My eunuch godfather

Chapter 43 Tenant Farmers

Xue Shenxing didn't think about it for long and quickly decided to agree to Zhang Kun's conditions.

There was nothing Xue Shenxing, a mere head of the household, could do to stop Zhang Kun from converting civilian farmland into military farmland in Yuhedu.

Moreover, Zhang Kun offered very generous terms: one qian of silver for every mu of land acquired!

Half an hour later, Xue Shenxing invited all the village chiefs and elders from that area to the teahouse.

"Rise, everyone."

Zhang Kun, sitting at the head of the table, raised his hand and smiled at the village chiefs and elders who had gotten up, saying:

"I have invited you all here today because I have some great news to share..."

When they heard that Zhang Kun planned to include that piece of land in the military farms, which would exempt them from miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor, the village chiefs and elders were very excited.

"This is Master Deng, who runs a fat-dumpling business in the city."

Xue Shenxing jumped out with a stern face, pointed at Deng Wenqi standing next to Zhang Kun, and said to the village chief and elders, playing the bad cop:

"Master Deng is kind-hearted and has given our local farmers a lot of money for fertilizer on credit."

Nowadays, Master Deng's business is facing some cash flow problems, coupled with the poor economic climate of the past two years.

I'm planning to collect some debts ahead of schedule, and I need your help to persuade them...

The implication is that if the debt cannot be recovered, the land cannot be designated for military farming.

The village chief and elders looked at each other, knowing that collecting debts could offend people, especially since they were all fellow villagers. How could they help outsiders collect debts?

"Gentlemen, I know you are in trouble, the farmers are in trouble..."

Zhang Kun repeated the conditions he had previously discussed to the village chiefs and elders:

Farmers who are unable to repay their debts will have their land taken away and then rented back, on the condition that they must switch to growing a medicinal herb called tambaku.

In the first year, all land rent was waived, and free training was provided on how to grow wild rice, with a monthly ration of one dou (a unit of dry measure) per mu (a unit of land area).

The rent was collected starting in the second year, with at least 100 catties of fresh leaves of *Danbagu* per mu (approximately 667 square meters) to continue providing food rations.

For items weighing over 100 jin, five jin can be exchanged for one dou of grain, or for silver.

Farmers who are not in debt or can repay their debts can grow tambaku if they are willing to do so.

In the first year, the land rent for the river work camp was waived, and the teaching was also free, with a monthly ration of one dou and five sheng per mu.

The rent was collected starting in the second year, with a minimum of 80 catties of fresh leaves per mu, and the food ration was reduced to one dou per mu per month.

The same applies to those weighing over 80 jin.

"Shangguan has been extremely kind to us!"

After Zhang Kun finished playing the good cop, Xue Shenxing jumped out and threatened the village chief and elders:

"If there are fools who are unwilling to plant, you don't need to persuade them."

"Our Yuhedu's finances and provisions will depend on them in the future!"

The implication is that those who are unwilling to cultivate danbagu (a type of wild rice) will not only be excluded from the land reclamation of the river engineering camp.

After that, they would have to shoulder even more miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor!

......

To Zhang Kun's surprise, more farmers were misled by various advertisements than he had expected.

Firstly, the harvests in recent years have been so poor that some farmers want to try this way out.

Secondly, these farmers have a lot of land, so if they try it out on a few acres, even if they fail, it won't cause them serious damage.

If Zhang Kun hadn't insisted on allocating at least one mu (approximately 0.16 acres), many more farmers would have contributed even smaller plots of land for trial planting.

The Ming Dynasty now has a population of approximately 160 million and arable land of approximately 11 million hectares, averaging 6.8 mu per person.

Each household has five people, which means each household has 34 mu (approximately 2.6 hectares).

The farmers who were misled by the propaganda mostly owned more than this amount of arable land, which put them at the middle-class level or above in the Ming Dynasty.

These farmers' land was not registered under the name of the river management camp, so in the first year they received two dou of grain per mu per month.

The second year, the yield was at least 60 catties of fresh leaves per mu, and the ration was reduced to one dou per mu per month. For yields exceeding 60 catties, the same applies.

They then replicated the white-faced and red-faced magic tricks not only in Yuhedu but also in several other cities near Xishan.

