Chapter Fourteen: A Clear Plan

  "Uncle, what's the price of rice noodles in Pingyang Prefecture?"

  "Four qian of silver for one dan of white rice, three qian of silver for one dan of wheat flour."

  Su Tiancheng didn't know the price of rice noodles, which is normal. But when he asked about the price of rice noodles, it was a bit strange. Why is that? Is he planning to start a grain business?

  The grain business is not easy to do, with strict levels, Su Huawen also does grain business.

  Operating grain, divided into three levels. The lowest level is the existence of many ordinary shopkeepers who buy grain from large households and sell it directly to outsiders, earning a meager profit. In the middle are the big households that open a grain store, mainly engaged in wholesale grain sales, providing grain to many shops, with a large volume of grain transactions and not thin profits. The highest level is the merchant who controls the source of grain, they are the biggest bosses, and have a close connection with the government, even colluding with officials.

  "Young master is thinking of running a grain business? The old master is already doing it. Young master should not consider such things."

  Su Tiancheng shook his head, he hadn't thought of doing grain business, there were too many difficulties at present.

  Seeing Young Master shake his head, Su Pingyang let out a sigh of relief.

  "Uncle, how many acres of land does the Su family have? How is it managed?"

  Su Pingyang is getting stranger and stranger. In the past, Young Master never asked about these things, let alone showed concern. To put it bluntly, he knew nothing about farm work.

  "Alas, these two years have been plagued by numerous disasters and famines. The fields of the Su estate have become a burden, with annual taxes to be paid to the government. Master has been thinking of disposing of the land."

  Su Tiancheng looked at Su Pingyang without speaking immediately.

  "The land is mainly concentrated in the suburbs, and last year the old master dealt with 400 hectares, leaving 500 hectares. Due to years of drought, there was almost no income from the land, and tenants were unable to pay their grain taxes. However, property taxes still had to be paid. Nowadays, taxes are all paid in silver, not grain. The Su family's 500 hectares of land have to pay a total of 225 taels of silver in land tax."

  "What? Hand over 225 taels of silver?"

  Seeing the young master's surprised expression, Su Pingyang misunderstood and sighed, continuing to explain.

  "Tilling the land and paying taxes is a matter of course, but the method of calculating this tax has always been somewhat unreasonable. According to the price of 8 silver coins per stone of grain, where can you find such expensive grain prices now? From what I remember, it's been like this since the beginning, with the standard being set at that time. Moreover, the base number for taxation is also based on the grain yield of South Zhili, but the land in Shanxi has always been barren, and even if we talk about grain production, South Zhili can reach 2.6 stones per mu, while Shanxi's maximum is only 1.4 stones."

  "Uncle, tell me, how was this tax of 225 taels of silver calculated?"

  "The 500 hectares of land in Su Fu's mansion, a total of 7,500 mu, with a tax of 3 cents per mu, adds up to this amount."

  "How was this three-tenths silver tax calculated?"

  Su Pingyang was slightly stunned and began to explain.

  "Young master, I've already said before that the tax is calculated at a price of eight silver coins per stone of grain. The fields in Su Prefecture are civilian fields, with four sheng of grain per mu being taxed, and one stone of grain is equal to 100 sheng. At a price of eight copper coins per sheng of grain, four sheng would be 32 copper coins. After comprehensive calculation, the tax paid per mu of land is three cents silver, which is also thirty copper coins."

  Su Tiancheng quickly calculated in his mind, according to Su Pingyang's words, with a tax of four dou per mu, at 1.4 shi per mu in Shanxi, the tax rate is close to 3%, and if it were in Nan Zhili, where the yield is 2.6 shi per mu, the tax rate would be 1.5%. Such a low tax rate, he had never seen before.

  "Uncle, how much grain did we harvest at home last year?"

  "I'm not very clear about this, but the landlady is in charge of it directly. However, the tenant farmers have suffered a disaster, and according to the previous agreement, they will hand over six dou of grain per mu and bear the taxes, and the rest will be their own income."

