Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 118 Laugh at yourself

"Waiter, give me another big bowl of meat soup noodles, stir-fry two side dishes, both meat and vegetable, plus a roast chicken and two pots of rice wine."

After saying that, he saw the father and daughter opposite him raising their heads with envy on their faces.

Lu Duan smiled and said: "You two, I can't eat all the food I ordered. I'm going out to make friends. Can you two eat something with me?"

The little girl looked very excited. He had heard of stir-fried vegetables before, but unfortunately he had not tried them yet. I heard that every household in Kaifeng now eats stir-fried vegetables. The big oil factory they built in Suzhou was fried. The oil that comes out is used for cooking, but unfortunately I haven’t tried it yet.

The father was quite vigilant and instinctively protected his daughter. He frowned and said, "No reward for no work. You and I are strangers. We are just sharing a table. Why do you want to invite us to dinner?"

"It's just a meal. I am...well, actually, I am the royal censor of the imperial court. I was appointed by the imperial court to inspect the disaster situation. I see that His Highness King Qin's disaster relief results seem to be very impressive. It's just smoke and mirrors. I can't really tell. Excuse me, I just want to take a walk, take a look, and chat with you by the way. Nothing else. Is it... inconvenient for you? "

"Ah... you are a high-ranking official from Beijing. It's convenient, convenient, so convenient."

The old man was obviously afraid that this pretty boy would deceive his daughter. As soon as he heard that he was an official, he immediately stopped worrying.

Although he is a biological father, he still knows how pretty his children are.

"Brother, I see that everyone in Suzhou City has money in their pockets? The new clothes you bought for your child are probably not cheap."

When the old man heard this, he scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "The money was given by the commercial bank. His Highness said that this is an advance salary for us."

"Advance payment?"

"Yes, advance. Every refugee who has been transferred to the military household can receive an advance salary from Dianxi to use for expenses. Now that Suzhou City is in dire need, there is no need to worry about finding work, as long as it is work Son, your highness will give you money first. If you are willing to give up your land and settle in the city, your highness will also lend us money to build a house in the city. From now on, the money will be deducted from your wages and you can pay it back in 20 years."

When Lu Duan heard this, he was confused and shocked at the same time. This matter was completely beyond his perspective: if he borrows money, it will be divided into 20 years?Aren't you afraid that people will die in the past 20 years?The person who is willing to lend this money is very cool. Doesn’t it take half his life to pay off the debt?
Lu Duan said that he couldn't understand it.

"Your Highness, isn't he afraid that someone will run away without paying back the money?"

"Run? A monk can't escape from the temple if he can. If someone runs away, His Highness will take back the house. Even if the money you paid before is wasted, Your Highness will still sell the house."

"Oh, I see."

"Huh? That's not right. Aren't these people special military households? The military households are under the control of the court. At least for the imperial army, the court will allocate houses to you. Your Highness, this does not mean that the houses should be allocated to you. Did I collect the money from you for my house? Didn’t any of you react?"

"Divide houses? Hey, don't you also say, are they the Forbidden Army? Whether it is the Forbidden Army stationed in Beijing or the Forbidden Army stationed abroad, aren't they all going to fight? They are real brave men. Of course we and others can't Oh, and His Highness also said that if you don't have a house to live in, he can also arrange free dormitories, but the living conditions are worse. Twenty people are crowded together in a Datongpu. Anyway, if you want to marry a wife in the city, you can't even think about it. Well, if you want to live better, you have to borrow money from His Highness to buy a house. Isn't this natural? Your Highness is willing to lend it to you, and it's only a symbolic five points of interest every year. What else do you want? To ask for more would be too greedy.”

When Lu Duan heard this, he felt a little stomachache. In fact, although he didn't understand Zhao Guangmei's move very well, seeing the old man's grateful face always made him feel like he was being sold to help count the money. .

"But this is... a 20-year debt. What should I do if something goes wrong? How many people borrow money to buy a house like this?"

"It's a lot, why isn't it a lot? Everyone is willing to borrow this money, not only to stay in the city, but also to... Haha, after all, you owe His Highness 20 years of money, and His Highness has to take care of your work for 20 years. No? After all, now we all have no land to our names, and having this debt is actually a good thing. Everyone said that since His Highness is willing to lend so much money to us poor people in Guizhou, he will definitely not deceive us. "

"Oh~, so that's it. Brother, can you borrow this money to buy a house?"

