Who says this dynasty only had corrupt officials? There were also many honest, upright, and people-oriented good officials.
I reckon that Song Quanzhao and the prefect have been too busy with this matter to pay attention to her reward recently, while she has been limiting herself.
He immediately stopped worrying about the hundred taels and said earnestly, "Thank you very much, Lord Song."
Zhao Da just smiled and waved his hand, then started talking about the land in the small depression.
“We visited last time. It’s very difficult to cultivate land in the small depression. You’ve only managed to cultivate a little over two acres. With so many people cultivating just over two acres, it’s estimated that there won’t be enough food for the daily needs.”
However, the household registration still needs to record the farmland situation, and taxes will still need to be paid in the future.
Jiang Yimian: ...
She knew that those lands were destined to be taxed.
Seeing that the other party remained silent, Zhao Da continued, "However, because of your merit in reclaiming wasteland, we will only charge you 30% tax."
Reclaiming wasteland is no easy task. Although the imperial court encourages people to reclaim wasteland, no one is willing to do such a thankless and arduous task.
Therefore, the imperial court set up some incentive policies, requiring only 30% tax to be paid on reclaimed wasteland.
It sounds like a lower tax than usual, but whether the wasteland can grow crops is unknown, so almost no one gambles on this 30% tax.
Apart from some landless and penniless vagrants who were willing to do it, the remaining ones were the landlords.
Now that the imperial court wants to control all the land, there are fewer landlords.
In the past, there were many landlords in every town, and almost all the land was in the hands of landlords.
Those people without land could only become tenants of landlords, renting land to grow crops. After harvesting the grain, they would give most of it to the landlord, pay a portion of the rest to the government as taxes, and the remaining grain was not enough to feed their own families. They were completely exploited at the bottom of society.
Fortunately, there are far fewer landlords in various towns nowadays, and these tenant farmers have basically disappeared.
Nowadays, people without land can directly go to the government to rent land, pay copper coins to cultivate the land, pay 50% tax, and keep the rest for themselves.
Although not much grain could be saved, it was still much better than being a tenant farmer.
Jiang Yimian didn't have much objection to the fact that the land on the mountain had to be taxed; at least for the next two years, she wouldn't have to pay, which was pretty good.
When Jiang Yimian went to meet up with Liu Dayong and his group, the group was repairing the roof of a dilapidated thatched hut.
When Gousheng saw her coming, he just smiled and said, "Sister Yimian, the village chief said that these rooms can be left for us to live in, but if we want to rebuild our houses or farm, we need to buy the land."
The grain they grow on the mountain is barely enough to feed a few families, but it's not enough. They could easily clear a few more acres of land, so they don't need to bother buying land down the mountain.
Jiang Yimian nodded, looking at the three thatched huts in front of her. Although they looked dilapidated, each thatched hut had at least four rooms, which was quite spacious.
Moreover, it's close to the foot of the mountain, making it convenient for them to go up the mountain on weekdays.
It's already quite kind of the village chief to let them stay temporarily.
Repairing the holes in the roof and windows allows them to be used for storing things on a daily basis, or for temporary accommodation when the weather is bad and it is difficult to walk along the mountain path.
She glanced at the houses next to her. The closest one was at the foot of the mountain, only seven or eight meters away. The roof had a large hole and the door was wide open, so she guessed that no one lived there.
Just then, a family across the street opened their door.
The person who came out was an elderly man with gray hair, walking unsteadily with a cane. He was the same old man who had stood next to Ma Ming at the beginning.
The old man wasn't too surprised to see them; he nodded and followed the path to the foot of the mountain.
Jiang Yimian glanced at it a few times and then looked away, following Gou Sheng to the village chief's house to collect straw.
Knowing that their house was temporarily uninhabitable, the village chief specially offered his own straw for them to use.
Although she didn't know if it was because of Zhao Da, Jiang Yimian still remembered this kindness.
By the time everyone had finished repairing the roof and returned, it was already noon.
On the way back, everyone's steps were lighter. With the household registration issue resolved, they were finally at ease.
The journey there took more than an hour, but the return trip only took a little over half an hour.
Old Liu, Zhao Erhei, and Wang Xiaohei had just returned from outside. Seeing that the others had come back, the three of them quickly put down the sacks they were carrying.
Old Liu asked curiously, "How is it? How's the village? Did Zhao Da say what will happen to the land in Xinghua Village?"
These past few days he's been thinking about what to do with the village's land. Although there's land in the mountains, the village has about seven or eight acres of land if you put the households together.
Jiang Yimian only told Old Man Liu that someone wanted to buy the land and that the government would convert their land into silver and distribute it to them. Only then did Old Man Liu breathe a sigh of relief.
"That's good, then we can focus on cultivating these few acres of land in the low-lying area."
I was worried that all that land would be gone in the future, but now that it can be exchanged for silver, it's actually a good thing.
Liu Xiaoyun nodded and said, "Then we can cultivate a few more acres of land this year, and then we won't have to worry about food for the rest of the family. This should be enough."
Zhao Dashu nodded repeatedly. The three brothers had no land; the land deeds had long been lost on their journey to escape famine, and they were relying on the grain from the small depression.
Last year, if they hadn't dug up enough konjac to make powder early on, and hadn't also dug up a lot of taro, they wouldn't have had enough food.
It is inevitable that more land will be reclaimed this year.
Wang Fengqin asked worriedly, "What about paying the taxes?"
Previously, each household in Xinghua Village had to pay nearly 60% of their income in taxes. If the same continues in the future, they won't actually have much grain left.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
