Chapter 495 Taking advantage of others
The weather is getting hotter.
Although the victims are returning home one after another, worries are written on the faces of men and women in every household. Relying on the little disaster relief food pulled out by the government, combined with wild vegetables, they can barely survive.
It is impossible to eat disaster relief food all the time.
Because of the disaster, people’s families have stopped marriages and marriages, and no one has concubines for birthday parties. They can’t even afford food, so how can there be any food left over for dinner?
This hunger has already made the common people lose their minds after turning off the lights at night. In every village and village, there are almost no pregnant women.
No one is willing to sow and conceive during such a famine.
Although pregnant women can receive an extra subsidy from the government, it’s not that everyone doesn’t want to make trouble at this time.
North Bank of the Wei River.
Qin Lang looked at the once bustling Qin family holiday manor, but now it was silent.
It's been a long time since the Zhuang bosses have seen each other, and they all have a lot of gray hair.
The holiday huts are all idle, the farms and pens not far from Zhuangzi are also empty, and even the fertilizer plant is idle because there is no manure for fertilizer.
Qin Lang walked in Zhuangzi, inspecting his land.
"Have all the farmers returned?"
"Most of them are back." Lao Zhuangtou sighed.
Qin Lang bought more than 20,000 mu of marsh land here, spent a lot of effort and cost to transform it into a large manor integrating leisure vacation, ecological breeding, manual processing, and agricultural planting. There are 12,000 mu of paddy fields, several thousand mu of orchards and vegetable gardens, as well as wheat fields and millet fields.
There are thousands of acres of ponds and artificial lakes where fish are raised and lotus roots are planted.
With such a large property, apart from some of the Qin family's own slaves, most of the rest depend on the nearby villagers, and most of the fields are leased to the villagers for rent, not to mention that the workshops and farms also rely on the nearby villagers to work. Production.
When the famine came, all the Qin family’s pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and fish were confiscated by the government, and the grain in the Qin family’s warehouse was also confiscated.
Originally, it would be no problem for Qin Lang to keep these grains, livestock, etc., to support his own family, and even to help the people in the nearby villages, but for the overall consideration of the overall situation, he finally handed over all these.
As a result, the people in the nearby villages could only go out to escape the famine, and the slaves of the Qin family had to be transferred to Shannan, Huainan, Jiangnan, Lingnan and other places.
After all the tossing, this Zhuangzi's vitality has been seriously injured.
The farms are empty, the fishponds are empty, the fields are deserted, and the workshops have stopped.
Zhuangtou said that only most of them came back, which means that they haven’t come back until now. In fact, many of them have died. Or because they were sold in order to survive while fleeing famine.
There are those who sell their sons and daughters into slavery, some even sell their wives, and some sell themselves, all just for a little food to survive.
The court said that the emperor and the empress used the gold and silver in the internal treasury to redeem the children of the parents who sold their children. In fact, this is just a news broadcast. Just listen to it. Less real gold and silver, but how much can actually be saved?
"Sanlang, many people came to Zhuangzi when they came back, asking when our work will start here, and some asked if they could borrow some money and food."
Another said that recently many people have asked whether they want to buy land, or whether they want to hire long-term workers or short-term workers, and some even ask whether they want to buy people.
Qin Lang's heart was heavy when he heard this.
Although the common people survived, they are still struggling, and they can't hold on anymore.
The ordinary people without capital are the least able to resist risks. They are the most miserable group of people when they encounter such a catastrophe.
In addition to selling houses and land, they can only sell children, daughters or even wives, but most ordinary people have only three or two dilapidated houses at home, which are worthless at all, especially in this kind of disaster year.
As for land, how much land can they actually sell?
Originally, the implementation of the Land Equalization Order in Guanzhong was not enough. Most of the people were only allocated a very small amount of land, and most of them were kou-fen land, not Yongye land. They were not qualified to sell these kou-divided land.
But many people are still trying to sell.
The subdivided land cannot be sold, so rent it, and rent the land to the landlord, once the lease is cut off or for ten or eight years, and only a very small rent is charged.
Their estuary of the land is equivalent to renting the land of the imperial court, and the rent is collected every year, but the rent is very small, especially under the new tax law, the rent per mu is only three liters of grain. And even if it is renting official or government office land or public land, the rent per mu starts at six buckets.
These few lands are the guarantee of their life. No matter how little the land is, some land is their own after all. When there is no disaster, at least they can have some protection. And once this sub-land is also rented out, it means that there is no more assets, and in the future it can only be reduced to renting land or working for others, which is even more insecure.
But they can only take care of the present.
Many people felt that Qin Lang was kinder and more generous, and they all wanted to ask Qin Lang to borrow money and food, or simply rent the land to Qin Lang.
"Sanlang, now a lot of aristocratic families outside are taking the opportunity to acquire land, and the price is very cheap and cost-effective. The land is bought out, and one mu of land only needs two buckets of grain a year, and the rent is only three liters per year. I will give it all at once. A stone of grain will do."