"Hey~, I'm getting older. Your Highness only wants someone between 17 and 30 years old who is strong and powerful. Your Highness doesn't want someone like me. I can only be an honest villager, only doing leisure work. When the time comes, you can come to the city and find some odd jobs, which are not as good as those of Guo Min."

Lu Duan was suddenly startled, and the chopsticks in his hand stopped.

He seemed to suddenly understand the shortcomings of His Highness King Qin's policy.Sure enough, there is no perfect policy in this world.

In essence, His Highness the King of Qin is clearly pinching the point!
Bring all the young, high-quality labor force to the city, tie them up with a 20-year loan, and work together as cattle and horses for the business. People like this old man will definitely not be able to compete in the city. Those young and strong men can only grow vegetables for businesses in the countryside. I am afraid they have to plant a lot, but the land they plant does not belong to them.

Lu Duan is a smart man. After thinking about it for a while, some of the crueler truths are already revealed, because the old man in front of him looks like he is about 50 years old at most. He has land and can work part-time jobs in the city, so his life seems to be pretty good. As a disaster victim, he was able to buy his daughter a new dress and a pair of embroidered shoes.

But what should they do if they are older, are not good at farming, and do not have the ability to work in the city?If their children are no longer around, who will stay in the village to fulfill their filial piety?

If you think about it more sinisterly, in the past, sons and daughters-in-law in the village had to fulfill their filial piety, largely because the old people had land in their hands and controlled the family's property. Even for this small amount of Susukada property, the children did not dare not to fulfill their filial piety. , but now, these things are in the hands of His Highness, those old people, they really have nothing but feelings, and they will definitely become a burden to the children!

Unless he really gave birth to a filial son, he would probably have to die in the village and be ignored intentionally or unintentionally, right?

His Highness's New Deal, under the seemingly warm veil, is actually the coldest and most ruthless cold-blooded calculation. He only wants useful people, and those who are useless may not even have the luxury of living the most basic life.

Thinking of this, Lu Duan actually felt a little despicable excitement in his heart. Although he also realized that his gloating mood was definitely not the behavior of a gentleman, he couldn't help but said quickly:

"But brother, if this happens, you will have no land. The land has been given to the trading companies. What will you do when you can't plant the land in the future? Is His Highness's new policy... still a bit ill-considered?"

Unexpectedly, the old man looked at him with a half-smile, which made Lu Duan's heart tremble.

"Why...am I wrong?"

"Haha, yes, especially true, but little brother, you must have a good background, right? At least you are not an ordinary landlord and gentry. The children of ordinary landlords and gentry will not be as ignorant as you."

"what?"

Lu Duan couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this.

An old farmer actually laughed at himself for his lack of knowledge?
But of course, what this old man said was absolutely right. His background was much better than those of the wealthy gentry. Their family was called a wealthy family during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

"I hope my brother can help me clarify my doubts. Did I say anything wrong?"

"Of course what you said is correct. In fact, I have also thought that if I get old and can no longer work in the future, it will depend on whether my daughter and son-in-law are filial. If they are filial, I will live a few more years. If they are unfilial, I can find a place to die by myself and don’t cause trouble to others. If I have land in my hand, it will indeed be much better. If it doesn’t work, I can still rent the land to others. Aren’t you going to die?”

"Yes, then..."

"The truth is definitely correct, but this official, why do you think that before His Highness implemented the New Deal, I, a young man, had land in my hands? In the past, how many old people who had lost the ability to work were able to support themselves? Years old? Working as a long-term worker for a trading company, even if I am old, they will still treat me much better than the wealthy gentry in the past, right?"

After that, the old man ignored him and started eating the rice noodles in big mouthfuls.

It smells so good. This means that someone is treating you to someone who has taken advantage of you. Otherwise, he would really be reluctant to eat so many good things.

Lu Duan, on the other hand, was completely stupid.

After a long time, Cai Cai smiled to himself with tears in his eyes, shook his head, and also picked up his chopsticks and started eating, but he no longer had any interest in chatting with the old man.

(End of this chapter)