Chapter 102: Chapter 96 Brother Shouzhe is Truly a Godly Person_2
Translator: 549690339
The rest of the “natives of Wang family”, began to respond to the young man, affirming that what he said was all true. On average, every household has seen a reduction in yield by about 50%.
An Insect Master? Only a 50% reduction in yield? It merely affected them lightly.
The tenant farmers outside Wang’s jurisdiction were silent, weren’t the tenant farmers within Wang’s jurisdiction receiving an extra 20% harvest this season compared to them?
If they could have an extra 20% yield, they would have a considerable surplus after paying their grain taxes, and they wouldn’t have to desperately borrow grain everywhere to survive the disaster, nor bear the bullying of the prominent families.
For a moment, the “tenant farmers of other families” all cast envious glances at those locals.
“Not only that, when our Wang family collects taxes on behalf of the Government Office, the part that is owed by the prominent families can be directly offset at par by money. We had an easy time overcoming the famine this year.”, the young man said with pride, “Just quoting our family as an example, we have over twenty Dan’s of surplus grain.”
In a bountiful harvest year, having twenty Dan’s of extra grain isn’t considered particularly wealthy.
But this is a year of disaster!
When the tenant farmers of other families heard this number, their eyes turned red. Your family is so rich, and you still come here to share the gruel with us?
“Not only that, I have a brother from a side branch of the Wang family who revealed a top-secret information to me. Wang’s family was not prepared this year. When the next season begins, we can invite Insect Masters to treat all the fields within Wang’s jurisdiction. The effect will be better in eliminating the insects, and the cost is only half of the Insecticide Powder.” The young lad said mysteriously.
Half of the Insecticide Powder?
That almost means… can each acre of land save a copper coin every year? If a family has twenty acres of land, just the investment in Insecticide Powder can save twenty copper coins a year. This is equivalent to several Dan’s of grain!
The tenant farmers from other families completely lost their spirits, feeling that compared to the tenant farmers in Wang’s jurisdiction, they are shortcomings out of nowhere.
“Young lad, are you married yet?” A tenant farmer from the other family who was quick-witted asked smilingly, “We have two girls at home, one is sixteen and the other is fourteen. We can have a good chat.”
“We also have a daughter at home, she just turned fifteen this year.”
A group of farmers from other families who have daughters swarmed around the young man like a pack of wolves, advertising their daughters and even proposing to negotiate a dowry.
The young man was frightened, his face turning bright red.
In the past, his family’s conditions were mediocre, with not much savings, and the house they built was not enough. Every time they sent a matchmaker to propose, as soon as the other party saw his condition, they either refused directly.
Or the others bluntly demanded a huge dowry.
He is already nineteen, yet he hasn’t found a wife. But now, simply by being a tenant farmer in Wang’s jurisdiction, these tenant farmers from other families are actually rushing to marry their daughters to him, and some families are even willing to offer money.
In an instant, the young man felt that he had stepped into the peak of his life.
Seeing this scene, Wang Shouzhe couldn’t help but smile.
He didn’t expect that the household registration in Wang’s jurisdiction had begun to gain value. But this is well deserved, as land and house prices vary in different locations.
For example, the houses and lands near Changning are naturally much more expensive than those in Ping’an Town. Even if the output and taxes are the same, the civilians living there have a greater sense of safety.
Moreover, it is more convenient for them to occasionally enter the city than the civilians in Ping’an Town, and their social relationships are also more complicated. Many middle peasants and wealthy peasants there send their children to study in the city, or let their younger sons learn a money-making craft.
Over a hundred years ago, this area around Ping’an Town was still a savage land. If not for the tough times, how could the common people migrate to a place like Ping’an Town?
However, after this cropping season, the prices of land and goods within Ping’an Town are likely to change now.
“Don’t rush, everyone.” Wang Shouzhe said loudly, “I believe you’ve all heard that our Wang family is currently dredging and filling in to farm new fields. The future fields are fertile lands based on silt. Our Wang family is about to launch a plan to switch to farming these new fields, as well as a plan to pre-purchase these fields.”
