Chapter 550: Borrowing Grains
Editor: Atlas Studios
This inferior county started bustling with activity. Even the villagers who lived in semi-seclusion came to find Chen Ming for information from the town or county.
Chen Ming didn’t dare to gossip at his employer’s home, so he led the way and chatted with them under the banyan tree at the foot of the mountain. However, Chen Ming’s wife wasn’t so restrained in front of Mu Yangling. After asking her husband for details, she came over to say to Mu Yangling, “Fourth Madam, you have no idea, but previously we were scared we’d die. If we hand in such high rent taxes, the villagers will starve to death. Just two days after the county magistrate died, the county deputy came out to post another announcement. He said that the previous announcement with the county magistrate’s seal was written by thieves and doesn’t count. The rent tax will still be collected according to the county magistrate’s previous instructions. There’s also a time limit. If it’s not collected in three days, they’ll send bailiffs to collect it. Geez, this county deputy is even from our county. Why is he so cold and unfeeling…”
“What happened after that?” Li Jinghua asked curiously.
Mu Yangling quickly stood up. “You’re here, Sister-in-law.”
Li Jinghua said with a smile, “I saw that you guys were having a chat, so I came over to listen.” With that, she looked at Chen Ming’s wife.
Chen Ming’s wife tensed up and said respectfully, “In the end, something happened to the county deputy that night. After which, someone posted an announcement outside saying that there was no need to pay rent tax anymore. Now that the Imperial Court is in chaos, there’s no way for them to send out a new county magistrate. Therefore, after a discussion, a few old masters in the county recommended a respected old master to temporarily assume the responsibilities of a county magistrate. Didn’t they just officially announce yesterday that the announcement exempting taxes was written by thieves and asked us not to believe it? However, the county’s rent tax is indeed rather heavy this year. They said we won’t have to pay the rent tax for the time being and will inform us after they discuss it. Now, we’re all waiting and don’t know yet if the rent tax can be reduced in the end.”
Li Jinghua turned to look at Mu Yangling and asked with a smile, “What are your thoughts on this, Ah Ling?”
“It should be possible.” Mu Yangling said, “That thief brazenly posted an announcement waiving the taxes, which shows that he killed the county magistrate and county deputy because of the heavy taxes they imposed. If anyone stands up now, I’m afraid that person won’t let them off either. Therefore, even if the rent tax can’t be waived, it shouldn’t be a problem to reduce it.”
Otherwise, who knew if the murderer would attack the person whose hands weren’t clean?
At this moment, the more respected figures in the county were indeed discussing rent taxes. There were two boxes in front of them, each containing the things the murderer had placed at the two crime scenes respectively. Inside were various pieces of evidence of the crimes committed by the county magistrate and the county deputy. It also let them know the reason why the murderer had attacked them.
Now, everyone was already finding out from the various escort agencies just who was behind this, but there was no news at all.
This instilled more fear in people’s hearts. It was also because of this that everyone was a little uncertain about the rent tax.
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The Imperial Court was already in chaos, and no one knew how long it would take for peace to return. Since they were a poor and remote village, no one would come to occupy it. Therefore, they could only manage the place themselves.
However, the county also had a lot of expenses. Not to mention anything else, the salaries of the officials, the repair of the bridges, and the relief when they encountered natural and man-made disasters could only come from the rent taxes going forward. This was because there were very few businessmen in their small county. That bit of tax was almost nonexistent, so they could only place their hopes on rent taxes. Therefore, this was impossible to avoid.
If it couldn’t be avoided, then it could only be lowered. The key was by how much?
Everyone started arguing.
After their initial worry, the villagers saw that the county did not give them an answer for a long time, so they secretly started eating some of the grains that they had set aside for taxes. Surely they could not starve to death before then, right?
Unexpectedly, their discussion took place throughout autumn and even went into the beginning of winter. The topic had changed a lot, and the county’s masters had yet to come up with a plan.
The villagers weren’t in a hurry either. Only when they occasionally saw Chen Ming coming back from town did they ask, “Did the town make an announcement? When do we pay the taxes?”
In the past, Chen Ming would shake his head and everyone would happily tease him for a while. Who knew that he would nod solemnly this time, “An announcement has been made. Someone should come down in the next two days to inform us. The taxes have to be paid before the Winter Solstice ends, but the rent tax has been reduced to half of the original amount.”
The villager who asked the question was stunned. He wanted to slap himself. Who asked him to talk too much?
Chen Ming sighed and dragged the donkey cart back to tell his employer the bad news.
In order to hide the matter, Mu Yangling had indeed bought more than a hundred acres of fertile land from the neighboring villages. These were all taxable, but the forest conversion land in this village could be exempted from taxes for three years.
She asked Chen Ming to inform the steward of the farmstead to prepare the money and grains for tax. If they could settle the taxes with money, they should use money. Only failing that should they pay in grains.
There was nothing more precious than grains now.
Now that the rent tax had been reduced by half, the villagers no longer had to sell their children, so they still had some grains left. Mixed with chaff, their grains could last them until spring. However, there were still five months between spring and summer harvest. What should they do in the interim?
Therefore, after paying the taxes, even though the village chief and junior officer were still wary of the Zhu family, they still came to look for them and shamelessly suggested borrowing grains, hoping they could charge a lower interest.
The two of them were a little worried, afraid that they would step onto a path of no return. However, in order not to starve to death, they had to do this.
Mu Yangling, who originally thought of forgoing the interest, shut her mouth at the last minute. She thought for a moment and said, “It’s not difficult for the villagers in this village to borrow grains. But it’s not easy for me to determine the interest. Chen Ming said that the villagers don’t have enough to eat every year and have to eat grains mixed with chaff for ten months a year. If you borrow grains this year, you might not be able to repay them next year.”
The village chief obviously knew this as well. His face flushed red as he said, “If the villagers work harder next year, they’ll definitely be able to repay you. At most, we’ll just sell everything when the time comes…”
“That would make me look like the bad guy.”
The junior officer pondered for a moment before asking, “Fourth Madam, you mean…”
“As you know, I have a hundred acres of previously uncultivated land in the village which is exempted from taxes for another two years. As it was just reclaimed a year ago, the land is quite infertile. Up till now, it has always been planted by hired short-term workers. If you want to borrow grains, you can repay the interest by farming my land. I’ll get Chen Ming to let you know how much land you have to farm for borrowing a certain quantity of grains. During these two years, you have to plant whatever crops I ask you to plant. As long as you don’t cheat, the interest on borrowing grains will be waived after two years. As for the rent, I’ll only take 50%. What do you think?”
The junior officer and village chief looked at each other and asked hesitantly, “Then how much time will they spend working on the fields? You have to give me a definite answer.”
They were afraid that Mu Yangling would ask them to plant some laborious crops. Then, two years later, she would claim that they had not done a good job and double the interest or something.
Mu Yangling said with a smile, “It’s not something that takes a lot of effort. It’s less time-consuming than wheat. If you aren’t used to eating it, just sell it to me later. I’ll give you a reasonable price for it.”
The junior officer thought for a moment and asked, “Then, can you write a contract or something?” Blushing, he said, “It’s not that I don’t trust Fourth Madam, but it’s good to have this written on paper.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “Even if you didn’t mention it, I will establish evidence. In the future, any official matters will have to be written in black and white.”
When Mu Yangling said that, the junior officer and village chief felt embarrassed. At the same time though, they wondered if the Zhu family was really so easygoing.