Chapter 85 Demanding
The journey from Luzhou to Biyang County would take five days if they weren't in a hurry. By the time they returned to Biyang County, it was already the eighteenth day of the first lunar month. Upon hearing that Li Xiaoxiao had returned, Liu hurriedly called her over and asked about Meng Guanqi's situation. Learning that her son had successfully enrolled in Wanshan Academy and had decided not to return until August, even though Liu was somewhat prepared, she couldn't help but feel tears welling up in her eyes, choking back sobs: "This is the first time Qi'er has been so far away from me in all his years..."
She gestured to indicate the baby's size: "He was only this tiny when he was born, and I raised him day by day."
She wiped away her tears: "Everyone in the manor laughs at me, saying I don't know the rules. What kind of principal wife personally feeds her son? I don't listen. He's my only child. He'll grow up in the blink of an eye. How many more years can I hold him?"
Li Xiaoxiao wholeheartedly agreed with this statement: "Yes, they've grown up so quickly, what's wrong with hugging them more? We'll be lucky if we can hug them for three years."
Liu burst into laughter through her tears: "You silly girl, you dare to say anything—" But being acknowledged by her made her feel much better.
Taking the opportunity, Li Xiaoxiao asked, "Madam, the eldest young master has gone to study in another city. Will you arrange another job for me?"
After a moment's thought, Liu looked at Li Xiaoxiao and asked, "Do you have any ideas? Or do you want to go back to the kitchen to continue helping Mama Mao?"
Li Xiaoxiao shook her head: "Actually, there isn't much work in the kitchen, and Aunt Lin is afraid that I'll take her job, so I think I'd better not go back."
Knowing her personality, Liu spoke frankly, not intending to discredit Lin Sao: "So where do you want to go?"
Li Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up: "Madam, I heard that the master has three hundred acres of official land. Last year, he didn't have any income because he was fined, but the time for the confiscation has come, and he can get it back this year."
Liu thought for a moment and said, "That's right. The matter of the official land should be handled by Steward Zhao. Why did you suddenly ask about this?"
Li smiled and said, "Don't I have an ox? Anyway, I don't have any work to do right now. Why don't you give me twenty acres of land, Madam? I'll try planting something."
Liu was shocked: "What? Farming? You, you actually want to farm?" She looked at her face, which had only managed to lighten a little because she hadn't gone out much due to illness, and could already imagine it turning as dark as last year's charcoal under the scorching sun: "How did you come up with the idea of farming?"
Farming is hard work. It's scorching hot and tiring, and you get all dirty and smelly. Back in the manor, the servants who were in charge of managing the estate were the least valued. Everyone would rather find a cleaning job in the manor than go to the estate. Yet Li Xiaoxiao actually volunteered to farm.
Li Xiaoxiao's reason was perfectly plausible: "We have such a large family, how can we survive without food? What if the heavens are uncooperative and there's a flood like in Yizhou, then we'll have nothing to eat..."
Liu was both shocked and moved, and couldn't help but take her hand: "Good child, I know you always think of the family, but you have already helped the family so much, there is really no need for you to suffer the hardship of farming."
Li Xiaoxiao thought to herself, how could this be bitter? I can go out every day under the guise of farming. Who would want to be locked up in the yard all the time? But her words were sweeter and sweeter: "I don't think it's bitter at all. On the contrary, I think farming is very interesting. I can witness the crops from sowing to harvest. Isn't that much better than not doing anything productive in the government office? Besides, didn't the Ministry of Agriculture distribute a high-yield rice variety to our county last year? I want to try planting it and see if I can grow it better than the villagers."
She looked very serious, her eyes wide and round, her expression full of sincerity and determination, which moved Liu to tears. She immediately took out a purse and gave it to her: "I should have given you this a long time ago. Before the New Year, it was because the family was not well-off... Although we are now considered a small family, we will not be short of the rewards we deserve."
Li Xiaoxiao held the heavy purse, which contained at least twenty taels of silver. Liu was really generous to her!
She chuckled, "Thank you, Madam! The young master also gave me a tip!"
Liu smiled and said, "He is your master, so you should give him whatever you want. But what he gives him and what I give me are not contradictory."
When Meng Guanqi mentioned the reward money, Li Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up, remembering the fabric she had brought back: "Madam, wait for me a moment, I brought some things for everyone in Luzhou."
She ran back to her room and brought over a small bamboo basket piled high with the fabrics she had bought: "Madam, there are so many cheap fabrics over there! I picked out a really pretty one for you!"
Liu looked at the cloth in her hand in surprise, reached out and touched it, and clicked her tongue in amazement: "It's really soft, and the pattern is beautiful. It's hard on you. You went to Luzhou to send Qi Ge'er to school and remembered to bring me cloth."
Granny Qi chimed in, "Xiaoxiao is so thoughtful; she remembered to bring back a copy of something nice for Madam."
Li Xiaoxiao replied, "Granny Qi, I brought one for you too."
