Chapter Fourteen: The Flowing People

  Qin Yu suddenly bought so much land, whether it was for farming or other uses, he needed labor. The slaves in Yongnian County were not that many, but when buying the land, the county magistrate offered to help, which saved Qin Yu a lot of trouble.

  The wine party that was not a happy occasion had just ended, and the next day, the county chief of Yongnian came personally to tell Qin Yu that the person had already been chosen.

  Qin Yu hastily followed the chief clerk to the county government office, and after meeting with the county magistrate, he only then learned that apart from a group of soldiers whose origin was unknown, the rest were all refugees, totaling over 1,200 people.

  Among them, there were nearly a thousand refugees, mostly old, weak, women and children, with only about 100 young and strong men.

  The Tang Dynasty implemented the equal field system, where each adult had 20 mu of permanent land and 80 mu of allocated land. The permanent land could be inherited and bought or sold without paying taxes. However, when a person died, the allocated land would have to be returned to the state, and taxes would also need to be paid.

  Once a bad harvest year is encountered, even if taxes are reduced, they may not be paid, and only the sale of permanent fields can be made.

  The Yongye fields have been sold out, and the Koufen fields are not enough to pay taxes. What can be done? Can only become a vagrant, or sell oneself as a slave. This is the sorrow of the common people in this era.

  Qin Yu knew this point and understood the county magistrate's intention, which was to ask him to help solve the problem of the refugees. As long as Qin Yu agreed to accept these refugees, those unknown troops would be given away for free.

  In fact, buying this two hundred or so people's troops wouldn't cost much money, and now that there is no war, they are of little use. The county magistrate naturally understands this, but the gentry of Yongnian County, not one of them is willing to take out even a single grain of rice to relieve the disaster victims. For the sake of his own achievements, the county magistrate had no choice but to design a plan for Qin Yu once again.

  Qin Yu did not hesitate, and on the spot decided to take them all in. Although more than half of them were old, weak, women and children, they also had labor power. They couldn't do heavy work, but light work was still possible. As long as they weren't too old or too young, and their legs and feet were nimble, they could participate in labor.

  Moreover, adult women can also work hard and get along well with the county magistrate. The most important thing is that this is a reputation that comes knocking on your door for free. If you don't want it, then you won't have the reputation of being a great philanthropist, which will spread far and wide. It has to be done first before it can be useful.

  Seeing Qin Yu's response, the county magistrate was overjoyed and wanted to invite Qin Yu to stay for dinner. Qin Yu understood the county magistrate's excitement, but at this moment, it would be better to solve the problem of food and housing for these 1,200 people first, so as not to cause any trouble.

  In the Tang Dynasty, one dou of rice was worth four to five wen, with little fluctuation. Converting its weight to modern jin and liang, it's about 12 jin. To support over a thousand people, Qin Yu would have to dig deep into his pockets until the soybeans matured.

  Soybeans are not the main food after all, which means Qin Yu has to support these people until next year's wheat harvest, nearly a year's time. One thousand two hundred people need to eat at least six hundred catties of grain per day, about fifty dou.

  That is to say, these people eat at least two hundred wen per day, and after eating for more than three hundred days, the total is sixty guan. Even if they eat a bit more, it's only about two hundred guan, which is enough. Qin Yu can completely afford it.

  It can be seen that the wealth of this era is in the hands of the people, and it can also be seen that the aristocratic nobles of the Tang Dynasty are not generally indifferent to the lives and deaths of the common people, even if there is an emperor who values the people's livelihood.

  It's easy to raise these people, but Qin Yu knew that a favor of one peck of rice can become a grudge over one peck of rice. Raising this group of people not only might not bring any benefits, but also might create enemies. Therefore, Qin Yu unhesitatingly implemented the policy of "using work as relief".

  No matter if it's the elderly, children or women, everyone must work unless they are disabled or nursing a baby; otherwise, they have to work. If they don't work, there will be no food to eat. It's that simple.

  The refugees arrived in the suburbs of Yongnian County when Qin Yu was moving, with yellow faces and thin muscles. Qin Yu's heart was inexplicably stabbed, but his decision would not change. People's hearts are just hard to grasp, Qin Yu didn't want to create a group of enemies.