After his death, the land will be taken back by the government.
For one mu of land, the buyout price is to give one stone of grain at a time, and then rent two buckets per year, and then pay three liters of tax. And one mu of land can earn at least one stone a year, which is not counting the income from growing some miscellaneous grains in the land, which is extremely cost-effective no matter what.
After all, when landlords rent out their fields, they usually pay 50% or even 40% to 37%.
Buy out the common people’s land and rent it out, even if he collects five dou a year for rent, then the two dou and three he paid to the original landlord will be left with two dou and seven, not to mention the actual income is higher.
Some people are so eager to make a move that they can't even get the one-time grain of stone.
It is indeed a good deal to buy land at this time. As for the Yongyetian in the hands of the common people, it is even more cost-effective to buy it at this time. The price is cheap, and there is no need to worry about the government taking it back.
"This is taking advantage of others."
Qin Lang sighed.
"But the world is like this, and the market is like this."
The most difficult thing in a disaster year is those who owed debts before. At this time, the creditors are chasing debts, which can drive people crazy. If there is no money to repay, then use everything of value to pay off the debt. If it is really worthless, then use people to pay off the debt, whether it is children or wives.
Many people came to the Qin family because they thought that Qin Lang had a good reputation. Even if they sold it, the Qin family would probably be able to offer a better price.
A young man knelt in front of Qin Lang.
He wished to sell himself into slavery.
"You are young, even if the current famine disaster is over, it will pass soon. If you grit your teeth and work hard for two years, you will always pass. Why sell yourself as a slave?"
Of course normal people don’t want to be slaves, but the young man said it was too difficult and he couldn’t bear it any longer.
The family owed debts before, but now the interest rate has not been repaid. The creditor took away his dilapidated house and his land, but it is still not enough.
So he wanted to pull him to be a slave to repay the debt. The young man thought, even if he was a slave, he would rather come to the Qin family as a slave, at least the slaves here are treated well.
"Didn't the imperial court ban usury early?"
Zhuangtou told Qin Lang that the imperial court did have such a ban, but the ban was not very effective. Besides, the imperial court's ban was only a high interest in the face of the ban, but many times, those moneylenders were very smart and would try their best Take advantage of loopholes.
Besides, who can lend usury, which one has connections and backgrounds?
Nine times out of nine and thirteen out of thirteen are considered conscientious, and it is not uncommon for people like Lamb Li and Donkey to Roll. There are thousands of ways to lend money.
Real interest rates are surprisingly high.
The problem is that even the interest rate tolerated by the imperial court is actually unbearable for ordinary people, and it will be even worse if there is a famine or something.
This famine disaster made many people who were allocated some land after the founding of the Tang Dynasty became proletarians again.
Even debtors are directly reduced to slaves.
Qin Lang didn't want to take advantage of people's dangers and look ugly to rob people's fields and their children and wives as slaves, but he also had no ability to help others.
Qin Lang has no money now.
There should be a lot on the books, but now they are all IOUs issued by the imperial court after confiscating his livestock and grain.
The workshop has completely stopped, and there is no income, and even many goods are still backlogged.
Even the shops in Chang'an City are almost closed, so there is no income.
Although the hunger situation has eased, the summer grains have not yet matured, and the grains in various places are still under the strict control of the imperial court. A prime minister like Qin Lang also receives grains with food stamps, but it is relaxed now. , Qin Lang can also enjoy the treatment of a prime minister.
No need to eat sticky porridge anymore, there will be a supply of meat and vegetables, and you can get one or two sheep every once in a while, or a few smoked chicken ducks or dried meat, salted fish and so on.
But it is just barely enough for the family to spend, so there is no surplus food to lend to everyone, let alone to buy fields and people.
He wondered, where did those people get the food to take the opportunity to annex the fields and buy and sell people?
"There must be a way." Zhuangtou didn't say much, but he also revealed that he did have food.
After thinking about it for a while, Qin Lang could guess that the source of the food was no different from those few. Either someone obtained more food in private through connections, or bought food on the black market, or bought it in Jiangnan or Bashu. Or Lingnan, where there are farms or grain in places that are not affected by the disaster, they are quietly transported from there.
But these ways are illegal.
Even if it is the grain of our own Lingnan, at this stage, it is forbidden to resell it without permission. It is possible to transport grain from other places to the disaster area, but the grain can only be sold to the government’s Changping warehouse in the end. The government will increase the price to buy it at the market price, and private sales or hoarding are prohibited.
The young man in Qin Langzhong got up and said that he would guarantee his debts to prevent his creditors from pressing for debts. At the same time, he asked the head of the village to arrange a job as a helper for him. At least he would stay in the village and have a living.
As for other things, Qin Lang really can't take care of them now, those should be the responsibility of the court.
(end of this chapter)