Chapter 1668 Use Your Brain
Old Zhou was a little curious, "What does Bai Shan want the cow for?"
He suddenly thought of something and widened his eyes, "Is this kid thinking of eating the cow?"
Before Zhou Silang could say anything, Old Zhoutou shouted, "This is such a waste of natural resources."
Zhou Silang said, "He said he was giving it as a gift. A classmate wanted it, but it's just that the ones he bought from outside have numbers, and they're kept on file at the government office wherever he goes."
The imperial court still has very strict control over oxen used for draft. Zhou Silang's ox was brought back from the grassland. Before it was numbered, he could use it for anything. After it was numbered, it became a draft ox.
Old Zhou expressed his dissatisfaction with Bai Shan's extravagant gift of a cow, and then asked, "Will he return the gift?"
How would Zhou Silang know?
But in order to reassure his father, he nodded without hesitation, "Of course I will."
Only then did Old Zhou feel relieved.
Manbao, who had been scheduled to receive gifts, had no intention of preparing a gift for Bai Shan. After seeing that Cui's condition had stabilized, she packed up and went home.
Yang Heshu asked her to stay and said, "Tang Zhihe is coming over at noon, why don't you stay and have lunch with us."
Manbao thought that she hadn't seen Lord Tang for a long time, so she nodded in agreement.
Tang Zhihe actually came over to have lunch. Cui Shi was not allowed to leave the delivery room yet, so there were only the four of them and the servants in the dining room.
Tang Zhihe asked Manbao with a smile, "I heard that you are in charge of the official land. How is it? Is the land allocated to you by the Ministry of Revenue good?"
Manbao nodded. "Very good. The land is much flatter and more fertile than the land in our Qili Village. The Guanzhong Plain is mostly there, which is better than our Sichuan and Shu."
She thought for a moment and said, "Apart from the summer being too hot and the winter being too cold, there aren't any other major problems."
Tang Zhihe: ...
He turned to Yang Heshu and said, "You're quite picky."
Yang Heshu smiled and asked Manbao, "Did you find the tenant farmer?"
Manbao nodded, "Basically, it was rented by former tenant farmers."
Yang Heshu raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "How do you collect rent? They are willing to renew the lease of your official land?"
Tang He was unfamiliar with these matters and looked up in surprise when he heard this. "Why, is it so difficult to hire tenant farmers in Yongzhou?"
Yang Heshu glanced at him. It was obvious that the county magistrate was unaware of the tricks in the official fields. He said nothing and looked at Manbao.
Manbao swallowed the food in his mouth before saying, "I will only take 40% of the rent. I will provide all the wheat seeds and half of the rice seeds. They will be responsible for the rest of the seeds. In addition, I plan to give them 20 cows."
Before County Magistrate Tang could say anything, Madam Tang said, "It's only 40% rent. You're giving so much away. How much can you earn in a year?"
Manbao smiled and said, "Maybe the first one or two years you make less, but later on it will be more?"
Mrs. Tang raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why, are you going to raise the rent later?"
Manbao shook his head. "Sister-in-law, the most valuable thing is not just the official land, but also their manpower. Some benefits may not be seen for a while, but they will be seen over time."
Yang Heshu then thought of their small farm in Qili Village. As a frequent visitor to that small farm in various senses, he could roughly calculate their income.
Yang Heshu asked her, "You offer such good conditions, do you have any requirements for them?"
Manbao nodded. "I told them to follow our instructions. Everything related to the village will be split 40% and 60%."
Mrs. Tang didn't think this was a condition. "Aren't tenants supposed to obey their masters?"
Manbao thought for a moment and said, "There's a difference between listening willingly and listening unwillingly."
The three of them were puzzled for a moment.
Manbao gave an example, "Mr. Zhuang once gave me a copy of the I Ching to read. I sat across from him for the entire morning and couldn't get past two pages, and even after finishing, it still didn't sink into my head. But when I read the storybooks myself, it's different. I can read half a book in the morning without blinking, and I still remember everything."
Three people: ...
Manbao said: "This is the difference between being willing and unwilling."
Mrs. Tang paused for a moment before asking, "Farming isn't like studying; it requires the use of the brain."
Yang Heshu disagreed with this and said, "Farming doesn't rely entirely on brute force."
Manbao was more direct. "Who says farming doesn't require thinking? If they don't use their brains, it means they're not willing to do it, so the crops they grow are not as good as others."
Manbao said, "My family has several plots of land that are right next to someone else's. The soil fertility is about the same, but every year, whether it's wheat or rice, the harvest is better than others. This is because my third brother is particularly good at farming."
She said, "It's the same principle as cooking. With the same ingredients, my eldest sister-in-law can cook one dish, and my second sister-in-law can cook another. So it's not just about studying; I think everything in this world is like this. There are those who use their brains and those who don't. They work for me willingly, and naturally the rewards are different."
"Even if I only have 40%, if the total amount is larger, I will get a larger share, and they will get a larger share too. Isn't a win-win situation better than a single win for me?"
Mrs. Tang was stunned when she heard this. Yang Heshu pondered in his heart and said to Manbao, "You do it first and see what your yield per mu is in two years."
Manbao nodded.
County Magistrate Tang asked her more directly, "Tell me, what do you want to ask of us?"
Manbao chuckled and said, "Brother Tang really understands me."
She said seriously, "I want to buy some breeding eggs for them to hatch chicks, but Lijun has been looking around and found that breeding eggs are very hard to buy in the capital."
It’s not that it’s hard to buy, but that a large amount of it is hard to buy.
Manbao planned to raise twenty chicks for his family, and such a large number of breeding eggs were simply not available for purchase at the moment.
Manbao said to County Magistrate Tang, "Brother Tang, can you help me look for it?"
Lord Tang was surprised by her request and asked, "How can I, a county magistrate, find eggs for you?"
Manbao said, "You're the county magistrate, shouldn't it be easy to find him?"
"Who told you that it's easy for the county magistrate to find eggs?"
Manbao turned his head and looked at Yang Heshu.
Yang Heshu was full. He took a sip of tea to rinse his mouth. After a while, he wiped the corner of his mouth and said, "Leave it to me. How many do you want?"
Manbao: "Two thousand?"
Yang Heshu just frowned and nodded, "Just have someone send the money over later."
Manbao poured a small piece of silver from his purse and gave it to him, saying, "Here, three taels. No need for change."
Yang Heshu: ...
Only then did he remember that although two thousand eggs sounded like a lot, they were not that expensive. Two eggs cost three cents, and if three taels were exchanged for copper coins, there would still be some left.
Yang Heshu took the silver and said, "I won't take advantage of you. I'll have someone send the remaining money to you later."
Tang He was extremely curious. "Where can you, an official from the Ministry of Revenue, buy eggs? Did you buy eggs for them when you were the magistrate of Luojiang County?"
Yang Heshu said: "Not only have I bought for them, I've also helped them sell."
Otherwise, why do you say he is a regular customer?
See you at 4 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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