PS: Thank you Yangzhigang, Lingsu Jushi, and Eagle Zhou for their tips.

Regarding the matter of Qingmiao Cang, Song Zhiyuan persuaded Zhao Ran not to worry about it, but Zhao Ran had his own ideas, and he also estimated that this matter might not be easy to handle, and he was mentally prepared. However, he still wanted to try to intervene, after all, if this matter was done, it would be a great merit involving tens of thousands of peasant households in the county, and it would help him too much along the way to practice.

Zhao Ran said I don't mean anything else, I just want to understand the beginning and end of Qingmiao Cang first, after all, I have seen some poor people these days, all of them turned to borrow usury because they couldn't borrow Qingmiao's money, in short, the situation is quite miserable.

Song Zhiyuan said that the things involved here are very complicated, and there are many drawbacks, of course, if you want to understand, I can also tell you about it.

About 50 years ago, that is, in the last years of Emperor Xianzong, the Ming Dynasty continued to suffer natural disasters, floods and earthquakes, resulting in the destruction and displacement of people's homes, and the acres of land were abandoned and uncultivated. In order to restore production, the Lushan Zongguan reached an agreement with the Son of Heaven and the cabinet to set up seedling warehouses in all prefectures under the heavens, and lent money for the people to buy seedling seeds, farm tools and other things, with a general debt period of three years and a profit of four percent.

This is a very low interest rate, and if a farmer works hard, he can easily pay off his debts after three years.

Qingmiao Cang is jointly established by the provincial palace and the government office, each with half of the capital, and the profits are rolled into the principal and continue to be used for lending, and the county government agency and the government government review and approve, and the Taoist palace and the provincial court will supervise it.

At the beginning of its establishment, Qingmiao Qian did play an important role in the restoration of farming, and laid the foundation for the subsequent Hongzhi Zhongxing. However, as in all dynasties, any good governance will go away in the later period, which is very different from the original design, and it is now in the Jiajing period. The situation is even worse.

To give a simple example, when a household goes to the county government to apply for a loan of green seedlings, the yamen will report the application to the government office, and the government will approve it after review and send the money to the county government. There are no problems with this process, and the total amount of time it takes is not much. It usually takes seven days.

Then, then, it's different. After the county government gets the money, it will delay the distribution under various pretexts, until the peasant family can no longer hold on, and has no choice but to go to a large family to borrow usury. When borrowing money, the peasant household needs to draw a pledge on two pieces of money -- one of the IOUs says 4 cents of interest, and then the big household takes this 4 cent IOU to the county office, and the county government collects the farmer's IOU receipt. Then the green seedling money will be handed over to the big household.

At the end of the loan period, the large households will take away the farmland and houses mortgaged by the peasant households, and then go to the yamen to repay the green seedling money, and the interest of 4% will be added to the green seedling warehouse, and the excess profit will go to the yamen. After the county government receives the money, it is notarized on the land deed, and the formalities are complete. The big families got the land, and the yamen received the profits. Everyone was happy.

The process is not complicated, as Song Zhiyuan said. In practice, it means that the parties who obtain benefits are complex. The big household is a piece, the county government is a piece, the officials who handle it are a piece, and the government government can also get a piece. As for the Taoist Academy, Song Zhiyuan said hehehe, Zhao Ran nodded in understanding.

Zhao Ran sighed. Is this still Qingmiao money? The answer is no, because Qingmiao Qian has actually become a usury money bank run by the joint stock of the Daomen and the government, and the loan targets are large households in various localities, and the big households rely on the loans of the green seedlings money to annex the land of the homesteaders. Thinking deeper, Zhao Ran suddenly understood. In fact, these large households do not need to borrow from the government, what they need is the legal process of land annexation, and the interests of the government and the Taoist sect are equalized.

Zhao Ran asked Song Zhiyuan sadly, do we still lack these money?

Song Zhiyuan was silent for a moment, and then sued Zhao Ran, which has become a common practice, such as ...... For example, the twenty taels of silver that you Zhao Zhiran received at the end of last year were sent by the Guyang County Ya, well, this year you were promoted to the master, and this annual tribute should be fifty taels. Now Zhao Ran doesn't give fifty taels of silver, but others are not as rich as him, and this amount of silver should be a lot.

