Chapter 2546 Landlords and Tenants
The civil service exam only took half a day. Bai Erlang finished the exam today and received his results the next day. Among the twenty or so Jinshi candidates, his ranking was not bad, but it was not bad at all.
However, unlike Bai Dalang who hurried to wait for the official position, Bai Erlang did not go to the Ministry of Personnel after getting the results. Instead, he ran home to find Mingda and took her to the imperial farm.
If he were to queue up to select an official now, and his father-in-law directly gave him the official position, would he report immediately or wait two days?
So he was not in a hurry to wait for the official position, and decided to rest for a few days first.
From last year to now, he has been extremely busy. Even when he can go out for fun, he has to be very nervous and cannot devote himself to it wholeheartedly.
Mingda knew about the five grains and had even planted seeds himself and watched people working the land, but his understanding of farming was only based on superficial knowledge.
Unlike Bai Erlang, he has been managing a farm since he was a child.
So he took Mingda to the imperial farm and stayed there for two days. After walking around, he found out that there were only 68 tenant farmers and 29 slaves in the huge imperial farm...
Every year, Liyang County would dispatch laborers from one village to help with spring plowing and autumn harvest. This rotation was done among the various townships in the county, ensuring that there would be no duplication for several years.
Bai Erlang and Mingda said, "Zhou Man's official farm in Putian Village has already recruited tenant farmers within a mile, a total of 100 households. Because the land is small, they can cultivate it intensively. A farm as large as yours only has so few people. They basically just sow seeds and apply some fertilizer. Forget watering, and I'm afraid they don't even remove the weeds. In two months, the weeds will grow better than the wheat seedlings."
Mingda suddenly realized, "No wonder the wheat field I saw last time was even sparser than the grass next door."
Bai Erlang suppressed his laughter and said, "There are too few people, and the soil is different. It's also because of last year's snowstorm."
"But no matter what the reason is, such a large imperial farm with only this few people is not enough," he said. "Farming is not just about sowing seeds. Daily routine is also very important."
Bai Erlang felt that he probably knew why the emperor had so much land but was still so poor.
He said, "Every year the imperial farm gets a hundred free laborers to work, but they only work for ten days in spring plowing and ten days in autumn harvest. What about the long time in between?"
"The seeds you plant need to be fertilized, watered, weeded, and even pest-free. Beans alone need to be weeded at least twice after planting. Otherwise, the grass that sprouts up later will steal the soil's nutrients and grow even better than the beans."
Bai Erlang said, "So relying on conscripts won't work. We still have to recruit long-term workers or tenant farmers."
Mingda tilted his head and thought for a moment, curious, "Why can't the imperial farm recruit tenants?"
Bai Jilang: "Because you are too dark."
Mingda: ...
Bai Erlang asked, "Do you know how much the average citizen pays in rent and taxes per year?"
Mingda smiled and said, "Every man should pay two dan of millet per year."
Bai Erlang nodded and said, "This rent and tax isn't high. Compared to their land grants, it's about 40% tax. But tenants who rent other people's land generally have to pay 40% to 60% rent and tax."
Mingda calculated the difference between the two and was shocked. "How can there be such a big difference?"
Bai Erlang said, "After all, private enterprises are not the state. From ancient times to the present, rents and taxes paid to tenant farmers have always been this high. Some stingy families even raise the rent and taxes to 70%."
"However, to ensure a good harvest, landlords usually provide good seeds, farm tools, and some oxen. But some are stingy and refuse to provide these, and eventually the tenants leave, preferring to become refugees rather than farm." Bai Erlang looked at Mingda and said, "Didn't we just ask? The rent for tenants in the imperial farm has always been 60%."
Mingda: ...So her family is a mean family?
She asked, "How much rent do you pay to your tenant farmers?"
"It depends. Sometimes it's 50%, sometimes 40%, and at least 20%. If there's a major disaster, they'll even waive the rent." Bai Erlang had once aspired to inherit his father's land and become a small landlord. Now, as an examiner, he's well versed in this kind of thing. He said, "The rent and taxes that tenant farmers owe to the court are paid by the landlord. Unless he has other relatives sharing the land, then they share the burden proportionally."
"Like my family, there was a flood in the tenth year of Dazhen. My father exempted many families from rent and taxes, but he still had to pay the rent and taxes of two dan per ding that they should have paid. That's a loss."
Mr. Bai lost a lot that year. If the tenant farmers did not have land for their own use and only rented the land from the landlord, they only had to perform labor for the country, and the remaining rent and taxes had to be paid by the landlord.
Usually, the landlords would allocate land to the tenant farmers to grow mulberry and hemp, and they would spin yarn and weave cloth themselves. They would pay a portion of the rent according to the pre-booked amount, and the rest would be theirs.
When the imperial court collected taxes, the landlord would hand over the tenants' rent and taxes to the county government. So back then, Mr. Bai not only had to pay the tenants' rent and taxes out of his own pocket, but he also had to provide relief to the tenants from his own pocket, and incidentally, he lost the grain he had been raising that year...
Of course, Bai Erlang said this to tell Mingda, "Although there are few people in Mianzhou, my family can always recruit enough tenant farmers. Even if there are no tenants in Mianzhou, people from other places will come here specially."
Mingda pondered, "Do you think our imperial estate isn't tolerant enough, and that's why we don't have enough tenants?"
Bai Erlang nodded without hesitation and said to her, "Although the capital is wealthy, there are also many people who have lost their land here. As long as we offer enough benefits, it won't be difficult to recruit people."
He said, "Our family is not short of money, so the initial investment is a bit large. With such good land, as long as we cultivate it carefully, the harvest will definitely be good. Even if we only get 40%, the annual income will still be considerable."
Just look at the income from Zhou Man’s official land in the past two years and you will know.
Mingda became interested, his eyes sparkling as he said, "Okay, we'll take care of this imperial farm ourselves."
She also discussed with Bai Erlang, "Should we change the manager?"
The clever Mingda naturally knew that there were so many tricks in the imperial farm because of the manager.
Bai Erlang also wanted to change, but he felt that changing people was a big deal and he was a little undecided, so he ran back to ask Bai Shan and Zhou Man.
Bai Shan said: "As long as he is obedient, there is no need to change."
He said, "He has been in charge of the imperial estate for so many years. He is familiar with the land and people there, and he can manage people well. Don't worry about how he managed things before. Now he just needs to listen to you, no, listen to the princess."
As long as Princess Mingda asked him to do something, he would do it, and that would be useful.
Manbao said, "Even if we want to change it, we have to wait until the spring plowing season. It's not easy to change the manager to manage so many fields now."
Bai Erlang felt relieved, and after breathing a sigh of relief, he asked Manbao, "With so much land, where am I going to find workers and tenants?"
Manbao felt that it was too late to look for tenant farmers now. For such good land, he must find hardworking people. What if he recruited some lazy people?
So she said, "You can just spend some money and hire a permanent or temporary worker. There are a lot of idle people in the capital anyway, so it shouldn't be difficult to find these people."
Bai Shan said, "It's a pity that Fourth Brother is out, otherwise I could ask him for help. But the manager of the Imperial Farm should have some acquaintances. If you post notices in both the capital and Yongzhou, you'll definitely be able to recruit quite a few people."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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