  As for the more than 200 pieces that are not here, since Qin Yu agreed, the county magistrate ordered the chief clerk to send them to the Qin Mansion, which is also Qin Yu's new residence. The signboard was still helped by Cheng Huailiang, and it looked very imposing.

  Xiao Hong and her father also came with Qin Yu. Xiao Hong's father led a group of servants to gather the refugees together, making it convenient for Qin Yu to make an announcement.

  There was no grand speech, just a simple sentence: "Follow me and you'll have food to eat." This stirred up the enthusiasm of this group of refugees.

  Qin Yu spoke in plain language, a bit of literary language, but they couldn't understand it either. Looking at the refugees who were staring at him, he added, "No matter who, as long as you are willing to be my tenant, there will be food to eat."

  The refugees, who had experienced hunger and the hardships of displacement, looked at each other with disappointment as soon as they heard Qin Yu's words. However, some of them struggled and hesitated.

  Refugees, in order to survive, mostly became tenants or slaves, but this group of people would rather leave their homes than become tenants or slaves, apparently with a hint of bloodline. Starving to death was not what they wanted, so disappointment and hesitation were mixed together.

  Qin Yu was slightly stunned, but quickly understood that he had thought wrongly. If this group of refugees wanted to be tenants, they would have done so long ago. Why come here? Although the tenant system didn't become popular until the end of the Tang Dynasty, it still existed in some remote areas with vast lands and sparse populations.

  "Perhaps you have misunderstood." Qin Yu smiled slightly, and the refugees felt Qin Yu's kindness from this sincere smile, waiting for his next words.

  "Be my tenant, and the rent cannot be exempt." Qin Yu paused for a moment, not waiting for the refugees to react, and shouted, "One tenth, as long as it's a good harvest, one tenth of the rent will never change, you don't have to worry about taxes."

  "With a 'wow', the refugees were boiling, one by one staring wide-eyed, looking at Qin Yu in disbelief. Becoming Qin Yu's tenant, it was natural to pay rent, but Qin Yu only collected one-tenth and didn't even ask them to pay taxes, which clearly exceeded their imagination."

  In their hometown, which landlord does not collect five percent or even six or seven percent of the land tax, and after paying taxes, there is hardly anything left, and even basic needs cannot be met. This is still a good harvest year, if it's a drought or flood, it's unthinkable.

  But selling oneself into slavery, even one's own life is not one's own, which is more miserable than being a tenant farmer. This is also the reason why these people insist on becoming vagrants and hope to get help from the imperial court.

  At this point, the refugees naturally understood that the land Qin Yu rented to them was a sharecropping field. Otherwise, Qin Yu would not have mentioned taxes. The land rented by the landlord was basically all hereditary fields, and the so-called taxes were also paid to them. Compared with Qin Yu, those people were simply demons.

  "When there is a drought or flood, the rent can be reduced appropriately, or even not collected at all." At this point, the refugees were completely stunned, looking at each other but no one dared to speak out loud. Even children who were frightened by the silent scene burst into tears and were immediately covered with hands over their mouths, fearing that they would provoke Qin Yu's displeasure and retract these promises.

  As Qin Yu said, as long as they were still tenants of the Qin family, they basically had their own land again, although it was not a permanent field, but as long as the Qin family did not fall, they had nothing to worry about and could live at ease.

  "Is there anyone who doesn't want to be my tenant?" Qin Yu asked with a smile, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

  The refugees nodded excitedly, and Qin Yu nodded and continued, "That's good. I have a piece of land at the foot of Taihang Mountain, and of course, the mountain forest there also belongs to me. It's currently wasteland, but don't worry, what I said still stands."

  "As for farm tools and whatnot, I'll provide them. You just need to hurry up and till the land, and plant soybeans as soon as possible. Of course, I also need you to help build some houses. Can't have you idle, can we? And whether the houses are well-built or not depends on you, since they'll be your future homes."

  Qin Yu's words had not yet finished, and the refugees were already boiling over with excitement, cheering and clapping their hands nonstop. Even the children were excitedly applauding, although some of them did not understand what was happening. However, they knew that the adults were happy, which meant they would no longer go hungry, so they too joined in the celebration.

