Great Tang Idyll Volume 01 Chapter 80

Shout out to Dan for commissioning this week's extra chapter release!

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Chapter 80 Wanting To Buy Barren Mountains With Money

It was almost noon, but the clouds had not cleared, and the wind was still whistling.

Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan finally had enough sleep. With the sky looking gloomy, they wanted to sleep. They got up to eat something and then both rode a vehicle that they got a carpenter to craft and went outside to see how the Manor was. They sat one behind another. The vehicle was completely made of wood as it had no chains, and both wheels had to be pedaled.

The person sitting in the front was responsible for controlling the direction, and it was more tiring for the person behind because they had to pedal at the same pace with the person in front. At the back of the vehicle, there were two pieces of wood that stuck out and there were two small wheels on them to maintain balance. The wheels were three inches wide and had a diameter of five inches, and it was able to stand upright by itself. 

"Xiao’bao, do you think it can rain heavily? If it could, then it's time to release the water." Wang Juan was sitting in the front this time and asked while controlling the direction.

"How do I know? Let’s talk about it if it actually does. Don't be in a rush to release the water. What if we release it, but it doesn't rain, how will we endure the next few months? Millet, wheat, rice, and sorghum must be watered, and the water used on the vegetable plots can’t be reduced and we can’t allow the trees to dry out. There’s also water needed for daily use."

Zhang Xiao’bao looked at Wang Juan’s two feet from the corner of his eyes, and moved in synchrony with her. The bicycle moved forward slowly and wasn’t even faster than their running speed. It was mainly to prevent having people around to babysit them. This way, they could go out by themselves. Their families were worried that they would fall, but if they rode this bike, they wouldn’t have to worry since they couldn’t even fall over if they wanted to.

 

Zhang Xiao’bao responded to Wang Juan’s words, but he was actually thinking in his heart about whether they should give 1,500 taels of silver to the county or not. He was able to give out this money and still have surplus money. He earned quite a bit of money from using the burnt soybeans to make soy sauce. 55,000 Picul of it were produced, and two coins were earned from every five catties sold.

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At this price, one Picul can make nearly thirty-two coins. If all of these can be sold, then 1,740 taels of silver can be earned. The main reason was no money was spent on the soybeans. As for whether they can be sold and where they can be sold, that was Zhou Xi’hu's business. If he wants to make money, he has to sell.

It stands to reason that this money should be given. He didn't lose any money. If losses were actually discussed, then some money was lost when wood fungus was used to exchange for soybeans from other places.

"What are you thinking? You haven’t spoken for a long time." Wang Juan was pedaling when she found that Zhang Xiao’bao was silent, so she turned her head to glance at him and asked. 

"Didn't Magistrate Cheng say that he will take money from us? I'm wondering whether to give it or not."

"If you ask me, I’ll say don't give him money. For what reason do we have to give him that much money? Our family's money was not collected from the wind. How much help have we given him already? Is he trying to advance by a foot after we gave him an inch1? How about this, we give him less. He doesn’t have it easy. Let’s consider this as an investment, don't people in Western countries also do this?"

Wang Juan was definitely not a small child; there were certain things that she understood clearly. At first, she said that she would not give him the money, but later she compromised.

"Yeah, then give it, but we can't just give it to him directly. I want something in exchange. I heard Song Jing’gong say that the soil on the south bank of Xiao’luo’shui is relatively good and that there are some stone mountains on the north bank. There aren’t a lot of trees on top of the mountain and the place isn’t suitable for farming. Let’s take that place in exchange. 

Using fifteen hundred taels of silver to buy a mountain like that, no one would object. If it's left there, then it’s left there without being used, that’s such a waste. We can buy it, then wouldn’t the Magistrate be able to use the money? "

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Zhang Xiao’bao made some calculations and gave an answer like such.

Wang Juan stopped and looked back at Zhang Xiao’bao. "Wasn’t that place said to have more than 1,000 Mu2? You want to buy it for 1,500 taels of silver?"

