Chapter 562 Punishment

"The new rural management organization - I decided to call it the village management committee instead of the previous rural cooperative. It must manage all aspects of the village, such as household registration management, public affairs, disaster preparedness and famine preparedness, and even Weddings, funerals, and mediation of neighborhood conflicts are all the responsibility of the village committee. Of course, this cannot be done by one person, so a committee must be formed.”

Paul talked freely about his grassroots governance policies.

“And it will also represent me, an extension of my mouth, eyes and ears, able to quickly, resolutely and powerfully convey the spirit and will from Huxin Town, and at the same time, it can also quickly convey the true meaning of various things in the village. , Feed back to Huxin Town in its entirety.”

I have to say that this is a very idealistic statement, and it can even be said to be a bit nonsense. Paul's vision is impossible to realize on the earth in the 21st century, let alone in this world that has not completely emerged from the Middle Ages, it is a fantasy. But it is always right to work in this direction, you have to take the first step.

As Paul said just now, the functions of the village committee cannot be shouldered by one or two affairs officers. Old Ford frowned tightly after hearing this, "Sir Graiman, this will definitely greatly increase our administrative staff." cost."

"Then expand our administrative staff."

"Uh... finance."

“If not, issue bonds!”

Paul shouted, "Our fiscal revenue has been growing anyway! And I believe that after this reform, our economy will be more dynamic and healthier - by unleashing rural productivity and consumption power."

Paul continued to talk: "To tell you the truth, from my point of view, our countryside is extremely abnormal. Yes, we have not had legal slaves for nearly a thousand years, but all kinds of unreasonable regulations have Let the de facto system of slavery continue. I think everyone knows this.”

"Those powerful families in the villages - the most typical ones are the Warren family in this rebellion, ah, and Fergus - they occupy vast fields, accumulate wealth and pass it down from generation to generation, and they also hold the harvest from generation to generation. Isn’t this the right to tax, set private penalties according to one’s own will, and decide on all matters in the village? Is he the de facto lord of the village? And I, the real lord, can only convey my orders and collect taxes through them, and the wishes of the farmers can only be fed back to me through them. It is simply unreasonable to be able to travel unimpeded in several cities.”

Paul was full of resentment when it came to this aspect.

In the Northwest Bay, rural manor owners used various tangible or intangible privileges in their hands to turn the majority of farmers into their de facto slaves. For example, they rent out their land to poor landless farmers, and then charge extremely high rents, leaving the farmers with only a little food to satisfy their hunger, making them unable to expand their operations, and depriving them of the opportunity to accumulate wealth. , they can only survive by renting their fields. Another example is the method of loan sharking, especially combined with their status as former tax collectors. This method is simply unfavorable. Every time a tax is collected, the farmers can only owe the tax if they cannot pay it. Then the interest is compounded, and the debt is like The snowball is getting bigger and bigger. Some farmers' families have been in debt for generations, and they don't know when they will be able to repay it in their lifetime. The manor owners use the creditor's rights in their hands to take and ask for the few properties in the hands of the debtor, sometimes even The debtor's wife and daughter. Not only do farmers have to be in debt when taxing, but also when the harvest is bad or natural disasters occur, it is also when debt is frequently borrowed in the countryside. The ability of ordinary farmers to resist risks is very low.

Do you want not to pay off your debt? Or want to escape debt? Sorry, in the village the word of the landlord is law.

In short, the landlords used various means to make the farmers dependent on themselves and tightly bound them to their own land.

Although the agricultural technology that Paul vigorously promoted in the past few years has greatly increased the cultivated land area and harvests, most of the increase has still fallen into the pockets of rural landlords. The only benefit for ordinary farmers seems to be that there are not a large number of people starving to death. .

Paul sent clerks to the countryside, established farm cooperatives, set up circuit courts to adjudicate lawsuits for farmers, and banned private executions. The situation improved to some extent, but there was no fundamental change.

Although the large number of factories established by Paul gave farmers who left the countryside a second way to support themselves, the power of tradition was strong and a large number of farmers were still bound.

"Look," Paul spread his hands angrily and said to one of his subordinates: "This time, I just want to take back a little bit of power in their hands - taxation and justice. They are like vicious dogs protecting food. He came out with sharp canine teeth and bit me fiercely."

"So I decided!"

He clenched his fists hard and hard, and there was no doubt in his tone.

"Since they are so ignorant of current affairs, then I will completely deprive them of all their privileges! Note, all privileges."

"In addition to abolishing the tax farming system and taking back judicial power. I want to do it even harder, yes, I want to do it even harder!"]

"First, I will reduce interest and rent. For the rent collected from tenant farmers, I will set a maximum ratio. In short, it must not be so high that it only leaves the farmers with food. They should be left with seeds for farming next year and commercial grain that can be traded in the market. Farmers should be able to sell them for money, and then use the money from selling grain to buy other goods they want, so that they can improve their lives through farming, not just survive. Then there is private lending. I will set a reasonable interest rate so that hardworking people will not be unable to pay it off. For those old debts that already exist, I will send people to review them one by one. If they are unclear or have outrageous interest rates, I will burn them all. For those who really can't pay off their debts, their descendants only need to publicly declare that they give up their inheritance rights, so they don't need to inherit the debts, and the debts will no longer be passed down from generation to generation."

"Then, I will also set up an agricultural bank!"

Agricultural bank? This word aroused the interest of everyone present.

No mistakes in one song, one post, one content, one book, one bar, one 6, one 9!

"The Agricultural Bank will lend money to farmers at very low interest rates," Paul explained. "If farmers encounter natural disasters, poor harvests, and other bad times, they can go to the Agricultural Bank for loans instead of those vampire-like private lenders."

In the Middle Ages, the conditions in the countryside were so varied that it was impossible to describe them clearly. The rural social form of the Northwest Bay in the book was fabricated by the author by mixing and mixing several typical characteristics of feudal society.