  Su Tiancheng took a deep breath, the grain submitted by tenant farmers to the landlord accounted for 43% of the total output. Adding the taxes submitted to the imperial court, it was almost half of the output. If there were disasters or reduced production, the amount submitted could not be reduced. What would the tenant farmers eat? Wouldn't they starve to death?

  At this time, Su Tiancheng somewhat understood why it was said that the taxes of the Ming Dynasty were low and pitiful, but the peasants still couldn't make a living. On the one hand, there were natural disasters, and no grain was collected, so the taxes were too low, and the government had no money to provide disaster relief. On the other hand, land annexation was severe, and the land that fell into the hands of large landlords and officials, according to the imperial court's regulations, they all had merits and did not have to pay taxes. However, the total amount of taxes would not decrease, so what could be done? These taxes were then spread to the peasants' heads, invisibly increasing the tax burden. Unfortunately, the government did not receive it, but individuals did.

  Of course, these are Su Tiancheng's speculations, and he still needs to understand the specific situation.

  "What happened at home after the disaster last year?"

  "Grains must still be handed over; if they really can't be handed over, an IOU will be written and it will be made up next year."

  "Oh, whose idea was this? What if the tenant farmers have no food to eat?"

  "The harvest is over, and the tenants are aware of it. After two consecutive years of disaster, some tenants really can't make a living."

  Su Pingyang did not answer the question directly, but Su Tiancheng already knew the answer.

  "What is planted in the field?"

  The land is poor and barren, mainly planting wheat. In a good harvest year, the yield per mu is 1.5 dan (a unit of volume).

  Su Tiancheng's face had already turned gloomy, planting wheat, tenant farmers were even more disadvantaged, the price of wheat was originally lower than rice, and the burden on tenant farmers was heavier. Adding to this, they encountered a disaster, it can be imagined what kind of life tenant farmers lived.

  "What attitude does Father have in this situation?"

  Su Tiancheng's tone was already somewhat unpleasant, and Su Pingyang also noticed it.

  "The old master's intention is to buy land near Taiyuan Prefecture, and the land here will be dealt with at an appropriate time. Anyway, there won't be much harvest."

  "Uncle, I was asking about Father's attitude towards tenant farmers."

  Su Pingyang lowered his head and stopped speaking.

  His heart felt a little comfort, from the young master's tone of speech, it seemed that he had taken into account the difficulties of the tenant farmers. Indeed, in these two years, some tenant farmers were unable to survive and even had to sell their children.

  Su Tiancheng let out a sigh.

  "Why don't you plant corn since the land is poor?"

  "Master, what is corn? Are you referring to sorghum?"

  Su Tiancheng's face turned slightly red. Corn was introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty, around 1531, which is about a hundred years ago.

  "Why not plant corn?"

  "Alas, I used to grow it before, but unfortunately the yield was too low and the harvest was even lower."

  "Have you ever grown sweet potatoes?"

  Su Pingyang felt that his brain was not enough to use, these things, how did the young master know? It's too strange, sweet potato this thing, he had only heard of it before, how did the young master know.

  "Young master, I don't know about sweet potatoes, but I've heard of them."

  Su Tiancheng felt somewhat disheartened. Sweet potatoes were introduced to China in the 20th year of Wanli, and it seemed that this thing was still only in Fujian Province and had not spread to the north. In fact, during such famine years, planting corn and sweet potatoes was the best choice. These things could sustain life and greatly alleviate the shortage of food.

  In just a few minutes, a basically clear plan had formed in Su Tiancheng's mind. As long as this matter was done well, everything else would be easy to say. Who knows, maybe one day he could make a fortune with these things. The most crucial point here is that corn and sweet potatoes are both drought-resistant and do not require too much rainwater.

  In his previous life, Su Tiancheng had been sent to the countryside to familiarize himself with corn and sweet potato cultivation techniques. Who would have thought that it would come in handy at this time?

  It's already October now, there isn't much time to waste, some things must be done immediately.