“One thousand eight hundred something Mu is just only one square kilometer. That lousy place is a stone mountain. About one tael of silver for one Mu is quite a lot. If you add a bit more, you can buy one Mu of a high quality field. He should be laughing on the inside. I’m making this choice because that place has no outputs so it's not taxed, otherwise, who would buy it?"

Zhang Xiao’bao spoke with utmost confidence. If Wang Juan didn’t know who he was, she would have been moved by his righteousness. However, in reality, the more Wang Juan listened to Zhang Xiao’bao’s words, the more she felt that there was something wrong but she did not directly expose it.

"Oh, it turned out to be like this, so it’s a money loss? We absolutely cannot pay taxes. Some time last year, there were five households on my manor that were able to produce silk so they had to pay 70 taels of silver to fulfill the cloth payment fees3 and it was my family that ended up paying for it. What is the meaning of this? This year, I want to see them be able to hand it in. 

How about let’s make a change. Give my manor the people on your manor that are able to hand it in. Your family has one hundred fiefs so it can be directly exempted. Those five households are having a tough time, so let’s help them if we can. "

"Do you know how to make calculations? If you take them from my manor, then my manor’s residents will have to pay the cloth payment fee. This is nothing more than the transfer of losses and you’re harming others just to benefit yourself. The fundamental problem has not been resolved at all. Forget about it and leave the matter to me. Get them to raise more chickens this year, and when the time comes, use the eggs and chickens to meet the payment requirement. What’s the point of sticking to lands that can't be grown on?"

Zhang Xiao’bao knew that those five households had sick people in each of their homes. Last year they didn’t give them any benefits and they had to spend a lot of money on medicine. When the rent was paid at the end of the year, they didn’t have any silk to hand in so they each paid 14 taels of silver as the cloth payment fee. However, they have welfare this year. Some easy jobs can be given to them and the money earned from that can be used to cover it.

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"Fine. Then explain now, that place you want to buy, are you really aiming to lose money?"

Wang Juan put aside one of her worries; those five households will be better off in the future. Otherwise that fourteen taels of silver can really cause them to break down. Just because her family helped them pay, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have to pay the money back. No matter how good the Master is, it was impossible to give the money away like that. Whoever had to pay rent still had to pay their own rent.

She and Zhang Xiao’bao can help them find ways to make money, but they can’t directly put their own money in. Any extra money they gave away was for special reasons. At the end of this year, everyone will have to pay a small amount of money; this was considered as paying for various insurance and funds. The money or items collected will be managed by Zhang Xiao’bao.

When the time comes, they can earn even more money. In addition to the use of funds on things such as medical care and various housing, the excess can be used to create more benefits such as using it to improve the road conditions of the manor, etc. She didn’t have to worry about those things, so she changed the topic to ask about the place to be purchased. 

"It's better than giving the money out for nothing. If we can take something in exchange, then let’s take it. When houses need to be built in the Manors, that place has stones there. Regardless, we have to support Magistrate Cheng." Zhang Xiao’bao looked resigned.

Wang Juan suddenly laughed, "Are you fooling an idiot? Forget it, I won’t ask you anymore. I don’t believe that you will buy it but not do anything with it and just wait for stones to be dug and shipped back to build houses. Let’s go and see our little seedlings, I decided to set up a special team to protect all kinds of seedlings. I have thought about the name already, ots called the "Strongly Growing Seedlings Protection Team"."

The two were cycling forward, and Housekeeper Wang hurried over to them from there.

"Young Miss, Young Master, the Ge Manor really lost a lot. I told Ge Ying’xi that we can help them by giving them some seedlings. He’s willing to pay three times of the cost of seeds with grains as payment. Do you think this will work? If it doesn't work, the price can be raised again."

Housekeeper Wang asked Zhang Xiao’bao and Wang Juan. It was already said at the beginning that if the Ge Manor was in trouble, he could help according to the situation, otherwise, he would not dare to make his own decisions.

"It works, why not? He’s paying triple. It doesn't take much effort anyway. Go ask him how many seedlings he wants. Tell him that the grains must be ones that can be used as planting seeds, otherwise the price will be doubled. If he pays with normal grains, then it’s a loss for us.

