"Don't even think about it!" Hearing what Wang Xian meant, Wei Zhixian was furious and said: "People's land cannot be sold at a low price, and neither can these lands!" He excitedly pulled Wang Xian's arm and pointed at the bare-chested civilians sweating profusely.
Said: "Do you know how much effort it takes to level such a piece of land? Every inch of the terraced fields is soaked with their blood and sweat, but you are selling it at a low price! How much benefits have you received from those big households?!"
"If we don't sell these fields, there will be no food in the warehouse." Wang Xian was unmoved and said: "What if after ten days, the disaster relief food runs out and the people have no food to eat, and the big households lower the land prices, then the government will stop them.
Don’t stop it?”
"Of course we must stop it!" Wei Zhixian said solemnly, "Otherwise, how will the laws of nature and the state exist!"
"Teacher, you can only set up a pot to cook rice, but there is no reason to set up a pot to cook." Wang Xian sighed: "We have no food, so what can we do to stop the people from selling their fields? Can't we let them starve to death?"
"..." Wei Zhixian fell silent, but his face was still frosty.
"Besides, it's not really giving it to them." Wang Xian whispered again: "It's just letting them pass it by. When our food arrives, we can take the fields back."
"This is not child's play!" Wei Zhixian said displeasedly: "As a teacher and a county official, how can I use deceptive means?"
"It's not fraud." Wang Xiandao: "It's just a more careful design of the contract."
"How can there be any reason to spit out the fat that is in your mouth?" Wei Zhixian frowned.
"Because they can't retreat," Wang Xian said calmly: "Weighing the lesser of the two evils, they can only retreat obediently..."
.
After returning, Wang Xian found Shuai Hui and Er Hei and gave them these instructions.
He actually asked them to spread the news again... For Shuai Hui and Er Hei, this was not the first time. The familiar roads and the famine years were the best breeding ground for rumors. The next day, rumors spread all over the county.
It is said that large households have joined forces to monopolize the grain in Fuyang County and want to artificially create a situation of food shortage so that they can purchase civilian farmland at extremely low prices!
The people of Fuyang are naturally very angry. For those who have property, their land is their lifeblood, but some people use despicable means to rob them. Naturally, they cannot accept it until the end of the road. Those who have no property are even more angry, because they have
The ones they produce can still sell their fields for food, but what should they do if they have nothing to sell and starve to death?
Discussions broke out in the streets, and the squires stamped their feet in anger, saying that someone was maliciously spreading rumors! They asked the government to find out who spread the rumors. They also swore to heaven that they would never take the initiative to buy a share of the villagers' land!
Just as the people of Fuyang breathed a sigh of relief, someone else stood up and said that this oath had no burden on the big households at all, because after the famine really broke out, it was the common people who came to their homes with the land deeds and begged the big households to buy the land, and none of the gentlemen would do it.
Doing the shameless thing of forcing people to sell their land.
The common people were doubtful and would say anything. The rumors finally reached the ears of Weizhi County. As a result, on the eight-character wall outside the Yamen, a notice was posted on the wall outside the government office that due to the busy work of disaster relief, the transfer of private property between households was suspended!
Seeing that the government actually wanted to block the land transaction through formalities, the squires sneered, but this still did not affect them. In fact, there were a large number of private land transactions. Because they thought the government fees were too shady, they would not go to the household to transfer the ownership, but only privately.
An agreement was reached to settle the matter. Although this would often cause disputes, the big players would not be the losers.
However, the squire's intention to watch the show with a cold eye was gone in the blink of an eye, because another notice was quickly posted on the county government office wall - the Fuyang government decided to sell the 10,000 acres of terraced fields reclaimed by the county!
The reason why the big households are paying special attention is that firstly, they have been coveting those terraced fields for a long time, and secondly, the number of terraced fields is wrong. As far as they know, only less than 2,000 acres have been developed so far. Where can the 10,000 acres come from?
So they all asked Wu Wei, the house official, for confirmation, and learned that the sale was indeed true, and that the 10,000 acres were for sale was also true. However, the 10,000 acres were divided into two types, one was completed and the other was not yet completed.
Completed or even not yet started.
Wu Wei took the drawings from the workshop and showed them to them. Sure enough, there was a large planned area, with the completion time written in small letters on it: 'mid-March', 'next March', 'upper April', 'mid-April'
, 'under April' and the like...
"Can the terraced fields be sold before they are opened?" This was the first time the squires heard about it.
"This is called pre-sale." Wu Wei explained: "It means that the government will pre-sell the terraces under construction to future buyers at the current price. The future buyers will have to pay a deposit as the consideration."
"Why should we buy unfinished fields?" asked the squires.
"Because it won't be this price by then." Wu Wei said calmly: "Everyone should know that our county has gone to Huguang to buy grain. It may take a few days or half a month before it is time to return."
"How come I heard that the grain ship Mr. Sima bought grain from was detained at Xushuguan?"
"Where did you hear this?" Wu Weixin said that your information is really well-informed. He couldn't help but speculate with the greatest malice, whether the wealthy people in Fuyang were secretly causing trouble?
"It's just a rumor. It's nothing." Li Xun, son of Mr. Li and uncle of Li Xiucai, said, "Is this really true?"
