"Fellow folks and elders, I am your boss, and my name is Zhang Yanling. I'm afraid many of you don't know me, but that doesn't matter. You just need to understand that the land you plant is mine and the water you drink is mine.
, the food we eat grows on my land, and the place we live in is mine." Zhang Yanling smiled and spoke.
Everyone's hearts trembled. The boss felt something was wrong as soon as he opened his mouth. He seemed to be trying to settle a score. The old blacksmith Zhao Laoji who was sitting next to him also turned his head worriedly.
"I heard that some of you owe last year's rent and haven't paid it, right? There are even some who owe the rent of the year before last. This is not good. Fellow folks, we are all reasonable people. You kind of
What does it mean if you bought the land from my manor, Zhang Yanling, but didn't even pay the rent? It's like someone coming to your house to eat, drink, and have sex, and then leave without giving you a penny, just say hello.
I don’t want to fight either. I’m afraid that’s inappropriate, right?” Zhang Yanling continued.
A group of people who were in arrears with rent couldn't stay any longer. Some people stretched their necks and planned to escape. However, seeing that there were thugs with their arms akimbo guarding the intersections on both sides of the site, it seemed that they could not escape. Not only did they feel extremely regretful, they came running.
Attending this meeting, many people cast their angry gazes at the old blacksmith. If he hadn't guaranteed that it was definitely not a matter of paying the rent, how could people like them have come?
Zhao Laoji was sitting on pins and needles in his chair, his face was gray, and he was very angry. He thought that his boss was really not here to collect the rent, but he was deceived by him. As expected, these rich officials could not be trusted.
Yes, when I was older, I thought I wouldn't be too blind when looking at people. After getting in touch with him, I thought that my boss seemed to be quite benevolent, but I was deceived by his hypocritical showmanship.
"My boss, we are not unruly people. We have to pay rent when we plant our land. But we really can't afford it. We don't mean to deny the rent intentionally. My boss, as long as the year is good, we can make the whole family happy."
If we can eat and not starve to death, how can we default on the rent?" an old man said tremblingly.
Zhang Yanling said: "Old man, you can't say that. Who's family doesn't have difficulties? The landlord's family doesn't have any surplus food. If I follow what you say, then won't I, Zhang Yanling, also have to drink from the northwest wind?"
"This... ugh!" The old man was speechless and could only sigh heavily.
Zhang Yanling smiled, looked at the solemn faces in front of him, turned around and sat down on the chair. The moment he turned around, he felt a gaze staring at him, that was Tan Ruqing's gaze. Tan Ruqing frowned
With beautiful eyebrows, she stood at the courtyard gate and looked at Zhang Yanling. She heard all Zhang Yanling's words, and for some reason she felt huge disappointment and loss in her heart.
"Fellow folks, I'm not trying to embarrass you. You have to know how many people outside want to farm but don't have any land. I farmed my Zhang family's land for you, but in the end you got nothing, and even couldn't even say a nice word.
No. The rent that should be collected cannot be collected, and some people say that we are forcing you. When I come to Zhaojiazhuang, you all regard me as an enemy, avoid me, and secretly want to curse me. Do you think this is fair to me?
What have I done to make you plant my land and become my enemy? I’m afraid this is not the truth. Think about it carefully, is this the truth?”
The whole place was silent. According to the simple thinking of ordinary people, renters do have to pay rent for farming. Failure to pay rent is the first fault. What else can be said? Although the words of the owner are harsh, they are not arbitrary.
.And what they are worried about now is that the boss seems to mean that they will not be allowed to rent acres of farmland. This is the most worrying thing. Farming may not necessarily provide food and clothing, but if there is no land to farm, then
The whole family will inevitably starve and be homeless, which is really a fatal thing.
"My boss, please do me a favor and give them some time to let those who haven't paid the rent think of a solution, but don't take back the land. We'll make up for the rent no matter what if we turn the tables on you."
"If there is no land to grow, people will starve to death. Boss, please do a good job." Someone couldn't help but beg.
This plea immediately caused many people to plead hard, and some people began to kneel on the ground and kowtow. Others had already begun to complain that those who had not paid the rent had brought trouble to everyone.
Zhang Yanling waved her hands and said: "Everyone, grace is impossible..."
Everyone's hearts went cold. Tan Ruqing sighed secretly, turned around and walked back into the house. She was going to let her maid Xiaozhu pack her things and leave tonight. Looking at the situation in front of her, she didn't want to stay any longer.
"...Grace is impossible. I think all the rent you owed before will be forgiven." Zhang Yanling's voice came from behind.
"What?"
"ah?"
Everyone stared blankly at Zhang Yanling, suspecting that they heard wrongly. Tan Ruqing also turned around and looked at Zhang Yanling in surprise.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy that the rent you owe is waived? Why are you looking at me like this?" Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
"No... Mr. Hou, are you kidding me? The old accounts and the new accounts are quite a large amount. It must be two to three thousand taels of silver." Ma Quan swallowed and stretched his neck.
