“Second, the county office’s granaries can manage three days of food and warmth for people, but the treasury silver available for disaster relief absolutely won’t be much.” Luzhen was a large town with a sixth-rank county magistrate—the treasury silver might not even be as much as Qiu Sanniang’s dowry.
“Exactly so. More than half of that silver is tax revenue to be submitted to the court and cannot be casually appropriated. Normally when local people suffer disaster, after the crisis passes, they can at least be arranged to return to their hometowns. No matter what, the fields are still there. But the people coming from Yuling have already left their homes and ancestral lands. How extremely difficult it will be to settle them.” Jiang Tao sighed and shook his large head.
“Coming all the way by boat, I saw quite a lot of wasteland twenty or thirty li outside Luzhen—green mountains and clear waters with no human traces. I wonder if it falls within this county’s jurisdiction?” Mo Zi asked. In ancient times with vast lands and sparse population, if they truly wanted to settle people, it was still possible.
“Luzhen isn’t large, but Luzhen County spans a hundred li in radius. Though there’s quite a bit of wasteland and over twenty uninhabited mountain forests, most of these already have owners. The remainder are barren lands that are very difficult to grow anything on.” Jiang Tao had also thought about quite a bit.
“Though the land has owners, isn’t it a pity to leave it waste? The authorities could come forward to levy rent on that land from the landlords, then transfer it to the refugees for cultivation and use. As for the barren lands, they could be given to the Yuling people to build houses and establish villages, conduct commerce and set up shops. I think in this situation, they wouldn’t have anything to be picky about—they only seek land to settle and make their living.” Mo Zi spoke her thoughts.
“Never mind other things—just this levy rent alone. Even if landlords are willing to rent, where would the county office get the silver?” The middle-aged scholar heard from behind and felt it was pure fantasy.
“The county office could owe the landlords in the form of official bonds.” A new term jumped from Mo Zi’s mouth.
“Official bonds?” Jiang Tao’s ox-like eyes fixed unmoving on Mo Zi. “Miss, please explain in detail.”
“Regarding this matter of levying rent, official bonds mean the authorities issue a written certificate to each landlord, clearly stating that using the land rent as principal, with annual interest of, say, five percent, and a term of, say, five years—upon maturity, landlords can collect the land rent plus interest from the authorities with the official bond certificate. If the interest given by official bonds can exceed bank interest, it should be more attractive. After all, leaving that land waste produces no income either.” Mo Zi gave the two time to digest the concept of official bonds, which was actually the national bonds of a thousand years later.
This time the middle-aged scholar lowered his head in deep thought, while Jiang Tao reacted quickly. “Then after five years, how does the authorities provide this silver?”
“At the same time, the authorities rent these lands to the Yuling people. The first year is a settling period and can charge less rent. Thereafter, according to production and livelihood conditions, increase rent year by year. If these over ten thousand people settle in Luzhen County, in just a few years they’ll become taxpaying common folk. How could the authorities fail to repay the landlords? Moreover, there are other methods to guarantee recovering the silver. The authorities can establish official loans, lending principal to small business people and collecting interest higher than official bonds. Give on one side, collect on the other. Collect more than you give, and gradually they offset each other, even becoming another portion of treasury income. Of course, these loans can’t be given casually—the borrower’s repayment ability must be assessed, otherwise they become bad debts that can’t be recovered. Also, these officials can’t be corrupt. Otherwise, if they collect into their own pockets while using official authority to renege on debts to landlords, that would be trouble. For this method to be done fairly, the accounts must be clear. Specially establish ledgers for Yuling relief, assign separate officials for official bonds and official loans. Both sides reconcile monthly and annually—they must absolutely balance.” If successful, it would be the earliest prototype of a state-owned bank. If unsuccessful, she would have provided a shortcut for those with ill intentions to stuff their bellies fat with greed. But aside from this method, her abilities were limited and she couldn’t think of anything else.
She could only think of it this way: any idea, like medicine, has good effects but also unavoidable side effects. The urgent matter was settling the refugees and their future livelihood. If the authorities didn’t act as a second landlord, even more unjust things would happen. Unscrupulous merchants were everywhere, as were exploiters like Zhou the Skinner.
This time, even Jiang Tao lowered his head in deep thought.
Mo Zi knew that the concepts of official bonds and official loans would certainly have many aspects these scholars couldn’t understand. She had originally just been chatting with people anyway. One person’s strength was too minuscule—at least being able to think and ponder for those suffering people would make her heart feel a bit better.
“Gentlemen, I’ll take my leave first.” No need to accompany those two in their headaches. Mo Zi quickened her pace and walked into the bustling crowd.
“Miss’s ideas, at first hearing make one confused, but thinking carefully they’re truly infinitely profound. This humble student has benefited greatly. I’m inclined to try it, but don’t know if I can execute it accurately.” His large head swayed back and forth. “Hearing Miss’s thoughts and words, you must not be an ordinary common person. Could you leave this humble student an address so I can call on you to seek more instruction?”
Looking up, where was that slender and elegant figure?
“Advisor, Advisor!” Jiang Tao hurriedly tugged the middle-aged scholar’s sleeve. “Where did that young miss go?”
The middle-aged scholar called Advisor had been lost in thought even longer than Jiang Tao. He looked around in a daze. “She left?”
“Could it be the Bodhisattva appearing in spirit form, transforming into a young miss, specially descending to earth to guide us through our confusion?” Jiang Tao slapped his forehead, a solid, resonant smack. “Advisor, tell me, where is there someone who can just casually walk along the road and think up such ingenious methods? And a young lady of barely twenty at that.”
“My lord, if you’d said this normally, I wouldn’t believe it. But today truly seems a bit divine. That young miss’s words—truly unheard of before.” The more the Advisor thought about it, the more it seemed like divine rescue. “My lord, should we hurry to the temple to give thanks to the gods?”
“Of course we must give thanks, but not right now.” Matters have priorities of importance and urgency. Jiang Tao turned and walked swiftly. “Advisor, go back and quickly write invitations. Invite all the landlords, large and small, of Luzhen County to come. I want to issue these official bonds. Also, have people establish a relief porridge kitchen before sunset today. We can’t let the refugees continue starving.” That young miss spoke correctly—three days means more chances.
“But my lord, the superior authorities—” If they really implement official bonds and open granaries to distribute grain, what will the prefectural office and provincial office say?
“I’ll ride at full gallop to personally see the prefect. I think this official bond idea can work. In any case, it doesn’t require taking silver out of the treasury, and it can settle so many people. The prefect should be able to agree. If it really won’t work, I’ll go to the provincial governor. At worst, I’ll write a memorial to the Emperor requesting his imperial command. That young miss spoke correctly—Yuling’s ancestors were Great Zhou citizens, originally one lineage transmitted, pulse to pulse connected. How can we abandon them? Moreover, it was the water garrison that let them in first. Tracing it back to the root, it can’t be blamed on me either. Since they’ve come in, we must truly treat them well. Our Luzhen is closest to Yuling. If Da Qiu truly swallows Yuling and attacks us, we’ll most need everyone to resist the enemy. One more pair of hands is one more. If we don’t help them now, why should they help us in the future?” The Bodhisattva truly spoke without a single error.
“I think this can work. My lord, you truly are a parental official who pleads for the people’s livelihood. I say, those refugees encountering my lord during your tenure—that’s their heaven-sent good fortune.” The Advisor sighed with emotion, also with a small bit of flattering intention.
The two men talked as they walked and soon disappeared from sight.