Chapter 2567 People's Heart and System
Zhou Man not only supports them in raising chickens, but also supports them in raising sheep, cattle, and pigs.
It’s just that few people in the village choose to raise pigs. Most people choose to raise sheep and cattle.
If raising cattle did not require very high qualifications and the owners had to conduct an investigation for a period of time, the villagers would definitely choose to raise cattle.
No matter what they raise, the seedlings are provided by the owner, but they need to share some with the owner after they grow up.
For example, in the village of one hundred households, only 28 choose to raise pigs. The piglets are provided by the owner. After one year of raising them and they grow up to be slaughtered, the profits are divided into 40% and 60%, with the owner taking 40% and they taking 60%.
If the sows give birth, the owner only takes 20%, and the remaining 80% is theirs.
Moreover, once the animal dies, all the money belongs to the owner.
Therefore, many villagers are willing to raise them just by doing the labor.
The official fields are very large, and there are always some lands that are not suitable for sowing. They grow grass on those lands to feed pigs, cows and sheep. Anyway, the village has had a good harvest in recent years, but it's a bit tiring.
But they were tired before, and they feel that life now has more hope, especially the children...
They still need to work like before, but before, they had to go to the fields and knock mud clods. No matter how old you are, as long as you can walk, you can pick up a wooden hammer and do it.
Now they can graze chickens, sheep, and cattle...
It's not hard at all. I just follow the chickens, sheep, and cows and prevent them from eating the crops. Occasionally I cut some grass for them and catch some insects. It's much more fun than pounding mud in the fields.
When the chickens grow up, they lay eggs for them to eat, and when they kill sheep in the winter, they also have mutton to eat...
Wei Zhi reached out and touched the child's head, smiled and nodded, "Good boy, go and release your cock."
The child turned around and ran away, chasing the chicken with his friends, laughing and joking.
Wei Zhi went back in deep thought. Bai Shan and Zhou Man had just gotten up and were washing up.
Wei Zhi couldn't help but smile when he saw the two of them lazily. "I've seen Mr. Zhou's official land and was very surprised. I want to ask Mr. Bai, you should also get your official land after the autumn, right?"
Bai Shan was in the Hanlin Academy before, and the majority of his salary was his salary, and he had not yet had time to be allocated official land. This is the cunningness of the Ministry of Revenue.
Because the Hanlin Academy is a special department, many future bigwigs go there for transit, and they estimate that they will leave and be transferred elsewhere after one or two years. Therefore, they simply do not distribute official land first, but use the second subsidy method, directly supplementing the rice salary in the autumn according to his rank to serve as the income from official land.
It’s just that Bai Shan’s luck is neither too good nor too bad.
He started working in early summer last year. According to convention, he would not receive his land until autumn, so he did not receive any subsidy that year.
He had no official land last year and should have received subsidies this year, but he was promoted to the Secretariat this year, so he will be allocated official land after this autumn. He is no longer in the Hanlin Academy, so he will not receive subsidies from the Hanlin Academy. He still has no income from official land this year.
Manbao thought about it for a moment and said, "I suddenly remembered that I earn much more than you."
Bai Shan said: "Our family doesn't rely on salaries to make a living."
He said without any modesty: "My family is not short of money."
The less wealthy Manbao and the cash-strapped Wei Zhi ignored his words and continued their discussion. "That's right. When the time comes, he'll have to apply for self-management of his official land. If he hands it over to the Ministry of Revenue, the harvest won't be high, and the tenants won't earn much either."
Wei Zhi nodded, and his official land was handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for management, and he received a fixed rent every year.
He could try to take over and manage it, but that would require very careful management.
The other party must not only be able to manage tenants, but also be able to farm, and more importantly, be fair and kind, otherwise it would be better to hand it over to the Ministry of Revenue;
But you can't be too kind, otherwise the official land will lose its original meaning.
Of course Wei Zhi has such a person under his command, and his old housekeeper is one of them.
But if the old housekeeper goes to manage the official land, what will happen to the family affairs?
Wei Zhi glanced at Zhou Man and began to think about his relatives...
Manbao was still urging Wei Zhi, "Sir Wei, I think it would be better to hand over these official fields to the officials to manage. That way the efficiency would be higher."
Wei Zhi simply shook his head and said with a smile, "I was thinking about this all the way back, but I dismissed it with just a thought."
Not only Manbao, but even Baishan couldn't understand, "Why? Aren't our official fields managed well enough?"
"Of course it's good, but that's just your family," Wei knew. "There aren't many official families in this world as kindhearted and rule-abiding as yours. Besides, it's better to trust the system than the people."
He said: "The system is more trustworthy than human heart."
On the way back, Wei Zhi was wondering whether this method could be promoted in the court?
Just a thought and he knew it was impossible!
First, not all officials have a family as harmonious as Zhou Man, brothers and sisters as capable as Zhou Man, or available stewards who can help them manage their official land;
Second, not all officials share Zhou Man’s sense of shared happiness and are willing to give up most of the benefits to the tenants.
Third, and most importantly, people’s hearts will change.
Wei Zhi looked at Zhou Man and Bai Shan quietly. He thought that now they could abide by the court's regulations and just do their best to manage the official land. When they left their jobs, they would return the land to the court.
But what about ten years from now, twenty years from now, or even longer?
When they get used to having this official land, and the tenants here get used to such a boss, when they leave, will they want to "buy" this official land, or will the tenants here find a way to make them buy the official land?
At the beginning of its founding, the Jin Dynasty owned a large amount of public land, but it lost a large amount of land every year.
The Ministry of Revenue always says that there is not enough official land to be distributed, and has been urging them to reduce the distribution of official land, but where did all the public land go?
Although the number of officials is increasing every year, many officials also die or retire every year. Overall, the number of officials has been in a relatively stable state, increasing steadily, but the increase is not large.
The amount of land at the beginning of the founding of the country was more than enough to support the official fields of officials.
The reason why it is not enough is that the official land has been occupied by others.
There are "malicious" encroachments and there are also "good-intentioned" encroachments.
But no matter which one it is, from a big picture perspective, this kind of encroachment will bring great harm to the country and the future people.
At present, the "good-intentioned" occupation seems to be for the benefit of the tenants who cultivate this land, but after ten or twenty years, when a new generation of owners comes, will they be able to continue to treat them well?
If not, how miserable will their lives be without the supervision of the court?
Therefore, it is impossible for Wei Zhi to promote this move vigorously, but he can try another way.
He doesn't trust people's hearts, but he believes in the system.
This matter cannot be handed over to individual officials, but can be handed over to an institution - the Ministry of Revenue.
Minister Liu, who had no land to farm and no time off for farming, had been working like crazy these past few days to combat the drought. It was a rare rain, so he took a break at home to rest, but he couldn't help but sneeze twice in succession. He gathered his clothes, looked out at the gloomy sky, and muttered, "It's a rare rainy day, and I caught a cold?"
See you at 4 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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