What hung on the tree seemed not to be corpses, but sharp needles, trying to pierce Zuo Mengeng's heart.
It made him wish for an evil fire to burn up this evil world.
Lao Qintou received the order and hurriedly called some young men to untie the hanging corpses from the trees and carry them out of Zhuangzi.
Needless to say, they must have found wasteland and buried the matter hastily.
Human life is like a piece of grass, passing away in a hurry, leaving not even the last trace in this world.
Lao Qintou thought it was not enough, so he banged his cane and spoke loudly on purpose.
"Remember it all, it was that beast Liang Yue who caused trouble, and the entire family is to blame for the death. Now the young master has shown mercy and exempted us from the rent. If anyone dares not to remember this kindness, I will definitely fight with him.
I vow not to give up."
This old man is also shameless.
It was obvious that all of this was caused by the excessive oppression of the Zuo family, which forced the tenants to die. However, when it came to his words, it was all the fault of Liang Yue who escaped.
But Lao Qintou did this out of necessity.
The dead are dead, and the living will live.
If these farmers want to survive, it all depends on Zuofu's thoughts.
Zuo Mengeng finally showed his kindness and exempted them from rent. Is he going to go against the family and make everyone die?
This matter has nothing to do with good or evil, it is just a matter of struggling to survive.
Zuo Mengeng knew that the fault lay with his family, but he could only accept the result reluctantly.
We can't really deal with all the servants who beat people to death, right?
In that case, why don't these farmers say anything? I'm afraid that the servants will immediately become disloyal.
The world is such an irony, and he can only regard it as a confused account.
After finally coming to Zhuangzi, Zuo Menggeng was curious about everything and walked around to look around.
Lao Qintou and Zhang Yan followed and stayed with him, answering all questions.
Zuo Mengeng observed that the land on Zhuangzi was not really good.
This place is quite far from the river. Even if Feng allows water to be taken, not much land can be irrigated. Moreover, the soil here has some signs of desertification, indicating that there are not many nutrients left in the soil.
"What will the harvest be like if irrigation can be done?"
Old Qintou's answer confirmed his guess.
"Ten years ago, the land here was pretty good. One acre could always produce grain for more than one stone. But it didn't work anymore. Even in a good year, we would be thankful to have seven or eight bushels. In the past two years, we can only produce two or three bushels.
If you fight, you can’t even feed your family.”
This is a reduction in production caused by soil degradation, and it is hit by natural disasters. Under the double blow, farmers are on the verge of life and death.
Zuo Mengeng remembered some methods in historical online articles, and asked: "Why don't you plant some corn and potatoes?"
Old Qin Tou and Zhang Yan looked at each other, and Zhang Yan asked: "Master, what are corn and potatoes?"
Zuo Mengeng thought that these American crops had different names at this time, so he made gestures and described them.
Unexpectedly, Lao Qintou and Zhang Yan were still confused. They didn't know why. Apparently they had never heard of it.
Lao Qintou asked a question that Zuo Menggeng would never have thought of.
"Master, if you grow those corns and potatoes, will the government approve it? Will your employer approve it? Will it be easy to sell?"
Three questions in a row were like three heavy hammers, which made Zuo Mengeng dizzy.
Only then did he realize that he had been deceived.
Speaking of the agricultural situation in the late Ming Dynasty, many books have written about it, as if the comprehensive promotion of high-yielding crops such as corn and potatoes would be able to properly solve the problem.
But actually in this era, I realized that this was not the case at all.
Why were many American crops not accepted and cultivated by the people until the middle of the Qing Dynasty?
It’s not just poor promotion.
An important reason is that farmers are unable to plant new crops due to the burden placed on them.
What should farmers do if they want to grow corn and potatoes, no matter how high the yield is, but the government doesn't recognize them?
What should I do if the landowner doesn’t recognize me?
What should I do if the grain merchant doesn’t recognize me?
Farmers are severely restricted in paying taxes, paying rent, and selling grain. Even if they want to grow new crops, they don't have the energy to spare.
Why did it work again in the middle of the Qing Dynasty?
Because after decades of war in the late Ming Dynasty, the population dropped sharply and the per capita cultivated land area increased. Coupled with the social stability in the early Qing Dynasty, farmers no longer had to bear exorbitant taxes and exploitation by landlords. After they recovered, they could of course enrich their planting varieties.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes were aplenty, and the government's corvee was constant. The wheat and beans that the people had worked so hard to grow were not enough to make up for it. How could there be any spare time to plant new crops?
