Chapter 390 I am willing to suffer losses (thanks to the reward from the book friend "Yoyo Luming")
The wheat in the field was still green. Old Zhou reached out and touched the thin husk on the wheat ears. The fine and dense spring rain gently wet his hands.
He looked down at the wheat roots in the wheat field that were rapidly absorbing the spring rain, and couldn't help but say happily, "This rain is a good thing."
Zhou Dalang wiped the rain that had swept onto his face and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, we came just in time. It's just in time for the wheat to be sorghum-fed."
Old Zhou spent a whole day walking through all the fields planted with winter wheat. Many people in the village came out in the rain to see the wheat fields like him.
The vast fields are dotted with people walking back and forth in straw raincoats.
On this day, many people in Luojiang County were drenched by the rain, and the happiest people among them were those who were walking in the fields and getting wet.
County Magistrate Yang, who was also drenched in the rain, was not very happy. He quickly walked into the main hall, took off his raincoat and threw it to his attendant. He casually took the towel handed to him by the servant and wiped it, then threw it into the servant's hand with some force.
The counselor who came out to greet him paused for a moment and asked hurriedly, "My Lord, is there something going on in the front office?"
"It's okay!" That's why you're even angrier, right?
Yang Heshu sat down on the chair, his brows furrowed. "Is the interest rate of one tael of silver at twelve wen per month high?"
The master said, "Not high."
"Not high. Why hasn't anyone come to borrow cattle on credit?" Yang Heshu asked. "It's been five days, and only six households in the entire Luojiang County have come to borrow cattle on credit. With the new round of spring plowing about to begin, no one is interested?"
The lawyer smiled and said, "Sir, why worry? For a poor family, even three or four cents, let alone three or four taels, is a big deal. If you really want to sell the cattle on credit, you might as well relax your requirements. I believe that in less than three days, the remaining cattle can be sold on credit."
"If we relax the rules any further, we'll be lending cattle on credit to the gentry."
The lawyer laughed and said, "Why not? Cows are used for farming anyway."
Yang Heshu glanced at his master indifferently.
The master's body stiffened, and he said with a stiff smile, "Sir?"
Yang Heshu flicked his robe and asked, "Do I look like an idiot?"
After saying that, he stood up and left.
The master froze and wanted to chase after him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, and his face turned red.
Yang Heshu's follower, Wan Tian, quickly caught up with him. "Master, why are you getting so angry?"
Yang Heshu snorted.
Wan Tian said, "Actually, I think what you said is correct. So many cows need a lot of fodder every day. If you can't sell them on credit, you must be upset, right?"
"What do you know?" Yang Heshu said angrily, "I sent so many cows here, do you think I'm doing some kind of resale business? Do you know that for every cow sold on credit, the county government and I lose money?"
"I don't mind them buying cattle on credit like the Zhou family did, and making a small profit from it. That's because they're poor, and I'm willing to take such a harmless loss," Yang Heshu said. "But what about giving the profit from the loss to the wealthy gentry?"
The doubt in Manda's mind was obvious, he didn't understand what he heard.
Yang Heshu slapped him on the head in frustration and said, "How can you be so stupid? You're worse than a child, and you studied with me for so many years."
Yang Heshu returned home and changed into fresh clothes before asking, "Do you know that child, the one called Manbao, who borrowed silver and exchanged it for copper coins to buy a cow? How much did I lose?"
Wan Tian looked confused and said, "Didn't the young master say that the county government borrowed silver and what we get back is also silver? Although there is a price difference between copper coins and silver, we actually didn't lose money."
"I say you're stupid, but you still don't believe me. We didn't lose money on the money we borrowed from the county government, but we did lose money on the cattle. When we bought these cattle, the county government and I paid silver, not copper coins!"
Yang Heshu said, "This batch of cattle I want to borrow on credit is all priced at cost, in silver. I didn't know there was such a big difference between silver and copper coins..."
Yang Heshu paused and said, "So, every cow we keep in the cowshed is losing money now."
What made him angry was that no one took advantage of him in such a loss-making business. It really made him so angry!
Wan Tian finally understood the relationship and couldn't help but feel anxious. "Then, young master, why did you specifically have people at the county government gate teach people who wanted to buy cattle on credit to first buy silver, and then exchange it for copper coins to buy the cattle? That, that's not just cheating you?"
"Not really," Yang Heshu said, feeling a little better after taking a sip of tea. "Although I did contribute a bit, the bulk of the money came from the county government, and it was the county government that was screwed. But at least the people benefited, didn't they?"
Wan Tian: ...Please forgive his stupidity, he really doesn't know the difference between the two periods. Isn't his young master the magistrate of Luojiang County now?
If you cheat the county government, aren't you cheating yourself?
"These people are poor. A cow is like having two more laborers, making their lives a little easier. But the gentry are not short of money. If the conditions are relaxed, they will definitely take all the cows without blinking an eye," Yang Heshu said. "Why should I suffer a loss while they take advantage?"
Wan Tian couldn't help but mutter, "It's all a loss anyway..."
"What do you know?" Yang Heshu knocked his head and said, "Some losses can be tolerated, and some can't. Luojiang County suffered a severe disaster last year, and taxes were only exempted for one year. This year, the autumn harvest still has to be taxed... Forget it, forget it, you won't understand even if I tell you."
"Then, young master, if no one comes to buy cattle on credit, what will happen to the cattle in the cowshed?"
"What else can we do? We can only divide it up."
"Ah?" Wan Tian opened his mouth wide.
Yang Heshu waved his hand and said, "Alright, on the way back just now, I heard the old official in the yamen say that with the arrival of this spring rain, spring plowing will begin again. Go, call Zhang Zhubu and the others, and have him notify the village heads. We can discuss the division of the cattle."
Manda closed his mouth and asked hesitantly, "Is it really a break?"
"No, keep these cattle for your own feeding," Yang Heshu said. "Distribute them to the various villages. This will at least ease the pressure of spring plowing."
As a county magistrate, his most important duty was to encourage agriculture and sericulture.
How to encourage people to study agriculture and sericulture?
In addition to going to the countryside to provide ideological education and encouragement to farmers, we sometimes also have to provide certain material and technical support.
Supplies, including but not limited to seeds, farm tools and oxen.
Seeds are generally supported on a large scale, and basically every family can get some. Of course, such activities vary depending on the situation in each county. At least as far as Manbao can remember, her family has never received any seeds distributed by the government.
As for agricultural tools, they will be provided to extremely poor families whose agricultural tools are severely damaged or who simply have no agricultural tools at all.
Such a valuable item as a plowing ox is generally the common property of the people in a village, and they take turns to use and care for it.
(End of this chapter)
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