In less than a month, Zhang Kun successfully achieved his planting target of more than 3000 mu.

Two hundred acres of them belong directly to Zhang Kun personally.

The 500 mu belonging to the Hegongying area and the 800 mu belonging to the Xuanbeifangfei section were also under Zhang Kun's actual control.

All 1500 mu of land were invested and allocated to the Hegongying Group.

Of the 1,500 mu belonging to farmers, only 1000 mu were transferred to the Hegongying (River Workers' Camp) account.

In other words, of the 5,000 mu of farmland allocated by the imperial court to the river engineering camp, about half, or 2500 mu, remains.

Zhang Kun plans to allocate the quota to the river construction workers:

People of that time valued land more than people of later generations, and the river workers used their quotas from the river work camp to purchase land in the capital.

They will not only have the "constant mindset of permanent property owners," but will also become more deeply connected with the river works camp!

......

Zhang Kun's hired tea master, surnamed Ning, had more than thirty apprentices under his tutelage.

Apart from the few that Master Ning brought from the south, the rest of these apprentices were selected from the river engineering team.

They may be quick-witted or hardworking and willing to learn.

The apprentices were both technicians who taught how to cultivate tamsak and supervisors who managed the farms.

A large restaurant in Xingzikou Market.

Zhang Kun sat at the head of the table, with Zhang Guotai, the grain supervisor of the river work camp, and the clerk of the household registration office of Wanping County sitting on his left and right.

Next are Deng Wenqi, representing the Feiduan section of Xuanbeifang, the shopkeepers and village chiefs of each district, and Master Ning.

Further down are the village elders of each village, and the village chiefs and elders of each village.

At the very bottom are the farmers lining up in a long queue outside their doors:

Some were simply willing to plant tampons, while others wanted to transfer their land to the river management camp.

Others needed to sell the land passed down from their ancestors to Zhang Kun, Hegongying, or Feiduan of Xuanbeifang.

Dozens of heavily armored guards and dozens of strongmen from Wanping County maintained order inside and outside the restaurant.

"Grandpa, didn't Uncle say that for us peasants, losing our land means losing our roots?"

The boy who had publicly contradicted Zhang Kun, his eyes reddening, sobbed as he spoke to the middle-aged man:

"From now on, our family... our family will only be able to work like slaves, being scolded and beaten by the master as they please, living like we're not even human beings?"

Tenants without land belong to the lowest stratum of rural society.

Before the Song Dynasty, tenant farmers could not even leave their landlords without their permission!

After the Song Dynasty, tenant farmers could only request to leave their landlords if they did not default on rent and debts.

"My child, people are the foundation of our family, and you are the root of our lineage."

The middle-aged man patted the boy's head and forced a smile, saying:

"If the master is too wicked, we'll just run away. Anyway, we've lost our land and have nothing to hold us back."

One by one, the farmers entered the restaurant lobby and signed and sealed the pre-prepared contract, which became known as the "white contract".

Then, the clerks under the Household Affairs Bureau would affix their official seal to the white contract, which would then become the red contract.

The official seal wasn't stamped for nothing; it cost one tael of silver each time.

"Bring him here."

When Zhang Kun saw the boy from that day, he gave instructions to Xu Xin, who was standing beside him.

The farmers who lined up before and after the boy were all from the same village and town. When they saw the boy being taken away, some of them became agitated.

"quiet!"

Upon seeing this, the guards and soldiers immediately shouted a reprimand.

"What are you going to do!?"

The boy stood there stiffly, staring at Zhang Kun, refusing to kneel.

"I remember that your family is heavily in debt; even selling all your land wouldn't be enough to pay it off."

Zhang Kun waved his hand at the soldiers who were trying to pin the boy down and asked with a smile, "Is that right?"

"Yes! What, are you going to demolish my house and steal my grain?!"

The boy was so frightened that tears welled up in his eyes, but he still questioned Zhang Kun fiercely.

"You are young, yet you dared to question me on behalf of your fellow villagers. You are righteous, therefore I will reward you!"

Zhang Kun took out a two-ounce ingot from his satchel, grabbed the boy's arm, slapped it into his hand, and smiled.

He turned to Xu Xin and instructed, "Leave two mu of land for his family."

The boy stood there blankly, clutching the silver in his hand, tears streaming down his face.