Protect Our Patriarch

While daydreaming, Wang Shouzhe had a tearful expression and said, "Fourth Uncle, you treat me so well."

"Our Lici is still very obedient. As long as you work hard, Fourth Uncle has other rewards for you." Wang Shouzhe smiled and rubbed her head, "Like those delicious small dried fish."

Humph! Even though I am a young girl, I still have dignity. Don't think that some small dried fish can buy me...

But when the words reached her lips, they turned into shining eyes and a mouth watering voice, "Fourth Uncle, how much can you reward me?"

"The snacks brought back from this trip can be handled by you." Wang Shouzhe said generously.

"Wu wu wu~ Fourth Uncle, you are so good to me." Wang Lici was so excited that tears flowed down her face. She looked at Wang Shouzhe with tearful eyes, feeling regretful for ever doubting and criticizing her Fourth Uncle. Where else could she find such a good Fourth Uncle?

"Well, Fourth Uncle believes that you can handle it well and distribute it fairly to everyone." Wang Shouzhe added, "These snacks should be evenly distributed to those under 20 years old in our family. You have learned arithmetic and accounting in your nine chapters, right? Remember to get everyone to sign their name on the account book."

Evenly! Distributed!

She also had to personally deliver the precious snacks to every household. How cruel and brutal!

Unfortunately, after Wang Shouzhe finished his instructions, he had already disappeared from her sight.

The young girl was left alone, holding a few books, in the wind and chaos.

...

Wang Shouzhe returned to his own courtyard and didn't do anything, just rested for a while. This trip to Bai Island had exhausted him both physically and mentally.

Fortunately, the danger was over. As long as Long Yan's health could recover, the Wang Clan could truly establish a foothold.

A night of silence.

The next day, Wang Shouzhe met with Madam and Gongsun Hui. They reported their accounts and stored their goods. In any case, the accounts of such a large clan could not be chaotic, otherwise various problems would arise.

Amidst all these surprising events and gains, Gongsun Hui was also shocked. Why did Shouzhe always bring unexpected surprises every time he came back?

"Madam, I deserve the first sequence." Wang Shouzhe smiled and said, "In terms of resources, I am going to indulge myself a bit. I will increase my monthly supply of spiritual food by two times, and upgrade from one to three small Peiyuan Pills per month. I also need one Peiyuan Pill and a temporary spiritual stone."

With such extravagant resource usage, Wang Shouzhe had reached an extremely luxurious level. He was already consuming 15 catties of spiritual rice, 15 catties of spiritual fish, and 15 catties of spiritual meat per month.In addition to the consumption of elixirs and other things, excluding spiritual stones, one year of cultivation resources would require eight or nine hundred Top Gold.

Under normal circumstances, after advancing to the seventh level of Qi Refining Realm, the budget for one year's cultivation resources would be at most two hundred Top Gold. Now, it was equivalent to quadrupling it. However, four to five times the resources would not make Wang Shouzhe's cultivation speed four to five times faster. There was a principle of diminishing marginal returns at work here, and at most, it would only be a little over twice as fast as before. Even with the assistance of spiritual stones, it would only be slightly faster, and definitely not three times faster as before.

Even for an ordinary Xuanwu clan, even if they were cultivating the first sequence of their direct descendants, and even if they were aiming for the Lingtai Realm, they would never be so extravagant.

This requirement made even Gongsun Hui widen her eyes in surprise: "According to your merits, Wang Shouzhe, there is nothing wrong with applying for so many cultivation resources. I'm just afraid that those frugal clan elders will have some objections. But it doesn't matter. With Long Yan Ancestor supporting you from behind, no one will gossip."

The clan was everyone's clan, not just Wang Shouzhe's. The other clan elders naturally had the right to express their opinions. But Wang Shouzhe didn't care. With his abilities, this clan would gradually enter a transformation stage. Moreover, if they started implementing the contribution system, Long Yan Ancestor would definitely be first, and he would be second. He even believed that his future contributions would surpass Long Yan Ancestor's.

Occupying so many resources was not because he had a black heart, but because he really didn't want to wait until middle age to have a chance to break through to the Lingtai Realm. The most important thing was that this fantasy world was too dangerous. With his current cultivation level, if he ran around randomly, he would inevitably run into problems sooner or later. Therefore, it was still safer to stay in the clan and accelerate his progress to the Lingtai Realm to have some self-protection ability.

After this matter was settled, Wang Shouzhe asked again, "Madam, how is the situation with the insect disaster?"

He had been away from Changning Wei for ten days, and the intelligence had fallen behind. The situation in Bai Island Wei was different. There were very few cultivated fields there, perhaps due to the geographical isolation, so they had not suffered from the disaster. However, the shortage of food was inevitable in the future, and even Bai Island Wei would be affected.

