A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 597 Little Dou comes out and Big Dou comes in
Hot summer.

Most of the tens of thousands acres of golden rice fields in Fanchuan have been lost in just a few days. Everyone is racing against time to harvest, and the harvested and threshed rice is quickly dried in the hot sun.

"The imperial court is already harvesting grain in Changpingcang. Rice is 35 yuan per stone, wheat is also the same price, and millet is 23..."

During the harvest season, people are eager to sell grain. Some want to sell grain to repay debts they borrowed, while others want to buy some goods and so on. After the harvest, they can't hold back the grain in their hands.

At this time, the powerful landowners owned a large number of fields. After the self-operated Zhuangzi harvested and the rented fields collected rent, the grain would not be put on the market for sale. They would store the new grain in the warehouse and wait for two months before putting last year's grain into storage. When the old grain is put on the market, the price will be more expensive than the new grain now.

Even some members of the family will not only not sell food at this time, but also collect food.

"We also harvest, wheat and rice 36 per stone, millet 24, we harvest as much as we can." Wu Huaiyu said.

"The price of grain is so low, and it may fall again. The grain merchants in Chang'an charge even lower prices. One stone of wheat only costs [-] yuan."

"Harvest it, you won't lose money. Although there is a good harvest this year, since the Sui Dynasty, neither the court nor the people have much food in stock. When something happens, the price of food fluctuates violently. Besides, the price of food will not be lower anymore. The court will When grain is harvested, the price will be at the bottom,”

"Teacher, the Wu family already has so much manor land, why do they collect so much grain?" Cheng Qian asked puzzledly. These days, the prince is following Cheng Qian to experience life in the countryside every day. He actually goes to the fields to harvest rice and dry it. Looking at how to plow the land again for autumn planting,
Everyone was tanned a lot, and even a layer of their skin was peeled off.
"Grain won't go bad if you keep it for several years. Don't you feel anxious if you have grain in your hands? There are many things you can do with grain, whether it's harvesting grain, grinding rice and flour and selling them at Chang'an Grain Shop, or making wine and making cakes. They are all good business. The bran left over from the processing of rice noodles and the distiller’s grains left over from brewing are also good things to feed pigs and cattle.”

Old man Zheng told the prince that in the countryside, food is often more useful than the gold and silver saved. The food saved in the landlord's home is money. Whether the villagers are marrying a wife or daughter, taking medicine for illness, or encountering something. In case of any disaster or accident, you usually need to borrow money or food.
Even in good times, many landless people were often short of food rations during the lean years, so they had to borrow money from the landlords first, and then repay the principal with interest when the harvest came.

The landowners had to lend out a lot of grain every year. Whether they borrowed grain to pay back the money or borrowed grain to repay the grain, they could collect a lot of interest, or they could select seeds from the grain and give it to the tenant farmers, and the interest rate was also very high.

In short, if the people can repay the money normally after the next harvest, the landlord will only earn a good interest. But if the money is not paid, the interest will be compounded, which will be even more amazing. If the money is not paid again, the land will have to be sold at this time. To pay debts, those who have no land can only use people to pay debts.
For example, in the Shangxia and Shangwu villages next to Shangwubao, more than ten families go bankrupt every year.

Grain is hard currency in the countryside, and it is a good thing that can make a living and produce offspring. Especially in years of famine, when landlords have grain in their hands, they can annex large amounts of land from the common people at low prices.

"Nowadays, when you marry a girl from a good family in Fanchuan, you usually need more than ten shi of rice, almost one shi per year, and up to [-] or [-] shi as a betrothal gift. But in times of famine, one or two bushels of rice may be enough to get a daughter-in-law."

Wu Huaiyu took Old Man Zheng's second daughter to Wubao as a maid, and she paid her five buckets of grain a month for food and accommodation. That was really a very high salary, just like Old Man Zheng's high salary of two stone grains a month.

A young and strong long-term worker only has ten shi of grain a year, plus two sets of clothes. The ten shi of grain even includes wheat and millet, but it is not all wheat.