"It's true," when pressed, Wu Wei had no choice but to tell the truth: "My lord, the official, has rushed to Suzhou to deal with the matter."
"I hope everything goes well." All the squires expressed their wishes, but secretly laughed in their hearts. That Wang Er really overestimated his ability. He relied on Wei Zhixian to control the wind and rain in Fuyang County, so he thought he was a figure? He even went to Suzhou to deal with it... It's really annoying.
Laughing your ass off.
Even if the magistrate of Wei County goes to Suzhou, no one will treat him as a dish, let alone a young official in green shirt. He is just bringing humiliation to himself...
.
After coming out of the Yamen, the squires gathered in Li Xun's villa and discussed the matter over wine.
"It seems that the news is absolutely true. The government is indeed short of food!" Wang Yuanwai, the head of the Wang family, said excitedly: "That guy Du Ziteng is still talking tough!"
"Yes, otherwise why would you be so eager to sell the land!" Yu Xiucai's father, Yu Yuanwai, laughed and said, "We have to sell even the unfinished land, which shows how short of money we are!"
"Okay, let's stop gloating." Li Xun, a member of the Li family, took a sip of wine and said, "Let's get down to business. What should we do?"
"Hmm..." Everyone nodded, and Yu Yu said, "We have to see how long it will take to transport the food they bought."
"It's not coming." Li Yuanwai said flatly: "It was seized by the salt transfer envoys from the two Zhejiang provinces. Even if the Zhejiang feudal lord came to Taiwan to plead for mercy, it would not work."
"Why?" Many people still don't know.
"What other reason could there be for seizing it from the Salt Department? It's for selling smuggled salt." Mr. Li said calmly.
"I see..." Everyone believed Li Yuanwai's judgment. It was absolutely impossible for a little Wang Xian to solve the problem.
"Zhou Bapi, Lu Dayan and these idiots believed Wang Er's words and took out all their belongings to buy grain in Huguang. Now they are going to lose everything." Yu Yuanwai said with great schadenfreude.
"Deserve it." Wang Yuanwai snorted: "A group of lowly businessmen who try to gain access to the government and be equal to us deserve this end!"
"Gloating again..." Li Yuanwai smiled bitterly and said: "Although I am also very happy, let's get down to business."
Everyone was so amused that they laughed. How could anyone take the life-saving food for the people of Fuyang seriously?
"Tell me, should we buy these official lands?" Li Yuanwai asked.
When it came time to get down to business, everyone stopped laughing and made quick calculations in their minds. Member Wang said: "It is said that it is cheaper to buy private land."
"But now the elder has made it clear that he won't let us buy Mintian." Yu Xiucai's father is timid, "If we forcefully buy it, there's no guarantee that he won't go crazy."
The squire heard this and took it seriously. They were still frightened by what happened last winter and did not want to offend Magistrate Wei any more.
"What are you afraid of? You can just buy and sell privately without going through the government." Wang Yuanwai said nonchalantly: "The county can't keep denying the transfer of ownership, right? Just make up for it after a year and a half."
"I'm afraid there will be disputes then." The squires knew very well that the famine in Zhejiang was definitely only temporary and would pass within half a year at most. By then the land would have risen back to its original price, and those landowners who had sold it at a discount of 10% or 20% would definitely regret it.
The intestines were broken. Wei Zhixian is also known as "I would rather subjugate the rich than take care of the people." When some unruly people start to make trouble, I really don't know what the result will be...
Although they said they didn't care, everyone was worried in their hearts. Finally, someone whispered: "It's okay to buy some completed official land. It can give the boss some face."
"You didn't wear your ears just now? What Little Fatty Wu said clearly is that if you buy one acre of built land, you must also buy five acres of unbuilt land." Wang Yuan rolled his eyes and said, "If you just buy the built land, what else is there?
So hesitant?”
"That's what I said." Yu Yuanwai said: "In fact, it's all right. The eight thousand acres of terraced fields will be completed in three months at most."
"Yes." Everyone nodded. After all, the 8,000 acres of terraced fields were not lost. Nearly 10,000 people, under the leadership of the great master, were working non-stop to open up wasteland and cultivate fields every day. Those people could not stop. Once they stopped,
, they will be hungry and have trouble, so basically there will be no variables in the eight thousand acres of terraced fields.
"But this kind of unfinished land cannot be priced at the same price as the completed land." Wang Yuan said.
"Of course, it has to be at least half the price!" All the squires gradually agreed: "After all, it is still available. We are taking the risk."
So the squires made an agreement to send Yang Yuanwai and Wang Yuanwai as representatives to negotiate the price with the government. Before that, no one was allowed to buy the land privately. After the price was negotiated, they pooled the money to buy the land back, and then decided internally how to distribute it.
The next day, the two officials went to Wu Wei to discuss buying the land. Wu Wei said that according to the market price, an acre of land would cost twenty taels of silver. What the elder meant was that nowadays silver cannot be exchanged for rice, so he did not charge money, only grain.
"How much grain per acre?"
"The price of food in the county now is twenty taels of silver per dan. It is supposed to cost ten dan of grain, but I know you will definitely not do it, so the eldest man said, at a 20% discount, eight dan of grain per acre of land." Wu Wei said slowly.