In the late autumn of Beijing, the red leaves of the West Mountain are full of frost. The weather in Beijing is getting colder and colder day by day, while prices are rising day by day. I don't know when the people of Jingshi found that their incomes had indeed increased, the salaries of officials had increased a lot, the price of grain for the peasants had been rising, and the young people had gone out to work for a short time during the slack time, and the young sons and daughters had gone to the city to work in the factories, bringing with them a lot of cash that they had never had before.

After the autumn harvest, Wang Fu, a peasant who lived near the Lugou Bridge in Beijing, sold his family's grain, and the 40 acres of land in the tenant government had a good harvest this year, especially in the good year, there was no situation where the grain was cheap in the previous good years, and the grain station still collected the grain at the price booked at the beginning of the year and paid the rest of the grain with one hand.

This year, Wang Fu has 40 acres of land, harvesting more than 100 quintals of wheat, and the yield per mu has exceeded 300 catties, which is considered a bumper harvest. This year's wheat purchase price is two yuan per quintal, which is more expensive than the rice in the south, and there is still a large amount of money left in addition to taxes and rents, as well as the purchase of manure from the manure factory and the soybean cake bought from the oil mill as fertilizer, as well as the money for seeds, the rent of ploughing cattle, and some loans from credit cooperatives.

In addition, Wang Fu went to repair the reservoir for a period of time during the slack this year, his two daughters worked in a textile factory, and his eldest son was a soldier, and he also sent back a lot of money every month.

After finishing his work, Wang Fu put a plate of accounts and found that his family of eight had earned more than 100 yuan this year. This still doesn't include the calf raised at home and the pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks fed.

Wang Fu thought that he had miscalculated the account, so he specially went to the village elementary school to invite the principal to his home and counted it carefully. That's right, it's more than a hundred, more than a hundred and seven.

The account may be wrong, but the money will not be wrong, silver dollars, copper dollars, silver dollar coupons, all kinds of money piled up on a kang, Wang Fu and his wife sat there and counted for a long time. Then laughed.

Wang Fu took a wooden box and put all the money together, and the couple didn't sleep well that night, for fear that the money would disappear as soon as they fell asleep.

"How do you think you should spend this money?" Wang Fu put the small money box under the pillow, he turned sideways to face his wife, and asked softly.

I can earn 100 yuan a year, which I would never have dared to think of in the past. After a year of hard work, it's good not to owe it. In a disaster year, you have to borrow money and owe money, and in a good year, the price of grain is low again. There was no other way out before. The family tended to the acres of tenants in the field.

Unlike today, when the farming tax is less, the clear tax is there, and it is still apportioned into the acre, and there is no need for additional labor. This year, Wang Fu went to repair the reservoir and worked for two months, if it was in the past, it would definitely be free labor for nothing, and maybe he would have to bring his own dry food. But this year he worked at the reservoir for two months. He also got ten yuan, because Wang Fu had learned to beat stones before, and he was a stonemason. In the past, he relied on this craft, earning two yuan in his spare time, paying all kinds of harsh taxes and buying salt. This year, a monthly salary of 10 yuan was assessed on the reservoir construction site.

After working for two months, I got twenty yuan when I came back.

Because the wife is taking care of the family, she has been at home, raising cows, feeding pigs and sheep. Raising chickens and ducks, growing some vegetables, and weaving cloth at home. It is also a subsidy for the family.

Even the two unmarried daughters worked in a textile factory not far away, and they could get four silver dollars a month.

My son is a soldier, if he is in the past, I am afraid that he will have to pay a subsidy from the family, but now that his son is a first-class soldier, he can still send five yuan to his family every month.

"If you don't deposit it in the bank first, my son and two daughters are also older, and they should all say goodbye, and they will definitely have a lot of money by then. Now it's time to start asking someone to find a partner, and the money has to be prepared in advance. If you put it in the bank, you can withdraw it at any time, and you can also eat an interest, and it is safe and secure. "Wang Fu's daughter-in-law, Zhang, is a woman with ideas.

Wang Fu actually wants to buy land, the land they are planting now is official land, they are tenants, according to the rules of the imperial court, they can redeem the official land they rent. A few days ago, Wang Fu inquired, and now the redemption price of one mu of official land is twenty silver dollars, which is already very fair.

If it weren't for the large number of people who have migrated to the frontier in the past two years, they would definitely not want to give a family forty acres of land, let alone a ransom fee of twenty yuan per acre. Tenants do not need to buy land skins, that is, permanent tenant rights. But Wang Fu always felt that it would be better if it was his own field. If the policy changes one day, then they will not have any land to plant.

