Chapter 210 What is this rare thing called a farm?
"A farm? What the hell is that?"
As such curious words spread with the wind, more and more people gathered around Sang Zhixia.
Some were genuinely curious, while others came just to join in the fun and listen to something new. In short, those who came and listened for a few words couldn't move their feet. Those who were squeezed on the periphery even stood on tiptoe and stretched their necks, trying every possible way to squeeze into the crowd just to hear more clearly.
Sang Zhixia raised her voice slightly: "The farm I'm talking about is actually to integrate everyone's land into a piece, and then plant and manage it in a unified way. The work in the fields will still be done as usual, but the harvest from the fields will definitely be double or more of what it is now, and..."
"From what you said, isn't it just that we will give you half of the food we grow on our own land?"
Someone hurriedly interrupted Sang Zhixia and taunted her, "Oh, you're taking us for fools, aren't you? We can't even produce much from our few acres of land, and you're giving us half. We've been working hard for a year, and in the end, aren't we going to starve to death?"
"That's right, and what you said about doubling the harvest is just empty talk. I've been digging for half my life, but I've never seen anyone dig out 700 to 800 kilograms of grain per acre."
Sang Zhixia was not angry at being refuted. She smiled and said, "Uncle, you have never seen such a good harvest in your family's fields, but don't I have a ready-made example in my family's fields?"
"If you don't believe me, why don't you ask someone who saw it with their own eyes?"
Everyone who had the privilege of witnessing this spoke up in support. Sang Zhixia cleared her throat and continued, "I'm not greedy for the output of your family's three or five acres of land. My family has hundreds of acres of land, so we really don't need that little bit of food."
This is true.
There are many large tracts of wasteland. Since the Xu family has accumulated the wealth they have by reclaiming wasteland, they can just continue with their previous practice and continue reclaiming wasteland. There is no need to deceive people about this.
Those who were skeptical stayed to listen, while those who sneered walked away with ridicule.
Sang Zhixia acted as if she hadn't noticed anything and continued to talk to herself, "I want to continue to open up wasteland and integrate the farmland in everyone's hands. I'm not greedy for other people's land, I'm greedy for people."
"Everyone can see that I have too much land and need a lot of manpower. It's not impossible to hire people to do the work piecemeal, but it's inconvenient for me. If we can consolidate the farmland and gather all the available manpower in one place, it would be much more convenient if we had a fixed process."
Sang Zhixia looked at the thoughtful group in front of her and raised her index finger. "After you join the farm, I will teach you how to use tools that save more effort. When we start farming next year, I will distribute rice seedlings to everyone who joins."
"Using the seedlings I gave you and the method I taught you, by this time next year, the harvest from the land won't be divided in half as that uncle just said, but divided proportionally."
Aunt Wang, who was the most fascinated by the story, asked curiously, "What does proportional dividend mean?"
"What I mean is, if the farmland you use is yours, then I will only take 30% of the harvest, and the remaining 70% will belong to you. I don't want any more than that."
"If the farmland you use belongs to the Xu family, then you will be the ones working the land this year. When the harvest comes, the Xu family will take 50% of the harvest."
Seeing Aunt Wang take a sharp breath and look frightened, Sang Zhixia smiled.
She said, "Auntie Wang, think about how much grain my family harvests from our fields each year, and then add that to the 50% I mentioned. Is that still too much?"
The yield per mu of land for ordinary families does not exceed 200 kilograms, but the Xu family is different.
The Xu family's land had the best harvest this year, with the highest yield per acre reaching over 630 kilograms of grain!
Fifty percent of six hundred is more than three hundred kilograms!
Even if the output doesn't reach 600 kilograms, 400 or 500 is still a lot!
Aunt Wang and others had been working in the Xu family's fields, watching large baskets of rice being harvested from the fields. They saw with their own eyes the rice being weighed on the thresher, and there was no room for falsehood.
Someone with quick thinking immediately raised his hand and said, "If my family's six acres of land were incorporated into the farm you mentioned, would you really only take 30% of the grain harvested from these six acres?"
Sang Zhixia nodded: "Words are not enough, we can make a written agreement."
"But I also have conditions."
