In the first month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the imperial edict of the court was finally issued. Notices were posted outside the government and county governments, and Liao tributes will be charged starting this year.

Su Huawen took the lead and allocated the land to Su Tianhao and Su Tiancheng. Both of them were scholars, one was a supervisor and the other was a student. According to regulations, taxes could be exempted. In this way, Su Tiancheng's 500 hectares of arable land, the original taxes and increased taxes were borne by farmers.

The land taxes of the court were fixed, and there were so many places to go to every place. There would be no way for the government to increase the taxes of farmers because of the reduction of land annexation. The government had no choice but to increase the taxes of farmers. Those who could afford the taxes did not have to pay taxes, and those who could not afford the taxes were burdened heavier and heavier. Coupled with years of famine, conflicts naturally arose.

The land tax collected by the court was not very high, but various places added some miscellaneous taxes, such as Junping Silver, Jun Yao, silver discounts on materials supplied, post station supply, people's bravery, etc., which further intensified the contradictions.

Strictly speaking, the total amount of land tax is not very high. In other words, the highest land tax in the counties under Pingyang Prefecture will not exceed 10% of the total land tax revenue. However, years of famine have left farmers desperate.

Just after the first month of the year, Su Tiancheng went to the tenant's house.

He first went to Niu Er's house.

During the Chinese New Year, Niu Er slightly renovated the house. He had enough food, had meat and salt, so he had better energy. Naturally, he had to make the house better.

Su Tiancheng had just entered the house, and Niu Er hurriedly asked the woman to boil water.

Su Tiancheng discovered that although Niu Er's house still had nothing, it could be considered a bare-sized house, but after cleaning it up, it gave people a different feeling and a person's mental outlook became much better.

"Niu Er, the winter wheat is growing well. I just came here and I looked at it and it was OK. I guess there will be no big problems with the harvest this year."

"Young master, that is, the winter wheat here is OK, but not nearby ones. You asked us to dig ditches, dam ponds, and gold dig to get water, which will play a big role. A lot of water is accumulated in the dam pond. Even sowing spring wheat, there will not be too big problems."

"Oh, then you can predict how much wheat you can harvest per acre."

"I guess this growth will not be less than one stone."

Seven thousand five hundred acres of land, or seven thousand five hundred stones, are equivalent to only one.5 million kilograms of wheat. In total, it is only worth more than two thousand taels of silver. This yield can be said to be very low. Su Tiancheng sighed secretly.

"Young Master, we have discussed it. The village chief and A-shou also told everyone that after harvesting wheat this time, we must pay more than 50%. If it weren't for the master and the young master, we wouldn't be able to survive."

Su Tiancheng shook his head.

Niu Er was a little confused and didn't know what Su Tiancheng meant.

"Niu Er, you can tell everyone that after harvesting winter wheat, pay one-fifth of the average yield per mu. If the yield per mu is one stone of wheat, pay two dou of wheat, keep the rest yourself."

Niu Er opened his mouth wide and almost couldn't speak.

"Young Master, this is not OK. You have given us so much. If you pay the grain like this, wouldn't you suffer a loss? Besides, there is no tax now, and there is no need for so much wheat left in every household."

"In recent years, everyone has worked hard. They have saved some wheat and are enough to live. They have to trade the rest for some money and it is time to buy some items. Besides, the house needs to be renovated. As for the purchase of grain, I will arrange someone to do it."

"Young Master, you are really a great Bodhisattva."

Seeing that Niu Er was about to kneel down again, Su Tiancheng hurriedly stopped him.

Next, Su Tiancheng went to the homes of several village heads and heads of Jia and expressed his thoughts. Everyone was shocked. If the young master used to take out grain, seeds and other things to help tenants, the purpose was not to starve to death. But seeing that the winter wheat was growing well, it was about to be harvested in two months. The young master actually only had such a little wheat and bought the rest with silver. This was not a simple favor.

The tenants of the Su family rented basically more than 20 acres of arable land, and each family could harvest more than 20 stones of wheat. According to the young master's requirements, each family paid one-fifth, and the remaining more than 10 stones or even twenty stones of wheat were left.

To solve the problem of eating, on average, each household has three stones of wheat for two months, which is enough. A year is twelve stones of wheat, and there are still a lot of wheat that can be traded, and then the grain produced must be traded, except for the part handed over, all of them can be traded.

After counting this way, in just one year, everyone can completely get rid of the previous difficulties.

The village chief and the head of the accomplice suggested that the tenant thought that the young master would be able to slowly return the food, including other materials, that the young master had subsidized, but Su Tiancheng shook his head and refused, saying that since the subsidy was continued, he did not think about taking it back. As long as everyone farmed well and produced more grain, it would be fine.

This news spread like the wind. Many tenants went to Niu Er's house, to the Lie-Chang and Jia's house, and asked about the situation. They thought the news was fake. After it was confirmed, everyone felt that the young master was simply a Bodhisattva.

The village chief and the head of the auspicious also asked everyone. The young master said that more straw and straw must be prepared, and some farm manure should be prepared, and the feces of livestock should be used everywhere, which will be useful at that time.

The Spring Festival was just over, and it was possible that the winter wheat had not been harvested yet, but the tenants of the Su family were already busy. Women and children were chopping straw and straw at home, and men went out to collect fertilizer, that is, feces for livestock. As for the feces stored in the cottages of each family, they became good things.

The hope of life appeared before my eyes. All the tenants felt that according to this momentum, they could turn over in less than a year. Moreover, the seeds of corn and sweet potatoes have been purchased. Although no one has seen these two crops before and do not know how they grow or produce, as long as the young master proposed them, everyone will do as required.

All the tenants had a blind admiration for the young master.

When he returned to the mansion, Wang Dazhi found Su Tiancheng and said that many farmers in the village wanted to sell the land to the young master. The price was easy to say, as long as a child in the family could enter the Su Mansion to do things, or become a tenant of the Su family.

Su Tiancheng already had the idea of ​​expanding the land scope. He was definitely not thinking about annexing the land. The 500 hectares of land under his name were nothing. Just Lei Wentong had thousands of hectares of land in his hands, and many princes and nobles owned even more than ten thousand hectares of land.

Su Tiancheng thought that by increasing the land area, he could solve the difficulties of some farmers as much as possible, and how much he could solve, and how much he accumulated, if the famine continued to expand and the peasant uprising army continued to grow, it would be difficult to be peaceful in Shanxi, and many of his own plans would not be able to achieve.

Of course, it is difficult to expand the land area now. After all, there are not enough preparations. There are many tricks in the process. Students are exempt from taxes. If you have too much land, the government cannot bear it. Those princes and nobles have no choice but to deal with you as a student.

Moreover, he may not have time to do these plans. He will go to Taiyuan Prefecture to participate in the provincial examination in July. At that time, corn and sweet potatoes can be harvested, and spring wheat will be almost harvested. Next, he can rest for about two months. In October, he will continue to plant winter wheat.

Therefore, during this period, many rules have to be decided, and Su Pingyang can implement them in detail.
Chapter completed!