A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 474 Competing to Attach

For many days,
Under the scorching sun, sweating like rain, harvesting and beating, threshing.

Wu Huaiyu is mainly in charge of the logistics every day. He has to kill pigs and sheep every day, and there are more people to eat, especially this time when the coolies are rushing to harvest.

The Wu family's wheat-harvesting meals are the most greasy, but even so, almost everyone lost a few catties of meat after harvesting the wheat, and many people even had a lot of blood blisters on their hands.

Under the scorching sun, everyone was tanned a few degrees.

But the harvest is also gratifying. There are more than 3000 mu of fertile land on the plains on both sides of the Qinghe River in Wujia. Excluding those rented out, there are still more than [-] mu cultivated by the family.

The wheat is throbbing, and the grains are entering the warehouse.

Steward Qian happily announced the harvest to Huaiyu.

"A total of 510 seven stones, more than three stones per mu,"

Lao Wu thought that the butler made a mistake, "In previous years, it was more than two stones, at most two and a half stones, why did you charge so much this year?"

Steward Qian said as if asking for credit, "Our Zhuangzi started raising pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks last year, and it produced a lot of manure. After retting, it was applied to the fields, but the soil fertility did not increase. In addition, in winter, we dug a lot of mud from the bottom of the pond, and put a lot of plant ash into the fields."

Farming needs fertilizer, and what the common people lack most in farming at this time is also fertilizer.

Just relying on picking up some dung at ordinary times, and the little plant ash burned in the stove is too little.

The Wu family engaged in breeding, which added a lot of manure, plant ash, pond mud, silkworm excrement, etc., and there is an oil mill of the Wu family. The leftover oil cakes such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and sesame oil in the oil mill are also good fertilizers.

The samurai even bought the shaved bones from the slaughterhouse, which had no meat at all and were of little value, but were burnt to ashes and scattered on the ground.

Of course, it is mainly manure, and the manure of the Wu family is not ordinary manure, but mainly manure. The manure is mainly the bedding in the stables. After being trampled by pigs, cattle and sheep and fully mixed with manure, it will become manure for a period of time.

It can also be directly fertilized by pitting straw, fallen leaves, and even some weeds, etc., mixed with soil, excrement, and piled up in pits.

Tang people also realized the importance of fertilizers early, but ordinary people did not have so many conditions.

The Wu family is willing to spend some extra money on this aspect, and the effect is immediate. This year, the weather is good, the soil is abundant, the water is abundant, and the summer wheat yield has reached an astonishing three stones per mu.

This yield is considered a poor harvest in later generations. After all, it is only about [-] catties, while the wheat in later generations can reach [-] catties per mu.

However, in this era, the average yield of wheat per mu is only about one stone, which has to be said to be a high yield and a bumper harvest.

Steward Qian was very excited. Although he had been watching the wheat ripen and had a rough idea in his heart, he was still very proud of weighing it into the warehouse, and he was also responsible for it.

"Half of the nearly [-] mu of land rented out by our family Sanyuan is a [-]-[-] share of the pure rented land, and some are provided with cattle seeds and farm tools, with a [-]-[-] share, and some are provided with a [-]-[-] share of cattle and farm tools. Before the class was set, I roughly calculated that we can collect about [-] shi for these lands."

"This summer, with only 500 mu of land in Qinghe Township, our family can harvest more than 300 stones of wheat. In fact, we still have more than [-] mu of wheat that have not been planted. This harvest is probably unprecedented in our ten miles and eight towns."

Steward Qian was still very regretful, "It's a pity that the price of food has dropped by more than ten times compared to three years ago. Otherwise, how much money would we have to exchange for so much food in our family."

Wu Huaiyu didn't have much feeling for the more than 5000 shi of new wheat. Anyone who owns 10,000+ mu of land can earn at least [-] shi of grain a year. Who cares about [-] shi of grain.

"The new wheat has been harvested, so it needs to be properly stored in the warehouse, and it must be protected from rodents, insects, moisture, and fire. Next, everyone has to work hard. Our family has to turn over the wheat fields and plant corn quickly. This year, these wheat fields will be planted with corn. When the corn is harvested after autumn, it will happen to be able to plant wheat again."

"The tenants' rent, don't be in a hurry to call. When everyone is done with this work, our family will brew some wheat float wine according to the old rules and send it to the tenants. Please come and drink."

The landlord sent wheat float wine to remind everyone that it was time to pay the rent.

"Although the wheat has been harvested, the neighbors who came to help with the work, as well as the wheat guests from Longyou Shuofang, are also working very hard. I think we can prepare some wine and meat. After paying the wages, please have a good meal."

"This year, everyone has to pay enough wages for harvesting wheat, don't deduct them, and add some extra rewards. I can see everyone's hard work and hard work. They are very serious. No one cheats and cheats,"

"Master is benevolent, so it's just our family. After the wheat is harvested, I will treat them to a drink and give them a reward."

"Tell everyone that they are welcome to come back next year."

Steward Qian reported something to Huaiyu, "Erlang took that little stone as a follower, and gave him [-] qian per month, and [-] qian a year back to his family. Many mikes were very envious. Many mikes came to me and said that they hoped to stay in the Wujia manor to work, whether it was a long-term worker or a tenant. They admired the boldness and benevolence of my husband."