"The situation is very bad," Gongsun Hui said with a serious expression. "Apart from a limited number of clans, most of the other clans have had a reduction in food production. But the worst affected are the self-cultivating farmers within the territories of various cities, towns, and clans. Their ability to resist the disaster is too weak, and their production has generally decreased by about seventy percent."

Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly, "Although a seventy percent reduction in production is a huge loss, it shouldn't be difficult for self-cultivating farmers to store and add new grains and hold on until the next season's rice is ripe, right? They shouldn't be worse off than tenant farmers, right?""Wang Shouzhe, you don't know everything," Gongsun Hui explained, "Firstly, let me tell you about tenant farmers. Tenant farmer households typically have one to six or seven people. Let's take an average tenant farmer household of three people, with two laborers being the husband and wife. They should be able to cultivate 20 mu of land, and in a normal year, the total value of their rice and wheat harvest is about 600 big coppers. Of this, about 40 big coppers are spent on insecticide, 20 big coppers on renting oxen, farming tools, and grain, and 80 big coppers on taxes for 20 mu of good land using the 4-tax system per mu imposed by the local aristocracy, with one tax each going to the town, the defense force, the commandery, and the country. This leaves about 460 big coppers, of which the tenant farmer and the landlord split the profits 70-30, meaning the tenant farmer gets 138 big coppers."

"A tenant farmer household of three people earns a bit more than a thousand big coppers a year, but after daily expenses, there isn't much left," Wang Shouzhe rubbed his nose, slightly surprised. He had calculated the income from farming, but had not carefully considered the tenant farmers' profits.

"The reason tenant farmers can withstand risks better is because they are backed by the Xuanwu aristocracy," Gongsun Hui said, "To stabilize their operations, the landlord will provide a safety net for them, even if they have a failed harvest, they will still receive 60 big coppers. This allows them to farm with peace of mind."

Of course, these profits are not purely in cash, but rather in goods and cash combined, with a total value on paper.

"In addition, tenant farmers also raise a small amount of chickens, ducks, geese, and so on, and grow some fruits and vegetables around their homes. These will also be supplied to our aristocracy, resulting in a net profit of twenty or thirty big coppers a year. During the off-season, we will also organize tenant farmers to reclaim land, dredge rivers, build houses, and reinforce levees, which will also earn them about twenty big coppers. Therefore, an average tenant farmer household of three people can earn one hundred and eighty to ninety big coppers a year, even in years of disaster, they can still earn over a hundred big coppers."

Wang Shouzhe nodded silently. It seemed that the tenant farmers' lives were relatively stable, as they had the landlord to rely on. Even in years of disaster, they could still get by if they tightened their belts. If they had a good harvest, they could save up a considerable amount of money.

"But it's different for self-cultivating farmers," Gongsun Hui said, "Take the same example as the tenant farmer household just now, a self-cultivating farmer with 20 mu of land. If they have a 70% reduction in production this season, they will only earn 90 big coppers. After deducting 10 big coppers for renting oxen and seeds, and 20 big coppers for insecticide, they still have to pay a 5-tax system, with one tax each going to the town, the defense force, the commandery, the country, and the summer tax, which is being collected now. They need to pay 50 big coppers in taxes for their 20 mu of land. How much can they save?"

As mentioned earlier, the Xuanwu aristocracy has the responsibility to maintain peace and defend the land. If bandits, ferocious beasts, or other vicious incidents occur, the aristocracy must take action to suppress them, and also assist the local garrison in collecting taxes. Therefore, the aristocracy also takes one tax on the good land within its sphere of influence.However, the scope of Wang's Clan's power is currently very small. In addition to their own farms, which have about 600 tenant farmers, their influence only extends to about a thousand households. The total number of fertile lands under their jurisdiction is far less than 20,000 acres, and the annual tax revenue is only over a hundred Top Gold. After various expenses, it can only be considered as better than nothing.

"So, in this season, the self-cultivating farmers are basically left with nothing to harvest?" Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly and asked, "Under such circumstances, should taxes still be collected?"

"Taxation is the foundation of a country. It supports the towns, garrisons, commanderies, and the nation itself. Land tax is the largest type of tax, and without it, various levels of institutions would struggle to maintain themselves," Gongsun Hui explained. "For this summer harvest, it is possible that the national tax in Longzuo Commandery might be exempted. However, in the end, some self-cultivating farmer families who didn't manage well will face great difficulties. At such times, some Xuanwu clans may start to annex lands."

"For example, Zhao's Clan and Liu's Clan. They have suffered heavy losses this time, and their eyes seem to have turned red. Various signs indicate that they want to take advantage of the chaos to annex some lands," Gongsun Hui sneered. "Wolves are still wolves. Even if they put on the skin of a noble family, they can't escape their insatiable nature."

…

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