At this moment, the villagers were gathered in an open space within the village, speculating amongst themselves.
"I don't know why the village head called us over. I still have chores to finish at home."
"Maybe it's about the workshop. Haven't you heard they're hiring?" another villager said mysteriously.
"Oh! Really? I've never heard of that. Is what you're saying reliable? How many people do you need to hire?" The villagers next to them stopped complaining and eagerly asked.
"How would I know? I just heard it from someone else." Upon hearing this, everyone began to speculate.
When the village head returned and saw the noisy scene before him, he frowned and immediately raised his voice to stop it, "Quiet! Quiet! It's only been a short while, and it's already in such a mess again. What kind of order is this!"
Li Laosan had been unable to contain himself any longer. Seeing the village headman's anger, he wasn't afraid at all and even dared to step forward, eagerly asking...
"Village head, what did you call us over for? Is the workshop hiring? Look at me, I'm very strong. It was a real loss for the workshop that they didn't hire me last time." He then patted his chest to show off.
Seeing his casual attitude, the village headman immediately got angry and said, "Li Laosan, why are you making such a fuss? If you say another word, you can go home."
Li Laosan looked resentful, but still obediently stood back down.
"Today is Meng Zhao's turn, and I have something to say to everyone, so please listen carefully."
Hearing that Meng Zhao was in trouble, everyone quieted down. After all, Meng Zhao was like a god of wealth in their eyes. Most families in the village either had someone working in the workshop or were supplying vegetables to Meng Zhao's shop. Even those who didn't have any of those jobs still wanted to have some connection with Meng Zhao.
Meng Zhao cleared his throat slightly and calmly stepped forward. "Fellow villagers, I've called you all here today not for the workshop, but for another matter."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than someone in the crowd shouted, "What is it? Can you make money from it?"
Meng Zhao smiled and continued, "As everyone knows, my workshop needs a lot of potatoes every day, but there are too few families in our village that grow potatoes. There's no way around it, so we always have to buy them from outside. But nothing from outside is as good as our own. If there's an opportunity to make money, we should let our fellow villagers make money too, right?"
As soon as Meng Zhao uttered these words, the villagers responded enthusiastically.
"Yes, things grown at home are definitely better than what you buy outside!"
"That's right. I was planning to plant more potatoes next year, otherwise other people would make all the money."
Seeing the enthusiastic villagers, Meng Zhao continued, "But the land in this village is limited. After planting staple crops, there isn't much land left for potatoes, which is a pity. However, there are large tracts of wasteland on the mountain behind our village, so the village head and I thought that everyone could form a team to participate in land reclamation, so that we could have more land to grow potatoes."
An older villager said, “Qing’an’s wife, your idea is good, but reclaiming wasteland is not an easy task. Even if we put all our strength into reclaiming the wasteland, the land tax is collected according to the size of the land. If someone has more land than others, they have to pay more grain tax. Even if we can harvest an extra bushel of grain at the end of the year, we won’t be able to rest all year round. Wouldn’t that ruin our health? It’s better to just stay on our own small plot of land and barely make ends meet.”
After hearing this, Meng Zhao glanced at the village head, who immediately understood and stepped forward to announce some new information.
"Uncle Li, don't worry! This year, in order to encourage land reclamation, the imperial court has issued a new decree that allows for the application of reduced land taxes for newly reclaimed land. Moreover, it is said that the county will even offer rewards to families who reclaim a large amount of land."
Upon hearing this, Uncle Chen was shocked and asked incredulously, "Ah! This... is this true?"
The village head immediately put on a stern face and said, "Hey! What are you talking about? Such a big matter, would I dare to scare you with this? I went to the county government office to find out for myself. If you don't believe me, you can go to the county government office and ask for yourself tomorrow."
"I believe it, I believe it, I'm just so happy!" Uncle Chen's face was flushed with excitement. He had many sons, and many who could work, so he had originally planned to send them to work in workshops to earn money. Now it seemed that even if they couldn't get into workshops, clearing land was a good option.
After all, no one can predict the future development of this workshop, but every inch of the reclaimed wasteland is their ancestral property, which can be passed down from generation to generation.
Among the crowd, reactions varied. Some villagers were overjoyed. They were mostly from families with many members and were not afraid of farming. At worst, they would just have to put in more effort.
Some villagers seemed somewhat disappointed. These families often lacked able-bodied laborers, and even if they were given good fertile land, they might not be able to plant crops, let alone cultivate wasteland.
At this point, the village head announced another matter.
"In addition, Meng Zhao, thinking of our village, used the money earned from the workshop to specially order a batch of farm tools. Anyone who wants to reclaim wasteland can come here to rent farm tools, which will save a lot of trouble when reclaiming wasteland."
At this moment, everyone's eyes widened, especially those villagers who had few family members and little strength. They were very excited because they knew that with the help of farm tools, the efficiency of land reclamation would be greatly improved, and even if they were not strong, they could do a lot more work.
Someone in the crowd asked loudly, "So how do you rent these farm tools?"
Meng Zhao replied, "These farm tools are free, but a deposit is required before use. After the planting season, everyone must ensure that the tools are returned untouched. Of course, some wear and tear from normal use is fine, but if the tools are damaged or lost, the deposit will not be refunded."
The deposit plan was jointly decided by Meng Zhao and the village head. After all, free things are often not cherished, and not all farmers are kind-hearted. If someone says the farm tools are broken or lost when they are returned, they can't exactly search their homes, can they? A deposit would be better, as it would prevent many dishonest people from using them and would encourage farmers to take better care of them.
"Of course! If I rented farm tools, I would definitely use them carefully, like they were precious treasures," a villager said, patting his chest.
"From now on, I will put the farm tools in the room where I sleep every day after I finish using them, so that no one will dare to take them away."
Everyone burst into laughter. The two major problems of land tax and farm tools had been solved, and everyone's enthusiasm for land reclamation was greatly increased.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
