I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With - Chapter 988

Chapter 988: Idea Chapter 988: Idea Editor: Atlas Studios “Seeing as we’ve had fine weather these couple of days, you should dry the corn as soon as possible.

From this year onwards, the Ministry of Revenue will allow us to pay some of the taxes with corn.

If we don’t dry it well, I’m afraid the government office will lower the value of corn next year.” Ever since corn was promoted, more areas had been planting corn.

At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Revenue had issued a new regulation.

From now on, the tax could be paid with corn, but two catties of corn was considered equivalent to one catty of rice or wheat.

Also, it could be used to offset at most 30% of the tax.

In other words, when everyone paid taxes in the future, they could use corn to pay 30% of the taxes.

It was not that high-yielding crops had never appeared in the past, but none of them could compare to rice and wheat.

Other than the problem of preservation, there was also the problem of paying taxes.

When it came to deciding what to plant, a major consideration of the farmers was taxes.

As the Imperial Court only collected rice and wheat previously, they had to plant these two things.

However, these two types of crops had a limited yield.

Since rice and wheat were picky about land conditions, the farmers could not increase the production.

After paying taxes, everyone could only subsist on porridge and wild vegetables, and continue farming on an empty stomach.

If they encountered natural disasters that year, their survival would be completely up to fate.

Now that the Imperial Court had agreed to let them use corn to pay taxes, it changed the situation.

Not only corn could be planted everywhere, but it was easy to preserve.

Although two catties of corn was only equivalent to one catty of rice or wheat, it was easy to grow.

Furthermore, it was high-yielding.

It was simply a blessing for some regions that were not suitable for planting high-yielding rice.

The tenant farmers were also very happy.

When they thought about how they could use corn to pay for 30% of the taxes and keep more rice for themselves, they were filled with joy.

They bowed to the north, grateful for the Emperor’s kindness.

As Ma Xiang followed at the back, he could not find a chance to interrupt.

It was only when Mu Yangling had finished asking about the farm and the sun had set that Ma Xiang had a chance to stand in front of Mu Yangling.

However, Mu Yangling did not ask him any questions.

Instead, she pointed at Xiao Ting and said, “I heard that you have some insights with regards to the development of the farm.

If you have anything to say, you can tell Xiao Ting.” After he was dismissed with a single sentence, Ma Xiang’s face turned a little pale.

But this time, he did not dare to defend himself like he did in the morning.

Mu Yangling then brought her people back to the courtyard.

Xiao Ting smiled at Ma Xiang amicably and pulled him over to talk.

Over the past few years, Xiao Ting’s personality had become much more steady and was no longer as reckless as before.

In addition, he had made a mistake back then, causing him to lose his right to Xiao Lou to serve right by Prince Rong’s side.

Ever since then, he had more cautious in the way he handled matters.

Therefore, he went to ask Ma Xiang some questions.

Even though Ma Xiang was a few years older than him, he still managed to get information out of him.

After a drinking session with Ma Xiang and his two brothers and two other tenant farmers, Xiao Ting obtained the information he was seeking.

When Xiao Ting returned to the courtyard, he reported, “Back then, when Ma Dafu sold his son, he signed an irrevocable contract.

The broker sold Ma Xiang to a Qiongzhou fruit merchant in Guangzhou City as a servant.

But in less than half a year, two ships carrying fruit belonging to the merchant sank when he crossed the sea.

Several of his employees suffered injuries or even died, and the merchant suffered heavy losses.

Together with many other servants, Ma Xiang was dismissed and sold off.

Coincidentally, he was sold to a wealthy landowner in Qiongzhou.” “As fruits in Qiongzhou sell well, a majority of that landowner’s land was planted with fruits, so he was arranged to work in the orchard as a laborer.

His monthly allowance was only 200 to 300 copper coins, and he was often denied food as well.

After working for five to six years, he still hadn’t saved a single copper coin.

However, he’s very knowledgeable about planting fruit trees and takes good care of the fruit trees in the orchard.

