flstandardbreds Chapter 81: Tenant Farmers
Chapter 81: Tenant Farmers
What Yu Qingshan wanted to talk about was nothing else but planting sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn. "Qingshan Temple has two more farms. Master Xiao, could you share some seeds with me, the Taoist priest?"
Of course, I'm not asking for it for free. I'm buying it. How much silver do you think is appropriate, Mr. Xiao?"
"I can give you the seeds, and I won't charge you any money, but I need you to do me a favor," Xiao Li said, pausing. "Master, please help me."
"I wonder what it is?" Yu Qingshan did not agree immediately.
If he was asked to help, he would agree without hesitation, but he could not and dared not do what his master asked him to do.
"Exchange the silver notes into gold and silver." While speaking, Xiao Li took out the silver notes from the space.
A hint of surprise flashed across Yu Qingshan's eyes. He didn't expect that he would use the ability of telekinesis in front of him.
The last time he saw such magical skills was in the turbulence of time and space. Seeing it again after many years, he was still shocked.
"咚咚-"
Seeing that he was distracted, Xiao Li tapped the table lightly with his fingers.
He came back to his senses, a rare look of embarrassment on his face, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Master Xiao. I can agree to this matter on Master's behalf."
With Master’s current status, it’s just a matter of words. I believe Master won’t refuse, right?
After all, they don’t have to pay anything this time. Just help to exchange the silver notes into gold and silver, and they can get the seeds of two farms. No matter how you look at it, Qingshan Temple has got a great deal.
If what Young Master Xiao said is true, the yield of those three kinds of grains is so high, and if they are promoted, I wonder how many people can be fed.
Even if natural disasters or man-made calamities strike again, as long as the granaries in various places are full, more people can get through those difficult days, and the Great Zhou will not repeat the same mistakes.
Xiao Li pushed the silver notes to him, which totaled to more than three hundred thousand or four hundred thousand taels.
The bulk of it was the "food allowance" he had given before, and about 20,000 taels was the previous income of Nan'an Bookstore.
Obviously, Yu Qingshan also knew that most of these banknotes belonged to him before. He nodded and put them away naturally.
In order to get the seeds as soon as possible, Yu Qingshan left that night.
On the third day after they moved into the farm, the people who rented the land received the news and all of them flocked to the house.
Xiao Shugen and others are not good at dealing with so many people, but Lin Qing can.
However, he was a man and a widower, and most of the people who came were men, so it was not easy for him to show up. In the end, Xiao Li took Lu Yuan to meet the people who came.
They had just walked to the small door of the main hall from the back, and before they went in, they heard the sound of people talking inside.
"Isn't Qingshan Temple still in good condition? Why did this manor suddenly sell it off?"
"The Taoist priests say that the owner of the village is a good man and won't exploit the tenant farmers at will. I don't know if it's true or not."
"This... should be true, right? The Taoist priests have never lied to us. They have rented out their land to us at a low price over the years. Even if it's fake, we can't blame them!"
"You're right. We all understand the logic, but who wouldn't worry about the new owner raising the rent? Life has been tough for us, and we've finally gotten a little better these past few years. If things suddenly go back to how they were before, what are we going to do?"
"Whose family isn't like this? We'll all talk nicely when we meet the new owner. I hope he's really like what the Taoist priest said."
"Alas! This is the only way!"
……
At the back of the main hall, Xiao Li and Lu Yuan exchanged a glance. Seeing that her husband looked worried, Xiao Li took his hand and squeezed it, then lowered his head and whispered in his ear, "Don't be afraid, Yuan'er. I'm here to protect you."
Lu Yuan naturally knew that he would protect her, but she was worried about him. "There seem to be a lot of people here. Should we call Uncle San and Uncle Dahe?"
When he was in the village, although he was not very sociable, he knew everything he needed to know.
When he was young, a landlord next door almost got into trouble because of raising the rent.
The landlord actually didn't want to raise the rent, but someone spread the rumor, and it spread to ten people, and then to a hundred people. The tenants who rented the landlord's land came to his house anxiously to ask for an explanation.
It was probably similar to this at the time. The tenant farmers didn't listen to the landlord's explanation at all. They pushed and shoved each other. Finally, the landlord fell to the ground and was almost trampled to death by the crowd.
There were so many people inside, but there were only two of them. If the tenant farmers pushed them, they would probably fall down.
If there were more people crowding behind them, they would easily get into trouble.
Xiao Li is very powerful, so he is not worried about this problem, but his husband doesn't know that he is really worried about himself.
His heart warmed, and he nodded gently, "Then Yuan'er, go call Uncle San and Uncle Dahe, okay? I'll go in and take a look first. If anything goes wrong, I'll run away, okay?"
"Then you must be careful!" Lu Yuan hugged him, then turned around to call for help.
When he was out of sight, the smile in Xiao Li's eyes faded, and he walked into the main room in the front yard with an expressionless face.
The originally noisy main room suddenly became quiet when he appeared, and everyone looked at him nervously.
Xiao Li glanced around, taking in the dark, weathered faces. He calmly found a chair and sat down, then looked up at them. "I heard you all wanted to see me?"
Everyone nodded, looking at each other, and finally a man who looked to be about fifty years old stood up.
He subconsciously straightened his back before speaking, "You are the new owner of Zhuangzi, right?"
Xiao Li nodded, "Yes."
"Hello, sir. We are all tenant farmers on the farm. We heard there's a new owner, so we came to meet him and ask..." Zhang Daniu looked at him nervously, "Is the rent still collected the same way as before?"
Qingshan Temple rented the land to them, and they had to pay taxes on the harvest first, and the rest would be divided equally between them and Qingshan Temple in 70% and 30%.
They own 70% and Qingshan Temple owns 30%.
For other farms that were better off, the landlord took six parts of the harvest, the tenant farmers took four parts, and they also had to pay the taxes themselves.
If they encountered a black-hearted boss, not only did they have to pay taxes themselves, but the boss also took 70%, 80%, or even 90% of the harvest. The remaining harvest was not enough for the tenant farmers to eat after paying taxes.
Even so, they had to rent the fields from those farms to farm, otherwise they would not even have enough food to eat.
But if the harvest is bad, not only may they lose everything after paying taxes, but those unscrupulous landlords may even ask them to pay for food, or they will not rent the land to them next year.
One can endure hunger but still have hope for the next year, while the other has lost all hope. So even if they know that they are likely to starve to death, many people can only grit their teeth and hand over the food to the employer.
When they came, they agreed that they didn't want 70% to 30% of the tax, but rather half and half, or even paying 60% to 70% of the tax to the employer. 40% to 30% was fine with them.
Yu Qingshan and Xiao Li had mentioned the issue of renting a house, and he didn't have much of an opinion on it, but...
"The rent can remain unchanged, but there is a condition." Xiao Li used his mental strength to ensure that everyone could hear his words. "If you can do this, the farmland will continue to be rented to you. If you can't...
Then let’s part ways amicably.”