Chapter 1635 Investigation
Even though he was mentally prepared, Manbao still choked and felt a little sad. "Why?"
The young man grunted and grumbled, unable to speak for a long time before he said, "Working on these fields is too tiring, and I still don't have enough to eat."
He couldn't explain it clearly, so a few older young men beside him answered for him, "It's hard to farm the official land. There's a Mr. Fang family out there. If you rent his land, you only have to pay 50% rent."
Manbao asked, "How much rent does the court want from you?"
"This piece of land is pretty good, so they all set a salary of six dou of rice and five dou of flour."
Six dou of rice is almost one and two dan of millet. A piece of land can yield two or three dan, which is 50%. But if this rent is set for both dry land and paddy fields, then the other land used to grow beans will not be worth it.
The young man continued, "But Master Fang gave us half the seeds, and a cow for every hundred acres. He also paid for half the repairs of broken farm tools. The government doesn't give us anything. We have to pay for the seeds and farm tools ourselves, and we have to provide you with grass every season of the year..."
Bai Shan and the other two were particularly curious, "What is Zhicao?"
"You don't even know what grass your horses eat? That's the grass your horses eat," the young man said. "Every year, it takes countless hours of work just to prepare the grass for you. It's a good thing you're not a soldier. Otherwise, with so many horses at home, all the expenses would fall on us. We'd even have to cut grass for you during the New Year."
Manbao swallowed and said, "So there is such a thing as a job grass?"
"Of course not. There are so many things. Sometimes the adults would come down to see us. When they saw we had chickens and ducks, they would also give us some eggs and some chickens and ducks. They said that these chickens and ducks were also raised on the official land."
Bai Erlang and Bai Shan turned their heads to look at Manbao.
Manbao was ashamed and whispered, "This has nothing to do with me. I have just started to take over the job."
Bai Shan then asked the young man, "Where is your home? Can we go and take a look?"
The young man ate all the candies in his hand. He felt that although they were also nobles, they were a little different from the nobles they had met in Yongzhou City. They were quite friendly, so he took them to his house without any concern.
These houses were built only more than ten years ago, but they look very old because they are built with grass mixed with yellow mud. The houses are very low. Except for three houses in the entire village, all other houses have thatched roofs.
Bai Shan was not particularly tall, but he had to bend down slightly to enter the house. After entering, he found that the room was very dark, and then he realized that the windows were very small. The young man saw them looking at the windows and said, "Oh, the window paper is broken. It's too expensive, and it's not cold now, so we didn't paste it on."
Manbao asked, "Why are your windows so small?"
"Are we going to turn it up even higher? It's so cold in winter, and if we turn it up even higher, the heat in the house won't stay."
The three of them could only accept this statement, nodded, and turned to leave.
Manbao simply gathered the children who came to join in the fun and started visiting each house one by one.
Manbao and Baishan both discovered that there were very few people raising chickens and ducks in the village. They didn't know whether they were afraid that their chickens and ducks would be divided up by the imperial court or because they couldn't afford to keep them.
A few people walked around the village. When they returned to the headman's house, the adults had finished talking. The sunset appeared in the sky, and it was obvious that the sun was about to set.
The village head had already learned from his sons that Zhou Manzheng was following the children in the village around. He originally wanted to stop him, but then he thought that there was nothing in the village that he couldn't let them know.
The villagers just don’t want to rent their land for farming, so what can they do?
Unless they can persuade the county government to let the county magistrate forcibly distribute the official land.
This is the difference between self-management and court management. If it is court management, the Ministry of Revenue will send a document to the county government, and the village head will have to run around for the official land.
But if it is an individual, whether the official land can be rented out depends entirely on his own ability.
Anyway, the official land has been handed over to you to manage, and you are responsible for your own profits and losses.
When Old Zhou saw Manbao, he immediately stepped forward and pulled him aside, whispering, "Manbao, Dad just talked to the village head, and he actually said that no one is very willing to rent our land. He said that everyone has decided to rent the land of Mr. Fang instead."
Old Zhou was a little worried. "I asked the village head today. There are quite a lot of people in Yongzhou City, but no one is willing to come and cultivate the official fields."
"It's really strange. Aren't these official fields also fields? I think the land is good, so why don't people want to cultivate it?"
Manbao said, "Dad, leave this to me. It's getting late now. You and Mom should get in the car and go back. I'll talk to the head of the village."
"That……"
"Don't worry, it won't get dark that quickly. We'll be on horseback soon and catch up with you. Besides, Daji and the others are here too."
Only then did Old Zhou agree to go back first.
Mr. Zhuang called the three of them over and gave them a lecture, saying, "Officials should be kind to the people, but they shouldn't be too soft. Your strengths are your youth, thin skin, and good hearts, but this is also your weakness. Before any discussion, set the rules first. Once you've set them, don't easily change the bottom line."
Mr. Zhuang said meaningfully: "If you lose something, you must gain something, otherwise the loss will outweigh the gain."
The three of them became thoughtful.
Then Mr. Zhuang, Old Zhou and the others left together in a car.
Bai Erlang turned his head to look at the two of them and asked, "What do you mean, sir?"
Bai Shan said, "Master, we should not be too soft-hearted. We should not give in without a bottom line just because they are having a hard time. That will hurt both ourselves and others."
Manbao said, "The master said that if I give them a profit, then they have to pay a corresponding price or take responsibility, so that there will be gains and losses."
Bai Jilang looked skeptical, "Really? Why didn't I hear that?"
Bai Shan and Man Bao ignored him, but both gave a polite smile and turned to face the headman.
After watching Old Zhou and his companions' carriage leave, the village head, who was smiling as he was about to see Zhou Man and the other two off, couldn't help but shudder when he saw the smiles of the two men.
Manbao said, "Village head, why don't we talk to you and the villagers?"
The village head was startled and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Talk about rent."
The village head's face stiffened slightly, and he smiled stiffly, "Master Zhou, this renting thing is a matter of voluntary participation. Since you came a little late, they have already reserved the land for the landlord."
That's strange. The grain was just harvested not long ago, how could the buyer be decided?
Moreover, the children all said that the adults were very worried, so they gathered outside the headman's house. They didn't want to rent the official land anymore.
Manbao then said to the village head at the door with a smile: "I won't collect rent. As you know, I am in charge of this official land now, so it is not the government's business. As long as I am in office, I can decide how to cultivate this land."
She said, "I don't want a fixed rent, but 40% of the rent. What do you think?"
The next chapter will be around 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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