But the daughter-in-law felt that she had to say goodbye to her children first, and the matter of ransom could be postponed, and it was impossible for the government's policy to change if it changed.

Early the next morning, Wang Fu made an appointment with the men of the same village to go to Liangxiang City to save money. A group of men are on the road, and they are relieved to carry so much money. Along the way, everyone was laughing and laughing, there was money in their pockets, they were a little more confident, and they were much more high-spirited when they walked.

Everyone even said that they would have to buy some goods to go home in a while, some said that they would tear some flower cloth to make new clothes for their mother-in-law and daughter, some said that they wanted to buy a hairpin for the yellow-faced mother-in-law at home, and some said that they wanted to buy some candy for the children at home. If there are children who are reading, they say that they want to buy some paper and pencils.

Talking and laughing all the way into the city, everyone didn't dare to delay, and went straight to the credit union first. The full name of the credit union is Rural Credit Cooperative, which is also a bank. However, for the rural people in all parts of the Han Dynasty, the main loans issued are rural small loans to help the peasants.

Loans to farmers to buy seeds or farm tools, especially cattle, horses, piglets, etc., have always been lower at the interest rate of borrowing because of the policy support of the state. The people have more or less used a lot of convenience here, so everyone usually saves money and saves more here.

However, Wang Fu and the others, who were happy to save money, soon looked a little unhappy.

Because the credit union staff at the counter told them that the imperial court had just lowered the benchmark interest rate for deposits and loans last month, by one percentage point at one time, and narrowed the upper limit of the floating range of the deposit interest rate from 1.2 times the benchmark interest rate to 1.1 times.

Wang Fu and the others didn't understand it very well.

At this time, the manager came over and explained to them that the reduction of the benchmark interest rate means that the interest on deposits and loans has fallen. Wang Fu saved 100 yuan for a two-year fixed period with an annual interest rate of 5 percent. Two years is ten dollars of interest.

But now it has been lowered by one percentage point, and the annual interest rate is four percent, and the interest rate of 100 yuan saved for two years is only eight yuan.

"It turns out that a hundred yuan is deposited for two years, and there is no twenty yuan of interest?" Wang Fu asked clearly, don't think that we are easy to deceive.

The manager smiled helplessly and brought a table.

"Uncle, this is also an estate in the name of the royal family, so I don't dare to lie to you. It turns out that the two-year fixed interest rate of 10% per annum did exist, but that was a long time ago. Since last year, the Imperial Bank has lowered the benchmark interest rate several times in a row, and has repeatedly lowered the range of deposit interest rates of other banks, and now our credit union has implemented the maximum floating rate of 1.1 double. You deposit a hundred dollars with me for two years, which is eight dollars and eight interest. ”

"Why did the interest rate fall so fast!" Wang Fu also believed in the name of the royal family's industry, and he had also taken out loans here to help farmers in the past, and he was very grateful for the extremely lucrative interest at that time. But now, it is difficult to accept such interest for a while.

Originally, the royal family still remembered the regular interest of 10% for the past two years, but now it is only 4%. The difference is too great.

"How long do I want to survive?"

"It used to be 0.72, now it's 0.36. If it's a three-month term, it's two percent. ”

Hearing this, Wang Fu became more and more disappointed. The other men in the village also looked disappointed, "Dafu, what should I do, you say?" ”

Wang Fu thought about it, and finally decided not to save it.

"Don't save it, go home."

At last. Everyone didn't save any money, and they went home with the money on their backs, and no one even went shopping to buy anything.

Sullen and returned home, Wang Fu told his daughter-in-law about the matter. The wife was also disappointed to hear that the interest rate had dropped so low. If you keep 10 percent of the original amount for two years, 100 yuan will become 120 yuan. But now. If you save 100 yuan for two years, you can only get 8 yuan interest.

"Otherwise, let's put the money in another bank."

"It didn't work. The manager of the credit union said that the interest was stipulated by the imperial court, and the credit union could be more than one percent more than the imperial bank's regulations, which was only eight yuan and eight yuan in two years. ”

"Why is the interest of this credit union still managed by the Imperial Bank?"

"Then the Imperial Bank is a yamen that specializes in managing various banks, banks, banks, etc., and you say they can manage it. Anyway, now the Imperial Bank has set a standard, and the interest on deposits will be lowered by one point, and the maximum cannot exceed 5.5 percent, and the minimum cannot be less than 5 percent for two-year fixed periods, regardless of which bank bank. They are all condemned to death. ”

Zhang was a little unwilling, she felt that she had lost a lot of money.