Qiongzhou is a place filled with all sorts of vicious characters.

Throughout the dynasty, it has always been a place where prisoners were exiled to.

A year ago, the local natives and exiled criminals had a conflict and fought their way to the landowner’s manor.

Coincidentally, the only son of their boss happened to come to the manor to play.

After saving the boy by chance, Ma Xiang begged to be released as a slave.

His boss agreed and even gave him quite some money.” Xiao Ting smiled at this point.

“With that money in hand, he’d tried to venture out into the world.

However, he incurred significant losses and used the last bit of money to return home.

It can be considered that he returned home in glory.

Your Highness, I think that he suggested that the two estate managers plant fruit trees with the intention of selling fruits.” “When he was drunk, he revealed that back then, the steward of the manor used to order low-grade servants like them to clear the mountains and plant fruit trees.

The steward would claim it was the boss’s instructions and deploy the boss’s servants to do this.

Yet, the income and things like fruit seedlings in the farm went into the steward’s pocket.

Judging from the look of envy on his face as he recounted that, I suspectaEUR|” Mu Yangling chuckled and said, “He’s smart, but it’s a pity that he’s too anxious.

If he could wait for another eight to ten years, we wouldn’t be in Guangzhou City anymore, and he would be able to have his say in the farm.

Perhaps he would really succeed.” Xiao Ting lowered his head.

“Estate Manager Ma and Estate Manager Tian are too honest and gullible.

I didn’t consider this carefully.

Let it be known that we’re recruiting new estate managers.

Tell them to choose from the tenant farmers.

Those who are interested can sign up with Steward Wang.

If the two estate managers still want to keep their positions, they can also sign up.

In the future, I will replace the estate managers every three years.

This applies to all the farmsteads in the Prince’s estate, including my dowry farmsteads.” This way, such deceptions would not happen in the future.

As their farmsteads were everywhere, it was inevitable that there would be oversights.

Embezzling the farmstead’s income was a small matter, but harming the tenant farmers could be a matter of life and death.

Xiao Ting hurriedly noted down this matter and asked, “Then how are we going to deal with Ma Xiang?” “Even though his family are tenant farmers of the Prince’s estate, there’s not much we can do to him because he can just choose not to be a tenant farmer here.

Besides, we don’t have any evidence yet and we’re just deducing from his drunken words.” Xiao Ting frowned.

“Are we going to let him off just like that?” With a smile, Mu Yangling said, “Didn’t he say that he’s good at planting fruit trees?

There are many hot days in Guangdong, so it’s indeed suitable for planting fruits.

Lychees, longan fruits, and bananas are all quite expensive.

There are three mountains that we can clear for now, and we’ve only cleared one so far.

Assign him some men to clear the remaining two small hills to plant fruit trees.” “Ma Xiang has ill intentions.

Why would we keep such a person around?” “There are many people with ill intentions.

As long as you can control him, you can make use of his talent.

Coincidentally, Ma Xiang has an ability that I can use, and the Prince’s estate has the ability to restrain him.

In that case, instead of chasing him out, it’s better to give him a chance.” The key was that they had absolute authority.

If Ma Xiang proved to be of use, it would naturally be a win-win situation.

If not, should Ma Xiang be up to no good again, the Prince’s estate could destroy him with a raise of its finger.

Why should they be so tough on him now?

Xiao Ting could only agree.

Growing fruits was indeed a good way to make money.

Now that there were gradually more high-yielding crops, and the methods of preservation and consumption were increased, the lives of the commoners would only get better.

In a few years, there’d be more people who could afford fruits.

And with greater demand, their farms would enjoy brisk business.

After planting the fruits, the next step was to study how to transport them.

After all, fruits and vegetables could not be preserved for long.

If they could not speed up the transportation, the fruits would rot before they managed to sell them.

Then again, the area of the three small hills added up to only 40 to 50 acres.

Even if the fruits could not be transported far away, there was sufficient demand in Guangzhou alone.

Hence, there was no need to be especially anxious.