Chapter 275: Ideas

Su Qing'an leaned over when he asked.

"Look, the people outside have good farmland, why don't they dare to grow crops? Aren't they afraid that you officials will collect all kinds of taxes, and what you get in the end is not enough to pay what you want? Why bother?"

Pei Nian also had a headache: "Yes. But I don't collect so much tax."

Just because you don't collect it doesn't mean others won't collect it, so he said: "But the people don't know."

"I have sent people to lobby in every village and town..."

"No one believes it?"

"Yes." Pei Nian didn't know why no one believed it.

"Of course I don't believe it. Officials are all corrupt. What if they have worked hard to grow crops, and you come to their door when it's time to harvest? Isn't it all in vain? The people are scared. It's normal not to believe the government's words."

"What do you think?"

"My idea is to let you pay."

"Pay money?"

"Yes."

"You can use the money to buy the land back, and buy it from anyone who sells it. Then hire people to farm and pay them wages. In this way, you get the grain, and the people also get wages. With wages, you can buy grain from the grain store."

"Then you can stabilize the grain price. If the grain price cannot be suppressed, you have your own grain, so you can open a grain store to sell it. Don't sell it to outsiders, just sell it to the people in Renzhou under your rule. In this way, won't the people under your rule be able to eat enough? And you won't disrupt other people's trade routes. You sell it according to the household register and population, and sell it in limited quantities."

After listening to this, Pei Nian wandered around the room again.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought this method was feasible.

It's wonderful.

It's really wonderful.

This is equivalent to temporarily turning all the good fields under Renzhou into his farms. He hires people to plant them and pays them wages, and then the people use the wages to buy food.

Once they have enough food, they don't have to leave their hometowns.

The good fields don't have to be barren.

Wonderful!

"Then in the future..." The people can't be without fields.

"In the future, after one or two years, you can slowly sell the good fields in your hands. When the people have money, can't you buy the fields back?"

This method is a bit dangerous.

Any officials who are a little greedy will coerce and induce the people to sell their fields at a low price, and then hold on to them, turning all the good fields under their jurisdiction into their big farms, and the people under their jurisdiction will all become his workers.

That's a very dangerous thing.

But Su Qingmei thinks Pei Nian won't do that.

He is not greedy.

This person has the soft heart of a scholar.

He has a bottom line, and he can't bear to see the people under his rule suffer. He is still willing to do something for the people.

So she gave him a suggestion.

Now everyone is fleeing, good farmland has no one to plant, and it can't be sold. No one wants it.

If someone buys it at the original price, the people who want to leave can sell their land and have money to leave, and the people who don't want to leave but can't survive can sell their land to support themselves for a while.

Then they can be hired back, rent land to plant, get wages, have money to buy food, and survive.

As long as there are people in Renzhou, there is hope.

"Okay, you stay in the mansion for two days, I'll let the master and others count the acres of land that are unowned and want to sell, and then you can buy some nearby."

"Thank you, sir."

Seeing Pei Nian was in a hurry to tell the servants.

Su Qingmei thought about it and kindly suggested: "Sir Pei, do you want to be an official?"

"Hmm?" Isn't this nonsense?

"If you care about your reputation, you can let your wife buy the land from the people in the name of dowry. Maybe you can have a good reputation in the future. It's because the wife of the governor couldn't bear the fact that the people under his rule couldn't survive, so she bought the land."

Avoid being caught.

Pei Nian understood as soon as he heard it.

He bowed to Su Qingmei.

Then he left quickly.

In the evening, Madam Ma also got the news.

She pulled Su Qingmei and kept thanking her.

"You are so thoughtful. If you didn't remind him, it would not be good for him to buy it with the money from the government office or his private money. Although he wanted the people under his rule to survive, others would not understand him and would only say that he abused his power for personal gain."

Su Qingmei was embarrassed by her praise.

"Oh. Lord Pei is a good official, and he helps me a lot and takes care of me in every way."

"I really like you, kid. I haven't seen Xiaobao for a long time. I packed a lot of things for you to take to him when you leave. In the mountains, although there is no shortage of food and drink, it is also limited."

"You really love him too much. He is a little person, and I am afraid he can't stand your love."

"What can't he stand? I really like Xiaobao. A little child, he has been following you away from home since he was a child, and he is sensible. He is really lovely."

Mrs. Ma's enthusiasm made Su Qing'an a little overwhelmed.

In two days, Pei Nian counted all the land that no one wanted and planned to sell.

Usually, good land is eight taels per mu, but now people are selling it at five taels.

Su Qing'an still had tens of thousands of taels in her hand, so she bought four thousand mu.

"Is the money not enough? I'll lend you some more." Madam Ma was very considerate.

Madam Ma probably bought a lot this time. First, the couple had no shortage of money, and second, Pei Nian couldn't bear to see the good farmland go to waste and the people have no food to eat.

Su Qingmei planned to keep the remaining money for future use.

Although the price of land is cheap now, there are too many unknowns.

But in the end, it was hard to refuse the kindness, so she didn't borrow money from Madam Ma, but bought another 2,000 acres.

Now she only had a few thousand taels left.

She didn't dare to move anymore.

A large family and twenty-nine mountain villages are all looking forward to her, so she can't be without money.

Madam Ma has already arranged people to operate the land after buying it.

Su Qing'an followed closely, taking the land deed with Siyuan and Siyuan to look at these fields.

For those who had owners and the fields were in the village, she hired the original owners and villagers to plant them, and they could ask for wages or food.

Most people chose to ask for food.

So she signed a lease contract with them.

The original owners who sold the fields and wanted to escape to other places would find people to rent nearby and in the city. If they couldn't find anyone, they would go back to the mountains to transfer some people.

When she returned to the mountains again, Su Qing'an carried the land deed of 6,000 acres and a bunch of food and daily necessities sent by Madam Ma, and returned to the mountains.

The family was relieved to see her return safely.

Although Su Dahu came back and told her about her situation. But Su's father, Su's mother and others couldn't help but worry.

A woman, running around in such a mess outside, if something happens, what will the whole family do.

"Finally you're back."

Mother Su led Xiaobao to her, checked up and down, and was relieved to see that she was fine.

Xiaobao had been clinging to her for a long time.

He was held in her arms. He lay on her shoulder and didn't say anything.

This child hasn't seen her for a while, and he will be sulky for a while when he sees her. He needs her to coax him for a long time.

"Sister, take me with you next time. My brother and I also want to go out with you to experience it." Qingxing clung to her.

She looked at Qingyang again, and her eyes were also burning.

Su Qingmei smiled and said, "Okay, I'll take you next time."

The twins jumped for joy.

Mother Su glared at them fiercely.

Father Su and Su Qingliu laughed: "Children can't stay at home all the time, they don't know the dangers outside, let them go out and see."

Qingxing nodded: "That's right. Sister, I heard that you saw your brother-in-law this time?"