For example, Zuo's Zhuangzi in front of us does not grow wheat or beans, but instead grows corn and potatoes.
It's hard to say how high the output can be, and it may not be what it will be in later generations.
Even if there is, how can we pay taxes to the government?
How to pay rent to the landlord?
How much recognition do grain merchants have of these new things when they are sold in the market?
Prices will inevitably be lowered and farmers will suffer another loss.
Unless you have your own territory, abolish exorbitant taxes and land rents, and have control over food prices, promoting new crops is nonsense.
The living reality taught Zuo Menggeng a vivid lesson, allowing him to put away his lofty perspective and seriously think about the social issues of this era.
"How many acres of land do each of your families own?"
Lao Qin pointed to the area at his feet.
"My family rented 20 acres of land from the government and used to make a living. Now in this situation, whether we can survive is in doubt."
Zuo Mengeng thought for a while and asked: "I heard that many people fled from Zhuangzi, and there will definitely be a lot of land available next year. Is it possible to give some of this much to your family to give you some relief?"
Instead of being happy, Lao Qintou smiled bitterly.
"The young master doesn't know that the more land a farmer has, the better."
Zuo Mengeng was surprised, why do some people still dislike having so much land?
What Lao Qintou said taught Zuo Mengeng another vivid lesson.
"The more land our family has, the more taxes we pay. If the year is good and the harvest from the land is guaranteed, it will be decent. But now we don't know when the famine will end. No matter how much land we have, if there is no harvest, it will be useless."
Besides, every household has limited manpower, and no matter how much land they have, they can’t grow it.”
Zuo Mengeng was quite surprised by the farmers' mentality.
"What if, I mean what if, you don't have to rent fields, but have your own land?"
Lao Qin was stunned and pursed his lips, seeming to be thinking.
Zhang Yan said: "Master, what does it matter if you don't have your own land in this year? Say one thousand, say ten thousand, there must be a harvest in the fields. Whether the fields without harvests are your own, how much there is, it doesn't matter at all.
It’s not important. If there is no harvest, people will starve to death. Damn it, God just won’t let people live.”
Zuo Mengeng's mentality was a little broken.
I was deceived again by historical online articles.
Those books said that as long as the land is equalized and taxes are exempted, people can win the hearts of the people and achieve hegemony.
But now it seems that is not the case at all.
The use of land equalization during this period turned out to be of little use.
Although Li Zicheng relied on the slogan of equalizing land, he quickly grew in strength and overthrew the Ming Dynasty. However, his rapid demise showed that the people's support for him was not enough.
Thinking about the subsequent land reform, it suddenly gained the full support of the people.
Countless people used small carts to launch a new China.
Both are divided into fields, what’s the difference?
Li Zicheng's equalization of land was not just a slogan. Historical data shows that it was actually done, and many people were indeed allocated land.
So why didn't Li Zicheng gain the support of thousands of people and achieve hegemony, but instead died quickly?
Zuo Mengeng had never thought about this problem, but now he discovered the reason through the farmers' mouths.
The root cause is still natural disasters.
Agriculture in ancient times was very weak and there were no advanced technologies.
Farmers face the loess and turn their backs to the sky, and their farming methods are very primitive. Most of the time, they have to rely on the sky for food.
But during this period of the late Ming Dynasty, God was always acting like a monster.
Some areas in the south are okay. Although disasters are frequent, they can still persevere.
In places like Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, where there has been a drought for several years, locusts are all over the sky, and there is no harvest in the fields, what difference does it make if the farmers have land or not?
No matter whether there is one acre of land or ten acres of land, no food can be harvested, and the end result is starvation.
Under such circumstances, even if the land is equalized to the people, they still cannot support themselves.
In other words, although Li Zicheng's land equalization measures gained support from the people, they did not translate into real resources.
The farmers who got the land were shocked to find that they still went hungry.
Li Zicheng was unable to get support from these farmers, and his land equalization became an empty slogan. Once he suffered a military defeat, his destruction would be irreversible.
If Zuo Mengeng had not discovered this mistake in time, he would have implemented the same crude land equalization strategy in the future.
When faced with the situation of having traveled thousands of miles without any harvest, I am afraid that the outcome will not be any better than that of Li Zicheng.
