Dong'an County

"What are you afraid of, it's not that we forced the poor grain chief. Isn't it a matter of course to repay debts? We have a document in black and white, even if it is Xu Guangqi, he can't be unreasonable. The fat man in the flower hall shouted loudly, he had completely calmed down.

Xu Guangqi, he is really not afraid.

Pick up the teacup, tilt your neck and drink the tea in the cup. The fat man put the teacup a few times shorter, leaned back relaxedly, and pressed the rocking chair "squeak".

The fat man glanced at the second child and shouted: "Don't you refill the tea for me soon, I don't have any eyesight, I'm stupid like a pig." How did I listen to you. That poor field should have been harvested a long time ago. ”

Putting away the folding fan, the second child stupidly picked up the teapot and filled the teacup with water. looked at the boss's ball-like figure, and scolded in his heart: "I don't know who is more like a pig." But he didn't dare to say anything more.

In a cottage in the countryside

Huang Xiucai replied to Xu Guangqi with a wry smile: "Don't hide it, sir, now that I think about it, I don't know how the student had such courage at that time to dare to take over the position of grain chief." ”

In Daming, "grain chief" is not a position within the establishment.

The so-called grain chief, it is more like the role of a contractor.

To put it simply, the grain chief is actually the tax collector in the Daming countryside.

In the era of the righteous army before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately set up the role of "grain chief", which was not in the establishment at all, in order to smoothly collect agricultural taxes in the countryside.

From the time of the Righteous Army to the Hongwu period, the grain chief has always been the person with the most land production in the local area.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the grain chief of each village was responsible for collecting the agricultural taxes of each household in the village, and then transporting them to the government in a centralized manner, and the transportation costs were subsidized by the government.

In this way, the government saves the manpower of going to the countryside to collect money from each household, and the peasant households also save the cost of transportation to the government. This model is also the most direct embodiment of the Ming Emperor's power not to go to the countryside.

Of course, the method of "grain chief" only played a positive role in the Hongwu period.

During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang killed corrupt officials and corrupt officials. No one dared to blatantly embezzle and solicit bribes when his old man was alive. The "grain chief" system can only operate smoothly in that high-pressure and hard-hitting environment.

Zhu Yuanzhang even selected officials from among the grain chiefs as a reward for their dedication to the grain chiefs. During the Hongwu period, there was no shortage of high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty who came out of the grain chief, and the highest even made the Ministry of Rites.

At that time, the "grain chief" system was indeed good governance.

After Hongwu, the rule of the Ming Dynasty became more and more corrupt day by day, and the good government of the "grain chief" became a bad government that harmed people.

Petty officials often deliberately recommend Bai Ding, who has thin assets in the family (people with no fame), as the chief of grain. These people do not have enough family power and dark hearts, and it is generally difficult for them to collect taxes alone. Coupled with the fact that the officials deliberately ate and took cards at the official end, these grain chiefs were only the result of bankruptcy.

After the Zhengde Dynasty, due to the annexation of a large number of land, yeoman farmers fled one after another, and the tax source of peasant households gradually shrank, but the government still collected taxes according to a fixed amount.

In this situation, even those black-hearted grain chiefs who suck the flesh and blood of peasant households can no longer support them, and no one is willing to bear them anymore. The grain chief system has also existed in name only.

Up to now, except for deliberately harming people, it is difficult to hear the title of grain chief everywhere.

"Who the hell is harming you?" Xu Guangqi stared at Huang Xiucai's eyes and asked word by word.

has Xiucai's fame and body, and the grain chief can't fall on Huang Xiucai's head. Xu Guangqi never believed that Huang Xiu would go to the government and ask to be the grain chief.

"Don't hide it, sir, this grain chief is really a student who asked the government for it." Huang Xiucai said with a wry smile.

"Are you crazy?" Xu Guangqi's eyes widened and he looked at Huang Xiucai carefully, and even Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but turn his head and stare at Huang Xiucai.

Huang Xiucai didn't seem to be crazy.

"I'm not crazy." Huang Xiucai met Xu Guangqi's surprised eyes and smiled bitterly again.

"Sir, you must have seen the fields by the side of the road when you came?" Huang Xiucai asked Xu Guangqi rhetorically.

Hearing the question asked by Huang Xiucai clearly, and thinking of what he saw and heard on the road when he came, Xu Guangqi suddenly thought of a possibility.

"You're here to promote sweet potatoes?" Xu Guangqi's eyes widened.

Hearing Xu Guangqi ask, Zhu Youzhen turned around and stared at Huang Xiucai's reaction.

In the dim light of the thatched hut, Huang Xiucai paused for a while before saying softly, "Yes." ”

"My husband taught me how to compost, how to grow sweet potatoes, how to build canals to divert water to the land. Under the guidance of Mr. Wang, the students' families have achieved an unprecedented bumper harvest. ”

I don't know if it's an illusion, Zhu Youzhen felt that with Huang Xiucai's narration, there seemed to be a strange brilliance on his face. Let him be radiant.

"Sir, do you remember how many families also wanted to grow sweet potatoes?" Huang Xiucai asked softly.

"Of course I remember, it's a pity that I had to leave at the time, and I couldn't point my finger at them." Xu Guangqi said regretfully.

"Then there were more than a few households. When I saw the scene of my family's bumper harvest, the whole village was shocked. That year, my family's sweet potato yield reached 8 stone per mu. 8 stones! Huang Xiucai became excited.

"I heard that the sweet potatoes grown by my family can yield 8 stones per mu, and the whole village rushed here. It was bustling like a temple fair. People keep asking me this and that.

Sir, all the skills of the students are taught by the sir. Mr. Wang's ambition to promote sweet potatoes is also taken to heart by the students.

Since the villagers were willing to try, the students agreed to them. ”

A hint of blush appeared on Huang Xiucai's face, obviously he was very excited now.

"I never thought that the sweet potatoes grown by the villagers were far from catching up with the yield of the students' families. The maximum is only about 5 stones. Although the villagers did not say it explicitly, the students could see that they suspected the students of hiding their secrets. ”

Saying this, Huang Xiucai's face turned red, and he was speechless for a while. Xu Guangqi patted his hand and comforted him silently.

After calming down a little, Huang Xiucai continued: "The students went to the villagers' fields to take a closer look, and the villagers' fields were really bad. How can the yield of sweet potatoes increase if their fields are watered or fertilized, and if they need fertilizer or not?

After figuring out the reason, the students gave them advice according to what the teacher had taught. That is, composting and building canals.

But the students didn't expect that the villagers couldn't do this little reconstruction. The folks are so poor. ”

"So you came out and became a grain chief?" Zhu Youzhen interjected and asked.

"Yes." Huang Xiucai nodded, "I want the villagers to listen to me and connect the land." The big guys work together to repair canals, compost together, and transform fields together. I am not the chief of the grain, how can I take the lead, and how will they listen to me. ”

Oh, my God! This guy can't be a traverser too, right?

Is this the model of a rural cooperative?

In this era, he dared to do this, what a gut! Zhu Youzhen's heart was agitated.