Chapter 65: Rescued a Young Lady in Distress

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A few days later.

Let’s just say that there have been many chaotic situations in the Changningwei area.

Wang Shouzhe would receive letters from Wang Shouyi every one or two days, telling him what happened in Changning Guard. The City Guards Mansion has reached an agreement with two Tianren families, as well as several top Lingtai families including the Xu family in Changning, as well as Qian's Trading Company and other forces, and has begun to open warehouses in the city to provide disaster relief.

However, there is a large population in the Acropolis. It is a large city with a population of more than 100,000, and the food consumed every day is astronomical.

A few groups of daring businessmen actually teamed up to hoard food and secretly sold it to the people in the city at five or six times the price. As a result, he was caught by the City Guards. Not only was he beheaded in public, but the food he had tried to hoard was also confiscated by the City Guards.

There are even rumors because this time the disaster has spread outside Longzuo County. Therefore, in a short period of time, it was difficult to dispatch food from outside the county to suppress the food shortage, so that a food shortage also occurred in such a large county.

According to legend, Longzuozhou County is a large city with a population of more than one million. A food shortage in this city must be a big deal. This also shows how corrupt the overall situation in Longzuo County has become.

Nowadays, rumors and rumors are spreading, some say that Zifu Academy is unable to raise food from outside. It is also said that the county city ordered the collection of grain from the city guards under its command to ensure the food supply of the county city.

The biggest rumor actually said that [Emperor Changlong] was approaching his end of life and the Daqian Empire was about to end. This insect plague was a sign. Wang Shouzhe broke out in a cold sweat. The situation was indeed in chaos, and all kinds of monsters and monsters would come out.

However, those who dared to say that Emperor Changlong was about to die were quickly caught by the City Guards, hung on the city gate and executed by Ling Chi.

In Wang Shouyi's letter, he only dared to express it vaguely, but Wang Shouzhe still listened to the messenger who talked about it secretly.

In a word.

chaos!

And the Ping An Wang family was in this mess, so they could only appear to be honest on the surface. Taxes should be collected, grain should be paid, and there are many people who guard the mansion. In fact, even if the Wang family wanted to pay less than one load of food, they would not be able to do so.

Even if the third uncle Wang Dingzu serves as the deputy guardian envoy in the town's mansion, he will never dare to show any favoritism at this juncture. Just because the City Guards Mansion has already sent people down to supervise the progress of food payment, who dares to show favoritism at this moment?

This summer tax, the Wang family paid a lot of food.

Load after load of grain hit the carriage and was transported to Dingpu Ferry. Under the supervision of the envoys from the City Guards Palace, people from the Guards Palace weighed them one by one and finally loaded them onto the grain ship.

The three major farms combined have a registered total of 7,650 acres of fertile farmland. Each mu of farmland is taxed at a tax rate of 4, and a total of 3,060 dans of wheat are required to be paid in a single season. Fortunately, the overall harvest this time was good. Apart from the problem of honey beetle infestation, this year was actually a season with abundant rainfall in the early stage and good sunshine in the middle and late stages, which was very conducive to wheat filling and maturation.

Therefore, the total wheat harvest output of the three major farms actually reached more than 26,000 quintals. The average yield per acre was about three and a half quintals, which was barely considered a bumper harvest.

Excluding the summer tax, the previous investment in the "Pest Control Tax", the amortization of seed farming cattle, and the sharecroppers' share, there is still an additional 14,000 to 5,000 dan of net income. Of course, there is actually a lot more food than this number.

Because the previous expenditures such as the insect killer powder were paid with dry gold, and I will not buy the Laoshizi insect killer powder again in the future. This is just one season's income.

By the way, the fourth old man was deceived into hoarding a batch of insecticide powder. I also took advantage of the high price before and sold it at three times the price, making a huge profit.

This made Wang Xiaozhi, the fourth old man, so proud that he boasted to everyone that he had made "big money" for the family and made great contributions with his outstanding vision.

In addition to the summer tax on the wheat fields of my own farm, taxes on other properties on the farm are paid before the year. And because they are not produced as food crops, there is no need to use food to subscribe.

In addition, it is the jurisdiction of the Wang family that collects taxes.

Because the Wang family's sphere of influence is small, there are only 16,000 acres of registered farmland for civilians in the area under its jurisdiction. These are all implemented under the five-tax system. However, the Wang family is concerned about the homesteaders in the area. Although the losses are less than those outside the outside world, they are also very damaged. big.

Therefore, it was decided to only charge four taxes on grain. The tax that belonged to the aristocratic family could be deducted with a large copper dime. This time, Wang worked hard to collect 6,400 loads of grain, all of which were loaded onto trucks and transported to Dingpu Ferry, and then transported away one by one by large ships.

Under the protection of his family general, Wang Shouzhe stood at the busy and lively Dingpu Ferry, and he couldn't help but be filled with emotion. These days, the Xuanwu family and the free people work hard to farm, but the benefits are far less than the taxes.

According to rumors, part of this food will be transported to the Acropolis, and part of it will be used to "relieve" people from higher-level states and counties. You know, the living conditions of the people there are far better than those in Pingan Town.

Speaking of which, it can be regarded as a kind of irony.

