A year later, Zhang Sanchun and Lin Qiaoxi moved from Pinecone Village to Pingshui Town.
Relying on the silver they borrowed from Chu Xun, they bought that residence and shop, but they just didn't have extra silver to buy farmland.
Moving to live in the town wasn't solely Lin Qiaoxi's idea.
Zhang Sanchun always felt that his wife was once the daughter of a wealthy family, and couldn't always follow him living the bitter life of facing the yellow earth and turning their backs to the sky.
So he wanted to go to the town to open the roasted goods shop, perhaps able to earn a bit more silver than farming.
Of course, the few acres of land at ho couldn't be left behind; they still had to continue planting.
Whenever it was the busy farming season, they would return to the village.
Chu Xun guided them in making various roasted goods, as well as puffed rice balls and candied hawthorns.
Even though Pingshui Town had not yet recovered from the negative impact of the Lin family's nine familial exterminations, a business like roasted goods, with both low costs and low selling prices, could still barely be done.
No matter how poor people were, taking a few copper coins to buy a handful of lon seeds to crack wasn't difficult.
Knowing that the refugees really didn't have any silver, Zhang Sanchun, under Chu Xun's suggestion, let them exchange firewood for roasted goods.
Six catties of dry firewood could be exchanged for half a catty of roasted soybeans or roasted peanuts.
This thod of bartering wasn't considered a loss; after all, the roasted goods shop inherently needed to consu a large amount of firewood.
The prices were cheap enough, the taste was good, and the couple was honest, never shortchanging on weight.
Lin Qiaoxi also took the opportunity to make so hand cream. It was hard to sell in the town, so she went to the county to promote it, and the business was passable.
Over a year, including the farmland produce, they actually earned twenty to thirty taels of silver.
When this matter spread out, many people were stunned.
Didn't they say there was hardly anyone in the town? How could they still earn so much?
For a ti, many people ran to Pingshui Town to see the novelty, or sought out Zhang Sanchun to ask how to earn silver.
There were also people hesitating, wanting to buy a shop in Pingshui Town to do a little business.
If they could also earn dozens of taels a year, they would make a huge profit!
Although Chu Xun himself had eight shops, he had no thought of going into business.
Firstly, his energy was limited; secondly, the developnt of Pingshui Town was still in its initial stage.
Most importantly, the Spirit Pearl Grass could not be transplanted.
Even if the treasures brought by the birds and beasts during his grand wedding could buy the entire town, Chu Xun had to stay in Pinecone Village.
This related to how long he could live in the future; there could be no mistakes.
So, taking advantage of the ti when so people had ideas, he rented out the shops.
In addition, he recruited so people among the refugees. According to the county office's instructions, he distributed two or three acres to each person, waiting until harvest ti to collect rent.
In order to let these refugees work steadily, the County Magistrate Tang Shijun specially created an agricultural loan.
Each household could borrow a maximum of five taels of silver, used to purchase farm tools, to be paid off within six years, with negligible interest.
Surprisingly, despite such generous treatnt, there were still so people who didn't know how to cherish it.
Among the refugees Chu Xun recruited, there were a few gluttonous and lazy scoundrels.
Previously they had spoken well, promising to work hard and diligently, absolutely not letting the boss suffer a loss.
But after getting their hands on the land, they ignored it completely.
When Chu Xun went to inspect during the autumn harvest, he found the fields overgrown with weeds, and the rice was scattered in clumps here and there, fragnted.
No pest control, no weeding, and no fertilizing; what harvest could there be to speak of.
Before Chu Xun could go find those tenant farrs, they had already taken the initiative to co to him.
There were three people in total. The short and skinny Wang Erlai was a notorious scoundrel even before fleeing the famine.
His head suffered from scabies all year round, and most of his hair was gone, so he was also called Scabby Head.
In his early years in his hotown, he freeloaded food and drinks everywhere to get by. Hearing that he could be allocated land and receive a loan, he patted his chest and said he would farm diligently.
In reality, after receiving the silver, he went to gather a group of similar scoundrels and gamblers to squander it, completely disregarding the life or death of the crops in the fields.
The other two, Liu San and Sun Laoyou, ca from the sa village.
The two were the best at glib talk and loved to take petty advantages.
The three tangled together, each one worse than the other.
They rented the land, borrowed silver from the county office, and spent it all clean before a month had even passed.
