Chapter 524 Talking about Nongzhong

Li Chenan did not object to Su Yian's words.

Because these words are placed in this historical era, with Su Yi'an's insight, they can be regarded as true knowledge.

In a society of feudal dynasties, the issue of land is the biggest problem of dynastic change.

It started from private ownership of land and ended with a large number of land mergers.

This seems to be a circle, anyway, so far no dynasty can escape from this circle.

But Li Chenan's view of this issue is obviously different from Su Yian's.

He nodded, first affirming Su Yian's statement: "You are right!"

Su Yi'an stroked his short beard, and sat up straight proudly. He was right in the first place.

"but……"

Li Chen'an suddenly came up with a but, Su Yi'an was slightly taken aback, wondering if you have any more novel ideas?
The corner of Liu Xiayin's mouth twitched, in his opinion, Su Yian's answer was impeccable.

This young regent, can he tell this matter in a new way?

"That's how I look at these issues."

"Let's talk about land."

"Rich people, why do you want to annex farmers' land?"

Su Yi'an and Liu Xiayin were startled, thinking, is there even a need to ask?
Of course, it is to occupy those lands as a permanent property for future generations to pass on!
But Li Chenan said again: "What you said is one aspect of it, in my opinion it is a secondary issue."

"Listen to me and tell me what I think the problem is. After you listen to me, we will discuss if you have any questions."

"Let's look at the nature of land mergers. I think it's for food that is crucial in this era!"

"The rich want to grab the fields from the common people, not for the fields themselves, but for the food produced in the fields!"

"Land becomes extremely valuable because of the food it produces."

"Something of value, it's a commodity... don't worry."

"I won't talk about this issue first, let's discuss this issue from the root."

"For the ruler of a country, does he think that if the common people have land in their hands, it means that the tiller has the land and the dweller has the house, and he thinks that they will not rebel?"

This question cannot be corrected.

Because the common people will not rebel when they have land and land.

Both Su Yi'an and Liu Xiayin nodded.

"Here is the biggest problem!"

Li Chenan leaned over, tapped his fingers aggressively on the table, looked at the surprised two, and said:

"This is an untenable false proposition!"

"Don't worry, listen to me!"

Liu Xiayin swallowed the words that came to her lips, and heard Li Chenan say again:

"People farming, there are two huge problems!"

"First of all, the extremely low profits lead to their extremely low income!"

"I think you all know how much a field yields per mu. The wheat is no more than 150 catties, and the rice is no more than [-] catties!"

"This is a good year!"

"150 catties of wheat is only twelve buckets, and the price of one bucket of wheat is about 35 yuan, and one mu of land is equivalent to four hundred yuan."

"The price of rice is also similar. Two hundred catties of rice equals sixteen buckets, and the output of one mu of land is about [-] yuan."

"Let's calculate the cost again. Take wheat as an example. If one mu of land needs wheat seeds, it will be calculated at [-] catties, and [-] yuan will be deducted."

"Ignoring the cost of labor, and then excluding taxes...calculate based on the lower taxes in the early years of Ningguo's founding."

"Two taxes a year, calculated on the basis of [-]% of the land income, which requires a deduction of forty coins."

"We have gone to 120 Wen. Let's not calculate the taxes that are apportioned by each locality. For one mu of land, the people really get 280 Wen."

"Let's count as a family planting 14 acres of land, and get [-] taels of silver a year...not counting the money they need to eat, wear, and buy farm tools!"

"Do the math, after deducting these, how many taels do they have left?"

"I calculated that if there is no illness and everything is safe, there will be roughly four taels of silver left!"

"That's what a family gets in a year at its best!"

"The second is the huge risk of unpredictability!"

"Farming the land, relying on the sky to eat!"

"No one can guarantee that every year will be a good year with good weather and good weather. Once there is a bad year...the crop yield in the field will drop sharply, or even fail!"

"Even if the officials of the imperial court are wise enough to exempt them from taxes in the disaster year, they will have to live on their laurels if they have no harvest!"

"How long can I eat with such a small family fortune?"

"If there is no land to plant due to natural disasters, there will be no food to eat, and no food to eat will not plant land!"

"This is the beginning of a vicious circle!"

"In a century-old dynasty, such natural disasters will definitely happen every year!"

"Then what should we do? People can't starve to death, can they?"

"So, the common people will sell their fields to the local gentry and wealthy families to exchange for some money to buy grain!"

"Attention, the flow of land at this time is not necessarily the gentry and rich family's hands-on plundering, but the people's desperation to sell it on their own initiative!"

"And they themselves, carrying hoes, became tenants for those gentry and wealthy families."

"As a result, their identities have changed, from self-cultivating farmers to tenants of the landlord's family."

"Of course tenants can't make much money, but apart from their own physical strength, the cost they originally had to pay is gone."

"They work in the fields for a day, and the landlord gives them a day's wages. When the farm is slack, if they have a craft, they can weave a pair of straw sandals to make a basket or something and sell them in the market to subsidize their families."

"In this way, the transfer of risk is completed...all the risks originally borne by me are transferred to the gentry and wealthy family."

"The country's taxation policy for the gentry and wealthy families is different. They can pay no tax or pay lower taxes, and even the tenants on their land don't need to serve corvee!"

"After the gentry and nobles got the land, those farmers still cultivated it. After paying the wages of those farmers, because of the benefits of scale, they earned more than the farmers themselves from farming the land!"

"They are more capable of resisting the risks brought about by natural disasters!"

"As a result, more and more land flowed into the hands of the gentry and aristocrats, but out of cost considerations, the gentry and aristocracy did not need so many tenants. After all, they were better at calculating costs, which led to the A group of people have neither land nor the qualifications to be tenants!"

"They've lost everything, and the little money they got from selling the land will be spent before long. What should we do?"

"I still can't help but starve to death!"

"So, there are refugees, there are bandits, and there are various factors of instability!"

"They turned their attention to those gentry and aristocrats, thinking that it was because these people encroached on their interests, which led to the contradictory confrontation between the two classes."

Li Chenan spoke eloquently.

These words completely overturned the views of Su Yian and Liu Xiayin——

They believed that the main culprit for the peasants losing their land was the plundering of the gentry and wealthy clan, but Li Chenan's words meant exactly the opposite!

Li Chenan believed that the peasants lost their land, and there was no need for the gentry and wealthy families to bother to snatch it. Instead, the peasants actively sold it to the rich in order to survive.

Does it make sense?

The two frowned in thought.

Only Baozi Xiao didn't think about it at all.

She is watching the sky.

I am calculating in my heart.

A moment in spring night is worth a thousand dollars... It has been half an hour since I arrived in this small courtyard.

How much gold is this wasted?
(End of this chapter)

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