What's more, transporting food one by one like this will make Ping'an Town, which is already short of food, even worse. Especially for many homesteader families who have invested their savings in purchasing farmland, spent huge sums of money to send their children to school, or have just experienced weddings and funerals, etc., this crisis will be particularly difficult.

In theory, the conditions of owner-farmer families are not bad, but their consumption level is much higher than that of tenant farmers. The cost of food, clothing, housing, transportation, weddings and funerals will also be higher.

Moreover, most homesteaders, with a little savings, will find ways to expand their fields, build houses, and train their children to study, learn skills, etc. It consumes a lot of money, and most people don’t have much savings.

There is no problem under normal circumstances, but unexpectedly this insect plague came so violently and suddenly.

But even so.

Except for a small number of self-cultivating farmers, most of the self-cultivating farmers find ways to survive until the next season's grain production, and they are considered successful. But among them, there are people who can't help but act like monsters.

Every time there is a natural or man-made disaster, there will always be some greedy and powerful people. Take this opportunity to engage in mergers and acquisitions, devouring the people's wealth and anointing to strengthen themselves.

Wang Shouzhe glanced at the convoys of Liu and Zhao that came to pay taxes from a distance, and his eyes narrowed slightly. Previously, we could only estimate their actions based on the styles of the two Jackal families of the Liu family and the Zhao family, as well as some rumors.

However, as the intelligence work unfolded, some conclusive information gradually reached Wang Shouzhe. He was almost certain that the other party would indeed make a big move.

…

Peaceful Liu family.

In the main hall of the Liu family's main house, the head of the Liu family, Liu Shengye, was listening to reports from several clan members on the incident, including Liu Yongzhou, a relatively outstanding member of the younger generation.

He frowned: "What happened to the Changning Sun family? They clearly promised to lend us 15,000 dans of wheat, and we would return 30,000 dans of rice after the autumn harvest. Why don't we honor it now? After all this, we have doubled our profits out of thin air. Not satisfied either?

"The Sun family of Changning said that they all rushed to buy insecticide powder and barely managed to maintain a small amount of production." A tribesman in his fifties replied, "They said that the Sun family's losses were too great."

"How much will it cost?" Liu Shengye's face looked a little gloomy. The Liu family's losses this time were too great. If they couldn't make up for it, it would be too destructive to their vitality.

The expressions on the faces of the tribesmen were also ugly: "Ms. Sun said that we don't want us to repay double the amount of grain. She also said that speculating on grain prices is illegal. It's better to barter. She wants to exchange 1,500 acres of fertile land with us."

Fifteen hundred acres of fertile land?

Liu Shengye's face turned green and white, and he fainted out of breath: "Are they crazy? Fifteen thousand dans of grain in exchange for fifteen hundred acres of land?" The Liu family has been saving money since their ancestors. The situation is so great that it only has over 10,000 acres of fertile farmland.

This opening is one-seventh of the land. How cruel. This is a huge profit several times over.

"Master, how about forget it?" The tribesman said helplessly, "According to our original plan, we can annex about 2,000 acres of fertile land. If the Sun family does this, won't we bear the infamy and be married to others?" clothes?"

"We can't forget it. The Liu family has suffered too much loss this time." Liu Shengye said with a fierce look in his eyes, "Then this time we will simply do nothing but annex three thousand acres. Even if the time comes, we will take out a mortgage or borrow money. If we trade with others, we will make a lot of money."

His eldest brother Liu Shenghao was at the critical moment of attacking the Lingtai, and there were still some gaps in resources. Once you reach the spiritual platform realm, you will have a double spiritual platform, and you can compete with the Sun family.

Liu Shengye has always been good at economic management, and he always counts money and money, never willing to suffer losses. Moreover, the family has worked hard to accumulate wealth in the past fifty years. While strengthening the family, doesn't it also want to cultivate a second Lingtai ancestor?

"Master, are you afraid that such a big move will cause resentment among the people?" The clansman said with some worry, "What's more, the Wang family did not suffer any disaster because of the emergence of a spiritual insect master, so there must be a lot of surplus food left in their hands. . Will you take advantage of the opportunity..."

"They don't dare!" Liu Shengye said confidently, "We, the Liu family and the Zhao family, are working together. How dare the weak Wang family dare to move even a paw? What's more, I have heard that the Wang family has transported excess grain to Donggang, and high returns will be exchanged for it. A sum of cultivation resources. It is a wise move. If you keep the remaining food in your hands until the next season, it will definitely not be so in demand."

"How can the head of the family be sure of this?" The tribesman asked strangely, "According to this trend, not every family can use a double dose of insect killer powder."

"The head of this family has received the news that Zifu Academy has begun to improve the next generation of insect killer powder. And as an apology, next season's insect killer powder will be distributed to each losing family at a loss of only 10% of the price."

This news can be considered relatively secret, but the Liu family's core members are all in this meeting hall, so naturally they are not afraid of leaking it.

"In that case, this opportunity should not be missed." The tribesmen said one after another, "It's just that the Sun family is too dark."

Liu Yongzhou, who had been silent and holding back, suddenly raised his hands and said: "Master, uncles, Yongzhou has a way to avoid cooperating with the Sun family. Some time ago, my fishing boat was on the riverside and rescued a fisherman. A rich young lady in distress..."

When he mentioned this rich young lady, Liu Yongzhou's eyes could not help but flash with burning passion, obsession, and even fanaticism...

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