Old Man Zheng escaped from famine and worked as a long-term laborer for a landlord. In the first year, he even had food and accommodation, only a set of clothes, and two stones of food, but he was already very satisfied.

Both the upper and lower Wu Forts paid 36 qian per stone for rice and wheat, and they collected grain door-to-door. The most important thing was that the Wu family collected grain in a bucket, which was not the big bucket that ordinary landlords used to collect rent.

Landlords usually collect rents with market dou, also called civilian dou, but the Wu family now collects grain with official dou, also called granary dou.

Market buckets are larger than warehouse buckets, and private market buckets vary in size from place to place and are not uniform. Some market buckets are two to three liters larger than warehouse buckets, and some are one or two liters larger.

In contrast, official battles in the imperial court, especially those in Changpingcang, were relatively uniform and standard.

Landlords used big buckets to collect rent, and often used official buckets to lend grain.
Small fights come out, big fights come in, and every time you go in and out, you exploit the people a lot.

The buckets used by the Wu family to collect grain were even bought from Changpingcang, and were stamped with Changpingcang's seal and engraved mark.

"Your Highness, will you go downwind with me to collect grain?"

"Okay, everything on the plateau is gone," Cheng Qian didn't find it hard and tiring, but felt quite excited. Although the days in the countryside were hard and tiring these days, it was completely different from studying and studying scriptures in the palace before. The feeling is not as profound as hunting.

Early in the morning, the steward of the Wu family's grain collection took the carts, horses, and villagers, fed the horses, hitched the carts, and prepared for the fight.

Huaiyu and Chengqian had breakfast and then went to collect grain.

First go to the sacred fields to harvest wheat.
The wheat on the plateau was harvested early, but although the Shenhe plateau is a platform plateau, the roads up and down the plateau are not very easy to walk. In the past, many grain dealers would send their workers to the villages on the plateau to say hello, and then the villagers would take the grain themselves. Grain was traded by carts, mules, or people carrying it down the plains.

The Wu family now takes the initiative to go to the plains to collect grain.

The waiter had already greeted us in advance and made the price clear. As soon as the team arrived, many villagers were immediately attracted.

"Dear fellow villagers, we belong to Wu Shaobao's family. The price of grain collection is one yuan higher than that of the imperial court's Changpingcang. One stone is six yuan higher than that of other grain merchants. Moreover, our family uses official buckets from Changpingcang. The price above There is also an official seal,”

"Pay the grain money now and give it after the measurement is done."

When the man shouted these words, the people went home one after another to carry food to sell.In a good harvest year, the price of food is low, but no matter how low it is, people still have to sell food. If they don't sell food, they can't pay off the famine debts. If they don't sell food, they can't even buy some needlework and hoes.
Except for the silk cloth woven by the woman, which can be sold for some money, this is the only food left.
Although most tenants don’t have much left over after paying their rent, they still have sweet potatoes and potatoes. The wheat harvested in the summer can be sold more. In the autumn, sweet potatoes and other miscellaneous grains are harvested in the fields, so they can save on food. ,
Some people compared their own Sheng Dou with the Wu family's official Dou. Once compared, it was obvious that the Wu family's Dou was indeed smaller than theirs.

They are selling grain, and using the martial arts fighting machine is naturally a good deal.

The guys greeted everyone with a smile and skillfully checked the dryness of everyone's wheat and whether it was clean, etc.
After checking, the measuring begins on the other side.

One bucket after another is a standard standard. After filling a bucket, the waiter will use a scraper to scrape it evenly. It is not required to pile it up. The scraped grain is still for the common people. At most, it is filled and gently Pat the dendrobium tightly so that there are no gaps inside.

"Is this scraped grain still ours?"

"Yes, sweep it up and then measure it."

An old man thought that the grain he scraped off belonged to the grain merchants. In the past, when the grain was rented to landlords or to the court, petty officials would usually kick it with their hands wet. The grain that was kicked off was not allowed to be taken back by the common people.