  "After a while, Qin Yu stretched out his hand to signal for quiet, and then continued to say, 'Don't blame me for being heartless, I'm not a great philanthropist. Except for those who are physically disabled, people over 60 years old, and children under 8 years old who don't have to work, everyone else has to go to work, otherwise there's no food to eat. Are there any other questions?'"

  "No." The crowd didn't show any dissatisfaction, and one by one, their eyes looking at Qin Yu were filled with gratitude.

  Qin Yu had wanted to say three years old and under, but in the end didn't say it out loud. Qin Yu wouldn't have these elderly and weak people do any heavy labor, just some light work like serving tea and water. Of course, there was no tea here, not even Qin Yu had ever tasted tea before.

  Because eight-year-old children have already begun to distinguish between good and bad, Qin Yu wants them to understand and learn that if they want to live a good life, they must take the initiative to obtain it themselves, and learn to be self-reliant and independent, rather than taking food as a matter of course.

  For this reason, Qin Yu also formulated a plan for obtaining food, in short, no matter what age, as long as the standard is reached, you can eat your fill, and exceeding the standard will be rewarded.

  After the shouting stopped, Qin Yu had a large batch of grain transported out of the city in carts. At this point, the refugees believed Qin Yu's words even more, and their eyes were filled with vitality.

  Qin Yu still needed to go back and take a look at that group of refugees, the matter of registering them was handed over to Xiao Hong. The registration was done by household unit, those without households were registered separately, and those with special skills were noted. After entrusting these tasks to Xiao Hong, Qin Yu returned to the Qin Manor.

  The status of the servants was very low, slightly better than that of slaves. Qin Yu and this group of servants who had changed masters talked for a while, and soon calmed their hearts down. After all, Qin Yu held great power over life and death, so they naturally worried about the new master's violent temper.

  More than 3,000 mu of land is still waiting to be reclaimed. Qin Yu naturally wouldn't waste it, so this group of servants went to the newly purchased land to reclaim the wasteland. As for tools, Qin Yu had already bought a batch and was using them temporarily. Due to the rain, the ground was still somewhat soft, making it not too troublesome to reclaim the land. The only drawback was the lack of oxen for plowing.

  Even if they were bought with silver, there were only ten heads that could be bought, and then they couldn't buy any more. There was no way out, so Qin Yu had to ask Xiaotao to go to Zhangjiacun to borrow the cows there for use. As for Qin Yu's borrowing of cattle, Zhangjiacun would naturally not refuse.

  The curved share plow originated in the Tang Dynasty, which can greatly improve the efficiency of farming. However, it has not appeared yet. Qin Yu hastily drew out the diagram of the curved share plow, with each component specially marked and explained. He then went out to find a blacksmith.

  The blacksmith's status was also low, Qin Yu personally came, and at that time scared the blacksmith.

  Blacksmith Zhang, after learning of Qin Yu's intentions, took over the drawings and looked at them for a while. After Qin Yu explained each component, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he patted his chest, promising to make two curved plows in one day.

  Qin Yu was helpless, but Yongnian County only had this one blacksmith, so he could only instruct Zhang the blacksmith to finish as soon as possible.

  Cultivating the land and sowing seeds, irrigation is also needed. However, among the lands Qin Yu bought, only those twenty mu of permanent basic farmland are close to the river, while the others are hopeless. Either a well needs to be dug or canals need to be excavated, just thinking about it gives Qin Yu a headache. No wonder they say that pulling one hair can move the whole body.

  Considering the importance of irrigation, Qin Yu drew out a waterwheel cart again. Like the curved-share plow, the waterwheel cart did not appear during this period either. At this time, the mobile phone had already started to prompt low battery, and Qin Yu was somewhat disheartened. Fortunately, what needed to be copied had been copied down.

  When the last stroke was finished, the mobile phone officially consumed all its power. Qin Yu let out a sigh and put the phone in the box in his room, along with the clothes and shoes he wore when he first came to the Tang Dynasty. There were also a dozen or so pieces of paper inside, recording the scientific and technological knowledge that Qin Yu had copied.

  Luckily, I had initially wanted to be a pit author, otherwise I wouldn't have been idle enough to download these things. And it was precisely because of this that I helped Qin Yu out of a big jam here.