Zhao Ran had a headache, and suddenly remembered the charity fund he had run, and couldn't help sweating: "Senior brother of the prison court, wouldn't the charity hall charity fund run by the junior brother offend all aspects?"

Song Zhiyuan smiled and said, "That's not true. How much silver do you have to fill it into? The 1,000 taels you take out is a drop in the bucket......

Zhao Ran said in his heart, it's really not a drop in the bucket, at least there is no problem in covering the transfer of all usury claims in Guyang County. According to his actual plan, if this matter is more beneficial to the cultivation of merit, let alone 1,000 taels, tens of thousands of taels are willing to be invested in it.

Seeing that Zhao Ran was a little hesitant, Song Zhiyuan was surprised: "Senior Brother Zhao, aren't you going to do it in Dali?"

Zhao Ran tried his head: "Senior brother of the prison court, if I get silver, for example, 10,000 taels or 20,000 yuan, to make this good money, will I offend everyone?"

Song Zhiran was stunned, and asked in disbelief: "Ten thousand taels, Senior Brother Zhao, where did you get so much silver?"

Zhao Ran said vaguely: "Senior brother, I really pity those poor people, so I have such a plan, I want to borrow money from a few friends in the pavilion to make this good money, not that the pavilion has any dissatisfaction with Qingmiaocang - they are busy practicing all day long, where do they have time to take care of such mundane things." ”

Song Zhiyuan was relieved: "It's also ......" and then sighed again: "The junior brother and those immortal masters in the pavilion land really have a fate, and the entry and exit of such a large amount of silver money is ......"

"Senior brother, do you think I can do this?"

"Senior Brother Zhao, if you want to do some good deeds personally, this charity is also a good way, but it's better not to make it bigger, help a few families every year, and spread your kindness. If your good money becomes bigger, the big gentry will not be able to get the land, and the yamen will not be able to receive any profits. Not to mention that the government and the big gentry will regard you as an enemy, even our brothers and sisters in Wuji Academy, I'm afraid you won't be able to explain it. ”

"Yes...... Senior brother, once this land annexation becomes a trend, the farmers will have no land to cultivate, and the world will be in chaos sooner or later. ”

"Senior brother, don't talk about you, even senior brother and I, the superintendent of Wuji Academy, seem to be a figure in Guyang County, but looking at the world, where is the qualification to discuss the general trend of the world? With this leisure, wouldn't it be better to read a few more Taoist scriptures and educate a few more people in the world? Senior Brother Zhao, senior brother, I don't treat you as an outsider, so I said these words bitterly, you must be cautious, if you are not careful, you will be ruined!"

Song Zhiyuan's words were already quite heavy, and he really took Zhao Ran as his own, and Zhao Ran did feel his kindness. However, when he thought of the huge temptation of accumulating virtue for the farmers in the county, he couldn't help but want to persevere.

After pondering carefully for a moment, Zhao Ran thought of a compromise solution. If he still sets up Shanjin in the original way, he will offend all the powerful strata in Guyang County, not only will he not be able to do things, but he is afraid that his own safety will be in trouble. In that case, it is better to distinguish between enemies and friends, and try to minimize your resistance, perhaps this matter will be less difficult?

In the case of the Seedlings Project, let's call it the "Project," there were three vested interests, namely the Taoist priests of the Taoist Academy, the officials of the government, and the local gentry, and the self-employed peasants were exploited. If Zhao Ran wants to change this situation, he will inevitably touch the interests of some people, and the question now is, who to treat as a friend and who to treat as an enemy?

Zhao Ran just thought about it a little and then had an idea. The Taoist side must not be damaged, and the government cannot be offended for the time being, so the rest are only the wealthy gentry.

In fact, seriously speaking, the wealthy gentry and the government and the Taoist court have a deep or shallow relationship, and it is impossible to distinguish it so clearly, but at least, in terms of the superficial level division, it is different from the official government and the Taoist court. Zhao Ran couldn't think of a way to make the gentry and the yeoman farmers win-win for the time being, so he was very sorry and could only offend them.

When Song Zhiyuan asked Zhao Ran what he wanted to do, Zhao Ran's answer was to kick the wealthy gentry out of this game (to be continued...... R1292