Soon the government warehouse was filled with rice grains.
Zhao Bai pulled Qin Shaobai over.
"Shaobai, we are coming with food, but you see, those wealthy businessmen don't have a good look on us."
"If the treasure of your general's palace is taken away, you, the general, will have a dark face."
"Then what should we do? If they jointly submit a copy to the Emperor, I'm afraid we will both be ordered to return to Beijing for training."
Seeing Qin Shaobai glance at him sideways, Zhao Bai quickly explained: "I'm not being scolded, I'm afraid that if we leave, the court will send some corrupt officials and the people will suffer."
"Don't worry, the emperor will not receive such a report letter."
Just as he was talking, Lian Huan came over.
"General, brother, we have called the mayors of all the towns under Yixing Prefecture."
Qin Shaobai hummed.
"Why did you call the mayors of each town?"
Zhao Bai was very puzzled.
Qin Shaobai hasn't explained yet.
Lian Le also ran over.
"Brother, general, the banner is ready."
"Okay, let's go out now."
Zhao Bai followed everyone out with full of doubts.
Not only did the mayors from each town come, they also brought the village chiefs from each village.
Behind the village chiefs of each village were seven or eight villagers who looked healthy.
"Everyone."
Qin Shaobai walked to the middle of the crowd and shouted loudly.
Although his voice was not very loud, it instantly silenced the noisy scene just now.
"Dear fellow villagers of Yixing, today we are going to hold a thank you meeting here to thank these gentlemen for their contributions to the people of Yixing."
Qin Shaobai winked at Lian Huan.
Lian Huan quickly led the policemen to unroll the sewn banners and wipe them in front of each town.
Each banner reads: "Sincerely thank you xx for saving people in disaster years. Your merits are immeasurable."
The gentlemen who had just had their rice taken away by Shi Ji suddenly felt a strong sense of honor and disgrace when they saw that their names were embroidered on the banner.
"Masters, please go to the front of your respective teams."
The business gentry didn't know what Qin Shaobai was playing, but they didn't dare to have any objections and walked straight to the teams.
The police had already placed a bamboo stool in front of each team so that the merchants and gentry could sit down.
"Folks, the person standing in front of you is the philanthropist who donated rice to your town."
Someone who recognizes the merchant gentry sitting in front of this team will naturally remember how they exploited the people on weekdays. How could they believe what Qin Shaobai said.
Qin Shaobai didn't explain much: "Come on, bring the rice and grain donated by all the philanthropists to the towns."
Only then did the merchants understand that Qin Shaobai was not trying to withhold their rice grains privately, but was using another method to get them to donate their rice grains to the people.
Although they felt like they were being forced and teased, they felt relieved a lot when they thought that the food was not confiscated by Qin Shaobai alone and they also got a banner.
When the common people saw the bags of rice, their eyes had already shone, and they all knelt down to express their gratitude.
This made those business gentry who were forced to be good men a little touched.
"Folks, Yixing is really blessed to have so many good people who care about the people, but..."
Qin Shaobai dragged out the sound for a long time.
Everyone looked at him silently.
"However, we can't get this rice without hard work."
The faces of the people clearly showed doubts.
Is it possible that I still have to pay money?
Zhao Bai also glanced at Qin Shaobai in confusion.
Qin Shaobai smiled: "Don't worry, everyone, you don't need to bring out these rice grains now, but..."
Another sound.
The courtyard was extremely quiet, and someone was already gently urging Qin Shaobai to tell him all his mistakes.
"However, if we don't do something, all these rice grains will be eaten in a short time. By then, there will be no more rice grains, and everyone will have to wait to die of hunger."
After a while of silence, someone shouted: "Sir, could you please tell us what we should do?"
Seeing that everyone was anxious, Qin Shaobai said quietly: "I want all the mayors to sign an agreement with their own philanthropists."
protocol?
Everyone suddenly looked at each other again.
"We have a limit of one year, and the philanthropists will provide seeds to each town, and each town will grow its own grain crops. When the harvest next year, everyone will return the silver taels provided by each philanthropist."
"Sir, don't you mean that we should work for these rich people in vain?"
As soon as these words came out, the crowd became excited again.
"It's hard to say who you are working for in vain. Our good man is also at risk."
Those good men originally thought that Qin Shaobai's arrangement was for their own benefit, so they were all complacent in getting a whole town's tenants for free.
Now that I heard there were risks, I immediately became nervous.
"Everyone, in fact, risks are opportunities."
Qin Shaobai laughed.
"Once you get through this risk, you will gain greater rewards."
"Master Qin, we originally donated these rice grains to the people willingly, and we don't need the people to give us anything in return. So, this contract you mentioned..."
Mr. Qian is obviously the person who is least willing to give Qin Shao face.
"Master Qian, Yonghe Town is the largest town in Yixing. The thousands of people in the town are very grateful to Master Qian for his gifts, but doesn't Master Qian want Yonghe Town to earn more profits for himself?"
Businessmen naturally put profit first. As soon as he heard the word profit, Mr. Qian immediately stopped talking.
"Actually, I hope Mr. Qian can invest in Yonghe Town within this year."
"Investment? What do you mean, sir?"
"That is to say, Mr. Qian will ensure that the people of Yonghe Town have the most basic survival needs, so that the people have food to grow, and wait until next year's autumn harvest, leaving part of the harvest for the people, and the rest of the harvest will go to Mr. Qian."
"Sir, we can't do this. They only give us food rations. How can we ever turn around?"
It was the man who was shouting just now, which caused other people to object.
"Don't worry, everyone, I haven't finished speaking yet."
Qin Shaobai waved his hands, and the people who had been making noise just now fell silent.
"The part of the harvest I'm talking about for the people is not the people's rations. It's a specific number. As for the storage that can allow the people to cope with a major disaster in the coming year. Except for this part of the rations, all the rations belong to investment.
It is owned by the good men, but the various taxes of the imperial court are also responsible for the good men."
This model is actually no different from the previous tenant model.
Mr. Qian thought for a moment and immediately nodded in agreement.
Once Mr. Qian agreed, the other gentlemen naturally nodded in agreement.
Qin Shaobai's mouth curled into a smile.
"Lian Huan, go and invite General Zhao here. With him, the great general who protects the country, as a witness, I don't think anyone will break the contract midway."
"Dear philanthropists, we have just determined a number. This number is the amount of food that you will give to the people of each town on the day of next autumn harvest. Do you have any objections?"
Zhao Bai took out his seal and asked.
The business gentry shook their heads.
Zhao Bai then said to the mayors of each town: "Do you agree?"
The mayors of the town are naturally eager for someone to help the villagers. If nothing else, even the rice in front of them is attractive enough.
How can they have any opinions?
"Okay, then I, the notary public, will stamp the signatures for you."