Chapter 25 Liang Da is not convinced
After having the confidence in his heart, Zhao Ji said seriously, "Xiaojiu (the ninth in Zhao Gou's ranking) doesn't think about how to settle the people, but he puts his ideas on Gu's side and puts him in danger. It's really unfilial. You two can't. When I get back, I will write a handwritten letter and go to Lin'an immediately."
Seeing that their goal was achieved, the two old men looked at each other and smiled, then said goodbye and left the palace.
Although Zhao Gou was cowardly, he was also somewhat foolish and filial. After his father's letter arrived in Lin'an, he immediately issued an order to cancel the additional land tax.
Qin Hui persisted in admonishing him, but was scolded by Zhao Gou, saying that he had alienated his father and son.
He had no choice but to give up.
……
As the number one rich man in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Yingluo's success attracted the envy of many Da is one of them! The summer grain harvest was good, and I was humiliated by Zhao Yingluo in public. Now many farmers are clamoring to cancel the lease and want to rent Zhao Yingluo's fields for farming.
No one is stupid. After all, one acre of land only produces one stone or one acre of real estate, and everyone will choose the latter.
Seeing that his master was so angry that he was about to foam at the mouth, his butler Zhao Shi rolled his eyes and thought of a good idea.
"My lord, Zhao Yingluo can defeat you because of good corn seeds and wheat seeds, isn't it? She can plant it, and so can we. Now we are about to sow corn, and we have purchased some good corn seeds from her farmers, like Isn’t it enough for her to manage the fields like that?”
Liang Da suddenly understood, he couldn't help but slap his thigh, "Yeah, why didn't I think of this trick? As long as there are seeds, hum! I can't beat her? Go tell the farmers who are making trouble this autumn. Let’s grow corn collectively, and what’s more! Find some good skills from her farmers and let them teach our farmers here how to farm.”
Zhao Shi said with some embarrassment, "I'm afraid it won't be easy to find him, unless we can offer very favorable terms."
Liang Da put his hands on his waist and puffed out his fat belly and said confidently, "This is not easy. As long as they are willing to come, they will be exempted from three years of rent and will be given a commission of 100 taels per year."
"As ordered, I will do it now."
……
After Zhao Yingluo returned to the mansion, she was embarking on the next step of her plan to become emperor. Jiang Laosi and Feng Jing came to the mansion in a hurry.
"Princess! It's not good."
Zhao Yingluo drank tea slowly and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Originally, the farmers in Liangda were vying to rent our fields, but in the past two days they have gone back on their word! What should we do?"
"Didn't they sign a contract?"
"The rent cannot be paid until harvest time. If it is one or two households, that's okay. If the rent is not paid, we can let the Yamen take people. But this is thousands of households, tens of thousands of people."
"What conditions did Liang Da offer? He actually asked them to break the contract and rent his family's land back?"
Feng Jing, who was not good at words, was also a little annoyed at this time, "Liang Da purchased a batch of corn as seeds and threatened to plant corn. Not only that, he also paid a lot of money to poach several of our good farmers, and at the same time promised those farmers , he only charges [-]% of the rent!" Jiang Laosi then added, "Not only his farmers, but also one-third of our farmers were tempted by such generous conditions and decided to default and switch to other crops. Liang Da’s field.”
"What's even more irritating is that Liang Da spreads slanderous words about the princess, saying that the princess only relies on those seeds to achieve such a high yield, and it's not a big deal. If everyone uses the same seeds, he is confident that he can The yield is the same as the princess’s.”
Feng Jing sighed, "Then Liang Da threatened to make a bet with the princess. If his corn output this year does not reach six stones, he is willing to give all his family's rent income this year to the princess! I'm afraid the princess wouldn't dare. Bet with him."
After saying these words, Jiang Laosi put forward his own suggestions, "Princess Princess, I suggest that we do like Liang Da and only charge [-]% of the rent. Only in this way can we avoid the loss of farmers. As for this bet ...If Liang Da really follows our planting method, it is very possible to achieve an output of six stones. The princess still does not want to answer him."
Zhao Yingluo smiled and shook her head, "The rent remains unchanged. If those farmers want to farm at Liang Da's place, let them go. As for the bet, I agreed to it, but the conditions have to be changed."
Jiang Laosi was a little anxious, "Princess, our 40 acres of land are already short of farmers. Last year, we only planted 20 acres of land. If these farmers transfer to Liang Da, [-] acres will be abandoned."
"You just listen to my arrangements! I guarantee that even if we only have 10,000+ acres of land, the harvest will not drop at all. On the contrary, it may increase. Now that corn is about to be sown, you ask one person from each household to come to the house to take classes. I’m going to teach them another skill.”
Jiang Laosi and the two wanted to give some more advice, but the princess had no choice but to leave.
After seeing the two off, Zhao Yingluo showed a worried look on her face. She was not worried about the loss of farmers and losing to Liang Da, but was worried about the farmers who were rushing to follow suit and grow corn.
Last fall, the first crop of corn was harvested. The total corn output from nearly 12 acres of land reached 12 kilograms. However, these [-] kilograms of corn were not ground into cornmeal and became food on every household's table.
Instead, in the winter of that year, almost all of it was purchased by those grain merchants who were good at smelling the smell of copper. Only a few hundred kilograms were transferred to the hands of farmers with their own farmland.
Originally, the price of one stone of wheat was two and a half taels of silver, which was all grain. Under normal circumstances, the price of one stone of corn would not deviate too much.
But in order to compete for these 12 kilograms of grain, grain merchants directly raised the purchase price of corn to 30 taels of silver per stone!The price they sold to the outside world reached 100 taels per stone, and their net profit was more than three times.
The largest grain merchant in Kaifeng City, Yuji Grain Store, even wrote a promotional slogan directly outside the store door: Eight stones of grain per mu!If you plant an acre, you will eat it for a year, and if you buy it, you will earn it.
In order to grab these seeds, some farmers even took risks and borrowed loan sharks to buy corn from grain merchants. In everyone's eyes, corn was the god that saved them from starvation.
But they didn't know there was a danger lurking in it.
After Liang Da purchased enough corn seeds for 50 acres from Yuji Grain Store, he led more than a hundred people from the mansion to the front of Zhao Yingluo's mansion in a high-profile sedan chair with gongs and drums.
Not only that, he also ordered people to make two big red boards and hold them all the way through the market, with two lines of gold characters written on them: "Avenge the shame" and "I am willing to admit defeat."
His high-profile immediately attracted the crowds of all sizes in Kaifeng City, crowding the East Street where Zhao Yingluo's residence was located.
After the new Kaifeng Governor Li Gang received the report from his subordinates, he hurried to the political affairs hall. When the two old men who were working in the political affairs hall heard about this, they quickly put down their work, picked up their official robes and rushed out of the door.
(End of this chapter)