A “field-switching” program?
What on earth is that? This was a term countless ordinary people had never even heard of.
“To put it simply, it is to exchange your current houses and lands within the domains of the Liu Family and the Zhao Clan for our newly reclaimed lands and houses.” Wang Shouzhe squinted his eyes, “Of course, because the land can’t be obtained yet and will require approximately two years, we call it future land. However, at present, we only accept internal workers involved in the reclamation project to participate in the land swap. If you plan to migrate to Wang’s jurisdiction, this is the only way for now.”
The farmers remained silent for a while.
But soon, someone jumped up and said: “Why not swap? Damn it, I’ve had enough of those bastards from the Zhao Clan all these years.”
“Swap, as long as the Wang family pays for our work and doesn’t starve us. Two years is nothing, let’s swap.”
“I believe in the Wang family, I believe Leader Wang won’t let us suffer, let’s swap.”
Echoing shouts of ‘swap’ resonated. The farmers were not fools, they had their own clever ways. Although it seemed a bit unfair on the surface, the value of the household register under Wang’s jurisdiction would increase as it went on.
“Detailed plans for the swap will be released shortly, please pay attention to our announcements.” After whetting their appetite, Wang Shouzhe turned and left.
Not far away, the Liu siblings caught up, looking at Wang Shouzhe with strange eyes.
“Yuanrui, Sister Ruolei.” Wang Shouzhe felt uncomfortable under their gaze, bowed his hands and said, “Why are you looking at me ?”
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” Liu Yuanrui raised his thumb and complimented him twice, and bowed his hands, “You’ve done an amazing job, Brother Shouzhe. Your plan is simply indescribable. My admiration for you is as endless as the water in Peace River. It not only accomplishes self-gain but subtly defeats the enemy.”
Wang Shouzhe was rendered speechless.
“Brother, I can see the self-interest part, but where does it kill without a trace?” Liu Ruolei asked curiously.
“The self-interest part is quite obvious. Brother Shouzhe’s great project needs a large number of people, and by using the method of swapping for future land, a large number of farmers can get involved in the project. Eventually, those people will become Wang’s jurisdiction farmers,” Liu Yuanrui explained.
“Furthermore, the farmland that the Wang family swaps for originally belongs to the Liu and Zhao families. As long as they integrate and swap a little bit, they can establish private farms on the enemy’s territory and turn that land into Wang’s possession.”
“The most amazing thing is that the trend of migration to Wang’s jurisdiction has already formed. Many people are eager to join Wang’s jurisdiction. If Brother Shouzhe carefully and progressively operates, the lands of the Liu and Zhao families will become smaller and smaller, and the number of civilians under their rule will also greatly decrease.”
“Under this invisible and vicious cycle, the Liu and Zhao families will become weaker and weaker, unable to compete with the Wang family, and are doomed to collapse!”
Liu Yuanrui’s explanation aroused admiration in Liu Ruolei’s eyes as she exclaimed, “Brother Shouzhe is truly a godlike figure, I’m so lucky.”
Wang Shouzhe touched his nose, feeling like he hadn’t really thought it through as thoroughly as Liu Yuanrui, simply wanting to solve the labor shortage problem, and he certainly didn’t want to come up with a century-long plan.
However, it seemed that his future brother-in-law was quite clever. Listening to him, the plan did sound pretty good.
Also, could Ruolei stop talking to him with that tone and look? It made him, Wang Shouzhe, feel a bit creeped out.
A monotonous voice arose: “Well, everyone, I have a question. Is our Zhao Clan really that annoying?”
Wang Shouzhe glanced at him and noticed that most of the poisonous lump on his face had disappeared. He felt speechless, this dim-witted guy’s recovery ability was terrifying!
Liu Ruolei and Liu Yuanrui also stared at Zhao Dingteng with surprised eyes.
Did this big oaf not have any idea of his Zhao Clan’s infamous reputation?