She turned the cloth out and distributed it to them: "Here is a bolt of indigo. You and Mama Mao can share it. This piece is for the eldest young lady, this one is for Aunt Luo, and this one is for Liuzhi, Xingge, and Meixiang. Although it's not much, it's enough to make a dress."
Finally, she picked up the light blue robe with bamboo patterns at the bottom: "This was bought for the young master. I don't know how to sew, so Madam can have someone make one and send it to the young master to wear."
The generous donation of fabric truly surprised everyone and brought smiles to their faces.
Before the New Year, because the family was short of money, no one had new clothes to wear. Unexpectedly, Li Xiaoxiao bought cloth to make clothes for all the women in the inner courtyard, which made up for the regret before the New Year.
Touching the thick fabric, Mao's mother sighed, "I never thought I'd be able to enjoy Xiaoxiao's blessings too."
Granny Qi said, "That's right, I also benefited from your kindness. It's good that she still remembers me."
The room was filled with smiling women. Meng Liniang touched the soft fabric in her hands; the floral pattern was elegant and fresh, just what she liked. She looked at it from left to right and suddenly said, "We all have some. Xiaoxiao, what kind did you choose?"
Mao's mother rummaged through her basket and found it empty. She was stunned: "You didn't buy any for yourself?"
Li smiled and said, "I bought them, but I didn't buy any fabric to make the skirts. I'm going to go farming, so wearing skirts is inconvenient. I just bought two sets of clothes for the servants."
She found it too much trouble and bought ready-made clothes, since she doesn't know how to make clothes anyway.
Granny Qi sighed, "You really have good fortune but don't enjoy it, you're not willing to suffer. Why not live a comfortable life instead of going to farm?"
Her son, Qi Hui, now manages 100 mu of land belonging to the Meng family in the suburbs of Beijing. Although 90% of the land has been rented out, the family cultivates 10 mu for their own food. They also have to manage the flowers, trees, and plants in the yard and grow some vegetables. Occasionally, Qi Hui sends letters complaining about how hard farming is and how he has suffered from heatstroke several times, spending a lot of money on doctors.
Granny Qi knew what he meant. He didn't want to stay in the capital to manage the estate anymore. He wanted to work for Magistrate Meng in Biyang County, but he had no choice in the matter. How could he choose the job his master assigned? There was no one he could trust in the capital anymore. If he could find another job, then the estate would have to be managed by him.
She didn't mention Qi Hui's intention to come to Liu's place, for fear that Liu would feel embarrassed.
Although Qi Hui couldn't come, Granny Qi heard him complain and knew that farming was hard work. Li Xiaoxiao had made great contributions to the family. Even though the young master had gone to study, she could have easily lived a comfortable life in the inner courtyard, but she didn't. She insisted on farming.
Does she need to use all her strength to find peace?
But Mao's mother knew Li Xiaoxiao better than anyone else, so she gave her a disapproving look but didn't expose her.
What other reason could there be? The only reason she farms is because she can't keep her in captivity!
She's as stubborn as a mule, more mischievous than a monkey. If you lock her up for two days, she acts like the sky is falling. But now she can go out and farm. Just you wait, you won't find her anywhere in the house anymore.
However, considering that she had given her fabric to make clothes, she decided not to expose her little trick.
She just doesn't like being cooped up at home. Anyway, she has the ability to cause trouble and the ability to resolve it, so she turns a blind eye.
So Li Xiaoxiao skipped and hopped out to ask Steward Zhao for land.
Steward Zhao had just reclaimed the land and planned to recruit tenant farmers again as Magistrate Meng had instructed, while also lowering the land rent. When he heard that Li Xiaoxiao wanted twenty mu of land, he was surprised: "Do you really know how to farm?"
Li Xiaoxiao honestly shook her head: "I don't know how~"
Butler Zhao was embarrassed: "Why are you getting involved if you don't know anything about it?"
Li smiled and said, "I can ask around. Besides, farming is just about sowing, fertilizing, weeding, and harvesting. I just don't know the planting season. I can ask others when the time comes!"
Steward Zhao was skeptical: "Are you sure you want twenty mu? If you are, I will rent it to you according to the standard for ordinary tenant farmers and charge you 30% of the land rent."
Li Xiaoxiao was taken aback: "Three-tenths tax? I remember that other tenants rented land to landlords forty or fifty percent of the land, but the adults only take thirty percent?"
Steward Zhao sighed: "This is the master's official land. No matter how much is harvested, it goes directly into our family's treasury without paying taxes. The master originally wanted to collect only 10% of the land rent, but we are new here. If we go too far, we are worried that the tenant farmers will be dissatisfied with the local landlords, and that will cause many disputes. So we had no choice but to collect 30% of the land rent..."
Landlords also need to pay taxes on rent. According to the laws of Dawu, the tax rate is one-tenth. Generally, landlords collect 40% to 50% of the land rent from tenants, of which 10% is to be handed over to the government. If Magistrate Meng lowers the rent too much, it will cause dissatisfaction among the tenants towards wealthy households. In order to maintain peace and stability in the county, he had no choice but to set a rule of 30% of the land rent.
