Chapter 57

......

With such thoughts in mind, she put on a look of extreme joy and said, "Fourth Uncle, you are truly good to me."

"Our family's Lici is still very well-behaved. If you work hard, Fourth Uncle has other rewards for you," Wang Shouzhe said with a smile, rubbing her head. "Like those delicious dried fish, for example."

Hmph! I, Wang Lici, may be a girl, but a girl has her dignity. Don't think a few pieces of dried fish can buy me...

But the words on the tip of her tongue turned into shining eyes and a mouth watering as she said, "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Uncle, how much can I get as a reward?"

"The sea delicacies I brought back from this trip will be handled by you," Wang Shouzhe said generously.

"Ugh~ Fourth Uncle, you are so good to me." Wang Lici was so moved that tears streamed down her face. She looked at Wang Shouzhe with teary eyes, feeling guilty for her earlier thoughts and actions. Where could she find such a good Fourth Uncle?

"Alright, Fourth Uncle believes you can handle it well. You must distribute them fairly to everyone," Wang Shouzhe added. "These snacks will be distributed to everyone under twenty years old in our family. You've learned the Nine Chapters on Mathematical Art and accounting, right? Remember to have everyone sign the ledger when they receive their share."

Equal! Distribution!

She would have to personally deliver the precious snacks to each household. How cruel and harsh!

Fourth Uncle, you are too much. I will fight you...

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

Leaving the girl holding a few books, standing in the wind, utterly disheveled.

......

Wang Shouzhe returned to his courtyard and didn't handle any affairs, but rather took a brief rest. The back-and-forth trip to Bai Dao Wei had left him both physically and mentally exhausted.

Fortunately, the danger had passed. As long as Longyan Laozu recovered, the Wang family would have a solid foundation.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Wang Shouzhe met with his aunt, Gong Sun Hui. They settled the accounts and stored the items. In short, for such a large family, the accounts must not be in chaos, otherwise, various problems would arise.

All these surprising events and gains shocked Gong Sun Hui as she did the accounts. Why did Shouzhe always bring back unexpected surprises whenever he returned from a trip?

"Aunt, I deserve the first tier," Wang Shouzhe said with a smile. "In terms of resources, I plan to be a bit more extravagant. I need twice the monthly supply of spirit food, increasing the number of small Peiyuan Pills from one to three per month, and I also need one Peiyuan Pill and a spirit stone per month."

As a result, Wang Shouzhe's resource consumption had reached an extremely luxurious and exaggerated level. Just the spirit rice alone was fifteen pounds per month, and fifteen pounds each of spirit fish and spirit meat.

Including the consumption of pills and other items, excluding the spirit stone, the annual cultivation resources would amount to eight or nine hundred gold.

Under normal circumstances, after advancing to the seventh layer of the Qi Condensation stage, his annual cultivation resource budget would be at most two hundred gold. Now, it was four times that! Four to five times the resources wouldn't make his cultivation speed four to five times faster.

There was a principle of diminishing marginal returns. At most, it would be a bit more than twice as fast, and with the help of a spirit stone, it would be even faster, but definitely not three times as fast.

In a normal Xuanwu family, even when cultivating the first-tier direct descendants, aiming for the Lingtai stage, they would never be so extravagant.

Such a request even made Gong Sun Hui widen her eyes in surprise: "In theory, with Shouzhe's contributions, requesting so many cultivation resources is not unreasonable. I'm just afraid that the frugal elders will have some objections. But it doesn't matter, with Longyan Laozu's support, no one will say anything."

The family is everyone's family, not just Wang Shouzhe's. The other family elders naturally have the right to voice their opinions.

However, Wang Shouzhe didn't care. With his abilities, the family would gradually enter a transformation phase. Besides, if the contribution system were implemented, Longyan Laozu would be first in contributions, and he would be second.

Moreover, he believed that his future contributions would surpass Longyan Laozu's.

Using so many resources wasn't because he was greedy, but because he really didn't want to have a chance to reach the Lingtai stage only in middle age. Most importantly, this fantastical world was too dangerous. Running around with his current cultivation level would eventually lead to problems.

Therefore, it was safer to stay in the family and accelerate his cultivation to the Lingtai stage to gain some self-preservation capabilities.

After this matter was settled, Wang Shouzhe said, "Aunt, how is the insect disaster situation?"

He had been away from Changning Wei for ten days, and his intelligence was already outdated. The situation in Bai Dao Wei was different, with very little cultivated land, and perhaps due to the geographical isolation, they hadn't been affected.