Zhang Yanling said: "So what? I said it would be waived. Do you have any objections?"
Ma Quan was speechless and stammered: "Whatever the Marquis says...then so be it."
Zhang Yanling ignored him and looked at the stunned people in front of him and said, "Don't you believe what I say? Are you afraid that I, Zhang Yanling, won't keep my words?"
An old man said blankly: "It's not that I don't believe my boss, but it's too sudden. My boss said it's exempt, so why not? Could it be that I'm dreaming?"
Zhang Yanling chuckled and said: "Everyone, you are not dreaming. From now on, the rent owed previously will be written off and you don't have to pay it. I, Zhang Yanling, am a noble marquis and a manly man. I naturally spit out my words and keep my words. Manager Sun
, and later took out the rent arrears account book and destroyed it in front of everyone."
Sun Decai said in a trembling voice: "Follow the order of the Marquis!"
Only then did everyone believe that Zhang Yanling was not joking, and the venue suddenly erupted into enthusiastic cheers. Many people cheered loudly with joy and saluted repeatedly. Those who liked to kowtow fell to the ground again.
"My boss is a good man. Good people in my boss will be rewarded well. In the future, they will live a long life, everything will go well, and their children and grandchildren will enjoy wealth forever." All the people praised him.
Tan Ruqing breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Zhang Yanling with some annoyance, and thought to herself: "This person did it on purpose. He said a lot of harsh words before, but in the end he wanted to waive their rent. Isn't this trying to scare people? This
He is really bad. He must have done it on purpose."
"Everyone...don't be too happy first. Listen to me." Zhang Yanling said loudly.
"Don't argue, don't argue, listen to what your boss has to say."
"Yes, yes, yes, stop arguing and listen to what my boss has to say."
The people reminded each other and quickly became quiet.
"I have forgiven some of you the rent you owe, so you are naturally happy. But the folks who paid the rent in full before must be a little unhappy. This is not fair to them. So, I forgive you the rent.
There are conditions. All of you who owe rent must be compensated. This is only fair. To put it simply, you have to do your part and use labor instead of paying rent to help me do some work. You have no objection to this, right?" Zhang Yanling said.
"You're right. People who pay the rent will be unhappy. It's really unfair."
"Do you want to contribute? We have plenty of strength, and we are willing to do so, as long as we don't kill people and set fire to it."
"I don't have any objection. As long as my rent is waived, I'm willing to work."
The people talked a lot. Those people who paid the rent also felt more balanced. They thought it was unfair at first, but it turned out that there were conditions.
"Fellow folks, I came to the manor this time to solve your difficulties. I have never understood that each of your households has rented a lot of land from me, some more than twenty or thirty acres, some less than ten acres.
, it stands to reason that you will not be hungry, and I feel very strange that you can't pay the rent. So I came to see what went wrong, is it because you are lazy, or is it because of other reasons. If it is your personal problem
The reason is that I will never be merciful. Farming is also a profession. If a farmer does not take care of the crops, it is like a soldier who is afraid of death and dare not go to the battlefield to kill the enemy. You must be dedicated to every job.
Isn't it? But after I came here and learned more about it, I found out that this is not the case. It turns out that there is a reason for the poor harvest, and it is not caused by your laziness." Zhang Yanling said loudly.
All the tenants sighed one after another: "Master, we are all farmers. We deal with crops all day long and rely on crops to make a living. How dare we be negligent in the slightest."
"Yes, my family works from dawn to dusk, how can we dare to be lazy at all? My two cows are only seven years old, and they follow us to work in the fields every day. How dare they be lazy? It's too late to offer crops to Bodhisattvas.
"
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "I understand. I have talked with Mr. Zhao in the past two days, and I have learned a lot about the difficulties, and I have also seen with my own eyes some things that are difficult for you to solve. For example, this pest infestation, you really can't solve it. There are also floods.
The problem of drought, these are all the reasons for the poor harvest. Therefore, I will take you to solve these problems one by one. The first thing that needs to be solved now is the problem of insect pests. Mr. Zhao should tell you that I have found a solution.
Method. After it gets dark, I will take you down to the ground for an on-site demonstration. Then you can follow my method. Taking advantage of the fact that there is no moon at the end of the month and the weather is clear these days, the pest problem can be solved in a few days."
All the people asked one after another: "What should we do? Blacksmith Zhao said something very unclear, and we didn't understand it. What about lighting up lights at night to trap people? It's really confusing."
Zhang Yanling said: "Don't worry, I'll just show you on site. The required equipment is also very simple. Ma Quan, take it out and show it to the villagers."
Ma Quan agreed and moved out a set of booby traps, which were nothing more than lanterns and basins.