Ye Congwen nodded secretly. Six hundred kilograms of rice per acre is worth one thousand two hundred kilograms. Three hundred kilograms of rapeseed can be sold for at least one thousand kilograms of oil if it is squeezed out. If there are 10,000 acres, the annual output is worth 22 million yuan, which is 220 gold bars. If you throw away the cost and earn half of it, you can earn at least 110 gold bars.
Wang Baochang suggested that it is indeed more cost-effective to farm your own land than rent it to others. Just as he was about to agree, he suddenly saw Kapok secretly shaking his head and winking at him.
Ye Congwen knew there was something fishy, so he didn't make a decision for the time being, and kept serving food to the two government officials. After he was full, he asked them to take him to see the local area.
Ye Congwen went home to get something and quietly walked to Kapok to ask what was going on.
I heard Kapok quietly explain:
"Xiao Congwen, you must never agree to farm by yourself. It takes at least 500 young and strong men to farm 10,000 acres of fertile land. We don't have that many people in Tieta Village, so you will have to leave it to Wang Baochang's gang. We grow food in Tieta Village."
"That's it. If we in Tieta Village can't grow it, then we can outsource it to them. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Planting rice is a delicate job, and it is also a job that depends on the weather. It takes one year of drought and one year of floods, and three years of no drought and no floods. You make one year and lose two years. In the end, you still have to lose money.
Besides, since this Wang Baochang is a stranger to our Tieta Village, you are not afraid that he is doing something behind his back. If he secretly hides the rice and sells it, can you guard against it? "
Kapok's words hit the point, and Ye Congwen's brows furrowed as he listened. Originally, he wanted the giants and Mu tribesmen who were over 20 years old to make a living by farming, but now it seemed that this was not possible.
"We in Tieta Village have made a living by hunting for generations and know nothing about farming. But you can ask the three aristocratic families in Wanquan County! How do they do it? Can't you just copy the cat and imitate the tiger?"
Ye Congwen suddenly realized that the Yu Mansion and the Lin Mansion all adopted the method of collecting rent. Could it be said that she could only be a charterer who could ensure income during droughts and floods? Ye Congwen asked unwillingly:
"Second sister, does your village also adopt a method of collecting rent? Why do everyone choose such a conservative method?"
"Do you think everyone in the world is as upright as the giant of Iron Tower Village? Is growing food for yourself the same as working for others?
If you grow food for yourself, the extra money will go into your own pocket. If you grow food for you, but you don’t share the extra money with them, the work will naturally be different.
If you think about it carefully, they only get one silver coin a month for more or less work. They are very honest and do not want to be lazy. How can they help you take care of the rice? "
Kapok's words made Ye Congwen suddenly enlightened. Since everyone chose to collect rent, this method was naturally the most trouble-free and worry-free.
Ye Congwen stopped struggling and decided to follow the advice and invited Kapok and his wife to help him check.
"Anyway, I have nothing to do at my parents' house, so just help us visit Iron Tower Village. I'll go find your brother-in-law."
After Kapok finished speaking, he left, and not long after, a strong and strong black man came over. The two exchanged pleasantries before the black man suggested:
"You'd better bring more giants to support the scene. People outside like to bully others. With these giants helping to control the situation, no one will dare to cause trouble in the future."
Ye Congwen nodded in agreement and asked Ye Rulang to take twenty giants with him to see thousands of acres of fertile land.
The giants had never seen ten thousand acres of fertile land connected together, and they rowed toward the western suburbs of Wanquan County, shouting.
When they arrived at Wanquan County, Ye Congwen asked Mudou Ya to invite Lin Xiaoyu over and talk about their Lin Mansion's practices.
Ye Congwen followed two officials in rowing to Wanquanzhuang in the western suburbs. This land is at least 100,000 acres, distributed along the river, sixty miles long and four to five miles wide, backed by a ring of low mountains, and there is a large natural lake in the mountains. , the lake water is connected with the tributaries of Lishui River, and the irrigation conditions are excellent.
The fertile land allocated to Tieta Village is at the foot of the front mountain. It has withered grass and overgrown bushes. It is four miles wide and six miles long. Even if it is burned by fire, it is not a small project!
