A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 472

Sunset dusk.

Bundles of wheat have already been piled up on the large drying yard outside the majestic Wu's Round Fort.

The sunset is like fire, burning red half the sky.

On the banks of the Qing River, the three-wheeled water mills of the Wu family used the water from the canal and turned continuously day and night. Compared with the mills pulled by people pushing donkeys, these water mills were larger, more efficient, and less expensive.

People who have already harvested new wheat are queuing up to grind new wheat.

"What about grinding new wheat?"

"Well, I plan to use new wheat to make some wheat float wine. This year's harvest is good, so I want to celebrate."

Huaiyu accompanied Lao Wu to inspect the Wu family's property. Lao Wu was like a rooster with a high corolla, but he was very warm and polite when greeting the villagers.

There are quite a few villagers queuing at the mill house, which is considered a small center in Shili Baxiang, and most of the Wu family's own grain is processed here.

In the mill room, I also met traders who went to the countryside to collect grain.

The summer harvest has just begun, but food prices have already dropped a lot.

"What's the price now?"

"Twenty coins for a bucket of rice, twelve coins for a bucket of millet,"

The price was surprisingly low, and the villagers in the mill said it was too low.

At this time last year, it was at least thirty or forty dollars per bucket of rice, and two years earlier, it was even three to four hundred dollars per bucket of rice, or even thousands of dollars.

The businessman saw that he should be a senior clerk from a grain store and commercial firm. He was quite clever, and he explained: "Nowadays there is a bumper harvest everywhere, and the price of grain will fall, and now the imperial court is cracking down on private minting and bad money. There is not much private money and bad money in the market. Strict inspections are carried out everywhere, and inspections are also carried out in various markets. Who dares to commit crimes?
Merchants and common people dare not accept private money transactions, otherwise they will fall into their hands. "

One of the major consequences of cracking down on private casting and bad money is that there is a shortage of copper coins in the market, and Kaiyuan Tongbao, which is officially minted by the imperial court, has become very scarce and more valuable.

Although the imperial court also issued an edict prohibiting private possession of copper coins, it is strictly forbidden for private individuals to store too much copper coins privately, depositing money according to grade limits, and stipulates that transactions of more than ten pennies must use silk and not copper coins and other measures.

However, there is still a shortage of copper coins in the market, and it is very rare that private money is hit hard now.

Money is expensive and goods are cheap, and money is more valuable, so the products will naturally become relatively cheap, and even the silk that replaces copper coins has also increased in price.

Now a bolt of silk is worth three hundred Wen.

And a bucket of rice is only [-] yuan, and a bucket of millet is only worth six liters of rice, so a bucket of millet is only worth twelve yuan now, and the price of wheat and rice is about the same.

Now a bolt of silk is worth one stone and five buckets of rice, and two stones and five buckets of millet.

In the past few years, a bucket of rice could be exchanged for a bolt of silk.

Everyone complained and felt that the price of food was too low.

It really complies with the old saying that cheap grain hurts farmers.

Wu Huaiyu listened beside him, and he also knew that the price quoted by the merchant was also regarded as the market price, and it would probably fall again in a few days, and it might fall by two to three percent.

As a plan, Wu Huaiyu knows that it is not only food prices that have fallen, but all prices are actually falling.

Not only is the world stable, prices have returned to relatively normal, but there are also private money attacks, coupled with insufficient supply of official money, resulting in a shortage of money, leading to money shortages and deflation.

Overall, though, it's not all bad.

Although the grain produced by the farmers is not so valuable, it is not so expensive compared to other commodities they exchange or buy.

The rent adjustments paid by the farmers, and even the labor on behalf of the servants, are all agricultural products, and changes in prices do not affect the tax rate.

It is impossible for farmers to be completely self-sufficient. They also need to buy salt, needles and thread and other department stores, as well as see a doctor to buy medicine and so on.

But most people don't see that, they just feel that the food they grow is suddenly worthless, and it has fallen too much.

A stone of millet is only worth 120 coins, and two and a half stones can be exchanged for a bolt of silk.

At this time, it also reflects the importance of men farming and women weaving. The dozens of mulberry trees and hemp planted in each family have greatly improved the benefits at this time.

The villagers respect the Wu family father and son very much, and also have a lot of envy.

Originally, more than half of Longqiao Fort was occupied by the imperial army. In the beginning, a whole team of fifty households was placed here. At the beginning, everyone had similar status, and Lao Wu was only a brigade commander when he became an official.

At ordinary times, brothers and sisters shouted, and occasionally they gathered together to shoot arrows or drink two bowls of wheat float wine. They were at least self-cultivating farmers. Some officers were small landlords, and everyone lived with a sense of superiority. At least in Longqiao Fort, these military households belonged to the upper class.

But now old Wu Zhan's son Guang, not only went to Chang'an and served as an official for two years, even when he finally became an official, the emperor specially gifted him a fifth-rank official rank and wore scarlet silver.

The young and beautiful concubines took another seven houses, and they gave birth to several more children.

Wu Dalang has become a governor, and Wu Erlang has become a prime minister.

Everyone used to live in similar cave dwellings, the difference being that the old Wu family lived in a higher one, but now the five-hole cave dwelling of the old Wu family is still there, and the three-hole cave dwelling that was later repaired for Huaiyu is also there, but the Wu family no longer lives in cave dwellings.

It is hard to build such a large Yiwubao Manor on the North Shore Plain, covering an area of ​​less than a hundred acres. The tall surrounding buildings are full of security, and the high earthen walls have also separated the Wu family from the previous villagers.