The subordinates in the yamen who are responsible for collecting rent even have to practice hard at kicking the shower. They have to kick the tip of the shower flat with one kick. This is a skill. After all, the kicked part is the extra income for the yamen and everyone's welfare. .

The Wu family man used a scraper to gently tap the dendrobium tree a few times, and then scraped it flat. The scraped grain was also swept up by the common people.
This practice amazed the villagers who were watching, and they all said that the Wu family was amazing.

When the first old man sold five stones of wheat, his own accountant immediately issued a list, stating the name and village of the seller, the price and quantity of the grain.

180 money.

After taking the note, I took the money directly from a table next to me. The person in charge of the cashier counted out 180 coins. "Uncle, count them. These are all newly minted Kaiyuan Tongbao coins this year."

The old man counted the coins with his hands trembling slightly. He counted the copper coins one by one, placed them in a pile after counting ten, and placed eighteen piles in a pile.
Not a penny more, not a penny less.

The old man even carefully inspected every copper coin.
It is indeed all new money, all Kaiyuan Tongbao money, no privately minted money, and no old money such as Sui five baht. What the Wu family paid was all good money.

"Does the money count?"

"Yes, yes, everything is right," the old man said excitedly.
"Logarithm, then draw a bet here. Even if the money and food are cleared, the transaction is completed."

"well."

The other villagers were very excited when they saw that the old man's five stones of grain were exchanged for a few strings of copper coins, so smoothly. In addition to the old man's exchange of 180 copper coins, his son also carried a small half bag of grain. Originally, he had prepared five stones at home. But now there are still a few extra buckets.

A young boy smiled and asked, "Uncle, we also have some department stores here. Do you have anything to buy? There are needles and threads, dishes, cauldrons, pots, hoes, shovels, salt tea, scissors, kitchen knives, fire sickles and combs. Mirrors, etc., good quality and cheap, take a look,"

The Wu family came to collect grain, and also took groceries to the countryside. Following the grain collection team was a grocery cart with many daily necessities and sundries on it.

There was even a doctor from Qianjin Hall who came with his apprentice and a medicine box to help everyone see and prescribe some medicine.

The Wu family not only collected grain, but also collected whatever native products the common people had, whether it was dried fish, homespun cloth, or duck feathers and turtle shells, basically everything was collected, even rags and linen cloth, this stuff Take it back to make paper.

The old man had just sold five stones of wheat in exchange for 180 yuan. When he saw all kinds of goods, he couldn't help but be dazzled and very excited. Especially when he asked about the prices, they were indeed very affordable and everything seemed to be of good quality.

The old man called his mother-in-law and children, and after some discussion, they all felt that buying here was more convenient and more cost-effective than going to the market, so he planned to buy some.

"I still have a few buckets of food here, and they were measured for me in exchange for money."

"okay!"

The drying ground where grain is harvested has become a lively shopping mall.
Cheng Qian saw that many people had just sold grain to the Wu family in exchange for some money, but then turned around and bought a lot of groceries from the Wu family.
And the doctors accompanying the Wu family also gave everyone free consultations.
We even gave some free anti-worming medicine to the children, and the prices for other villagers who were suffering from illnesses were quite affordable.
"Teacher, I thought I was just here to collect food today, but I didn't expect that there are also department stores going to the countryside and free clinics delivering medicine."

"It's just a matter of picking up grass and hunting rabbits."

The common people only have some cash when they sell grain. At this time, it is quite suitable to go to the countryside to sell some groceries. As for bringing a doctor, it is indeed a good thing. After all, I don't expect to go to the countryside to make this money. It's just to build relationships with everyone.
A little anti-worming medicine is not worth much money, but it has a good effect in bringing everyone closer. Of course, this is not a loss-making business. People who are sick will not lose money if they grab a few doses of medicine.

The Wu family collected a lot of grain, and also collected a lot of things like duck feathers, turtle shells, chicken linings, gold pheasant feathers, rags and linen cloth.
Come back fully loaded.

(End of this chapter)