"Master, if such good farmland is abandoned like this, your government has never thought of renting the land to the people in exchange for food?" Ye Congwen asked in confusion. This Wanquan Village has a total of 100,000 acres of land, except for the 30,000 acres at the end. The remaining 60,000 acres belong to Mo Lin and Yu Sanfu, and the remaining 60,000 acres have been tightly fenced for decades. They prefer to let it grow grass and raise rabbits, but no one is allowed to set foot on it.
"Captain Ye is joking. The Demon Hunter Guard's exclusive fertile land, without the commander's nod, who dares to invade the royal family's assets?"
Master Li was afraid that Ye Congwen was testing the government's attitude on behalf of the Demon Hunter Guard, so he quickly stated his position seriously.
"Actually, these wastelands were fertile fields cultivated by people a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, these aristocratic families had no successors, and even after seventy years they were unable to cultivate body-forging warlocks. When the time came, the land was taken back by the Demon Hunting Guards. ."
Baozhang Wang sighed at the side, paused, and then continued:
"The ten thousand acres of farmland owned by Mo Linyu, one of the three most famous families in Wanquan County, will expire in the year after next. Maybe within a few years, it will become overgrown with weeds again."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Congwen saw Lin Xiaoyu and Douya Ya rowing over happily. As soon as he saw Ye Congwen, he shouted with a smile:
"Brother Congwen, do you have anything to do with me?"
Lin Xiaoyu has been a backstreet tyrant since she was a child. How can anyone with a little respect not know her? In addition to the county magistrate, the most famous person in Wanquan County is the eldest lady of Linfu.
"Tell me how your government operates these ten thousand acres of fertile land?"
"Isn't this simple? Just divide the ten thousand acres of fertile land into hills of twenty acres, go to the other side of the river, pick five hundred strong men, and sub-lease them to them?"
One acre of land produces 600 jins of rice and 100 jins of oil, which can be converted into money to collect rent! Our three houses usually have a 50-50 split, each getting half, and no one suffers. "
"So, your mansion only collects more than a hundred gold bars every year from rent collection. Why does your grandfather say that the entire mansion only earns fifty or sixty gold bars every year, which is not enough for your mansion's expenses?"
Ye Congwen was a little unhappy, but he didn't expect that Mr. Lin couldn't tell the truth.
"Brother Congwen, you look like this and you are not a good citizen. Have you been evading taxes?"
Lin Xiaoyu joked with a smile. Seeing Ye Congwen frowning and saying nothing, he patiently explained:
"Have you ever heard of the words "Imperial Grain and National Tax"? We charge half of the farmers' rent, and the court charges half of our tax. Do you think those hundred gold bars belong to our Linfu?
Whether they are farmers who grow grain or landowners who collect rent, they all have to pay half of the tax to the court. If you don't believe it, you can ask Master Li behind you, he is the one who settles this account. "
Ye Congwen suddenly understood and asked Master Li:
"So your county government actually gets the most. The grain growers and rent collectors only get 50% in total. You just take half of it without doing anything?"
"False! Captain Ye, you only know one, but not the other. Let me settle the score with you:
The 50% tax revenue is distributed in this way: the court accounts for 10%, the county government accounts for 100%, the state government accounts for 100%, and the demon hunting guards account for 10%. Only 10% is actually left in the hands of our county government.
But the county government is responsible for providing disaster relief, providing food, opening schools, and supporting orphans and widows. There are also 2,800 county government officials on the 28th Road, and more than a thousand security guards. It doesn't matter if the year is good, once there is a bad year, everyone will have to borrow money from the bank to pay out their wages. "
Ye Congwen heard his master vomiting bitterness, and seeing how bitter and resentful he was, it didn't seem like he was lying. Bean sprouts on the side asked puzzledly:
"Why don't you just raise fewer government servants? You can't even pay out the wages, but you still have to support so many idle people. Isn't it just a matter of standing guard at the county government and giving a powerful shout when someone complains about injustice?"
"Mrs. Ye's words are wrong. Bandits are rampant at the junction of urban and rural areas in Wanquan County, thieves are infested, and there are ferocious beasts and birds of prey that harm people. There are 2,800 government officials who are too busy. How can we dare to reduce the number!
Besides, there are more and more unscrupulous people who refuse to pay the national taxes on imperial grains, and Bao Zhang Li Zheng is simply too busy. Without the help of highly skilled government officials, our county government would not even be able to collect the taxes. At that time, I am afraid that the county magistrate will not even be able to keep his official position. Who dares to dig his own grave? "
The more Master Li talked, the more anxious he became. Recently, the county magistrate and the county magistrate have been busy suppressing bandits, and they have not had a good year, otherwise they would be the ones here today.