Xiao’bao, I have decided. Starting next year, we will sell rice seedlings. We can just use this year's crop output as publicity. We will find a few smart people and let them work on making hybrid rice. You know how to do this, right? "

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Wang Juan settled the matter.

"No, I don't learn those kinds of simple subjects that are used to help feed hundreds of millions of people." Zhang Xiao’bao shook his head disdainfully.

"I finally found out that your face is way too thick. Then, let's study a complex subject: physics. You pedal by yourself starting now and I will control the direction for you. Let’s see how much force you will have to exert in order for us to arrive at the nearest paddy within ten minutes."

In the San’shui County, Magistrate Cheng accompanied all types of people who were sent by the Imperial Court. First of all, he had to treat them with food and drinks. There were dozens of people in the group but only a few of them were here to do actual work and the rest were here to follow behind and suck up advantages. 

It stands to reason that the Magistrate Cheng should not only entertain these people well, but also give some money as tolls to his future career path, but he didn’t gain much money from political grafts, and he didn’t collect much. He would have to give one hundred taels to each person, and there were so many people so it would be tens of thousands taels of silver. Where would he get it from? Thus, the idea of paying tolls was scrapped.

Those people originally wanted to play around and get some benefits, but seeing that the Magistrate didn’t cooperate with them, they never gave him a good face. From time to time, there were people who acted nitpicky, such as saying the streets were too messy. Of course, if they were given money, they would say it was bustling.

Magistrate Cheng knew about this clearly so he didn't make any excuses and let them talk. The day was gloomy today and this made Magistrate Cheng more happy. He hoped that it would rain to alleviate the natural disaster. Yet some people complained that it was cold.

Magistrate Cheng got angry and found the Magistrate Assistant. After receiving a few words of instructions, the Magistrate Assistant took a glance at those people and turned to leave.

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After waiting for the people to leave, Magistrate Cheng began to work on cases. Actually, there weren’t any real cases. Ever since Zhou Xi’hu stopped making trouble and Magistrate Cheng harshly dealt with the idlers, the county became much more stable. It's nothing more than some family’s egg-laying chicken suddenly disappeared, the cow got sick and so on.

For the people above, they didn’t have to deal with such small things at all, but for the commoners, the loss was significant. If the chicken is lost, there will be no egg and the family may have been counting on the chicken egg surviving; even if the chicken is sold, it can still be exchanged for some firewood, rice, oil, or salt.

"Chen Dong, go to Li Liu’s house to see why his pigs aren’t eating anymore." A wooden stick4  was thrown from the table and Magistrate Cheng ordered the bailiff who frequented the Zhang Manor.

"Yes, I’ll go have a look now." Chen Dong has long been use to these kinds of random jobs, and hurried away after taking the wooden stick. He didn't dare to neglect the matter. If the pig starved to death, then Li Liu’s family would lose a few taels of silver.

"Song Yang, go to Sha'he Village for a look. Why is there one less duck at Wang Wu’s house? Check out whether it was dragged by something inside the river or stolen by someone."

Magistrate Cheng dealt with each matter one by one, and the commoners who came to look for him were waiting eagerly, hoping that the magistrate could help them solve these important matters.

The morning passed under these circumstances. The county magistrate also rushed back and told Magistrate Cheng that all arrangements were properly made. Only then did the magistrate leave the questioning hall, and turned to go invite those people to eat.

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Translator's Notes

1. “advance by a foot after we gave him an inch” 得寸进尺

I used the literal definition in the translation and this Chinese idiom describes a person being dissatisfied with the small amount given by others and demands to have more.

2. “Mu” 亩

This is a measurement of area, and is equivalent to 1/15 hectares or about 667 m2. 

3. “Cloth payment fee” 调

During the early years of the Tang Dynasty, it was required for each household to hand in a certain amount of grains and cloth (such as silk and cotton) as payment to the government. The word “调” refers specifically to the cloth requirement of the fees.

4. Wooden stick 签子

This wooden stick is given to bailiffs by the Magistrate and is equivalent to a warrant. With this wooden stick, the bailiff is able to make arrests and bring people to the administrative office for interrogations or questioning. 

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