"Otherwise, let's lend it to the Wang family."

"If you don't want to die, you can believe the Wang family." Wang Fu immediately shouted. This Wang family is actually Wang Fu's kindred, but it is a big family, the family is a landlord, and there are many shops. Among them, their more famous shops are pawnshops, which are mortgaged loans, and the interest rate is much higher than that of normal bank banks. In the early years, the Wang family also lent high loans, and they did not exploit less.

Now the imperial court prohibits the release of Gao Li Dai, and also stipulates the interest of the deposit of each bank, even the pawn industry, which is also clearly stipulated.

However, the Wang family secretly engaged in private lending, and according to the laws of the imperial court, as long as it did not exceed three times the bank interest, it was not considered usury

However, after the imperial court has lowered the loan interest rate several times, the lowest interest rate is 6 percent within half a year. It is still legal if it is calculated at no more than three times, as long as it does not exceed 18 percent per annum.

Therefore, the Wang family is now engaged in this kind of private lending, and he uses the interest rate of one and a half times the bank's deposit to attract the people's money from the people into his underground bank, and then lends it to those who want to lend, but do not meet the bank's lending standards, but lend at three times the interest rate. As soon as he changed hands, he doubled his earnings from it.

even engaged in tricks such as nine out of thirteen, which increased the interest in disguise. The lender borrowed ten dollars from him, but he only gave nine dollars, but after a month he had to repay them at the rate of thirteen dollars. This method is actually the exploitation method of the Wang family when they opened a pawnshop in the past, and the interest is equivalent to 13%, but it is a monthly compound interest, which is quite ruthless. This kind of short-term lending is usury in disguise.

"Nine out of thirteen, they are all called Lei Gongbang, our family can't do this kind of black-hearted business."

Wang Fu thought for a while, "I think, let's just use this money to redeem the land, one hundred yuan, can redeem five acres of land." Wang Fu never forgot about this.

Zhang's view is that now that the new dynasty has just been established, the official policy cannot be the same every day, so the forty acres of land owned by the official family will not have anything to worry about. Since early redemption and late redemption are still the same tenants, then why spend this money now.

"I said, let's ask someone to build three new houses, and then tell Xiaodong about the doorman, and start preparing the furniture now. Tell your daughter-in-law back early, and let's hold our grandson early. ”

In the end, Zhang's words still moved Wang Fu.

Now there are forty acres of land in hand, and the children are making money, Wang Fu can go out to work for a few months every year in addition to the output of the land, and now the income is indeed relatively stable, and now the family still lives in a few dilapidated houses, and the son is older, and he is going to marry a daughter-in-law, so he can't let him marry in the dilapidated house.

As soon as he gritted his teeth, Wang Fu agreed.

"Okay, let's get up the house, and take advantage of this winter leisure time to invite a craftsman to help build the house. Let's build a big tile house! ”

Building a house, in the countryside, is a top priority. Many people may not be able to build a house in their lifetime. Whoever has the ability likes to build a house.

Wang Fu plans to build three large tiled houses, brick houses, make them more stylish, and make them good, so that he can tell his son about his daughter-in-law.

Wang Fu went to the next village on the same day to find a more famous mason in the nearby ten miles and eight townships, and asked him to help him preside over the construction of these three tile houses.

After the old craftsman came, he carefully discussed with Wang Fu for a long time, and finally determined the style, size, and location of the house, and then used the materials.

Everything was negotiated, and then the old craftsman was asked to estimate the materials, and then Wang Fu went to the brick and tile factory in Liangxiang to order bricks and tiles, buy wood, and buy white ash river sand, etc., and he had to invite some other craftsmen, and he had to invite good relatives and neighbors to help.

Everything costs money.

Fortunately, in today's countryside, although the three brick houses are already relatively magnificent, they can be built for only a few dozen yuan.

You can't build a house without furniture, and this new house naturally has to be matched with new furniture, and you can't use the previous rags, and you have to hire a carpenter to buy wood.

Originally, the budget of the old craftsman was to build three brick houses, at most thirty silver dollars.

The carpenter's budget was for the floors, wooden skirts, doors and windows, including beds, chairs, tables, stools, and other furniture, all of which amounted to twenty silver dollars.

Spend 50 yuan to get a three-room large brick house with a yard, which in the past, was only a style that only landlords had.

With the list budgeted by several craftsmen, Wang Fu took the relatives of the helpers to Liangxiang again to prepare to purchase various materials. (To be continued.) )