"Every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite! I didn't expect that the imperial court would also have difficulties. I understand it all. You urged me to take over ten thousand acres of fertile land on the fifth day of the first lunar month. Did you do it for a long time to expand tax sources?"
Ye Congwen asked with a smile, no wonder he was in such a hurry and came to urge him on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. With a fixed income of fifty or sixty gold bars a year, how could he not be a big taxpayer?
A big customer should be treated like a big customer. Not to mention a 20% discount, it shouldn't be a problem for the government to lend a helping hand to help reclaim the wasteland, right?
"Master Li, you also know that there are few people in our Tieta Village, and the spring plowing season is about to begin. How can we cultivate 10,000 acres of fertile land in more than a month?
Building canals and building flood control embankments, which is not a time-consuming and labor-intensive major project? How about this, we won’t plant rice this year, and just plant some soybeans in March! "
"Captain Ye, this is such a waste!"
Wang Baochang hurriedly retorted from the side. Without waiting for Ye Congwen's reply, he said like pouring beans:
"Your fertile land is next to a large natural lake. You can just build a canal to divert the water. The flood control embankments can be built slowly during the off-farm period. It's a pity to grow soybeans in such fertile black soil. One acre of that thing only costs more than two hundred dollars. Compared with the yield of 600 jins of rice, the harvest is not even half!"
The masters on the side also echoed that if the output is halved, then won’t our county government’s tax revenue also have to be halved? Resolutely oppose the waste of staple food!
"I also know that growing rice has high yields, but now that the new year is not over, how can I let the villagers of Tieta Village come out to build embankments and dig canals?"
"Captain Ye, you don't have to worry about this. The government will take care of building embankments and digging canals. As long as you choose to plant rice in the spring, I guarantee that your canals and flood control embankments will be completed before the flood season!"
Master Li quickly confirmed his pledge and said to Baozhang Wang:
"Wang Baochang, if Captain Ye leases ten thousand acres of fertile land to your Wangjia Village, are you sure that the wasteland will be planted with rice within half a year?"
"There is no problem in opening up wasteland for farming, but it is up to the county government to build canals and embankments. After all, people only have two hands."
"Okay, you are responsible for opening up wasteland, and the government will issue a document to find people to build flood control embankments. What do you think, Captain Ye?"
Ye Congwen was about to speak when suddenly Douzhao rushed to answer:
"Let us all discuss it and give you a reply within three days. After all, there are more than 300 people in a village, and Ye Congwen needs to go back and hold a meeting for everyone to vote."
"My wife is right. After all, it is a family property. I have to go back and ask for everyone's opinions. Don't worry, I will inform you as soon as the results are available."
Ye Congwen knew that Mudou Ya had something to say secretly, so he quickly sent the two of them away. Before leaving, Master Li kept urging Ye Congwen to make up his mind as soon as possible so that there would be no delay in spring plowing.
After the two of them were far away, he humbly asked for advice:
"Second sister and second brother-in-law, what do you think is best?"
Kapok pushed the black man and asked him to say everything. The black man thought for a long time and watched dozens of giants staring at him curiously. After a long time, he finally made up his mind and said:
"If the government can't dig canals and build embankments well, we can't leave all land reclamation and farming to Wang Baozhang. You really want to see rice growing in the fields in autumn. Flood control embankments have to be repaired at their own expense, and tenants have to pick their own picks."
Ye Congwen was stunned when he heard this. If he didn't take advantage of him, wouldn't he be a bastard? But since you asked him to come over to help make suggestions, you have to trust the eyes of professionals.
"Second brother-in-law, why can't you accept the government's free help in building it? Wouldn't it be a waste of a huge sum of money to repair it yourself?"
Mudou Ya spoke the doubts in Ye Congwen's heart. The surrounding giants and Lin Xiaoyu all looked at the black man with wide eyes.
"The government builds embankments by assigning corvee labor. These people don't have enough to eat, but they have to build river embankments for free. How can the quality be guaranteed? The Linfu river embankments are repaired every three years and a small amount every two years. You can Ask Miss Lin, does their family have to spend money to repair flood embankments every now and then?"