But everyone still respects the samurai family very much, not only for their official titles, but also because they have not forgotten you after they developed.

The social school in Longcunbao is doing well now. All school-age children in the village can go to Kaimeng to study, and even girls who are willing to study can go to study for a few years. The Wu family donates money and food to the social school for all expenses.

There are more than 300 students in Longqiaobao's social school, not only from Longqiaobao, but also many children from surrounding villages who come to study here, surpassing the Li Family School in Lijiazhuang in one fell swoop.

Even in the past two years, whenever the villagers have an urgent need, whether it is a wedding or funeral, or getting medicine for illness, they can come to the Wu family to borrow money for urgent needs, and the amount is small and even free of interest.

The more you borrow, the lower the interest rate.

The Wu family also took the lead in establishing their own free warehouse in Longqiao Fort. The Wu family took the lead in donating money and grain to the warehouse every year, organized a council of righteous warehouses, responsible for supervision, and the Wu family sent stewards to manage the operation.

Use the money and food donated by everyone to lend money to needy villagers in the fort. The interest is extremely low. The interest collected is used to increase the capital of the righteous warehouse and to help the needy orphans, widows, and disabled in the village.

If someone in the village studies well, they will be rewarded with the capital of the righteous storehouse, and if someone has selected Shangfu soldiers, they will be rewarded.

Although the capital of this charity warehouse in Longqiao Fort is not much now, and it is mainly donated by the Wu family, it has played a very positive role, and the villagers have a very good atmosphere.

It is precisely because of these that everyone still respects and appreciates the developed samurai family.

Just like this water mill house, the water mill house of the rich and powerful usually inevitably competes with the local people for water and canals, causing many conflicts. Even though the common people will go to the water mill house to grind rice and flour, they often do not trust the mill house, thinking that they have embezzled too much of their food,
Although the water mill house is very profitable, it has a bad reputation.

But the water mill of the Wu family has no such problems. Everyone trusts it so much that they don’t even need to come in person. The water mill of the Wu family will regularly go to the village to help pull the grain to the mill.

A family of good deeds must have Yu Qing.

For the Wu family, doing these kind deeds often requires money, but whether it is Wu Huaiyu, the stingy old Wu, or the Wu Liu family, they all agree.

This is a sense of identity, a kind of soaring achievement in the heart.

Compared with returning to their hometown, they hope to get the respect from the hearts of the people in their hometown.

Wu Huaiyu can understand this kind of mentality very well, because the ancient imperial power society was also a country gentry society. No matter how big the official was, he would return to his hometown after he became an official.

Go out like a human being, but you will come back after all.

These returning gentry are an extremely important force for the village. The imperial power does not go to the countryside, and the county magistrate is not allowed to go to the countryside to prevent disturbing the people.

In the Tang Dynasty, one hundred households were one mile, and five miles were one township. There was no head of the township, but the five headmen took turns to preside over the affairs of the township, and the main performance of their presiding over the affairs of the township was to serve as servants in the county government office. Any tasks in the county should be handed over to the township.

The head of the village and the village officials in the Tang Dynasty were just small officials, mainly conveying, registering some documents, and not having much real power. The real power in the village was in the hands of the squires, clans, tyrants, and landlords.

Because the roots are in the countryside, no matter if it is a powerful clan or a retired country gentry, they are actually very concerned about their reputation in the countryside.

Upholding justice and doing good deeds are the basic operations.

Except for criminal cases, general civil disputes are resolved directly in the village. First, the clan will settle it within the clan. If it cannot be resolved, the well-known elders in the village, that is, the gentry, will preside over the mediation. If it is not possible, they may go to the county.

However, in this era, ordinary people dare not enter the yamen to file a lawsuit, because the village is a society of human relations, but after entering the yamen, they must first face the exploitation of the wolf-like subordinates, and in the end the gain outweighs the loss.

While listening to everyone's talk, Wu Huaiyu carefully watched the work of the Wu family's water mill. This is a three-wheel mill, which is less efficient than a five-wheel mill.

The working principle of the whole water mill is actually not complicated, but it is very dependent on water. It has to block canals and build weirs, set up doumen, etc. The cost of construction is not low, but the income is indeed quite high. It does not need mules, horses or people, and it can work day and night.

But it is really too dependent on water, and it is especially easy to compete with the people for water and cause conflicts.

He couldn't help thinking of the windmill mill, using the wind to drive it, so there is no need to fight for water, and the big windmill can not only grind rice and flour, but also drive the waterwheel to divert water from the canal to high places. It is also very helpful to agriculture in the dry season.

It is even possible to use windmills to drive water mills instead of dams and weirs to store water. Windmills can directly drive waterwheels to draw water from the lower clear rivers and pour them into canals, which can also drive water mills.

He thought of a medieval Dutch windmill, which was built around a pillar. The central pillar was supported by four to six crosses. The large wooden legs rested on the stones. The middle pillar rose into the building and supported the large wheels with bearings.

There are houses built outside the pillars, which can not only protect the windmill pillars, but also serve as rest places and storage rooms.

Of course, you can also use stone to build mills, or use local materials and ram them with loess.

Wu Huaiyu felt that the big windmill should be more efficient than the water mill, and it would not have to face irreconcilable conflicts over water.

After all, in the Tang Dynasty in history, there were many edicts to demolish the water mills in the Gyeonggi area of ​​Chang'an, and even the princess's house would be demolished, which is also risky.

(End of this chapter)