Perhaps for most people in this era, this is normal.
There is land but no one in Laomiaozhuang. It is along the river but not along the river. There are more than 5,000 acres in the middle and lower fields. The family fields are only decided by the remaining ten people in the village. Irrigation and sowing are almost done. If you buy it, you can wait for the harvest.<
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What's more, people were killed when they were sick. The village was completely robbed, and the survivors obviously had no choice. If they gave them some food, they would definitely get the land in the end.
Big pies and good deeds are about to fall on the heads of those who have food. Who has food at this juncture?
Looking at Fucheng Beixiang, no one except them can provide nearly a hundred tons of rice and grain with just a few people.
But it was a bit strange to Liu Chengzong's ears. Farming in northern Shaanxi in the late Ming Dynasty?
It all sounds fantasy!
But when Cao Yao said it, he felt that there was indeed room for maneuver in this matter.
"Do you think, when can one stone of millet buy twenty or thirty acres of land? Right now. You can buy these fields and then rent them back. As long as you can grow two hundred acres and produce grain in a few months, you will get your money back. No matter how much you add, you will make money.
."
"You said it might be useless to buy land at this time, but do we have other places to go? We don't want to vote for the king, nor do we want to vote for the king of fools or anything else. A mountain fortress has been built in Heilong Mountain, and it will definitely be over in the next two years.
Here, then why not buy this land."
"Besides, this is also a good deed, lion. Look at Lu Bin. These people can only afford fifty shi of food until they have enough food. Fifty shi, lion. Is there anyone around here who can give fifty shi to help them?"<
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Cao Yao became more and more excited as he spoke, and he patted his chest: "There are only a few of us brothers!"
This is indeed true, but there is another thing that makes Liu Chengzong feel puzzled. He raised his hand to stop Cao Yao's words. In his eyes, this is taking advantage of others' danger, and it is definitely not helping others, but it is indeed tempting.<
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Even if the land can only be cultivated for one year in their hands, one year is still worth it.
Just a few days ago, the family was discussing going to Shanxi and Fucheng to buy grain to tide over the difficult period in the second half of the year. With this riverside land, we can survive any hardships we imagine.
He asked: "Brother Cao, why are you looking for me?"
Hearing him ask this question, Cao Yao grinned with joy.
"Let me tell you this, I can only spare thirty shi of food, and you have the food in your hand; and we are both military citizens, and you are the only one with civilian citizenship. Besides, you saved my life in Saibei, and Tian bought me
I believe you."
At this point, Liu Chengzong didn't say anything more. As soon as the two of them came together, they immediately decided that Cao Yao would discuss the matter with Lu Bin of Laomiao Village, and he would return to Black Dragon Mountain to communicate with his father and brother.
In the afternoon of that day, I told Liu Xiangyu and Liu Chengzu about this at home, and they all hit it off and decided to buy the fields along the river in Laomiaozhuang. The number of acres to buy and the price to be negotiated depended on the landowner's plan. All they could decide was how much grain they would pay to buy the land.<
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Fifty stones.
For the father and brother, there is no psychological burden in making this decision. After all, it is not a forced sale. If the people alive in Laomiao Village do not want to sell, then they will naturally give up and will not come to the door with a knife to force people to sell.
.
To some extent, they were taking advantage of people's danger, but they were indeed forced to do nothing by the lack of food. The village was counting the days until the rice vats would bottom out at the turn of summer and autumn.
This triggered the idea of buying land, and everyone in the family began to happily plan the autumn harvest after buying the land.
Cao Yao communicated with Lu Bin. At noon the next day, he and the only surviving old man in the village were taken to Black Dragon Mountain by Cao Yao.
"To be honest, my family was not willing to sell the family land at first, but there is really no other way. Even if Mr. Cao doesn't come to me, I still have to come to Heilong Mountain today. It's just that I am here to sell the land. I originally planned to
Just here for a loan."
Lu Bin took this matter very seriously. He said: "The villagers have discussed that the price of selling the land can be low, eighty shi of grain in exchange for 2,700 acres of farmland along the river, as long as it is enough for us to eat; but we need seven
One hundred acres are permanently tenanted to seven farmers. This year we cannot all dig out the land, so we can only pay 10% of the land rent, and 30% of the land every year from next year onwards. It will be dried in the sun and sent to Heilong Mountain with a lamb."
"If we agree, the old temple village will be called Liujiazhuang from now on, and the second master will be our boss."
Lu Bin spoke very openly. To be honest, this is not like Liu Chengzong buying land and becoming a big landlord, but more like him and Lu Bin and other seven farmers in Laomiao Village becoming partners and working together to overcome difficulties.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a permanent tenancy system for land. Once a permanent tenancy was chosen, the landlord had the right to resell or mortgage the land, but could not withdraw the tenancy at will. Even if the land was changed hands, what was sold was the ownership of the land and the land rent.
As long as the tenant farmer does not default on the land rent, he can not only cultivate the land forever, but also has the right to inherit, sell, mortgage, pawn and re-lease the farming rights of the tenant farm.
In this type of land tenure, tenant farmers must bear land rent, land tax and other miscellaneous taxes brought by the land.
In short, this is the living people of Laomiaozhuang dividing their land from the fields. In fact, in the past, the seven households together did not necessarily have 700 acres of land.
Cao Yao felt that he was at a disadvantage, so he interjected: "Fifty acres per household is a lot, and you can't even farm a hundred acres."
However, Liu Chengzong didn't think the problem was big. In his opinion, it would be difficult for all the land in northern Shaanxi to maintain its value in the face of future events. Whether he fought for these three hundred acres of land, he might not be able to hold it in his hands in the future.
So there is no need to push people too hard for this matter. He smiled at Cao Yao and said: "This is just a matter of supporting each other. I think we can agree. We can't plant so much land this year."
In fact, even in the second half of the year, whether they can cultivate all 2,700 acres of land depends on whether they can recruit 40 households of refugees and whether they can find a way to get enough cattle and mules.
Otherwise, these lands cannot be cultivated.
After deciding on the land, relying on the township agreement and the testimony of the old man, the land basically belonged to Liu Chengzong. The Liu family was very happy. The old man even asked the villagers for some rice wine and gave each person a cup.
But when things have developed to this point, there is still one step left. They have to go to the Yamen to make this property sale legal.
Without further ado, the three brothers from the Liu family, Cao Yao, Lu Bin, and five other people took their horses and set off for Yan'an Fucheng that day.
Therefore, the land sale was still subject to many restrictions. Although there was no obstacle from the traditional township contract and asking the neighbors, there was still the problem of converting the family land into private land. Therefore, in order to ensure smooth operation, I brought my cousin with me to carry out the transaction, so that he could find the letter written by his father-in-law.
posts.
This is Liu Chengzong's first visit to the capital after returning to his hometown in Yuhebao. The security in Yan'an City, where the county government is located, is as usual and is not as scary as in Ansai County.
However, the stretched refugee tents and porridge factories set up outside the city still make people clearly feel the threat of famine.
On the official road in Beixiang, Fucheng, from time to time, groups of strong men wearing strong armor and riding horses would pass by with their whips raised. Rich villagers blatantly put on armor and violated the prohibition. The police outside the city could not control it, and there were seven or eight guards outside to rob.
The hungry people rummaged through the parcels in the street, discarded them and walked away.
The law of the jungle has become the norm.
Of course, in the eyes of others, Liu Chengzong and his party, who carried the Beixiang Minzhuang brand and wore dark armor and hip sabers, were also such people.
