directly, the price will be six or seven times that of the cocoons depending on the length and quality.

The villagers were somewhat hesitant when they heard Xu He's offer. Although they could sell them all at once and get the money, the price was not high after all.

A village woman said, "The price can be raised a little bit. It's not easy for us to take care of these silkworms every day. Each family can only sell a few kilograms of cocoons at a time. When the time comes, we have to pay 10% of the income to you, brother, and there will be very little left."

Hearing this, Xu He said quickly, "Oh, I forgot to mention this. The cocoons are bought whole at a low price, so they don't have to be sold in the shop. The fish are priced directly by the merchants, so we charge 10% of the profit. The silkworms are not priced by the merchants, so we don't have to pay that 10%."

"That's great! Can we send the cocoons over this afternoon for weighing?"

Xu He responded.

The villager rubbed his hands and said flatteringly: "Then maybe I can get the money after receiving the goods?"

Xu He knew that some small merchants who received goods would first collect part of the money, and then pay the villagers after they sold their own goods. Many villagers were worried, and if the merchants could not sell the goods, they would delay paying them, and some even ran away.

Although I know that the Zhang family’s assets are all in the village and it is impossible for them to run away, but who doesn’t want to get the money after selling something? This way, I feel at ease. But in the end you still have to follow the merchant's wishes, otherwise you won't have anything to sell and won't get any money.

Zhang Fangyuan had encountered this before when he was selling pork. His family had always paid for the goods as soon as they received them, which was why they had a good reputation. Although they had to bear the risk of paying all the money after receiving the goods, it was not comfortable to be asked to pay by villagers every day. Xu He said directly: "Pay after receiving the goods."

The villagers were even happier when they heard this, and they immediately went to find baskets and frames to collect the silk cocoons and send them to Zhang's house.