The difference is only 10%, and the amount of land involved is not large, so it will not affect the local landlords' ability to collect rent.
Even if it's only a 10% reduction, it can still yield two or three more bushels of grain per mu. Upon hearing this news, farmers lined up at the county government office before dawn to request land rental.
Biyang County was originally sparsely populated with abundant land, and there were many uncultivated wastelands everywhere. Why then did people still need to rent land from landlords and the county magistrate? The reason is simple: the county magistrate's official land was the best quality farmland in the entire Biyang County. The soil was fertile, irrigation was convenient, and what was rare was that the terrain was flat, divided into one-acre grids, with a total of 300 acres connected in one piece, next to a large river. Apart from the county magistrate's official land, most of the remaining good land was in the hands of landlords. Biyang County is mountainous, and almost every village is built on the mountainside. Top-quality farmland was scarce, medium-quality farmland was moderate, and low-quality farmland was the majority. Therefore, when land was distributed in the villages, it was a mixture of top-quality, medium-quality, and low-quality farmland. Low-quality farmland was the most abundant, and it was mostly sandy soil, which was difficult to retain water and fertilizer. Villagers generally used the low-quality farmland to grow hemp and weave silk and cloth.
Yes, in addition to paying grain, people also had to pay silk or cloth. Besides that, there were also poll taxes, fire loss taxes, and corvée labor, all weighing heavily on the people. No one in the family was lazy, but because there was little arable land, the soil was barren, the seeds were not plentiful, and the harvest was also small. After deducting the taxes to be paid each year, there was hardly any grain left. They almost had to rely on wild vegetables mixed with coarse grains to make a porridge to survive.
When the harvest from their own land is too low, farmers naturally turn their attention to the fertile fields of landlords. Some with plenty of labor would rather leave their own land fallow than not rent a few acres of superior land to cultivate. Although half of the grain would be taken as rent, the remaining half would still yield more than what their own land produced. Gradually, many people became unwilling to tend to their inferior land. Without cultivation and maintenance, the overgrown weeds would absorb the already scarce nutrients and fertilizers from the land, and over time, the land would only become more and more desolate.
This almost created a vicious cycle. Because the land was poor and could not yield grain, farmers had no choice but to rent land from landlords. The land was left unattended and no one maintained it, so it was even less likely to grow good grain and could only continue to be abandoned. However, in the county government's records, this land was not actually wasteland, but rather low-grade land that had to be taxed.
So the people of Biyang County were caught in a vicious cycle: the landlords' land became richer and their pockets fuller, while their own taxes piled up and they became poorer and poorer.
What's even more ruthless is that the previous magistrates used Biyang County as a springboard for officialdom, recording inferior land as medium-grade land and medium-grade land as superior land, directly doubling the taxes on the people, making it harder than climbing to heaven to turn their lives around.
However, Magistrate Meng cannot solve this predicament immediately; he can only proceed step by step.
Because Li Xiaoxiao was a family member, Steward Zhao gave her priority in being allocated twenty mu of land in Crescent Bay, less than two li east of the city.
The moat water flows from Crescent Bay. Magistrate Meng's 300 mu of official farmland is located downstream of Crescent Bay, right next to the river. A dike half a person high was built on the river, with irrigation openings on the dike. When water is needed, the sandbags in the openings are simply removed, and the water immediately flows into the fields, which is very convenient.
Li Xiaoxiao didn't expect that the twenty mu of land would be rejected by Magistrate Meng in less than half a day. There were just too many tenants queuing up to rent the land. In the end, Steward Zhao only managed to secure ten mu for her. The remaining two hundred and ninety mu were divided into fifty-eight portions, each five mu, and the farmers in the queue would draw lots. Those who drew lots would rent five mu, and those who didn't could only be considered unlucky and would have another chance next year.
With a 10% reduction in land rent for five acres, farmers could harvest more than a bushel of grain, enough for their families to eat with chaff and wild vegetables for a month or two. How could they not feel regret?
Li Xiaoxiao also felt a great sense of regret; it was only ten mu of land, not much at all.
After returning to his office, Magistrate Meng asked Liu, "What happened to Li Xiaoxiao? Why did you let her go to farm?"
Liu relayed Li Xiaoxiao's words to Magistrate Meng: "She's such a kind and honest girl, always thinking of our family in everything she does."
Magistrate Meng hesitated for a moment: "Qi'er once asked me to tutor her more, but if she goes to farm, won't she fall behind again?"
Madam Liu retorted, "Why force a cow to drink water when it doesn't want to? She doesn't like studying; it's good enough that she can read. Do you expect her to take the imperial examinations to become a scholar or a graduate?"
Magistrate Meng sighed, "She has been kind to our family. We not only didn't reward her, but we even made her farm. If word gets out, won't people say we're ungrateful?"
Liu said, "She's doing what she likes, how can that be considered us forcing her?"
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