He didn't have to watch his mother starve to death without even being able to keep her whole body.
Everyone around was eating big mouthfuls of food, looking a bit ferocious as they devoured their food.
After everyone was registered, the food that the Ming official brought for relief was almost eaten.
The rest were divided among them on a per-head basis from house to house!
Holding a small bag of grain in his arms and holding out his stretched belly, Li Xu had a smile that couldn't be concealed on his face.
With this food, if he goes to do some part-time work, or digs some wild vegetables, his family should be able to survive this year's drought.
However, before Li Xu could be happy for a long time, the Ming official ordered them to gather together again.
The villagers in Lijiapu thought that the imperial court was about to recruit troops or issue corvee services.
But the official said that the court would allocate land to them.
Li Xu and others went from panic at the beginning to disbelief when the Tian deed was handed over to them...
The mood changes are quite dramatic!
On that day, Li Xu hugged Tian Qi, knelt on the ground of his house and cried.
With snot and tears all over his face, he grabbed a handful of dirt mixed with grass and stuffed it into his mouth.
The earthy smell and the bitterness of the grass fermented in his mouth, reminding him that everything in front of him was real.
Li Xu was not the only one who lost his temper. There were many villagers in Li's shop, and most of them looked the same.
The crying almost never stopped!
Li Xu will always remember what the official said that day.
"From now on, this field is yours!"
"However, there is no official seal of the imperial court on this land deed."
"You must pay enough rent for five years, and the court's taxes must not be in arrears, so that this land deed can be stamped with the court's seal."
"This field is really yours! It belongs to your family!"
Zhu Hongyu knows very well the principle of favoring rice and enmity against rice!
It would definitely not work to allocate land directly to the people below. If Zhu Hongyu really did this, it would be most likely to destabilize the military morale.
Soldiers in the army can't help but think, why do we join the army and follow you to fight life and death on the battlefield to get the land, but the common people can get it without doing anything?
Once such thoughts appear in the military, Zhu Hongyu dare not even think of the consequences!
Therefore, the solution proposed by Zhu Hongyu is not to divide the land, but to rent instead of buying.
Let the common people pay more rent to the court while paying taxes.
After paying enough rent for a certain period of time, the land belongs to the people.
It is similar to the low-rent housing of later generations!
The only subsequent restriction is that the land acquired through renting instead of buying has only the right to use it, not ownership.
Resale is not allowed!
The reason for this is that Zhu Hongyu wants to curb land annexation from the root.
Zhu Hongyu felt that doing this would definitely achieve multiple goals with one stone.
First, it calmed the morale of the military.
The second is to increase a large amount of fiscal revenue for the court.
Third, it can also alleviate social conflicts!
Although the land purchased by the imperial court was rented, the rent collected would not be less.
But they certainly won’t be like those evil-minded landlords and gentry who frequently charge 80% to 90% of the rent.
The rent set by Zhu Hongyu is only 30% at most.
Even if the taxes that need to be paid to the court and the grain that farmers need to hand over to the court are added, half of the harvest will not be used.
Compared with the past, the lives of these people will definitely have undergone earth-shaking changes.
Within five years, they were able to retain at least half of their annual harvest!
And after five years, this field will belong to them, they won’t have to pay rent anymore, and they will be able to keep at least 80% of the annual harvest!
These people will definitely be full of motivation when they plant the land!
If Zhu Hongyu's tax collection methods were used in future generations, he would be considered a black-hearted capitalist and would give birth to a child without an asshole.
But in this turbulent era, no one can find anything wrong with what Zhu Hongyu did.
Compared with those landlords and gentry who use all their methods and exploits, even if Zhu Hongyu is just a little nicer to the people at the bottom, he is an absolutely benevolent king!
Absolute Mingjun Holy Lord!
At least that's what Li Xu thought.
In his eyes, the great emperor who gave them the land was the best emperor in the world.
If the imperial court wanted to recruit troops, Li Xu would definitely go there without saying a word!
If they don’t go, they will be sorry for the land allocated to their family by the court!
The common people are simple and honest, and they can distinguish who is good to them and who is bad to them.
I have been exploited for a long time and have been in darkness for a long time.
The little light of goodwill that Zhu Hongyu released to them was enough for many people to remember him for a lifetime.
It can even be said that Zhu Hongyu’s policy of renting instead of buying came out!
He is completely established in Jiangnan!
The millions of lower-class farmers in Jiangnan are his most loyal supporters.
…
Since the land was allocated to them, the life of Li Xu's family has improved little by little.
Li Xu is a hard-working person. While farming with his family, he also goes to Nanjing to do odd jobs in his spare time.
Make money to support your family!
The imperial court was making great efforts to repair the official roads around Nanjing. Zhu Hongyu wanted to rest with the people and was unwilling to impose corvee labor.
Naturally, Gu Gong can only do it!
As long as you are willing to endure hardship, you are not afraid of finding a job in Nanjing now.
Day by day, I watched the rice in the field grow up little by little. The heavy ears of rice bent the stalks, and the ears of rice also grew little by little, from emerald green to golden.
The smile on Li Xu's face never disappeared.
Whenever he is free every day, he likes to go for a walk on his property.
Even if he did nothing, just looking at the heavy ears of rice, he felt extremely satisfied.
On this day, he returned to the village from work at the construction site and went for a walk in his own field again.
A man sat alone in the field, silently calculating the harvest time, and the smile on his face gradually began to uncontrollable.
It wasn't until it got dark and the ears of rice in the fields could no longer be seen clearly with the naked eye that Li Xu got up, dusted off his butt, and strolled back to his home.
The family sat around a small square table with various foods on the table.
White rice porridge, stir-fried shredded cabbage, a bowl of pancakes, and a few boiled eggs.
If these foods were kept in normal times, given the conditions of the Li family, they would not be able to eat them even during the Chinese New Year.
But now I can eat it!
But it is not because the imperial court divided the fields for them. There is no harvest yet in the fields. Even if the dividing of the fields has improved their lives, they will not be able to see it for a while.
The reason why the Li family's life has improved is entirely because Li Xu went out to do odd jobs while farming.
You will receive a salary every month!
When you have money, you naturally want to improve your life.