I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 414 A gluttonous feast
"Five taels of silver for one stone of grain? Why don't you just rob?" Wang Ze opened his mouth in surprise.

Normally, a stone of white rice is only half a tael of silver, but now this housekeeper Wang is selling it at such a high price.
"What are you talking about, kid? What about stealing or robbing?" Butler Wang's face darkened. "My Wang family is a well-known kind family in Yuzhou. We often build bridges and roads and help the villagers."

Wang Ze knew he had spoken out of turn, and quickly said, "Uncle Wang, I did speak out of turn, please be magnanimous, please be magnanimous."

Steward Wang's expression improved a little. "Go ask around, boy. This drought is very serious. The entire Kaifeng Prefecture and the surrounding counties have been affected. Such a large area has been affected. So many places have lost their crops. There is a shortage of food everywhere. The price of food will go up. Go ask around and see who is selling a stone of grain for only 5 taels of silver. I am being kind by giving you this price because you are surnamed Wang. If you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again."

Wang Ze felt powerless after hearing what Wang Guanjia said. Wang Ze had seen similar things many times before. Every time, they always had endless reasons to say. They always stood on the moral high ground to accuse them. In their mouths, he was always the unreasonable one, the one who got the advantage but still acted cute.
"You see, the Wang family is a well-known kind family in Yuzhou, and they often help the villagers. Can you help our family for the sake of being a fellow clan? I will never forget the great kindness of Uncle Wang and Master Wang." Wang Ze still had a glimmer of fantasy in his heart.

Butler Wang didn't even raise his eyelids, and was busy cleaning his nails. "The master is kind and generous, and it's okay for him to help your family from time to time, but you don't see what kind of year it is. The landlord doesn't have any surplus food this year!"

"Why is that one acre of land only 2 taels of silver? Those are all excellent irrigated lands! Before, that one acre of land of mine could be sold for at least ten taels of silver." Wang Ze changed the subject helplessly.

Irrigated land refers to arable land with guaranteed water sources and irrigation facilities, which can be irrigated normally in normal years. Rice cannot be grown in Yuzhou, and there are no paddy fields. Irrigated land is the best arable land.

"It's not that I don't want to give you a higher price, it's just that the harvest this year is too bad and there are too many people selling land. The more people sell land, the cheaper the land price will be. If your land is not irrigated land, you can't sell it for less than two taels of silver per mu." Butler Wang's words were still impeccable.

Wan Ze was confused and didn't know how to make a decision. His family had only eaten one meal a day recently, and it was thin food, but they were almost out of food. However, the price offered by Butler Wang was too outrageous, and he simply couldn't accept it.
Butler Wang looked at Wang Ze whose expression kept changing, and his heart remained calm. He had seen and dealt with a lot of such things over the past few decades. He had seen countless common people like Wang Ze, throwing tantrums and begging. He had seen all kinds of scenes, so his heart had long become as hard as stone and was not moved at all.

Natural disasters are a disaster for the common people, but a feast for the gentry. The common people have little savings and have no ability to resist sudden natural disasters. They can only take out what they have, while the gentry take the opportunity to raise the price of grain and lower the price of land. After each natural disaster, the gentry can annex a lot of land, and more and more self-cultivating farmers have become tenants, unable to turn over for generations.
"Buy or sell? Give me a straight answer. I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. There are many people waiting behind us." Butler Wang urged. Wang Ze was still struggling with his thoughts. His family only had five mu of land, which was the most valuable thing in his family. However, he could only get ten taels of silver from selling the land, which could only buy two stone of grain. The problem was that there were five people in his family, and these two stone of grain would not last until the next year when there was a harvest!

"I advise you to seize the opportunity and sell all the fields as soon as possible. It's the same as not having any fields at all. At worst, you can rent out the fields and grow crops there. You can still survive there. What's more, the rent for renting the fields will surely drop a lot next year," said Butler Wang meaningfully.

"Why will the rent for the tenant farmland be reduced a lot tomorrow?" Wang Ze also rented 20 acres of land from the Wang family, and he was also concerned about the rent.

"Hahaha." Butler Wang gave a fake laugh, then said seriously, "First, the master is heartbroken and can't bear to see the people suffer."

Wang Ze secretly spat in his heart. He didn't believe this reason at all.
"Secondly, there will definitely be fewer people renting the land next year. If you want to rent out all the land, you have to lower the rent, right?" Butler Wang looked at Wang Ze with a smile.

Wang Ze wanted to ask why there would be fewer people renting the fields next year, but the next moment he thought of the reason.
Such a serious disaster will surely kill many people. Wouldn’t there be fewer people coming to rent the land next year?

Wang Ze looked at Butler Wang deeply, and felt a chill in his heart.
Butler Wang was still smiling and said, "Seize the opportunity and I hope to see you again next year."

Wang Ze knew that Steward Wang was pointing a finger at him. If he didn't sell the land to buy food, his family wouldn't survive until next year.
Wang Ze didn't know how he walked out of the Wang family compound. He sat woodenly at the foot of a wall, staring blankly into the distance.
What caught his eyes was the dry and cracked earth, the dry riverbed and ditches, the dead trees and crops, and a yellow-brown scene everywhere. The day was like a hot furnace fire, and under its merciless illumination, the earth seemed to have lost its vitality.
He could only smell the pungent smell of dust and dry earth, and waves of heat came towards him, but he was unmoved. In the end, he did not make the decision to sell the land. This was the last land of his family. He heard from his father that his ancestors had 40 to 50 acres of land, but he didn't know how his family ended up with this land. This piece of land was the last thing they wanted, and he really couldn't make up his mind.
But he didn't know how to face his family when he got home, because his family couldn't even afford to eat. The bark of the trees in the village had been stripped clean, and the grass roots near the village had been dug up by the villagers. He really didn't know how to feed his family.
A hint of red suddenly appeared in the yellow-brown scene in the distance. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of blowing and beating. Wang Ze was awakened. He looked at the red in the distance in confusion.

Most of the people in the village had already fled to escape the famine. The remaining people were startled by the noise and struggled to get up to see what was going on.
The red color was getting closer and closer. It turned out to be a red sedan chair. A few people were playing weakly in the sedan chair.
(End of this chapter)