They thought about it, this wouldn't do.
After so discussion, they settled on a wicked idea.
Facing Chu Xun who ca to the door, Wang Erlai was not afraid at all, shaking his leg frivolously and looking askance.
"I heard the boss has a hundred acres of fertile land, and eight shops alone, with hundreds of taels of silver entering your pockets a year. We three brothers won't make things difficult for you, how about giving us ten or eight taels each to pad our stomachs first?"
"As long as enough silver is given, for a re few acres of land, we three brothers guarantee to serve it perfectly for you."
Hearing this, Chu Xun was so angry he laughed. So not only did he give them land to plant without asking for silver, he also had to owe them a favor and give them so silver as pocket money?
Where was the logic in that?
"Why should I give you silver?"
Wang Erlai said with a cheeky smile, "The imperial court's rule is that whoever's farmland cannot produce grain must be charged a wasteland tax. For five consecutive years, the governnt can take the land back."
"I've already inquired about it. The rule set by the County Magistrate is that these lands must be rented to us for at least six years and cannot be taken back."
"Do you want to take out ten or eight taels of silver to eliminate disaster and avoid misfortune, or do you want to be fined five years of wasteland tax, and then have the land deeds taken back by the governnt, losing everything?"
Beside him, Liu San and Sun Laoyou chid in, "The boss isn't short of this little bit of silver. Even if you want to make things difficult for us, you can't make things difficult for yourself."
"We are all commoners. Give us a hand today, and who knows, next year it might be us giving you a hand."
They supported each other, speaking as if Chu Xun not taking out silver ant he had a heart of iron and stone, asking for trouble.
Although Chu Xun usually didn't bicker with people, those were all villagers to whom he owed favors.
But with these few scoundrels, he wasn't that easy to talk to.
"So if I don't give silver, you won't farm for six years? Aren't you afraid of starving yourselves to death?" Chu Xun asked.
"Then there's no need for the boss to worry. We brothers consider ourselves to still have so ans," Wang Erlai chuckled.
Chu Xun's face turned slightly cold, and he said, "My silver can be taken to feed dogs, but it will absolutely not be fed to ungrateful wolves. Eight or nine acres of land, even adding the wasteland tax, is only about a hundred taels of silver. I can still afford the loss."
"Whether you farm this land or not, I will naturally inform the County Magistrate about this matter. You can look out for yourselves."
However, Wang Erlai and the others were still unafraid. Hearing these words, they instead laughed wildly.
"Go ahead and sue, let's see if the County Magistrate will comply with your wishes!"
Chu Xun heard that they seed to have confidence. He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the few people, and after a mont, decisively left.
Liu San looked at his back and snorted, "This guy seems a bit tough. I'm afraid it won't be easy to squeeze any oil out of him."
"Who cares. Anyway, if he doesn't give silver, we won't have a good ti, and he shouldn't think about having a good ti either!"
Ungrateful wolves who bite the hand that feeds them are everywhere; it's not rare.
After Chu Xun left, he went straight to the county office.
Previously, he had taken out a thousand taels of silver to buy shops and farmland, so he was sowhat famous in the county office and easily t the County Magistrate Tang Shijun.
Learning that a few scoundrels had appeared among the refugees Chu Xun recruited, Tang Shijun asked, "What do you want to do?"
Chu Xun said, "This matter seems to be the doing of three people, but in reality, it's a glimpse of the whole picture. Among the refugees, those who are gluttonous, lazy, and cause trouble out of nothing are absolutely not few."
"This commoner boldly offers a strategy to Your Honor, issue an official decree to let the tenant farrs mutually supervise and report each other."
"If anyone's rented farmland is left barren, and they are identified by three or more households for inaction, then take back the lease, and fine them silver, or give them a few strokes of the cane as a warning to others!"
Before coming, Chu Xun had already considered this matter very clearly.
If according to his own thoughts, mutual supervision should be one household against another.
But considering Tang Shijun's thoughts, he ultimately changed it to three households jointly identifying, to avoid people saying this was inciting internal fighting among the commoners.
Chu Xun believed he had considered the beginning and end properly. Even if Tang Shijun had other thoughts, he should first express agreent.
What he didn't expect was that Tang Shijun said almost without hesitation, "This move is absolutely impossible!"
[End of Chapter]
User Comments
0 comments from readers