Chapter 377 Loan
Manbao asked Yang Heshu curiously, "Aren't the land divided by your family divided into mountains?"
"...No." He said carefully, "It's the wasteland that's being divided."
Manbao expressed sympathy, "The wasteland is worse than the mountain. Look at this wasteland at the foot of the mountain, which was also allocated to my brother. It's covered with rocks and weeds. The trees on the mountain can be used as firewood, and the good trees can be used to build houses, furniture, and farm tools, but this wasteland is basically useless."
Yang Heshu opened his mouth, wanting to say that the wasteland he was talking about was not like this, but could be cultivated.
But as a newly appointed county magistrate, he felt that he could not stir up resentment among the people under his rule, so he remained silent.
He calmed down and asked, "Where do you plant your mulberry and hemp?"
Generally speaking, the land allocated to people is relatively poor. If there is enough labor, beans will be planted. If not, mulberry and hemp will be planted.
Bai Shanbao said, "We don't grow mulberry trees here, we only grow hemp."
Manbao nodded and said, "We grow hemp in the fields and at the foot of the mountain, and that's enough for our family."
"Hemp isn't worth much, so why not grow mulberry trees?"
Manbao rolled her eyes. She had never collected mulberry trees, and had never even seen silkworms. She had only seen descriptions of them in agricultural books. The teacher also said that people in the Yizhou area mostly planted mulberry trees.
Shu brocade is famous throughout the world.
It's just that their place is remote, and only a few owners raise silkworms, and most of them only for their own needs.
Ultimately, it’s because there are too many mountains and too little land.
This is what the gentleman said.
Yang Heshu had just arrived and did not understand this. He just thought that the former county magistrate and the local villagers were making trouble. He had never heard of dividing the mountains among the people as land.
Isn’t that from the imperial court?
But this is not the most important thing. Yang Heshu asked: "If you don't raise silkworms, where will the silk you have to pay every year come from?"
"We don't pay silk, we pay cloth and linen." Manbao calculated the family's taxes for her father every year and was very familiar with them. She said, "Each person pays 25 feet of cloth and 3 pounds of linen."
Yang Heshu rubbed his forehead and asked, "If you want to use silk, doesn't that mean you can only buy it from other places?"
"Why do we need silk?" Manbao looked at him curiously. "We only use cotton at home. My clothes are made by weaving cotton and linen together. That way they are very soft."
Yang Heshu looked at Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang.
Bai Shanbao said, "My family's main business is in Longzhou, where we grow cotton, linen and mulberry trees."
Bai Erlang said, "My clothes are all made by my mother. My mother has them."
Yang Heshu frowned and said, "You should plant some mulberry trees. Shu brocade is very famous. If you get involved in it, you can make a lot of money."
When Manbao heard about making money, he became excited and asked, "How to make Shu brocade?"
"First, you have to plant mulberry trees, then raise silkworms. After the silkworms produce silk, you can weave it into brocade. A piece of Shu brocade can sell for over three thousand coins. The best ones are worth a fortune."
Manbao exclaimed, "A piece of Shu brocade can be exchanged for a cow!"
This conversion made Yang Heshu stunned for a moment, then he reacted and asked, "You want to buy a cow?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly. "We only have one cow in our village. By the time it's our turn, the spring plowing will be almost over. It would be great if we could buy a cow ourselves. Unfortunately, we suffered a disaster last year. Now that spring has just begun, the winter wheat harvest is still uncertain. My father doesn't dare to spend the family money. He is so stingy. The family is so busy that he can't even afford to buy meat. He only gives us eggs."
Yang Heshu: "...Didn't the imperial court exempt taxes last year?"
"Yes, but there's still not much food left at home."
Yang Heshu hesitated and said, "But from what I heard, your family's situation in the village seems to be pretty good?"
"Yes, my family's wheat was good last year, so the harvest was slightly better than others."
Yang Heshu fell silent. If the situation of Manbao's family was considered good, then the situation of other families was even worse.
Along the way, Yang Heshu also learned about last year's harvest. They all said it was not good, and now they have to eat it mixed with bran.
But spring plowing has just begun. After the wheat is planted and a cold wave has passed, it will be time to plant beans and sow rice seeds. After the beans are planted, we can harvest the winter wheat and then prepare to plant rice seedlings.
If you keep putting one thing on top of another and only eat coarse food, even a strong body will not be able to bear it.
Yang Heshu smiled and asked Manbao, "Can you take me for a walk in the village?" It was almost time for lunch, and he wanted to see what the villagers were eating.
Manbao waved his hand and said, "It's no use for you to go back to the village now. Everyone is in the fields. You can only find children and the elderly. I will take you to the fields."
"Aren't you going home for lunch?"
"No," Manbao said, "Just take some food from the fields. It saves time and effort. Why should we go home?"
Bai Shanbao also jumped off the wooden board to follow.
When Bai Erlang saw this, he immediately carried his backpack and followed. He also wanted to go play and didn't want to stay here to supervise.
There are not many people working in this area. Most people are working in the Big Bay and Small Bay areas, where the land is the best.
Because the rice production was so bad last year, everyone subconsciously planted more wheat and less rice this year.
Everyone went to Qili Village. When they got near Dayuan, they saw people working in the fields, dotted with people.
Yang Heshu couldn't help but stop. The people here were working differently from what he had just seen, but similar to what he had seen in the past two days.
The plows were all pulled by people, and it took at least two laborers just to pull and hold the plow.
It would be fine if there were two adults in the family, one to pull the plow and the other to hold the plow. Otherwise, the woman would have to hold the plow, while a group of children would follow behind to work. The efficiency could not be considered high.
If there were cows...
Yang Heshu asked Manbao, "A cow costs three thousand coins?"
"A little more, but it's not easy to buy." Since Manbao wanted to buy a cow, he naturally asked Liu for help. She said, "There are very few cows at the cattle market, and not many transferred from the government. Only Madam Liu is so capable that she can buy three at a time."
Yang Heshu nodded.
He asked, "If there were cows, would your family buy them?"
Manbao was confused, "My father doesn't want to spend money at this time."
Yang Heshu knew what her father was worried about. After thinking for a moment, she said, "What if the government is willing to pay on credit first?"
Manbao's eyes lit up and he asked, "Is this even possible? Does that require interest?"
"You also know about interest?"
"Of course I know. I also know about loan sharking. People in casinos love to lend money at high interest rates. They are all bad people!"
Yang Heshu nodded. "Lending money at high interest rates is illegal, but the government won't prosecute unless the people sue. Unlike casinos, the government won't charge high interest rates, but they still have to pay some. Otherwise, there will be competition. Who will be given the money and who will be left out?"
Manbao began to dig into his own small treasury and asked, "When will I pay it back, and how much interest will I get?"
(End of this chapter)
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