However, a food shortage was inevitable, and even Bai Dao Wei would be impacted by the lack of food.

"The situation is very bad," Gong Sun Hui said with a serious expression. "Apart from a few families, most families have experienced a reduction in food production. However, the most severely affected are the independent farmers within the territories of various cities, towns, and family powers. Their ability to resist disasters is very poor, with a general reduction of about seventy percent."

Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly: "A seventy percent reduction is a heavy loss, but with stored food and new harvests, the independent farmers should be able to last until the next rice crop matures, right? They shouldn't be worse off than tenant farmers, right?"

"Shouzhe, you don't understand," Gong Sun Hui explained. "First, let me explain about tenant farmers. Tenant farmer families usually have one to six or seven people. Let's take an average tenant farmer family of three people, with two laborers. They should be able to cultivate twenty acres of land, and in a normal year, the total value of rice and wheat would be about 600 large copper coins. The cost of insecticide is about 40 large copper coins, and the amortization of oxen, tools, and seeds is about 20 large copper coins. The noble family's good land uses a four-tax system, with one tax each for the town, guard, and county, so twenty acres of good land would require 80 large copper coins in taxes. This leaves about 460 large copper coins, which need to be split 70-30 with the landlord, so this tenant farmer family would receive 138 large copper coins."

"For a tenant farmer family of three, they would earn a bit more than one gold coin a year, and after deducting daily expenses, there wouldn't be much left," Wang Shouzhe rubbed his nose, slightly surprised. He had calculated the income from the land before but hadn't carefully calculated the tenant farmers' earnings.

"The reason tenant farmers are more resilient to risks is that they are under the protection of the Xuanwu noble family," Gong Sun Hui said. "To stabilize the tenant farmers, the landlord will provide a minimum guarantee. Even if there is no harvest, they will still receive 60 large copper coins, which allows them to work with peace of mind."

Of course, these earnings are not purely in gold coins but a combination of distributed goods and gold coins, with a total value.

"Additionally, tenant farmers usually raise a few chickens, ducks, and geese, and grow some fruits and vegetables in front and back of their houses. These supplies are provided to our noble family, and the annual net income can be about 20 to 30 large copper coins," Gong Sun Hui explained patiently. "During the off-season, we also organize tenant farmers to clear land, dredge rivers, build houses, and reinforce riverbanks, which can earn them about 20 large copper coins. Therefore, an average tenant farmer family of three can earn about 180 to 190 large copper coins a year, and even in a disaster year, they can earn over 100 large copper coins."

Wang Shouzhe nodded inwardly. This meant that tenant farmers could live a relatively stable life, with the protection of the landlord. Even in a disaster year, they could tighten their belts and get by. In a good year, if they lived frugally, they could save a bit of money.

"But independent farmers are different," Gong Sun Hui said. "For an independent farmer family with twenty acres of land, if they experience a seventy percent reduction this season, they would only have 90 large copper coins in income. The cost of oxen rental and seeds would be 10 large copper coins, and the cost of insecticide would be 20 large copper coins. The tax rate is a five-tax system, with one tax each for the noble family, town, guard, and county. Now is the time to collect summer taxes, so twenty acres of land would require 50 large copper coins in taxes. How much would they have left?"

As mentioned earlier, the local Xuanwu noble family has the responsibility to maintain peace and security. They handle bandits, fierce beasts, and other malicious events and assist the local guard in tax collection. Therefore, the noble family also takes one tax from the good land within their territory.

However, the Wang family's territory is very small. Apart from about six hundred tenant farmer families in their own farms, their territory only has about a thousand households, and the total number of good fields under their jurisdiction is far from twenty thousand acres. The annual tax revenue is only a few hundred gold coins, with many expenses, so it is barely enough to cover the costs.

"In that case, those independent farmers would basically have no harvest this season?" Wang Shouzhe frowned slightly. "In such a situation, do they still have to pay taxes?"

"Tax is the foundation of the state. The town, guard, county, and country all rely on tax revenue to function. Land tax is the largest tax, and without it, various levels of government would struggle to maintain operations," Gong Sun Hui explained. "This summer, the national tax in Longzuo County might be waived. However, ultimately, some independent farmer families who didn't manage their operations well will face significant difficulties, and this is often when some Xuanwu noble families start to merge land."

"For example, the Zhao and Liu families, who were severely affected and suffered heavy losses, seem to have their eyes red. Various signs indicate that they plan to take advantage of the chaos to merge some land," Gong Sun Hui said with a cold laugh. "Wolves are wolves, even if they wear the skin of a noble family, they can't escape their greedy nature."

......