The experience of Geng Laohan's family is not just an isolated case, but all the tenants in Xuzhou Mansion who have rented the Chen family's land have encountered varying degrees of temporary rent increases.

Or forty percent, or fifty percent, some of them are especially vicious, and they don't even say how much rent they charge, they directly break into the tenants' houses, and when they see how much grain they have, they rob them on the spot. The tenants cried and cried, but after all, they could not defeat the rough Zhuang head thugs, and could only watch them snatch the grain, and their hard work all year round came to naught.

This year, Shuzhong suffered a major drought, and the tenants did not have much food, and after paying the high tenant rent, they were even less able to eat. If the ordinary peasant households were replaced, the direct consequence of this would be to sell the fields for grain and become tenants who rented the fields of the squires.

But these people were tenants in the first place, they had no land to sell, and they had no assets in their homes, so if this happened in previous years, they could only become displaced people and move to other places, or they would stay in their hometowns and starve to death.

Fortunately, this year is different, after a major drought, the grain production in Xuzhou Prefecture has been reduced in an all-round way, and the artichoke has also been popularized in a large area, and almost every family has planted dozens of catties of artichoke seeds.

Dozens of catties of artichoke, planted out is hundreds of catties, mixed with some wild vegetables, bran, and even leaves and grass roots in the field, finally there is a little food to eat, can avoid a large number of people starving to death.

As a result, many people can see that after the early rice harvest, the tenants of Xuzhou Mansion are busy again.

The docks were overcrowded, full of peasant men waiting for odd jobs; In the rice fields that have been harvested, there are women and children picking up the lost rice grains; Even the city's grain shops were populated, and a large number of tenants exchanged their harvested white and polished rice for brown rice, thus in exchange for more satisfying grain.

The midsummer at the end of June is the hottest season, and the chili sauce is a little unsellable, ushering in the off-season. However, there are more people in front of the spicy fairy shop than in the peak season, and when I asked, I learned that most of them came to sell chili peppers for money.

In the back hall of the spicy fairy, Zhang Cuiying said to Gu Yunji: "At the beginning, we scattered the seeds and planting technology, although the original intention was to have one more channel for the purchase of chili peppers, but I didn't expect that there were so many people to sell chili peppers, and they were all scattered, the number was not much, and the quality was uneven." ”

Listening to the noise coming from the shop in front of him, Gu Yunji sighed and said, "The pepper seeds have just been dispersed, and everyone doesn't plant much, so they basically keep them for themselves." The people who can sell it are basically tenants, and they are tenants who know the fields under Chen Xunzhou's name. ”

"The tenant rent collected by his family this year is particularly high, and the people have no food to eat after paying the rent, so they naturally try to exchange money for food, which is also pitiful."

Chen Xunzhou collects high tenant rent, not high grain tax, to put it bluntly, it is not a tax of the imperial court, even if he violently forces taxes, Gu Yunji is not easy to manage.

Moreover, the general squire has a very close relationship with the old tenants for many years, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is half of his own family, and today the landlord collects high taxes and tenants crying and shouting, and tomorrow the tenants are killed, and the proprietor may help again, and it is difficult to distinguish the grievances and grievances.

When Gu Yunji was in Huating County, he followed his father Gu Kaizhen to collect rent, and the tenants had a conflict, first looking for the chief, but the chief couldn't solve it, so he looked for the owner of the rented land to comment, and rarely went to the government.

For tenants and proprietors, even if Gu Yunji is an official, he is also an outsider, not only can he not intervene, but he is also self-defeating, making him not a human inside and out. Today you stand out for the tenants, and another day you are like a family with the squire and Lele, that is really a slap in the face.

There are tenants who have a good relationship with the owner, and there are naturally tenants who have been bullied for a long time and have been suppressed, Gu Yunji is difficult to distinguish, so he can only help those who can help and do his best.

Thinking of this, Gu Yunji instructed Zhang Cuiying: "During this time, for tenants who come to sell chili peppers, you can increase the purchase price a little, as long as the quality of the chili peppers is not so bad that it can't be used, try not to refuse, the right is to do something that benefits the people, and I can't do anything more." ”

Zhang Cuiying rarely heard Gu Yunji say such things, and said in surprise: "Even Lord Gu, you feel powerless?" These people outside are all tenants of Master Chen's family, and you and Lord Chen are colleagues, so remind him to be more restrained, and it is not okay to reduce the rent appropriately? ”

Gu Yunji sneered: "It's because of my supervision that Chen Xunzhou didn't dare to force ordinary farmers, so he transferred the pressure of paying taxes to his own tenants." He wanted to collect a little more to make up for the court's taxes and grain, but he didn't want to pay out of his own pocket, so he could only raise the rent and force taxes by a large amount. ”

"As far as I know, the tenant rent of most tenants has been increased to 50 percent, and the rent of a few tenants to cultivate fertile silt fields on the riverbank has been increased to about 60 percent. Of course, I went to Chen Xunzhou, and he played Tai Chi with me, but he didn't answer positively. It's just that this is a tenant's rent, not a grain tax of the imperial court, and I really can't punish him with this. ”

Zhangjia Village is all farmers who have their own land, Zhang Cuiying doesn't know much about tenants, and was stunned by the high tenant rent for a while:

"Five...... Fifty or sixty?! With such a high rent, do tenants have any grain left in their hands? Not to mention that Chen Tongzhi is also really ruthless, the key is that he collects rent like this, isn't he afraid that the tenants will unite against him? ”

Chen Peishi smiled bitterly on the side: "Don't talk about Lord Chen, let's just say that there are many people in our Chen family who don't agree to increase so much tenant rent. On the one hand, the tenant rent is much higher, and it is easy to force the tenants to be anxious, and it is difficult to start a riot when the time comes. ”

"On the other hand, the land under Lord Chen's name is basically managed by the clansmen, and in previous years, we were all tenants of 30%, keeping 20% for ourselves and paying 10% for him. This year he demanded that the tenant rent be increased to at least 50 percent, that he pay 30 percent, and that we keep 20 percent for ourselves. ”

"We are doing the things, we are collecting the rent, and now there is not more food in our pockets, but the risk has increased. On another day, if the tenants make a fuss, we will bear the brunt, and he will sit in the back and enjoy himself. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Peishi's words were full of anger, revealing his faint dissatisfaction with Chen Xunzhou: "What's more, there is a big drought this year, and the grain harvest is not much, so we don't agree to increase the rent." Chen Xunzhou insisted on going his own way, openly and secretly suppressing those of us who opposed him, forcing those who were below to increase the rent according to his demands. ”

Gu Yunji knew that Chen Peishi was scolded by Chen Xunzhou for following him to grow artichokes, so he patted him on the shoulder and comforted: "You are also embarrassed, you have worked hard for this time." ”

Chen Peishi held his breath in his chest and said, "Adults work hard, I don't have anything to work hard." It's Chen Xunzhou, I really can't see that he is a person with no conscience, when he donated the prison quota, he spent a lot of money in the clan, and now he is a fellow intellectual, and he actually suppressed us clansmen in turn. ”

"He did this to satisfy his own selfish desires, but he caused all of us in the Chen family to be involved in the future, and we don't know what is going on in his head."