The person asking the question pressed on anxiously, "What are the conditions?"
"The condition is that, while tending to their own fields as I instruct, those who join the farm need to participate in cultivating the farm."
Sang Zhixia paused and said, "Most of those who can come here to work are from families with many people and little land. They can't afford the farming tax for land reclamation, so they have no choice but to go out and do odd jobs. I know that your family's land is well managed and some of you have more than enough energy. Besides, it's not in vain for you to come and help the farm."
"I will set up a clock-in system for those who participate in farming, mainly recording the length of time they work and how much work they do."
"Of course, I won't pay you for this work, but I will provide you with two full meals a day. And when the autumn harvest comes, you can share the harvested grain according to how much work you've done and how much land you've worked. This is what I call a profit-sharing system."
Sang Zhixia glanced at the various expressions on everyone's faces with a smile, then said, "For those who have come to help since the spring plowing began and clocked in more than 25 days in a month, I am willing to give out 40% of all the proceeds from the plowing and share it equally with everyone who participated."
This statement is actually somewhat similar to the tenant farmers who rented land from landlords to cultivate.
But the landlord takes a larger commission, and the income from farming by the tenants is far less than that of the Xu family. The two cannot be compared at all.
It doesn't take many people to work on one acre of land, two or three are more than enough.
If these two or three people work hard to take care of ten acres of land, and the yield per acre is 500 to 600 yuan, and 40% of the total yield of the ten acres is evenly distributed among these two or three people, that would be an astonishing amount.
What's more, if you are willing to put in the effort, you can get more!
What farmers are least afraid of is hard work!
Seeing that the atmosphere was almost set and many people were interested, Sang Zhixia struck while the iron was hot and said, "I know that working for a year without paying you is not an easy task for everyone, and it's inevitable that you will have concerns."
"So, as long as anyone joins the farm, I'm willing to sign and seal a document with them. As long as they follow my instructions and don't act on their own, slack off, or shirk their responsibilities, if next autumn's harvest is less than what I promised you today, I'll pay the difference out of my own pocket, not a cent less, to the affected individuals."
"But if you think clearly and join me on the farm, it's like you're temporarily taking over the Xu family's rice bowl. You have to listen to me on how to do things. I don't want someone who's too opinionated. What if they're just scheming and waiting for me to compensate them next year?"
Sang Zhixia made a playful remark that caused the crowd to burst into laughter. The dusk fell and enveloped Sang Zhixia's whole body. She smiled and patiently explained to the people who came to ask what was going on, repeating it over and over again without seeming to get tired of it.
Uncle Xu came at some point.
He stood behind the old man and listened quietly, various thoughts flashing through his mind one after another, and finally, his eyes were filled with emotion.
"Father, if our Xia girl's farm is truly successful, the Xu family will definitely not be in the same situation as it is now by this time next year."
It is no exaggeration to say that this is a revolutionary change.
The old man listened to the whole thing quietly, and was amazed by Sang Zhixia's novel statement. There was an indescribable gentleness and kindness flowing between his eyebrows.
"This girl has hidden secrets in her heart. This is a blessing for the Xu family."
"As your uncle, don't just hang around in the brewery all the time. Come over and help out when you have time. There are so many things to do, how can a young girl like Xia handle it?"
Uncle Xu opened his mouth but could not argue. For a moment, he felt that the old man's love for him had really shifted to the horizon.
He spends more time in the brewery, but there are also serious things going on there!
He had just developed two new types of fine wine according to the recipe given by Sang Zhixia, and the buyers in the county were waiting for him to deliver the goods with piles of money in hand.
There was also the matter of opening his own pub in the city. He was clearly busy with all sorts of things, his heels hitting his head...
Uncle Xu muttered quietly, not daring to speak louder. The old man narrowed his eyes subtly: "What did you say?"
Uncle Xu was convinced and said seriously, "Yes, father is right."
"I'm their third uncle, so I should do more work. I'll come and help."
The old man was satisfied.
Uncle Xu's face was filled with sullenness. He scratched his nose and lowered his voice, "By the way, what happened to Xu Yu?"
"I just came back from outside after dealing with those thieves. When I walked in, I saw him kneeling in the east room. What did he do wrong?"
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