Xuande

Chapter 638 Can't survive?

The irony in Lao Du's words is very strong, but it is really the truth.

The government can't and is unwilling to take care of so many people's livelihood issues. The former officials only knew how to make money to make their lives better. As for the bankrupt farmers, they were all cumbersome.

It doesn't look good if you starve to death, and it's easy to rebel if you don't starve to death. It's really a great thing for these local families to buy them and manage them as slaves.

This is the tacit understanding between the former county government and local families.

One side expropriated and bankrupted them, and the other side bought them cheaply as slaves and then exploited them fiercely, so the government and the big families had a bright future, and they didn't care who was suffering.

but now……

The times have changed.

Guan Jing glanced at Lao Du.

"You don't need to worry about this. The past is over, and it won't happen again. But right now, the general has won the victory in Bingzhou, and he has recovered Bingzhou. The Xianbei people and Wuhuan people have become official slaves. Waste to be done.

Now the lack of people in Bingzhou is yelling, just wait for this group of slaves to be converted to citizenship and send them over. They will have food, clothes, and land to cultivate, and the court will properly arrange their lives. . "

A group of people were speechless at this.

It turned out that the imperial court needed population to fill the border, and ordinary people would definitely not go there. Only these released slaves were poor and had nowhere to go, so they could only accept the government's request, which was easy to handle.

Feelings are such a thing, so they are eyeing us?
They all complained about the court's inappropriate behavior.

Seeing that the plan will fail, Lao Du still has a big move.

"Ming Ting, even if these people have a place to go, have you ever thought that we rely on servants to operate boats to send rice and supplies to Luoyang City, and servants don't need much money, so the people in Luoyang City The price of food and vegetables is so cheap.

You think, if the slaves are dismissed, we will not be able to find someone to transport supplies to Luoyang for a while, what will the tens of thousands of people inside and outside Luoyang city eat?What to drink?Even if we found someone, it would be paying someone to operate the boat to transport these things!
Since we spend money to hire people, we must spend more money than before. Originally, the profit from this matter is very small, and we earn some hard money, but we barely lose money. In this way, in order not to lose money, food prices The price of food will go up.

This restriction on slavery is not only affected by our Du family, it must be affected by many people together. As a result, the prices of goods in the entire Luoyang City will rise. Why should the people in Luoyang City complain? "

Yes, you dare to threaten the government with a price increase?

Guan Jing looked at Lao Du and spoke slowly.

"Oh? The profit is very small? Barely not losing money?"

"Yeah, Ming Ting, you don't know that life is hard and business is hard. Before the war, we didn't open for several months. There are so many servants in the family who spend money to support them. Every day when we open our eyes , Hundreds of people eat and drink Lazard waiting for me to serve!
They open their mouths to beg for food, but I will suffer. If I don’t pay, who will give me food?They still want me to support them, and now the court wants to dismiss them. Doesn't this make our life difficult?The imperial court is too ill-considered! "

Old Du vomited bitterness with a sad face.

Guan Jing looked at Lao Du for a while and smiled.

This was the first time he showed a smile to Lao Du and the others, but this smile didn't look so sincere, on the contrary, there was a hint of teasing in it.

"The Du family started to transport Yishui about six years ago. Six years ago, your Du family had no more than 25 acres of land, but now, your Du family has more than [-] acres of land, and your family property has expanded by [-] times in six years.

This is called earning a small profit?This is called life can't go on?Even if you really can't live on, won't you sell the land?Are you going to sell your house?With so much land and houses, if you just sell a little, it will be enough for your family to eat enough food, so what else is there to worry about? "

"This this……"

Looking at Guan Jing's smiling face, Lao Du shivered for no reason, and his entire back was soaked in cold sweat.

How does this guy know how his industry is developing?
Still know so clearly?

Who revealed it?
In order to avoid taxes, they bribed the former government officials and officials, and reported less when they declared the number of acres every year. Just last year, the number of acres reported by the Du family was only [-] acres, but in fact it had exceeded [-] acres. thousand acres.

But this is entirely the result of cooperating with the government. The account books should be very beautiful. All accounts have been settled with money. Even if someone checks the accounts, they will not be able to find out. They shouldn't be discovered!

It wasn't just Lao Du who felt fear, but also the other people who came with him.

Their family property is more or less watery. In order to avoid government taxes, they will choose to cooperate with local governments to conceal the number of acres of land through various means, so as to pay as little tax as possible and retain as much as possible for their own use.

This is how their family property was accumulated bit by bit by "hard work and willingness to work".

If the government has figured out the actual family property of the Du family, doesn't that mean... their actual family property is also controlled by the government?
This is too scary, isn't it?
Guan Jing looked at the sudden changes in the expressions of the people around him, and the smile on his face became even bigger.

"Last year, a friend of mine participated in the liquidation of a famous family. He wrote to me and told me that there are really all kinds of ways these famous families hide their wealth."

Guan Jing said with a smile: "The thing that caught my attention the most was the way they hide the number of acres of land. The most direct way is of course to cooperate with local officials to cover up and miss reports. But if someone comes down from Luoyang to investigate, that method is also A lot.

Either spend money to buy it, if the person loves the feathers and can't buy it, then use the advantage of the land to collude with the local people to hide it together, or temporarily fabricate accounts, hang the land on the heads of some people they can control, or make all kinds of money. A traffic accident caused the people who came down to investigate to fail to reach their destination.

There are really many ways, and there is always a way they can think of, and there are always local officials who cooperate, so the wealth they find out after they are liquidated is really amazing. I was dumbfounded after seeing it, and it took me a while to realize it. "

After Guan Jing finished speaking with a smile, Lao Du and his group looked at him blankly, not knowing how to answer his question.

He has finished talking about the means, and this guy is indeed not a stunned young man who is easy to deal with. Then, what should we do next?
Their brains went blank.

Seeing that they were silent, Guan Jing put away his smile.

"So, the profit is small? It's just hard money? Du Jun, there are some things that the government doesn't say, but don't think that the government doesn't know, and it's fine to lie to others. In front of me, it's better to tell the truth.

Yishui transportation, there are too many people who want to do it, and there is no shortage of you. If you can’t do it, then don’t do it. I will arrange someone else to do it. It won’t delay the people in Luoyang City from eating food for a day, but You are in big trouble.

The general expressly forbids random price increases for supplies related to people's lives. If there are real difficulties, they must be reported to the government for approval. Hoarding and raising prices at will, do you think your neck is harder than the steel knife in the hands of the officers and soldiers at the gate? ? "

Lao Du looked into Guan Jing's eyes, trembled again for no reason, broke out in more cold sweat, and felt that his soul and limbs were all stiff.

"Ming...Ming Ting, I...I didn't...I really didn't..."

"Nothing? Did you not hide the land, or didn't you miss paying taxes? Du Jun, I'll say it again, don't lie to the imperial court. The imperial court knows everything, but I just don't want to argue with you. If you must argue with the imperial court, then I will only It can be said that you are very wrong."

Guan Jing almost looked at Lao Du with dead eyes, and Lao Du was so frightened that he couldn't speak a word.

Not to mention Lao Du, the others were the same, the calves of the more courageous were trembling, and the whole body of the less courageous was already stiff.

They never expected that everything they did would be in the hands of the court, nor did they expect the court to be so determined to promote the implementation of the slavery restriction.

If all of this was planned by Liu Bei, then for them, the only way to go is to admit cowardice and follow what the court says.

Otherwise, they did not end well.

(End of this chapter)