Spring has arrived. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Everything recovered, the flowers and plants grew greener, and the birds chirping in the forest increased.

Under the warm sun, the frozen land and roads also became muddy.

The Gran Territory, located on the eastern edge of the Kingdom of Volis, has quietly undergone many changes.

For example, Lord Lord, from the original Baron Connor, to the younger Baron Downey, the steward of the realm, from the original butler of Bunod, to the young and terrible Steward of Lane, the same age as Baron Donnie, is only 18 years old.

For these two young figures, the people of the Gran Territory are all talking in private, and they don't know what kind of fate awaits them?

Will Baron Donnie, like Baron Connor, give them a better spear in times of war, give them a piece of bread that will not starve to death in times of famine, and send knights to drive them away and protect their livestock and crops when they encounter large beasts?

Everything is unknown, and many of the elderly lords even pray in their hearts that they don't need much mercy from the new lord, just hope that they can be left with a way to live, just like the previous Baron Connor.

Now that spring is the beginning of the year again, the season of spring sowing is approaching, and all the lords who are about to run out of surplus food in their homes now sit at home and want to hear the news that the new lord can allow them to continue cultivating the land they rented for the previous year, so as not to delay this year's spring sowing.

……

Castle Chamber.

Sitting on the main seat, Donnie dressed in bearskin fashion, held a parchment proclamation in his hand, and his brows furrowed heavily.

"Ryan, if these "Agricultural Reform Regulations" you wrote, if they are really implemented, will the lazy farmers in the Gran Collar really not be even lazier?"

In the enlightenment education that Downey received since childhood, the inherent impression of the farmer is two words: lazy.

It is precisely because the peasants are lazy that they have to work three days a week, and all kinds of love workers, and they have to collect all their spare money through various taxes, so that they will not be idle and wander around the territory.

"Donnie, I've explained to you many times, those poor peasants, who don't have a chance to be lazy at the end of the year, are they lazy to rest for a few days when they're tired of work? On the contrary, in order to solve the problem of food and clothing for a year, in order to raise children, in order to pay taxes, the burden on them is already very heavy, now we give them some burden, so that they have extra food to supplement nutrition, have sufficient rest time to recover their strength, so as to cultivate the land with higher efficiency, and then form a virtuous circle, increase the agricultural output of the territory......"

"Donnie, I'm here to give you a package ticket, after the implementation of this "Agricultural Reform Regulations", if the total agricultural output of the Grand Collar does not increase by more than 30% this year, or the tax collected by the tax collector does not increase by 10%, these reform regulations will be abolished immediately! But if these growth targets are achieved, then continue to implement this regulation, and then revise and adjust!"

"This ......"

Donnie was still a little hesitant, he was completely opposite to Zhou Ming's thoughts, thinking that after the implementation of the "Agricultural Reform Regulations", there was no doubt that the farmers' enthusiasm for labor would not only not increase, but would immediately decrease and become more lazy.

The goal of these peasants' survival is nothing more than to ensure that they will not starve to death, and the surplus food at home is only enough for one year's ration and the next year's seeds, and the extra money is basically donated to the church, and there will not be much left in their hands.

If, according to the provisions of Lane's "Agrarian Reform Ordinance": the rent of land was reduced by two percent, the rent of cattle and farm implements was reduced by two-thirds, and the weekly wage system was abolished, these three articles were just these three articles, and those peasants who greatly lightened their burdens would soon wander around the territory, and would not have put their minds on farming at all, and after planting almost enough food for a year, they would have nothing to do.

But-

Another way of thinking, from Lane's point of view, what he said seems to have a little bit of truth, and Lane is not without considering this problem, so in the "Agricultural Reform Regulations" he formulated, in addition to the core of these three, there are six articles that play a supplementary role.

They are:

All miscellaneous taxes for farmers were abolished, and no prey was allowed to be caught indiscriminately except in the territory, and trees were not to be cut down indiscriminately.

In the event of large-scale abandonment and abnormal yield reduction in the farmer's field, the lord will take back the land use right.

The surplus grain produced in the farmer's field should be purchased by the lord at a reasonable price.

Farmers could use grain to buy cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock from the lord at a discount, as well as hoes, sickles, heavy plows and other farming tools.

Farmers were allowed to trade goods with each other, exchanging their own goods, and were not taxed.

The private property of the peasants was recognized and protected by the lord and was not arbitrarily deprived.

These six points, according to Lane, are to improve the farmers' enthusiasm for production, but also to ensure their enthusiasm for consumption.

It is only when the farmers consume their extra produce in various forms that they will have the incentive to expand their production and increase their production!

Such as a few strong ploughing oxen, a set of useful farm tools, a sturdy house...... These are the goals of these farmers to increase production and consumption.

If the farmers have achieved all these goals, and have collectively become well-off, and there is no other demand, then the time has come to encourage childbearing, and the time has come to encourage childbearing, and to have two children, there is a punishment, and to have three, there are rewards, and the more children are born, the more rewards there are, and the population increases, and the demand has to increase, what can we do?

There are also education, medical care, entertainment and other fields, which can open up many new consumer items.

In short, according to Lane's "production-consumption spiral theory", the agricultural output of Grande will only present an upward straight line, constantly improving, growing, and expanding.

Downey was indeed deeply attracted to this theory, but he was a little worried, and it was really unknown whether the farmers would really enter into the behavioral logic of this production-consumption theory, as Lane expected.

If the peasants only want food and clothing, and have no motivation to spend extra at all, then wouldn't all the "price" he paid be in vain?

"How do you know if you don't try, Donnie, don't you think we're doing something that no one in this era has ever tried? If we succeed, what does that mean? If the experiment fails, it's just a small loss of money, and we're all young, so why don't we give it a try?"

Zhou Ming's words ignited the ambition in Donnie's heart, yes, it's only a year, just that little bit of money and grain, which is only equivalent to a very small part of the grain stored in the castle granary, and he can still withstand this slight loss.

"Okay! Let's follow this "Agricultural Reform Ordinance" for one year, and if it works, we will continue to implement it, and if it doesn't work, then forget it. ”

Donnie finally nodded.

The next day.

Zhou Ming personally took a dozen tax officials, rode horses, and distributed this "Agricultural Reform Ordinance" to the villages and towns in the territory, stood in front of those thin farmers, and read them word by word.

The ground rent has been reduced from the original 50% to the current 30%?

The rental price of cattle farming tools has been reduced to one-third of the original?

Cancel the three-day-a-week work during busy farming?

These three articles alone were like a series of powerful thunderbolts, which stunned all the farmers, whether they were the townspeople of Rose Town or the peasants of the other ten villages, after hearing the content of this edict, they all seemed to have auditory hallucinations, or shook their heads desperately, or looked at each other, saying that it was impossible for such a good thing to happen to them.

After the butler Ryan finished reading and left the village, there were still many farmers who were stunned, thinking that they were dreaming, and after pinching themselves hard, they found that this dream was so real, so he pulled others and asked, "Did I hear it wrong?" What did Lane steward say?

Zhou Ming was also troubled by a similar kind, a few farmers who knew him saw him, and they were bold and stepped forward to ask similar questions, Zhou Ming answered a few times at first, and then he didn't bother to explain, what ordinance the lord issued, you just need to follow the above, don't ask so much.

Whether the farmers believe it or not, the nine contents of the "Agricultural Reform Regulations" were thoroughly cleaned up, and the new tax system established and controlled by Zhou Ming began to strictly enforce these regulations one after another after after completely cleaning up the old tax system.

It was in the midst of this drastic agricultural reform that all the farmers in the Gran Territory soon noticed the obvious changes that had taken place in them.