Most of these mikes who want to stay are underage young people. Although there are families in their hometown, they are young and poor after all. They are single. When they meet such a good family, they want to stay. Being a mike is very hard, and it is seasonal, and they will be done soon.

They have also inquired that if they stay, they have two options. One is to directly work as a hired long-term worker, including food, housing and even two seasons of clothes, and then they are given food and money on a yearly basis. This is just hard work.

The other is to be a tenant of the samurai family. This kind of tenant is to rent a piece of land from the samurai family. The samurai family provides the fields, cattle, seeds, farm tools and even housing, and they provide individuals.

The latter is more difficult to be a tenant, but if done well, the income can be higher.

For the samurai family, the two methods also have their own advantages. For example, in the case of long-term workers, the land suitable for the samurai family's self-cultivation, what to plant, and how to plant it, these masters have the final say, which will help the economy of the manor.As for the tenants, it is mainly suitable for contracting some small plots of scattered land. They can plant whatever they want and do not need additional management, but because of the sharing, they themselves will have a high enthusiasm.

In the case of insufficient manpower in the Wu family manor, it is also good to recruit some such tenants appropriately, because the Wu family provides cattle, farm tools, seeds, fertilizers, etc., so they get more share, and the income is indeed higher than renting out the land directly.

"You pick and choose. Those who are more diligent and honest when harvesting wheat these days, and who are younger and stronger, can stay. If they are too old or too young, forget it."

Cheng Ding couldn't stay at home if he wanted to serve in the military.

Butler Qian wrote these down.

He also asked about the more than 5000 shi of grain that was about to enter the warehouse.

"There is a bumper harvest in Guanlong this summer. I heard that the harvest in Guandong is also bumper. The grain is expected to fall. We can't store all the grain in the warehouse."

"We are on the outskirts of Chang'an, are we afraid that we won't be able to sell the grain? No matter how good the harvest is in Guanlong, Guanzhong still has a big grain shortage every year. The grain has to be transported all the way to Beijing from the Kanto and even the Jianghuai River. Our family now has a grain store in Chang'an city, and it's directly processed in our own water mill and brought to the store in Chang'an. Are we afraid we won't be able to sell this grain?"

If you process it yourself and ship it directly to Chang'an for sale, you don't have to go through layers of exploitation by grain merchants, and you can still make a profit.

Of course, if it is not too troublesome, the Wu family can also organize people to take the grain directly to Shuofang Lingyan to support it, and then exchange it for salt, and sell it in the salt warehouse. The profit is not bad.

There is no need to worry about channels.

Only ordinary people, the surplus grain can only be sold to grain merchants, even at the lowest price just after harvest, they have no choice.

Big landlords like the Wu family are different, and some have ways to cash in.

If it weren't for the prediction that the price of grain would only fall endlessly in the next few years, even falling to three or four dollars a bucket of rice, with the strength of the Wu family, it wouldn't matter even if they stored all the grain in the warehouse.

Grain can also be used as money. If you use food as capital to lend money, if you are unscrupulous, even if you borrow one and repay two, it will be very profitable.

Chang'an is a huge food consumption market. With the increasing population in the future, the demand for food will be greater. Compared with transporting grain from Jianghuai, Kanto and other places, the food produced near Chang'an must have a huge cost advantage.

Wu Huaiyu also has a mill and a grain store in her own family. From planting and production to processing to sales, she provides one-stop service without middlemen, which makes her more profitable.

Five thousand stones of grain, placed in Chang'an, is at most a day's consumption.

evening.

Wu Huaiyu and Fan Xuanfu, the two masters and ladies of the family, paid everyone their wages in person.

The Wu family is so generous and forthright, they only finish work in the afternoon, and pay wages immediately in the evening.

Line up one by one.

How many days each person has been working, and when they come, they say how much money per mu is, and they are all a lot of money.

Although Maike worked hard, his wages were not high. Maike was not paid by the day, but by the mu. A good old maike could work fifteen or sixteen hours a day, and he could harvest three or four mu. A proficient one would have to harvest at least two mu a day. Those who harvested one mu a day were just new maikes, or older old maikes.

According to the market agreement, one mu of wheat is harvested and two liters of wheat are given. In case of lodging and other situations, a little more can be added.

The best barley can harvest four acres of wheat a day, and can get eight liters of wheat. Now it is only about [-] yuan for a bucket of wheat, and only [-] yuan for an eight liter of wheat?

Ordinarily, if you cut two acres a day, you get four liters of wheat and eight cents?
Those rookies only collect one mu a day, so they only get four pennies?

It seems extremely unreasonable, but the sweat of the mikes is really worthless. It is not easy to eat two or three full meals a day, and even see a little meat.

At this time, the wages of most long-term workers for a month are usually five Dousu plus five Doumai, and even for some young workers, it may be as low as five Dousu a month.

Coolies are worthless in any era.

Long-term workers are provided with food and shelter, and usually have a set of spring clothes for one year, a set of winter clothes for two years, and a set of scarves, cloth shirts, belts, and shoes every year.

Mike is just making some sweat money.

It takes half a month or a month to harvest wheat hard for a season, but in the end, you don't earn much. It is not easy to bring some food or a little money back home.

(End of this chapter)